Total Annihilation: Kingdoms- First Impression

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Author Topic:   Total Annihilation: Kingdoms- First Impression

Dreadnought posted 06-23-99 11:15 AM ET
It depends. If you liked the original TA< then you'll really
love TA:K, but if you didn't like TA, then you probably won't like TA:K.
First things first, this game has incredible graphics. The screen shots don't do this game justice. TA:K has easily the best graphics I have ever seen in an RTS
There are less units to choose from, so theren't aren't as many
redundant units as in TA. This can be a good or bad thing,
depending on whether or not you used medium tanks at all in TA
=P. Terrain is still far more important than in most RTS games,
but unfortunately, many of the pre-packaged maps are fairly flat.
There are quite a few very nice ones, though.
There are 4 races, and they are different. aside from the fact 2
of the races have virtually the same basic infantry, the sides
have drastic differences (the 2 sides are Aramon and Veruna, they
both use a footman and an archer for their weakest units, but
they are very different after that). Each race has a Sacred
Dragon unique to that race (each one has different spells, though
the effects tend to be similar). Only 1 Sacred Dragon may exist
for a player at a time. In other words, you can't build a second
until the first dies. There is also a randomly-appearing Deity
for each race, although I have not seen any yet. All units are
payed for with Mana, the only resource, which must be collected
using LodeStones placed on Sacred Stones. This is the ONLY
method of getting Mana, unlike TA with multiple ways to produce
metal, you get Mana ONLY from LodeStones, which MUST be built on
Sacred Stones, which in turn are fairly rare.
Aramon (Earth): These guys have a TOUGH army. High HP, high
damage, and high speed make them pretty strong on the land. An
extremely weak navy (their only water unit is a combination
transport/gunship) and no real air power (their only flying
combat unit is their Sacred Dragon)
Veruna (Water): The only race with floating buildings, Veruna
also has the largest navy. Their ground power is fairly
impressive, too. They also have little air power (more than
Aramon, though), and they tend to be on the slow side.
Zhon (Air): The only race that doesn't produce units from
buildings. In fact, aside from the mana-gathering LodeStone and
Divine LodeStone, Zhon has only 2 buildings, the Shield
Battery-like Sacred Fire and the Tesla Coil-like Death Totem.
Zhon is the most unpredictable; they have a competent ground
force, an excellent air force, and a single-unit navy that is
nonetheless competent. Some of their units are very fast and
weak, while others are slow and strong. Some, like the Drake,
are fast AND fairly strong, and need to be watched for. However,
if you know what Zhon is doing, its easier to counter than the other 3 races.
Taros (Fire): These are the guys SC players will like the most,
since micro pays off here. For practically every combat unit,
Zhon has a spellcaster. Luckily, in TA:K, you can designate a
spell for a unit, and when it is attacked, it will automatically
cast that spell on the enemy. This does mean you need to
remember to leave the spell set to something that targets a
single unit, so you don't end up blasting your own guys when Zhon
flies one of their super-fast air units over a spellcaster.
Also, you should know that the campaign is played quite diffrently than most RTS games. You start playing the single campign, and switch between the diffrent sides as you complete each mission. This leads to some very creative situations, where for instance you establish a beachhead on the Zhonian coast as Veruna for one mission, and in the next mission, as Zhon, your objective is to destroy that same base! The entire campign has a total of 47 missions.
This isn't a review, per se, but just a basic look at TA:K for Old_Warrior42 and whoever might be interested in the game. I hope I was of assitance.
Dreadnought posted 06-23-99 11:17 AM ET
Hmmm, what the heck happened to the middle paragraphs? I guess that's from typing the thing in Word and pasting it here. Last time I do that again.....
Hugo Rune posted 06-23-99 12:55 PM ET
I did not like TA for the following reasons:
1. Early missions too hard, steep learning curve.
2. Too many, too similar units. No real purpose for every single unit.
3. too many weird AI options.
4. Too hard deathmatch.
5. Weird graphics, lack of "quirky" units like those of Red Alert or Warcraft.
6. Lack of... disticntion... in the look and story of the game.
Will I like TA:Kingdoms?
onepaul posted 06-23-99 01:18 PM ET
Played it and liked it too. You're right, graphics are kick ass. But for some reason I found myself going back to Dark Reign. Maybe I was a bit discouraged by the level of difficuly on the 1st few levels...
Dreadnought posted 06-23-99 02:03 PM ET
1. Early missions too hard, steep learning curve.
I found the early missions to be quite easy. The learning cure wasent very long for me.
