Total Annihilation Mechanics

The manuals explain what each order does, but not the arithmetic behind it. Players have filled the gap with rules of thumb, and some of them are wrong. The pages in this section give each rule as the game's own code applies it, in version 3.1c, with figures from the game data.

Each page states a rule in plain words, gives the exact figures and works through an example with real units. Where a detail is not confirmed, the page says so.

Time and Angles

At normal game speed, the game moves forward in 30 small steps every second. These pages call one step a tick and give times in seconds at normal speed. A faster or slower game speed changes how many ticks pass each second, so every time on these pages scales with it.

The game measures angles in 65,536ths of a full turn. The pages convert them to degrees: 2048 of these units are 11.25°.

Topics

Income and Stalls

Total Annihilation settles metal and energy once a second. When a store runs empty, builders stop and start rather than slow down, and extractors and metal makers stop too.

Metal Extractors

How much metal a Total Annihilation extractor makes, worked out square by square under its footprint, with the figures for the Metal Extractor and Moho Mine on real maps.

Power and Metal Makers

How much energy Total Annihilation's solar collectors and wind and tidal generators make on each map, and when metal makers switch themselves off.

The Computer Player

On Easy the Total Annihilation computer player gets half of its income, on Medium 70%, and on Hard the same as you. Its costs are never reduced.

Build Power and Assisting

How Total Annihilation turns build power into build time, why a Construction KBot builds slower than its numbers suggest, how assisting adds up and how unfinished buildings decay.

Repair

Every Total Annihilation builder repairs at 30 hit points and 30 energy a second, whatever its build power, and the Commander repairs itself at 3.75 hit points a second.

Reclaiming

How long reclaiming takes in Total Annihilation and what it gives, for wrecks, trees and rocks and for living units, plus the exact rules for the Resurrection Kbot.

Wrecks and Heaps

Whether a destroyed Total Annihilation unit leaves a wreck, a heap or nothing depends on how violently it died, and each step down the chain holds less metal.

Aim and Accuracy

How Total Annihilation weapons aim, scatter and spread, why damaged units shoot worse, how far artillery can reach, and how splash damage falls off with distance.

Closed Buildings

Which Total Annihilation units take less damage while closed, by how much, and why the damage modifier listed for several other units never has any effect.

Veterancy

Every 5 kills make a Total Annihilation unit deal more damage, take less and reload faster. Veterans also scatter less, lead moving targets and resist capture.

Sight and Radar

How line of sight, radar, sonar and jammers work in Total Annihilation, what a radar dot lets your units do and why direct sight beats jamming.

Cloaking

What cloaking costs in Total Annihilation, which actions reveal a cloaked unit and for how long, and why a cloaked unit still shows on radar.

Commander and D-gun

The rules that make the Total Annihilation Commander special, from the D-gun's damage and cost to its death blast, plus the exact timing of the self-destruct countdown.

Capture

How long it takes a Total Annihilation Commander to capture a unit, worked out from the target's cost, health and kills, and what the captured unit keeps and loses.

Paralysers

In Total Annihilation, each point of paralyser damage stuns a unit for a thirtieth of a second, up to 60 seconds at a time, and only the Commanders are immune.