Why TA was so Grand?

heck, i don't remember. I only remember it looking like a Ferris Wheel, with cannons instead of seating.

That was indeed the superior CORE Buzzsaw, and you have made the correct choice.

DO SO NOW.

TA is one of these games that I still have here as original and i never sold because every holiday I sit by the sea with my old shitty notebook, a glass of wine, fresh goat cheese and DosBox on. If it ain't one of the other timeless classics like Pirates!, Civ or X-Com it is TA. This game definetly belongs to the hall of fame of computer gaming. It works when you're a teenager, it works when you're a student, it works when you start your job, it works when you become a father, it works... mmmh... I'm not that far yet

I saw a lot of hype around TA, i wanted to try it, got it maself, but i didnt like that game. Of course TA will not be able to hype a player who's grown up with supcom

I disagree, I grew up with SupCom and I had way more fun playing TA than I did playing SupCom.

how so? u didn't like the graphic or the gameplay?

TA is better than supcom for sure

I didnt like the style, the graphics where "okay", kind of confusing game, but i dunno - it was kinda the first level when i spammed units a while, some lil fights, but the spark just didnt set me in flames.

The music. Back then that was by far the most epic soundtrack I'd ever heard. Then the modding began...

Shore vs Shore.

My best friend and I had a friendly build timer. I had 7 or 8 vulcans up and running with sufficient energy plants to keep them all operational. If it hasn't been mentioned, every weapon has a consumption of energy and/or mass and the vulcan or buzzsaw took more to build than a nuke and twice as much to operate(*I don't actually know the values, but that's how it felt). My buddies massive airforce started to pour into my radar range. The vulcans lit up, and less than a 1/3rd of his attack force made it up against my defensive net.

My defense started at the edge of the big island and went across, then a mid point, then the shore and then on the ridge line and finally some intermixed with resource buildings.

TA was a game where you could build base defenses that could not be overrun without the use of nukes. If one nuke made it through your anti-nukes a hole large enough to cost you the game could be blown through.

Flying construction units were a god send. I would build a number of advanced air factories and build hundreds of advanced construction planes and put the factory on patrol of territory. Then I would use individual units to cue my production and the patrolling construction units would help automatically or repair damaged structures.

I had a game running that I left going for 24 hours on my Macintosh G4(I orginally played on PC) and the AI could not break my defenses.

My first RTS was C&C for dos, but TA changed my whole outlook on RTS games and while I remained a loyal fan to the C&C franchise, TA had my heart.

SupCom brought about a number of interesting features but didn't seem to actually build on TA, rather it seemed like a somewhat cheapened Hollywood remake. SupCom felt like it was going backwards, other than strategic zoom.

That sounds familiar. I wonder why.

Oh wait, that was exactly the same game I posted about playing. Huh. Imagine that.
Story stolen? Or perhaps players with the same idea.
Even the exact same points about aircraft I made before. ARE YOU ME FROM THE FUTURE OR SOMETHING?!

Also, the AI wasn't that advanced in TA, it simply streamed units at you as fast as it built them. There was no grouping, no tactics, no micromanaging, nothing. So if you had a defense box of 20 Guardians/Punishers every few points around your base, it was pretty hard-up for an AI to hit past it with ground. Especially if you had enough aircraft to fly around and repair and guard against enemy aircraft. Krogoths were sometimes a thing if they got close enough because of their immense HP and death explosion, though. Something you normally have to pay attention to.

I bought TA a few weeks ago and simply couldn't get into. First was the problem that it was so old - I could turn up the screen resolution and deal with a UI that's simply not designed for a big monitor, or leave it at 800x600.

Then I tried the Core campaign and got all the way to the Spider mission (which I think was the
second...?) before I forgot the objectives midway through and, despite my best efforts to find a "mission objectives" button, died before figuring it out.

Then I tried a Skirmish, was forced to fumble through menu options to set up a battle which might kinda sorta be fun, but thanks to the horrible map preview, wound up on a map that didn't have any land connecting the player spawns.

So basically, while I respect the heritage of the game, I really don't think it has aged well. I'm looking forward to PA to take the spot of my favorite RTS, which is still SupCom2.

Uh oh. I just insulted TA and said that SupCom2 is my favorite RTS. *runs away*

Your opinion is just that.

Still did you try it with the 3.9.01 beta patch?

http://www.tauniverse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42656

The mission objectives button was in the F2 menu. I don't think you tried hard enough, once you actually play the game it's fun.