2. Too many, too similar units. No real purpose for every single unit.
In Kingdoms, like I said, there are fewer units for each side, so the units are less redundant. Each unit has it's own purpose.
3. too many weird AI options.
Don't know what you mean by this.
4. Too hard deathmatch.
I havent done any deathmatched yet, so I can't give an honest opionion here.
5. Weird graphics, lack of "quirky" units like those of Red Alert or Warcraft.
Do you mean creative units? Or just silly units like Tanyas.
6. Lack of... disticntion... in the look and story of the game.
In TA:K the story is now an intergal part of the game, each mission being followed by a cutscene stating the satus of the war and so on.
Like I said, if you played regular TA and didn't like it, you probly won't like kingdoms. But to be sure try the demo when it is released.
Oh, and anouther thing is this game is a real system pig. It has the highest minimun requirements I've seen in a game so far. You need a 233mz, 32mb, 80mb space, 4x cd rom. Although the game ran just peachy on my pII 266 with 64mb system.
JohnIII posted 06-23-99 02:07 PM ET
I think I'd love it, apart from the lack of a Big Bertha (unless there is one. WELL?!! IS THERE???)
John III
Hugo Rune posted 06-23-99 03:10 PM ET
DN:
Hugo:-3. too many weird AI options.
Dreadnoght:-Don't know what you mean by this.
Too many patrol/stay/agressive options.
Do you mean creative units? Or just silly units like Tanyas.
I mean units with a distinctive look and feel. Tanya is one, but generally I thought the units in TA were too anonymous and... "soulless". If you get my drift. I think the robotic theme had something to do with this. You didn't really get a feel for any unit- they were functional, nothing more.
OldWarrior_42 posted 06-23-99 03:26 PM ET
Thanks Dreadnought...I have been watching the board patiently. Sounds kick ass. Next game I am anticipating now for this year is Age of Empires: Age of Kings.
ZRand007 posted 06-27-99 01:10 PM ET
Hey, Tanya wasn't a silly unit! She could kill any infantry unit before they even saw her!
Shake it baby!
-007
The World Is Not Enough
(Usually I put lyrics from the above movie's song here, but this one doesn't have one yet!)
Dreadnought posted 06-27-99 01:20 PM ET
That's my point Rand. I multiplayer or skirmish, you could easily win the game with 5-8 Tanyas. They kill infantry in one shot and can destroy buildings with incredible ease. I felt this unit was ill-concieved and grossly inbalanced the game.
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Author	Topic: Total Annihilation: Kingdoms- First Impression
Dreadnought	posted 06-23-99 11:15 AM ET It depends. If you liked the original TA< then you'll really love TA:K, but if you didn't like TA, then you probably won't like TA:K. First things first, this game has incredible graphics. The screen shots don't do this game justice. TA:K has easily the best graphics I have ever seen in an RTS There are less units to choose from, so theren't aren't as many redundant units as in TA. This can be a good or bad thing, depending on whether or not you used medium tanks at all in TA =P. Terrain is still far more important than in most RTS games, but unfortunately, many of the pre-packaged maps are fairly flat. There are quite a few very nice ones, though. There are 4 races, and they are different. aside from the fact 2 of the races have virtually the same basic infantry, the sides have drastic differences (the 2 sides are Aramon and Veruna, they both use a footman and an archer for their weakest units, but they are very different after that). Each race has a Sacred Dragon unique to that race (each one has different spells, though the effects tend to be similar). Only 1 Sacred Dragon may exist for a player at a time. In other words, you can't build a second until the first dies. There is also a randomly-appearing Deity for each race, although I have not seen any yet. All units are payed for with Mana, the only resource, which must be collected using LodeStones placed on Sacred Stones. This is the ONLY method of getting Mana, unlike TA with multiple ways to produce metal, you get Mana ONLY from LodeStones, which MUST be built on Sacred Stones, which in turn are fairly rare. Aramon (Earth): These guys have a TOUGH army. High HP, high damage, and high speed make them pretty strong on the land. An extremely weak navy (their only water unit is a combination transport/gunship) and no real air power (their only flying combat unit is their Sacred Dragon) Veruna (Water): The only race with floating buildings, Veruna also has the largest navy. Their ground power is fairly impressive, too. They also have little air power (more than Aramon, though), and they tend to be on the slow side. Zhon (Air): The only race that doesn't produce units from buildings. In fact, aside from the mana-gathering LodeStone and Divine LodeStone, Zhon has only 2 buildings, the Shield Battery-like Sacred Fire and the Tesla Coil-like Death Totem. Zhon is the most unpredictable; they have a competent ground force, an excellent air force, and a single-unit navy that is nonetheless competent. Some of their units are very fast and weak, while others are slow and strong. Some, like the Drake, are fast AND fairly strong, and need to be watched for. However, if you know what Zhon is doing, its easier to counter than the other 3 races. Taros (Fire): These are the guys SC players will like the most, since micro pays off here. For practically every combat unit, Zhon has a spellcaster. Luckily, in TA:K, you can designate a spell for a unit, and when it is attacked, it will automatically cast that spell on the enemy. This does mean you need to remember to leave the spell set to something that targets a single unit, so you don't end up blasting your own guys when Zhon flies one of their super-fast air units over a spellcaster. Also, you should know that the campaign is played quite diffrently than most RTS games. You start playing the single campign, and switch between the diffrent sides as you complete each mission. This leads to some very creative situations, where for instance you establish a beachhead on the Zhonian coast as Veruna for one mission, and in the next mission, as Zhon, your objective is to destroy that same base! The entire campign has a total of 47 missions. This isn't a review, per se, but just a basic look at TA:K for Old_Warrior42 and whoever might be interested in the game. I hope I was of assitance.
