The generals of years past and the weapons of the future In celebration of Total Annihilation's 23rd birthday I do indeed have some newsbits to share!



First up is that our community play-by-play man Postal has shared another of his renowned Gnug615 comes a match between himself and Gnug725 against TAG_Warlock and Aslan on that famous battleground map, Gods of War! This replay dates back over 20 years to April of 1999 - those primordial days where Cavedog still haunted the RTS gaming industry, and features tactics the likes of which you may have never seen before.





Click here to check out and subscribe to to the Total Annihilation Replays Youtube channel!

Second up is that Total Annihilation Wotan put together an incredible new piece of eyecandy to salute the valiant and venerable game that his project is built upon, and to showcase the flight and fury that





Click here to visit the Escalation Discord server! In celebration of's 23rd birthday I do indeed have some newsbits to share!First up is that our community play-by-play manhas shared another of his renowned Total Annihilation Replays reviews, and this one is pretty special. Straight from the secret archives of the legendarycomes a match between himself andagainstandon that famous battleground map,! This replay dates back over 20 years to April of 1999 - those primordial days wherestill haunted the RTS gaming industry, and features tactics the likes of which you may have never seen before.Second up is that Escalation main-manput together an incredible new piece of eyecandy to salute the valiant and venerable game that his project is built upon, and to showcase the flight and fury that Escalation contains! The preview image is below, but the ultra 8K version resides on the Escalation Discord server! You may even spot units yet to be released - and long awaited, in the expanded view!

Total Annihilation turns 23! Total Annihilation turns 23 years old this weekend! Do you have any treasured memories you'd like to share from your time playing the game or being a part of the community? Share them in the comments below!





We're also on Discord! Click the picture to stop by! turns 23 years old this weekend!Do you have any treasured memories you'd like to share from your time playing the game or being a part of the community? Share them in the comments below!

Remastered Total Annihilation intro Thanks to a contribution by TA community member, SnakeInTheMirror , Total Annihilation has seen what may be the first attempt at using neural network AI technology to enhance and upscale some of the venerable and memorable CG video that came with the game. So, below is the introductory video from Total Annihilation for your viewing pleasure:





Upon clicking above, the enhanced video will play first, and then a split-screen is is employed so that you can compare with the original footage. The improvement is noteworthy, and it's definitely worth checking out if you haven't come across it already. Thanks to a contribution by TA community member,has seen what may be the first attempt at using neural network AI technology to enhance and upscale some of the venerable and memorable CG video that came with the game. So, below is the introductory video fromfor your viewing pleasure:Upon clicking above, the enhanced video will play first, and then a split-screen is is employed so that you can compare with the original footage. The improvement is noteworthy, and it's definitely worth checking out if you haven't come across it already.

Interview with a Wotan Today I have an interview to share with Wotan , co-founder and leading man of the runaway train known as





What was your entry into the TA community? When did you first get the game and what were your initial thoughts about how it was constructed and its playability?

My brothers and I opened up one of the very first LAN gaming sites in the USA back in 1996, which we trademarked as the ‘Matrix’, before shutting it all down right before a certain movie came out years later… Anyway, we got heavily into real-time strategy gaming via Command & Conquer, that first year, when we started reading about this new ‘3D’ game in PC Magazine called Total Annihilation. With games like Quake and Magic Carpet, 3D was really in vogue as the Next Big Thing back then. TA looked cool, but at first it did not really seem all the much different than Dark Reign and some of the other next gen RTS titles on the horizon. That changed in the fall of ’97 when we first started up TA though. We had these "ginormous" 20” CRTs (you could play games on these for an extra $2.50 an hour) running TA at 800x600. My first memory of the game is playing on ‘Rock Alley’ as Core (color red, of course) looking at the massive Goliath tanks pushing northward toward my Arm enemy (blue, naturally). The depth, both map terrain and the amount of units was jaw dropping. I’d be lying if I said that is what hooked me on TA though – the real grab came a bit later when we found we were able to make maps after the release of Total Annihilation: Core Contingency. The seemingly endless creative potential as much as the playability is what really struck me about TA and it has remained that way ever since.

How did Escalation come about and what were your initial goals for the project?

