Planetary Annihilation: TITANS is a standalone expansion for Planetary Annihilation, an RTS in the sub-genre occupied by Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander, both games it is clearly heavily influenced by. The expansion was provided for free to all Kickstarter backers of the original game (a pretty classy move) and is at the time of writing available to purchasers of the original for a 66% discount.

So should you buy it? Well, if you loved Planetary Annihilation, or thought it could have been great with more unit variety, deeper orbital play, more map terrain, and some experimental units, then the answer is a resounding YES. If you're looking for a deep story campaign then this still isn't the RTS for you.

Personally, I love it. It's everything an expansion pack should be. It introduces new units, terrain, mechanics, maps, a new game mode,.. It's still PA, but it's different in all the right ways. All these elements come together to provide a deeper, richer experience than the base game alone. Titans bring the experimental units people wanted, and do so while feeling accessible rather than wonder units you will never see in a normal game.

Almost all the new units slot into new roles which provide new opportunities for play, and in some instances change how existing maps will be tackled. Suddenly that lava at your back on Forge is no longer safe because Drifter hover tanks can traverse it. The river behind your base can now be crossed by an Atlas. The fortress planet you built could be visited by a Helios titan dropping a Manhattan mobile nuke on you followed by an invasion force through the Helios's on-board teleporter.

It's also backwards compatible, so TITANS owners can revert to classic PA at any point and play with people who don't have the expansion.

The expansion also adds a much needed interactive tutorial to solve the issue of the brutal learning curve that existed in the base game. The normal difficulty for Galactic War has also been made easier so new players aren't tricked into what was previously a pretty tricky mode. Still, I'd recommend you go from the tutorial to skirmish first so you get all the toys to practice with.

I've had great fun playing it so far, and I look forward to hundreds more hours with the game. Especially as Uber have continued to update the game with further technical improvements following release.

EDIT: and now with the Legion Expansion community mod adding an entire second faction to the game the value of this has improved even further.

Planetary Annihilation: TITANS is a standalone expansion for Planetary Annihilation, an RTS in the sub-genre occupied by Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander, both games it is clearly heavily influenced by. The expansion was provided for free to all Kickstarter backers of the original game (a pretty classy move) and is at the time of writing available to purchasers of the original for a 66% discount. So should you buy it? Well, if you loved Planetary Annihilation, or thought it could have been great with more unit variety, deeper orbital play, more map terrain, and some experimental units, then the answer is a resounding YES. If you're looking for a deep story campaign then this still isn't the RTS for you. Personally, I love it. It's everything an expansion pack should be. It introduces new units, terrain, mechanics, maps, a new game mode,.. It's still PA, but it's different in all the right ways. All these elements come together to provide a deeper, richer experience than the base game alone. Titans bring the experimental units people wanted, and do so while feeling accessible rather than wonder units you will never see in a normal game. Almost all the new units slot into new roles which provide new opportunities for play, and in some instances change how existing maps will be tackled. Suddenly that lava at your back on Forge is no longer safe because Drifter hover tanks can traverse it. The river behind your base can now be crossed by an Atlas. The fortress planet you built could be visited by a Helios titan dropping a Manhattan mobile nuke on you followed by an invasion force through the Helios's on-board teleporter. It's also backwards compatible, so TITANS owners can revert to classic PA at any point and play with people who don't have the expansion. The expansion also adds a much needed interactive tutorial to solve the issue of the brutal learning curve that existed in the base game. The normal difficulty for Galactic War has also been made easier so new players aren't tricked into what was previously a pretty tricky mode. Still, I'd recommend you go from the tutorial to skirmish first so you get all the toys to practice with. I've had great fun playing it so far, and I look forward to hundreds more hours with the game. Especially as Uber have continued to update the game with further technical improvements following release. EDIT: and now with the Legion Expansion community mod adding an entire second faction to the game the value of this has improved even further.