Tribes: Ascend features a class-based loadout system. Each loadout specifies what type of armor the player has, along with what weapons and items they carry. Each loadout supports two in-hand weapons, a set of belt items such as grenades or mines and a pack. There are three possible sizes of armor to choose: light, medium and heavy, with three loadouts in each weight group (for a total of nine). Players can select which loadout to use either when first joining a game, respawning, or at an inventory station. Loadouts may be acquired either through an upfront payment, or through playing the game and earning experience points, which can be used to purchase classes, weapons, perks, and upgrades. Paid-for loadouts are available to the user immediately, while those who unlock them through playtime have a much longer wait. Upgrades to armor, weapons and perks can only be purchased by experience points. Players are given three free classes: the Pathfinder, Soldier, and Juggernaut, when they first start playing the game, each wearing light, medium and heavy armor respectively.

Hi-Rez also sells cosmetic items such as player skins, along with boosters that allow players to gain experience points at a faster rate. Players earn in-match credits during matches for killing enemies, repairing structures or capturing objectives. Credits are then used to buy vehicles, supply drops, Tactical and Orbital strikes and base upgrades.

Hi-Rez Studios released Capture the Flag, Team Deathmatch, Rabbit (only available in private servers), Arena, and Capture & Hold game modes. While some maps have retained the classic nature of the Tribes franchise with large open areas and base structures, others have a more urban feel to them, featuring buildings and streets. Katabatic map, which originally appeared in Tribes 2, has been remade in Tribes: Ascend, along with a revamped version of Broadside called Crossfire.

The ranking system is a vanity reward for players and also serves a functional purpose for the in-game queue system. Each level of a rank has a unique rank title and insignia. Players begin as a rank 1 ("Recruit") and earn ranks as they play the game. Each players' current rank insignia is displayed next to their name on the in-game scoreboard. Rank title and insignia are shown to an enemy player that you have recently killed (displayed on the kill-cam screen). A summary report of rank experience earned is displayed on the post-match scoreboard screen at the end of each map. An experience bar is also displayed and grows in a horizontal direction as rank experience accrues.

Player performance (e.g., highest position on the scoreboard, highest amount of earned points) does not increase the amount of rank experience that is earned because rank experience is earned on a time basis (time spent playing the game). However earning badges (achievements in the game with a set objective, example: "Marksman I" requires you to hit 50 head-shots) does increase the rank experience earned. The amount of rank experience that is earned from badges is unconfirmed and unknown. Rank experience is not modified by purchasable Boost (+100% experience) or the VIP bonus (+50%) which was awarded to players in the beta who purchased Tribes gold currency and/or Tribes Boost. However, Boost and VIP both affect Badge experience, but it's unconfirmed and unknown whether this consequentially affects the rank experience that is earned from an earned Badge.

Functionally, the ranking system provides the game with a way to categorize players and match them to games with other players of relative rank. Players that are rank 1-6 will be queued and matched with other players that are rank 1-6. When a player reaches rank 7 they are eligible to be matched with players rank 7 and above. Because the Arena game type requires a mild amount of familiarity with the game, players may only queue for an Arena game when they have attained rank 8 ("Squad Leader").

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Out of the Blue

Tribes: Ascend Version 1.1, PTS 2.1, October, 2015

Public Test Server Notes

  • We need your help! Prior to release on the live servers, this release will be made available for general public testing on a test server. The purpose of this server is to allow us to gain end-user feedback and bug testing on the release before we fully finalize the release. In order to make this release as good as we can, we need the Tribe’s community to help us test and to give feedback!
  • We currently expect the release to be placed onto the Public Test Server on or before October 23, 2015. Once the release is made available on PTS, we will publish installation and test instructions.
  • Feedback should be provided on the Tribes Reddit at Reddit.com
  • Latest community request document
  • Thoughts on PTS 2.1 changes

Maps



  • An early version of Perdition has been added to the game.
  • “Perdition is a small sized CTF map inspired by Tribes 2 legacy map Damnation.”
  • Added to the CTF All Maps rotation.
  • Added to the featured list with Terminus, and Ice Coaster.
  • Perdition, Terminus, and Ice Coaster are available to be run on private servers.
  • Ice Coaster has received a visual polish pass.
  • Conduits on various maps have added jump pads, or been replaced entirely with jump pads.
  • Fixed an issue where Ice Coaster was too bright on low settings.

