TA: Excess II (Alpha 2c - July 13, 2010)



Installation :

You can install Excess II into your main TA folder (usually C:\Cavedog\TotalA), but to minimize any potential issues it is recommended to install the mod into a clean, unmodified game folder. You can do this by ensuring that your game folder is an unmodified standard installation, or you can copy/paste your game folder so that you have an exclusive install for Excess II (you can have as many copies of TA installed as you like). 

This is the standard install order:

1. Install Total Annihilation.

2. After installing the game, do a Multiplayer Spawn install or manually copy the file totala2.hpi into your game folder. If you don't do this, skirmish maps will not be available unless you have the disc inserted.

3. Install the Core Contingency expansion pack. This is optional but recommended. Excess II seems to work without the expansion, but it has not been thoroughly tested and you will not have access to the expansion's maps. On some recent versions of Windows, the installer for Core Contingency does not work. You can manually install the expansion by copying the files ccdata.ccx and ccmaps.ccx from the game disc to your game folder.

4. Extract the Excess II files to your game folder. It is not necessary to install the 3.1c patch, though you may want to install the post-3.1c Cavedog maps. To play the mod, simply run the Excess II .exe file.

5. Do not place other modifications (including custom AIs meant for original TA!) in the Excess II game folder. If you have any issues, please visit our forums at www.tauniverse.com to ask for help.

6. If you are installing over previous version of Excess II, remove GoK31.gp3 file! It has been replaced by Exc31.gp3 file.



Game information :

TA: Excess II is a comprehensive mod that completely changes Total Annihilation. Arm and Core are redesigned from the ground up and a third race, the Guardians of Kadesh (GoK), is added. Since this is only alpha version, only Tier 1 land and air units are available. More units will be available in upcoming versions.

To learn more about this mod, visit our forum here :
http://www.tauniverse.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=161

To view a starter guide for Arm, go here :
http://www.tauniverse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40228

To view a starter guide for Core, go here :
http://www.tauniverse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40229

To view a starter guide for GoK, go here :
http://www.tauniverse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41223



Some noteworthy gameplay features :

- All factories have directable build plates. Press the Direct button or "D" key and click on the map in the direction you want to point the build plate towards. Note that you must do this when the factory is not building anything. Since most factories have north and south exits, and the default exit direction is south, the usual use for this feature is to direct the buildplate to the north. After you do this, it is useful to set a Move waypoint towards the north to ensure units exit smoothly.

- Do not enable +shootall when playing Excess II. The game was designed in such a way that it is not necessary and even inadvisable to use it. It is, however, recommended that you enable +switchalt so that you can select your unit squads (set via CTRL+1-9) by simply pressing 1-9 instead of ALT+1-9.

- Unit design in Excess II is very different from Total Annihilation. Arm and Core are not very similar and there are much fewer units. GoK units are extremely unconventional, unsurpassed in mobility and protected by personal shields, some of them even wielding close combat weapons. Take note of the information provided in the starter guides linked above to ensure that you are familiar with the capabilities and features of the units.

- Hotkeys for Excess II are different than Total Annihilation. Here is the full list (note that you can view these in-game at any time by pressing TAB and then pressing the Help button):

CTRL_A - select all units
CTRL_C - select commander
CTRL_B - cycle through idle construction units
CTRL_F - cycle through idle factories
CTRL_D - self-destruct selected units
CTRL_S - select all units currently on screen
CTRL_Z - select all units of the same type as selected unit

CTRL_G - select mobile ground units
CTRL_L - select frontline mobile ground units
CTRL_O - select supporting mobile ground units
CTRL_I - select amphibious mobile ground units
CTRL_K - select kbots
CTRL_T - select vehicles
CTRL_H - select hovercraft

CTRL_V - select mobile air units
CTRL_Y - select fighters
CTRL_M - select bombers
CTRL_P - select gunships

CTRL_W - select mobile water units
CTRL_N - select mobile surface water units
CTRL_U - select mobile underwater units

