[Tribes] Ascend. - Updating OP, steamgroup listed for coordinating matches together!

Boogdud · March 2012

I don't know orbitals are insanely deadly, especially if the other team has a heavy defense it might be worth it to save up for one or two. Plus, they go boom boom boom. Upgrading a generator doesn't even say thanks! Honestly though, if you're in a pub you probably get a hell of a lot more xp for killing 3-1,309 guys with an orbial, vs whatever the pathetic xp is for upgrading a generator. That kind of sucks, for a teamwork focused game. I think repairing crap as a tcn should give you a lot more points than it does as well.

Inquisitor · March 2012

I was a little sad about how easy it was to max out the repair badges as a Tech. It only took me a few games of really focusing on keeping everything up and running.

My friends have been saying that there should be some reward for the kills that turrets you have upgraded get, but, we weren't really sure what would be fair.

Velmeran · March 2012

I almost say you don't want to fix broken things in this game, points should just be for vechicles/drops. It's SOOOOOOO easy to blow up base items at zero danger to your self, and it gives you 250 extra points, that by constantly repairing them you're giving the enemy team an advantage. Also, the turrets are useless 99% of the time anyway, two tanks would be better use of money then bringing one to max level.

Until they wise up, and make all external buildings have incredibly tough shields, if not just invincible, until the generator is down. Then its just not worth it to feed some inf/raider free points.

Boogdud · March 2012

Inquisitor wrote: »

I was a little sad about how easy it was to max out the repair badges as a Tech. It only took me a few games of really focusing on keeping everything up and running.

My friends have been saying that there should be some reward for the kills that turrets you have upgraded get, but, we weren't really sure what would be fair.

SOOOO agreed. Well at very least it would be nice if when you ran up to a completely fubar'd turret, and repaired it from 0 to 100 and it kills like 3-4 dudes *while* you're repairing it you'd get an assist. Because, if that's not an assist, I don't know what is...

I got tired of the lack of points (for my team, vs feeding points to the other team like Velmeran just said) for being a good tech, so I took to harassment/base defense soldier. I also got tired of being made fun of for doing something as "unimportant" as keeping everything up in a match by the other team and my own team. I thought the tribes crowd would be a bitmore savvy than that, but since it's free we get a lot of cod'derpers, unfortunately.

Garthor · March 2012

The trouble is, turrets and such are only really useful for killing players who aren't cappers and are hanging around the flag stand area. So, in order for them to be useful, your team not only needs flag defense, but then THEIR team needs people HARASSING your flag defense. So, it's doubly unlikely to be useful in a pub.

Figgy · March 2012

Suds wrote: »

Figgy wrote: »

They also need some things more worth buying with points. Orbital strike? Does anyone actually save up for that?

Calling in an auxiliary generator would be pretty cool. 3000 points and it needs to be within 250M of your generator, above ground. It basically provides power when the generator goes down, but enemies can easily see it and destroy it.

I can see that being abused quite a bit. Gen goes down, instantly a backup is called in to keep defences up while the main is repaired.

That would be the intended use. How is that abusive? And a 30 second "power-up" time would still mean a gen kill gives you a cap window.

Boogdud · March 2012

Garthor wrote: »

The trouble is, turrets and such are only really useful for killing players who aren't cappers and are hanging around the flag stand area. So, in order for them to be useful, your team not only needs flag defense, but then THEIR team needs people HARASSING your flag defense. So, it's doubly unlikely to be useful in a pub.

It would be very cool indeed if as a tech you could use a pack (say, in place of your turret), to upgrade an existing cannon turret to have highly extended range and accuracy. Like an upgrade that you could see visually (so people would maybe use their orbitals on turrets instead, etc.). That way you have a reason to repair them and keep your gens up. It would give offense an incentive to use their strikes/points for something other than clearing the flag stand. It would also help with the speed racer grabbers as well.

Figgy · March 2012

I'd like to see a return to controllable turrets, but not from a station. You jump in the turret itself, and you're given more robust options for assault.

Like the ability to lock-on your own flag when it's stolen. Missiles a bit easier to lock and faster than the MIRV (or whatever it's called).

Then there'd really be a reason to keep your generator up and turrets repaired/upgraded. And strikes would be used on turrets almost exclusively. Because a manned turret would be far, far, far more deadly than the predictable AI. Although sometimes the AI leads its target like a champ.

Garthor · March 2012

The AI always leads its target perfectly. It's just not good at picking the appropriate moment to shoot, and so will piss away shots when people are still accelerating / maneuvering rather than waiting for them to approach the flag stand.

OhtheVogonity · March 2012

Further reports: This game is definitely better with a full server. There's less of a feeling of futility trying to play defense because even though there are more adversaries, it's still the same amount of ground to cover, and more people to do it with. You're less likely to have your whole setup blown to crap by one guy squatting on a hill.

