Keyboard and Mouse Controls in TA: Kingdoms
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms is played mostly with the mouse. The keyboard gives quick access to orders, selections and squads, and you can change the default keys by editing a file.
The Screen
Most of the screen is the battle map. Black areas are unexplored. Grey areas have been explored but are out of sight.
The small map in the upper-right corner shows the whole battlefield. Click on it to jump to a place, or give orders on it as on the battle map. Press Tab to fill the screen with a larger version of this map. When you select a unit, its orders menu appears, and a builder also shows its build menu.
The bar along the bottom shows information about the selected unit, or about whatever is under the cursor:
- the health bar;
- the personal mana bar, for units that cast spells;
- the experience shield, which shows the unit's rank;
- the mana ball, which shows your shared mana and how fast it is coming in and going out.
The Mouse
In the Options menu, under Interface, you choose one of two mouse layouts:
- Left-click: the left button selects units and gives orders. The right button deselects, and it is used on the small map.
- Right-click: the left button selects units, and the right button gives orders. The left button also deselects and is used on the small map.
To select several units, drag a box around them, or hold Shift and click on each one.
Orders
The orders menu has the same 5 buttons for every house: Move, Patrol, Attack, Guard and Stop. Extra buttons appear for units with special abilities, such as Load and Unload on ships, or Heal.
Two rows of 3 buttons sit lower down. One row sets how the unit behaves near enemies. Offensive units chase and attack enemies. Defensive units fire at enemies in range but stay in place. Passive units do nothing. The other row chooses the spell level for spellcasters, from the weakest and cheapest on the left to the strongest on the right.
Hold Shift while giving orders to queue them. The unit carries out each order in turn.
To attack everything in an area, select your units, press A, and drag a box around the targets. To load troops onto a ship, select the ship, click Load and drag a box around the troops.
Building
Select a builder and click a structure in its build menu. An outline follows the cursor; a red X means you cannot build there. Click to place it.
- Hold Shift to place several structures in a row. The builder works through them in order. Holding Shift also shows the queued jobs on the map.
- Ctrl-click to give a new order without losing the rest of the build queue.
- To build a wall, click to place the first section, keep the button down, hold Shift and drag.
In a structure that trains units:
- Left-click a unit to add 1 to the queue, and right-click to remove 1.
- Shift with the left or right button adds or removes 5.
- Ctrl-click a unit to build it without end. "+++" appears on its button. Right-click the button to stop.
- Select the structure, click Move and click on the map. New units walk to that point. Hold Shift to add more orders, such as a patrol.
Keyboard Commands
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| A | Attack |
| C | Clear (a utility order) |
| D | Open the diplomacy menu |
| G | Guard |
| H | Heal |
| K | Turn cloaking on or off |
| L | Load units into a transport |
| M | Move |
| N | Jump to your next unit that is off the screen |
| O | Open or close a gate, or switch a unit on or off |
| P | Patrol |
| S | Stop |
| T | Follow a unit with the camera |
| U | Unload units from a transport |
| Ctrl+A | Select all your units |
| Ctrl+B | Select all builders |
| Ctrl+D | Dismiss the selected units (they destroy themselves) |
| Ctrl+E | Select units with melee weapons |
| Ctrl+F | Select all structures that build units |
| Ctrl+L | Load a saved game |
| Ctrl+M | Select your monarch and follow it with the camera |
| Ctrl+N | Select all naval units |
| Ctrl+R | Select units with ballistic weapons |
| Ctrl+S | Save the game |
| Ctrl+U | Select all your units on the screen |
| Ctrl+W | Select all units with weapons |
| Ctrl+Y | Select all flying units |
| Ctrl+Z | Select all units of the same type as the selected unit |
| 1 to 9 | Select a squad or formation |
| Ctrl+1 to 9 | Make the selected units a squad |
| Alt+1 to 9 | Make the selected units a formation |
| Tab | Show or hide the full-screen map |
| Pause | Pause or continue the game |
| Ctrl+F5 to F8 | Save the current view as a bookmark |
| F5 to F8 | Return to a saved bookmark |
| Ctrl+F1, F2, F3 | Choose weapon or spell 1, 2 or 3 |
| F1 | Game options |
| F2 | Mission briefing |
| F3 | Jump to the unit that reported last |
| F4 | Score table |
| F9 | Take a screenshot |
| F12 | Clear the chat messages |
| + | Faster game speed |
| - | Slower game speed |
| ~ | Show or hide health bars |
One chapter of the manual says F2 opens the options, but its key list, the readme and the key file all give F1.
Commands that start with + are typed on the chat line. See cheat codes for the full list.
Changing the Keys
The keys are set in keys.tdf, in the game's folder. To move a command to another key, move its line to that key's entry. Letters have separate entries for upper and lower case, and the readme says to change both.
The installed file also has a few bindings that the manual does not list. Ctrl+G selects units that use magic, and Ctrl+T selects mobile fighting units except ships. Adding Shift to most Ctrl selection keys adds the units to your current selection. 0 selects a tenth squad.
Sources
- The Chronicles of Darien, the Total Annihilation: Kingdoms manual: Game Interface, Information Bar, Interface Menus, Conjuring Structures, Summoning Units and Other Orders.
- Total Annihilation: Kingdoms manual, UK edition: the Keyboard Shortcuts pages.
- The Kingdoms readme (
readme.txt) in the GOG install: Key Bindings and Default Key Commands. - The key file (
keys.tdf) in the GOG install.