Tribes: Ascend - Now in open beta

[Trizzdog]

I saw 2 heavies riding around on a bike today. The passenger was using the AA missile launcher for maximum troll.

[Misiok]

the game was meant to be played CTF

No kidding, when even a team deathmatch has a flag to capture and hold.

[Mantaray]

the minigun really needs some kind of fix. i'd consider myself a very good FPS player and in a clip of over 300 bullets i'll score what.. 2/3 hits? that wont even half damage a light. imagine having a spinfusor with 300bullets at rapid fire. but with horrible spread and zero explosion, and you'll have the minigun. if it was just a big assault rifle with spread it'd be yaknow.. worth having. but its not. its plain horrible. if anyones considering spending okens on doombringer, i wouldnt bother

[DoomKnights]

The mini guns meant for up close. You will chew through anyone in buildings and keep them moving otherwise. Just like the SMG up close it will kill things fast.

[Mantaray]

The mini guns meant for up close. You will chew through anyone in buildings and keep them moving otherwise. Just like the SMG up close it will kill things fast.

i'd have to heavily disagree. since almost every person you encounter in a building is jetting about and knocking you back with a spinfusor. good luck tracking that!
as much as i'd like to say spinfusor needs a nerf. that wouldnt solve anything due to the high speeds outside fighting brings.
if the minigun bullets fired faster (like the seccond gun on the tank) the minigun would be a good weapon.

[Trizzdog]

I usually have the smg out DPS me in close quarters. The only way I win is by bouncing around corners (or by doing a blue plate special), but infiltrators will just go k, stealth, then wreck shit somewhere else. According to wikia, the chain gun does 130 per round at short / medium ranges. That's quite a bit more than the smg, and means you only need to hit a light about 6 or 7 times to knock 'em out. Perhaps there's just a problem with the hitscan.

Also the doombringer is still worth it for his sweet AA missile. You can troll aerial skiers hard with it. Pretty much in any map other than drydock, people trying to cap the flag will hate you for life. Put your forcefield down on the likely path to the flag for ultimate troll. Lights passing through it at maximum speed will likely die.

[Mantaray]

trizz. its not a hitscan weapon. its a spinfusor with no AOE that -happens- to have 300 odd bullets

[Trizzdog]

Are you saying the chaingun entry for this article is wrong?

[Mantaray]

The Chain Gun is a high-speed projectile based weapon, that at short distances acts as a hitscan.

i'd like to meet the man who wrote this and tell him to use the minigun for 10 rounds.
in no way shape or form is this a hitscan. it's just plain terrible.

EDIT: http://tribes.wikia.com/wiki/Chain_Gun
just made an edit to the wiki. it was described as high-speed weapon that can be considered hitscan at short range.
it just plain isnt true. i feel the minigun should be more like the tank gunner seat.

[n0z3k1ll3r]

Haven't played this, but in Tribes 2 the minigun excelled at blowing up stationary equipment (base power plants, inv stations, deployed jerichos, etc). Can it still do that?

[Trizzdog]

It is a medium-speed projectile based weapon that at should not be confused with a hitscan weapon

Nice edit. Also you should change the main Doombringer article's chaingun entry to projectile.

[Open Blue]

So I've been having problems with the Hi-command client for the last few days. I'm tempted to give up on something I loved so much when I was younger, so is it worth persevering and getting the ruddy thing to work? Is the game any good?

[Misiok]

If by fun you mean going over 180km/h and shooting people with exploding frisbee discs, then yes, it is worth it.

[Trizzdog]

So I went in a server, noticed everyone but me was gold ranked. I nabbed the flag, only to get my momentum killed, shot up into the air, then stabbed in the air by some guy going maximum speed. He did it again, but this time right before I was going to get the cap point. I promptly left the server, running and screaming.

