Total Annihilation was an awesome game. And even today there are things in it that I still consider to be better than in other modern RTS games, or at least within its successors. I want to bring up the two following points, just for general discussion with the community and the devs. Sound Effects Even though the technical quality of the sound effects in Total Annihilation is not as good as today, the actual content was somehow... better. If you compare the sound effects to, lets say, Supreme Commander then by comparison those in Supreme Commander lack some... oomph, most of the time. Total Annihilation's sound effects (especially those of various cannons shooting) just were more raw, with more power. Sure, part of the problem is, that when you zoom out, the sound is automatically quieter in Supreme Commander (and I suppose the same thing will happen in Planetary Annihilation), which makes sense of course. All in all I hope that Planetary Annihilation has a good sound design... I can't say exactly what that entails or how to make sounds with such power as in Total Annihilation, but I hope the sound designer(s) will be able to create something cool . Debris Units and structures actually being blown apart into bits and pieces, that fly across your screen was also always a very immersive and cool thing in Total Annihilation. I know that there may be some technical or performance limitations, but it would be nice if Planetary Annihilation also had debris of this kind. May be even simulated debris, that can damage other units or structures (like in Total Annihilation)?
I agree on both points. I would also hope that unit destruction isn't as over-the-top/quick as in SupCom 2. I'd like seeing large units in FA have relatively slow deaths, made the game so much more epic. Case and point, the Galactic Collossus. Dropping to its knees and then face planting was really sweet.
If you like that, you should check out what we did for the Basilisk and Goliath in BlackOps! We really went over the top with those! xD Mike
One of the things I notice having just tried SupCom and TA back to back, debris in TA is a nice metallic colour, giving the impression that something weighty was destroyed. In comparison SupCom debris seems to be universally black, giving an impression of scorched paper. Again it may be my nostalgia glasses on to full effect, but I really do prefer TA in most matters. Sound effects in SupCom seems airy for lack of a better word. Maybe it's the all the laser weapons from SupCom. There's something about the sound in TA that gives the impression of actual impacts. I like the sounds of rockets, missiles and explosions. Again probably because I played way more TA than SupCom.
I feel the same way. But it might be bias because naturally I prefer TA more than Supcom in every way.
You mean the wreckage that is left behind? Well, I was talking about the debris, smithereens, that are flying around when an asset is destroyed in Total Annihilation . But on that note: the metallic looking wreckage of TA always gave me the impression that all of a sudden either only the painting of the units blew away upon destruction ;P or that it suddenly turned into a monolithic metal structure through magic.
