Boot Disc 18/boot-disc-1998-02.iso/TotalAnn/README.TXT

Text File | 1997-12-17 | 24KB | 487 lines

TOTAL ANNIHILATION DEMO

This is a demo version of Total Annihilation, consisting of three single
player missions taken from the full version of the game.  The full version
of Total Annihilation contains 50 missions as well as over 35 skirmish
maps and extensive multi-player capabilities.  Every week new units will
be available to download and incorporate into the full version of the game.
To find out more about Total Annihilation, visit the web site at http://www.cavedog.com.


READ ME CONTENTS:

1.    The Galactic War
2.    System Requirements
3.    Game Components
4.    Main Battle Screen Interface
5.    Unit Orders
6.    Using the Mouse
7.    Building Units and Structures
8.    Keyboard Commands
9.    Mission Walk-Throughs


1.    The Galactic War

Long ago the galaxy had known peace. Paradise was ruled with the hand of science, and the
hand was that of the galactic governing body known as the Core.

Paradoxically it was the ultimate victory, the victory over death itself,
which brought about the downfall of their Paradise and started the war that would
decimate a million worlds. The process, called "patterning", involved the electronic
duplication of brain matrices and allowed the transfer of consciousness into durable
machines. Effectively it meant immortality, and the Core decreed the process mandatory
for all citizens in order to ensure their safety.

There were many who were unwilling to toss aside their bodies so casually, many indeed
who regarded patterning as an atrocity. They fled to the outer edges of the galaxy
where they banded together to form a resistance which became known as the Arm. War
began, though it was never officially declared by either side. The Arm developed
high-powered combat suits for its armies, while the Core transferred the minds of its
soldiers directly into similarly deadly machines. The Core duplicated its finest
warriors thousands of times over. The Arm countered using cloning. The war raged on
for over four thousand years, consuming the resources of an entire galaxy and leaving
it a scorched wasteland.

Both sides lay in ruins. Their civilizations had long since vanished; their
once vast military complexes were smashed. Their armies were reduced to a few
scattered remnants which continued to battle on ravaged worlds. Their hatred fueled
by millennia of conflict, they would fight to the death. For each, the only acceptable
outcome was the complete and utter annihilation of the other.



2.    System Requirements

Minimum Requirements
CPU:        100 Mhz Pentium or faster
RAM:        16MB
OS:        Windows 95
Hard Drive:    40 MB available storage
CD-ROM:        4x speed CD
Display:    640 x 480 x 256 Colors
Input:        Microsoft (or 100% compatible) mouse.
Software:    Direct X version 5 must be installed.

Recommended for Full Version
CPU:        133 Mhz Pentium or faster
RAM:        24 MB

Optional
A sound card is recommended for maximum enjoyment of Total Annihilation, but not
required.  If a sound card is used it must be Direct X compatible 3D Surround Sound System.


3.    Game Components
Total Annihilation features two fundamental game components:  Units and Resources.
Units can be Mobile Units (tanks, ships, planes, etc.), or Structures (factories,
metal extraction plants, etc.).  The most important unit is the Commander.  Additional
units are described in greater detail below.  Resources, which consist of metal and
energy, are the fundamental building blocks of the other game components.  By
collecting or reclaiming these basic resources, you will be able to create everything
else you need to annihilate your opponent.

UNITS
Commander
You are the Commander of the ARM or the CORE. You possess a matter/anti-matter backpack
which produces and stores metal and energy.  You have one of the most powerful weapons
on the battlefield, the Disintegrator Gun.  You also have the ability to construct an
entire complex of war with your nano-lathe. Your battlesuit will self-repair slowly
if it takes damage.  Lastly you can gain energy by reclaiming bio-mass (trees and other
plants) or gain metal by reclaiming the metal found in wrecks.

Mobile Units
You have access to a full complement of land, sea, and air units, including scouts,
transports, construction and combat units.  The game begins with just the Commander
and his matter/anti-matter backpack.  ItÆs up to you to build the necessary units and
structures (see below) to mobilize your forces.  See How To Play, below, for more
information on building structures and units.

