Spring RTS Engine

Hardcore Annihilation 0.1.1
by Pxtl

on JobJol
File

on Spring Portal
File

About
The Spring engine is ostensibly a modern remake of the original Total Annihilation - however there is effectively no way to play the original Total Annihilation with it. While there are numerous Spring games based on original Total Annihliation content, most of them have diverged so far from the original gameplay that they're unusable for a TA player who doesn't want to have to spend a long time re-learning each and every unit.

Hence, Hardcore Annihilation, a Spring mode for hardcore TA players.

That being said, HA is not a perfect TA clone:
* It still bears the Spring user-interface, and plus Spring has some hard-coded gameplay features that are quite different from original TA's gameplay.
* Pxtl is lazy, so any TA feature that requires too much hacking to get Spring to do will probably be axed. Don't expect any freaky Lua code.
* The focus is on TA _gameplay_, not cosmetics. That means that some Spring polish may be present, and unit descriptions may be updated to be more accurate.

Thanks to
Cavedog, for making OTA.
SYs and various modern Spring devs for making Spring.
Zwzsg for his work on Classic TA (which is 99% of this mod) and his advice.
KDR11k, 'cause he's my hero. And the veterancy widget.

Information for TA players
Besides the unavoidably different UI, there are a few Spring features that are, at present, roughly incompatible with TA.

* HA uses the Spring user-interface. Learn to love the right-click button.
* HA uses the Spring metal-map. Get used to it.
* Spring units fire on radar dots, but those dots are inaccurate.
* Spring units move fast going downhill.
* Radar is limited by line-of-sight. Also, radars and jammers and sonar are weird, particularly with hovers.
* OTA exploitable bugs like linebombing, invincible-pelicans, etc. are not present - don't worry, the Spring engine brings a whole new world of exploits for you to try.
* Fibber no-worky. To even things out, Core super-sub is gone too.
* Lightning weapons look like lasers.


Information for Absolute (or Balanced) Annihilation players
Uberhack diverged pretty far from OTA gameplay, so those of you who didn't play original Total Annihilation extensively may be in for some surprises.

* Units take a long time to open before firing.
* Most KBots have the same slope tolerances as tanks.
* All anti-ground units fire at air, and all anti-air units fire at ground (except flakkers).
* Units shoot through friendlies.
* Height does not alter firing range - that is, the targettable zone is a cylinder, not a sphere.
* Units do not lead their targets until they gain the experience needed to do so.
* For veterancy, every kill is worth the same.

Mod Options
There are 4 packs of Cavedog unts
* OTA, which you cannot deselect.
* Core Contingency, which includes a more complete naval game.
* Patch 3.1, which includes a scattered list of downloadable and BT units.
* Cavedog Downloadable Exclusives, which were 6 units released after 3.1.

Also, the CC/3.1 patches changed some things, so you can disable them - right now, it only does the buildlist changes.

Mutators
Official
Approximates OTA gameplay as close as possible.
Spring
Uses Spring gameplay features instead of OTA - Nobody seems interested so I'm axing this.

Notes
Changelog:
0.1.1
# Replaced ARMACK model
# Disabled old experience system and added KDR_11k's new experience widget
# Added new selectable buildlists.

