Tribes Beta Version 0.1.789.1 Patch Notes

Major Highlights

• The game no longer requires a key in order to play. Anyone can join the beta program by simply creating an account on http://www.tribesascend.com and then downloading the game. Players are reminded that their progression in the game will be kept once the beta ends and the game officially launches — so time spent playing now will be rewarded at launch.
• A new gametype, Arena, has been added with two initial maps, Air Arena and Lava Arena. The Arena gametype features five-on-five matches fought on small hazardous maps. The team that wins two rounds wins the match. During the course of a round, each team has 25 respawns. After a team’s respawns are depleted, players on that team each get one more life before the round ends. The team with the last man standing wins the round.
• A new Capture the Flag map has been added to the quick match rotation (Temple Ruins).
• A new Team Deathmatch map has been added to the quick match rotation (Inferno).
• Two new unlockable items have been added on the Soldier class: Proximity Grenade and Utility Pack.
• Servers are now available in Asia and Brazil. You may choose your server region in the Play Now menu, or in the Settings menu.
• You may now change your Gamer Name for gold, using the Store menu.
• The end-of-match screens have been given a significant user interface overhaul.
• The Doombringer and Brute have new suits. There have also been some adjustments to the suits for some other classes, based on user feedback.
• Updated art for the Accolades and Ranks.
• Variety of other fixes, clean-ups and feature additions.

Weapon/Balance Items

• Fixed an issue with the Sentinel’s Phase Rifle not properly applying damage.
• Motion sensors that are automatically destroyed for placing too many no longer trigger the notification.
• Reduced initial clip size on Sentinel’s Falcon Auto Pistol from 24 to 22. Reduced and adjusted starting ammo pool to match.
• Infiltrators using the Stealth pack now fade in and become “visible” at speeds over 173kph.
• Increased the activation delay on newly placed Light Turrets (Technician) from 1 to 2 seconds.
• The following weapons projectiles now spawn center cross-hairs, rather than offset to the right: Soldier’s Assault Rifle, Doombringer’s Chaingun, Soldier’s Eagle, Sentinel’s Falcon, Pathfinder’s Light Assault Rifle, Raider’s NJ4, Brute’s Nova Colt, Infiltrator’s Rhino, Infiltrator’s SN7, Technician’s Sparrow, Technician’s TCN4, Juggernaut’s X1LMG.
• Damage falloff range on Pathfinder’s Light Assault Rifle increased (improved) by roughly 16%.
• Two new unlockable items have been added for Soldier: Proximity Grenade and Utility Pack.

