Strategic Tips for Total Annihilation: Kingdoms

Notes

• All builders produce 1 mana/tick. Creating builders just to get the mana they produce is often a fine idea. Mind the 200 unit limit.
• Builders can only help build things they know how to build.
• Nothing can help a factory build. For faster production, use more factories.
• Gates can only be horizontal. Cursing is appropriate.
• Use the Patrol order to make your troops to attack everything on the way. Be aware this means they will turn around and come home when/if they get to their destination.
• Each side is allowed to build one Dragon and one Avatar. The dragon is has lots of hitpoints but doesn't become an effective fighter (for the money) until he has 100 kills. This tends to take a while and no small amount of micro-management. The Avatars do enourmous damage. If two avatars enter a fair duel, both will die. While an army Can stop an avatar, it will be at the expense of 70% or more of the units.

The Sides

Taros : fire

Advantages: Spells
Disadvantages: no very long range attacks, more micro-management needed
Strategy: Fire demons backed up with rictus are excellent defense. As with any defensive line, they need scouts and healers patrolling the line.
6 Sky Knights can kill a guard tower and escape without losses.
Don't let the Weather Witches use their whirlwind spell. :)

Aramon : earth

Advantages: buildings, gunpowder, range
Disadvantages: troops not as good
Strategy: Claim critical land. Build on it. Set up scout patrols. Repeat.
A foreward base that works is 3 guard towers, a trebuchet or two, perhaps a strong hold. Support it with some ground units.
Rolling towers do lots of damage to air units. One can hold off a full sized dragon. Two might get a kill.

Veruna : water

Advantages: ships, good ground troops
Disadvantages: short on specialists, only 1 normal air unit
Strategy:
Use your favorite strategy from other games.
Aramon's "claim, build, repeat" strategy works fine. A base would include 2 bastions, a mortar or two, the healing structure and some ground units.
Convince opponent to play on a water map. :)

Zhon : air

Advantages: mobility, specialized troops
Disadvantages: very few buildings, can be hard to find creature builders, no very long range attacks
Strategy: Use the right tools for the job. Probably in combination. Walk your "factories" to your staging area, then build an army.

Units

See Unit Chart

General TA(K) Strategy

Expand FAST in the beginning.
Resources are critical.
Skirmish to discourage opponent from expanding.
Use layers of defense. The outside layer doesn't have to kill, just hurting the approaching enemy will help.

Range trumps armor/power.
Speed trumps range.
Armor/power trumps speed.
Scouting trumps everything.