CTRL_X - select mobile experimental units

CTRL_Q - select structures with long-ranged weapons
CTRL_E - select structures that convert energy to metal

CTRL_R - select units with radar or sonar
CTRL_J - select units with radar jamming or sonar jamming



Changelog for Alpha 2c :
-Major shield script flaws fixed with GoK Pylon, Terra Platform and Aero Platform. They had (atleast in most cases) damage modifier on when active/building even though shield was disabled and registered nothing.
-Minor visual glitch fixed in GoK Aero Platform script. Generally appeared only when used by AI.
-GoK Reaper default mission type changed from Standby to Guard_NoMove.
-GoK Reaper weapon projectile velocity increased to 800 from 700.
-GoK Reaper weapon edge effectiveness increased to 0.25 from 0.05.
-GoK Stargazer and Harbinger weapon turnrates increased to 35000 from 30000.



Previous changes after Alpha 1 :

Alpha 2b :
-GoK31.gp3 is replaced by Exc31.gp3. Critical folder names changed so that old Excess 1.31 no longer conflicts with Excess II.
-Hassle with weapon .tdf files fixed. Had my Notepad++ loading a few of them from an older work folder. Never really affected gameplay of Alpha 2, but caused some headache to me.
-Core Aurora weapon damage against GoK Guardian fixed to be 320 instead of 400.
-Core metal extractor energy cost fixed to be 108 instead of 98.
-GoK Spectre category list fixed. It is now considered as a fighter as well as a gunship. Line length is now within limit and CTRL_P works.
-Arm Rebel cost increased to M:63 E:252 BT:6300 from M:60 E:240 BT:6000.
-Core Fabricator cost increased to M:110 E:220 BT:3300 from M:100 E:200 BT:3000.
-GoK shield node decay reduced from 5 per second to 2 per second.
-GoK Disciple sword tolerance reduced to 10000 from 20000 in order to prevent them from hitting something else than their target part of the time.
-GoK Disciple model and textures optimized.

Alpha 2 :
-Guardians of Kadesh are now available.
-Major unit cost and build time rebalancing. Factories and cons now generally have fixed metal consumption per second.
-Almost all mobile units and turrets scaled down by 0.9. Units' speed reduced accordingly.
-Commanders scaled up by 1.1, walk animation slowed down by 20% and speed reduced to 88%.
-Extended Commanders' resource storages by 1000.
-Fixed max depth values of tanks so that they can move through greenworld tileset shallow water areas.
-Arm Commander D-Gun reload time reduced to 4 from 5.
-Arm Commander D-Gun energy cost increased back to 500 from 400. (Energy is easier to produce in Alpha 2.)
-Arm Commander turnrate reduced to 650 from 800.
-Core Commander sensor ranges increased to 575 from 550.
-Core Commander turnrate reduced to 600 from 700.
-All hoverjet aircraft now float still in the air when idle instead of landing.
-Arm Rebel weapons changed. It now has missile and rocket weapons for attacking air and ground targets separately.
-Arm Scorpion max damage reduced to 300 from 400.
-Arm Scorpion weapon changed to fire more powerful projectiles at slower rate. Slight increase in overall power due to rounding.
-Arm Scorpion speed reduced back to 3 from 3.25 (and then again reduced to 2.7.)
-Arm Marine weapon changed to fire shorter burst of more powerful projectiles. Overall power increased from 20 per burst to 24 per burst.
-Arm Marine explosion now deals no damage.
-Arm Havoc weapon range reduced to 650 from 700.
-Arm Havoc weapon AoE increased to 30 from 25.
-Arm Settler weapon now does 0 stun damage to armor classes 6 and higher.
-Arm Custodian turnrate increased to 250 from 225.
-Core Arclite weapon range reduced to 750 from 850.
-Core Pathfinder weapon range reduced to 700 from 800.
-Core Grunt now has special commandfire grenade launcher.
-Core Hunter can now transport one small ground unit.
-Core Overseer max damage increased to 225 from 200.
-Core Sentry max damage increased to 625 from 600.
-Arm Rebel missile and Core Hornet pulse gun ranges reduced to 500 from 600 in order to shorten their attack run length.
-Arm Harasser and Arm Settler wrecks are now passable.
-Arm Caltrop mines now do only 25% damage to each other.
-Perimeter defence walls are now in .gaf format instead of .3do.
-Arm Havoc now turns front tracks while moving.
-Core tidal generator now has team color.
-Missile texturing fixed.
-New explosion animations for all EMG weapons.
-New explosion animation for Arm Corsair cluster bombs.
-More fancy Commander teleportation at the beginning.
-GUI will now show "SPECIAL" instead of "DIRECT" as default for using special weapon when multiple units are selected.
-Few minor typos in Core Grunt and Pathfinder scripts fixed.
-Construction aircraft no longer have useless standing fire order button.
-New map weapons added. No maps so far that use them though...

