Gameplay:

• Units and Buildings explode when they die and deal damage to the surroundings, as can be seen by trees blowing up, and your units taking damage.
• Wreckage, changes terrain and battlefield, and changes the value of locations making certain places resource rich as the game progresses.  Controlling  the graveyards or old battlefields can win the game.
• 3D terrain affects units (LoS, Range, blocks shots).
• Features/doodads, give you resources, trees catch fire, block shots, and can be destroyed.
• No "out of memory" when too many buildings.
• More diversity in units like a complete navy (light boats, destroyers, cruisers, battleships, aircraft carriers, 2 types of submarines, Aegis Cruiser like ship, and others), amphibious units (5 types of hovercraft, and other amphibious units that float, or walk under water), walls, mines.
• More towers (Missile Towers, light lasers, plasma batteries, heavy lasers, Big Berha, flakkers, dooms day machines, Popup towers)
• Several types of terrain (sea, shore, shallows, flat clear terrain, forest, slopes (straight or spiral), plateau, bridges (land bridge with lava or water on a side, or shallow water bridge with deeper water on each side)
• Resources severely different per map (number and richness of metal patches, base metal on 'grass', wind, tide, geothermal vents, reclaimables)
• More ways to get resources, therefore more ways to 'strangle' your opponent's economy.
• Radar/Sonar plus scramblers/jammers.
• Convert resource to other resource, making it possible to make units without metal patches.
• Larger difference between small units versus big units in cost, armor, and such.  In SC the biggest difference in hit points is a factor of 500(battlecruiser) to 25(broodling) or 20 times, whereas TA is a difference of 250(peewee) to 4950(sumo) a bit less than 20, unless you include scouts (which seems fair considering the broodling is hardly a strong military unit) and naval units (which seems fair since the battlecruiser is not a land unit), then it is 75(flea) to 6140 (War Lord) or a little more than 80 times .
• Multiple weapons on the same unit can fire at the same time and at different units.
• Resource system changes during game play (moving from metal extractor + wind/ solar/ tide, metal extractor/ metal maker +geo, floating metal maker + carrier, to moho metal maker + fusion power plant).
• All units have projectiles that travel and must hit the unit.  Additionally, all weapons have an area of effect and can effect multiple units, although with the laser, the area of effect is so small that it would only effect planes.
• All maps in SC have minerals to mine and gas to refine, and that is the only way to get resources.  To get more resources, you can either build more peasants, and/or control another area of the map that has more resources.  TA maps sometimes have no metal patches, and only reclaimable features, such as the urban maps.  Some are metal-maps, meaning that extractors built anywhere will generate metal.  Additionally, some maps do not have water, and the amount of energy you can get from tidal generators differs per map.  Wind is also something that differs on maps, and it varies every 20 seconds and changes intensity and direction, meaning that your wind generators will rotate, spin faster, and the smoke from your units will drift in a different direction.  This can be quite entertaining when you are trying to win a war.  Wreckage also plays a part, but that is presented elsewhere.
  
   

Unit Commands:

• More than 12 units can be selected at once (you can select all units with ctrl+a)
  Multiple Buildings can be selected
• Waypoint system with shift key has much greater possibilities, and you can manage it much easier.
• Commands of all selected units is displayed while pressing shift key.  Additionally, the locations  or the commands are connected by moving *'s, except for the Attack command.
• TA units can be given the command hold fire, return fire, or fire at will. 
• Units can be given movement orders to be executed as they patrol or when they arrive at their destination.  Possible options: hold position, maneuver (pursue enemies until to a distance), or roam.
• Units can move and fire at the same time, giving more chances for strategy, like drive by raiding, and retreating while firing so that certain weapons will miss.
• Units can do suppressing fire, and in patterns (shoot left center right center repeat . . . .)
• Units can block/intercept incoming fire.
• Units will try to dodge and maneuver when they engage the enemy.  Planes will dog fight, and execute rolls.  Rolling actually make the target harder to hit (it isn't just graphical), and planes bank when they turn. 
• Longer build queues for buildings.
• Units can be automatically assigned to a group or behavior when they are built. They can also be given a list of commands (limited to move points and patrol points)
• All commands can be queued, and only 'build' commands cannot be issued to multiple units at the same time (there is an easy work around). SC lacks load/unload queue, attack, patrol with multiple waypoints (SC allows only two waypoints).
• Patrolling with con assist builds in area, repairs, and reclaims (only if there is room to store).
• Patrolling with military engages enemy up to the limit set by player by maneuver or roam.
• Guarding repairs the unit or assists the unit being guarded in building (better than patrol if multiple buildings are being built in the area, or the distance is large).
• Guarding with military engages enemy if the guarded unit gets hurt.
• Turn things off (for SC the only thing that you'd want to are the towers/long range to avoid detection or spider mines).

