Total Annihilation: Kingdoms
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| Total Annihilation | |
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| Developer(s) | Cavedog Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Cavedog Entertainment |
| Latest version | 3.0 |
| Release date(s) | June 25, 1999 |
| Genre(s) | Real-time strategy (RTS) |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T (Teen) |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Media | CD-ROM |
| System requirements | Pentium 233 MHz, 32 MB RAM, Windows 95/98, VGA graphics card, Sound Blaster-compatible sound card, 4x CD-ROM drive, and 80 MB hard-disk space |
| Input | Keyboard, Mouse |
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms or TA:K is a medieval fantasy real time strategy game created by Clayton Kauzlaric and released by Cavedog Entertainment on June 25, 1999.
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[edit] Overview of Differences
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms was the anticipated second installment of the Total Annihilation franchise. Although the game was neither a prequel nor a sequel to the original Total Annihilation game, comparisons between the two games were inevitable. There were numerous thematic and design differences between Total Annihilation & Total Annihilation: Kingdoms. These changes included a more in-depth storyline (told with cutscenes between missions), a change from a futuristic setting to a fantasy setting, simplified resource-management, an additional two sides to play & a unified campaign trail that had the player playing all the sides throughout the game.
[edit] Story
The story involves four sibling monarchs in their struggle to dominate the land of Darien : Elsin of Aramon, Kirenna of Veruna, Thirsha of Zhon and Lokken of Taros, following the disappearance of their father, Garacaius.
A more detailed story and world was presented in Total Annihilation: Kingdoms than was in Total Annihilation. The missions coincided with the storyline that was presented. In one example, a cutscene describes that the side of Aramon obtains the use of gunpowder. In that mission, the player plays the side of Aramon where using a gunpowder-based unit is critical towards the success of that mission. The game booklet and a detailed HTML atlas of Darien also added further background information to the storyline.
[edit] Complexity
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms reduced the number of resource types from the two found in Total Annihilation (Metal and Energy) to one: Mana or magical energy.
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms also opted for fewer units than its predecessor. This was due, in part, to the added complexity of the models, animation and textures required for living creatures (versus the robots and machines of Total Annihilation), but also to allow the development team more opportunity to add unique, meaningful units over time. This may or may not have succeeded, since the smaller unit count was immediately seen as a drawback and the game itself did not remain popular long enough to see the creation of many additional units by Cavedog.
[edit] Units and sides
Where Total Annihilation had largely parallel technology trees between two similar sides, Total Annihilation: Kingdoms tried a more diversified approach. The sides were made to greatly vary from one another. The side of Aramon, had many "traditional" ground units such as knights, but also had a large number of heavily fortified buildings and defensive structures. Aramon weakness was that they had hardly any sea or air units. Veruna, on the other hand, had many sea units and several mobile siege engines. The side of Zhon (represented by animal-like beasts) has no structures at all (other than resource generation and one defensive structure), as all units were built by others, leading to huge armies that were constantly moving. Taros, a stereotypical "evil" race, had a number of powerful magical units that required a lot of micromanagement to use properly. The fifth race, Creon (added in the expansion pack The Iron Plague) had aspects of all the other races, but in particular had very destructive but overall delicate structures. Creon also had the most powerful unit in the game, the ghost of Garaciaus, but such a unit took so long to build that it was rarely seen in the game.
[edit] Interface
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms did feature a number of refinements and improvements with its interface design. The design ethic and innovations started with Total Annihilation were expanded, including infinite production queues, non-linear/interruptible queues and a fully playable mini-map mode. Squad designations for groups of units was easier and more intuitive than it was in TA. TA:Kingdoms also allowed players to see translucent images of all unbuilt structures in a build queue.
[edit] Campaign trails
The idea of a campaign sequence for each side was eliminated in favor of a single linear path that alternates between the four sides: Aramon, Taros, Veruna and Zhon. This allowed the developers to put all of their effort into a single narrative and its associated artwork.
[edit] The Iron Plague expansion set
Shortly before Cavedog's collapse, an expansion pack was released titled The Iron Plague. The premise of the sequel continued the storyline of the lost father of magic, Garacaius. Believing that magic was a source of conflict, Garacaius fled his kingdom and founded a new empire based on science and engineering, as opposed to magic. This new empire, Creon, quickly dominated the neighboring provinces and absorbed the knowledge of their conquests. Garacaius himself died, but the elected ruler of Creon (in a steam-powered robotic suit) eventually led the kingdom on a crusade against magic and the magical sibling rulers of Darian. The addon pack added an entire new faction to the game (the Science-engineer kingdom of Creon), as well as hundreds of new maps and entirely new graphics for map tile sets. The game also was to be the flagship title for Boneyards, which was Cavedog's equivalent of Battle.net as a central server for online multiplayer games. The game also added numerous new units to the existing factions, and rebalanced many of the units due to popular feedback.
[edit] Release
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms was released on June 25, 1999, reaching the top of the weekly game sales chart at its release, something Total Annihilation never achieved. It's success was short lived; TA: Kingdoms never truly reached a new audience, and fans of Total Annihilation did not appreciate the overall tone and design of the game, seeing it more as a deviation of Cavedog's first game, rather than a standalone product.
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms was the last major title from Cavedog. An expansion pack, "The Iron Plague", was released in 2000.
[edit] Legacy
Though never billed as a sequel or prequel to Total Annihilation, TA:Kingdoms carried with it the expectations engendered by the "Total Annihilation" in its name. It never resonated well with fans of the original game or critics, but Total Annihilation: Kingdoms did attain a reasonable measure of success with the number of units sold and its own following which is active to this day. In spite of this, the game continues to be seen as a failure and is often regarded as the reason for Cavedog's demise. This was more related to numerous unfinished projects, and the financial woes of its parent company, GT Interactive, though Total Annihilation: Kingdoms will undoubtedly continue to be seen as Cavedog's swan song.
[edit] Third party communities
Like Total Annihilation, Kingdoms still has a large fanbase. Over the years, many creative fans have built their own races and units. The best known races are Azurian, Delean, Tyrak and Brakada. Units come in various sorts; some of them perfectly fit into the game, some are just decent and some are just fun. There are even some total conversions made for TA: Kingdoms; including the Conflict of Arda TC (based upon The Lord of the Rings) and an Age of Wonders TC (based upon the game Age of Wonders). Add-ons are still made. The TA: Kingdoms third party community stands in the shadow of the TA community, but is still popular. The newest project is "TAK: The Beginning", made by a small group of veteran and new unitbuilders as an alternative prequel to the TA: Kingdoms storyline.
[edit] Platforms
- Microsoft Windows
- Partially runs on WINE
