Total Annihilation/Structures

Structures of the two factions, Arm and Core, in Total Annihilation.

Structures Common to Both Sides

These structures (or buildings) look different for either side, but are functionally the same. Unit producers (such as KBot labs, Vehicle Plants, and others) will be listed under each specific side, so that the "unit's produced" can be listed.

Tier 1

Solar Collector

Type: Resource Generator

Built By: Commander, Tier 1 Construction Kbot, Tier 1 Construction Vehicle, Tier 1 Construction Aircraft, Construction Hovercraft, and Construction Seaplane.

Comments: Basic energy collector. Gives 20 Energy per tick. Good to throw up in your basic base before you can build geothermal/nuclear power.

Wind Generator

Type: Resource Generator

Built By: Commander, Tier 1 Construction Kbot, Tier 1 Construction Vehicle, Tier 1 Construction Aircraft, Construction Hovercraft, and Construction Seaplane.

Comments: Another basic energy collector. Best used on windy planets. The amount of energy produced depends on wind speed which varies from planet to planet and from time to time. Wind seems to have no affect on ballistic weapons.

Energy Storage

Type: Resource Storage

Built By: Commander, Tier 1 Construction Kbot, Tier 1 Construction Vehicle, Tier 1 Construction Aircraft, Construction Hovercraft, and Construction Seaplane

Comments: Stores 3000 units of energy. Sometimes used to even out the ups-and-downs in Wind Generator power, or to ensure power is available for heavy artillery.

Metal Storage

Type: Resource Storage

Built By: Commander, Tier 1 Construction Kbot, Tier 1 Construction Vehicle, Tier 1 Construction Aircraft, Construction Hovercraft, and Construction Seaplane

Comments: Sometimes useful, if one reclaims a large amount of wrecks in battle. Otherwise it is rarely needed. Stores 1000 units of metal

Metal Extractor

Type: Resource Generator

Built By: Commander, Tier 1 Construction Kbot, Tier 1 Construction Vehicle, Tier 1 Construction Aircraft, Construction Hovercraft, and Construction Seaplane.

Comments: Extracts the most important resource: metal. Metal is required for all construction, but you knew that already.

Metal Maker

Type: Resource Generator

Built By: Commander, Tier 1 Construction Kbot, Tier 1 Construction Vehicle, Tier 1 Construction Aircraft, Construction Hovercraft, and Construction Seaplane

Comments: Very useful, as it allows for the conversion of the more plentiful resource, energy, to be converted into something more coveted: metal. Converts 60 units of energy into one unit of metal.

Light Laser Tower

Type: Land Weapon (Laser Bolt)

Built By: Commander, Tier 1 Construction KBot, Tier 1 Construction Vehicle, Tier 1 Construction Aircraft, Construction

Comments: Does not have enough range to be useful at any time in the later game, and is a tad too expensive to be worth it in the early game. It would be better to crank out mobile units instead. However, they can be used to prevent flash rushing.

Radar Tower

Type: Battlefield Intelligence

Built By: Commander, Tier 1 Construction KBot, Tier 1 Construction Vehicle, Tier 1 Construction Aircraft, Construction Hovercraft and Construction Seaplane

Comments: A good, basic radar unit. Excellent for early base protection. (That is, serving as an early warning unit.) Because it is very cheap and builds quickly, it is easy to set up redundant towers. However, these can be jammed later in the game, and so they will become useless. (if you are playing a competent general who uses jammers frequently)

Tidal Generator

Type: Resource Generator

Built By: Commander, Construction Ship, Construction Hovercraft, and Construction Seaplane.

Comments: Yet another basic energy generator, which varies in output with the tides. Often overlooked.

Floating Metal maker

Type: Resource Generator

Built By: Commander, Construction Ship, Construction Hovercraft, Construction Seaplane

Comments: More expensive than a land Metal Maker, and it floats. Otherwise, it's just the same.

Underwater Energy Storage

Type: Resource Storage

Built By: Commander, Construction Ship, Construction Hovercraft, Construction Seaplane

Comments: 3000 units of energy storage under the sea. Really only useful for water bases.

Underwater Metal Storage

Type: Resource Storage

Built By: Commander, Construction Ship, Construction Hovercraft, Construction Seaplane

Comments: Stores 1000 units of metal. Rarely used, but as shipwrecks hold a lot of metal, this can still be useful.

Underwater Metal Extractor

Type: Resource Generator

Built By: Commander, Construction Ship, Construction Hovercraft, Construction Seaplane

Comments: Extracts metal from underwater metal patches. The more metal, the better.

Tier 2

Geothermal PowerPlant

Type: Resource Generator

Built By: Tier 1 Construction Kbot, Tier 1 Construction Vehicle, Tier 1 Construction Aircraft, Construction Hovercraft, and Construction Seaplane.