[Mantaray]

Nice edit. Also you should change the main Doombringer article's chaingun entry to projectile.

cheers trizz. /facedesk i'll do the doom article too. (considering nothing is hitscan anymore, it cant be compared to hitscan anyway XD)

[Harper]

Lol, for a "closed beta," they sure want you to bring as many people as possible. Just got 4 more keys.

V2FDD-929EF-16454-21D9B-AA027
V2E14-7C5C3-22704-859B1-795B2
V29C7-297E9-901E4-B7FBB-893E0

Again, first come first serve.

[DrRansom]

Am trying the fourth key.

[Jak.]

Really, after the first key you get through Hi-Command, the button just takes you to a facebook page. :{

[Mantaray]

guys. like the facebook page. and you get your own beta key. just do it and come play.

[Paladin]

Nevar! Facebook is teh devil.

Also, if you go that route they now know who the owner of that key is, which is more than I want most game companies to know about me

[Jak.]

They've updated the launcher, it's a lot nicer now.

[Rivy]

They have changed the classes and progression, the game feels a lot better now.
You only have 9 classes, 3 for each armor, and you can customize your equipment and perks, and upgrade them (just 3 or 4 linear upgrades).
There's a few new guns too.

[Jak.]

I think it's a good change. Before, I had base classes + pathfinder. Now however, I have all but brute and infiltrator. However, I don't have any weapons.
For pathfinder, since the shotgun has been slightly nerfed (effective range at full upgrade decreased), the light assault rifle MAY be more effective.
Doombringer is a load of fun. The lock-on time should be lesser for vehicles, or the lock-on range should be greater for vehicles. However, the chain gun is great for taking out heavies who come to kill your gen.
Technician is fun as well. However, you need to be able to pick up your turrets, since i've put em down in a few bad spots. Apparently the unlock weapon is pretty good though.

[Rivy]

I play sentinel and doombringer. The missile launcher sucks, it doesn't do enough damage considering it only tracks airborne targets and takes forever to lock on (if it does at all -> random interruptions). Oh, and it takes forever to reach said target >.<
I rarely use the chaingun since I unlocked the crossbow thing. I like it better tbh.
I want to unlock the technician next. I guess I'll play anything that can lay down mines or similar... (and infiltrators be ragin' about the technician with the grenade launcher :P).
Oh, and I was loving the Phase rifle until I found out the keep-trigger-pressed-for-awesome-damage thing was a bug. Now I'm not sure if I like it more than the standard sniper rifle.

[ImmortalChaos]

Dat open beta

[Shuma]

Temple Ruins is awesome, new Bella Omega generator room is retarded, gotta go fast.

[Rivy]

New Omega gen room is terrible to defend. It seems impervious until 2 juggs and a raider come and take it with excessive force and then proceed to camp in it. It feels more like an outpost for the enemy :<

[Shuma]

Well thankfully Bella Omega was removed from the map rotation in the last patch, probably because everyone voted it as the least favorite map in that survey they sent. If it returns, i hope it sucks less, because they somehow managed to make it worst with each update.

And Bella had imo the best gen room before, so if it returns, it better have that old gen room.

[Jak.]

Bella Omega? Is that the one with the really tall tower (before they patched it out?)? That gen room was nice, but the map was still nicer before they made the towers smaller. Katabatic is a little bit too spread out for good play, unless vehicles are improved.

[Rivy]

I think all maps need to be larger so we can get the Jericho and the transport from T2 back ?????

In other news: I am really tired of inddors juggernauts. The mortar/mirv needs to be locked out when you are indoors, it's unfair for base defense.

[Shuma]

I love blowing people up in the gen room with the mortar. Pro-tip: Juggernauts can't use the mortar properly if you're on their face, of course if they blow you up with the spinfusor anyway then i suppose you're just outmatched. If you're having so much problem just go Raider, then you can't lose unless he's just a better player.

And HiRez already confirmed that we're getting a transport, it's been mentioned plenty of times by Bart. And you can see pictures here:

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92800

@Jak:

Yep, Bella Omega is the desert with 2 talls tower, used to have a big underground level where the generator was. And i think Katabatic is probably the best map in the game.

