A Guide to Third-Party Units and Utilities

(Editor's note: Gotta hit you with the legaleze here, sorry. Flynn is a guest contributor to the TA Web site, so his opinions do not reflect Cavedog's, but we think he's a nice enough guy once you get to know him. Cavedog does not support or endorse the use of third-party units or materials and is not responsible for content on other Web sites.)

Over the past several months, TA has benefited from a large selection of new units, thanks to the efforts of many die-hard fans that have formed utility- and unit-programming teams. Many players are daunted by the quantity of available material, and some difficult questions are voiced.

• Are third-party materials a violation of copyright law?
• Is it wrong to use them in the first place?
• Which units are good to use, and why?
• Does anyone else use them?

I'd like to use this week's column to answer these questions to the best of my ability.

The first issue to be addressed is that of legal rights. In a nutshell, copyright law prevents third-party creators from making money from their creations, as the original source material is the property of Cavedog. For example, you could not take a classic book like Catcher in the Rye, change one word, and then sell the material as if it was your own work. But there's nothing wrong with making a new TA unit and distributing it to your friends for free via the Internet.

Another aspect of third-party material is Cavedog's technical support. Once you've modified your game with third-party materials, Cavedog will not offer much in the way of technical support. Imagine if you had bought a new car, but after driving it off the lot, you decided to install a brand-new engine designed by another manufacturer. It would be unfair for the original car company to be held responsible if the new engine ruined your car's transmission. After all, the car company didn't force you to install the new engine. You did it, and now it's your responsibility.

Does Cavedog have the right to shut down a unit group due to copyright infringement? Probably. Will they do so? I seriously doubt it. Third-party unit teams have been hard at work for about a year, and not once in my knowledge has Cavedog called a legal foul. Cavedog's informal policy is basically "If it feels right, go with it." Legal complications forbid Cavedog from actually endorsing any outside material -- nasty issues about compensation and ownership start cropping up. But that's not to say that the company can't sit back and watch the units stream out. The official TA WebRing has registered many sites devoted to unit development.

Now we come to probably the most important issue: Which non-Cavedog units are actually good units? I'll have to start by saying that this is PURELY a matter of opinion. With that said, though, here are some general guidelines.

• The unit should be relatively well balanced -- useful, but not overpowering. That is to say, it should perform within its niche, but should not perform significantly better than an equal cost in existing Cavedog units.
• The unit should theoretically look like a polished piece of work -- no flying black cubes with little laser guns on top. Bonus points if the unit actually fits in reasonably well with the standard TA units (I keep referring back to Cavedog's own unit set; bear in mind, all third-party material must be analyzed against the units that create the basis of the game. A notable exception would be a third-party race, which completely changes those existing units).
• Lastly, the unit designer should make every effort to conserve weapon IDs for other units. TA can use a maximum of 256 different weapons, and Cavedog's own units have already taken up a large percentage of those ID numbers. As such, weapon IDs are at a premium; if it is at all possible to not use a new weapon for a new unit, that effort will be well spent.

There are two common theories on side balance, as I see it. One theory is that Core already has a bunch of heavy-hitting, slow bricks, and Arm has enough fast, lightly-armored, well-armed units to suffice. As such, third-party units should fill in the gaps in the two sides. Take TADD's Arm Raptor and Campbell, for example -- extremely heavy, unit-crunching beasts -- while Core picks up the fast Mirage Flame Tank (Among many others). The other theory is that the sides are already similar enough, especially since The Core Contingency expansion pack came around, and that new units should seek to diversify those sides and focus on enhancing the strengths of each side.

The Core Exploiter, an example of a fan-created unit.

I'll use BSR's Exploiter as an example -- a Metal Extractor with a small laser weapon on top. It has strengths and weaknesses, but it is mostly designed to be somewhat raid-proof. Thus, Core's outlying resources are better defended without giving the Core a Flash equivalent. Again, keep in mind -- it's all a matter of opinion.

On a side note, I recommend that everyone download a third-party application called HPIView, and use it religiously. Open up the .UFO files containing those third-party units and look over the stats. Compare the stats to similar Cavedog units. Look for anything fishy tucked away inside. Take for example, a new weapon with a 30,000-point special damage rating only applied against Commanders. This weapon will kill a Commander in one shot. Is this fair? Is this what you want in your game?

Now, in order to decipher what all these .FBI, .TDF, .3DO, and .COB files mean, you'll need some background on how the units work. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to poke at a unit's .FBI file and do some comparative analysis. If a unit seems exploitable, overpowering or overly specialized, try it in a skirmish for testing. But don't bother taking it online just yet.

So, you've downloaded your favorite unit pack and you love it to death. You've pounded the AI to pieces with your new toys. Now, to find some human targets to bash.

You've just run into the single most significant downfall facing third-party TA material: finding someone else with the same units. I won't say it's impossible to find someone, especially if you have the popular unit sets from sites like TADD, TAUIP, TAMMO and so forth. But you should know in advance that the majority of the people out there still play regular ol' Total Annihilation, version 3.1, with no fancy add-ons outside the expansion packs. You may be able to find players with your particular unit choices on any online service -- just ask and find out. If nothing else, the players you ask may be able to refer you to someone else who does use the units you're after.

Now, units aren't the only material you'll find out there. New AI profiles, conversions, and utilities are popping out of the woodwork right along with the units themselves. Keep an eye on the third-party news at www.annihilated.com for an idea just what's going on out there -- it's a wild web community, and things tend to slip by if you're not watching.

One utility in particular I want to plug here, is the Yankspanker's TA Demo Recorder. This program is, as far as I'm concerned, a work of art. In short, it allows you to record TA games as you play, then view the game later. Playback is executed through the TA engine in watch mode, which allows you to view the whole battlefield, including your enemy's side. This tool is invaluable for picking up tactics, analyzing your game (I love playing "what-if" with my game recordings), and spotting cheaters. Plus, recent versions add a whole bunch of new features. You can find the recorder at the Yankspanker's Web site.

I'll close by saying that I fully endorse using third-party material in TA, so long as everyone in your game agrees on what to use. I believe that the game has grown far beyond the possibilities Cavedog themselves could have achieved. The TA Web community is not unlike that of Quake -- constantly growing and changing, with new toys popping up almost daily.

That community is a thriving symbol of TA's longevity as an actively growing game. Go forth, download, and play to enjoy!

-- Flynn

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