Spring - User contributions [en]

Balanced Annihilation:Chat

2007-07-03T17:14:31Z

Aldebaran: revert to 18:24, 26 Sep 2006

'''[[Using_Spring|<--Back to Using Spring]]'''

==Chat, Cheats, and Text Commands==

Pressing ENTER will bring up a "say:" prompt which you can use to communicate with other players or issue "Text Commands". To send a message to all who are connected, type your message and press ENTER. To send a message only to your allies, preface your message with "a:". To send a message to any spectators, type "s:" then your message and press ENTER. To enter a Text Command, simply type the command and press ENTER.

===Basic Text Commands===

<table border="3" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">

<tr>
<th>Command</th><th>Effect</th>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.info</td><td>Shows you what colour each player is, its CPU usage percentage and their ping delay in the bottom right corner of the screen. This is on by default.</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.clock</td><td>Shows you the elapsed game time in minutes and seconds in the bottom right corner of the screen. This is on by default.</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.take</td><td>Places all allied units that are owned by players who have lost connection to the server under your control. It is generally considered polite to consult with any still-connected allies before doing this. In a Commander Dies, Game Ends game, a player only loses once they have lost ''all'' their Commanders, and this mechanism will give them a second one.</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.setmaxspeed #</td><td>Changes the maximum speed multiplier (default is 3.0)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.setminspeed #</td><td>Changes the minimum speed multiplier (default is 0.3)</td>
</tr>

</table>

===Cheat Codes===

<table border="3" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">

<tr><th>Cheat Command</th><th>Effect</th></tr>

<tr>
<td>'''.cheat'''</td><td>'''enable cheats - Cheats don't work in multiplayer until the host types this'''</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.nocost</td><td>Insta-build; everything is built immediatly. (doesn't work on things already under construction, only on new ones)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.spectator</td><td>Allows you to see the entire map... but you lose control of your units</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.team 0, .team 1, etc.</td><td>Change player</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.give ARMCOM, .give 10 CORKROG, .give all, etc.</td><td>Place 1 or specified number of specified unit. Valid units are the internal names of units as specified in the unit definition. Use the "all" switch to get ALL the units in the current mod.</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.atm</td><td>gain 1000 extra energy and metal.</td>
</tr>

</table>

'''[[Using_Spring|<--Back to Using Spring]]'''

[[category:Using Spring]]

Balanced Annihilation:Custom Keys

2007-07-03T16:49:43Z

Aldebaran: revert to 16:20, 25 Jun 2007

'''[[Using_Spring|<--Back to Using Spring]]'''

== Customizing keyboard shortcuts ==

There are several categories of keys in Spring that can be customized.

===Unit Action Keys===

These are keys that control unit actions. They're all listed [[Using Spring#Commands and Defaults and Hotkeys|above]] and in the [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/Readme#Key_assignments Key Assignments] section of the README. The README can also be found in the docs folder of your Spring installation.

These keys are hardcoded and cannot be changed. While a unit is selected, 'A' will always issue an attack order and 'M' will always issue a move order. You can still bind the key to something else in uikeys.txt or the Selection Keys Editor, but your binding will only work when you don't have any units selected.

===User Interface keys===

{{Uikeys_Commands}}

Many key bindings related to the user interface can be edited through the '''uikeys.txt''' file found in Spring folder. You should be able to work out the format by skimming it, it's fairly simple. Key bindings load upon game start, and can't be changed in middle of the game.

A few keys related to the UI can't be changed:

- Mouse button functions.

- Behaviour of shift/control

- Behaviour of shift/control Middle mouse button.

The correct way to bind keys is to put single-quotes around letter keys, like this:

''bind 'x' mouse3''

You can also comment out any bind to quickly disable it by putting "//" before it:

''//bind home increaseViewRadius''

Function keys and some other keys don't need single quotes. They're listed in the "Special Bindable Keys" list, below.

{| style="float: center; background-color: white;"
|Special Bindable Keys:
{|
|
'''Function'''
* Home
* End
* insert
* delete
* space
* f1-f12
* esc
* `
* Ã‚Â§
* enter
* backspace
* pause
* pageup
* pagedown
|
'''Modifiers'''
* ctrl
* Shift
'''Arrow'''
* Up
* Down
* Left
* Rigth
|}
|}

===Selection keys===

This is the best part, and is already covered [[Using Spring#The Selection Editor|earlier]] in this document.

Im sure you do remember Control C key. Or Control Z.

Well these keys, as all that are related to "selected units" are now fully editable.

i.e. You can map a key to do the same as Control C BUT without the "center on commander" part.

This offers tremendous flexibility and enhaces control and gameplay to pro levels.

Look at [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2190 this thread] to learn more on editing these selection keys through selectioneditor.exe.

'''[[Using_Spring|<--Back to Using Spring]]'''

[[category:Using Spring]]

Spring guide

2007-07-03T16:40:22Z

Aldebaran: revert to 16:20, 25 Jun 2007

'''

Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬â„¢Keep in mind that Spring is still in beta, therefore crashes can occur (a lot) and we (well, not me!) havenÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t got everything fixed yet.Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢

Before we start, letÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s have some background info.

== TA: so what's so cool about this game? ==

TA (Total Annihilation) was created by Cavedog (R.I.P) in 1997, about half a year before(!!!) Starcraft was released. It was revolutionary in many ways, with 3D graphics (but a fixed camera), good animations (aircraft barrel rolled and leaned when they turned etc.), 3D terrain and many units (150 in the original game.) But in my not so humble opinion, the 3 greatest things that set TA apart were...

* Its physics! Every shot trajectory was calculated! An artillery shell could try to get over a hill and hit an aircraft, which exploded into bits, damaging other troops nearby, which could also explode and set forests on fire. Yeah, might not sound that big after 7 years, but back then we had Starcraft, which defied at least a half dozen laws of physics.

(Example of the tentacle through space. Yeah, really realistic)
[http://fast.filespace.org/Kixxe/WTF.png Click here]

* The order system! You could have 300 units waiting to be built, and when they were done, they could go and patrol an area and attack anyone in it. Order queues were limitless. You could build your whole base and drink tea while it was getting built. Construction units on patrol would repair damaged units, help build things and reclaim stuff (sucking it in and transforming it into resources.)

* The resource system! Contrary to other RTS games, the resources in TA are infinite. What limits resource consumption is the rate at which they can be gathered. This sole fact would make for longer and more epic games, with hundreds or thousands of units fighting in the endgame.

Pretty cool game. If you want, check out their old website for more info. [http://www.fileuniverse.com/Total_Annihilation_Mirror/totala/index.html Click here]

Anyway, enough of my rambling, onto Spring!

Now, as I told you, Spring was inspired by TA and has the same features TA had. Plus a few new thingsÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ check out the Spring features page for more info.
[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/Features Click here]

----

==Resources==

There are two types of resources in Spring, namely ''metal'' and ''energy''. Each of these two resources can be collected in a number of different ways. The amount of each resource that you currently have stockpiled is represented by a coloured bar, one for each resource, along the upper edge of the screen. The rate at which you are presently collecting and consuming each of the two types is represented by a number and a + or - sign. If you are collecting at a faster rate then the rate at which you are consuming you will see your coloured bar grow as resources accumulate. Your stockpiled resources are being depleted whenever the coloured bar is shrinking. There are storage buildings which you can build for each type of resource and these will increase the amount of each which can be stored. Units and structures cost both metal and energy to build, while some units or structures also require energy to walk, shoot or operate in general.

Metal is collected continuously from either a metal extractor, often called Ã¢â‚¬ËœmexesÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ which extract from certain areas of the map, or by using a metal maker, abbreviated as Ã¢â‚¬ËœMMÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ which convert energy into metal. Both will only operate so long as there is sufficient energy to power them. However, metal makers require a lot of energy.
A faster way to gather metal is by using either your commander or a construction bot to 'reclaim' it from the remains of destroyed units and buildings! They can even reclaim buildings which have not been destroyed and they don't have to belong to your enemy to be reclaimed.

Energy can be produced by a number of different buildings or it can be reclaimed (you can reclaim trees to gather energy). There are many different types of energy producers, including solar collectors and power plants, but they will be covered in another section.

In a game, always Ã¢â‚¬Å“keep an eye on your metal and energy barÃ¢â‚¬Å“ because if one of them goes to zero, particularly energy, your building rate will stall,(metal makers and extractors will stop producing) and some units will be unable to fire their energy weapons (eg. LRPCs, Annihilators, Doomsday Machines).

----

==A Normal Spring Game==

Anyway, now you will learn the basics of a normal Spring game, as I see it.
Every Spring game starts with all players only havingÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

'''The COMMANDER'''! (Insert DUN DUN DUUUUUNN)

The Commander is the unit you start with and the most important one in the game. He is unique and cannot be rebuilt. In fact, there is a mode where the game ends when the commander dies, so never leave him alone.

