Total Annihilation is all about tactics and how fluid everything works. The amount of tactics that you can make yourself is unlimited. If you want to play defensivly, you can do that. If you want to use long range artillery, you can do that. If you want to build huge armadas of battleships and just toy with the enemy on water maps, you can do that. And just to make it even better, add music by the master game music composer, Jeremy Soule, and you have a game that must be a solid purchuse.
Also the fact that the commander pack has not been on sale for over 10 years, at least not on this price range, should seal the deal

I agree.
Total Annihilation is a true gem. I never understood why most other RTS-games were popular while they offered only a tiny fraction of the units, a fraction of possible tactics and not even half as pretty maps as Total Annihilation did.
Add to that a vast amount of mods, pretty nasty AI-players and a massive amount of new maps and you've got yourself a true winner.
Still my example of a RTS: no nonsense, but head-on massive destruction. No Red Alert "tank rush" using a "whopping" 20 tanks for me, I run them down with 500 goliats and pound the remains to dust with 250 carpet bombers while watching my computer sweat. Epic!
Oh, en when you're done enjoying this, be sure to check out the Spring engine remake, which once again puts all known RTS-games to shame.

I played this before Starcraft and it was so hard for me to believe that SC only allowed the user to control 12 units (I think), while TA allowed users to control every unit on the map if they wanted to at the same time.
The selection keys for various units and the entire concept of one single main unit that controls everything was sweet, plus he has one nice weapon.
It was fun to move him underwater and surround him with units so he was not so visible. This has to be one of the best RTS games ever made. In my personal view it blows SC away in every area as it is RTS fun at its finest.

couldn't agree more :D
TA is by far the best example of an RTS/RTT/'What wars will probably end up being in the future' game that I've ever played.
I've recently picked up starcraft 2 on the premise of it being THE modern RTS and tbh ive been really disapointed by how blatently obvious and linear the multiplayer actually is. playing it has yet again made me dig out my old copy of this game, (which has battle tactice which i couldnt install due the installer being an old 16bit) which i played then thought to myself how many budding RTS players are playing this as their intorduction to the genre? and for how many of them will it be the last...
I can honestly say now I'll do hundreds of TA multiplayer before looking else where if we can get the community fired up again :)

I hate RTS games....
but I LOVE total annihilation

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