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February 16th, 2012 by Vohvelieläin - As far as GoK T2 Defence Runnerpod is from a battle tank, it is still the closest thing to such that GoK has. Armed with dual warp beam lances, equipped with nanolathe, protected by powerful void shield and more armor than most GoK's mobile units have, and it all mounted on a highly mobile hull, this unit is a force to be reckoned with. Its nanolathe permits GoK T2 Defence Runnerpod to build Shield Nodes and repair other units, so it can support defences or fortify itself against an incoming horde of enemy assault units given a moment of time. Its mobility coupled with potent shielding and self repair ability make it one of the most resilient units if not exposed to too much firepower at once, and also make it a fearsome hit and run unit. Anyhow, it is a highly visible target due to its height and size, and warp beams have rather short range, so it is not that capable at direct confrontations with large enemy forces that have some heavy support units around.
GoK T2 Defence Runnerpod
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February 14th, 2012 by Vohvelieläin - Designed to be Arm's heavy duty line breaker, T2 Shock Assault Kbot delivers some serious bang for the buck in a highly mobile hull. Its dual plasma bolt guns are most effective against all lightly armored ground targets and can keep up high rate of fire for short perioids of time, but have limited range and penetrative power. In addition, it is equipped with EMP grenade launchers that can be used to disable high priority targets before closing in for the kill. On the other hand, the cost of all this firepower is that the unit is not exactly the most durable or armored one around.
Arm T2 Shock Assault Kbot
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February 13th, 2012 by N72 - Hey everyone, just a quick update to inform you of our new backup domain name: tazero.net. This domain is fully mirrored with our primary zero.tauniverse.com domain, meaning tazero.net/maps will take you to zero.tauniverse.com/maps, etc.
February 12th, 2012 by N72 - As seen in the last update, T2 Ground Factories are quite a bit larger than the T1 ones so as to accommodate some of the bigger T2 units, including Core's massive T2 Battle Tank. This beast is one of the more straightforward T2 units, designed to smash its way right through the enemy. Its huge cannon doesn't have much range, but it does have a lot of power and a large area of effect, making it excellent for crowd control and blasting through defenses. The T2 Battle Tank has a higher MaxDamage and Armor Class than even the T1 Destroyer and features Core's new plasma shield technology. Unlike GoK's more sophisticated void shields, plasma shields simply halve the damage of a single hit once every few seconds (two in this case). This means they are not that helpful when the unit is being bombarded from all around, but very useful for blocking occasional fire, stray impacts, and targeted strikes. For example, the plasma shield can't do much against rapid-fire weapons or hordes of smaller units, but it can protect well against slow-firing rockets and artillery cannons or possibly even a surprise nuclear strike.
Core T2 Battle Tank
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February 10th, 2012 by Vohvelieläin - Mighty T2 ground units will require large T2 Ground Factories. These have construction power equal to two T1 Ground Factories and yard area wide enough for building units up to twice the size of T1 Destroyers. Metal/BuildTime ratios of T2 units will be similar to T1 units, and thus fulfilling T2 Ground Factory's metal consumption per second will require three T2 Metal Extractors at minimum. T2 Power Generators will as well prove useful since relative energy costs of T2 mobile units will be atleast twice as high compared to T1.
Unless playing on a large map, expenses of running a T2 Ground Factory will be so high that one is likely to be periodically left inactive. Structures of such value are best kept well protected during those times. As per usual, Arm's factory will close into armored state when inactive and GoK's one will be protected by a powerful void shield. Core's factory will be protected by their new plasma shield technology whenever not building anything.
Arm, Core, and GoK T2 Ground Factories
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February 8th, 2012 by Vohvelieläin - Continuing with the most fundamental structures, T2 Power Generators will allow players to efficiently keep up with rising energy requirements without having to resort to making fields of vulnerable T1 energy production structures for their enemy to bombard. T2 Power Generators will produce tenfold amount of energy compared to their T1 counterparts (or twentyfold in case of Arm and their Solar Panels) with greater cost efficiency. Arm and Core T2 Power Generators are also heavily armored, while GoK again mostly counts on more powerful void shield. It is still undecided whether or not Core's one will have a plasma shield.
While higher tier units will not cost crazy amounts of metal in TA Zero, the amount of energy required to build them will be significant compared to T1 units. In combination with how T2 Metal Extractors and various T2 combat units are designed, this will, in my opinion, be the most interesting way to balance the gameplay. Players will still be fighting over control of each metal spot on the map even in later phases of the game as there will be no means to dig more that 6 metal per second out of each, nor will there be ways produce metal straight out of energy. There will be no energy races, cornered players may still win the game with focused attacks and expansions with T2 units, and loss of main energy production will not be entirely crippling, but merely just enforces one to use T1 units only.
Arm, Core, and GoK T2 Power Generators
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February 6th, 2012 by Vohvelieläin - While T2 Metal Extractors are not exactly the most spectacular units to preview, they will nonetheless become one of the most essential structures in game, worthy of being brought up as one of the first. Unlike original Total Annihilation's Moho Metal Extractors, these will not produce metal many times over the amount that basic Metal Extractors do; instead, these will only produce exactly twice the amount. Higher tiers in TA Zero will be designed and balanced so that there will not be uncontrollable escalation of units' statistics and resource requirements for their production and use. Thus any higher metal production rates are never going to be necessary.