[Rivy]

Oh I've switched to Jugg, so gen defense is now a breeze. And what's best, I can run out and defend the flag without having to worry about my deployables.

[Paladin]

So I downloaded this a while back but haven't had a chance to play until today... Do we have a Dolt tribe yet?

On the Doombringer subject... I just played my first real game, camped on our generator with a Jug and killed everyone... I was thinking of grabbing the Doombringer because I primarily want to do base defense, but I'm not seeing what it brings to the task over a Juggernaut, honestly. Explosives > everything, especially indoors. I kind of feel like something on the order of a heavy plasma rifle from T2 would work, as an alternative to the missile launcher. Chaingun + heavy plasma would be a bitch in a generator room. It has nothing to do with the fact that the plasma was a favorite of mine for defense and sapping in T1/T2. Nothing at all

But yeah, the Juggernaut's heavy spinfusor just seems like an all-around better defensive weapon than the chaingun from what you guys are saying.

[Paladin]

I think I'm gonna save up and nab the Brute actually... Heavy Spinfusor + Auto-Shotgun seems like it would be damn good for painting the walls of the gen room with your opponents' internal organs.

[Rivy]

I feel like the brute doesn't excel in any role right now. Sure the heavy spinfusor is powerful, but it has a very slow rof and it travels slightly slower than the other fusors. And for flag defense you can't throw fractals on yourself (I actually spam those instead of standing there), and the shield pack is a joke (even tried it with Potential Energy).
I also find the shotgun to be sort of redundant, because it's short range (very very short) and I can use the heavy spinfusor in those cases.

But the fractals... I love those.

[Paladin]

Well I don't really do flag defense much... I mostly defend the generator (Or go break the enemy generator and camp that).

The mortar is great for generator defense too... But I'd really like to get one of the advanced heavies anyway, if only to show my dedication to my role lol. I'm sure they'll be releasing more guns as time goes by anyway, considering their revenue model. I really would like to play the Doombringer, because the Diamond Sword Doombringer model is teh sex, and I like the whole heavy machinegun schtick, but I guess I'll get it later when I've got experience points to burn and I'm willing to deal with some frustration...

[Shuma]

I think the Doombringer is "underrated" in the sense that people only use him to sit on the flag, which is his job, but he can do much more. The chain gun if you can aim it(i can't) is a beast, and the heavy bolt launcher is also pretty cool, not enough people use it imo, and it is an explosive which makes it pretty powerful in doors, the saber launcher is an useless piece of shit, you will rarely take out a flag capper with it or a shrike..

Don't even waste xp(or money) on the Brute right now, the shotgun is horrible, the heavy spinfusor is horrible(easily the worst of all the spinfusors in the game right now) and fractals are pretty gimmicky and situational, you can't expect a good player to just run into them, i've heard good things about his revolver but i've never used it or seen anyone use it, so no comment on that. Stick to the Juggernaut, he can do everything the Brute can and better.

[Rivy]

The saber launcher sucks, but it's fun to target enemies that are fighting your mates in the midfield and force them to the ground :P
And the Force Fields and mines are perfect for gen defense in Arx Novena and Drydock.

[Jak.]

Doombringer is reasonable against both juggernauts and brutes in gen defense. Fusion mortar rounds won't kill you, and neither will a fractal grenade, both of which are arguably the most dangerous weapons those classes have. In Katabatic, you can fire all the way along the gen room, dealing 100 damage every shot while the enemy heavy has too little fuel to jump around properly. However, it's reasonably useless against the jumpy little bastards known as infiltrators, pathfinders, and raiders, if they're being played well. However, you'll often find that infiltrators love to sit still, so they're not too bad to take out. The saber launcher needs to be buffed in regards to vehicles. The lock on time should be drastically shortened.

We NEED a Dolt tribe.