The fastest builder, he can walk and build underwater, he makes a nuke-sized explosion when he dies, he has a laser and the privilege of a Disintegrator Gun (alias D-Gun).
The D-Gun is the single most powerful weapon in the whole game, which kills ANY (ANY, I mean it!) unit in one hit (friend or foe no difference, be careful!). Even if that sounds a like a little overkill, keep in mind that the Commander has a very limited range, is defenceless against any aircraft and long range artillery, and when submerged, he cannot shoot. (Subs! Onoz!)

The Commander is used for setting up a base, and early base defences. The D-Gun should protect him against any level 1 unit that tries to kill him, so if you lose your Commander in the beginning of the gameÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ then you're dead. You lose your best (only?) builder and attacker, plus you have a nuke-sized explosion that may destroy half or all of your base.

AnywayÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ if you're seeing everything in a top down perspective, click the Commander (type Ctrl+C if you can't find him) with left mouse button to select him.

(If you have a crosshair as a mouse, press j. If your camera is zoomed out or all jerky, press ctrl+j until you find the OTA(Original Total Annihilation) camera.)

Okay, letÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s now discuss '''how to build stuff'''.

Like any normal RTS, itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s choose a unit and click a location, but there is more with Spring. Hold shift and click on different locations to make the unit build the same building there. Hold shift and drag and you will make a line of the building. Hold ctrl and shift to make boxes/rectangular shapes of buildings. Use these! Make a line of DT (Dragon Teeth, small piece of wall/cover) instead of clicking each and every one. The controls are there to help you.
This is called queuing up stuff. You can use almost every single command in a queue. Buildings can be queued to build lots of different units, and then the other orders in the behaviour of the unit. You can make them walk to something, or guard/follow a unit by pressing G and selecting the unit to guard. Try it.
Selecting a unit and pressing shift key will show the orders queue.

Build 2 solar generators, or 4 wind generators to gather energy. Keep in mind that wind is pretty unstable, and that a number of maps (like lunar ones) have no wind at all! (The level of wind and tides in the map is indicated in the Map Selector in the Lobby).

Now select the Metal extractors and the whole screen turns black and green. Okay, place one on the green stuff. (The greener, the better! Like broccoli!)

Oh, and the minimap controls in spring are reversed. Meaning that you have to right-click to move the screen to the location. Once the new GUI is out and offical, this will be fixed.

----

==The TA Bestiary==

Okay, time to describe the cool units that are at your disposal to make your enemies bleed. 8)

(Disclaimer : This will discuss the types of units, not every unit. Therefore, if I say that vehicles have large armour, I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t mean artillery of course.)

On to the first level 1 lab/plant to build. The categories areÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

===Vehicles===

These babies are all about armour. The level 1 units are pretty basic, with more armour and (build) speed and than their K-bot counterparts. Level 2 vehicles show even more of the same pattern: better armour than their K-bot counterparts. Level 2 also offers the mobile Flak unit, which is the only real level 2 mobile AA.
Their weakness is that they are clumsy, turn slowly, and most of them canÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t climb mountainsÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ at all. Leads to trouble when an explosion makes a crater; units survive but can get stuck in the crater. Or just when they are trying to get up a steep hill. But sooner or later, you'll learn what kind of destruction a rush of 30 Goliaths can do!

===K-Bots===

K-bots generally have less powerful weapons than tanks, and are also less heavily armoured.
So why build them in the first place?
Because they are cheaper! And since they are cheaper, you can build more and outnumber your enemies. This doesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t work out that good in game though, since tanks ARE stronger. K-bots are also smaller, and will slip through DT and such alike easier than tanks.
And finally, the third advantage (which IMO is the biggest) of K-bots are that they can climb most mountains with ease! Climb by defences, up on mountains, through holes, these are all-purpose units.

===Aircraft===

Planes are planes. In Spring, thereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a plane for every role. Bombers, fighters, gunships, flying radar, transports, stealth fighters and torpedo bombers. Planes are fast, and are not affected by terrain. There is no wall or relief that can stop a plane. You can just swoop into a base and take out AA with your gunship, and then bomb the crap out of their important structures. To stop them, you've got to rely on Anti Air (AA) units.

On the downside, planes are quite expensive to build and are relatively fragile. They are also the only units that have an anti unit against them (Except subs). When someone finds out you're building a large air fleet, they just cram their base full of AA and their army with mobile AA. And the only counter is more planes than their AA can handle, or a ground troop to take the AA down. A combined ground and air attack can be very destructive. Good luck!

===Ships===

Ships are good on a map with water. (DUH!) Ships come in many different kinds, but mostly for taking out other ships or bombing the crap out of land units in some way or another. The ships' strength is their powerful weaponry and their long range. All ships made to take out land have long range. Ships also have lots of armour. Another thing thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s good about ships is that there is not much you can do to stop them because they are usually out of range. Once you see that the enemy has ships, either build a dock and a navy real fast or build planes and pray that he doesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t have too many AA ships.
Their weaknesses are slowness (especially when turning), they can be taken out by submarines, and of course they are confined to water, meaning that they are often stuck with units just outside of their reach.

And they are *extremely* expensive, metal-wise.

===Hovercraft===

(These are counted as level 2 units, so I would not recommend them as the first to build unless itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s the perfect map for them)

Hovercrafts are a tank and a plane (some say ship, but I find planes to be more accurate for some reason O.o) mixed. Sure itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s weaker than your average tank, and slower than your average plane. Whats their use? They are meant for swampy maps that means that both tanks and ships are a weakness, and offcourse since none can't be used, everyone just spams out AA since they think aircrafts are the only way. Great suprise for the enemy when 50 hovercrafts comes in agsint their flakkers and MT...
Long story short, Hovercrafts are good for those who like (or must) attack from the ground, but canÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t since there is too much water.

Their weakness is their low climbing ability, and that they're weaker than a tank and slower than a plane. (DonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t build them on a land map, tanks ARE better.)

===Towers and Turrets===

Like TA, Spring boasts an impressive range of plasma and laser towers, cannons and turrets. These cannons will undoubtly be essential parts of your offensive as well as defensive strategies.

'''Light laser tower (LLT)'''
A cheap and fast laser that hits almost every time. Mostly useful against level 1 units, but can be used in groups against level 2. They suffer from short range, so most long range weapons can kill them(Samsons, for example). Since they fire faster than their bigger brothers, LLTs are more useful against hordes of small weak units than a single strong one.

'''Heavy laser tower (HLT)'''
This is the only tower that works on those pesky level 2 units that just wonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t die. These shoot slower, but with much more power than the LLT. They also have a longer range and can be quite effective against air attacks. They cost a fair amount and take a long time to build, but they are often worth it.

'''Missile Tower (MT)'''
The missile tower is good for planes or weak level 1 units. They shoot a weak rocket that almost hits their target every time. They have a fair range, but very low hp. They work on most level 2 planes as well, but should be backed up with Flack cannons.

'''Pop-up Cannons'''
Pop-up cannons are pretty cheap middle range gun. A guardian can outshoot them, but they are still a choice to use. When Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬â„¢offÃ¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ they take 50% less damage! I heard that a closed popup can withstand a nuke! (If itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s not a direct hit) In XTA you can build them with level 1 construction K-bot or whatever. Sometimes individual wars between 2 or 4 pop-ups break out, where both sides try to kill the other's ones. Just remember to repair them, as with all PCÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

'''Middle range Plasma Cannons (MRPC)'''
Guardians and such alike. These arenÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t for attacking, but they have a pretty long range, and are not too expensive. Plus their targeting is pretty fast, meaning they are practically made for defence and very lethal. Perfect to have on a hill close to a HLT and some MTÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

'''Long Range Plasma Cannons (LRPC)'''
We are talking Big berthas, Intimidators and such alike. These babies got the RANGE and may be the ultimate weapon on small maps. The Big Bertha, yeah. An amazing unit. Not the ultimate, but several times cheaper and more accurate than a Buzz Saw/Vulcan, and its accuracy will improve with every kill. Not good at defending, since its slow targeting makes it impossible to hit moving targets. Try to build one on a small maps, or just build one close to the enemy and your Bertha will start pounding his base mercilessly. In fact, build several, with a lot of AA around them (and ground, if thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s possible) and you'll see your enemy's morale quickly fall to the ground. A LRPC expansion can sometimes become the winning factor of a game.

'''Very long range plasma Cannons (VLRC)'''
Buzzsaws are big, cost much, are huge energy suckers, are VERY inaccurate and are pretty slow on targeting. BUT, they have the DOUBLE range of a normal LRPC and shoot 4(!!!) shots at a time. This is the one thing to finish those ÃƒÂ¼ber porckers.
Defend these well, with lots of AA around and in a wide circle. They only have about 5000 hp, so killing them is easy if you donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t have AAÃ¢â‚¬Â¦
In OTA however Vulcans/Buzzsaws have SLIGHTLY LESS range than LRPCs, so LRPCs are generally better because they are so cheaper and each are a seperate entity with a fair bit of life(around 2500 i think).

The obvious way to kill LRC is to use planes, since they are fast enough to enter and kill it all.

