Absolute Annihilation/Units

Some basic hints and tips for various units:

Resource Structures

Resource structures produce resources - metal and energy - for you to use to build other things. Quite often, but not always, the winner of a game is whoever builds and successfully protects the most resource-generating structures.

Metal Extractor

The basic metal-producing structure. These are fairly cheap, but require energy to operate. They work a little differently from metal extractors in the original Total Annihilation. They have a range, represented by the red circle around the extractor when you go to place it, over which they extract metal. The extractor's income is determined by the amount of metal within its range. On maps without well-defined metal patches, space out your extractors and avoid overlapping their ranges!

Wind Generator

A cheap, fast-building energy producing structure. Wind generators can be built anywhere on the map, but their output varies randomly based on wind strength. They also need to be space out, as they explode fairly violently and don't have much health. Always be sure to check the wind strength before going into a game, so you know whether or not to build wind generators!

Solar Generator

More expensive than a wind generator, solars are also a lot tougher. They give you +20 energy. They close up into a more armored form when attacked. This lets them take a fair amount of punishment from level 1 units, but they don't produce any energy when closed.

Tidal Generator

Tidal generators provide cheap, constant power on water maps. The exact amount of energy a tidal generator provides varies from map to map, though they usually provide about as much as a Solar Generator. Always check the Tidal Generator income before starting a game on a water map.

Metal Maker

Metal Makers convert energy to metal, allowing you to continue expanding your economy even once all available metal has been claimed. Each Arm Metal Maker consumes 80e and produces 1m, and each Core Metal Maker consumes 90e and produces 1m. When building metal makers, always use the Metal Maker AI.

Defensive Structures

Defensive structures are buildings that help protect your base. Most have guns, or are designed to help buildings with guns. Most don't do anything else, and are fairly well-armored. However, don't expect them to win you the game alone! At best, defensive structures will stop minor attacks and slow down major attacks until you can get your own combat units into position to respond.

Radar/Sonar/Jammer

Though unarmed, the humble Radar Tower is possibly the most important defensive structure, and one that less experienced players can easily underestimate. It shows enemy units within range and unobstructed by terrain as radar dots. This means that instead of noticing your opponent is trying to attack the back of your base when the back of your base starts blowing up, you notice when a bunch of dots head that way. You can then move your mobile defensive units - and I hope you have some - to intercept the attack, and start beefing up your fortifications. Even more importantly, they let you watch the general pattern of enemy movement, giving you a rough idea of what your foe's up to and where he's massing units and defences, which can be invaluable when placing defences of your own or planning an attack.

Longer range units will fire at enemy units shown on radar before they can see them. The accuracy of a unit is reduced when firing at a target that's only visible as a radar dot, so these shots will often miss. Radar towers can see furher than other units, so building them right next to other defensive structures may improve these structures' line of sight, allowing them to fire more accurately at units a little further away. Radar towers are cheap and fragile and often an early casualty of an enemy attack, so it doesn't hurt to build spares.

In the early game on spread out maps, consider building radar towers to 'protect' your expansion. Instead of trying to build defensive structures everywhere, build good radar tower coverage and position your mobile forces to easily intercept attacking forces.

Radar is not infallible. In addition to being blocked by terrain, it can be countered by radar jamming towers and units, which prevent radar detection of any units within their area of effect. There are also specialized late-game long-range weapons that quickly, cheaply, and efficiently destroy any radar or jammer towers within their area of effect. Finally, some units (such as the Arm Gremlin tank or Core Vamp fighter) are "Stealthy", and cannot be detected by radar.

Sonar Stations function similarly to Radar Towers, but can only detect units that are in the water.

There are advanced versions of all of these structures available, with a higher cost, more HP, and longer effective range. There are also floating radar towers that can be built on water.

Dragon's Eye

The Dragon's Eye, like the Radar Tower, provides you with advance warning of threats to your base. Dragon's Eyes have a long visual range, can be built underwater, and are stealthy (cannot be detected by radar) and can cloak (hiding themselves from visual detection) for a modest -10e cost. Building Dragon's Eyes around the perimeter of your base, near the edge of the sight range of your other defensive structures, can help them engage incoming enemies more effectively, and give you information about what is attacking your base.

Light Laser Tower

Very cheap defensive structure that you should build early and often. Will stop those pesky players who like to send small squads a minute or two in the game from doing damage to your economy that you may never require from. This unit is good against light fast ground forces, but is outranged by anything heavier. It is weak against air, but does hit sometimes. Often refered to abbreviated as LLT. They're good for covering mostly-blocked approaches to your base (like hills), as they can kill most light raiding forces.

Defender/Pulveriser Missile Tower

Very cheap defensive structure. It can provide protection against early air rushes. Does not need to be built as early as llts, as building an air force is slower. Will take out level 1 fighters and level 1 gunships easily. Effective against level 1 bombers, but several are needed if the opponent attacks in nubers. Not an effective defence against level 2 air, and quite easy to destroy. Will not shoot at land units. Often abbreviated as MT.

