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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.