Total Annihilation: Kingdoms is Cavedog's 1999 fantasy follow-up to Total Annihilation, set in the world of Darien, where four houses descended from one family go to war. This guide covers the game and its expansion, The Iron Plague.
A first TA: Kingdoms skirmish from the first click: the monarch's first builds, Lodestones and mana, what each house does differently, the keys that matter and the usual mistakes.
A printable TA: Kingdoms card with the essential keys, orders, building and training controls, mana figures and each house's first structures and main units.
About the game, the world of Darien and its houses, the expansion and the people who made it.
The 48 missions of The Book of Darien and the 26 of The Iron Plague, with their maps.
Every unit of the five houses, the monarchs and the creatures of Darien.
Damage and range for every weapon of the five houses, who carries it, and the Range Estimator.
The exact rules for mana income, shortages, healing, spells, veterancy and damage, worked out from the game's own code.
What each house builds, from its monarch outwards.
The cheat codes and other + commands, checked against the game itself.
Box art from around the world and the game's own pictures.
Every skirmish and multiplayer map, with its start positions for each number of players and its mana sites.
Compare two to four Total Annihilation: Kingdoms units: their figures side by side, how long each takes to destroy the others, who wins one on one, and who does better for the same mana.
Plan a Total Annihilation: Kingdoms opening and see when each lodestone, building and unit is finished, worked out tick by tick with the game's own mana rules.
Place any Total Annihilation: Kingdoms unit on any campaign or skirmish map and see the range of each of its weapons and its sight, to scale.