===The first steps===

Now comes the tricky part. The first minute is always the same really, so what after that?
Well, itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s hard to judge. But here are some paths that can be taken.

1. Build many construction units and send them out to build mexxes and Geothermal Power Plants. Then a defence and maybe some DT.

2. Build some construction units, and then start building defences. Follow the Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬â„¢line defenceÃ¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ guide lines.
Build Fusion Power Plants and Metal makers, and then an army. After that, use the army how armies are used best.
This strategy is called PORCING, and is considered by many as BAD.
There are disadvantages with this. You canÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t use many metal extractors or Geos, so you have slim to no resources to build your base. A popular strategy is to kill the anti-nuke, and then blow the whole compact base to bits.

3. Build a small army of 3-6 units and attack the enemy. The goal isnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t to kill him, but to do as much damage as possible to his resources and hinder his economy. Mexxes are the most important, and then look for wind or solar generators.
Try to keep on attacking him, but remember to still tech up and build defences.

Anyway, use your construction units to build defences of SOME kind. Take advantage of Geothermal gases. Yeah the smoking stuff. You can place Geo plants there for good, cheap and space saving energy. If youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re expanding, use every Mex' positions, and try to find a place to settle your defence line.

When you can defend yourself from most level 1 units, start on your level 2 building.

When itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s done, ALWAYS build a construction unit first. Use it for your first mini Fusion. (Or build some mobile fusion at the vehicle plant if you're Arm)
Build level 2 units in the meantime.
Low on metal? Upgrade the finest of your Mexxes to Moho Mexxes. They are bigger and better (but they suck up energy).
You can also build a Moho Metal maker if you have enough energy to support it. (MMM :p)
Okay, if you made this far, you must really start thinking about how to defeat the enemy. Look for his weak spot. Maybe a K-bot assault from the mountains ? Maybe planes. Maybe using amphibious units. That part is for you to figure out.

----

==STRATEGY==

I read through this guide, and suddenly realizedÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

''where is the strategy?''

So I fiddled this section up. Hope you'll learn something from it and thereby increase your Spring gaming experience.

===Defence===

AhÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ the overall defence. There are many different ways to make a good defence, but here are 4 oft seen approaches.

''Compact defence!''

The most common type of defence is a single line of defence, often with Dragon Teeth (DT) in front. Inside your base is some AA, and thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s about it. The good thing about this is that itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s pretty easy and fast to set up, and you know where your territory ends, which can make the game much easier. Problem is, if something makes it past the line of defence, then youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re screwed, unless youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re building line after line of defence, or have some units to stop them.

''Spread out defence!''

I saw a guy pull this off one time, and he won by a large margin. The trick with this is to never really have a defined line of defence, just a Heavy Laser Tower (HLT) here, a radar there, some DT there, a mine here and thereÃ¢â‚¬Â¦
Basically, you expand every time you build a defence building, so in the end you have ENORMOUS space to move in. Since the defence is spread out, no one is gonna rush past it with some goliaths. You can have some units hide behind mountains and attack. He used Merls who he trapped in fortification walls. I tried to run past the defence with an army of 30 Bulldogs. His HLT and missile/plasma batteries stopped me before I even reached his final defence line.
Even though this defence is the best of them all, itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s hard to build up, and requires lots of resources and time. IF youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re able to pull it off, the only problem may be if they are fast enough to run by all of it, or if you donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t have much AA and 30 Brawlers are comingÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

''No defenceÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ at all?''

Yes, this is an option. Okay, you may want some mines here and there, and some DT to stop them from running right through the door and AA in your base if they're building planes. But how do you defend with no defence?
With units; the whole concept is that you put all your effort into making units. This works pretty well, since when you see where the enemy is going to attack, you can MOVE your whole defence to that location.
The problem with this defence is that when you are attacking, you lose most of your defence. Sure, you can leave units behind, but I find it hard mentally to leave half the army at home when I am attacking.
If you manage to pull this off, and make enough units to both attack and defend, then you have not wasted any money on defence, and you have a strong army!

''The All Out Defence''

''-- addendum by Cain''

The opposite of the "no defence" strategy, mixed with the "spread out defence" strategy: the main concept is to invest resources in lots of level 1 build planes, and use them to quickly gather huge amounts of territory and resources, while keeping a lot of planes building/repairing turrets all over the map. This could be very effective on maps with few choke points where your defence can be concentrated in a small area, or mostly flat maps where the overlapping range of defensive structures will create a large grid of protected territory. The concept is to expand the defence line until you can shoot straight into the enemy base. When using this strategy, it is wise to have a lot of level 2 aircraft defending the construction point, as you will need to constantly move your mobile defences around the map, protecting under-contruction defensive areas. I usually end up with a hundred builder planes and 20 to 50 Brawlers floating around... keep them away from Kroghot!

These are the defensive strategies I have found effective.

Also, one thing to remember is to eliminate the largest threat first. If youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re relying on DT, take out the FARK or construction planes first.

Okay, you've built a good defence.
The next thing you should do is attempt to get into the mindset of your enemy. Put yourself in his shoes, and determine how he would most likely proceed given your defensive strategy. Would he attempt a gunship raid, or launch an attack from a defenceless mountain position? Once you know what his most likely plan of attack will be, rethink your defences with this in mind. If there is an area that is defenceless under your current strategy, and you believe it is a prime spot for your enemy to attack, set up some sort of defence there as well.

===Moving===
Moving or attacking is pretty easy right? Just move from point a to point b and attack cÃ¢â‚¬Â¦
Nope.
First, you have to have your units move TOGETHER. . If some are trailing behind, then you just have to wait a little for them. A way of having your units stick together is to take a pretty slow unit, like a Can, and have others guard it.
Pressing control while moving units will make them keep their position in the formation, but not their speed. (they will spread out along the way, but ''try'' to get back into the position they were in when reaching the destination)
The ''Simple formation'' is also a way of doing this, and the units will automatically form a couple of lines, often with the right units first, too!
Transports are useful for moving units, but use the air transports (Valkyrie /Atlas) intelligently and protect them. The other transportation units are harder to use, since they take more time to load/unload.

===Attacking===

When attacking, remember what each unit's role is in the fight. Farks are used to repair important units that have been damaged. Bulldogs are meant to take damage and give damage back. Merls are used to shoot missiles from a distance, and donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t require a clear LOS (line of sight). The question is what to repair. Merls die quickly, so one shot = dead. Knowing this, your first instinct might be to repair a Bulldog instead. Bulldogs are often the first thing that the enemy targets, and thus their HP often drops too rapidly to repair. Therefore, it is often wise to repair the middle-range units; not the giant HP monsters, not the units with a weak defence and strong/useful attack, but the average units that have acceptable HP and are not an enemy's first choice when selecting targets. One exception to this is mobile artillery. While it only has enough HP to survive one or two attacks, its attacks are well worth it, and the enemy still may not target them first, giving them a chance to deal massive damage.

===Army vs Army===

Many units attacking one unit is the best thing you can do, as when you kill one of their units, they lose one source of firepower. Focusing your fire is very important. Using focus fire in a group of weak units is very effective. Focus fire is, however, less effective on HP powerhouses.
When youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re facing an army, always try to attack from behind or the side. Keep your units a little spread out when attacking. Not to far, but just so that area of effect weapons donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t do as much damage. Have your HP powerhouses at the front, or at the front and sides. Keep em pretty close together but not side by side. Having your units spread out in this manner allows the units in the back to attack, and prevents splash damage units such as Zippers and Pyros from damaging many of your units at once.

This is the normal way of attacking an enemy army. There is the classical pincher movement tooÃ¢â‚¬Â¦
In this, you run one third of your HP powerhouses to the left, one third to the right and have the last third stay where they are.
This gives you 3 advantages:
*it's easier to get past the units and attack their weak units, or just run past them into the base
*you do more damage, since their units will have to change their target all the time and can't escape
*it makes it MUCH harder for the enemy to run away or try to get past you.

===Army vs Base===

Okay, you may have made it past the ground troops, but the fight is not over (unless your enemy used up his units to defend.) Now you must face his base defence, and act depending on the type of defence he hasÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

''Line defence''

Gather your army and set up for battle a bit away from his base, and get ready to move in. Have the FARKS guard your main HP powerhouses, so they are in the front but can still hide behind em. Everything else behind that. When attacking, have several units attacking the HLT and plasma batteries, and use the FARKS to reclaim his Dragon Teeth. When you have a hole in the DT wall, just run into the heart of the base like a maniac. Split your tanks into 2 groups, 1 guarding your long range/high damage units and the other going into the heart of the base. Find the Fusion reactors with your second group of tanks, and try to move the other big group to a place that is easy to defend while hitting the Fusions. Behind buildings is perfect! Kill as much as you can, or kill everything ^^
If there are several lines of defence, make a hole in each DT wall and repeat the same tactics.

