Total Annihilation Kingdoms is actually good

[GaelicVigil]

I've been a huge fan of Total Annihilation for a long time. The game allows you create giant armies to devastating effect, and what makes me love it more than Supreme Commander is that you can actually SEE your units instead of clicking on icons. Way more immersive to see the huge explosions rock your screen.

With the Escalation mod, it's my favorite RTS of all time (if you haven't played it, stop reading and go install it now).

That said, I've always heard terrible things about its fantasy spin-off, Total Annihilation: Kingdoms. On a whim, I finally decided to give it a shot and try it out...along with the New Era mod which apparently fixes some bugs.

Yikes. This game is pretty darn good. Way underrated, IMO. Runs on the same TA engine, so height and line of sight plays a big part in the game, but it also shipped with a lot more maps, and a more interesting campaign.

Plus...FIVE armies. TA only had 2, and even they felt very similar. The armies in Kingdoms feel far more different and unique to me. The undead team has has good defenses, the goblin/beast team is good at spitting out massive armies quick, and the humans have the longest range and most powerful leader.

And the fifth army, added with the expansion, adds a steam punk faction with tanks AND DINO-Riders. Very, very cool.

Ignore what you've heard, the game is good. Get it for $3 on sale on GOG. A major tip: the patrol button is your best friend. You can even set a unit building to auto patrol its units as soon as they come out. Create major defense lines this way, or send your armies to attack in huge waves, a la a Tyranid swarm.

 

[Lagi]

I spend my share of time with TaK: New Era about 4 years ago (I even write UI script).

The New ERA really fixed some issues of Kingdom. TA Kingdom has lots of cool unit concepts.

Obviously after 4 years New Era is probably a different game, but what i didn't like back then:

- there was non-existing Tier1. You immediately tech up to Tier 2. Escalation has this timing done much better (and i find it the best in BAR, where this early time of building 4 tanks and rushing enemy base make sense)
- T2 builder was a necessity because he could assist with unit production (dark priest - and this dude is flying on top of that). Its this silly Nano Spray crowd like from TA that allow you to pop up unit every second, and create endless conga lines.
- Gameplay is nice, but there is no point micro units, if doing macro all the time wins you the game (like Taros Sky Knights).
- there is only 1 resource. Balance of energy (that was also used as ammo for energy weapons) and metal (that you scrap from corpses) from TA is gone.

-and i think Creon faction don't fit with the rest factions with its tanks, hovercrafts, daVinci low poly machines etc.

"but you didnt know what you talking about because you dont play multi !!"

yeah sorry... for now playing one game for 20 years.

 

[Dayyālu]

And the fifth army, added with the expansion, adds a steam punk faction with tanks AND DINO-Riders. Very, very cool.

Creon felt like Cavedog was running out of time and breath. It feels very..... limited compared to the baseline factions.

I personally liked a lot the "ambience" of TA: Kingdoms (and a good RTS is at least 30% ambience and cool factor) but I'd say the main problem is running the on the TA engine: what works fine intuitively with nanotech and pseudo sci-fi magic doesn't run as intuitively with magical stuff. The main problem Kingdom had was one of context: it needed to perform far better than TA (because its dev cycle was far more expensive due to bigger scope, voice acting an' shit) and it was merely good enough in a murderous late 90ies RTS market.

 

[GaelicVigil]

And the fifth army, added with the expansion, adds a steam punk faction with tanks AND DINO-Riders. Very, very cool.

Creon felt like Cavedog was running out of time and breath. It feels very..... limited compared to the baseline factions.

I personally liked a lot the "ambience" of TA: Kingdoms (and a good RTS is at least 30% ambience and cool factor) but I'd say the main problem is running the on the TA engine: what works fine intuitively with nanotech and pseudo sci-fi magic doesn't run as intuitively with magical stuff. The main problem Kingdom had was one of context: it needed to perform far better than TA (because its dev cycle was far more expensive due to bigger scope, voice acting an' shit) and it was merely good enough in a murderous late 90ies RTS market.

I haven't really seen the limitations of the Creon yet, but i havent played them too much so far.

I can't disagree with your second paragraph. TA got lost in a sea of great RTS games during its era. Problem is that people tend to measure your success against your contemporary competition rather than on its own merits.

Is TA:K a masterpiece of the era?. Certainly not But it's good. It's gotten a lot of undeserved flak.

I play original TA a lot over multiplayer and the sheer number of strategies you can use is staggering. You can never get complacent with a strategy because there is always a way to beat it. There are several units i have never even used and i don't think I've ever even touched the hovercraft tree.

TA Kingdoms is not as great as its older brother, but it gets very close.

 

[Isiloon]

any of you would play TAK MP?