Tribes Ascend Skiing 101 Posted Tuesday, 28th February, 2012

The one skill every beginner Triber needs to learn is skiing, so lets get down to basics with Tribes Ascend skiing 101.

What is Tribes Ascend Skiing
At its core, skiing is the art of travelling over the terrain in Tribes Ascend using your frictionless boots and jetpack, to be great at it requires a lot of practice, especially if you want to get to the level where your grabbing flags at over 300Kph and dodging bullets as they rain down on you.

How to Ski (The Basics)
To maximise your skiing in Tribes Ascend you should always ski down slopes and jetpack up them.  So when you reach a hill you need to fly high over it, slide down the downwards slope (engage your frictionless boots) and at the precise moment the slope starts to curve upwards you then engage your jetpack and don’t stop until you’re over the slope.  Disabling your jetpack even for a millisecond when sliding up a slope reduces your speed greatly, so always make sure you have enough jet power to get over the top of every hill.

Be aware that if you slide onto a completely flat surface, if you have your frictionless boots engaged, then you will keep at that exact speed forever, which is a good time to sit back and regenrate some energy before jetting off again.  Never ski onto slopes with a slight incline, as they will just reduce your speed, always look to ski over hills and land onto downward slopes, so you’re always increasing your momentum.  Also be aware that when travelling at high speeds, jet packs don’t increase your momentum, they only keep your speed at a constant rate, only by hitting a downward slope or shooting yourself with an explosive weapon (or grenade) can you increase your speed further.

Practice Makes Perfect
Once you realize these basic rules (ski down slopes, jet up inclines) then you should be able to start skiing effectively.  But to ski fast you need to practice, try jetting over and around terrain for a few hours in practice mode, and really focus on efficiency and fluidity. Also be aware that Tribes Ascend is still in Beta, which means each patch generally includes tweaks to the physics of the game, requiring everyone to relearn how to ski all over again.

What Are Capping Routes?
If you’ve ever wondered how people can manage such incredible speeds when they grab the enemy flag, it’s because of ‘routes’. Routes are set paths that people have practised over and over again that allow them to grab the flag at their peak speed. Discovering a fantastic route can take only a few minutes, but perfecting it (hitting every slope perfectly) can take many hours of repeated effort.  Check out my post on Advanced Ski Routes for a more clearer understanding.

Tips:

• Looking straight upwards when engaging your jetpack has been found to increase your height.  So if you’re really struggling to get over the top of a slope, try looking upwards as you start your jetpack, for a slight increase in altitude.
• If you want to try going over 250, select the Pathfinder loadout, jet up to the highest hill on Katabatic and then jump onto the tower.  Try to jet as high as possible into the air and then let yourself fall down and ski all the way down the slope.  As you’re reaching the bottom, throw a nitron grenade at your feet and that should be enough momentum to jet to almost any point in the map.
• For a more visual guide on Tribes Ascend Skiing have a look at PyroGunx’s Skiing 101 Video:
  

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