''Spread out defence''

ArghÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ The tough one. While the individual towers are easy to beat, you canÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t run past his defences unless you enjoy suicide. (and if you do, ctrl+a and then ctrl+d will do the trick. A slice of the wrist works well, too.)
Use your army to begin killing the defence step by step, structure by structure. Keep building units, and moving them into the fray (you can use air transports with the repeat command and make them drop the units a little ways from the fight). Once you start getting close to his last line of defence, think of it as a line defence and act accordingly.

''Units defence''

Think army vs army. DonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t rush past them with all your units. Your units will spread out and try to go through holes in the enemyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s formation. In a word, they are dead meat. If you MUST get to the base, have half of the tanks go around the units.

===Naval Battles===

Naval battles are hard to predict if you donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t play island maps a lot, since there are many factors to take into account. Since land units are removed, you have to think in a WHOLE new perspective. No land means that only Sea, Air and Hover units can fight (and LRC of course).
Anyway, try to have air units scouting land and sea, and determine how much AA the enemy has. Ships roam around assaulting other ships, with a mix of subs, sub killers, AA ships and normal ships. Hovercrafts are the unit to use when assaulting land thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a little far from shore. Provide them with an escort consisting of planes and/or ships.

====Ships====
When using ships, have scout ships or planes scout the area in front, then send in subs and sub killers. Use long range ships at the sides to protect anything of value you might have with you (a sea transport or an aircraft carrier). When in battle, try to have the subs run away from sub killers, while your sub killers kill the enemy subs. Your subs should try to attack the most important ship in the area, and then just go crazy.
When facing land, youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re pretty much in for an easy win. Just have your ships blow it all up. If you face LRC, take them out first. The rest of it is out of your hands.
Remember if your opponent has air superiority or LRPCs use subs as they can't hit them :)

====Hovercraft====
Use the Army vs Army or Army vs Base strategy here.

''-- addendum by Cain.''

Hovercraft are quite expensive compared to other land units, but are very useful in maps with a bit of water, able to target enemies without worrying about those pesky Goliaths... note that they're much cheaper than ships, anyway.

===Planes===
Hohoho, planes. Fun stuff to attack with. Anyway, most of the strategy involving planes is simple.
First, always attack the AA first, unless you are going to do a suicide mission. Kill the AA with gunships, and use bombers to kill structures. Many players use gunships only, which is a bad idea. Bombers take a little time to master but combined with gunships, they do a very good job. Scout early, so you can quickly see WHAT the enemy has and WHERE he has it. Use gunships to take out AA and act as overall decoys. Have Bombers fly in and bomb the crap out of his Fusion or whatever strategic point, and use the fighters to guard the bombers.
When facing units, do the same.
When facing sea, do the same thing, but add Torpedoes to bombers and gunships.

''-- addendum by Cain''

Know where the enemy commander is! In games where the commander's death is a winning condition, a lot of bombers could just converge on him, killing him on the first run.. especially the 2nd level bombers that have a nice turreted fast targeting laser! Also, gunships could create a diversion to keep the main enemy defences away from your main attack force, or you could use them to make the defences of distracted players shoot their own base...

===Using Terrain===

Using terrain wisely is very important. The issue of a game can depend on a good use of terrain.
First, Line of Sight (LOS) and RADAR. Both are blocked by terrain. So build your radars as high up as possible, otherwise you may not see anything. Use the relief to your advantage to hide an army or your important buildings from enemy radars.
Of course, one can also take advantage of altitude to increase fire range. A couple of Guardians on top of two high hills can easily devastate a small army.
Terrain also helps shield your units against attacks. Therefore, when youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re building something high on top of a hill, try placing it a little behind the top. This is like crouching behind a crate where just your head and gun sticks up. But remember that terrain in Spring is deformable and can be leveled by impacts!
Know the climbing ability of your units. Hovercrafts and vehicles have pretty low climbing ability. But if a foe thinks he has sealed up all exits, your K-bots can still climb the mountains where he hasnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t put any Dragon TeethÃ¢â‚¬Â¦
Another good thing about terrain is that it mentally makes you feel safe. If there is a water barrier between me and the enemy, with 3 land bridges here and there, I probably wonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t have much ground defence at a location AWAY from the bridges. Presuming the map is pretty flat (like "Flooded Desert") a hovercraft assault would do A LOT of damage, right?

===Energy and all the problems with it===
(in XTA)
As I said before, most level 2 units require energy to move, shoot and operate in general, meaning that if you have no energy to support your army, you can't do anything! You can use this in your favor, by attacking your enemy's Fusions, or
by ''giving'' Metal makers to your enemy when you are attacking him(although Metal makers are now turned off when given to an enemy), or he is attacking you! Things that drain a lot of energy include LRPC, Goliaths, HLT, and most level 2 units.
(/in XTA)

===Paper-rock-scissors?===

Try to look at all units as individuals. Even if I didn't write much about every single unit, know your favorite ones and how to use them effectively in conjunction with the others. You'll find that some units are very complementary. The only real paper-rock relationships are AA and planes... Maybe subs vs sub killers...

I didn't even mention cloaking, radar jamming, troops behaviour facing attacks, mines, etc, etc. The possibilities are immense, but I don't want to spoil your pleasure any longer, so I'll let you discover them by yourself.

'''Have fun !!!'''

----

===Strategy Tips===

* Expand! Metal is scarce. The more you get, the more you can build. Even if you have a good base, making it bigger is not a bad thing.
* Scout! Knowledge is power. You must know what your enemy is planning, and what the enemy knows about you. (Or thinks he knows about youÃ¯Â¿Å ) Check what he has, and what he is building. If heÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s building aircrafts, do something about it. Look for weaknesses in defence and such. If you or your ally are scouting, donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t look away. Gather as much information as possible. ALL buildings once in sight range will remain visible as 'ghost' buildings if this option isn't turned off by the host.
* Radar = GOOD ^^ Radar checks areas for units, increases your units LOS and is, overall, quite helpful. A radar with your army makes a big difference when attacking. But so is Jamming. Jamming is good for sneak attacks. They are cheap, so just build one and make your units guard it.
* Work Together! Often I see allies who just mind their own business and donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t care what the other person's doing. DONÃ¢â‚¬â„¢TÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ DOÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ THIS!!! Listen to each other, make up a plan. Prepare combined attacks. If there is a 2v2, then itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s 2 allies vs 2 allies. Not a ffa with neutral partners. Type h to share units. Left click on your resource bars to auto share resources with allies.
* Power Plants. In order to level out the building costs, it is important to make a smooth transition from the least powerful generators to the most powerful ones in succession. First solar, then Geo, then mobile/mini Fusion then Fusion.
* Check your resource bar. Try to keep a fine line between having too many resources/wasting, and having a nanostall. Use your factories and such accordingly. If you have a lot of resources, try using your old level 1 factories to build some units. Also, try to find the time to build an energy/metal storage...
* Spread out your buildings/units. Since every unit explodes, they damage units close to them. This is especially important with Fusions... (I once saw someone put 13 mobile fusions close to each other... blew up half his base with 2 (!!!) LRPC shots...)
* Queue (yeah, easy word for it too :/) up orders! You can almost win the game by pausing, queuing up some stuff, and then go eat lunch. Not really, but holding shift is good whilst putting up buildings.
* Guard = following and protection. Use planes to guard your tanks, subs to guard your transports, construction units to automatically repair important units and so on. They will choose to attack whatever is hurting their guard object first. You can even do this to structures, for units who are built to move to a unitÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s position or AA to attack whatever is shooting on the Fusion reactors, etc... Overall, this makes working with several unit types easier.
* Reclaim stuff (sucking it in and transforming it into resources). When you're starting to run low on metal, reclaim the enemyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s and your own corpses. Trees give energy, so if youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re out of energy in the beginning... You can reclaim a whole area by shift-clicking.
* The key for porcers are to build LRPC. Or even better, build a nuke and use LOTS of planes to kill his anti-nuke. Then BOOM! Also as you have way loads more metal and space to move in than your opponent, you can easily afford 2 nukes. An anti-nuke can't deal with 2 nukes heading towards it(and if you aim the nukes at the anti-nuke...^^!
* Experiment! I suggest you go into single player and try every unit. Use commanders for arm, and small battle (watch that Krogoth!) for core. Try every approach to a problem. Remember, just because a unit is good, itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s not invincible. Also, try how much metal and energy a building uses while in operation. For instance, a level 1 factory uses about 50 energy and 5 metal. This varies depending on what you build. This could help you prevent nanostalling.
* Several types of factories. Yeah, even if it costs money. An advanced building costs as much as a Bulldog or 2... You've got the time, and the money. Build it.
* Raid. Take the Weasel or a couple of Peewees on a cruise right by the enemyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s mexes. Having trouble finding them? Type F4 to see where the ground is drained ^^ (Edit) This doesn't apply anymore, but you can still see where a mex is by trying to build one of your own there. If you can't, there's already one on the spot... A tip is to stay away from the Commander, or use buildings as hostages. Hide behind stuff and kill it off, then move on. If you're sure you're going to die, move close to a building and self-destruct.
* Just because Peewees are better then AKÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s doesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t meant that AKÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s are useless. (And so onÃ¢â‚¬Â¦). In fact, no unit is useless. If you believe it is, try it once. On what it was meant to do.
* Mix armies. Oh boy, if you havenÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t heard this one a thousand times before, you've only been playing Half-Life for the last 7 years or something. Even if Goliaths rule, a couple of missile units will make them much more effective.
* FARKs are useful in combat. Always have 1-3 with you. Reclaiming DT, or doing what they were meant to do: Repair -.-* (also, when I say FARKs somewhere in the guide, construction units work too...)
* Ask questions. No one is going to laugh at you. And if someone does, heÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s an ass and should be paid no mind. No question is too stupid. Just donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t expect anyone in the heat of a battle to answer to Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬â„¢how do I play?Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢.
* Learn! If you lost, use the replay to watch the game and try to understand why you died. What did the enemy do better than you? What was their key to winning? And so on.
* The Readme file has some cool keyboard shortcuts... check it out.
* Develop! Are you a programmer, a 3D design artist or just some regular Joe? Come to the forum for a talk, chatter, and make wacky suggestions! In the end you may contribute to making Spring better! Remember, Spring is open source. So just dive into there and replace AKÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s with flying monkeys in space suits or whatever.
* Try having some good music on when playing. It can give you a good kick. I recommend the War of the Worlds (the strategy game, yes it exists) Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬â„¢Eve of the WarÃ¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Another great choice is, of course, [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=54 the original TA music]! You can choose whatever music you like, though.
* Need more strategy and tips? Since Spring is a remake of TA, any TA strategy guide works...
* LAST BUT NOT LEAST: '''DonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t get too serious. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s only a game.'''

