Total Annihilation is free to keep on GOG this weekend

If you are a fan of real-time strategies, you don't need a special introduction for the Total Annihilation franchise.

Created by Cavedog Entertainment, Total Annihilation is set in the far future in the midst of a galactic war, with battles taking place on the surface of planets and moons. It was the first RTS game to feature 3D units and terrain.

Read more: A Total War Saga: Troy will be free on the Epic Games Store 

(Picture: wargaming.net)

In the distant future, the galaxy is ruled by a central body of humans and artificial intelligence called the Core. The Core's technological and economic triumphs have allowed humanity to colonize most of the Milky Way and enjoy peace and prosperity. 

Following a mandate imposed on humanity by the Core requiring everyone to undergo patterning as a public health measure, a rebel band is formed out of colonies from the edges of the galaxy - the Arm.

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The Core and the Arm have all but exhausted the resources of a galaxy in their struggle for domination. Both sides now crippled beyond repair, the remnants of their armies continue to battle on ravaged planets, their hatred fueled by over four thousand years of total war.

Total Annihilation: Commander Pack comes with both expansion packs  - The Core Contingency and Battle Tactics, and they will be free for a limited time so make sure to grab the game before this offer ends on 7 June at 2 PM BST. And make sure to claim Ascendant and War Wind while you are there.

(Picture: wargaming.net)

Game features

• Numerous world types to do battle on, such as grasslands, forests, deserts, archipelagos, open water, lava, metal, ice, crystal, acid, and even moons.
• More than 150 official units and 25 official missions per side in a single-player campaign. The Core Contingency expansion pack added 75 new units (including the infamous Krogoth), 50 new maps, 25 new missions, and 6 new world types. Battle Tactics added 4 new units, 6 new maps, and 100 new missions. A final patch (version 3.1c, and included here) added 6 new units, including a resurrection kbot!
   
• Detailed and exciting campaigns that focus on their respective side's leaders, the Commanders. The stories of either the Core or the Arm start with an effort to defend the protagonist's home world and initiate a turning point in the war, followed by a series of battles on numerous planets and moons (using Galactic Gates as a form of faster-than-light transportation), before a final strike on the enemy's homeworld: either on the Arm's bucolic Empyrean or the Core's artificial Jupiter Brain world of Core Prime. Mission objectives include protecting a vital structure or area, capturing a pivotal enemy unit, or simply eliminating all enemy units. More powerful units and weapons are gradually unlocked throughout the campaigns after specific missions or events.
   
• Single-player skirmish battles and full multiplayer support, allowing players to watch and join battles, and form allied teams to share resources, information, and units.
• Highly advanced weaponry, including lasers, energy machine guns (EMGs), starburst missiles, plasma shells, lightning pulses, paralyzers, and nuclear warheads.
• Variables such as gravity, tides, and wind to disrupt the effectiveness of certain weapon types or to enhance resource production.
• Intelligence measures to detect or jam enemy units using radar and sonar, the ability to cloak or provide stealth shielding for units, and the means to revive destroyed units from their wreckages.
• Over the years, the TA community has created literally thousands of third-party units and hundreds of maps to customize a player's TA experience. Numerous utilities, missions, mods, and factions have also been created to rebalance or totally convert the game; many of these units are still in competitive online and skirmish play today. Modern modifications to the game push the venerable 16-year-old TA engine to new limits with complex scripting, allowing for mass unit transporting, instant map-wide teleportation, upgradeable units, and true shields — plus much more. Don't forget to visit File Universe and Unit Universe to download and test the TA community's many maps, missions, mods, races, standalone units, utilities, and other extras!