UI



Gameplay

  • “Feedback on equal damage across classes was mixed. The majority (only by a slim margin) disliked the change. However, many liked that it fixed some long standing issues like one-shotting from full health. In PTS 2.1 we are trying to find a middle ground.”
  • Light weapons damage increased 3.5% over PTS 2.
  • Medium weapons deals about 40% more damage than Light weapons
  • Heavy weapons deals about 60% more damage than Light weapons.
  • Direct hit bonus damage is back by popular request.
  • 25% bonus damage for Impact and Timed weapons.
  • 50% bonus damage for Plasma weapons to offset lower falloff damage values.
  • Damage now linearly falls off to a minimum value at max range. (See weapon stats)
  • “Feedback on the linear damage falloff change was generally positive. While people liked the simplicity of linear falloff, seeing low damage numbers was widely disliked. The system in PTS 2.1 is a happy medium blend of the old and new systems. Falloff is still linear, but at max range the projectile does a minimum percent damage.”
  • Max Impulse falloff area has been clamped.
  • “We have clamped impulse falloff so players can still get 100% impulse but control the angle at which that impulse is applied.”
  • Within 40% of the falloff radius 100% of the impulse is applied. This range is similar to the old banded damage impulse areas.
  • Ammo drops now give health when picked up.
  • Light armor heals 30%
  • Medium armor heals 25%
  • Heavy armor heals 20%
  • Base asset upgrades have been removed and the stats adjusted accordingly.
  • Shields
  • “Shields on base assets only mitigate damage and can now be worn down over time instead of completely prevent damage from slower rate of fire weapons such as the disk launcher.”
  • Health set to 4000, up from 3500.
  • Shield set to 1000, down from 1600
  • Shield now regenerates over 4 seconds, down from 1.7 seconds.
  • Now requires 75% health to re-activate after death.
  • Range set to 20000, roughly equal to a rank 4 sensor.
  • Base Turret
  • “The new Base Turrets operate like Tribes 2 base turrets. They no longer destroy players in 1 shot and the serve primarily as area denial.”
  • Health set to 4000, up from 3500.
  • Shields set to 1000, down from 1600
  • Shield now regenerates over 4 seconds, down from 1.7 seconds
  • Requires 75% health to re-activate after death.
  • Projectile speed set to 2500, down from 4000.
  • Damage set to 250 down from 650
  • Range set to 250 down from 700
  • Fire interval set to 1.3 down from 2.5
  • Generator
  • Health set to 12000, roughly equal to a rank 4 generator.
  • Now requires 75% health to re-activate after death.
  • Self Heal time set to 4 minutes, roughly equal to a rank 3 generator.
  • Automatic weapons projectile flight distance/lifetime is now shorter.
  • “Hitscan weapons have always had a set max range. Beyond that range no damage is dealt. Automatic projectile based weapons have not had the same limitations and fly the full speed value over 1 second. The end result was a projectile distance that was over 3 times longer than intended. This change should help network performance by reducing the number of automatic projectiles in air.”
  • Automatic projectile's flight time set to 0.5 seconds, down from 1 second.
  • This results in a flight distance of 10500 units, down from 21000.
  • Vehicle eject inheritance adjusted per armor class.
  • 40% for light down from 100%
  • 35% for medium down from 100%
  • 30% for heavy down from 50%
  • Added a vehicle pad to Terminus.
  • Fixed an issue where falloff damage was being applied even if the target was directly hit.
  • Fixed an issue where health regen delay and speed were using non-leveled up values.
  • Fixed an issue where belt items were not canceling the spawn protection effect.
  • Fixed an issue where terrain in terminus would launch ragdolls into lower orbit.
  • Fixed an issue where hitscan pistols had their impulse settings rolled back.


