Total Annihilation: Kingdoms

Total Annihilation: Kingdoms
Developer(s)	Cavedog Entertainment[1]
Publisher(s)	GT Interactive[1]
Designer(s)	Chris Taylor
Version	4.1BB
Platform(s)	Windows x86
Release date(s)	June 25, 1999
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy (RTS)
Mode(s)	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen
Media/distribution	CD-ROM
System requirements Pentium 233 MHz, 32 MB RAM, Windows 95/98, VGA graphics card, Sound Blaster-compatible sound card, 4x CD-ROM drive, and 80 MB hard-disk space

Total Annihilation: Kingdoms or TA:K is a medieval fantasy real time strategy game created and released by Cavedog Entertainment on June 25, 1999. While it was the last major title from Cavedog Entertainment, an expansion pack, The Iron Plague, was released in 2000.

Gameplay

Total Annihilation: Kingdoms was the anticipated second installment of the Total Annihilation franchise. Although the game was neither a prequel nor a sequel to the original Total Annihilation game, comparisons between the two games were inevitable. There were numerous thematic and design differences between Total Annihilation and Total Annihilation: Kingdoms.

• A more in-depth storyline, told with cutscenes between missions just as Total Annihilation had, but with more detail.

• A change from a futuristic setting to a fantasy setting.

• Four sibling monarchs struggle for domination of the land of Darien: Elsin of Aramon, Kirenna of Veruna, Thirsha of Zhon and Lokken of Taros, following the disappearance of their father, Garacaius.

• Simplified resource-management, with just one resource(mana) instead of two(metal, energy).

• Four sides at the start, as opposed to the original's two, with an expansion pack that added in a fifth.

• While the original Total Annihilation had players playing through the Core or Arm campaigns separately, Total Annihilation: Kingdoms switched between the four groups, players playing each side, as the levels progressed.

• Unlike the original Total Annihilation which had most of the units on its two factions virtually the same, other than in appearance, Total Annihilation: Kingdoms had very distinct characteristics between factions.

Plot

Four sibling monarchs struggle for domination of the land of Darien: Elsin of Aramon, Kirenna of Veruna, Thirsha of Zhon and Lokken of Taros, following the disappearance of their father, Garacaius.

The Iron Plague expansion set

On March 6, 2000, shortly before Cavedog's collapse, an expansion pack was released titled The Iron Plague. The premise of the sequel continued the storyline of the lost father of magic, Garacaius. Believing that magic was a source of conflict, Garacaius fled his kingdom and founded a new empire based on science and engineering, as opposed to magic. This new empire, Creon, quickly dominated the neighboring provinces and absorbed the knowledge of their conquests. Garacaius himself died, but the elected ruler of Creon (in a steam-powered robotic suit) eventually led the kingdom on a crusade against magic and the magical sibling rulers of Darien. The expansion pack added an entirely new faction to the game (the science and engineering kingdom of Creon), as well as hundreds of new maps and entirely new graphics for map tile sets. It included the newest patch for the game, although anyone could freely download this from the official site.

Multiplayer mode

With the shut down of Cavedog, TA:K cannot be played online through the game's multiplayer option. For that, there are several other Total Annihilation: Kingdoms servers worldwide. Up to 8 players can play together at a time either on teams or against one another. This mode of the game also enables scripting (mission-type games in multiplayer) to be played.

References

• "The Unofficial Guide to TA: Kingdoms" (PDF). The Stratos Group. http://www.stratosgroup.com/guides/TAK-Guide.pdf. Retrieved 2007-03-06. ^{[dead link]}
• Radcliffe, Doug; Dave Perkins. "Total Annihilation: Kingdoms Game Guide". Gamespot. GameGuides.com. http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/guides/kingdoms_gg/index.html. Retrieved 2007-03-06. 
• "Total Annihilation: Kingdoms review". http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/totalannihilationkingdoms/review.html. Retrieved 2011-17-05. 
• "Total Annihilation: Kingdoms review". http://pc.ign.com/articles/160/160307p1.html. Retrieved 2011-17-05. 
• "Total Annihilation: Kingdoms review". http://www.gamepro.com/article/reviews/675/total-annihilation-kingdoms/. Retrieved 2011-17-05. 

1. ^ ^{a b} Kasavin, Greg. "Total Annihilation: Kingdoms Review". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/totalannihilationkingdoms/review.html. Retrieved 2011-03-24. 

External links

• Total Annihilation Kingdoms wiki