Chris
Taylor'
s "T.A" (Cavedog 1997) is slightly famous amongst RTS enthusiasts for being a ground-breaking real time strategy
game.
There were only two sides - "The Arm" and "The
Core" - cloned humans and robots respectively with essentially similar units, although Core units tended to be tougher and slower. The
game made up for this by having a LOT of units (Air, Naval, Ground, Amphibious, Commanders that nuked themselves when they died) and buildings (particularly a massive number of fixed gun emplacement types), (effectively) endless resources (
Metal and Energy), and comprehensive control options.
This
game was best experienced with the expansion "The Core Contingency" - or "C.C" (eg: Submersible Aircraft, Anti Radar and Anti Sonar units, more Submarines, AA Ships...) together with still more official downloadable Cavedog units (eg: FARK'
s, Mobile Anti-Nuclear Missile Units). Has it been mentioned that this
game had a LOT of units?
Cavedog used to run "Boneyards" (similar to Blizzard'
s "Battlenet") which was the optimal place to enjoy T.A in multiplayer. Players could elect to play for either side in a constantly refreshed galaxy of planets - where the results of one'
s games would decide whether the Arm or Core dominated at any given time. Boneyards also had an military style ranking system based on a player'
s wins.
In closing, T.A was a remarkable
game for its time and for sheer strategic and tactical options it would compare favourably with any RTS currently on the market.
T.A has a LOT of units.
NB: There is an "unofficial sequel" to this
game being developed by Chris
Taylor (now at Gas Powered Games)called "Supreme Commander".