This guide was written by Kixxe aka Johan Wittrock before everyone edited (and improved!) it mercilessly.

[[Category:Guides]]

Readme

2007-07-03T16:37:18Z

Aldebaran: revert to 03:37, 19 Jun 2007

__NOTOC__
For up-to-date information about this project, visit the project home page at http://taspring.clan-sy.com.

==About==
TA Spring is a project aiming to create a new RTS.

==System requirements==
About 1ghz cpu and a GeForce3 or better graphics card. For larger battles the requirements increases. Some graphics effects require a graphics card which supports ARB_vertex_program/ARB_fragment_program. This is the same as having a graphics card that supports DX9.

==Quick start==
===Multiplayer===
Run the TA Spring battleroom and create an account

Login to the master server and find a game to join

===Singleplayer===
Spring supports AI plugins, which allow for external AI programs to be used. There is currently one AI included in the download, but you can find more singleplayer AIs on the AI forum.
If you start the spring.exe application directly, you will get to choose between these Global AI's. You can also use the lobby client to create a battle with AI (Bots) in it.

==Multiplayer lobby==
===Name registration===
Before you can log into the master server, you must register a handle. Click File->Register to open up the registration dialog. Names must be no more than 16 alphanumeric characters, and is not case sensitive. However, you may format your name with capitalization.

===Options===
If you are behind a proxy server, or you are having trouble hosting, you might want to consider overriding the IP the server sees you as having so that people joining your battle room know where to find you

===Chat===
The lobby supports basic chat functions. There is a permanent chatroom called Main, which you can join by double clicking it from the list, as well as any others that may have been created. You can create a chatroom from the menu, but this room is deleted when it becomes empty.

===Battle room===
You can host a battle by selecting it from the menu. To choose a map, simply click the minimap and pick one from the popup window. Once in the battle room, the host may boot anyone by right clicking and selecting boot. The alliance system is a little complicated and needs a little explaining... Any number of players can join a Team, which is the equivalent of one player in OTA. Everyone on a Team shares resources, units, and LOS. The first player to join a team is the team leader, and can pick an Ally Team to join. An Ally Team is a permanent alliance. You'll notice a strange shape with two triangles to the right of the Ally Team combo box. This functions the same way as it did in OTA. If you click it, you create a one-way alliance with another ally team moving the triangle on the left to the middle. If the other Ally Team reciprocates, the triangle on the right will move to the middle. The host can then start Spring once all non-spectators have clicked ready.

===Features to come===
* Clan support
* Map sharing
* Unit sharing
* Private messaging
* Private chatrooms
* New, slicker looking battle room

==Game controls==
===Camera controls===
Move the camera with the arrow keys or by placing the mouse curser at the screen borders. Holding shift makes the camera move faster, and holding ctrl makes it slower. Turn on mouselook with mouse button 3 (or backspace). Use ctrl mouse3 to toggle between the camera modes available.

===Key assignments===
You can configure the assignment of keys by editing the file uikeys.txt, and by running the Selectionkeys editor. These are the default key bindings:

{|
|<b>Camera controls</b> || <b>Function</b>
|-
| colspan="2" | <hr>
|-
| valign="top" | Mouse 1|| Selects units. Drag to select a group, double click to select units of the same type. Gives order if a specific order has been selected.
|-
|Mouse 2 || Gives the default order for the unit
|-
|Mouse 3 || Toggles mouse look
|-
| Ctrl Mouse 3|| Toggles camera mode
|-
|Arrow keys || Moves the camera
|-
|Ctrl/shift|| Increases/decreases camera movement speed
|-
|Mousewheel|| Moves the camera up/down
|-
|T || Track a selected unit
|-
|C|| Take direct control of a selected unit
|-
|F3|| Jump to last message location
|-
|

Getting Started

2007-07-03T16:34:42Z

Aldebaran: revert to 02:10, 20 Oct 2006

{{lang|Germany|Erste Schritte|Erste Schritte}}

Spring is a project that was started by the [[SY|Swedish Yankspankers]] that aims to create a fully customizable 3D real time strategy game engine.

TA Spring is the current project focus, which is supposed to port the original Cavedog game "Total Annihilation" to the still developing Spring engine. It uses formats and gameplay elements from the original game and, at this point, can display most [[Mods]] and [[Units]] designed for the original game to different levels of playability.

The most important thing to note however is, '''YOU CAN ACTUALLY DOWNLOAD AND PLAY A WORKING VERSION OF THIS GAME RIGHT NOW AND PLAY ONLINE WITH OTHER PEOPLE'''.

=Getting To Your First Game=
===STEP 1: Is your computer ready?===
Thanks to the [[Linux|Linux Port]] efforts, Spring now has cross-platform support, and can be played on Windows or Linux. There are, however, sync issues with Linux and Windows users playing together.
In theory, it might be compatible with Windows 9x or later, but since we're still beta, we'll call it "hit and miss".

You will need some kind of 3D hardware acceleration, it needs to have the latest OpenGL drivers (which means, providing the card is recent enough, the latest drivers from your cards manufacturer). You will also need [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.aspx?url=/windows/directx/downloads/default.htm DirectX] installed.

===STEP 2: Download the Current Installer===

[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/download.php Click Here] to go to the downloads page. Download the '''Regular installer''' option. Run it and install it somewhere on your computer. In theory if, at this point, you read the stuff in the "docs" folder, then you will know what to do next.

===STEP 3 Make Sure the Game Works on Your Computer===

Browse to the installation folder and double-click "spring.exe". Choose "yes" on the "do you want to be a server" dialog, choose the "Commanders" script with the arrow keys and enter, choose a map with the arrow keys and enter, press enter to force start the game.

Don't bother going online until you figure out how to make your Commander build buildings and your buildings build units, and manage to find and kill the other Commander on the map and get the "You Win" message.

====Quick Start====
Shift-Middle Click to change views, middle click activates free-look, arrows keys, moving your cursor to the edge and the scroll wheel controls your camera. If you've ever played Total Annihilation before in its default control mode, you will know what to do next. For a very thorough command and control list, visit the [[Using_Spring]] Page.

===STEP 4: Playing Online - TASClient.exe===

Playing is quite simple. Just make sure you are connected to the internet, then double-click on the tasclient icon (it may have been put on your desktop, but it will definitely be in your start menu). Once you are in the client app, you will need to use the options button at the top of the window to set up an account. From there, just click the little button in the upper left section of the screen to connect to the server. Assuming your firewalls aren't excessively paranoid, it will make a noise and you will be put into the main discussion channel. You can then choose a game from the bottom pane, or chat in the top one.

===STEP 5: Hosting Online - TASClient.exe===

In order to host a game, you must open the "Battle Window" by clicking on the "Battle Screen" button. Once there, you will need to click on the "Host battle" button. The bar at the top defines the amount of players you can have (2-16), next is the game's name, followed by a dropdown box with a list of your currently installed mods, the port the server will host on, and if you wish to lock your server from outsiders - you can also add a password.

You've started your game, people joined, and you started it! Great! But, what if once you're ingame, everyone else's names stay red for several minutes? That means they were unable to connect to your game. (oh noes) This normally means you have a firewall blocking access to your computer from the outside. Consult http://www.portforward.com/routers.htm if you need to know how to open ports on your router. Choose any game in the list, it doesn't matter, just be sure to use the port 8245, instead of what the game's listing says to use.