Structures
Structures provide a variety of functions, such as storing energy and metal,
constructing mobile units, and acting as offensive and defensive weapons. Structures
that build mobile units are known as factories. See How To Play, below, for more
information on building structures and units.


RESOURCES
The two fundamental resources available to you are Metal and Energy.  Every unit
or structure that you build will require a certain amount of each.

Metal
Metal is the substance from which all units are created. Metal can be extracted
from the ground with a Metal Extractor or reclaimed from the wreckage of destroyed
units.  Metal deposits look like a rough section of shiny rocks.

Energy
Energy powers all activity.  Energy can be collected using Wind Generators,
Solar Collectors, and several other structures.  On some planets organic matter
can be converted to energy using one of the many Construction units.


4.    Main Battle Screen Interface

Battle Map
The Battle Map is a top-down 3D perspective of the battlefieldÆs terrain.  The
mapped (gray) areas are places your units have explored.  Your battle map will
retain knowledge of terrain but not of enemy activity in that area. The black
areas of the screen show  unexplored territory.

Orders Button
Displays commands available to the unit currently selected.  These commands
vary depending on the unitÆs capabilities.

Build Button
Displays units and structures that the currently selected unit can build.
When a unit does not have this ability, the option is not available.

Mini-Map
Displays the entire battlefield in the top left corner, showing both terrain
and radar information.  Units can be given orders with the mini-map.

Unit Color
Your color is displayed in the upper left corner.

Selected Unit(s)
Selected units are outlined in green.

Unit Status Bar
The unit status bar is displayed in the lower left portion of the screen when
a unit is selected. The left bar displays the selected unitÆs health status.
The right bar indicates the health status of the unit associated with the selected
unit.  The notation in the center describes their association.

Sending Messages
Press Enter to bring up the Message box.  Messages typed here will appear on all
the other playersÆ screens accompanied by the name of its sender.  This is only
available in multi-player games.

Metal and Energy Resources
Displays resource information.  Shows storage capacity, current production and
usage.


5.    Unit Orders
Select a unit by clicking on it with the left mouse button (see Using the Mouse,
below, for information on the two mouse options).  When a unit is selected,
menus appear on the left side of the screen.  The menus display either the
orders each unit can be given or its build capabilities. You may give a unit
several orders at once.  Hold down the "Shift" key while giving multiple mouse
commands and the unit will undertake them in order.  Units can have standing
orders, specialty orders, or immediate orders.  The three types of orders are
described as follows:

STANDING ORDERS
Standing orders control the unitÆs aggressiveness and mobility.  These orders will
determine your unitÆs basic behavior when interacting with enemy units.
This behavior is based on the combination of the aggressiveness and mobility
settings.  Standing orders are accessed via the top two buttons in the Unit Orders menu.

Aggressiveness
FIRE AT WILL - The unit will attack any unit in range. Most aggressive setting.
RETURN FIRE - Unit will not fire at an enemy unit until it has been fired upon.
HOLD FIRE -  Unit will not fire until ordered to do so.  Least aggressive setting

Mobility
ROAM - Unit has free range of movement when interacting with enemy units.
MANEUVER - Unit can move within a short range of its starting position to carry out
its standing orders.
HOLD POSITION - Unit will not move from current position.

SPECIALTY ORDERS
Specialty Orders apply to specific units, and are accessed via the middle set
of buttons. Many Specialty Orders as well as the selected mouse interface will
affect cursor behavior.  The cursor always reflects the left-click function.
See Using the Mouse, below, for more information.  When using the Left-Click
interface, the cursors shown below appear automatically to indicate the effect
that a left-click would have in that particular spot.  The cursors change as you
move the mouse pointer around the battlefield.  Not all unit orders have
corresponding cursors.

Activate / Deactivate
The unit can be turned on and off.

Cloaking
The unit has the ability to cloak, rendering it invisible to enemy units.
Cloaking uses energy.

