I have recently been distracted from my homework and other gaming by Tribes Ascend. The game is currently in beta, but does not fail to deliver immense entrainment.
For those of you who are not familiar, Tribes Ascend is the fourth Tribes game, which is focused on fps capture the flag games. What makes Tribes different from other similar games is you have a jetpack and can "skii" over terrain, meaning that people can get moving over 200kpm and the fighting is much more dynamic. Most of the weapons to account for the accuracy issues of hitting such fast targets are AoE, though it means you generally have to aim where they are going to land on the ground instead of trying to shoot your enemies in the air.
There are currently 12 different classes. Four light armor, five medium armor and three heavy classes. The armor of each class greatly affects not only how much damage they can take, but also their mobility. Playing a light armor class regularly will make you feel like an obese person trying to climb a mountain if you switch to a heavy armor class.
Note: In-game armor looks slightly different than this concept art, but not much.
I have unlocked a number of classes and found three I play regularly. As you can switch between classes with each death (or suicide) during a game, I often play all three to take advantage of their different strengths.
I often start out the game as a Juggernaut. They are a heavy armor class that specializes in blowing shit up. I will drag my oversized butt up a hill near the enemy base and take out their base turrets and radar so my team will face less fire when we try to capture the enemy's flag. If I have enough ammo left after taking those out and the map is permitting, I'll attempt a base invasion to also take down their generator, which makes them unable to resupply their weapons and renders mini-turrets and defenses put up by Technicians useless.
If I am unable to base invade with my Juggernaut, I quickly suicide and switch over to an Infiltrator. The Infiltrator is a light armor class that specializes in assassination. They have the ability to cloak themselves, which allows them to stealth into bases and take out snipers. I invade the enemy's base and take down their generator, then hang around for any poor soul who thinks they can bring it back online. When they come up to repair it, I stab them in the back and finish them off with my pistol. If the generator is well guarded or snipers are an issue, I run around the map and pick off snipers and other unsuspecting victims. On one map there is a cliff behind each base that snipers generally like to post up on. It is practically impossible to dig them out without an Infiltrator.
Speaking of sniping, the Sentinel is probably my favorite class. They are light armor and one of the few classes that uses a bullet weapon. Their BX1 rifle does not have a great scope, but it does the job. Also, nothing is more satisfying to me than getting a 400m headshot on the enemy flag carrier. I generally post up near my base and provide defensive cover. The Sentinel also has claymores instead of grenades, so I place them either on the flag or in the entrance to my base. It often gets me first blood.
Serif generally goes for flag captures using an Infiltrator or Jumper (a light armor class with a speed boost) and I provide him cover with my Sentinel. This morning I finished a quick sketch of this. I took the artistic liberty of giving my Sentinel breasts:
If any of you are interested in playing, you can get into the beta by forking over $30, not a bad deal considering you get $45 worth of in-game money and exp boosters as well as VIP status for life (which also increases exp and token gain). If that's too much, I might get some extra beta keys (all of mine are claimed right now, though).
On November 18 2011 06:15 Torte de Lini wrote: What's the pace of the game? Is it more strategic, gun and run, etc.
It's really a combination. It's pretty strategic when it comes to taking down the enemy's generator and turrets. Once someone grab the flag though, it is pretty gun and run to catch them. It definitely doesn't encourage fighting in the midfield, though, there is a clear goal and you get punished for screwing around fighting pointlessly instead of protecting your base/flagcarrier or attacking the enemy base.
On November 18 2011 07:03 sleeepy wrote: Hey I think I played with you yesterday. I was going to ask "is that the Riku from TL?" but I guess now i know
Haha, probably one of the few times you'll encounter a "Riku" in another game and it's me.
Looks like a crossover between tribes and UT2k4. I'm not sure there's a market for it though. PC shooters pretty much require LAN to be fun, at least in my opinion.
Tribes 2 is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY better than TA. TA is probably still better than any modern fps even in its current shiity state. Though the latest patch is a step in the right direction.
I didn't play much of Tribes 2 but I did play the original Starsiege: Tribes and I'm having a blast playing TA. I usually get my FPS fix from COD but Tribes Ascend is far and away one of the better FPS at the moment, and it's only in beta so things are only getting better.
There is a Tribes Ascend thread in the Sports and Games sub forum and I encourage anyone looking to play to check it out, lots of good dudes there and people are usually willing to give their thoughts and opinions on the game so far.
Edit - I feel like I need to say that Tribes isn't an easy game which is exactly what makes it awesome. Every new COD I hop on and within the first 10 minutes, I'm leading on the scoreboard. I feel like I could play Tribes for hours everyday and I still have to play really well to even do decent.
Is there a dedicated forums for tribes ascend already? I want to try to find a team because I will definitely buy everything on the game and be playing it non stop.
On December 05 2011 03:14 ishyishy wrote: Is there a dedicated forums for tribes ascend already? I want to try to find a team because I will definitely buy everything on the game and be playing it non stop.
On December 05 2011 03:39 itsjustatank wrote: thanks for the writeup, just got a beta key at lo3 after day 2 of nasl finals and was wondering about the game, its mechanics and whatnot.
Hah I saw you playing. You probably saw me too, was under the name Descolada. And as for the game its pretty simple. DONT FUCKING LLAMA GRAB (grabbing the flag while going slow, <150mph) Every capper will find you and kill your parents, children, pets, and you. Just do the ski tutorial and play defense and you should get the hang of it.
Also raider/ranger are op so play them. Using the raider smg is about like 5 rax reapering someone at launch.
On December 05 2011 05:22 Coriolis wrote: Hah I saw you playing. You probably saw me too, was under the name Descolada. And as for the game its pretty simple. DONT FUCKING LLAMA GRAB (grabbing the flag while going slow, <150mph) Every capper will find you and kill your parents, children, pets, and you. Just do the ski tutorial and play defense and you should get the hang of it.
Also raider/ranger are op so play them. Using the raider smg is about like 5 rax reapering someone at launch.
Haha, yeah, Serif loves just camping in the supply room on that beach map with a raider, it takes the enemy team forever to get him out.
I've been enjoying screwing with people with my Juggernaut, though I think I'm going to unlock raider next.
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