Things you may not know...

[Kixxe]

I've heard to much of pepole suddenly bursting out "What? Spring can do that? WHY DID'NT ANYONE TELL ME???", so i created this thread so the pepole will know what "hidden" fetures that exsist. Hopefully the thread will then be moved to the wiki.




We have a "wait" command.

Wait(W)

If issued at some point in a command queue (holding shift for multiple commands) the unit will wait at that point in the queue until it is queued another wait command(which should cancel the other one out), or unitl it is given a non-queued order (no-shift, cancels command queue aswell as normal). If it is loaded by a transport while waiting, it will cancel the wait command once it has been unloaded. (I Haven't Tested this functionality, someone should try it out and see what it acctually does... got this from the forums [1] (http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewt ... it+command))

The actual use of this function goes more like this. Start issuing your chain of commands (Holding Shift). BEFORE a command that you want your units to wait for a go command to execute, hit Shift+W. Now, to cancel the first wait queued on this group, and have them continue with the rest of the queue, hit W. Many of these wait waypoints can be chained together. Note, that if you hit W before some or all of the selected units have completed the command before the wait, only those that have completed the preceding command will continue.

XTA snipers can cloak. I'm pretty sure many know this, but i've met some that was really suprised.


Alt + and clicking on a factory unit will end the current production and start building the one you selected. Yes, you do not have to remove all other units to start a new queue.


You can host replays. Just check the host window out.


You can share your commanders. The first number indicate witch commander you have. If 2 pepole have the same of this number, they share that commander.





... i'm to lazy to think of any more ideas that pepole suddenly realise exist. Help me out!

[AF]

F4 will show you the metal map

Pressing C will put you in FPS mode of any units you have selected.

Press f12 and it takes a sscreenshot and saves it in your spring folder

[mother]

Ctrl + and clicking on a factory unit will end the current production and start building the one you selected. Yes, you do not have to remove all other units to start a new queue.

You mean 'Alt +' don't you? At least on a US keyboard 'Ctrl +' queues 20 at a time.

[Kixxe]

Ctrl + and clicking on a factory unit will end the current production and start building the one you selected. Yes, you do not have to remove all other units to start a new queue.

You mean 'Alt +' don't you? At least on a US keyboard 'Ctrl +' queues 20 at a time.

Fixed.

[IMSabbel]

Damn!
I never moticed those shooters could cloak....

[forbidin]

Ctrl + shift clicking on a unit in a factory ques up 100 at a time.

[Chocapic]

Damn!
I never moticed those shooters could cloak....

neither did i, and i play xta for quite a long time..

[Felix the Cat]

Pressing L gives you your line of sight; the different shades of green indicate different levels of LOS (radar, visual, and... something else?).

If you select a unit and press F2, the areas on the map that the unit can move on are highlighted in green, while the ones that the unit can't move on are highlighted in red.

If you press F1 it gives you a rainbow contour overlay of the map, if you want to know if an area goes up or down, or where the highest point in a gently sloping area is.

Radar towers - at least in AA, I think in XTA too but not 100% sure - have extra long visual line of sight. This can be used to your advantage if you are having an LLT showdown with an opponent; if you build a radar in the front line, your LLTs can directly see his and thus have 100% accuracy, while his still can only see yours as radar blips and have crap accuracy.

If an ally leaves during the game, you can take his stuff and make it yours by typing .take. If you are dead, you can still do this but won't be able to move the units - so don't do it if you're dead, let the living people take the stuff. Be careful, all of these units suddently count against the unit limit - so if you both have a lot of stuff, you may not be able to build anything more until you are back below the unit limit.

Long range plasma cannons - Intimidators, Big Berthas, etc. - have a tendency to get bugged and stop firing at stuff. Fix this by going and cycling through the fire states (Fire at will etc.) and movement states (Maneuver etc.) until it starts firing again. If it's getting this bug, the barrel will move back to face its default starting position; if the barrel is still on target, check your energy levels and see if you have enough energy to fire.

Construction units generate metal and energy! If you have a bunch it's a bonus to your economy.

[Caydr]

Pushing CTRL+D self destructs units, pushing CTRL+A selects all units, pushing CTRL+Z selects all the other units of the type you have selected, pushing ALT+F4 opens the developer console so you can edit unit stats on the fly, even during a multiplayer game. That should really be turned off, it could be exploited.