IMMEDIATE ORDERS
Stop
Cancels an immediate or specialty order.  All orders that have been queued up
with the æshiftÆ key are also canceled.

Load / Unload
The unit has transport capabilities.

Reclaim
The unit can reclaim metal and energy from terrain, wreckage and other units.

Repair
The unit can be used to repair a damaged unit.

Capture
The unit can be ordered to capture an enemy unit.  The larger and more
armored the enemy unit is, the longer it will take to capture.

Move
The unit can be ordered to move to a new position.

Guard
The unit can be ordered to guard another unit.

Patrol
The unit can be ordered to patrol an area of the map.  If a mobile construction
unit is told to patrol an area, it will repair all friendly units it meets on its patrol.

Attack
The unit can be ordered to attack another unit.

D-Gun
The unit has the Disintegrator Gun.

Bomb
When bombers are ordered to attack, they show this cursor.


6.    Using the Mouse
Total Annihilation supports two mouse interface options:  Left-Click interface
(the default), and Right-Click interface. Both options use the left mouse button
to select a unit, and to click on the Build and Orders menus.  You can also left-click
and drag to select multiple units. You can change the mouse interface in the
Interface section of the Options menu.  With both the Left-Click and the Right-Click
interface, the cursor continually updates to indicate the action that would result by
left-clicking on that spot on the screen.  However, because only the Left-Click
interface allows you to activate an order by left-clicking on the battlefield, it
alone shows the cursor changing to indicate the pending action.

Left-Click Interface
The Left-Click interface uses the left mouse button for selecting a unit as well
as activating an order.  To select a unit, place the cursor over it and click the
left mouse button. A selected unit displays a green outline. Once the unit is
selected, you can use the left mouse button to activate an order. For example,
you can move a selected unit to an open field by left-clicking on the field.
Or you can order a selected unit to attack an enemy unit by left-clicking the
enemy unit.  As you move the cursor around the screen, it will change shape to
indicate the action that left-clicking would carry out at that location. You can
deselect a unit by right-clicking.  You can also right-click inside the mini-map
view and move the mouse while holding the right button down to scroll the mini-map.
You can right-click outside the mini-map view to center the mini-map view over
that point.

Right-Click Interface
As with the Left-Click interface (see above), you select a unit by left-clicking
it. Once a unit is selected, use the right mouse button to activate the default
order. For example, you can right-click on an open field to move the selected unit
there.  You can also give a unit orders by left-clicking one of the command buttons
on the left side of the screen.  See Unit Orders, above, for more information.
Use the left mouse button to deselect and to move the mini-map view.  Because the
cursor only changes to show what the left mouse click will do (as in the Left-Click
interface), the cursor does not update to show  what the right mouse click will do.


7.    Building Units and Structures
Construction units and factories can build other units.  Select a mobile construction
unit or factory, and press the build button just under the mini-map to display the
Build menu.  Up to six buttons will be displayed, each with a picture showing the
unit that can be built.  If you move your cursor over these buttons, information about
the cost of the unit will appear on the Unit Status Bar at the bottom of the screen.
To build a unit, simply click on the corresponding button.  You can build multiple
units by clicking the button once for each unit to be built.  For example, to build
five units, click the button five times. Below the six buttons are two arrows.
Clicking on these arrows will move through
the selected units other build menus.

To Build a Structure
Use the Commander or a mobile construction unit to build structures.  Click on
the picture of the structure you wish to build and place the green outline in the
desired location.  If the square turns red, the structure cannot be built in that location.

To Build a Mobile Unit
Mobile units are built using factories.  Left-click on the unit icon in the
factoryÆs Build menu to start production.  Multiple clicks will queue up the build
orders.  Right-click to cancel a build order from the queue.