Alpha 1e :
-Arm Viking and Core Marauder hovercraft are now available.
-Underwater metal extractor added to Arm Custodian build menu.
-Kbot walk to aim script transitions have no delay anymore.
-Fixed Arm Broadside armoring scripts.
-Minor script patching for Core's metal extractors and Arm's floating solar panel.
-Arm floating solar panel now leaves correct wreckage.
-Acceleration and brakerate values of all units sanitized.
-General aircraft flight height increase.
-General weapon projectile speed increase for all EMG, laser and sliver weapons.
-All railgun and heavier laser weapons now do reduced damage to air units.
-Arm Marine footprint changed to 2x2 from 1x1.
-Arm Marine weapon reload time reduced to 1.5 from 1.75.
-Arm Marine sweetspot moved to head in order to ensure hits while in shallow water.
-Core Pathfinder cost reduced to M:75 E:200 BT:5500 from M:75 E:250 BT:7500.
-Core Pathfinder pathfinder radar range increased to 800 from 650.
-Core Pathfinder speed increased to 2.7 from 2.25.
-Core Pathfinder weapon range reduced to 800 from 900.
-Arm Settler and Core Pathfinder can now move on steeper surfaces than other kbots.
-Arm Settler build speed increased to 60 from 30.
-Arm Settler is now amphibious. Script adjusted.
-Arm Settler stunner reload time reduced to 1.5 from 2.
-Arm Settler cost increased to M:75 E:100 BT:5000 from M:50 E:75 BT:4500.
-Arm Commander sensor ranges increased to 600 from 550.
-Arm Commander D-gun reload time reduced to 5 from 6.
-Arm Commander D-gun energy drain reduced to 400 from 500.
-Arm Commander EMG AoE set to 0.
-Core Commander sensor ranges reduced to 550 from 600.
-Arm Autogun and Core Puncturer armor class increased to 5 from 4.
-Arm Autogun weapon range increased to 625 from 600.
-Arm Autogun build time increased to 6500 from 5000.
-Core Puncturer build time increased to 7500 from 5000.
-Core Incinerator build time increased to 8500 from 7500.
-Core Incinerator max damage increased to 1000 from 900.
-Arm Longbow armor class increased to 4 from 3.
-Arm Longbow optional radar energy drain reduced to 1 from 2.
-Arm Broadside weapon range increased to 550 from 500.
-Arm Havoc weapon accuracy increased to 300 from 400.
-Core Arclite buildtime increased to 25000 from 22500.
-Core Arclite turn rate reduced to 275 from 300.
-Core Arclite turret turn rate reduced.
-Arm Scorpion speed increased to 3.25 from 3.
-Arm Rebel missile turnrate increased to 20000 from 15000.
-Core Errant weapon turnrate increased to 3000 from 2500.
-Arm Caltrop kamikaze distance increased to 30 from 20.
-Arm T1 light factory max damage increased to 1500 from 1250.
-Arm T1 heavy factory max damage increased to 2500 from 2000.
-Arm T1 air factory max damage increased to 1500 from 1250.
-Core T1 ground laboratory max damage increased to 2000 from 1500.
-Core T1 air laboratory max damage increased to 1500 from 1250.
-Energy drain while moving removed from all construction units that had such.
-GUI metal and energy bars are now brighter.

