The Newbie's Guide to Multiplayer TA

Saludos all...

Thanks to Christmas 1998 and the TA Commander Pack, there’s been a recent surge in the number of new visitors to the site and the Comments Forum. If you’re one of those new players, you’re probably discovering that the TA AI can only provide an interesting challenge for so long. Once you learn one unit from another and have a few basic tactics figured out, it’s time to enter the world of multiplayer TA.

However, there’s a lot of war-worn TA veterans out there looking for someone new to destroy, and there’s a few things you should know before jumping into a game with someone. I’ll leave the question of tactics to Flynn and Orion, both of whom have earned their battle scars in far more multiplayer games than I have. Instead, let me focus on a collection of points that I’ll loosely title "The Newbie’s Guide to Multiplayer TA."

Know your opponent

Spend some time in online chat rooms. Visit a few forums and find out who the "known names" are. Get a sense of who likes to play the same kind of game you do, and there’ll be far fewer harsh words exchanged. Do you have a certain "Code of Honor" when playing? Make sure your opponent agrees to it. Do you like to rule out certain units? If you don’t like to use nukes, make sure the other guy understands that, or you may find your Commander glowing in the dark. Do you figure that all’s fair in war, and that a win only matters if you and your opponent play the best game you possibly can? Everyone’s got a different point of view, and sometimes I see arguments start when a "for-fun" player gets annoyed because a "win-at-all-costs" player used a brutally effective gameplan that the "for-fun" guy considers boring and unimaginative.

Watch the settings carefully

One of the most unscrupulous things a host can do is to enable cheat codes and see if you notice. If you want the game to actually reflect your opponent’s tactical prowess instead of his typing skill, make sure cheats are disabled. If your opponent suddenly says "+ATM" and you have no idea what it means, then he’s up to no good. +ATM is a cheat code that gives a player a lot of free metal and energy, and sometimes they’ll come up with some pretty creative excuses for that text. The best excuse I ever saw reported was "my cat jumped on the keyboard. Really!"

Know what kind of game you’re getting into

A 10K/10K resource game on Metal Heck will play a lot differently than a 1K/1K game on an all-water world. A game with a 10-minute initial ceasefire is nothing like a brutal rush-raid, where your metal extractors are under attack from Jeffies barely two minutes into the match. Permanent LOS is completely different from True LOS. Some people only want to play with lots of starting resources, build as many Flash tanks as they can, and try to rush the other guy’s base. If you don’t like to play that way, ask for lower resources and/or a different map. If he refuses, then remember you can always find another opponent. There’s no point in playing a 15-minute Slasher-rush game if that’s not the kind of game you enjoy.

Don’t get discouraged

The TA community includes a lot of different people, and while most of them are friendly and will help you with your game (and even drop a tactical tip or two), unfortunately in every crowd you’re going to get a few lamers. If you’re unlucky enough to run into a trash-talker or a guy who exploits every cheesy trick ever found, just don’t play him again and find someone else. The Comments forums at Cavedog.com and Annihilated.com are full of vets who enjoy discussing tactics and helping out new players, and you can usually find a good opponent without too much trouble.

-- Brave Sir Robin

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