8.    Keyboard Commands
 CTRL1 - CTRL9        Assign the currently selected units to a squad
 ALT1 - ALT9        Activate (select) the previously assigned squad
 1 - 9            Select the menu for the current unit
 F1            Display information on selected unit
 F2            Bring up the Options menu
 F3            Go to the unit that last reported/chatted information
 CTRL+F9        Screen capture,  will Print screen to file SHOT####.pcx
 F12            Clear all chat messages
 CTRL+A            Select all of your units
 CTRL+C            Center screen and select your Commander
 CTRL+D            Self-destruct selected units (will toggle on and off)
 CTRL+S            Select all units currently on the screen
 CTRL+Z            Select all units of same type
 A            Give an attack order
 B            Select the Build menu for that unit
 C            Give a capture order
 D            Use the Disintegrator Gun
 E            Give a reclaim order
 F            Toggles fire orders
 G            Give a guard order
 H            Share resources with another player
 K             Toggles selected unit's cloaking capabilities
 M            Give a move order
 N            Scroll to the next unit off screen
 O            Select the Order menu for the current unit
 P            Give a patrol order
 R            Give a repair order
 S            Give a stop order (cancel any previous orders)
 T            Track the selected unit
 V             Toggles move orders
 -            Reduce the game speed
 +            Increase the game speed
 SHIFT            Hold down to queue up multiple commands
 ENTER            Activate the message bar
 ESC            Cancels the current command before it is executed
 , (comma)        Select the previous menu for that unit
 . (period)        Select the next menu for that unit
 ~ (tilde)        Toggle damage bars on the units
 PAUSE    Pause the game



9.     MISSION WALK-THROUGHS

Arm Mission 1:  A Hero Returns
Objective:  The objective of this mission is to secure the Galactic Gate from a Core threat.

Map:  You start near the middle bottom of the map.  The Galactic Gate is located
in the upper section of the map in a big caldera.  Core units are scattered across
the map to stop you from gaining control of the Gate.

Strategy:  Select all the units and use them together for more force.  You can do
this by clicking and dragging the green box over all the units on the screen or by
using the Ctrl-A key combination.  Using all your units together masses their firepower,
taking out enemy units faster with less damage incurred to your own units (very
important since you have no repair capabilities at this level).  Keep an eye on the
mini-map (upper left corner), your units will appear as blue dots.  The exposed area
will appear green, uncovered territory appears black, explored territory that is out
of sight shows gray and enemy units are red dots.  With your units still selected,
click on the upper left corner of the battle map.  Your units will start moving up
and to the left, across the terrain at different rates.  If you are trying to mass
your firepower onto enemy units, it's important to keep all of your units together,
so keep an eye on them and don't let them get too spread out.

Enemy units will quickly appear.  Click on the Core units as they come into sight.
Your units will converge and attack.  Continue this until there are no more enemy units.
Watch your cursor for changes.  It will reflect when a unit is out of attack range, etc.
You can also track unit health by turning on the damage bars, which appear as a
green line under each unit.  The damage bar turns red as a unit takes damage, until
the unit is dead (then it turns black).

Keep referring to the mini-map (upper left corner) since you can see enemy units
there before you can see them on your battle map.  Move your massed units in their
direction and attack as you see them.  Keep moving across the map toward your goal
attacking enemy units as you encounter them.  Move all your units up and into the
caldera containing the Galactic Gate.  This will end the mission.


Arm Mission 2: Core Kbot base, destroy it!
Objective:  Establish a base by building metal extractors, energy generators,
defensive systems and a Kbot manufacturing facility.  Destroy all Core units
or just the Core Kbot lab.

Map:  The map is comprised of two land masses separated by a river with two
crossing points.  The Core is on the larger L-shaped portion of the map from
the mid-left, down and over to the lower right.  Your units start in the
middle of the upper right section of the map.  The two crossing points are
the shallow portions of the river.  Just to your right is a small cliff
from which several Core units will launch an attack.  If you travel to the
upper right side of the screen you will see the entrance to a canyon be
prepared for patrolling Core units if you go there.  The Core Kbot lab is
located almost directly down from your starting position.

Strategy:  You start this map with a new unit, your Commander.  He's a very
powerful asset, but you only have one of them.  Protect him at all costs!