When there a fewer people on, it seems better to just play PTH so you can cap when you need to, flag chase when you need to, and duel at will. It goes back to the earlier comparison of Tribes and soccer. If you're playing 5 v 5 on a full size pitch, it might not be worth it to have full time defenders, maybe not even a full time goalie, whereas with full teams you can have a more reasonable expectation of having a particular role to fill.

Basil · March 2012

Oh, absolutely. If you don't have a full match, dedicating yourself to a standard role can be incredibly disheartening.

Jasconius · March 2012

infiltrators with spinfusors is fucking dumb

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that is all

Ash-Housewares · March 2012

Picking a specific job and sticking to it is making this game more enjoyable for me. I use to just worry about flag capping, but now my new love is flag retrieval. Not trying to stop them from grabbing it, but once they have the flag and then chasing them. Finding counter routes and seeing if I can keep up with them has been really fun.

Suriko · March 2012

Jasconius wrote: »

infiltrators with spinfusors is fucking dumb

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that is all

On this there is consensus.

tyrannus · March 2012

technicians with thumpers sucks a little more.

DarkMecha · March 2012

Ash-Housewares wrote: »

Picking a specific job and sticking to it is making this game more enjoyable for me. I use to just worry about flag capping, but now my new love is flag retrieval. Not trying to stop them from grabbing it, but once they have the flag and then chasing them. Finding counter routes and seeing if I can keep up with them has been really fun.

Me too man, I really enjoy this role as well.

Enig · March 2012

I try to stop them from grabbing it and chase them. Prevention is the best cure.

Edit: Thrust pack is almost required for this though.

Ash-Housewares · March 2012

Enig wrote: »

I try to stop them from grabbing it and chase them. Prevention is the best cure.

Edit: Thrust pack is almost required for this though.

As a PTH the best I can do is splash them before they touch the flag and then chase. Yeah, sometimes that's enough for the kill but for the most part, I'm still going to end up chasing any high speed PTHs.

Edit: Thrust pack is still something I'm trying to get use to. Straight out of spawn it's awesome, or if you're in a static position waiting. I really wish that it could help change your direction mid air when you're going over 130. Then again, I'm still learning how to use it properly.

DarkMecha · March 2012

I dunno I often am able to get a disc hit just as they grab the flag, sometimes a direct hit. I mean they are going to pass through a per-determined point so speed is the only other factor for aiming in this case really.

Slicer · March 2012

tyrannus wrote: »

technicians with thumpers sucks a little more.

Yes this

Enig · March 2012

Ash-Housewares wrote: »

Enig wrote: »

I try to stop them from grabbing it and chase them. Prevention is the best cure.

Edit: Thrust pack is almost required for this though.

As a PTH the best I can do is splash them before they touch the flag and then chase. Yeah, sometimes that's enough for the kill but for the most part, I'm still going to end up chasing any high speed PTHs.

Edit: Thrust pack is still something I'm trying to get use to. Straight out of spawn it's awesome, or if you're in a static position waiting. I really wish that it could help change your direction mid air when you're going over 130. Then again, I'm still learning how to use it properly.

Use it when you have some open space or a downhill. It doesn't do very well uphill, but can possibly be useful even then. Can also use it to quickly change directions by coming to a stop then thrusting off. Otherwise it can be useful for maneuvering quickly, such as to do a decent e-grab which would otherwise be llama, or to quickly grab a nearby flag in the field.

For chasing, once you hit the passing capper with your bolt/disc, immediately thrust in the same direction his route is taking him. The pack will get you to 130-150 and at that point you can use a nitron (nitrons work best at speed) to boost yourself and catch up to him.

Like you, chasing is my favorite thing to do. To learn I watch Blinks' videos (he is a defender/chaser for one of the pro teams). e.g. http://www.twitch.tv/theblinks/b/310106358 (starting at 40 minutes) or http://www.twitch.tv/theblinks/b/310667535 (10-52 minutes). Of course, it is a little different in competitive games compared to randoms.

Edit: In other news...

HiRezStew on the official forums wrote:

The big things we are focusing on for the next few weeks are:

1) Stability and performance
2) Fix annoying issues and bugs such as deadstops, etc (including some things that feel bad at higher ping).
3) Private servers
4) Improved social/friends features
5) New and better maps

Obviously, there will also be a variety of balance tweaks. We also have a group working on new weapons, skins, etc. And we are continually experimenting with new gamemodes.

There is a long roadmap of other things we have planned beyond the next few weeks, but the items above will likely keep us busy for the rest of this month

OhtheVogonity · March 2012

That sounds nice. It's a good list, with good priorities. I'd love to see new game modes sneak on to that list.