Holy! A 3D TA game! Don't just stand/sit there, get out and play it (reporting any bugs you encounter along the way). We need testers, and it can only make the game better.

[[Category:Playing]]

Balanced Annihilation:Giving Orders

2007-07-03T16:16:05Z

Aldebaran: revert to 13:06, 29 Jun 2007

'''[[Using_Spring|<--Back to Using Spring]]'''

==Issuing Orders/Building==

====Left Mouse Control (Mouse 1)====
As covered in [[#Selecting/Deselecting Units|Selecting/Deselecting Units]], left clicking is the primary control for selecting units. If a pending order is issued using the menu that appears on the left side of the screen or using a Hotkey, the mouse pointer will change to a symbol representing this action. If there is a pending order and you left click on a valid target for the action the selcted units will perform this action on that target, otherwise the units will "do their best" to perform the action, which could mean just cancelling the Order.

The menu will show all available commands for all selected units, except for wait and self destruct, in the menu. Mousing over a menu item will also display the Tooltip for this item.

====Right Mouse Control (Mouse 2)====
Right clicking will always give the selected units the default action for the target, if the order is invalid for some members of the group, it may or may not choose a suitable action for those units to perform.

====Queueing Orders====

Holding down SHIFT while giving a unit an order adds that order to its queue. Queueing orders means that you can tell a unit, or a group of units to do multiple tasks, and they will go off and do them in the order they were given without any more input from you. For example, if you you want a Construction Vehicle to build a line of defences around your base, you can select the structure you want, hold shift and click where you want them few times. The construction vehicle will now go and build (or try to build) all of the selected structures while you go and pay attention to other things. You can queue any order, and any number of orders. It would be possible (but not very smart) to order your commander to build a whole base for you while you go off and have lunch!

If you have a unit selected, holding SHIFT will show the unit's order queue. Green lines indicate movement orders, red lines attack orders, light blue lines patrol orders, dark blue lines Guard orders, and purple lines reclaim orders. Green rectangles will show where you have construction orders queued. If you have a construction unit selected, you'll see ghosted images of the buildings that unit is going to build inside the green rectangles, linked by green "movement order" lines.

You can remove an order from the order queue by holding shift and repeating the same order. This doesn't work very well on area or movement type orders but can be useful for cancelling the construction of an un-needed building.

Another use for this is to issue complicated movement orders. Say you want your army to attack your enemy, but you want to attack from the side, where they are their weakest. Just issuing one move command to attack the side of their base would send our units moving THROUGH your enemy's base to try to get to the side. This is not very good. But if you tell your units to move to a location AWAY from the base and them back towards it, by queuing up two or more move commands, this problem can be successfully avoided. Or you could tell your units to attack certain buildings in a certain order, for instance attack all the outlying metal extracors, and them go for the power plants in the base, they will follow these orders oblivious to anything else, while you go in and attack the other important things.

This is also good for building complicated patrol paths. Note that units given a patrol order will return to their starting point after executing the last patrol order, so queuing up other orders after a patrol order is very pointless.

When you issue a order without holding shift, it clears the unit's queue and immediately starts it executing that order.

Learning how to use your units' order queues is a vital part of the game.

===Building Buildings===
When a contruction unit is selected you will see images in it's command list (menu on the left) representing the buildings that it can build. These are referred to as "buildpics". Mousing over a buildpic will make the tooltip show information about the structure or unit. Clicking on a structure's buildpic will select it for contruction. If multiple units are selected, all available structures (and mobile units) will appear in the command list. Choosing to build a building when you have multiple units selected will usually assign all units to help build those buildings if this is a valid command.

When you build a unit with a non-factory you will need to choose a ground plate for it to be built on (represented by a grid on the map under your cursor).
<br><br>
{| align="center" width="500px" bgcolor="white" border="1px"
|- valign="top"
|
If the grid is green, you can build at that location.
|[[Image:BuildPlateOkay.png]]
|- valign="top"
|
If the grid is green with some yellow-green squares in it somewhere, it means the groundplate is blocked by a mobile unit or reclaimable feature. This situation should be resolved automaticly by the constructing unit.
|[[Image:BuildPlateResolvable.png]]
|- valign="top"
|
If the grid has any red squares in it, this is an invalid build position, the non red squares of the grid represent unobstructed parts of the obstructed grid.
|[[Image:BuildPlateBad.png]]
|}

====Build (select structure then left-click)====

Builds whatever structure selected in the location clicked by moving the builder unit selected there.

====Rotate the Building====

Press '''[''' or ''']''' while placing the Building to rotate it 90Ã‚Â°.
On German Keyboards, use '''ÃƒÅ¸''' and '''Ã‚Â´'''

====Build Queue (select structure then shift left-click)====

Puts the build order into your unit's order queue, just as with any other order.

====Build Line (SHIFT)====
(select structure then shift left-hold-drag then release left mouse)
{|
|- valign="top"
|
Adds a straight line of the selected structure into your unit's build queue starting where you first depressed the leftmouse and ending at the location you release the leftmouse.
|[[Image:BUILDSHIFT.png|thumb|200px|Shift-Build]]
|}

====Build Grid Line (SHIFT CTRL)====
(select structure then shift ctrl left-hold-drag then release left mouse)
{|
|- valign="top"
|
Adds a straight line of the selected structure into your unit's build queue starting where you first depressed the leftmouse and ending aligned to the location you release. This line, however, will be either vertical or horizontal and aligned to the map's grid.
|[[Image:BUILDCTRLSHIFT.png|thumb|200px|Shift-Ctrl-Build]]
|}

====Build Perimeter (SHIFT CTRL ALT)====
(select structure then shift ctrl alt left-hold-drag then release left mouse)
{|
|- valign="top"
|
Adds an empty square or rectangle box of the selected structures to your unit's build queue. The location you first depressed the leftmouse is one corner border and the location you release is the opposing corner. If you move the mouse straight up your box will look like a grid alligned vertical line.
|[[Image:BUILDCTRLALTSHIFT.png|thumb|200px|Shift-Ctrl-Alt-Build]]
|}

====Build Block (SHIFT ALT)====
(select structure then shift alt left-hold-drag then release left mouse)
{|
|- valign="top"
|
Adds a filled in square or rectangle box of the selected structures to your unit's build queue. The location you first depressed the leftmouse is one corner border and the location you release is the opposing corner. If you move the mouse straigt up your box will look like a grid alligned vertical line.
|[[Image:BUILDSHIFTALT.png|thumb|200px|Shift-Alt-Build]]
|}

====Build "Wall" (select structure THEN shift ctrl left-click a Unit)====
{|
|- valign="top"
|
Add a wall of the selected structure surrounding the clicked unit to your builders build queue.
|[[Image:BUILDCTRLSHIFTUNIT.png|thumb|200px|Shift-Ctrl-Build]]
|}

====Space Build (MOUSE4/Z and MOUSE5/X)====
(select structure then shift ctrl mouse5/mouse4 or z/x)
{|
|- valign="top"
|
Spring allows you to automatically specify the spacing between buildings for batch (line, perimeter, block, wall) orders. This spacing is set with the z (decrease by one) or x (increase by one) keys. The default spacing is zero, with the buildings pressed right up against each other. Each level of spacing gives you an extra 2x2-sized (LLT-sized for OTA-based mods) space in between each structure on all 4 dimensions. Similarly, each click of the spacing contract button(z) removes that amount of space. You cannot remove spaces when structures are already placed with no spacing between them.

This is most useful when you're holding down SHIFT CTRL, SHIFT ALT, or SHIFT CTRL ALT to give a line/perimeter/block order. When doing this, you can actually see the spacing between the structures increase or decrease.

Note: The mapping of this function to Z and X is as of 0.70b1. As Z and X are used by many players for other units, it's valuable to note that the key mappings for "mouse4" and "mouse5" can be changed in the "uikeys.txt" file in your spring directory. If you have a 5-button mouse, buttons 4 and 5 are probably the side buttons. Experiment with your mouse to find out where they are on it.
|[[Image:BUILDCTRLALTSHIFTX.png|thumb|200px|Spaced-Shift-Ctrl-Alt-Build]]
[[Image:BUILDSHIFTALTX.png|thumb|200px|Spaced-Shift-Alt-Build]]
[[Image:BUILDCTRLSHIFTX.png|thumb|200px|Spaced-Shift-Ctrl-Build]]
[[Image:BUILDSHIFTX.png|thumb|200px|Spaced-Shift-Build]]
|}

===Building Mobile Units (Building with Factories)===

Click on the picture of the unit you want to queue up for building. You can queue up many units this way. A number will appear over the buildpic, showing how many units of that type are in the queue.

Hold SHIFT while clicking a buildpic to order 5 units at one time, hold CTRL while clicking to order 20, hold CTRL SHIFT while clicking to order 100. Hold ALT while clicking a buildpic to cancel the current construction and starting the constuction of that unit immediately. Right clicking a buildpic will cancel 1,5,20 or 100 orders for that unit using the same SHIFT and/or CTRL modifiers mentioned before. Note that you can use, say, ALT SHIFT to put five build orders for that unit at the start of the queue.

