TA: Kingdoms' First Expansion

Cavedog Entertainment has announced that it will release The Iron Plague, the first expansion pack for the company's Total Annihilation: Kingdoms RTS game, sometime in March 2000.

The Iron Plague picks up where Kingdoms left off, after Darien monarchs Aramon and Veruna beat Taros and Zhon. Civilians are beginning to rebuild after the long war. During this rebuilding, a group of bounty hunters stumbles upon a man-made bird constructed out of canvas and wood. Once the device is brought back to scholars, no one can figure out how it got there, what it was meant for, or who made it. And Aramon and Veruna fear there is a new and unknown enemy they must soon deal with....

The upcoming expansion adds the Creon civilization to the Kingdoms world, a civilization that holds air, land, and sea power. As the Creons are more based on science and technology, they live far away from the Dariens and their beliefs in magic. The Creons' arsenal will include the Submersible for water attacks, the Barnstormer for scouting, the Tortoise for tank attacks, the Mechanic for repairing damaged equipment, and the Bomb Sprinkler, which sprays bombs in a radius as an enemy comes closer.

"We're continuing what we started in Total Annihilation: Kingdoms by immersing players in a storyline that's sure to have plenty of twists and turns,'' said Clayton Kauzlaric, designer and project lead. "We've created a whole new look for Creon - a fifth civilization with its own personality, which should dramatically change the way the game is played.''

Other features in the first expansion pack include 25 new single-player missions, 25 new multiplayer maps, the latest TA: Kingdoms 2.0 update, the new cooperative multiplayer game called The Darien Crusades, and all the downloadable units available from the company's site.