Total Annihilation: 2022 ProTA Tournament Finals #1 - TAG_ROCK vs. TAG_Venom

[@Sicktoid]

I didn't know this game was still alive and playable. I have literally not touched it myself since the 90s. I am so glad to see TA is still being played and still has a community! Warms my heart! 😃

[@oddersisadog]

The only thing I miss was access to tilesets/maps/good editors and the patches for more unit cap.

[@brianb2308]

@@oddersisadog You can certainly still find all these things, though newer versions of Windows don't work the best for running the game. There are patches you can find online to help with that, though, and if you're worried about nefarious code running on your machine, you could use a virtual machine. The game doesn't take many resources to run properly.

[@chrisbicepnredfield7307]

@@brianb2308 Beyond all Reason is a spiritual succesor you might like.

[@MrMonday1000percent]

You love to see it. Another glorious game cast by the fellas.

[@shaner3362]

Ive been watching your recordings lately. Thank you, I have not played in years.

[@jmachero5852]

I must say though. That real time strategy is such an underrated game genre. Normally strategy isn’t my thing but right now I found out this is something else. It could be good for people who likes something that’s action packed and it offered many cognitive benefits.

[@fn202taescvods8]

Great gameplay by ROCK. I really thought he was going to get eaten in the early mid-game.

[@scott-88]

The fact I don't quit when something doesn't go my way just makes it look better for him at the end :( especially because he continues to build and plays it so safe. A couple of bad attacks coupled with spreading myself thin was the story of this game. Hard to come back after that. I thought I was too aggressive but most of my attacks paid off. Some bad attacks down the middle where all his MTs were. He expanded much more efficiently than me. I had a lot of mex but they were all around the sides, undefended. This game was a lot closer than I remember though. Until I made those mistakes and it slowly got away from me. P.S. With my proposed tournament rules, this is a draw, and a restart. 😎 gg

[@anthonyakatonysmiff2461]

why would you quit? its a tourney game for money and he could dc. what would make you look bad is quitting, not staying and making him earn it

[@scott-88]

@@anthonyakatonysmiff2461 I meant the resource totals at the end, and the stuff he gets to build etc, like Hawks. If I quit when I'm pretty sure I can't win, the resources would be fairly close total wise.

[@yangpaan453]

@@anthonyakatonysmiff2461 Dont entirely agree with that sentiment. In the most popular pro RTS scene starcraft it is seen as bad manners to stay in game you know is lost. It should be entirely up to the player to decide if the rest of the game is worth their effort, and most will opt to gg out in order to save their energy for the next game. Staying in a game that you 100% know is over to "make them earn it" honestly sounds so egotistical and bad sportsmanship. I can understand if they are trying something tricky to turn the game around but if you're being closed in on all sides and mathematically there is no way of recovering your economy just gg and go to the next game.

[@surronzak8154]

@@yangpaan453 Please what ?? Imo you have to stay until the very last unit, let the winner savour his victory by annihilating all the remainings of an brave oponent who fight until his last breath.

[@yangpaan453]

@@surronzak8154 that's not how that works in competitive esports bro. the top players or anyone in general who wants to improve has to play dozens of games a day, some of which may last 20-30 mins. No one has time to sit there and kill every last building when they know the game is already over. It's called having good manners to GG out when you 100% know that mathematically there is no way to come back.

[@johnthemachine]

Love this channel. keep it up.

[@TotalAnnihilationReplays]

Thanks! I'm hoping to get back on the horse soon.

[@felixprime8291]

Very cool that such an old game is still enjoyed

[@Winston-lf7sb]

this is by far one of the best rts games ever made

[@TotalAnnihilationReplays]

Absolutely!

[@jmachero5852]

I see the graphics has aged a lot but I wonder if it’s good to play it today in 2022z

[@TotalAnnihilationReplays]

Sure is! It can be a little tough to get going if you're not used to running old games, but there are plenty of people on the TAU discord who can help you with your setup.

[@jmachero5852]

@@TotalAnnihilationReplays I can get it on Steam. It’ll might work for Windows 10.

[@anthonyakatonysmiff2461]

rock is the goat in my mind at this point. rvd might have been the best for the longest, but rock has been playing since the 90s and took 7 years off among other hiatuses and to come back and beat one of the top players at his own mod to win a money tourney makes him the Muhammad Ali of TA in my mind! im in my early 40s now and i can say im just not as fast as i was when i was 20. rock is in his late 50s/early 60s if im correct, so this is very impressive by my estimation

[@scottf2873]

ACE_GETGO was almost 50 back when he played if I recall correctly, he was a nature biologist of some sort and was constantly out and about documenting and researching in the woods and forests. He could hold his own pretty well too :) The heart is willing in a great many players! Good game to both Rock and Venom. Was an absolute privilege to watch that.