Begin by building energy generators.  Select the Commander and then the
Solar Collector from the build menu on the left side of the screen.  When you move
your cursor back onto your battle map, your cursor will appear as a green square
if it is over a suitable spot on which to build.  Select a spot, click and the
Commander will start building.  At the top of the screen are two bars, these
indicate the amount of Metal and Energy you have.  This will be affected as the
Solar Collector is built.  Move the cursor over the unit being built to track
the progress of its construction in the unit status bar at the bottom of the screen.

Once you've built the Solar Collector, build a Metal Extractor.  Metal Extractors
can be built anywhere, but on top of a silver metal deposit is best.  Repeat
this process until you have two more Metal Extractors and Solar Collectors then
build a Laser Tower.  This will help protect you from patrolling Core AKs that
might wander into your camp.  To queue, or issue consecutive orders,  to the
Commander, select a unit from the build menu, move your cursor over the battle
map, hold down the "Shift" key and left click the green build box where you want
the next unit to be built.  As soon as the Commander finishes building one unit,
he will start building the next.  Select a Kbot lab to build next.

You can wait until the Kbot lab is complete or start attacking the enemy now.
Select all the offensive Kbots, except the Commander.  Either click and drag
the green box over them or hold down the "shift" key and select each unit
individually with the left mouse button.  Once you have them all selected
press the CTRL-1 key combination.  If damage bars are visible, a number "1"
should now appear under all selected units.  They are now grouped and can all
be reselected by using the ALT-1 key combination.  Move them around the map
to search for the enemy.  Mass your firepower against one Core unit at a time.
Stop the units at the mouth of the canyon, they will finish up any Core units
that try to come through there.

Once the Kbot lab is complete click on it and the build menu will appear.  As you
move your cursor over the menu you will see the cost of metal and energy to
manufacture the available units.  Click on the Jethro 4 times.  You should see a
+4 superimposed over the Jethro icon.  This means your Kbot lab will build 4
Jethros before stopping production.  Don't stop there, click 4 times each on a
Hammer, Rocko and PeeWee.  The Kbot lab will start to "nanolathe" or build a
small assault force.  As units are nanolathed they walk off the platform.  Move
them to a clear area to wait until all the other units have been produced.

Once all the units have been manufactured select the whole group and use the
CTRL-2 key combination to set them as Group 2.  Move them all down to the river.
Find the shallow crossing point in the river and click on the other side.
As the first unit reaches the other side it will start taking fire from the
Laser Tower on the top of the ridge in front of you.  Head toward the Laser
Tower and as soon as you see the ridge crest, click on it.  You can click on
the Laser Tower to attack as soon as you see it, but it's on higher ground
and your fire will not be as effective.  Run your units to the ridge top and
then attack it.

You will encounter more enemy units once you reach the top of the ridge.
Continue toward your objective attacking as you go.  When you see Core
structures (a Radar Tower, an Energy Storage Unit and a Solar Collector),
destroy them but keep attacking the Core units as you see them.  None of
the structures can kill you but the Kbots can!  Once you have destroyed all
the buildings and aren't being attacked by roving Core units, continue moving
toward the goal.  You should see the Core Kbot lab as you move forward.
Attack and destroy it.  The mission ends as soon as the lab is demolished.


Arm Mission 3: Spider Technology
Objective:  Save at least one Spider by returning it to your base.

Map:  The map consists of three land masses separated by a "Y" in a river.
Your Commander and units start at the lower right side of the "Y".  The
spiders are located at the very top center of the map, at the summit of a
steep hill.

Strategy:  The key to this mission is time.  Build up your base with some
energy generators, a Metal Extractor and a couple Laser Towers for defense
(placed on the outside of the Dragon's Teeth).  If you start running low
on resources use your Commander to reclaim trees for energy and rocks for
metal.  Build a manufacturing plant of some sort and start producing units.
Slowly advance your units up the map to the Spiders; staying on your side
of the river makes it easier.  Once you've cleared a path for the Spiders
to get to your base, select them and walk them down.  You might have to
walk them around the base a little to complete the mission.







Copyright ⌐ 1997 Humongous Entertainment.  All Rights Reserved.