The road to Escalation was quite a long and winding one on my side. I started out making maps and was really into the TAMEC scene early on. My younger brother introduced me to 3rd party units and I was again smitten with the concept of realizing one’s own vision for the ideal game. Like anyone else, I started out patching together different units into a collection to fill out the game. It was fun, but they were not my units and many others were doing it better, especially Uberhack and Brave Sir Robin . I really started to cut my teeth into learning about modding with Uberhack along with running a community of like-minded players and would-be modders by participating there. NJ_Thug was also a huge help and taught me 3D texturing in Rhino. C_A_P taught me the conversion process for adding Total Annihilation: Kingdoms tilesets and features into TA (I did the Creon, Zhon, and Aramon conversions that many still use today). I did a lot of small collaborations with Genghis Khan X , Caer , Silencer , Chinahook , VanTheMan , Sinclaire , Immerman , and many others before meeting this guy who was working on a new race called The Talon… It was not until two years later though, and after working on my own popular mod (with help from Boogalizer and Warlord ), that TheRegisteredOne , The Talon’s founder - and I realized that we could do something really special for TA. In a nutshell, merge the production quality standards of TheRegisteredOne 's brilliant work with the popular concepts and scope presented in my project into the ‘Ultimate TA Mod’ - Total Annihilation: Escalation.

For full-res pics and more previews on upcoming releases, check out the TA: Escalation Discord!

What do you envision the end-result of this momentous amount of work, the creation and execution of Total Annihilation: Escalation to be, and has that vision changed over the course of time due to the advancements in scripting and engine knowledge that have occurred over the years?

Until recently, the end result was really nowhere in sight – just churning out new ideas and concepts in line with all the new hacks and tweaks made available through the hard work of guys like Xon , Zwzsg , xpoy , and Admiral_94 and many others. Escalation certainly evolved with these new capabilities as we often forged them into unexpected and new units and concepts for the game. So many fresh ideas bore fruit early on that we soon realized that The Talon would likely have to be mothballed in favor of a more "fleshed-out" Arm and Core. This resulted in completing a true Level-3 tier and even larger Tier-4 units. Collaborations also continued to help round out the overall game with help from Archdragon , N72 , R1ME , Keeper , Idec , Zodius , MattyWS+ , Nightmare , and others. Now, years later, the answer is clear at least for me: Wrap up Tier-3 development, finish the Tier-4 ‘mini-tier’, and re-introduce The Talon in some form.

Do you hope that Escalation will outlive and outgrow Total Annihilation as a game, in the same way that a project like Zero-K arguably outgrew its origin?

I’d say yes being a bit selfish in that regard, and in a way that has already happened. Over the years we worked with so many talented, but different folks (both players and creators), such that the net effect has become greater than the sum of its parts. If you go online where TA is still played most (GameRanger), far more people play Escalation than OTA and that has been the case for quite a while now. Many of the former professional TA player ranks have gravitated toward the mod and have contributed also. However, Escalation is still "locked" within the TA ecosystem given that its assets are derived conceptually somewhat from TA itself. Personally, I’d love to see Escalation go beyond the TA engine, but unless that engine supports the core essence of TA (Robot War Engine being the best possibility!), it likely won’t happen anytime soon. The best possibility for any TA mod to outgrow the venerable TA engine though really lies with Total Annihilation: Zero in my opinion – it is truly a remarkable and fantastic achievement by Vohvelieläin !

Do you feel that a project like Escalation could be considered a more faithful "spiritual successor" to original Total Annihilation than the new real-time strategy titles that have been labeled as such, outside of the fact that Escalation is built on TA's engine? What, if any and in your opinion, were the key ingredients of Total Annihilation that the "spiritual successor" games missed out on?

As for all the so called "spiritual successors", the problem in my mind is that they fail to follow the very basics of what made TA so great! That starts with the left mouse click functions (why do all ‘modern’ games shy away from this!?). To all Devs out there: If it is not left-mouse click, it is not TA no matter how it looks, so start here with your next "spiritual successor". Next, is the infamous ‘strategic zoom’ (aka Icon Wars). While, in principle, this is a really cool feature in new games, the creators of Supreme Commander and Planetary Annihilation forgot something very important: the more you zoom out, the less detail you should have on your own and your opponent’s forces. Namely not having icons that tell you exactly what type and level the unit is, along with full control of said icons such that zooming back in is unnecessary or even detrimental to winning a completive. Keep the action where it is – the tactical layer. Finally, I’d add the immersive-ness of that close up action as an important factor along with a rich variety of units. I found SupCom’s units to be ‘holographic’ often lacking mass and feel, made worse by the very soft weapon and explosion sounds. Planetary Annihilation was hamstrung by round planets (kudos for trying something different, but…), a single race, and the strangely unnatural, natural "flow field" pathing mechanics. Ashes Of The Singularity suffered from a lack of essential unit basics like mechs and tanks and also stealing our color schema and name in their sequel!