Assigning a group number to a factory will cause the factory to pass this group number to the units it builds.

You can give factories a Move, Guard, Patrol, or other order and the factory will pass it on to the units it builds. You can use this to choose a better place for new units to go after being built, or to send them straight into construction or a battle without micromanaging them. This includes assigning queued orders (for example: multiple move points to get a unit out of the base in a straight line and then a guard repair order on a specific large unit under construction and then a guard order back on the original factory to increase build speed). You can also issue orders to the unit currently under construction by clicking on it first instead of the factory.

Note that it is currently possible for units to get stuck in factories. Thus, it's a good idea for the first order to always be a move order that takes the unit directly out of the factory doors.

Construction/Repair units can be assigned to guard a factory to increase the speed of production for each of the units the factory makes. They can also be assigned to Repair the unit currently under construction to just help with its construction.

=== Default Commands and Hotkeys===
It is assumed that if a unit does not have an ability, it will not be able to perform that action, and will ignore any orders of that type given to a group it's part of. Priorities have been noted.

====Active State (X)====
This command toggles the "active state" of a unit, turning it on or off.
If a unit can be turned off this will usually stop it's prodution and/or use of energy and/or metal and/or stop it from doing something and/or change it's stats.
For example, turning off a radar jamming building would make it stop drawing power and prevent it from jamming radar. Turning off a solar collector would stop it from producing power and cause it to "close up", increasing it's armor.
This behaviour is unit-scriptable so it could technically do anything the designer of the unit wants it to do.

====Attack (A)====
Orders the unit to attack the target or location. If ordered to attack a unit, the selected unit or building will keep firing at the targeted unit/building until it is dead. If the targeted unit moves out of range, or out of sight, the selected unit will move to follow it and continue to attack it. Note that units are very stupid about this, and will continue to execute this order even if they come under heavy attack.

If ordered to attack ground, the unit will never stop until told to do so by the user. Note that units automatically attack any visible enemy units inside their range, and will pursue them (depending on their [[#Move State|Move State]]) a certain distance before returning to their starting location.

====Capture====
The unit will move up to the targeted unit or building and attempt to convert it to your team. So if the enemy has built a Geothermal power plant and forgotten to protect it, grab a nearby construction unit and try to capture it! Note that this takes quite a while, and it is not a good idea to try to capture a unit that is shooting at you. The closer the unit is to 0 health the faster it will be captured. Be careful to set your Commander's [[#Fire State|fire state]] to "hold fire" if you are trying to capture a unit with him, as his laser will likely detroy the target before it is captured.

====Cloak (K)====
Makes a unit inivisble to the enemy's units. Enemy units will not be able to see a unit while it is cloaked, but will still be able to spot it (and fire at it) if they can see the unit VIA radar. Note that this usually uses an immense amount of energy, uses even more energy when the unit's moving, and units uncloak for a few seconds when they shoot. This means that you might want to set the unit to Hold Fire, so the unit doesn't accidentally reveal itself. Cloaking a unit also causes atacking units to lose their target lock and move on to a new target, unless they have radar coverage.

====DGun (D)====
Disintegrator Gun. A weapon used by the Commander. It is a very powerful gun that will kill ANY unit in game. Use it in early game to ward off rushes, or against super units like the Krogoth, or the Goliath. Be careful, as it also destroys your units and buildings at the same time! Uses alot of energy to fire, so make sure you have the required energy before attmpting this.

====Fire State====
Fire States are fairly simple to work out, and are fairly self explanatory. There are three different states, each with their advantages and disadvantages.

''' Fire at Will :''' This is the default setting for all new units. It makes units fire at any visible enemy unit within range. It is good for general destruction.

''' Hold Fire :''' This makes units never fire unless ordered to. Even if they are attacked, they will not do anything. This is good for sneaking units around the back of a base, as they will not draw any attention to themselves, or for units that draw a lot of power when they fire, or which have a long reload time.

''' Return Fire :''' Units only fire at untis that shoot at them. Again, this is good for sneak attacks, but makes them a little smarter and better at defending themselves.

====Guard (G)====
The current selection will "guard" the target owned or allied unit.

When a unit is ordered to guard another unit it will:

1) Attempt to follow it's target anywhere, staying relatively close to it.

2) Defend the target if it becomes threatened and the guard has weapons.

3) Repair if the target if it gets damaged and the guard has repair capabilities.

4) Assist in any construction projects the target is working on if the guard can repair. This also applies to construction units guarding a factory.

5) Repair a unit that has been just resurrected (if capable). But it will not attempt to assist in the actual resurrection, even if the guard can resurrect.

Guard orders "chain". So if Unit 1 guards Unit 2, Unit 2 guards Unit 3, and Unit 3 is told to build or repair or attack, Units 1 and 2 would also join Unit 3 in doing what it was ordered to do.

====High Trajectory====
If this option is available, click the button to toggle this state.

A unit with High Trajectory mode enabled will shoot almost vertically, allowing it to shoot over hills as well as other units and masking the direction/source of the shot.

Using this mode reduces accuracy greatly and also the increased distance of the higher trajectory will increase the amount of time a shot will take to reach it's target.

With some mods, units may gain extra firepower or a larger area of effect when told to use High Trajectory mode.

====Move (M)====
There are 4 ways to move a group of units in Spring:

1) The usual move to point (works for single units or groups, pretty standard.)

2) Holding down on ctrl while giving a move order issues a "Move in formation" command. In this case, formation means whatever formation or configuration the units were in when they were given the order.

3) Holding down Alt during a move command issues a "Move into a square". Units will try to move into a nice, organised formation. However, this rarley ever works, as units tend to shove each other out of the way when trying to get into position.

4) Click and drag at the waypoint and it issues a "Move to this line" command. In this case the line can be oriented however the user wants. The shorter the line the deeper the units will line up. The longer the line, the more the units will be able to line up along with it. If there's enough units in the group they will form double or even triple lines, which may cause some shoving, as with the "Square Move" command.

'''Notes:''' Certain formation commands might not work on every type of aircraft.

By turning on [[#Repeat|Repeat]], units will move back into formation when shoved out of position. However, this should be used with caution, as it can lead to problems when trying to move units later.

Left-clicking with a unit selected is usually as good as pressing the "M" key if the selected point doesn't have any objects at that location.

====Move State====

Like [[#Fire State|Fire State]], this controls how the unit will maneuver in response to enemy units. Units set to Hold Position will not move very far from their current position, if they move from it at all. Units set to Maneuver will move a moderate distance from their current position while chasing enemies. Units set to Roam will move however they want to.

Maneuver is usually the most sensible setting here, as Roam leaves you open to a clever enemy pulling your units into heavy defences.

====Patrol (P)====

A unit given a command to patrol will move back and forth between its current position and the taget location. Holding CTRL when giving a patrol command to a selection with more then one unit will cause the units to move to a location relative the the target point compared to the distance of the unit from the center of the selection. Holding SHIFT while issueing a series of patrol orders will cause the unit to repeat this command, moving from current location to the targets and "circle around" through the points on the queued path.

When a unit is patroling, it will do whatever it can to "help out" along the path of it's patrol route. A construction unit will aid in construction projects, a combat unit will engage enemies, etc. How far it will go out of it's designated route is partially defined by line of sight, radar coverage, [[#Move State|move state]], and [[#Fire State|fire state]].

Examples of Patrol Behaviour:

*If a unit that can repair patrols within range of a damaged (or under contsruction) owned or allied unit, the patrolling unit will repair the damaged unit.

*If a unit that can attack patrols within range of an enemy it will attack the enemy unit.

====Reclaim (E)====

Reclaiming will break down something and give you metal/energy from it. Only certain units (namely, construction units and the Commander) have reclaim capabilities. Wrecks, enemy units, features, and your own units are reclaimable.

Energy and metal will be added to storage when reclaiming process is complete. You must have enough storage space to hold the energy/metal, or you will lose it!

'''Default Behavior:''' Simply clicking on a feature, a wreck, or an enemy unit with a construction unit will reclaim it by default. Hitting 'E' and dragging with the left mouse button issues an area reclaim order, and tells the unit to reclaim any wrecks or features in that area.

Assigning multiple units to reclaim a target will not increase the speed at which the target is reclaimed.

====Repair (R)====
When repairing a damaged unit, uses a percentage of the metal and energy costs associated with a damaged unit to increase the speed at which a unit regains health. This percentage is set per-mod, and many mods have it set to zero, making repairs free. When repairing a unit that is still being constructed the unit will help build the target, increasing the speed at which the unit is completed but also increasing the rate at which your resources are consumed.

The repair command is cancelled when the target's health reaches 100%, so if a unit under construction is damaged the repair command will complete the building of the target and then continue to repair until the unit is at full health.
Valid targets are any damaged units and units currently being constucted.