[@laurus83]

If this is the same The Rock from the 90s from the old Kali days I beat him one time back then. We played a bunch and talked quite a bit back then. If you're checking this thread out Rock g0dzer0 says hey! He also told me once The Rock was a reference to The Rock of Gibraltar.

[@xuepingsong5329]

LOL I finally found this game.

[@soap41x]

Dreams of Big Bertha artillery

[@raghna]

Great match, a few questions: Why not make LLT's, stouts, levelers or rezbots?

[@TotalAnnihilationReplays]

In general LLTs are good for higher traffic areas and chokes. They're good in ProTA, but expensive. They're shorter range than the cheaper missile towers, meaning they're easier to go around. I think you mean "Scouts." They're used frequently, but more often used early in a game. Levelers are a Core T2 vehicle in the ProTA mod. I can't remember off the top of my head and would have to watch back as to why they weren't built. Lastly Necro's are a bit more expensive than T2 K bots. If you're not going to use them for their resurrection function then the price isn't that useful. It takes a decent amount of effort to go around resurrecting units, and oftentimes that time is better spent reclaiming and building new units.

[@theradioattheendoftheworld4251]

TA still the best RTS of all time

[@i05fr3d]

I actually remember playing against tag rock like 20 years ago 😜.

[@TotalAnnihilationReplays]

If you're interested in reliving that experience, he usually plays Midday- US time on TAF!

[@kennithyoung6306]

Break dance practice, KZbin

[@hennovandamme1093]

i still play this game ❤❤❤

[@soap41x]

Nice!

[@halohistory7409]

sick

[@MusicRelatedCandy]

Distracting to hear EMGs and explosions over your commentary from presumably another game being watched in the background on someone's machine.

[@scott-88]

He had audio problems and had to sync Breezy's audio over the top of his own I think. Was a bit distracting at first for me but it got easier

[@JamesFaction]

yeah recording was done a few days ago and took a while to re-edit to sort the audio. not perfect unfortunately

[@TotalAnnihilationReplays]

Yup. We did the recording a bit back and the audio was messed up. To save it, We used my video and voice with Breezy's voice and game audio. This was the only way we could hear both of us without having to scrap it entirely. Since he was looking at different things sometimes, the audio and visual isn't going to be synched.

[@MusicRelatedCandy]

@@TotalAnnihilationReplays Ah, that's a shame. I appreciate the explanation and effort to keep the content coming! Thanks

[@premiermarvin]

Pity Venom didn't react fast enough to pick Rock's commander with the dying Valkyrie at the just landed attitude! Rock obviously clicked much slower (maybe only 50-70% Venom clicking pace) but he played much smarter by not letting units die as easily as Venom. Rock also doesn't like to deliver wrecks to enemy bases.

[@Novaya94]

Must be a tournament thing. He feeds me wrecks all the time 😉

[@scott-88]

I thought that after the game and kicked myself. Went back and watched the replay but don't think I had enough time to get it anyway. I think it'd have got shot down in time

[@JamesFaction]

Jackson! I hope you find the time to come back and play again

[@anthonyakatonysmiff2461]

a fairly rare example of a micro-centric-minded player beating macro-centric-minded player, in a protracted struggle that inherently favors macro over micro in these long games. i dunno if rock was 50% slower overall, but i think thats a fair assessment for his late game performance. that click fatigue in long games is REAL, especially for us OG players that are in our 40s and 50s. i started recognizing this towards the end of my ta career and tried to remedy those lazy spells with bursts of clicking fury directed towards my eco. most players, even good players, have those relaxed moments where we slow down and are less focused. its just not in human nature to stay hyper focused for every moment of an hour and half game, even at the highest levels of competition. the brain burns 50% of all our daily calories, which explains why i was always starving after playing you 🌝

[@scott-88]

@@anthonyakatonysmiff2461 you got micro-centric-minded player and macro-centric-minded player the wrong way, right?

[@Novaya94]

Now ROCK won't have to wait anymore 😎

[@Novaya94]

You have to base trade rock to make it interesting 😃

[@Bhs1867]

How can this incredibly broken game be playable competitively?

[@TotalAnnihilationReplays]

Perhaps it is not... incredibly broken? Despite what our good friend Mr. SpiffingBrit says. Also TAF and the mod that this is set up on have really helped smooth over a lot of the bumps. Give it a shot!

[@Bhs1867]

@TotalAnnihilationReplays I played a ton when I was a kid, it was one of my favorite games. I noticed in the video that they're playing a mod that's designed for balance. That's the answer to my question.

[@TotalAnnihilationReplays]

@@Bhs1867 That's right, they're playing the ProTA mod, which has some balance changes between Arm and Core and T1 and T2, as well as some of the pathfinding fixes and some new quality of life features (like hotkeys).

[@Bhs1867]

@@TotalAnnihilationReplays so glad it's playable at a high level now, that's rad