XTA

What is XTA?

XTA is one of the original mods for Spring, and the one many players feel is "more OTA than OTA itself" due the authentic feel combined with the Spring Engine.

XTA allows players to pit their tactical minds against each other whilst also testing your micro skills to the limit. With a multitude of play styles XTA offers dynamic wars which can change with one passage of battle.

The current XTA version is 9.641 beta and you can download it here.

---

Gameplay

Here are just some of the many good aspects XTA has to offer.

• Perhaps XTA's greatest strength is that players must keep the balance of keeping their own units alive through repairing and avoiding projectiles, while still doing maximum damage to the enemy. Amongst this they also have to keep their economy on track and try guess their opponent's next move. Sound easy? Give it to a go!

• XTA is more micro than macro, although the latter is a vital feature. Units have more health than other mods enabling players to keep units alive. Spamming is done less as units are more expensive and too many units means you will lose your units to the a few well microed enemies. It's now how many you build but how you use them.

• At the advanced levels of the tech tree, both factions really come into their own. Whereas Core may get the power of flame, Arm get the power of lightning, offering the quick and light to the strong and slow. Will you go for brute force and economical superiority or hit and run stealth tactics?

• XTA prides itself on being a mod of team play allowing teams to play strategically and work together to achieve goals as a simple macro victory is rare. The small community makes players able to have a greater understanding of each other giving the game a more rewarding victory.

• One of XTA's best selling points is the Commander. The versatility of this unit allows it to be used for; Aggressive, tactical, defensive and economical purposes as well as having the ability to morph to be stronger.

• Very much similar to Spring itself, XTA has a friendly community and although it being relatively small, balance discussions are often held within the group. However, this also allows all players to know each other making games more between friends than foes. It also has one of the most active clan systems.

• XTA has a tough learning curve, however an intelligent player will quickly learn when to build and what, may it be lab or unit. This makes XTA a mod constantly keeping the player entertained and challenged. With different tactics being discovered all the time users have many ideas to choose from of how to start their game. XTA is renowned for players making comebacks by rebuilding their base.

---

So where can I find out more?

XTA is proud to be a community-run development program.

Development of the mod is done by the community with everyone's views being respected, feel free to visit the forum and ask questions, suggest or discuss balance issues.

You can join the #xta channel to find other XTA players and see if anyone wishes for a game. There is nearly always a game of the most uptodate XTA being hosted.

Newer versions will continue to be released to incorporate more detailed visual effects/or models as the Spring Engine develops.

If you wish to learn the basics of XTA, you can read guides such as:

• XTA Basics
• XTA unit guide
• XTA Commander guide

For some commented XTA games please feel free to visit here to get a feel of the game.

---

History

XTA was a balance mod for TA, developed by the SY clan.

For spring, it was the first mod available to the public for online play, the first that was ported and is what comes with the installation of the Spring engine ready to play.

The mod has gone through many developers, starting with the [SY] clan with the most ancient and famous to the oldest of players, SJ; and then moving onto other users.

One of the most notable players has been Noize, a founder of BA. Noize started XTA's modern look, with updated graphics and flash explosions (XTA Pimped Edition), which would later be seen as unnecessary and extremely laggy.

A short time afterward the [KnoX] clan, the leading XTA clan ran by Myg and Gizmo starting to develop the mod. For a brief time a major debate became visible that XTA was KnoX's mod now, this would be shortly dismissed.

After [KnoX] disbanded due to them feeling the time was right for the members to go their seperate ways, they still maintained XTA until Noruas began upkeep of the mod. With XTA 7.1 being seen as a watershed moment due to the peak of XTA's player base due to the decline of AA and rise of BA, so too can XTA 8.1. With some debate to whether the current XTA is the best, the two main contenders would be 7.1 and 8.1. With 8.1 came updated graphics and what many players remember as "The golden days" whereas 7.1 can be called the heyday of XTA itself.

Noruas has introduced more units than any other developer of XTA, improved graphics and dragged XTA through the new Spring versions. With the community split about where they stand on many of his somewhat radical ideas, Noruas has certainly added to XTA.

Noruas still maintains XTA to this day. Players contribute and offer help on a multitude of scales most notable of these are raaar and Deadnight Warrior. The current XTA balance offers something new and dynamic whilst still maintaing the roots of OTA and the older XTA versions giving a blend of classic and modern.

---

Eye Candy

XTA is arguably the best-looking mod in terms of graphics. With new unit models and new explosion/smoke effects being released with every update, the XTA mod keeps up to date with the Spring Engine and what it has to offer.

Here are some pictures of what XTA has to offer:

Alternatively, you can view some clips of XTA in action here.

Back to Games