There are also floating versions that can be built on water.

Chainsaw/Eradicator anti bomber turret

Moderately expensive. Heavy duty version of the missile towers. Fires a rapid stream of missiles. Not so easy to destroy and can take out large numbers of level 1 air units. Does ok against level 2 air units, but most players seem to prefer flak cannons which are not much more expensive. Will not shoot at land units.

Sentinel/Gaat Gun Heavy Laser Tower

Moderately expensive defensive structure. Longer range and harder hitting than a light laser tower, can do serious damage to even level 2 attackers. Effective against land but not air. Can be outranged by longer-ranged level 2 ground units. Often abbreviated HLT.

There are also floating versions that can be built on water.

Guardian/Punisher

Expensive plasma cannons. Quite a long range and pack a fair bit of punch. Many games begin with an expansion phase with players marking out territory. Once the territories start to clash meet in the middle, you can almost guarantee that one or both players will start building plasma cannons. These can then kill all the llts and hlts in the opponents front line. Once a cannon is completed it will start shelling the opposing position if within range and from safely outside the range of their lasers.

The normal reaction is then for the enemy to rush at the guardian with all available nearby units. An inexperienced player may find he has not adequately protected his guardian with LLTs, HLTs, or mobile forces, and will then lose a unit that cost a large amount of resources to build. More experienced players learn to build adequate protection, or place their Guardian in an established position. This allows them to to devastate the enemy's fixed defences and kill many of the units sent to take out the Guardian, yielding a net metal gain. In some circumstances it may be better to retreat from the enemy's Guardian position and build up your forces, rather than losing units in a futile counter attack.

Anenome/Jellyfish

The Anenome/Jellyfish are the only land-based anti-submarine weapon in AA. They launch depth charges that can damage submarines and submersed amphibious units. As land structures, most submarines cannot attack them. Their very short range means that they have to be built on the very edge of your coast, and are not a good general-purpose anti-submarine solution.

Dragon's Teeth/Fortification Walls

These defensive structures aren't really structures. They do nothing but block the movement of enemy units, but are very cheap and fast to build. They can take a lot of damage, but can be reclaimed by construction units. Heavy units, like Bulldogs or Goliaths, can drive over Dragon's Teeth, destroying them in the process.

Floating Dragon's Teeth can also be built on water.

Flakker/Cobra

Late-game anti-aircraft defence, flak cannons are one of the two replacements for MTs. They're relatively short-ranged, but do a lot of damage, fire quickly, and have a massive area of effect. They're excellent against gunships, which tend to cluster, allowing the flak cannon to damage or destroy several with a single shot. Put these near vital late-game structures to prevent your enemy from swarming and destroying them with gunships. The ARM Phalanx and CORE Copperhead are mobile flak cannons. Flak cannons cannot attack ground units.

There are also floating versions that can be built on water.

Mercury/Screamer

These upgraded MTs provide late-game anti-aircraft defence. Their guided missiles have a much longer range than regular MT missiles, do more damage, and have an impressive blast radius. Very good against level 2 bombers and fighters. Cannot attack ground units.

Annihilator/Doomsday Machine

The big brother of the HLT, these structures fill the same role in the late game. Their weapon, affectionately referred to as the "Blue Laser of Death", is slow-firing but capable of destroying most units in a single shot. They have an impressive range, but are still outranged by several kinds of artillery, so don't expect them to create an unbreakable defence!

Ambusher/Toaster

The big brother of the guardian. But only just. They have a bit more range, and a bit more firepower. When not in use they fold away into a mini concrete bunker. This allows them to survive much larger amounts of damage.

Harpoon/Urchin

These torpedo launchers provide close-range anti-submarine/anti-ship defence. They can only be built in water, and can only attack units in the water. They're effective against raiders and submarines, but don't expect them to do much against a serious surface vessel assault, as even the humble plasma cannon on the Crusader/Enforcer outranges them by a significant margin. They are very effective against amphibious units, which move slowly and are unable to fire back.

Moray/Lamprey

Heavier versions of the Harpoon/Urchin, and practically identical. They do more damage and have a slightly longer range, but are still largely ineffective against surface vessels.

KBots

KBots are units that use legs to move. They're generally more lightly armed than vehicles and can take less damage, but are cheaper, build faster, and can cross rough terrain much better. KBots are generally good for massed assaults or surprise attacks over difficult terrain. The exception is "Level 3" KBots, which have incredibly powerful weapons and can take absurd amounts of damage.Ad

Common lvl 1

For many lvl1 units, there's no significant difference between the Arm and Core versions. These units get listed here.