Comments: This power plant can only be placed on top of venting cracks in the ground. They take time to build, but when completed, they will produce 250 energy per tick, which is a great bonus.

Heavy Laser Tower

Note: Arm calls this the "Sentinel", Core calls it a "Gaat Gun"

Type: Land Weapon (Laser Bolt)

Built By: Tier 1 Construction KBot, Tier 1 Construction Vehicle, Tier 1 Construction Aircraft, Construction Hovercraft and Construction Seaplane

Comments: Excellent laser tower, with enough range and firepower to be useful right up until the end of the game. It is a bit expensive, but worth every penny. These HLTs chew up light units, and can dent the armor of more powerful tanks too. It can occasionally hit gunships, though this is rare.

Defender/Pulverizer

Type: Land/Air Weapon (Guided Missile)

Built By: Tier 1 Construction KBot, Tier 1 Construction Vehicle, Tier 1 Construction Aircraft, Construction Hovercraft and Construction Seaplane

Comments: Again, excellent to the endgame. They are cheap and easily built, and groups of them can slow down attacks. Unfortunately, these guided missile towers are too weak to withstand any direct attack, but with their medium range they can help protect each other. Needed to shoot down basic and advanced fighter jets.

Dragon's Teeth

Type: Wall Unit

Built By: Tier 1 Construction KBot, Tier 1 Construction Vehicle, Tier 1 Construction Aircraft, Construction Hovercraft and Construction Seaplane

Comments: A single Dragon's Tooth, designed to delay enemy movement. Dragon's teeth are able to soak up a LOT of enemy fire. Their height keeps them low enough to allow defense turrets to shoot over them, but enemy units have difficulty shooting back. Use them as walls to force the enemy to move where you want them, to slow the enemy down, or to help shield defensive structures from enemy rockets. NOTE: After building, Dragon's Teeth are not counted as "units" in the 200 unit limit. Thus, you can build as many of them as you want.

Note: For the original use of the word "Dragon's Teeth," see Dragon's_teeth_(fortification)

Guardian/Punisher

Type: Land Weapon (Ballistic Plasma Shell)

Built By: Tier 1 Construction KBot, Tier 1 Construction Vehicle, Tier 1 Construction Aircraft, Construction Hovercraft and Construction Seaplane

Comments: Large plasma ballistic shell launcher. Expensive but worth it for the havoc it can wreak on ground forces. Also useful because it out-ranges the unguided rockets used on the more advanced Merl and Diplomat units. This makes it much easier to dispose of them.

Tier 3

Adv. Radar Tower

Type: Battlefield Intelligence

Built By: Adv. Construction Kbot, Adv. Construction Vehicle and Adv. Construction Airplane

Comments: Powerful radar with a large range. It is still cheap, still builds quickly, and is still susceptible to jamming.

Fusion Reactor

Type: Resource Generator

Built By: Adv. Construction Kbot, Adv. Construction Vehicle and Adv. Construction Airplane

Comments: The big mamma of energy production. Throw up one of these as soon as possible and you'll have an energy boost of +1000 per tick. Built 2 or 3 and your energy needs will be pretty well met. These are required for an advanced base. Excellent for powering metal makers.

Moho Mine

(Heavy Artillery will be listed in the "Race Specific" sections, due to the differences between the two weapons, even though they fill the same category.)

Nuclear Missile Launcher

(Heavy Laser Weapons (or the "Blue Laser of Death") will be listed in the "Race Specific" sections, due to the differences between the two weapons, even though they fill the same category.)

Cloakable Fusion Reactor

(Stun Missiles will be listed in the "Race Specific" sections, due to the differences between the two weapons, even though they fill the same category.)

Fortification Wall

Type: Wall Unit

Built By: Adv. Construction Kbot, Adv. Construction Vehicle and Adv. Construction Airplane

Comments: "Dragons Teeth on steroids." That's what the manual called them, and it's a pretty good description. These walls are taller than Dragon's Teeth, and can take much more damage. However, they cannot be used to shield defensive structures because they are too tall. Therefore, they should be used to protect important structures such as Fusion Powerplants, Geothermal Powerplants, Moho Metal Extractors, Moho Metal Makers, and other such critical infrastructure. Simply make a ring of them around the completed building to protect it (somewhat) from bombing runs and artillery fire.

(Moho Metal Makers will be listed in the "Race Specific" sections, due to the differences between the two weapons, even though they fill the same category.)

Targeting Facility

(Rapid-Fire Artillery will be listed in the "Race Specific" sections, due to the differences between the two weapons, even though they fill the same category.)