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Total Annihilation Sequel Preview
An anonymous reader writes "Fans of much loved RTS Total Annihilation will be excited to hear that a spiritual successor is in the works under the name Supreme Commander. Information on this title has been scarce until today, when Gamespy released a preview with screenshots galore. The preview contains an overview of the game, the storyline and, coming tommorrow, an interview with Chris Taylor."
if you had the time.
I found the games ran far too long, and though there were a wide range of units, combined arms were usually inferior to just building large quantities of 2 or 3 units.
C&C Generals had far shorter games with better incentive to build a few of most of the units you were capable of building.
The only reason I'm posting this short review is because many view TA 1 to be the best RTS ever made. My point is that it's all a matter of what you value most: huge waves of units and really really fast clicking or actual strategy.
Latewire
Total Annihilation was easily the most fun I've ever had playing an RTS. Warcraft III and Command & Conquer just don't give you the same rush as building 50 wasps and sending them simultaneously to swarm your enemy.
I recently revisted the game (after finding the original 2 disc installation) and noticed how poor the graphics were. The units were 3d and the terrain was 2d. It worked for back then, but nowadays we need everything 3d. The Ta-Spring project has been doing great in their recreation and enhancement of the original game. It features full 3d environments and even first person combat control. Some of the new weapons such as the plasma deflector are simply amazing and make the TA experience much better.
On the whole, TA-Spring has brought new life into TA without completely changing the game. It looks almost exactly similar to its original, except for the better graphics and advanced features.
I can only hope this sequel, Supreme Commander, will be better than the FIRST sequel, TA: Kingdoms. Futuristic combat just makes more sense given the view and nature of an RTS. One thing is for sure, the concept art and map design look out of this world - a theme that went well with the first TA.
Sigs are for Terrorists.
The nukes in Total Annihilation were the same. There was also a defensive weapon available to knock nukes out of the sky. Protecting that was vital, if you were to lose it, the nukes would come raining down completely wiping out your base.
Q.
The single best thing about the original TA was the *fantastic* score used for the soundtrack. The only game I've ever ripped the audio from to listen to alone.
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"
- Charles Darwin
The major problem with dungeon siege was that it apeard to be Diablo 2 without the soul.
The loot was boring , the voice acting (suprisingly) was worse than that of Diablo2 and even gave Nox a run for its money in its less than amature nature and last but not least it was just lacking any origional (even unorigional but good)plot that failed to capture the imagination.
it felt like a cheap clone of Diablo2 with more of a team focus and less of a goal, though the engine was ok.
Im just a bit iritated because i paid around 50 for the game(the demo was alot of fun , unfortunatly it droped abotu 5 minutes after the demo ended)
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
Many of the games features were designed to reduce micromanagement, freeing the player's brain (and mouse) for more important things.
For example, you could direct a given airfield to assign a team number to all units produced, and you could use the Shift key and mouse to define a multi-vector patrol route for the aircraft to navigate once built. Assuming you also had a few repair platforms around and activated, the aircraft would automatically assume a patrol along the assigned route, attack anything that came in range, and automagicaly fly off to repair themselves if they were wounded too badly.
You could also queue up a few dozen build orders for a selected number of construction vehicles (nice for putting together some fairly organized defenses), committing those units to that action for a half-hour or more, and then you could set a few more construction units (level 1 construction aircraft were good for this) on patrol in the general area. Not only would the patrolling const a/c automaticaly perform repairs on wounded units as they passed (or harvest enegry or metal if needed), but they would also stop and assist the building units with their tasks, adding their own construction power to the power of the original unit until the given target was completed.
The Shift key could be used to queue almost any type of order, be it builds, attacks, movements, or whatever, and I wish more RTS games would impelement that simple concept...
Mainframe/UNIX Bit Twiddler and long time Windows/Linux Hobbyist.
The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.
This is *exactly* the right point to ask for Linux support!
Either a) A linux native version,
or
b) Disclosure of source code to Transgaming (or Codeweavers, or whoever) to create a Supreme Commander compatible WineX/Cedega. This should be a pretty easy option for them.
I just sent them an e-mail, and I plan on asking all my friends to e-mail them.
I suggest including tidbits like "I play Doom 3, Neverwinter Nights, and the Unreal series of games natively on linux, and I play Half Life 2, and World of Warcraft through cedega."
Linux gaming needs you! Before release is the right time to pester the developers.
WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell