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Tribes: Ascend

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Well, to expand on the physics;

The jetpack will never add thrust over 72kph. If you're going over that, it will only continue to counter-act gravity. Unfortunately, this also means that if you're coming down at over 72kph, using the pack does nothing at all.

Re: vehicles, the Shrike is pretty terrible right now (it was alright earlier in the beta, but they did some weird things with it) and the Beowulf is passable as a base defender but will get chewed apart on offense. The Gravcycle lets a flag carrier hop on and ride without loosing the flag, but no-one in pubs ever does this. However, a friend and I do this constantly and the chances of us loosing when doing this are almost nil.

On the map front, there's talk about a Raindance remake, which could be really incredible, except they'll probably make it too small. The problem is that because of their physics, most of the T2 maps are way to vertical, so you'd spend a lot of time walking while your stuff recharged. Hell, that's why the no-energy tubes exist. Can you imagine Broadside without those? We'd never get back into the bases.

But yeah, I'm going to keep playing and see where it goes. I've also got my eye on PS2 (got a PCG key so I have an invite guaranteed) and like I said, MWO. Still, it's nice to have Tribes back in some capacity.

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My coworkers started playing this enough that I got dragged into it despite never having played a Tribes game before...

So far I've been having enough fun to warrant a little buy-in which I used to get a couple of the 100k XP weapons that take a fair bit of time to earn. I'm pretty terrible, but can be found using the usual Xeneth moniker and usually play either Sentinel or Doombringer.

Thought I'd also drop the neophyte impressions into the soup of veteran comments as well; The physics feels fast and liberating compared to just about anything else currently popular/on the market, but I've noticed that the skiing mechanic does sort of seem to force them to make maps that are on the small side and they have to be very hilly as opposed to mountainous. I dunno if anyone got to play on the Temple Ruins volcanic map before they pulled it from the CTF rotation, but that map was VERY large and the action was quite stale and plodding by comparison... It was so bad that they're redesigning it before throwing players into it again. (There's another map currently on redesign hiatus and out of the rotation but I'm not sure why... it seemed super popular until they recently changed the base/generator layout and then everybody started bitching about it).

Vehicles seem to need work. Rarely feel like they impact the flow of the matches, and credits seem to be better spent upgrading defenses, laying supply stations in weird places, and repeatedly calling in air strikes on the enemy flag platform. I'll have to try the grav cycle cap with my coworkers though, sounds like fun and I'd love to be like a getaway wheelman or something.

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I've been playing some more and I'm increasingly feeling that the key change needed is more juice for the jetpacks. Now that I've fully upgraded my Pathfinder energy pack to the maximum allowed the physics feel pretty much as they did in Tribes 2 without an energy pack, which is perfect for me.

Unfortunately this means I always have to use this loadout to feel right, whereas in Tribes 2 this was pretty much the baseline mobility. Ascend just needs a bit more power behind those jetpacks, which will not only make the action more fun but also make larger maps viable again.

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Really enjoying HoF in T:A. Finally got my Doombringer full kitted out with max Super Heavy and Safety Third and it's just Flag Defender medals from breakfast to bodyparts.

Sort of a throwback note, I was playing a little Tribes Next last week just to do some comparing, and I remember how much I loved the T2 music. Probably my favorite game soundtrack ever, maybe tying with Descent.

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Hah, brings some nostalgia that does. :yep:

I was quite enjoying the music in T:A earlier. I managed to finally grab the flag for the first time and was pleased to hear the music rev up and get my pulse rising as every fucker on the map turned their attention towards me — that's what Tribes is all about, TF2 can't hope to match that rush. :tup:

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Yeah, the first time I picked up the flag by accident and the music kicked in I went "Woah, time to do shit!" and that feeling hasn't gone away when I hear the cap music. It's really well done.

Here's the entire thing since you typically have the flag for something like 15 seconds on a good run. :grin:

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There in fact are several flag songs, but they're all relatively similar.

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Frankly, I love this game. I've poured no end of hours into it now, and since they put two new maps in I'm having an even better time as one of them is very Tribes 2-esque.

They've done such a better job with this than Irrational did with Vengeance it's not even funny. They've gotten all the various mechanics down to a tee, and it's all very balanced. Now I've started unlocking lots of stuff and can play as distinct class types (mostly Technician/Engineer for the past few days) it's just become terrific. The only thing I'm not so keen on is the vehicles as I often used them as a fun diversion in T2, whereas here they just don't feel very fun to use. Not a biggie, though.

I wa initially very hesitant to let myself get into it after the huge disappointment of Vengeance and it is undeniably a little rough visually, but this is great game. Proper Tribes. And improvements are happening all the time; I saw that a whole host of new weapon and map details were leaked the other day. :tup:

This video makes me want to go play it right now:

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Anyone who appreciates capturing flags should grab this when it's released for real in a few weeks, especially if you're of the Team Fortress inclination. It's free!

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Oh hey, Infiltrator might have a purpose now.

But probably not.

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I've been having a pretty good time as Infiltrator, but mostly as a general annoyance rather than an effective generator/turret destroyer (apart from when everything's not been upgraded). Raider, on the other hand, is absolutely ridiculous — the carnage that can be dished out with that class is unreal.

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Raider with a Jammer pack is basically a not-shit Infiltrator, which is really depressing.

What's more depressing is that generators as they stand don't matter. All of the effective flag defenses (claymores, mines, HoF) don't require the generator to be up to do well. Forcefields are nice, but you can't rely on them. Also since the turrets in almost all maps are in terrible places (the turrets on the entry valley/front of the base on Katabatic aren't there, nor are the valleys) it's not a big issue.

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I don't know about that, I've been spending a lot of time as a Technician and I've found that deployable turrets can make a huge difference to flag defence — it's literally been a case of when my turrets are up the flag is secure, and the moment our generator goes down the enemy starts getting away with their grab. The beauty of (upgraded) light turrets is unless you're going extremely fast you're guaranteed to lose a lot of your health.

Naturally I don't let my turrets do all the work, I act as a living third turret with my SMG which is usually required to finish off the 1/3 of health those who dare whiz by my turrets have left. When you have a few good Technicians and a Heavy on the job though the flag is practically impervious to attack.

Incidentally, I've been doing lot of suicide runs recently where I go for the enemy base and deploy turrets all inside it. Very amusing! :tup:

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Agreed though, the Infiltrator definitely needed a buff and I'm glad he's getting what looks like an equivalent of Team Fortress 2's Demoman weapon. That has endless potential for causing craziness in the enemy base. Not really bothered about the grenades of the knives, though — can't see why you wouldn't just spam enemies with the silenced pistol instead.

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So, it's out! It's really not very different from the beta, although the new map Raindance is excellent — totally feels like a classic Tribes map, which I believe it in fact is although I never played Tribes 1. But it feels like a lot of my favourite T2 maps like Sanctuary so I'm happy.

Also, if you're quick you can get a free spinfusor for the Soldier here:

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/12/celebrate-the-launch-of-tribes-ascend-with-a-new-weapon-on-us/

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I'm glad it's getting (very) good reviews I've certainly been having a blast with it.

Oh and thanks for the link to the free Spinfusor codes, a few of my friends were able to get themselves some free disk launchers. ^_^

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I've been having a ton of fun with this game. Speeding around and jousting with spinfusors is a thrill. It feels so good to get those crazy shots where you and another person are moving at high speeds, changing altitude, and you lead just perfectly with a (relatively) slow-moving projectile… damn it's good.

I was hugely skeptical about the "free-to-play" thing, but the game is so fun that I don't care, and they don't handle it as poorly as some.

If anyone wants a Tribes friend, my name on there is DiaperDawg. :)

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God I hate the way that effect is used. Tilt-shift lenses can tilt the image plane to extend depth-of-field when your subject isn't perpendicular to your line of sight. They can also shift the image plane to counter effects on perspective when your camera isn't level. They are not silly toys that make everything look like miniatures, though the tilt functionality can be used that way.

Yeah, I know nobody cares :P

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Haha, no I agree it is a very overused effect — I guess it's become the new HDR. It's more the footage in general I like though, it captures the essence and scope of Tribes really nicely. He should have just released it without the effect.

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Just wondering if any of you guys are still Playing Tribes ascend and have any tips about someone unfamiliar with he series thinking of giving it a try out?

Goodclass's to start out with, community places to look for guides, any & all info is appreciated.

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Don't run along the ground... you have a jet pack.

Don't hide behind and rock and take pot shots at players... they have jet packs.

Two main things you need to know are skiing, and leading your shots when moving at high speeds.

Speed, and momentum are your cover. You slow down/stop... you will die.

The advice I give my friends is start out with the light armour Pathfinder, and go ski around in an empty game, learn the terrain. The Pathfinder has a forgiving amount of energy regeneration, and a light spinfusor which also allows you to learn how to lead your shots, and general disk spinning tactics. When you start fighting, you will need to know where you are going, and what your next hill/ski is, so you can focus on the kill, and not the terrain. Failing to ski properly while fighting means the other guy gets away, or more likely kills you. It is also possible to change direction sharply, which can save your life, as much as your target's, so knowing where he is going is just as important.

But that's boring... okay, go play deathmatch then. Once you are In a deathmatch game, try to kill the flag bearer, grab the flag, and ski like your life depended on it... cause it does. The lag bearer doesn't need to shoot, just survive. Perfect high pressure skiing. Once you can grab the flag and hold it for a decent amount of time (~quarter of the match) then you know the terrain/maps, and how to ski. Once you can ski, and fight with some level of competency, then add the extra layer of complexity that is CTF.

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I've mostly stopped, they're going with the LoL model of releasing blatantly overpowered stuff to get peoples money and then nerfing it a week later. Not to mention it just doesn't feel right. I'm now waiting for MW:O.

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Yeah I'm unimpressed by the direction patches are taking the game. I haven't actually played it since the Brute patch because I've been too busy, but apparently the latest one added like 27 new weapons (albeit variations) which just seems like absolute craziness to me — Tribes was always a deep and complex game, but never this much. It's in danger of becoming downright inaccessible, which is a shame as the initial final release was really good (I must have put 100+ hours into it).

That said, maybe these new weapon variations work really well. As I say, I haven't tried them. It's not like Tribes 2 wasn't messed around with significantly after release too, so it could be fine. I'll find time to play it again soon.

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