0.1.0
* Only kbots with regular kbot-like slope tolerances are Flea, Thud, and Morty - other mainline kbots have vehicle-slope-tolerance. Rather than fix this obvious bug OTA, I just updated descriptions of said units to "all-terrain".
* Multiplied all movement class slope tolerances by 1.5, bringing them into Spring normal values. Hovers can invade islands in Sands of War.
* Removed rotating buildplate from Core factories where it caused trouble with units leaving. Will return if working scripts become available - scripts stolen from AA146.
o Factories changed - armvp, coralab, corvp, coravp
* Gave armzeus and armlatnk a beamweapon instead of lightning to get collidefriendly support and non-instant projectile.
* Added "collide=0" to all air.
* Added "leadLimit=0" to all weapons, CylinderTargetting=10, Leadbonus = 1(?) all weapons.
* Disabled bonus shield
* Disabled autoheal (autoheal = 0)
* Updated descriptions of thuds/hammers. They are not "artillery". They're "canon" kbots.
* Added canRepair=0; canRestore=0; canReclaim=0; canAssist=0; on minelayers.
* Removed the noautofire from LRPCs.
* Stole models from AA146 where they fixed model-bugs in CTA
o armavp, armap, coraap, corap, armaap, corvalk
* Removed super-subs until the sonar jammer can be fixed.
* Autoconstructed damage-lists out of old damages. The lists will look nonsensical (each damage group is just named after first entry in list) but behaviour should match OTA.


Todo (Gameplay), known bugs:
* Find out what needs to be done for AI supports.
* WTF is up with radar/sonar/jammer/stealth? Strange behaviour with hovers, etc.
* Fibber (sonar jammers) do nothing.
* Proper fix for rotating buildplates.
* Test/fix gamespeed.
* Flatten building off?
* Add indigenous lifeforms? Meteors? Earthquakes?
* LOS-less radar/sonar.
* Had to axe mine-special-damages to fit damages in (all non-nuke mines deal reduced damage to all other non-nuke mines, not just their own class). The completist is bothered, but otherwise harmless.
* Special sub-damage to mimic OTA water-explosion-damaging?

Todo (Cosmetic):
* Fix buildpic aspect ratio.
* Set laser attributes (RGBcolor, thickness, RGBcolor2, corethickness, Duration, etc) for lasers
* Add SFX, explosion effects, etc.
* Do something with Screenshake widget?

I like the idea... will have to try it out... It'll be nice to be able to have missile forests back.

My opinion on this matter, if i posted it, doesnt belong here. So, instead, I will give you advice on converting me and like minded individuals, so that it can help ur mod.

I have grown a negative feeling to all annihilation mods after the 3rd or 4th one. I simply do not care anymore. I admit, this may be a stereotype on my part, and I am a sorry. But I hope you as a dev, who not only must mod the mod, but be a good leader for this new following u are creating, I hope you are capable of addressing these implusles of myself and others if they need to be addressed.

So please take in consideration my tip of what to expect I had just given to you. How will you address this concern? I think this is a realistic concern. Im sorry if some see this as being harsh, but sooner or later you might run into this argument. SA and MA sure are. I thought id give ya a heads up.

The_Big_Boss wrote:stuff

This mod isn't for you. People dislike TA mods because of the lack of quality and originality in them. This is the opposite of quality, and the opposite of originality - this is Original Total Annihilation in a half-assed version of all it's ugly, buggy glory.

This isn't yet another attempt to "fix" Absolute Annihilation. This is just straight-up nostalgia. Either you want to play OTA, or you don't. If you want to play OTA again with missile-forests, anti-ARM neutron missiles, all land units (except fleas and thuds, oddly enough) getting the same slope tolerance, and about a bazillion other bugs and hacks that some very smart men cut out of the Cavedog game that millions of people have spent time and effort learning, then here it is.

Otherwise, play something else.

[quote="The_Big_Boss"][/quote]

This isn't really a mod so much as a recreation of the game that which without, Spring would not exist.

And I approve Pxtl.
I approve very yes.

Argh or someone should be able to help you mod the old interface in.
If you're interested in that.

Ixoran wrote:

The_Big_Boss wrote: Argh or someone should be able to help you mod the old interface in.
If you're interested in that.

Not really. I'm more interested in getting the gameplay right before the glitz like that. The big thing I need to do is some testing to figure out how OTA speeds compare to Spring speeds - I'm using the OTA numbers for all movement stats, but Hardcore Annihilation feels damned slow.

I see, I'm totally exited.

really hope this rox.
kekeke the old ugly ass commanders.
Do you think changing comander models will hurt the authenticity?