For full-res pics and more previews on upcoming releases, check out the TA: Escalation Discord!



What work remains in order for you to consider Escalation to be a finished product, and do you imagine that there will be new territory to explore once main production has ceased?

Aside from the goals mentioned earlier (wrap up T3 development, finish the T4 ‘mini-tier’, and re-introduce The Talon in some form), it will be great to finally have a polished installer ( KmKickle and Draken have started), a finished AI ( TaFan97 & Fortitude are on this), and cleaned up Windows 10 support ( Thaldren 's Project Valkyrie). As for the Escalation community and our future, FN202 has our growing player base in great hands with the Total Annihilation Demo Archive and the new competitive gameplay ladder - with a 'locked' in Total Annihilation: Escalation, we're poised for an even richer asset of games and hopefully some big tournaments again! I would really like to sit back and enjoy the game as a player for once while taking on less demanding projects like revisiting the possibility of Escalation based missions (hopefully with Warlord ) and sunset things with getting back to where it all began – map making. I think there is still untapped potential with maps and tilesets in TA - both making larger maps playable online and in creating some awe-inspiring masterpieces. I am actually surprised that this has not happened already on a larger scale given the tools out there. MattyWS+ has started some incredible work here, but there are still many new worlds yet be explored. Today I have an interview to share with, co-founder and leading man of the runaway train known as Total Annihilation: Escalation . Without further ado..What was your entry into the TA community? When did you first get the game and what were your initial thoughts about how it was constructed and its playability?How didcome about and what were your initial goals for the project?What do you envision the end-result of this momentous amount of work, the creation and execution ofto be, and has that vision changed over the course of time due to the advancements in scripting and engine knowledge that have occurred over the years?Do you hope thatwill outlive and outgrowas a game, in the same way that a project likearguably outgrew its origin?Do you feel that a project likecould be considered a more faithful "spiritual successor" to originalthan the new real-time strategy titles that have been labeled as such, outside of the fact thatis built on TA's engine? What, if any and in your opinion, were the key ingredients ofthat the "spiritual successor" games missed out on?What work remains in order for you to considerto be a finished product, and do you imagine that there will be new territory to explore once main production has ceased?

New interview with Chris Taylor

Click the above image to visit the Forged Alliance Forever Youtube channel!

Our distant cousins over in the Supreme Commander: Chris Taylor . This in-depth and very conversational interview covers many topics including the storied history of Gas Powered Games, the process of building new RTS titles from scratch, navigating the stormy waters of the gaming industry and Chris Taylor 's legacy in it, where the Supreme Commander franchise stands today and what its future may look like, along with discussion on Chris Taylor 's future projects. It's well-worth your time to check out and is shared below.



Our distant cousins over in the Forged Alliance Forever community also have an interview series going with real-time strategy notables, with the most-recent entry being the sci-fi strategy kingpin himself,. This in-depth and very conversational interview covers many topics including the storied history of, the process of building new RTS titles from scratch, navigating the stormy waters of the gaming industry and's legacy in it, where thefranchise stands today and what its future may look like, along with discussion on's future projects. It's well-worth your time to check out and is shared below.

A really cool interview that slipped under our radar! While researching the



Last fall, an interview was conducted with the lead artist of Total Annihilation and lead designer of Total Annihilation: Kingdoms, Clayton Kauzlaric. Conducted by longtime TA: Kingdoms fan Blechy , the interview is fascinating and tells the story of Cavedog's transition from working on a universe of mindless and neverending robotic warfare, with Total Annihilation, to a largely story-driven tapestry of living beings locked in mystical combat on a single planet, with Total Annihilation: Kingdoms. Further, the interview takes a deep dive into the creation, the lore, the art, and the mechanics of TA: Kingdoms itself. Then, the interview transitions to the path Kauzlaric 's career has taken since the turn of the century, his favorite game to play in recent years and even his favorite Tarantino movies.



It's a really cool interview with someone that was heavily involved in the creation of some of the real-time strategy genre's most noteworthy titles, and can be checked out below.