Additional Items

• You may now add a player as a friend directly from the scoreboard. You may also mute players (turn off chat and VGS).
• Eliminated several issues that were causing “hitches” in matches. (Some other issues may still exist — optimization still in progress).
• Several bug fixes and cleanups to the main menu UI.
• The Target Practice map has been improved. There are now Light, Medium and Heavy bots in the maps, in addition to both enemy and friendly vehicles, along with other improvements.
• The Rabbit gamemode has been removed from the Quick Match rotation. It will be available through Custom Servers at a later date.
• Added the ability to view both Blood Eagle and Diamond Sword skins from within the Class menu.
• The ability to add Tribes Gold to your account is now available from all menu screens.
• Under Gameplay Settings, you may now set “Default Objectives On/Off”. This controls whether you see the objective markers by default in a match. (To toggle them inside of a match, press the “O” key).
• VGS and Announcer volumes are now independent settings
• Revisited Blood Eagle variant class visuals based on user feedback.
• Various minor cleanups have been made to the Ski Tutorial.
• Made several changes to the Shrike: increased yaw-turn sensitivity, decreased damage received when hitting static objects, and changed the collision model so that wing tips are less likely to cause terrain impacts.
• Changed Beowulf handling, it will no longer allow immediate forward/backward velocity changes.
• Enemy vehicle icons will now show through walls if they are detected by a Radar Sensor.
• The Flag Reach perk will no longer allow players to pick-up the flag through walls.
• Accolade medals have been given another polish pass. New accolade medals have been added as well.
• To be consistent with other maps, vehicle stations in Crossfire were moved next to the vehicle pad.
• A message now displays when a teammate executes a Call-in.
• Call-ins are now free in roaming and training.
• When a player is invulnerable and they fire a weapon, invulnerability immediately expires.
• Fixed and improved how the client handles an unexpected disconnect from the server.
• Fixed an issue in the main menu where a character skin from the Classes screen could pop into other main menu scenes.
• Fixed an issue where Gameplay Settings for sensitivity were only allowing integers, they now allow floating points.
• Fixed an issue where if a player died while falling in a deep pit, footstep sounds could begin playing.
• Fixed the chat filter, and added an option to disable it in the Settings menu.
• Fixed an issue where if a player died while falling in a deep pit, the previous damager could get a blue plate or air mail accolade.
• Fixed an issue where AoE wasn’t properly being applied to players and surrounding objects when a generator or inventory station was in the way. This includes Technician’s turrets being placed in inventory stations not taking AoE damage.
• Fixed an issue where Bass Boost in the Audio Settings was not properly being saved. The frequency ranges that are boosted (or suppressed) have also been tweaked to prevent audio popping.
• Fixed an issue where zooming while attempting to deploy an object could cause a second object to appear at the top of the screen.
• Fixed an issue where a player could fire a projectile (or call-in) and suicide, which would result in teammates taking damage.
• Fixed an issue where players were able to place deployables in volumes that were not permitted, this is most noticeable with the Doombringer’s Force Field being placed near the flag stand at certain rotations.
• Fixed an issue where dying players were not dropping ammo nuggets and ammo nuggets could get lost inside generators or base deployables.
• Fixed an issue where users binding ‘Enter’ to chat would have the chat window immediately close.
• Fixed an issue where a player dying before the MIRV launcher’s secondary split would not be properly credited for the kills.
• Fixed an issue where the Doombringer’s Chaingun spin-up sound would be stuck playing if you died while spinning up.
• Fixed an issue on Drydock where no-deploy zones around the flags were to large relative to other maps.
• Fixed LOD popping on all new class variant visuals.
• Fixed some other situations where UI sounds played multiple times for the same event
• Fixed an issue where users with certain graphics settings were able to see fully stealthed Infiltrators.
• Fixed an issue with Doombringer’s forcefields not being able to be destroyed at certain angles.
• Fixed incorrect description on Soldier’s Energy pack.
• Fixed an exploit where users with specific graphics settings were able to see a fully stealthed Infiltrator.
• Fixed an issue where Radar Sensors weren’t properly detected being hit.
• Fixed an issue where Base Turrets and Light Turrets were unable to target enemy players through friendly base force fields on Bella Omega.
• The enemy generator icon will always display if you are showing all objective markers.
• Fixed an issue where players were losing their invulnerability when spawning a vehicle. They will now remain fully invulnerable until they are teleported into the vehicle.
• Fixed an issue where the zoom binoculars were being stuck on when zooming while throwing grenades.
• Fixed an issue causing some maps to crash in roaming mode.
• Fixed issues with the Friends List that occur when you scroll down the list.

Known Issues

• Heavy characters may sometime appear as stretched out medium characters.

- Base Accolades -
Radar Down – Destroy or help destroy an enemy radar station. (200 pts)
Turret Down – Destroy or help destroy an enemy base turret. (200 pts)
Gener-Hater – Destroy or help destroy an enemy generator. (500 pts)
Base Repair – Repair 10% of a friendly base asset’s health.
Generator Defense – Kill an enemy near your generator room. (400 pts)

- Team Deathmatch Accolades -
Final Blow – Get the winning kill of the game.
Flag Grab – Take the neutral flag. (250 pts)
Flag Held – Held the neutral flag for a span of time without dropping it. (100 pts / 10 secs)

- Capture the Flag Accolades -
Flag Assist – Helped carry a flag that is captured. (1000 pts)
Flag Cap – Capture a flag. (2000 pts)
Flag Defense – Kill an enemy near your flag (anywhere on map) (300 pts)
E-Grab – Grab an enemy flag off the stand while your flag is near.
Flag Grab – Take the enemy flag off its stand. (300 pts)
Llama Grab – Walk a flag off the stand.
High Speed Grab – Take the enemy flag off its stand going quickly.
Gotta Go Fast – Take the enemy flag off its stand going blazingly fast.