Alpha 1d :
-Arm Longbow and Core Sentry build times reduced to 7500 from 10000.
-Arm Stinger and Core Tracker build times reduced to 12500 from 17500.
-Arm Scorpion build time reduced to 7500 from 8000.
-Turn rates of all AA missiles increased to 25000 from 20000.
-Arm Commander EMG turn rate increased to 4000 from 2000.
-Core Commander laser cannon guidance removed.
-Arm Rebel turn rate increased to 450 from 400;
-Core Hornet turn rate increased to 600 from 525;
-Arm Harasser missile base damage increased to 18 from 15.
-Arm Harasser max damage reduced to 150 from 200;
-Core Errant max damage reduced to 100 from 150;
-Arm Autogun projectile speed increased to 650 from 600.
-Arm Autogun reload time reduced to 0.3 from 0.33.
-Core Pathfinder weapon projectile now gives no radar signal when fired while stationary.
-Arm's solar panels and Core's metal extractors no more close when hit if no damage is received.
-Changed floating solar/pgen sweetspots so that they can be hit properly.
-Raised Arm solar panel sweetspot a little higher.
-Arm floating solar panel added to weapon damage charts.
-Arm Marine can now die without leaving wreckage when sufficiently overkilled.
-Arm Marine wreckage heap max damage reduced to 200 from 20000.
-AI no longer builds mines.
-Meteors and other map weapons are back in game.
-New map weapons and effects for extreme weather conditions.

Alpha 1c :
-Ctrl F idle factory selection hack is now back in game.
-Easy and Medium AI profiles added.
-Typos in models' object trees fixed.
-Typos in weapon damage charts fixed.
-Arm energy storage now has ShootMe=1 tag again.
-Arm Custodian build speed increased to 150 from 120.
-Arm Scorpion weapon base damage increased to 8 from 7.
-Arm Harasser weapon guidance increased to 6500 from 5000.
-Arm Settler build time reduced to 4500 from 5000.
-Arm Vigilant build time reduced to 7500 from 10000.
-Core Argus build time reduced to 7500 from 10000.
-Core mexes' max damage reduced to 400 from 500.
-Core mexes' damage modifier reduced to 0.75 from 0.66.
-Core mexes' wreckage statistics fixed.
-Hovercraft movement scripts enhanced.

Alpha 1b :
-All AI units are now included in weapon damage charts.
-Factory scripts fixed. They no longer randomly close after finishing some unit. AI factories now behave correctly as well.
-AI cheat resource buildings are now uncapturable.
-Kbot movement classes adjusted. The Desert Triad is now air first map. :p
-Mars plant features are now mostly passable. Red Planet map is now playable without issues.
-AA units now have their weapons' AA only versions changed to have 0 AoE.
-AA units now really focus fire on bombers.
-Storages now have hidden fake weapon that causes AI to consider them as turrets and thus build them.
-Arm Vigilant radar range increased to 2000 from 1600 and build time reduced to 10000 from 12500.
-Core Argus radar range increased to 2250 from 1800 and build time reduced to 10000 from 12500.
-Arm Corsair now costs 25 more metal and 200 more energy and is 2500 slower to build.
-Core Aurora now costs 100 less energy and is 2500 faster to build.
-Arm Harasser speed increased to 4.25 from 4.
-Arm Harasser weapon now has 0 AoE.
-Core Errant and Hornet weapons now have 0 AoE.
-Core Arclite weapon reload time changed to 3.5 from 3.0. Thus total time per salvo is now 3.75 seconds.
-Core Arclite weapon now does reduced damage to air units.
-Core Retributor now costs 50 more metal and 100 more energy.
-Wreckage statistics fixed.
-Sound effect added for factory buildpad directing.
-Menu refined. No Cavedog button in the middle of frontend anymore and background images are more polished.
-Missing AI unit 96x96 .pcx images added.



Thanks for playing!