[Sinogrim]

I've been laying this game a bit the last few weeks, and I've taken a liking to the Infiltrator. I bought some gold and saved up some xp and got my INF class pimped out a bit along with a fancy stealth spinfusor. However, I can't quite say wether or not the stealth spinfusor is an awesome weapon or just OP.

But we should definately hook up for some dolt funzies.

[Paladin]

The problem as I see it with the Doombringer for generator defense is that pretty much every generator room can be wiped out by a Jug with the mortar without them even coming in... Just bank a few mortar shots in there and kill everyone and everything and destroy the generator in the process.

I'm kind of liking my Brute, but tbh, because of the lack of friendly fire and such I don't see how any other class can ever compare to the Juggernaut for interior defense. The mortar's damage, splash radius, and the ability to bounce it around corners just make it auto-win in most situations, and the wide area spinfusor just lets them juggle most enemies to death if they do come into direct fire range where the mortar has issues.

Between the fact that having your generator down barely matters in this (Compared to previous Tribes games where it was crippling), and the fact that there's no friendly fire, I think any class built for heavy offense will always beat everything else as a defender as well, and there's basically no way to make a strong defender without making them a strong attacker as well. High damage and splash area weapons will always beat everything else.

[Shuma]

Pretty much, but:

The problem as I see it with the Doombringer for generator defense is that pretty much every generator room can be wiped out by a Jug with the mortar without them even coming in...

Well, it depends on the map but since the Doombringer can put 2 of those forcefields, he could know in advance that the Juggernaut is coming, because the Juggernaut can't shoot through the forcefields so he'd have to destroy them first, or walk through them. In drydock, you can put forcefields on both entrances to the generator room and just sit on it, it also has the bonus of screwing up infiltrators, if they walk through the forcefield they'll receive damage and de-cloak, or they'll have to destroy it first. And you have mines too, iirc they can kill infiltrators in one hit, but to be honest, your biggest problem as gen defense is going to be raiders and other juggernauts.

By the way, if you love the juggernaut i suggest you buy his hand thrown spinfusor discs.

Just bank a few mortar shots in there and kill everyone and everything and destroy the generator in the process.

Also depends on the map though, in Arx Novena you have to go inside the actual gen room to shoot it since it's on a elevated position, and chances are that technicians will have turrets on the side rooms, which means chances are that at least one technician will be protecting the gen room, and if you kill him he will just go "VDG VDG VDG VDG" which will end up in more technicians showing up and bouncing you off the walls.

And if you got to see the generator rooms of Temple Ruins and Bella Omega(the last version) before the maps were taken out, the Juggernaut has a harder time in those, in Bella Omega the generator room was pretty much 5 seconds away from the flag stand, and the gen is again on a elevated position, so he has to go inside the gen room which is quite open, so medium classes can just float above you and bounce you around, but then again most of the time that generator was not going down unless you attacked with numbers. The Temple Ruins generator room was huge, just a big box like room, again, technicians could just float above you and thump you around.

Of course the Juggernaut's machine gun makes it so that he can shoot them in mid air properly so i don't even know what the fuck i'm arguing anymore.

[Paladin]

Well, if it takes two or more of anything to counter the Jug coming in, there's a major problem. If the Doombringer can't beat the Jug in his own house, that's a problem. I mean, I see the point of the Doombringer's force fields and mines and technician turrets and all, but while they're handy, it's far easier to just go down and defend our generator as a Jug than bother with all that. Enemy coming in? Bank a few mortar shots around the entry corners for easy kills. Think there might be enemies coming in? Same. It's hilarious when I decide to check for enemies creeping up on me and lob a green smokebomb of death and get two kills without ever having even seen their faces. There's always an inventory station right by the generator, so it's not like ammo's a concern (And when it is you can usually keep up your ammo just by taking the ammo drops off the enemies you nail).