Equipment Changes

  • “We have moved plasma guns to the automatic weapon class for those that would rather have another slower projectile weapon instead of using a chaingun type weapon.”
  • Plasma Gun has been moved to Medium Automatic weapons class.
  • Plasma Cannon has been moved to Heavy Automatic weapons class.
  • Light Armor
  • No longer gains the -25% mass “Lightweight perk” by default.
  • Medium Armor
  • Health set to 1500
  • Rolled back changes to mass, air control, and ski control.
  • Heavy Armor
  • Rolled back changes to mass, air control, and ski control.
  • Weapons
  • Added Medium Blinksfusor to Medium Impact weapons class.
  • Added Heavy Blinksfusor to Heavy Impact weapons class.
  • Added Flak Cannon to Medium Short Range weapon class.
  • “The Flak cannon fires a matrix of superheated bouncing balls of plasma that explode on enemy contact.”
  • Added the old Tribes:Ascend Beta laser targeter.
  • “The laser targeter is in a very rough state, but this is where it was left in beta. If people find it useful in PTS 2.1 we will spend a little more time on it polishing it up.”
  • BXT-1 removed.
  • Sawed off shotgun removed.
  • Light Assault Rifle is now fully automatic like the Assault Rifle.
  • Standardized particle system size for Chaingun and X1 LMG projectiles to help read distances better.
  • Mortar Launcher projectiles now explode on enemy player impact.
  • Shocklance now falls off at 50% range to 50% damage at max range.
  • Melee has been buffed to 1000 damage.
  • Fractal grenades now fire 20 shots in 3 seconds.
  • Ammo counts for all weapons have increased:
  • Light armor gains 10% ammo
  • Medium armor gains 30% ammo
  • Heavy armor gains 50% ammo
  • Packs
  • The Rocket Turret has moved back to Medium armor.
  • New “Rage” pack is now available for light armor.
  • When the flag is taken off the stand players within a set radius around the flag gain Rage is applied and lasts 15 seconds.
  • While Rage is active:
  • Mass decreased by 25%
  • Impulse is increased by 10%
  • Activating the pack will thrust the player at 75% of the flag grabbers speed at the time the flag was grabbed. The pack may only be activated once per Rage effect.
  • First self impact damage is ignored and ends Rage.
  • Energy is set to 100% when rage is cleared.
  • Belt Items
  • “Belt items were overly nerfed in PTS2, damage has been increased in PTS2.1 to find a balance between PTS1 and PTS2 values.”
  • Damage for all belt items has increased.
  • Deployable explosive set to 2 max deployed per player.
  • Repair deployable removed.


  • NOTE: There are known usability issues and UI deficiencies associated with this transition that make it more difficult than it should be to both equip your weapons and to understand what you have equipped. There are also known bugs with the display on the HUD of your equipped weapons. We want to test this system on PTS prior to finalizing the User Interface, as feedback from testing could lead to changes in the overall design, which may in turn impact the user interface.
Tribes: Ascend PTS update #2

Tribes: Ascend PTS update #2

News

New update for Tribes: Ascend includes a familiar map for Tribes veterans, balance changes, weapon updates, and more!

Tribes:Ascend Version 1.1, September 2015

Tribes:Ascend Version 1.1, September 2015

News

We need your help! Prior to release on the live servers, this release will be made available for general public testing on a test server. The purpose...

TAMods v0.4: Sounds, and lots of Lua

TAMods v0.4: Sounds, and lots of Lua

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After 2 teasers and a lot of bugs and crashes, TAMods v0.4 is finally out! TAMods features per weapon customization, togglable HUD icons, global optimization...

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tribes ini explained PDF

tribes ini explained PDF

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PDF upload of the old tribesiniexplained2 google document; helpful if you want to view the document without signing in to google because "File will be...

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MidCo
MidCo

Wait this game is still a thing?

Huh.

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WukaWuka3000
WukaWuka3000

Why is Shia LeBouf in the picture? Haha! He has nothing to do with Tribes Ascend

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hydremajor117
hydremajor117

does this actually allow to play the game offline ?

you did say offline...

Is it that you can play offline against bots ?

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powercramp
powercramp

Unofficial modding tools has been made! Let's wait and see how long it will take before Hi-Rez decides to CAD it :<

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TheUnbeholden
TheUnbeholden

Six new maps have been added; three for CTF, and three for Arena. Bella Omega makes a return, hopefully free from the Generator problems that prompted its original removal. There’s also Canyon Crusade Revival, a remade version of the classic Tribes map.

The new weapon is the Shocklance, a secondary slot item available to all classes. It does higher damage from behind, which should prompt some close-range balletic jetpacking to manoeuvre yourself into position.

The Game of the Year unlock itself, ($30 on steam) giving all existing weapons, classes and perks for a single price.

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powercramp
powercramp

It's free, it's fast, it's utterly addictive. I honestly don't think I have ever had this much fun with a multiplayer FPS game before.

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_Dexter_
_Dexter_

[VGTG]

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Kyou.
Kyou.

Shazbot

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adfjkndjklnhdfs
adfjkndjklnhdfs

Pretty good game.

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