 

Graphics:

• 3D units and a 3D height map with image overlay.
• Shaded and anti-aliased polygons and translucencies (like cloaked units and smoke).
• Units and buildings have more animation, movement, and pieces, as can be seen if you actually play the game.  Factories unfold and rotate to show a build platform, and some buildings retract when hit to prevent damage..
• Units and buildings react to environment (such as firing or being hit) by shaking and tilting.
• Light effects with explosions.
• Units sink in water after death, arms fly off. No set death sequence, and no animation of unit falling over.
• Units have shadows, and so do missiles/rockets.
• Units can be tilted and rotated, as can be seen when they climb slopes, or bank when they are a plane.
• Units have a turret that aims, tilts, then fires at the enemy, and most cannons have recoil (especially the big ones).  The vulcan cannon has shells the fly off its right side and bounce a while.  Due to computer limitations at the time, most units don't spit off shells, but they do have puffs of smoke that rise.
• Graphics details and resolution can be changed, (details can be changed while playing)
• SC: Sprites with translucency. Alternate sprite when firing, but not when hit.
  Rotated death sequence for some units. A Zergling dies the same way when it dies by marine hitting it, as it does when Yamato Cannon'ed or nuked.
• Graphic settings cannot be changed

 

Multiplayer:

• Share resources, units, radar (and white board see below).
• Play with 10 players instead of 8, requires only 3 CD's to do so.
• Install the expansion works on spawned copies (you can't install Brood Wars on a MP Spawn)
• Limit units, both total number you can build, and/or specific units. (used to reduce lag, or to play differently)
• Set and lock teams in the lobby to prevent back stabbing after you should have won.
• Click the "I'm ready button" so game doesn't start until you are ready.
• Choose your color in the lobby
• Set map to explored, view map. (in case you haven't played every map)
• View unit restrictions, set starting resources. (what if you wanted 200 mineral instead of 100?)
• Friendly fire is a serious issue, and should be in your plans as to how to avoid it. SC has little friendly fire against your allies, and is limited to acid spores accumulating, and valkyries and corsairs dealing damage to friends, magic spells (plague, psionic storm), siege tanks, firebats, spider mines, tactical nukes, lurkers, and archons.  Every unit can by accident deal friendly fire damage to you, and your allies. 
• SC: must connect through B-net for online play. TA: can use TCP/IP.
• Lag in TA slows the game down to a slower speed.  In SC, it also delays the time in which you click, and when the command is issued.

 

Mods for Total Annihilation add:

• Gates (open and closable like AoE II)
• White Board (you can now draw directly on the map and add markers)
• .take 'ing of a players units.  If your ally loses his connection, you can take control of all their units.
• Multi Directional factories (tired of always having your Flashes exit south?)

 

Other:

• Total Annihilation is easily modified.  New units are easily added into the game. 
• The music changes when certain things happen.  When you engage it battle it switches to a combat theme.

 

Complaints:

Muta flap wings in Space
Terran CNB suits do not protect against radiation, Zerg, or chemicals.
Zerg behave as anaerobic in game, yet the book says otherwise (space platforms).
Indestructible Trees and Rocks.
Hydralisks killing a Battle Cruiser. How fast are those spines?