This is the default command for owned and ally units that are not at full health, including units being constructed by other units and factories, when a construction unit is selected.

The more units that are assigned to repair another unit, the faster the unit will be constructed/restored to full health, but the energy and metal costs will increase accordingly.

====Assign/Select Current Group (Q)====
This key has a several functions.

If you have one unit belonguing to a group selected, when pressing "Q" it will select all the units that belong to this group.

If several units are selected, and one belongs to any group, then, when pressing "Q" it will assign ALL the selected units to this group, and after that will select the group.

Finally, if you have a group created, and want to "detach" units from it:
select the unit you wish to detach, and press Shift "Q", selected units will be removed from the group they belonged.

It works with AI groups as well as user-specified groups.

See [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/Using_Spring#Default_Selection_Controls Default selection Controls] for more info on groups.

====Repeat====

When turned on, Repeat moves any orders that have been completed to the back of the order queue. For instance, if you tell a unit to more to one side of the base, and then to the other side of the base, it would keep going back and forwards forever, because when it completed the first move command, it would place that command at the back of the queue again. This is useful when building units. If you want a factory to continuously pump out a Samson, then a Flash, then two Stumpy's, issue the orders, turn on repeat, and watch the units roll out!

Repeat may literally be used with any command set. The power of this command must not be underestimated! For example, it is possible to create a an air transport whose sole purpose is to fly units to the front lines or to another area automatically from the factory:
<Repeat> Group-Load, Group-Unload

It is possible to create a "repair zone" using Group-Repair and repeat:
<Repeat> Group-Repair

It is possible to create a "reclaim zone" at the front lines using a nano tower or other construction unit, and repeat:
<Repeat> Group-Reclaim

It is even possible, to bypass the limitations of the Patrol command using repeat. Units on patrol tend chase down enemies; however, if Repeat is used in conjunction with the standard Move command, you could pontentially set artillery units to go near the enemy front lines, fire several shots, and then come back to a repair zone, only to go back and repeat the cycle!

====Restore====

Drag an area of terrain to restore the terrain to it's original form if it has been "deformed" by explosions or the contruction of a building.

====Resurrect====

In XTA only the Arm F.A.R.K. and the Core necro can use this order. Use this to ressurect dead units. If you see some wreakage on the map from some dead units, select a FARK or Necro and ressurect the dead units to have them fight along side your army. A good way to gain the upper hand later in game is to ressurect your opponent's army after a battle. This does take a lot of energy and metal(half as much as building the unit originally), and ressurected units will start on 1 health, so are very vunerable.

Ressurect is the default order for corpses from destroyed units, this unfortunately includes wreackage that can't acctually be resurrected.(Tip: if you cannot tell what unit the wreakage was then most likely you cannot resurrect it)

Dragging this order as an area will cause all selected units to ressurect all valid targets in that area. If multiple units are given a common ressurect order, the target will be resurrected faster but only one of them (probably the one the engine decides actually completed the process) will try to restore it to health. In the case of an area command the units who do not stay behind to repair the target will move on to a new target.

====Select AI (CTRL Q)====

Press Control Q or choose "Select AI" from the Menu to assign a "[[AIs|Group AI]]" to the currently selected units.

Setting an AI will generate a "group" from that selection of units using a number above 10.

In Spring, the term "Group AI" stands more for an aid or "helper" than for a Complete Control AI (as NTAI, ZCAIN, JCAI).

The following [[AIs|Group AI]]s ship with Spring. More might be available from other sources.

None
[[Simple Formation]]
[[Central Build AI]]
[[Metal Maker AI]]
[[Radar AI]]
Default = Will assign default AI for that unit (?)

====Self Destruct (CTRL D)====
Will detonate the selected units/buildings in a very spectacular explosion after a specific count-down (default is 5 seconds). Use this when destroying units/building that are in the way, or when detonationg mines or crawling bombs. A way to literally go out with a bang is to press Ctrl A (Select All), Ctrl D (Self Destruct). Note that this will make you lose the game, but is very spectacular!

====Stop (S)====
Makes the selected units stop any queued commands immediately. They will not automatically stop attacking units, unless their fire state is set to Hold Fire, but they will cancel any ongoing attack orders, allowing them to select and engage targets based on their default AI.

====Wait (W)====

Start issuing your chain of commands (Holding Shift). BEFORE a command that you want your units to wait for a go command to execute, press Shift W, and then continue queuing up orders. Now, to cancel the first wait queued on this group, and have them continue with the rest of the queue, select the units when they're waiting and 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.

Units are automatically issued a "stop waiting" command when loaded into and unloaded from a transport.

Wait is a standard command; by using Repeat in conjunction with wait, it is possible to create precisely timed strike and raiding groups.

'''[[Using_Spring|<--Back to Using Spring]]'''

[[category:Using Spring]]

Balanced Annihilation:Using Selections

2007-07-03T16:12:12Z

Aldebaran: revert to before spam

'''[[Using_Spring|<--Back to Using Spring]]'''

===The Selection Editor===

'''SelectionEditor.exe''' is a program installed in your install directory, which is used for editing your '''selectkeys.txt''' configuration file, allowing you to make your own shortcut keys for selecting/filtering selection.

This [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2190 Forum Thread] has some good documentation about using the selection editor.

===Default Selection Controls===

Most of these controls can be customized in the selection editor.

====Selecting/Deselecting Units====
Unless you have issued a pending command(see [[#Left Mouse Control (Mouse 1)|Left Mouse Control (Mouse 1)]]), left-clicking(Mouse Button 1) a unit will clear the current selection and select the left-clicked unit, if a spot with no valid selection is clicked(empty space, ground, unowned units), the current selection will be cleared. Left-clicking and dragging will draw a box, any units within this box will be selected when you release the mouse button.

Shift Left-clicking(including dragging a select box), unless you have a pending command, will add units to the current selection.

CTRL Left-clicking (including dragging a select box), unless you have a pending command, will toggle selection. Units in the selection will be removed from it, units not in the selection will be added to it.

Double-left-clicking a unit that's not in a group will select all visible (camera bounds) units of the clicked type. Shift Double-left-clicking will add all units of the double-clicked unit's type to the current selection.

CTRL Z is a shortcut to select all owned units of the current selected type. For example, if a peewee and a brawler are selected, all peewees and brawlers will be selected.

CTRL A is a shortcut (which can be eddited in Selection Editor) to select all owned units.
<br />
<table><tr><td>"Tooltips" are displayed in the bottom left of the current interface. If units are selected, this information is the sum of all information about all units in the selection. If you select a bank of 5 solar collectors, it will show the total health of all those units and the total energy they're producing. If you move the mouse over a "build-pic" in a list of units that can be built, it will show you the costs and stats associated with the unit represented by the "build-pic". If you have no selection, the tooltip will show information about what your mouse is over at that time. If your mouse is over a unit, it will show stats for that unit. Otherwise it will show information about the terrain.
</td><td>
[[Image:CommanderTooltip.png|thumb|120px|Commander Selected]]
[[Image:TerrainTooltip.png|thumb|120px|Terrain Hover (No Units Selected)]]
</td><td>
[[Image:BuildMexTooltip.png|thumb|120px|Metal Extractor Buildpic Hover]]
[[Image:RepairTooltip.png|thumb|120px|Repair Command Hover]]</td></tr></table>
[[Image:PeeweeGroupTooltip.png|frame|center|Group of units Selected]]

====Basic Unit Groups====

Spring supports assigning units to numbered groups. You can assign the currently selected units to a numbered group with CTRL # (where # is a number key) which will put that number(#) above all selected units, then later, you can quickly select just these units by pressing that #, or add them to the current selection with SHIFT #.

If a factory is set to a group, all units built by this factory will also be automatically assigned to this group. This is not a good idea with combat units unless you ungroup the factory before sending the units into battle, as it can prevent you from assigning certain orders, and result in newly-produced units doing stupid things.

Units can only be in one group at a time, so assigning a new group number to a unit will remove it from its current group.

Assigning a unit to a group overides normal double-clicking behaviour. If you double-click a member of a group, all units in the same group will be selected.

Also note that when you CTRL # a group of units the old group with that number will no longer exist. If you intend to add aditional units to a group, you must first SHIFT # the current members and then add (by holding SHIFT) the additional units to the selection group and the use CTRL # to re-assign all the units to that group. A shortcut for this is holding down both SHIFT and CTRL and pressing a number(#) to add the current selection to that group, and select the entirety of that new group.

====Advanced Unit Groups with GroupAIs====

It is possible to use more than groups 0-9, but additional groups from 10 and up are controlled by a "Group AI".

See [[#Select_AI_.28CTRL.2BQ.29|Select AI (CTRL Q)]] for information on these "Group AIs".

See [[#Assign/Select_Current_Group (Q)|Assign/Select Current Group (Q)]] to learn how to select these groups and add units to them.

'''[[Using_Spring|<--Back to Using Spring]]'''

[[category:Using Spring]]