While researching the previous newspost I stumbled across a cool piece of news that we missed!Last fall, an interview was conducted with the lead artist ofand lead designer of. Conducted by longtimefan, the interview is fascinating and tells the story of's transition from working on a universe of mindless and neverending robotic warfare, with, to a largely story-driven tapestry of living beings locked in mystical combat on a single planet, with. Further, the interview takes a deep dive into the creation, the lore, the art, and the mechanics ofitself. Then, the interview transitions to the path's career has taken since the turn of the century, his favorite game to play in recent years and even his favorite Tarantino movies.It's a really cool interview with someone that was heavily involved in the creation of some of the real-time strategy genre's most noteworthy titles, and can be checked out below.

Total Annihilation Commander Pack on sale In a galaxy far, far away..





Click the pic to go to the Total Annihilation storefront on Steam!

Total Annihilation went on sale! Yes, right now and until July 9th, the bunker-busting, genre-slaying, symphony of destruction that is the Total Annihilation Commander Pack , featuring the original game and both expansion packs, is 60% off on went on sale!Yes, right now and until July 9th, the bunker-busting, genre-slaying, symphony of destruction that is the, featuring the original game and both expansion packs, is 60% off on Steam! At a price like this (under $2), you can hand mayhem out like candy to your friends this summer!

Think you got what it takes? Mayhem Tournament Time is closing in on the inaugural Mayhem Tournament, organised thanks to newer, fast-learning player Poseidon372.



Mayhem has been undergoing a lot of testing and balance fine-tuning over the past few months... to be Tournament ready!



We have a good number of entries already, including some top players. There's room for a few more...



Interested in a bit of competitive Mayhem? Register your interest on the



Time is closing in on the inaugural Mayhem Tournament, organised thanks to newer, fast-learning playerMayhem has been undergoing a lot of testing and balance fine-tuning over the past few months... to be Tournament ready!We have a good number of entries already, including some top players. There's room for a few more...Interested in a bit of competitive Mayhem? Register your interest on the Mayhem Tournament poll

May the Strongest Prevail: Competitive Escalation



FN made a ladder site for playing ranked games of .comp in the lobby to agree to play a ranked match. Then upload the game to



Here are the steps in bullet form: Enter the battle room with your opponent

Type .comp in the lobby

Your opponent types .comp in the lobby

Play the game

Upload the recorded .ted file to TADA



If you're new to playing multiplayer or want to try out the competitive settings, try playing with these settings on maps from the [V], [H], or [Diox] packs: Start Position: Random



Game end condition: Game ends if commander dies



Metal: 1000



Energy: 1000



LOS: True



Mapping: Mapped



Need help finding opponents? Join the



Hope to see you join the ladder soon. As always, have fun and good luck! FN made a ladder site for playing ranked games of Total Annihilation: Escalation called Competitive Escalation . Submitting games is easy. To submit a game, each player must sayin the lobby to agree to play a ranked match. Then upload the game to TADA and the ladder judges will review your match.Here are the steps in bullet form:If you're new to playing multiplayer or want to try out the competitive settings, try playing with these settings on maps from the [V], [H], or [Diox] packs:Need help finding opponents? Join the Escalation Discord Hope to see you join the ladder soon. As always, have fun and good luck!

Postal starts a TA replay YouTube channel! The other day Postal popped into discord. You might remember him from such things as



He has a large archive of TA game recordings from years of playing, roughly 2004-2014. He's decided to start playing them back while recording to video and commentating on them live. He has a few on his



Even the quickest skim of his Guide to Core will give you an idea of how deep his TA knowledge is. His commentary at all stages of the game is both insightful and entertaining.



See the first episode here, and be sure to like and subscribe.





The other day Postal popped into discord. You might remember him from such things as Postal's Guide to Core on the forum. Or he might have kicked your ass in an online TA game years back while chatting in complete sentences to you.He has a large archive of TA game recordings from years of playing, roughly 2004-2014. He's decided to start playing them back while recording to video and commentating on them live. He has a few on his youtube channel so far.Even the quickest skim of his Guide to Core will give you an idea of how deep his TA knowledge is. His commentary at all stages of the game is both insightful and entertaining.See the first episode here, and be sure to like and subscribe.

TA Zero Alpha 4d



Here is a little Christmas present for you! Version Alpha 4d of Total Annihilation Zero!



Unlike the previous releases, Alpha 4d does not expand the game with new units, but rather focuses on finalizing the current content and fixing old mistakes. Most notably, this includes a complete overhaul of all weapon sound effects, new water and lava splash animations, reworking parts of oldest unit models, and over 200 balance adjustments.



