-SIEGE 2-

Siege 2 is the "defensive skirmish AI upgrade".  It is designed to support all skirmish AIs by taking care of defense setup.

HOW IT WORKS:

Siege 2's backbone is construction workers that self-generate resources for defensive projects.  Hovering the mouse over them, and noting that their energy is hidden can identify the special Construction units.  You will see the name of the unit, such as "Construction Kbot" but you will not see how much energy it has.  This is normal--they have the same armor as player equivalent.  Destroying or capturing these special units can go a long way towards insuring victory.

When building, Level one Siege workers build slightly faster than the normal player equivalent.  Level two workers build at the same speed or *SLOWER* than the player equivalent.  Hopefully, this balancing act makes skirmish AIs a challenge, but not unbeatable.  Advantages such as nuking and other player tricks make the game quite fair against AIs that take advantage of Siege.


INSTALLATION:
Requirements:
Total Annihilation 
Windows OS 
Mac OS (Not tested)

Install:
Siege 2 comes in the form of a single file, 'szSiege.ufo'.  Place this file in your Total Annihilation installation directory.  It will give the AI a slight boost during skirmish sessions, especially in the construction of defenses!

Siege 2 will affect all maps and all skirmish AIs.   Its effect may be minimum on maps using skirmish AIs that do not support Siege--AI Profiler and Small AI Designer will detect Siege units, marked by "Siege" on their unit pictures.  Included are a few skirmish AI profiles based on the ones I found in the TAMEChpi2000 and other AI archives (*.hpi, *.ccx, *.ufo, *.gp?); basic support for Siege has been added to these skirmish Ai in 'szSiege.ufo.'  Maps with other skirmish AIs installed will take advantage of Siege 2 at random, typically slightly longer than AIs built with Siege 2 in mind.  It is my hope that Siege 2 will ease the development of skirmish AIs by giving mapmakers an option that greatly increases the chance of their AIs survival.

Further editing of the TA directory is not required after installing Siege 2 via 'szSiege.ufo'

Uninstall:
Remove 'szSiege.ufo' from your Total Annihilation installation directory.  This is the one and only file Siege needs to run, and once it is gone Siege is done!


PLAYING:
Skirmish:

It is recommended you play in increments while Siege 2 is installed.  Start with easy, then medium, and finally hard after beating medium.  The skirmish AI has potential to be a serious threat while Siege 2 is installed.  

Note: Not respecting the difficulty levels as intended by Total Annihilation's creators could be a grave mistake!  

Multiplayer:

As long as Siege is installed, Multiplayer sessions with the AI included should be very fruitful.  Whether playing human against AI games or simply allying with it, the multiplayer game should be a blast!  Also, TA Demo recorder 97 will record these games--the skirmish AI upgrade, Siege 2, must be installed to replay these when it is recorded.

Note: Usually Siege 2 is quite a vicious player during multiplayer sessions, and is not a bad ally at all!

SPECIAL THANKS:

Thanks to all beta testers and everyone who encouraged the development of Siege.  I really appreciate everyone's time and effort!  

Thank you all for your time!

Kenneth Gilbert Jr.
Sage_Z, masterkg@yaho.com

P.S. If you have any concerns, or would like to send feedback, please e-mail: masterkg@yahoo.com