[patmo98]

Pushing CTRL+F4 opens the developer console so you can edit unit stats on the fly, even during a multiplayer game. That should really be turned off, it could be exploited.

Or just make it only work when .cheats is turned on.

[Decimator]

I fail to see how this would be exploitable as it should just desync the game.

[Maelstrom]

I fail to see how you missed the fact that Caydr was joking. It does not work.

[Decimator]

Eh, I see no way of detecting sarcasm in text, especially when ctrl+F4 doesn't normally do anything.

[Felix the Cat]

Control-B selects the next idle construction (builder) unit; this includes con bots/vehicles, factories, helpers such as FARKs, and random stuff that TA:S somehow thinks are builders (such as AA's Metal Generators).

[Caydr]

Whoops, I meant alt, noct ctrl.

[mongus]

this recallsme...

must fix some hotkeys

R AllMap+_Not_Builder_Not_Building_Not_Commander_Not_Transport_Not_Aircraft_Not_Weapons_Radar+_ClearSelection_SelectAll+

to

R Visible+_Not_Builder_Not_Building_Not_Commander_Not_Transport_Not_Aircraft_Not_Weapons_Radar+_ClearSelection_SelectAll+

To move the mobile radar/jammers around the field.

last game i was moving them in the hole map instead of the ones in my view.

and this 2, i would like to join toguether, like if i could call the first, and inmedialty the seccond.

C FromMouse_50++_ClearSelection_SelectNum_1+
Z Visible+_Not_Commander_InPrevSel+_ClearSelection_SelectAll+

that has (almost) the same effect as double clicking over one unit.

jsut being keys makes it far better.

a "select all of the same type" option in selectkeys does the trick too.

[mother]

Whoops, I meant alt, noct ctrl.

NOW it's dripping with sarcasm.

Maelstrom- what were you keying off of?

[Dead.Rabit]

my favourite is vulcans and core equivilent have high trajectory aswell as being able to reach most corners of them map.. means you can hide it behind a nicely build base... good if you have a large base and your opponent is porcing... or if your porcing and suddenly thinkk.. oh damn.. now i have an unbeatable base.. what do i do now.. attack..mm no to risky... I KNO ILL BUILD A VULCAN AND SET IT TO HIGH TRAJECTORY!..sorry =p

another favourite is that water is LIKE GOLD!! im not a fan of boats but skaplane factories can be submerged ...UNDERWATER FUSIONS ARE 1.5 TIMES MORE EFFECTIVE.
WATER LVL 1 METAL MAKERS ARE 3 TIMES MORE EFFECTIVE.. also for the fusions you can build them in secrecy as there cloaked from radar (and if its only a small puddle of water then pple dont normally bother with sonar) or theres sonar jammers.

the snipers have cloaking was a suprise.. now they have an excuse for there pricetag.

very simple 1 is that press D (with comm selected) gives u control of the Dgun.. the only reason he dont wanna fire is from lack of energy.. it should be fixxed i agree.. as often your priority for the DGun is more important at the time then powering a metal maker. another D-gun trick is if you click directly on your target your comm auto aims for it firing in rapid repetition (while taking out any remaining part of your base)

THE most important thing in TA as a whole is not to stop building resources..EVER!!
if theres no more metal patches to be had then concentrate on building fusions and ADV metal makers (which often produce more metal then mohos do)

make extensive queues

if you make a con unit guard something it will continually build what it is building (if its a factory or another con bot) or if its a unit then it will repair it.. useful if you are being bombarded late game.. build a lvl 1 air factory and max out on builders. im not sure if they do because its never got that far.. but if i make a unit guard a factory and its damaged will the con bot repair it or build its queue....mmm

micromanagement is the key

[Maelstrom]

Maelstrom- what were you keying off of?

ehh, what did you say?



Another:
If your being comm bombed, Press ctrl+a and set the fire mode to hold fire. Then grab a whole bunch of farks and reclaim the thing. No big boom, and lots of metal. Yay!

[Chocapic]

Maelstrom- what were you keying off of?

ehh, what did you say?



Another:
If your being comm bombed, Press ctrl+a and set the fire mode to hold fire. Then grab a whole bunch of farks and reclaim the thing. No big boom, and lots of metal. Yay!

your farks will be dgunned ?