Enig · March 2012

New maps and performance fixes are probably my top two things right now. I have a somewhat poor ping (100-150) so the better their server stability, the better it is for me. Lately it has been unplayable most of the time, which is quite frustrating, as I really enjoy the game.

Suds · March 2012

Deadstop fixes would be super nice. I hate hitting a weird bit of geometry (like a gentle slope I'm already skiing up or down) and then halting.

Also timing a Nitron as someone grabs the flag is a good defensive tactic. It gets the flag off your stand to so that you can push it into a corner somewhere so that a llama can return it to the stand just as another capper is coming in.

Ash-Housewares · March 2012

Enig wrote: »

Like you, chasing is my favorite thing to do. To learn I watch Blinks' videos (he is a defender/chaser for one of the pro teams). e.g. http://www.twitch.tv/theblinks/b/310106358 (starting at 40 minutes) or http://www.twitch.tv/theblinks/b/310667535 (10-52 minutes). Of course, it is a little different in competitive games compared to randoms.

Patch Fixes:

1) Stability and performance
2) Fix annoying issues and bugs such as deadstops, etc (including some things that feel bad at higher ping).
3) Private servers
4) Improved social/friends features
5) New and better maps

Thanks for the link to that video! That had a ton of good information in it.

I'm really hoping we get to see private servers sooner than later. Then again, I've got a game server currently doing nothing, so I might be biased about that.

Slicer · March 2012

They've said that the game will be out of beta next month IIRC, so I imagine they're aiming to have private server functionality in by then (unless something goes horribly wrong).

Inquisitor · March 2012

Huh, they play competitive matches with very few people on each time. It's like a whole different game.

Enig · March 2012

Yeah 8v8 seems to be the standard, sometimes 7v7 or 9v9. I think it is to prevent defense from becoming too strong.

nonoffensive · March 2012

Had some good games with Ash today, also I totally did this:

http://youtu.be/96OGNP7IXhs?t=18s

Servers are having some serious lag issues too.

Enig · March 2012

Entertaining match to watch:

LD/Chase perspective: http://www.twitch.tv/theblinks/b/311406066
Capper perspective: http://www.twitch.tv/thesmallkiwi/b/311406015

Ash-Housewares · March 2012

Yeah, good times @nonoffensive and @garthor. Yeah, watching Blinks has been really good for upping my return game. After getting better at flag hunting, it really translates well into flag grabbing. You can get a feeling for when/where you're going to get cut off or hit.

Edit: I wish I had Blinks' assault rifle skills.

Enig · March 2012

Do we have a steam group?

Jasconius · March 2012

The grenade jumping makes all the difference in LD... with the ammo upgrade you can go from 0 to a billion in no time

Dram · March 2012

Figgy wrote: »

Here you go:

That is indeed very rad. It did remind me of a gripe I have with the game's graphics: skiing animation. If you watch someone skiing, it looks too much like a glitch. They're just kinda floating around and changing direction without any indication of how. To be clear, my gripe is with the model animation alone, not the mechanics of skiing. I think it would be really rad if each armour type had a different skiing animation. Maybe lights crouch down and skid along, leaving a small jet stream, while heavies have some sort of device pop out of their armour and they more rocket along.

The Dude With Herpes · March 2012

Ok, that Llama Island video (and the second one) is fucking hilarious.

I need to get back to playing this more.

nonoffensive · March 2012

I can't stop watching this. I think I need help.

OhtheVogonity · March 2012

Anyone else been getting mad lag lately?

Enig · March 2012

Yeah. The servers are not very stable at the moment, but it should be fixed soon according to Hi-Rez.

CangoFett · March 2012

I started playing this the other day.

Its soooo good.

Tonight while Rango was asleep, I was playing. Just started getting decent at flag running.
The score was 4-4, there was 1 minute left in the match. Our carrier dies, their flag is returned. Im at their base fighting their carrier. He goes for the cap and my spinfusor lands on the flag first, killing him. I return our flag and grab theirs.
30 seconds remaining
Im injured from that fight, at about 50% health, and start my run back to our base. Its that big icey map. I have about 4 guys chasing me, and im dodging the crap outta bullets, watching them whizz pass where I was moments earlier.
10 seconds remaining, literally less than 30 health, and I cap that sucker.

I almost woke up Rango with shouts of victory

Jasconius · March 2012

I was getting occasional spiky lag over the weekend. Maybe once an hour.

I've played a lot over the weekend and I've come to the conclusion that I would be pretty pleased with this game if they just got rid of Katabatic.

This game works better with smaller maps and smaller team sizes.

Penny Arcade

[Tribes] Ascend. - Updating OP, steamgroup listed for coordinating matches together!

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