- Killstreak Accolades -
Killing Spree – 5 kills without dying. (300 pts)
Rampage – 10 kills without dying. (500 pts)
Relentless – 15 kills without dying.
Unstoppable – 20 kills without dying.
The Slayer – 25 kills without dying.

Explosive Spree – 5 Explosive kills without dying.
Demolitions Expert – 10 Explosive kills without dying.
Hurt Locker – 15 Explosive kills without dying.

Classic Spree – 5 Spinfusor kills without dying. (300 pts)
Disk Jockey – 10 Spinfusor kills without dying.
Tribal Fanatic – 15 Spinfusor kills without dying.

Sniping Spree – 5 Sniping kills without dying.
Marksman – 10 Sniping kills without dying.
Sharpshooter – 15 Sniping kills without dying.

- Multikill Accolades -
Double Kill – 2 kills within a short time. (500 pts)
Triple Kill – 3 kills within a short time. (1000 pts)
Quatra Kill – 4 kills within a short time. (2000 pts)
Ultra Kill – 5 kills within a short time. (3000 pts)
TEAM Kill – 6 kills within a short time.

- General Accolades -
Aftermath – Get a kill while you are dead. (200 pts)
Air Mail – Midair kill with an explosive weapon.
Artillery Strike – Long-range kill with a mortar weapon.
Assist – Do considerable damage to an enemy but not get the killing blow. (250 pts)
Vehicle Assist – Passengers awarded when another rider gets a kill.
Blue Plate Special – Midair kill with a spinfusor weapon. (200 pts)
First Blood – First kill of the match.
Flag Killer – Kill the carrier of a flag (any mode).
Game Complete – Finish a match.
Game Winner – Be on the winning team.
Headshot – Boom. Killing blow to the head.
Tank Down – Destroy an enemy beowulf. (500 pts)
Gravbike Down – Destroy an enemy gravbike.
Shrike Down – Destroy an enemy shrike.
Martial Art – Kill an enemy with the melee attack.
No Joy – Kill an enemy that is on a killstreak. (300 pts)
Revenge – Kill the enemy that had just killed you. (300 pts)
Roadkill – Kill an enemy by running them over with a vehicle.
Sticky Kill – Attach a sticky grenade to an enemy for the kill.

Source

First up, lets be clear how to get XP in Tribes Ascend, your XP is assigned after every match you take part in and the amount calculated is based on the duration of time you play for and also your final score.  So to level fast you need to play for long periods of time and also score high.  The most important part of this equation is playtime, so to get XP fast you should play for as long as possible.

1. Repeated Flag Passing
Puffgoal has posted on YouTube his fastest way to get XP.  You just need to join an empty rabbit game, get 4 people to stand together and pass the flag over and over in a circle.  Each flag pass gives you 250 points, so after 25 minutes that equates to over a hundred flag passes, a huge score and almost double the amount of XP of a normal game (not really worth it for the boredom though).

2. Heavy Generator Assault
The current scoring system for Tribes Ascend still favours kills over anything else, so to really boost your in-game score and in turn improve your XP, you need to get a high kill count.  The easiest way to do this is attacking the generators as a Heavy (Brute), as they’ve got a lot of hit-points, a shield pack and small enclosed generator rooms mean light and medium defenders get shot down quickly.

3. Technician Defence
Another easy way to amass a big score in Tribes Ascend is defending the flag and generator using the Technician loadout.  The most important part of this is repairing the generators and turret placement.  With the current patch, turrets are very powerful and accurate meaning a careless offence can be killed off quickly for an easy score. While your deployed turrets are killing off attackers you should be repairing everything consistently as you also receive points for anything repaired.  With these 2 combined you can rack up a very high score.

4. Play Every Single Day
A bonus is given to every player once a day, it’s a medal called “First Win Of The Day”, but to receive this you need to play at least 1 match and win it.  So if you really want to level quick, make sure you play and win at least 1 match a day.

Skills Needed and CTF Positions

In order to participate in these semi-competitive games, you really need to have have knowledge and skill beyond that of an average player. I’ll outline the positions you see in competitive games. If you want to play in PUGs, you really should know how all positions work in a CTF game as well as being good at at least one of them.