In addition to enhanced metal production rate, these will offer greater survivability through heavier armor and/or shielding. Arm's T2 Metal Extractor is surprisingly sturdy and is affordable compared to the other two since it doesn't have any special features. Core's one is heavily armored, will retract into armored state when under heavy fire, and is equipped with a plasma shield which can block occasional weapon impacts while the unit is active. GoK's T2 Metal Extractor is as lightly armored as its T1 counterpart, and it will rely on its void shield instead.
Arm, Core, and GoK T2 Metal Extractors
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February 4th, 2012 by N72 - It's time to start previewing Tier 2 units! These units will be included in the next major release: version Alpha 4. Of course, there will be minor releases before then (Alpha 3b, Alpha 3c, etc.) to address any fixes or improvements to T1 but you'll have to wait until Alpha 4 for T2. Starting today, we are going to show new unit models on a regular basis, probably every few days. Once all of the new units have been modeled, we'll continue to keep you updated as we enter the next phase of development: getting the new units in-game and ready for action. Remember that you can make use of our new subscription feature to ensure that you don't miss any new updates as well join us on the forum to voice your opinions.
Today's units are the T2 Perimeter Defense Turrets for all three factions. These will pack much more of a punch than their little T1 brothers and are more diverse as well. The Arm turret is equipped with a railgun that fires slowly but features extreme range and stopping power. Core's turret is more heavily armored and armed with potent laser cannons, however the range is shorter and the lasers require energy to fire. Finally, the GoK turret (which is shielded, unlike the T1 PD Turret) has the shortest range of all, but its warp beam fires continuously and can penetrate almost any armor. It will also most likely increase its firing rate as it focuses its beam on a particularly tough target. It only makes sense that such a powerful weapon will consume a lot of energy!
Arm, Core, and GoK T2 Perimeter Defense Turrets
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February 1st, 2012 by N72 - Today we are launching a new site feature: subscriptions! From now on, you can subscribe to this news page via RSS or email and be automatically and instantly notified whenever there's a news post. That way you'll never miss out on new releases or all the cool updates and previews we'll be posting here on the site, such as previews of upcoming T2 units. What's that? T2 units?! That's right, over the next couple of weeks we'll be posting previews of T2 units, which are currently in development. Of course, there's a lot more work to be done, but we've already got a surprising number of unit models ready for show.
In other news, we've made some updates to existing content since the site launched. There's some new FAQ entries, the unit guides have been updated with some things we forgot to mention, and there's a new screenshot thread, accessible from the screenshots page, where you can upload your own screenshots. Cool screenshots will be added to the official gallery on the website.
Oh, and don't miss today's earlier news about our latest map release, Metallurgy, perfect for intense duels combining ground and air. That's all for now… and don't forget to subscribe!
Update: Just to reminder to all subscribers: don't forget to click the confirmation link in the initial email you receive when you sign up! Otherwise, your subscription won't be complete and you won't get notifications!
February 1st, 2012 by Vohvelieläin - Our newest addition to battlefields designed for the mod, Metallurgy, is now available at Maps page. Metallurgy is the second map of its kind, made by carefully assembling map elements over enlarged heightmap in GIMP rather than the usual method of using Annihilator map editor. It is also the first map to come with tag "TAZ", and older "XS2" maps will eventually be updated and released again.
Despite its misleading appearance, Metallurgy is not a metal map. Metal is available as shiny patches atop the structures and there are also two thermal vents on the map, one close to each team's start position. Map's structure encourages use of aerial units despite its small size.
January 23rd, 2012 by N72 - Welcome to the Total Annihilation Zero website, the new home of Total Annihilation Zero, previously known as TA: Excess II. On this site you'll find all the latest news, media, and information about the TA Zero project. We've already set up a lot of content including screenshots, previews, FAQs, and unit guides but there's a lot more to come in the future. We'll also be posting regular news updates detailing the development progress of the mod.
Not only are we launching the website today, we're also releasing the long-delayed Alpha 3 release of TA Zero, which has now accumulated a gigantic changelog of 224 entries. Here's a sampling of what's new:
     
– Tier 1 naval units for all factions have been added.
– Two normal units have been added: the Arm Hammer artillery turret and GoK Domina support hovercraft.
– Explosion animations have been completely recreated and further enhanced by the addition of "giblets".
– Useful interface enhancements have been added, such as minimap range rings for all turrets.
– Massive balance adjustments have been made across the board.
– Numerous technical fixes have been implemented.
– xpoy's new ddraw.dll file has been included, bringing important enhancements and fixes.
– The +ai and +control # cheats have been enabled for skirmish, allowing you to control the AI players.
– And much more! Read about all 224 changes on the Version History page.
     
Don't forget to visit the official Alpha 3 discussion thread.
 
That's not all! There's also a new map called Scramble. It was actually created quite a while ago but we decided to release it when the website launched. It's an unusual map because the the only way to get your Commander off of your starting island is by aerial transport. Needless to say, the AI will have a lot of trouble with this map due to the fact that it doesn't use transports.
Head on over to the Maps section to download Scramble.
Have questions or comments? Feel free to leave a comment here or visit the forum.
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