TA clan was formed 7.5 years ago on CnCNet. The original idea came from an old player called ORA-Myth (real name Eric). Myth had returned to Red Alert after a 10+ year absence and played for a couple of weeks on the then-new CnCNet 5 lobby. Myth had only been back playing for a couple of weeks when he approached At0m1 about forming a tanker clan, as he noticed that most players were just building on P4 in random 2v2 P4 games (such players as Col0, Danco-Cro, ANT etc). There were very few decent players at that time and most of them were just builders on P4. Myth wanted tankers to have some sort of elite status and so thought a new clan was a good idea.
CnCNet bot shows us the exact time when TA clan was formed, as Myth left shortly after TA clan was formed. TA clan was formed a couple of weeks within Myth's return. At0m1 liked this idea as perhaps the best tanker active at that time. He knew I was a young and up and coming player who had learned to Q, so he approached me about joining this newly formed clan. Therefore I was the 3rd official member. We agreed on a name between us and At0m1 decided that "Tankers Alliance" was an appropriate name. Hence that is how the name TA was chosen.
*Note* Over many years, people have speculated that the real meaning behind TA was "Team Atomi" as he had been spotted joking about this on multiple occasions*
Myth left very abruptly after the clan was formed as he decided he just didn't have the passion or time for Red Alert as he had done when he was a teenager playing on MPlayer. As a result, At0m1 and myself were left as the only 2 TA members so recruitment began.
The following players were recruited to make up the new clan: [Turret-TA], [Jayman-TA], [Dak-TA], [Kody-TA]. At some point some other players such as [Funky-TA] joined as well.
The clan enjoyed some great success in its first few years and grew to be one of the powerhouses on Red Alert. I was definitely the most active player then as [Crush-TA]. Some very nice matches and games were played, here's a rare nice victory for At0m1 and Turret of TA vs Cousinehy and Cousinsmash in their nice series from a Union Break tournament:
The TA clan was actually amazing for the competitive scene on Red Alert. I think a number of other clans were inspired to form as a result of the newly formed rivalry with TA. I would say TA was a big influence over the formation of such clans as X and C. However, TB was certainly inspired to form because of TA. Hezb was a new up and coming player who started around the same time as me and had an opposite play-style (he liked to build and I liked to tank). This is how the TB (Tesla Builders) clan were formed. Hezb and his cuzzies formed TB a few weeks after TA was formed in order to create a "Builders vs Tankers" mantra on Red Alert. Cousin clan also began a massive resurgence during this time, as Ehy and Smash proudly displayed their Cousin tags in lobby, and CousinTank (who now uses the name RustyNoob on CnCNet5) and Sucky returned to Red Alert. So overall I definitely think it is fair to say that TA was great for the game and was an important part of Red Alert history as it ensured that there was a competitive scene during a 5 year period in which the player pool was very small and limited.
There seemed to be many highs and lows in the clan's history so far. The boom years once Funky etc joined then hit a dark spot as most members such as Turret (joined the army) and Dak left Red Alert for various reasons. At some point I decided to leave around 5 years ago and would later join my colleagues in ORA:
At some point, some extremely strong new young players would join TA. These included Ford and Mclovin, 2 of the best players in the game, and Santi. Other players such as Kobra had a very brief stint in the TA clan. At some point around 2018-2019 TA was undoubtedly the absolute strongest clan on CnCNet. At0m1 was back playing QMaster with [Lordy-TA] in private rooms as well. TA had reached the pinnacle of the game and were certainly the strongest overall clan for at least a couple of years. It had come such a long way since Myth's proposition to At0m1 in 2013.
However, the old saying "all good things come to an end" seems to be potent at this present juncture. Ford has retired from the game as announced on his blog, check out his statement: https://c9andrewford.blogspot.com/2021/02/have-i-retired.html and McLovin became afflicted with depression and decided to step back from the game as well. At0m1 has also not been spotted in the lobby in a long time.
The lowest point in the clan's history happened in the recent Clan Tournament won by ORA March 2021 Clan Tournament Report
[Lordy-TA] was now the only real active TA player left on CnCNet. Desperate for a partner to play with in the event, Lordy called on old returning [Jayman-TA] to join him. Jayman had only appeared on CnCNet after an absence of several years so was clearly very rusty and not himself. The result was that TA performed horrificly in the group stage, and WP and BAT clan destroyed them. Lordy felt insecure and was humiliated by this result and felt like he had let his mentor At0m1 down so attempted to boot Jayman out of TA and replace him with another partner. The result was that TB-Kickn (a once huge rival of TA), played under Jayman's name, effectively cheating the competition.
[Lordy apologises for getting Kickn to play using Jayman's name]
After being disqualified from the event by tournament host N8Diaz, some major internal issues in TA were needing addressed.
Ultimately [Jayman-TA] would go to absent leader At0m1 and report the chaos. Jayman would make a statement saying that Lordy was the worst player he had ever seen in TA and could not believe the disrespect he received during the tournament.
<[Jayman-TA]> i cant believe this noob is in TA hes shit and he plays all day. iv not played in 3 years guys. he just does noob rush every game
It was ultimately decided that Jayman as an 8 year member and stronger player was higher up in the TA hierarchy than Lordy and so it seems the decision was made to kick Lordy out of the clan - though admittedly I don't know much about the internal workings of this decision. The result was as follows:
[Lordy leaves TA clan and joins their arch-rivals]
This was a symbolic moment for the TA Clan. As Jayman had announced that he was again taking another hiatus from the game. Lordy had been the only active TA member on CnCNet for months, so his decision to move to another clan sounds the death knell for TA. There are now no active TA members left on CnCNet for the first time in the clan's illustrious history.
This begs the question: Is this the end of TA?
Will At0m1 zippo his way onto CnCNet and recruit the next wave of CnCNet players? Will some old legends or familiar faces return?
All these questions remain to be answered... Who knows what the future holds. Sadly, however, at this point, the future does not look very bright for the greatest clan of the 2010s era of CnCNet.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more!