KNOWN BUGS AND OTHER ISSUES

(in the form of a FAQ)

"The spacecraft don't land - how do I repair them?"

Tell the units that you wish to be repaired to land by pressing the "Stop" button. The craft will then find the nearest empty space and land there (considering them in a holding position for space maps!)

"Every time i try to run a game, the loading gets to the terrain bar then TA crashs out saying the following : anims\tronboom.GAF"

Simple. You NEED the 3.1 patch installed, as this particular animation is in the 3.1 patch file. You might also need the Core Contingency as well, but can probably get by without it.

"These stupid fighters stop dead after making a pass at a capital ship, getting themselves blown to bits!"

They sure do. I think the AI script tries to be cunning, because usually if they pause in front of another aircraft (which all spacecraft technically are in TA:FF) they're waiting for the ship to move in front of them so the attacking fighter can hit it again. The problem is the ships move so slowly that the fighters wait a relatively long time for the ship to go in front of them, during which time they are very vulnerable. I don't know how to fix this, but if anyone does email me!

Tips: When attacking large ships with a squadron of fighters, attack from the front, as the fighters won't try this little waiting manuver if the enemy is facing the other way. Also manually moving the fighters in a sweeping path over the target is very effective.

"When the starships are flying along in large groups they stack upon one another so it's hard to see them."

Flying units in TA have no 'mass', which is to say they don't take up space like surface units do. In OTA you'll see large groups of rapiers doing the same thing. I was aware this would happen during the design phase, but I didn't like the alternative of starships crashing into the back of each other like surface ships do, if I chose to use that method. This way at least they almost look like they're flying under and over each other, as a starship would do!.

"When an EMP blast hits the enemy ships, they just keep on flying. Aren't they supposed to stop?"

They do eventually. When a flying unit becomes paralyzed, the last movement command is still carried out, sometimes carrying the unit accross the map! But the unit does stop firing, so you could think of it as having their computers go haywire.

"The build progress bar on starships doesn't accurately report the construction time."

All ships of corvette size and above are able to automatically repair themselves. This ability is turned on as soon as the craft begins construction, so the unit is being repaired as it's being built! Yes, it's slightly inconvenient, but I figured it was worthwhile considering that your ships can self-repair.

"The enemy command cruiser just flies around in circles, building nothing."

This will happen on Hard when it tries to build one of the special AI resource units, and you're missing the 'Aiboost.ufo' file from your TA directory. Slot it in and all will be well.

"Sometimes it's really hard to reclaim or ressurect a starship wreck - where do I click on it?"

Usually when a ship is destroyed over water or space, the starship will 'sink' to the 'ground' and reclaiming the wreck is easy. Sometimes it stays up in the air, exactly where it was killed. To reclaim or ressurect it, move your pointer down below the wreck to where it's shadow is - the selector should catch onto it about there.