Peewee/AK

Small cheap infantry. The die very quickly to any significant opposition, but are speedy and can see farther than other L1 KBots. Can be used for scouting, swarming and as cannon fodder mixed with more valuable units.

Rocko/Storm

Slighly more expensive infantry with a long-range rocket launcher. Together with Hammers will tend to form the backbone of an early kbot force. Their rockets are direct-fire, so they can't fire over other KBots. Position them carefully, as they will occasionally try, damaging your units in the process! (Using a line-movement command works very nicely for them) Their long range lets them get off at least a couple shots at most L1 defensive structures.

Hammer/Thud

Similar to the rocko. But fires a small plasma projectile, so can fire over other units. When massed this means that most units in the mass can fire, whereas for many other units only the front line can fire. Hammers and Thuds are best used as early heavy main battle units.

Jethro/Crasher

Fires guided missiles and can only attack air units. Basic level 1 mobile anti air. Pretty much a walking missile tower.

Arm lvl 1

Warrior

Costs a fair bit more than any other level kbot and is very slow. Has a lot of health and two fast-firing lasers. The Warrior is the Arm's L1 anti-swarm unit, and does more damage to (and takes less damage from) L1 swarm units.

Flea

Super cheap. Very fast. And dies if you yell at it. Possibly try building a few of them first on large maps and sending a few towards your opponents. Their speed and cheapness may catch them off guard if you are lucky.

Core lvl 1

The Core has no unique Level 1 Kbots.

Vehicles

Vehicles use wheels or tracks to move. They're heavily armed and can take a lot of damage, but are more expensive and slower to build than KBots. They are also slowed or stopped entirely by rough terrain. Vehicles are good for frontal assaults and generally smashing through defences.

Common Lvl 1

These vehicles are effectively identical for both races, and so are described only once.

Jeffy/Weasel

Cheap, fast units with a long line-of-sight. While they are armed, their weapon can't do much damage, and they have almost no HP. They're decent for scouting (you know you've found an enemy when they explode) and good for raiding your enemy's resource structures in the early game.

Flash/Instigator

The tank equivallent of the Peewee/AK. Flashes and Instigators have slightly more health and can't see as far, but are otherwise identical to their KBot cousins. Flashes are currently very cost-effective, and remain useful throughout the game because of this.

Stumpy/Raider

The tank equivallent of the Hammer/Thud. Stumpies and Raiders are actually fairly tough, and are very good at killing LLTs. Sometimes they can even survive long enough to do decent damage to larger defensive structures.

Samson/Slasher

The tank equivallent of the Jethro/Crasher. These units can attack ground units, but are much more effective against aircraft. They're very slow, though, making them hard to use effectively.

Pincer/Garpike

This otherwise-unremarkable L1 tank can travel underwater, allowing it to cross rivers and small lakes to attack the enemy from an unexpected direction. Don't expect it to cross larger bodies of water, though, as it dies fast to submarines and torpedo launchers.

Shellshocker/Wolverine

The only true L1 artillery unit, the Shellshocker and Wolverine fire a projectile that has a very high trajectory and long range but extremely poor accuracy. Useful for taking out fixed defences, but keep them well away from your combat units or set them to hold fire, as their shots will often hit friendly units in the middle of a skirmish.

Podger/Spoiler

This unit both lays and clears mines. Although powerful, mines require fairly hefty amounts of energy to stay cloaked. If you can spare the power, they're very good at blocking up chokepoints and slowing down attackers. Most players don't bother.

Arm Lvl 1

Janus

This tank packs a slow-firing but very powerful pair of heavy rocket launchers. Its rockets can't always fire over other units (and will do serious damage to them if they get in the way) but have a good range. Very good against most forms of static defence, as long as there are other units to soak up the damage.

Core Lvl 1

Leveler

The Core answer to swarm attacks is the Leveler. The tank itself is slow, and its weapon is short-ranged, but it packs a massive punch and has a huge area of effect. Not only that, but it'll send enemy units flying and create craters, severely hampering the enemy's mobility. If you can get them close enough, they're also good against LLTs, but they're really too slow to use effectively in this role.

Aircraft

Aircraft are airborne combat units. They're fast, heavily armed, can cross any terrain, but can take very little damage. Most aircraft are very specialized, and only good at one or two very specific things. Against units not built specifically to counter them, aircraft are very effective. Against anti-air units, they're practically useless.

Ships and Submarines

Ships can only travel on water. They're fast, heavily armed, and can take absurd amounts of damage, but have very limited movement and turn slowly. Submarines travel under the water, can only be detected by sonar, and can only attack other units in or under the water. They're generally much weaker than surface vessels and have shorter-ranged weapons.

Hovercraft

Hovercraft are tanks that can travel over land or water. They're generally more lightly armed and can take less damage than regular tanks, and are more expensive and take longer to build. They also can't compete with ships at surface combat on the open water. They are, however, excellent on "swampy" maps, with interspersed water and land.

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