Offense

Capping – Grabbing the enemy flag and bringing it back to your own base (often having to hold on to it in standoff situations where both flags are off). In order to cap, you should know some basic routes and be skilled at skiing.
LO (Light Offense) – Also defined as distract or clear, you’re responsible to make sure your capper gets out safe with the flag. You might also have to take down the gens and shoot at enemy vehicles if they’re prohibiting your capper from making it home. Escorting you capper is also a tactic where you follow your capper home to make sure the enemy doesn’t return their flag. During standoff situations (both flags off stands), LO are trying to return their flag. Medium armor offense are still defined by this term. You should be a skilled dueler.
HO (Heavy Offense) – Similar to LO except that you’re in heavy armor (mediums are defined as light offense). Most of the time you’re firing MIRV/Mortar shots at the stand when your capper is about to come in in order to clear the stand. You should know spots and positions to spam stuff at the enemy stand.
Vehicle Offense – You’ll sometimes see people get into vehicles such as shrikes and tanks in order to spam projectiles at the enemy stand to clear for ally cappers.

Defense

LD (Light Defense) – Term that refers to either stay at home or chaser defense.
SAH (Stay At Home) – The duties of a stay at home defender vary, but the most important are keeping your flag safe from enemy cappers and clearing out the enemy offense so the rest of your team can protect your flag. You may also have to repair your team’s generators. You’re always basically at your base or around it, and you should be skilled at dueling and stopping cappers.
Chase - A chaser goes wherever his flag goes. If it’s safe on the stand, you’re protecting it from cappers. If it’s in the enemy’s hands, you’re chasing them down to bring it back home or to keep it safe in the field. Should be skilled at dueling and skiing. Shrikers generally fall into the category of chase.
HoF (Heavy On Flag) - A heavy positioned directly on or around the flag, usually with the perk super heavy, who blocks cappers from grabbing the flag.
Vehicle Defense – Shrikes are usually used for chasing and defending your flag whereas tanks are used for killing anyone who gets close to your flag.

Other Positions

Snipe - Snipers most often fall into the stay at home category, but they often play midfield (in order to be in better positions to spot and stop cappers) and o-snipe (offensive snipe, where you harass the enemy defense). You should be good at, well, sniping.
Midfield - Not a very common (or effecitve)position on small teams, but someone may play midfield where their duty is to act like a line, making sure the enemies don’t get past it and to your base. Sort of like perimeter defense. You should be good at dueling.
Float - Might be referred to as swing, versatile, or other terms, but floats basically fill multiple roles when needed (sometimes seamlessly swinging between offense and defense). Most good players do this anyway, but it can be defined as a constant role. You need to have a good understanding of the game and be skilled at practically everything to play this role.

Source

First off lets get straight to the video (skip to the 5 minute mark):

Watch live video from OneMoreGame.TV on TwitchTV

The other video can be found on Twitch TV and the the team list was:

Hindsight (Europe)
Loach
mimelim
miri
binswees (aka InStyle)
macbeth
oahra
doener
TBA

ZFZ (North America)
jihad4jesus
kudos
crzg
RedSpider
cyanide
NiNe-t-NiNe
MrEso
michalius

Also if you were wondering what kind of loadouts they went with, for the first match on Crossfire…
Team ZFZ: 4x Pathfinders, 2x Sentinels, x1 Raider 1x Doombringer
Hindsight: 4 Pathfinders, 3x Soldiers, 1x Raider

Watch these Tribes Ascend ski routes where the capper grabs the flag at 300+ speeds.

Examine, learn, jump!

Table 1: Costs to buy GP and how much it would cost to unlock everything using solely GP.

Table 2: All unlocks (except unlocking the loadouts themselves) with their GP and XP costs. A higher XP/GP ratio means it’s a more “efficient” use of GP.

Total Costs: The XP/GP value means that one GP is worth approximately 144.82 XP.

Table 3: Cost of booster packs and how much XP you would need to earn to break even.

Source

Source

If you’re wondering what exactly clustering is, it’s where you attack and defend as a group.  So instead of team-mates attacking individually to keep up the pressure, team-mates group together at spawn and then attack in waves at the same time.  The video below shows an 8 man cluster attack at the start and then continuous 3 or 4 man attacking waves, leading to an clinical 5-1 win.