Complete Annihilation: Getting Started Up, FAQ and Guide

  • Welcome, this is a guide for getting started with playing Complete Annihilation and Spring, the engine it runs on. This guide dosn't really get into how to play besides the basics. It is more for getting everything up and running so you can actually do stuff, even if you dont really know what your doing. :p

Ok, so I just installed this, now what?

  • Well, congradulations on getting this far. I'm going to go through this guide assuming you checked off every section to be installed in the installer, as its all good stuff. Now we just need to download the game, Complete Annihilation. Now are you thinking : "Wait, didn't I just do that?" ? Well, no, sorry. The mod is updated far to frequently to be included in something like an installer. But I wouldn't make you download all this for nothing, don't worry. Launch the CADownloader app, a shortcut should be on your desktop or in your start/programs menu.

Section 1 : Using CADownloader (and if you can)

It didn't launch, now what?

I use a Linux based OS, is there anything I can do?

  • There are a couple other ways to get CA, the first is the cross platform *Python Downloader*. Or if all else fails you can download the latest stable from this page  *Here*. Of course by doing that you don't have the advantage of incremental updates, and you can't download the test version.

I use Windows, have the .NET Framework 2.0 and it still isn't working.

  • See the Linux paragraph above.

Alright, its working! I see 3 download buttons, Stable, Test, and Specific Version. What do I want?

  • You want the Stable. You can download the Test version too if you want, but the Stable is the one most commonly played. Just click the button and let CAD do all the work. This may take awhile, as it has to download and zip a good 30mb the first time around. Here's the real reason why your using the downloader : Incremental Updates. After the initial download, updates to Complete Annihilation are downloaded and added to your current mod archive. Rather then redownloading the whole 30mb mod, you download updates that are often around a few hundred kilobytes.

Its finished. But whats this P2P system thing?

  • Thats for easy downloads of mods and maps using a torrent system. You can enable it and use it if you want. You don't have to. But it will get you mods and maps your missing automatically based on your username and the hosted games that are up. Its pretty cool.

Section 2 : Testing Complete Annihilation

  • Its a good idea to test the game before you jump right into a multiplayer battle online. Now that you have the latest version of CA downloaded, we can launch Spring. Double click on Spring.exe in your install directory (Usually C:/Program Files/Spring/). This is the simplest way to see if it actually works. The first thing you see is a list of Startscripts, you wont need to worry about these in multiplayer. Now use the up/down keys to select "Commanders", and press enter. Your looking at a list of your maps now, choose SmallDivide?. Finally, choose Complete Annihilation r####, and let the game load.

You should now be looking at something like: *ingame image here*

Something isn't working!

  • *link/paragraph about common troubleshooting issues with spring?*

Section 3 : Playing Single Player

  • Well, there is no real single player at this time, unfortunately. What you can do is practice in a skirmish match against an AI. RAI (which you hopefully installed) is the one that works with CA. To start single player launch the "Spring Single Player" shortcut on your desktop or start menu (or SpringSP.exe in your spring directory). Click on Skirmish, and let it load. Now your looking at where you can setup your battle. It should look something like *image*. You can press Add to add AI's to the game. If you want to change a player you can select and press Edit, or select and press Delete to delete. Click on the mod dropdown box to change the mod. You want to change "Choose Start Positions" to Fixed or Random because AI's cant choose for themselves yet. Click on the map picture to change it. When your ready to start, just click on Start and have fun.

So how do I play this anyways?

  • I did say that this guide would focus on getting the game up and running rather then actually playing it... but I'll give a brief description of the essentials. There are 3 main aspects of CA, Economy, Attack, and Defense. Your economy ( IE Metal Extractors, Wind Generators, Solar Collectors, from the Commander ) is whats used to power and build the little dudes that either attack your enemy ( IE Peewees, AKs, Hammers, Thuds, from the Kbot Lab ) or defend your own base ( IE LLT's, Defenders, Sentinels, Gaat Gun, from a T1 Contruction Kbot ). You need to control all of them to defeat your opponent. Build up your economy by expanding and taking metal patches (Where you put Metal Extractors) while simultainiously trying to defeat your opponent.

Section 4 : Playing Multiplayer

  • To play CA Online, which is the main feature of the game, you have to use the Spring Client. Launch it, there should be a shortcut on the desktop or the start menu (Or TASClient.exe in your Spring directory) and let it load. It may take a while the first time as its gotta cache a bunch of stuff. When it finally loads it asks you to register, do so, and click the connect button in the top left corner to connect to the main spring server. You should now be looking at somthing like *image*.

Ill give a brief talk about what your looking at. Middle of the screen is the chat section, where people participate in pointless conversation, usually argumentive, when there are no good games up. Try it sometime, its fun. Over to the right of the screen is a list of online players, you should be on here somewhere. At the top is a bar of buttons. "Battle Room" lets you host a battle, "Settings" gives you the options menu, "Replays" lets you view demos of games youve played, and "Help" should be the first place you click if you have problems I haven't covered. Down at the bottom is a list of games, green status is open, yellow is full, red is in progress.

I assume if youve got this far you already know the basics, so double click on a game to join. I personally reccomend spectating the first time, or mabye more, so you get the idea of what to do better. When your in the battle room, make sure to setup your ID (keep it different from everyone elses unless you want to share your commander), Team (The side you fight for), and your color. When your ready. Click the ready button at the bottom and wait for the host to start the game.

It asks me for a mod/map I dont have, where do I get those things?

  • You can actually use the p2p system in the CADownloader to get mods and maps, since you already have that program. But if your like me, and like to have the option of getting files from a website, *url to jj's site* is the place to go. You can find most things for spring that you will need there.

How do I host my own games?

  • Theres a guide to hosting games using the Spring Client *here*. Main thing to remember is that you have to make sure you CAN host before you make a big game for everyone.