The main theme of these balance changes is trying to slightly shift focus away from the heaviest units of each tier, and allowing players to field tier 2 light units a little bit faster, without changing the overall cost of getting a single tier 2 heavy hitter by much. Another sweeping change then is that weapon ranges of most units have been reduced, primarily to fit them within sight ranges.







In addition to the usual mod content, ddraw fix version 10 (made by ajh2794) is included in the Alpha 4d download in a separate folder. While it is still work-in-progress, it should result in increased frame rates for all users, and should allow people who have previously needed to use the hotfix to play without any issues. The old hotfix is still included as a backup option.



, and visit the Here is a little Christmas present for you! VersionofUnlike the previous releases, Alpha 4d does not expand the game with new units, but rather focuses on finalizing the current content and fixing old mistakes. Most notably, this includes a complete overhaul of all weapon sound effects, new water and lava splash animations, reworking parts of oldest unit models, and over 200 balance adjustments.The main theme of these balance changes is trying to slightly shift focus away from the heaviest units of each tier, and allowing players to field tier 2 light units a little bit faster, without changing the overall cost of getting a single tier 2 heavy hitter by much. Another sweeping change then is that weapon ranges of most units have been reduced, primarily to fit them within sight ranges.In addition to the usual mod content,(made by ajh2794) is included in the Alpha 4d download in a separate folder. While it is still work-in-progress, it should result in increased frame rates for all users, and should allow people who have previously needed to use the hotfix to play without any issues. The old hotfix is still included as a backup option. Download TA Zero Alpha 4d here , and visit the official discussion thread

Chris Taylor Announces New Game During the



"His new company, Kanoogi, shares its name with a new cloud-based gaming platform that Taylor has developed himself."



A bit about the new game from the article;



"Intergalactic Space Empire is a real-time strategy game, and can be played on any online-capable device that can run a modern web browser. Its built in C++, running on a cloud-based virtual machine, and is a deliberate throwback to an earlier era of video games, featuring 2D graphics, a single map, and a top-down environment.



Notably, its graphics are rendered locally on the players device, as opposed to the Google Stadia approach of doing all the work in the cloud and sending it to the player as a video feed. However, the game itself runs in the cloud, and takes up no space on the local device being used to play it. According to Taylor, the player will never have to install or update Intergalactic Space Empire; its meant for fast-paced, drop-in, drop-out play."



So there you have it. Not TA2 (although no one expected that) but it's a much need interesting and fresh take on the RTS genre. During the Gamesbeat summit 2019 Chris made an appearance to announce his new project after years of anticipation! Not only a new game but a new company too;"His new company, Kanoogi, shares its name with a new cloud-based gaming platform that Taylor has developed himself."A bit about the new game from the article;"Intergalactic Space Empire is a real-time strategy game, and can be played on any online-capable device that can run a modern web browser. Its built in C++, running on a cloud-based virtual machine, and is a deliberate throwback to an earlier era of video games, featuring 2D graphics, a single map, and a top-down environment.Notably, its graphics are rendered locally on the players device, as opposed to the Google Stadia approach of doing all the work in the cloud and sending it to the player as a video feed. However, the game itself runs in the cloud, and takes up no space on the local device being used to play it. According to Taylor, the player will never have to install or update Intergalactic Space Empire; its meant for fast-paced, drop-in, drop-out play."So there you have it. Not TA2 (although no one expected that) but it's a much need interesting and fresh take on the RTS genre.

TA Zero Map Pack 1c



New version of Total Annihilation Zero Map Pack is finally here!



Long time in the making, Version 1c adds several new maps to the pack, remakes two of the oldest maps, and overhauls the rest. These maps make use of a wide variety of new map features, including lava eruptions and other animated pieces, and exotic crystal formations that can be reclaimed several times.



Several mistakes on the oldest maps have been fixed, and some purely visual map features have been adjusted so that wreckage will not magically disappear when units are destroyed on top of them.







, and visit the New version ofis finally here!Long time in the making,adds several new maps to the pack, remakes two of the oldest maps, and overhauls the rest. These maps make use of a wide variety of new map features, including lava eruptions and other animated pieces, and exotic crystal formations that can be reclaimed several times.Several mistakes on the oldest maps have been fixed, and some purely visual map features have been adjusted so that wreckage will not magically disappear when units are destroyed on top of them. Download TA Zero Map Pack 1c here , and visit the official discussion thread