What began as a conflict over the transfer of consciousness from flesh to machines escalated into a war which has decimated a million worlds. 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 fuelled by over four thousand years of total war. This is a fight to the death. For each side, the only acceptable outcome is the complete elimination of the other. Story / Background In the distant future, the galaxy is ruled by a central body of humans and artificial intelligences called the Core (a contraction of "Consciousness Repository"). The Core's technological and economic triumphs have allowed humanity to colonize most of the Milky Way and enjoy peace and prosperity. However, the balance is broken by a technological breakthrough that allows the consciousness of a human being to be reliably transferred into a machine, thereby theoretically granting infinite life, in a process called "patterning." 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 (hence their name, the Arm), whose members refused to leave their natural bodies to join the Core's machines. A war lasting 4,000 years followed, with the Arm mass-producing clones as pilots for its vehicles and the Core duplicating consciousness-embedded microchips to pilot its own machines. Key information Total Annihilation (TA) is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game created by Cavedog Entertainment under the guidance of lead designer Chris Taylor. It was released on September 30, 1997, and was the first RTS game to feature 3D units and terrain. Two expansion packs were released: The Core Contingency on April 30, 1998, and Battle Tactics exactly 2 months later on June 30, 1998. When TA was released, the minimum computer requirements were a Pentium 100 MHz processor and 16 MB of RAM. Of course, these requirements were for computers in 1997; modern day machines easily exceed those recommended specifications, but it is still recommended to have a 1 GHz processor and 512 MB of RAM for the updated game engine. Game features Upon release, the original TA game boasted: Fully-articulated 3D units and buildings, with a diverse complement of unit types — for example, aircraft, amphibious tanks, infantry bots (kbots), vehicles, hovercraft, ships, submarines, unit production factories, powerful stationary defenses, and long-range weapons. A unique tracking feature allows players to follow single units, entire armies, or even projectiles across the landscape. True 3D terrain that units can climb over, into, and around, on extra-large 3D-generated maps. TA runs comfortably in high resolutions and even on modern dual monitor setups, so players can see more of the battlefield. Numerous world types to do battle o