Infiltrators sneaking in because you don't have forcefields and motion detectors to reveal them? Well, to put it bluntly, so what? As long as I keep bouncing around the room randomly an infiltrator's only going to manage a tiny little bit of damage on me before I send him into the nearest pit or juggle him to death with my spinfusor MKD... That thing is just plain designed to make infiltrators sad. I've nailed many an infiltrator by firing in his general direction, sending him flying with the explosion, and then serving him a blue (green) plate special as he flies through the air afterwards.

My feeling on the Doomy... The deployables are good, but he needs something still. Increase projectile speed and tighten the cone on the minigun because direct fire, and in particular direct fire, low damage, high RoF will always lose to high damage, low RoF splash weapons in a game where people can fly. Burst damage is just plain >>> DPS. All your damage will be done in short bursts, always. And when we're talking about flag defense, the defender has to deal with people popping up and lobbing high damage explosives and then ducking back into cover all the time, which puts his sustained damage weapon at a serious disadvantage. At least make it accurate enough to be of use. And then give him an alternative secondary weapon. Either something Spinfusor/Thumper style, or something Mortar style. Basically, give him a high burst aoe weapon. Give it a short range even... Make the projectiles explode after just a short distance so it can't be used for plinking at enemy bases, but without an explosive he's just always going to lose fights in a small room, and he doesn't even have anything that allows him to engage at a distance for open field combat as a compensation.

[Paladin]

From the "Oh God why?" department... I was grinding some exp with my Brute today and roflstomping noobs that tried to break into my house, when I thought, "Hey, I should just form a Dolt tribe since at least one other person agrees we need one."

Then I went looking at the menus and realized that unless I'm missing something, there's no in-game support for creating and joining Tribes.

I'm wearing my WTF face right now.

I must say however, I've got my Brute upgraded to a 3 belt grenade carry capacity, and having 3 disco grenades is fucking hilarious.

The main drawback to pitching a tent in the generator room as a Brute is that after a couple kills, the enemy team just stops trying to come in and you're forever alone Brute.

Though, if nobody wants to share s'mores around my campfire, I only stick around if we're winning (In which case I figure keeping our generator 100% secure is freeing up everyone else for flag runs and defense). If we're losing and they're ignoring the generator room, I go pitch a tent in their generator room instead.

Fun tips for camping out in the enemy's generator room: Brute/Juggernaut + maxed out Survivalist perk. Enemies replenish your ammo and health when you kill them! Alternatively, Shield Pack + Potential Energy. attacks do damage to your energy instead of health, but they also give you energy. It's like having a 30% damage reduction on your shields

[Jak.]

Yeah, currently the focus on pure infantry combat is too huge. Needs to be more vehicles, more turrets, more buildings (although interiors aren't necessary). On arx novena I play tech and gen defend. You can put the turret up behind the flag, and it kills heaps. On katabatic I gen defend with doombringer. I put a shield in the fast-way-down-thing, and another to prevent shelling with juggernaut from the second entrance. On (the map with 2 ships opposite each other), I play sentinel. On a lot of others, I play pathfinder.

IGN is Jak_o_Shadows or JakoShad

[Rivy]

And you have mines too, iirc they can kill infiltrators in one hit

They deal 700 damage, so they kill slightly damaged unupgraded lights. But if you get the belt item perk and upgrade the mines you can have 2 mines in each entrance, which kills both lights and mediums instantly (I get lots of kills with mines, more than with any weapon on any class).
You just have to make sure never to stand near the mines or place them near other deployables or you run the risk of them being destroyed by collateral splash damage.

And then give him an alternative secondary weapon.

The plasma gun from T2 !
Or something else that works indoors.

[Paladin]

Yeah, plasma is definitely something I think would help him out.