Dreadnought	posted 06-23-99 11:17 AM ET Hmmm, what the heck happened to the middle paragraphs? I guess that's from typing the thing in Word and pasting it here. Last time I do that again.....
Hugo Rune	posted 06-23-99 12:55 PM ET I did not like TA for the following reasons: 1. Early missions too hard, steep learning curve. 2. Too many, too similar units. No real purpose for every single unit. 3. too many weird AI options. 4. Too hard deathmatch. 5. Weird graphics, lack of "quirky" units like those of Red Alert or Warcraft. 6. Lack of... disticntion... in the look and story of the game. Will I like TA:Kingdoms?
onepaul	posted 06-23-99 01:18 PM ET Played it and liked it too. You're right, graphics are kick ass. But for some reason I found myself going back to Dark Reign. Maybe I was a bit discouraged by the level of difficuly on the 1st few levels...
Dreadnought	posted 06-23-99 02:03 PM ET 1. Early missions too hard, steep learning curve. I found the early missions to be quite easy. The learning cure wasent very long for me. 2. Too many, too similar units. No real purpose for every single unit. In Kingdoms, like I said, there are fewer units for each side, so the units are less redundant. Each unit has it's own purpose. 3. too many weird AI options. Don't know what you mean by this. 4. Too hard deathmatch. I havent done any deathmatched yet, so I can't give an honest opionion here. 5. Weird graphics, lack of "quirky" units like those of Red Alert or Warcraft. Do you mean creative units? Or just silly units like Tanyas. 6. Lack of... disticntion... in the look and story of the game. In TA:K the story is now an intergal part of the game, each mission being followed by a cutscene stating the satus of the war and so on. Like I said, if you played regular TA and didn't like it, you probly won't like kingdoms. But to be sure try the demo when it is released. Oh, and anouther thing is this game is a real system pig. It has the highest minimun requirements I've seen in a game so far. You need a 233mz, 32mb, 80mb space, 4x cd rom. Although the game ran just peachy on my pII 266 with 64mb system.
JohnIII	posted 06-23-99 02:07 PM ET I think I'd love it, apart from the lack of a Big Bertha (unless there is one. WELL?!! IS THERE???) John III
Hugo Rune	posted 06-23-99 03:10 PM ET DN: Hugo:-3. too many weird AI options. Dreadnoght:-Don't know what you mean by this. Too many patrol/stay/agressive options. Do you mean creative units? Or just silly units like Tanyas. I mean units with a distinctive look and feel. Tanya is one, but generally I thought the units in TA were too anonymous and... "soulless". If you get my drift. I think the robotic theme had something to do with this. You didn't really get a feel for any unit- they were functional, nothing more.
OldWarrior_42	posted 06-23-99 03:26 PM ET Thanks Dreadnought...I have been watching the board patiently. Sounds kick ass. Next game I am anticipating now for this year is Age of Empires: Age of Kings.
ZRand007	posted 06-27-99 01:10 PM ET Hey, Tanya wasn't a silly unit! She could kill any infantry unit before they even saw her! Shake it baby! -007 The World Is Not Enough (Usually I put lyrics from the above movie's song here, but this one doesn't have one yet!)
Dreadnought	posted 06-27-99 01:20 PM ET That's my point Rand. I multiplayer or skirmish, you could easily win the game with 5-8 Tanyas. They kill infantry in one shot and can destroy buildings with incredible ease. I felt this unit was ill-concieved and grossly inbalanced the game.