Is riot tank suppose to have 375 hp?

Well, all I can say is I wish you luck. Just remember the forum community is generally always +1 above the client community.

Well it still needs a lot of polishing. Some details I noticed are the Zeus having a misplaced weapon emit point and the Arm Advanced Construction KBots having some doubled faces leading to some visual distortions. A rather strange thing I noticed is that for two times I had a problem with the Snipers:

When telling them to attack they just turned 90° towards the target and started to unfold the gun. Unfortunately they stop unfolding about half the way and I think the left arm moved like 180° pointing towards the sky. One of the two Snipers refused to fire for a long time while the other one worked fine not minding the broken animation. I couldn't reproduce it yet but maybe you have a look at the script...

It is the first time I see a "My mod while be the truest to OTA" annoucment, that is not followed with "except with gameplay turned upside down, new units, new perks, and Cavedogs errors fixed". Instead you seem genuinely motivated to remove Spring features and bring back TA sploits.

For instance, you didn't "fix" the bug in Thud slope tolerance, and mentionned all the in-deep bits like target leading and collidefriendly, which while ignored by most player, can completly change the gameplay: Last week I played a Comet Catcher Classic TA 5.6 game, and noticed that stump and thud were now super effective against moving units now that they lead, while in TA, they keep on missing until the target stop. Personnaly I wouldn't even have changed the name, it's not like rewriting description will make the game easier to pick up, while on the other hand TA vets might get a flash of nostalgia by seeing the exact same descriptions.

I want to see him re-introduce nuke flooding, sparking, and invincible Pelicans

Seriously, nuke-flooding's going to be one of the hardest things to put back into a Spring game. Only way I can think of doing this is some Lua that jams anti-nukes if > 16 nukes fired during X seconds...

And I dunno whether you'll be able to support flying planes off-board, period. That's probably the single-biggest 'sploit, even bigger than sparking, which ultimately made OTA unplayably bad, if taken full advantage of. DRB used to to have a maneuver where he'd have his entire bomber force off-screen most of the way to a target

BTW, you can turn off leading on targets... set TargetMoveError=1.0; and voila, no more leading.

Just putting back Avoid / CollideFriendly will be a major shocker for BA players, though, lol...

Don't forget about Jethro/Crasher, Samson/Slasher or Defender/Pulverizer spam.

Hopefully all the *A players out there will play this and realise OTA is nothing like the games they play today.

Only way I can think of doing this is some Lua that jams anti-nukes if > 16 nukes fired during X seconds...

In BA, last i checked (engine changes changed missile speeds a bit) it takes 7 nukes fired at once to 'brute force' an anti but this depends on distance and angle- it can be as low as 3.

Yeah, but that's because of balancing changes. In OTA, it was an engine limitation

Eh saktoth.
I find it hard to believe you like OTA.
You went exactly the other way with CA.
If you like OTA so much why not expand on its style rather than changing it completly.

Out the box TA could be interesting and even more nostalgic, meaning none of the added units. Maybe this could be done simply as a mutator changing the "canbuild" lists?

I personally don't think you should change the descriptions, if the inconsistencies bother you then a better idea might be to write a separate out of game guide including notes about that and maybe also other things that need to be pointed out, kind of like the stuff in the original post. I think any and all urges to "fix" any of the stupid things must be heavily suppressed in order to make a real OTA mod.

Argh wrote:BTW, you can turn off leading on targets... set TargetMoveError=1.0; and voila, no more leading.

Damn it Argh, stop spreading that bullshit! TargetMoveError adds inaccuracy proportional to the speed of the target, the unit will still lead, it'll just miss in random directions. LeadLimit is the tag to prevent leading, it sets the maximum distance a unit will lead its target. LeadBonus or what it was called is a multiplier for the experience, multiply the bonus with the unit's experience value and add it to the LeadLimit.

Er, no need to be rude. I thought that was what it did. I stand corrected...

BTW, does this mod use the default Spring experience system?