Also keybinds and mods help with the tiny menu on larger monitors.

Skirmish AI isn't very challenging, the campaign has the odds stacked correctly though. Try Hard at first.

However do note the campaign suffers greatly from 'poking the bear' but from the start you can play any mission you want.

No, I haven't seen that patch! Thank you. I installed it and had another go. Results are below...

Well, seeing as I didn't know that the F2 key did anything at all, I think my confusion is understandable!

I played a couple more missions of the campaign and I still don't see what the big deal is.

Again, I understand its historical significance: it was the first RTS in a small family that really did things right. But today, I see it as the absolute bare minimum that I could actually call a good strategy game; while it doesn't do anything wrong as far as game design (except for a few major quirks that can be forgiven due to its age), it has nothing to excite me, beyond effectively being a simplified version of Supreme Commander (Unlike most hardcore gamers, I generally consider simplified to be a good thing, especially compared to SupCom1 which was far more complex than it really needed to be). But if I wanted a simplified SupCom, I might as well play SupCom2, which for all its faults, manages to inherit many the things I liked about the first that aren't in TA (strategic zoom, experimentals, factory repeat, etc) - and a lot of my friends play it, which is a huge advantage.

That said, I'm encouraged for PA's future by playing TA. It's a solid foundation for a great RTS. It just needs to be brought up to modern technology and given a unique, engaging hook. A hook like blowing up planets. Yeah, that outta do the trick!

Different people are attracted to different things, I can respect that. For me, TA was so great because it required a modicum of actual strategy. SupCom was primarily an economy war with a little bit of strategy thrown in, buggy pathfinding and chokepoints, at least in my opinion.

But that's just me being anal and grimderp, I still had fun with SupCom, it just didn't live up to my expectations.

I totally agree. C&C was my first and really really god memories form that but then TA came into my world... I can honestly say that I don't have any other game that found a way into my heart in that way. And I have played a lot of games. I actually considering trying to install it once more just to see if I remember correctly.

I really hope to see more TA in PA.
And that includes the Big Bertha! Just as said it is the thing that I remember the most of TA. And of course the epic battles you could have. And not to forget the music! Just wonderful. And the intro film... oh dear.. I think I memorized it completely once. =P
Yes I hope you uber-guys listen to this.
More TA!

Modding.

I remember modding TA trying to balance it with various units that I tried for ARM and CORE and having a whale of a time. MAD-TA, Mayhem Inc and other TA moddding sites.

I recall modding TA myself, extracting individual units from mod packs and battling my brother with them. The Karganeth was so awesome and other units that people devised with their various ingenuities. I will probably attempt some planet making on PA sooner or later too.

Why was Ta so grand?

The flexability of different stratagies. - You can build nothing but constructions and static defences. Go air first on a land map. One island on Gods of War. Fast Bertha.

You can attack from the first minute.

The Commander. - Has a one hit kills all weapon (D-Gun), Commander death will blowup everything in a certain radius. ( i loved commander bombing)

Roach bombs

Micromanaging a bomber. or a freedom fighter.

Being able to reclaim wreckage and comeback.

Nukes and superlong range weapons

Being able to select 100s of units and attack

sneaking in a sub and destroying a tidal farm.

To be honest im struggling to articulate why TA was such a great game for me. The combination of gameplay, balance and micromanagement was amazing. I loved coming back from near death to win. Having a single bomber with 25+ kills or expanding over the entire map. It just had a really good feel to it.

After having seen the kickstarter animation i was very interested and then seeing some of the alpha videos on youtube i was sold and purchased the retail version. I hope Uber can keep the feel of TA. I hope you will be able to linebomb and intense microing of single units will be rewarded.

Anyway looking foward to december when its finshed (or later if delayed i just want a good RTS dont care if its delayed )

Peace.

actualy the availability of the unitset was what made me like TA ..
to me TA is how a simulated groundwar should look like .. i mean you had almost everything to play with
.. bots, tanks, aircraft, bombers , nuclear warfare, and proper long range artillery, .. not to forget propper navalunits
with propper navalbattles !! and though just the tip of the iceberg .. a hovercraftset! .. so much stuff to choose from ..
then the physiksystem and how seamless production worked when you figured it out .. it was unbelieveable .. coupled with that amazing soundtrack brought the kid out of me again playing with big tools of destruction and let metalavalanches clash toghether with a cityspanning firework *big grin* ..

this IS indeed grand