I must say though... Deployable-wise, I suddenly see the merit of the Doombringer... But only in conjunction with someone else helping him out. I was playing Tech today just to see how it is and upgrade some of the Tech gear. We were playing err... That map with the aqueduct on it... Where there's a long corridor on one side of the gen room and a big open room on the other side. Between me putting up turrets on both sides, and my 3 motion sensors, and this Doombringer player setting up mines in the corridor and big room, and forcefields at both doorways to the generator room itself, we were able to sit in the generator room in the secure knowledge that there was literally no way for an infiltrator to get in without us seeing him coming, and I was able to stand off the enemy when they tried to come in with heavies after the infiltrators roflfailed, because of my Thumper, basically. I actually had a really good game there... Upgraded the sensor and turrets, popped my head out to nail morons that kept lurking around our base hiding in corners trying to regen/waiting to try and make a llama flag snatch attempt... Newsflash guys, the sensor? It tells me where you are. I popped three dicks who were chasing our flag carrier (Sadly too late to save the flag carrier, but really, why do you try and duel three enemies by yourself when you're carrying the flag? Retreat to the generator room where there will inevitably be turrets and shields and large men in heavy armor to protect you genius...), and then peeled a chaser off our carrier when he was coming in with the winning capture. We were at 4-3, I saw our carrier's icon inbound, and an enemy icon right on his tail, looked like he was struggling with energy a little bit, so I figured the generator was safe enough with all the deployables on it for a couple seconds, popped out and gave the bastard something to think about with my thumper... Forced him to give up the chase, and we won.

So err, yeah. Doomy deployables + Techy deployables = good. Doesn't mean Doomy doesn't need a plasma gun or something for splash damage indoors though.

[Rivy]

Yes, as a doombringer, techs are my best friends :P
In Arx Novena (the aqueduct one) I always place a forcefield on each entrance to the inner room where the gen is located, and 2 mines each outer entrance. Then I stay in the gen room if people are consistently attacking, or I go HoF or help repair base structures if things are quiet.

Sensors are the first thing I upgrade, and I always try to keep an eye on them in case they have been destroyed. People usually underestimate how important those are for generator defense and HoF.

[Paladin]

Agreed on the sensor thing. I upgrade them as a priority myself. They're just too damn useful, and the enemy almost never bothers to actually destroy them, they just keep herp derp charging into the entrances and wondering why they get greeted with a grenade every time. I think some of them think I'm hacking or psychic, but yeah, I can see you coming guys. That's what the sensor does.

Plus it helps out the flag defenders and just plain confers a highly valuable combat advantage on all friendlies fighting near it. Having most nearby enemies painted on your HUD is an edge that should never be underestimated.

Must not be as many old timer Tribes/Tribes 2 players as I'd expect on this, because any Tribes vet knows to take out the sensors

[Paladin]

Man, the T:A forums are just an epic whinefest. Everyone has their little pet issues about how this class has something that they don't like because it makes it harder for their favorite class and therefore that class should be nerfed so that they always win...

Now granted, I don't play infiltrator so I dunno how bad the new cooldown on stealth is for them, but this guy was whining about it in the patch notes... His example for why it makes him totally useless? The enemy team had 3 technicians who had deployed motion sensors everywhere and he couldn't reach the generator.

Wow... Seriously? The enemy team has 3 people playing the class that is essentially a hard counter to infiltrators, and you think you should still be able to get to the generator solo? O.O

There seems to be this common attitude with the players that if they can't do some specific task all the time, they're completely useless. "If my infiltrator can't blow up the generators all the time, I'm completely useless!" "If my Sentinel doesn't kill people with one shot, I'm useless!"

People seem to have trouble with the idea that you don't necessarily have to be getting kills, or succeeding at your sapping runs, to be performing a valuable function and contributing to victory. If your constant attempts to infiltrate the base and blow up their shit have them dedicate 2+ people to defending something, you have done your job. Their team is now committing more resources to defending an asset than your team is committing to attacking it. Make them stay there, and you're succeeding in your task, period. Doesn't matter if they keep killing you.

If you're playing a sentinel and you're successfully harassing their base, hitting deployables, disrupting their movements, forcing flag cappers to pick a different route... You're doing your job. It doesn't matter if you never get a single kill.

People who can't accept that need to not play support classes...