What Total Annihilation Did Differently

Cavedog Entertainment released Total Annihilation in September 1997. Its units are 3D models that move over terrain with real hills and valleys, and every shell and rocket travels across the map. Its economy, its system of orders and the size of its armies were also unusual for a real-time strategy game of that year.

3D Units on Terrain with Real Height

At launch, Cavedog promised more than 150 3D units that the game draws and animates as it runs. The data of the original release holds 157 unit files: 78 for the Arm and 79 for the Core.

The battlefield is not flat. Each map stores a height for every point, so it has hills, cliffs, ridges and valleys. Units tilt to follow the slope under them, and steep ground limits where they can go. In the unit data, the Peewee Kbot has a slope limit of 17, but the Flash tank has a limit of only 10. Kbots can therefore climb ground that stops vehicles.

Shots That Travel, Miss and Hit Hills

The game uses a physics engine for projectiles, explosions and wreckage. Each shell, rocket or missile is an object that flies across the map, and a hill in its path can block it. Of the 198 weapons in the game data, 73 fire projectiles that follow a ballistic arc.

The manuals describe what this means in battle. The plasma cannons of the Hammer and the Guardian can fire over hills. The Fido fires high-velocity shells on a flat path, and the Zeus needs a direct line of sight for its lightning gun. The Core Mobile Artillery is not very accurate. The Shadow bomber is too slow to dodge anti-aircraft fire. There is more on weapons in the combat overview.

Line of Sight That Terrain Blocks

Every unit sees for a set distance. With the True line-of-sight setting, hills and ridges block that view, so a valley can hide an army. The Circular setting ignores elevation, and the Permanent setting removes the fog of war.

Areas that your units explored earlier, but cannot see now, are shown in grey. The map remembers the terrain there, but not enemy movements. Total Annihilation was one of the first real-time strategy games to show radar contacts on the mini-map. Radar jammers can hide units from enemy radar. Long-range guns can also fire beyond their own sight when other units spot targets for them.

A Steady Flow of Resources

There are two resources, metal and energy, and you do not gather them in loads. Metal extractors, solar collectors and other structures produce a steady stream, and the resource bar shows production and use side by side. A Solar Collector gives 20 energy, and a Metal Maker turns 60 energy into 1 metal.

Building draws on these flows while the work goes on. If you spend faster than you earn, your reserves fall, and when they run out, all building slows down. Several construction units can work on the same structure to finish it sooner. The economy overview goes through every source of income with its figures.

Reclaiming Wrecks and Features

Destroyed units usually leave wrecks: 228 of the 278 unit files in the game data name a wreck. The Commander and construction units can reclaim wrecks, rocks and ore for metal. They can reclaim trees and other plants for energy, but not grass. A target destroyed by the Commander's Disintegrator gun leaves nothing to salvage.

On some worlds, reclaiming is the main source of metal. The Arm mission Dump takes place on a moon where the Core has left the wrecks of many battles.

Orders You Give in Advance

If you hold Shift while you give orders, a unit carries them out one after another. A construction unit can place the same structure at several sites, and a factory can queue units of different types. A Patrol order sends a unit along a route, and a construction unit on patrol repairs the friendly units it meets. A Guard order attaches one unit to another.

Standing orders control how a unit behaves on its own. Fire at Will, Return Fire and Hold Fire decide when it shoots. Roam, Maneuver and Hold Position decide how far it moves. The controls page lists every order and key.

Armies of Hundreds

Multiplayer games take up to 10 players. The host sets a unit limit for each player, and the 1997 manual gives the highest setting as 250. The 3.1 patch notes say that the limit was later raised and that pathfinding was changed for the larger armies. Total Annihilation was one of the first real-time strategy games built for battles with hundreds of units. In the Battle Tactics mission Zipper Attack, you start with 62 Zippers on Easy and Medium.

An Orchestral Score

Jeremy Soule composed the music. The Northwest Sinfonia performed it, with Cullen Thomas as conductor. Cavedog described the recording as a 95-piece orchestra with a concert choir. The music is stored on the game disc as CD audio, so an ordinary CD player can play it. In the game, you can link tracks to battle situations, so the music changes as events happen. GameSpot gave Total Annihilation its Best Music award for 1997.

New Units After Launch

From 14 November 1997, Cavedog released a free new unit every week on its website. The first was the Arm Flakker anti-aircraft gun. Patch 1.2 was needed to install these units, and patch 2.0 let the computer opponent build them too. An archived copy of Cavedog's download page lists 33 units in all. Most of them were later included in The Core Contingency and Battle Tactics.

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