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General discussionThrowback Thursday: Total Annihilation: Commander Pack(17 posts)(17 posts)
(17 posts)
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Posted January 20, 2022
Throwback Thursday is back, and in this week's episode, we're focusing on one of the games that received exclusive free goodies, including concept arts and illustrations, through our collaboration with the The Video Game History Foundation! So let's go back in time and talk a bit about Total Annihilation: Commander Pack.

This classic RTS is set in a technologically advanced but devastated universe, where two warring factions have been at each other's throats for over 4000 years, destroying everything in the wake of their ideologically-driven conflict, until only two military leaders, the Commanders, remain, along with their troops. As peace is not an option, you will fight through two story-driven campaigns, focusing on each faction, on a variety of moons and planets. The game features an array of mission objectives, a vast number of units that range from ground to air to navy, different map topographies, and takes every advantage of the innovative mechanics it brought to the genre, from resources to radars, to create an experience that keeps its freshness through the game.



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Total Annihilation, what to even say about it... Released when I was only 5, though I didn't play it at the time, it's still one of my earliest gaming memories. So let it be known that having to ponder on strategies isn't my strong point, but DAMN, that RTS though! The number of different units, the straightforward resource management, the sheer chaos of the fights, the exploitable mechanics, the gloomy grey tones, the dynamic gameplay, and the pessimistic campaign that rushes you into the realization that truly, nothing will be solved until you have reached Total Annihilation... I LOVE IT.

The Throwback Thursday series is done in cooperation with The Video Games History Foundation – a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and teaching the history of video games. If you want to support them, we encourage you to check their donation page. And if you'd like to see all the games in this ongoing series, go to its dedicated page. For an extra dose of classics love, check out our current sale and the brand new additions to the catalog!
Posted January 20, 2022
I suck at RTS so I never went far with this title. Funny how it's not mentioned that this game was produced by Ron Gilbert.
Posted January 20, 2022
Still fun. Amazing RTS from the classic era that is not exactly "classic era" but almost. It was one of the first RTS to offer a pseudo 3D top down engine where the terrain matters. Massive battles for the era, destructible woods, usable srap from the destroyed units and the burnt woods, It focus more in the big picture than individual micro of an unit, but It is still traditional in that regard. fun resource managing that is more strategic and less "base construction" than other examples of the golden RTS era like starcraft or age of empires. It is more about a "mobile base campaign"

All of this was expanded in the spiritual successor, obviously, but TA was the precursor of what became years later, in the 2000, the new standard in RTS. Less resources, more direct, battle focused.

Amazing game to revisit years later and it still stands the test of fun again. It has something special
Posted January 20, 2022
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Gudadantza: All of this was expanded in the spiritual successor, obviously, but TA was the precursor of what became years later, in the 2000, the new standard in RTS. Less resources, more direct, battle focused.
do you mean Total Annihilation: Kingdoms?
Posted January 20, 2022
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Gudadantza: All of this was expanded in the spiritual successor, obviously, but TA was the precursor of what became years later, in the 2000, the new standard in RTS. Less resources, more direct, battle focused.
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Dogmaus: do you mean Total Annihilation: Kingdoms?
No. Supreme Commander.
Posted January 20, 2022
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GOG.com: ...
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...
I know a lot of the forum community is bitter and crabby and some might not give serious answers, but consider asking some of the long-time members for their own recommendations of games people should buy, and why. (I don't even mean myself, anybody, like ask Buried_In_Time and SCPM)
Posted January 20, 2022
Call me daft, but I still regard TA above Starcraft in terms of overall gameplay. Sure, the old Blizzard had a knack for storytelling and the "story" in TA was meager at best, but the game was way ahead of its time in more ways than one, proto-3D-ness aside. Along with Dark Reign, I'd classify it well within the top 10 of my RTS hall of fame.
Posted January 20, 2022
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Gudadantza: All of this was expanded in the spiritual successor, obviously, but TA was the precursor of what became years later, in the 2000, the new standard in RTS. Less resources, more direct, battle focused.
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Dogmaus: do you mean Total Annihilation: Kingdoms?
As already mentioned above I meant Supreme Commander, same concept of massive robot wars, same designer, different franchise, but Kingdoms, well, could be valid as "other" spinoff successor in the sense of some the things I mentioned. After all Newest RTS also adopted the way of things Kingdoms offered. But sadly it is not the same. TA is much better. I always perceived TAK as more generic and boring.
Posted January 21, 2022
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Dogmaus: do you mean Total Annihilation: Kingdoms?
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Gudadantza: As already mentioned above I meant Supreme Commander, same concept of massive robot wars, same designer, different franchise, but Kingdoms, well, could be valid as "other" spinoff successor in the sense of some the things I mentioned. After all Newest RTS also adopted the way of things Kingdoms offered. But sadly it is not the same. TA is much better. I always perceived TAK as more generic and boring.
thank you for clarifying, I had misunderstood!
Post edited January 21, 2022 by Dogmaus
Posted January 21, 2022
The goodies addition is awesome, thank you!
Posted January 21, 2022
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igrok: The goodies addition is awesome, thank you!
I never caught that (since I don't read the descriptions often), thanks for noting this
Posted January 21, 2022
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WinterSnowfall: Call me daft, but I still regard TA above Starcraft in terms of overall gameplay. Sure, the old Blizzard had a knack for storytelling and the "story" in TA was meager at best, but the game was way ahead of its time in more ways than one, proto-3D-ness aside. Along with Dark Reign, I'd classify it well within the top 10 of my RTS hall of fame.
I know this will be an unpopular opinion, but imo Blizzard RTS titles never had much to show in terms of gameplay.
Total Annihilation still stands strogn today despite its age, and the above mentioned "unofficial successor" Supreme Commander takes everything to 11.
Story is fine and all, but as I always say a video game needs stong gameplay first, a good story is a welcome addition but it's not really necessary.
Then, there are cases like Disco Elysium when story and gameplay are one and the same, best of both worlds.
Post edited January 22, 2022 by Enebias
Posted January 22, 2022
TA was a fantastic game that really pushed the limits of gaming when it came out. Had to upgrade gfx card to ru this.

This was a great Lan game and would spend hours at my mates with 3 others blasting each other into the wee hours of the morning. The fact that the game used 3d units gave them more life that the dprote based assets of other games and having to use the terrain for cover and tactics made it mroe complex than starcraft or C & C.
Posted January 22, 2022
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aluinie: TA was a fantastic game that really pushed the limits of gaming when it came out. Had to upgrade gfx card to ru this.
No, you didn't. You're probably misremembering this part. TA is purely software 3D accelerated. TA: Kingdoms first introduced hardware acceleration via Glide (3dfx).

"I was there, Gandalf, 3000 years ago" :P.
Post edited January 22, 2022 by WinterSnowfall
Posted January 22, 2022
Total Annihilation was a real stand out addition in what was at the time an overcrowded genre. The mechanics of it far surpassed everything else, it had an amazing soundtrack and it even managed to justify building bases on the front line. Which is something that never made much sense in a lot of other RTS.

The complaint that the factions aren't different enough still stands, I suppose. But at least it made for balanced matches with hundreds of units everywhere.
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General discussionThrowback Thursday: Total Annihilation: Commander Pack(17 posts)(17 posts)
(17 posts)