Classic

Soaring across the field

After a few short months, gameplay in Tribes 2 had reached a stagnation point. Your average pub game consisted of players not scoring, and competitive play usually consisted of players not scoring even when a team’s skill grossly outweighed the others. Only a small handful of maps lent themselves to interesting play at all, and those were rarely played in public games or competition.

Base++, an earlier mod by z0dd and ZOD, the authors behind Classic, accelerated the game a bit, but it wasn’t sufficient for most players. The authors behind ++ have carried their philosophies over to Classic, taking things to the next degree. Though the authors of Classic have tossed in a few minor details like being able to throw your repair kit, the main focus behind the changes in Classic have been speed. In the original T2 base it was possible to reach 200 KPH without the aid of a vehicle, in Classic speeds nearing 500 KPH are possible. These speeds aren’t easy to attain by any means, but in original T2 (or ‘T2 Base’) even the most average player could slam into the speed cap.

Come back mister.

Our flag thx

Missiling while skiing in

The changes are not simply about the removal of the speed cap was. Friction, for example, is handled completely differently with Garage Games’ code. Not only can players attain higher speeds, they’re also more capable of accelerating to them, as ground friction isn’t the noted force it once was. Players were also given back their disk jump, which as intrinsic to the earliest incarnation of the Tribes franchise as the rocket jump has been to Quake.

Classic has shattered the stagnant constraints of Tribes 2 base, bringing speed and gameplay en masse in a return to Tribes 1 style gameplay. Heavy offense is now actually a profound force to be reckoned with, as they are capable of traversing a map travelling at double or triple their prior speeds. As a result of heavy offense being able to move across a map, cappers now have a clearing force, and the days of public games going 0-0 for three maps straight are gone.

Need repairs

One hell of a skybox

On my way to making their base, my base

So what does all this mean? Offense has returned to Tribes. Players now roar across the field. As a result, offense is an absolute blast to play again, therefore a ton of players suit up and head to the enemy’s generators or flag-stand. Does this make the game boring? Not at all, as players playing defense now are actually presented with a challenge - a heavy offense player soaring in at 300 KPH lobbing mortars isn’t the easy shocklance bait that he was before when he was plodding along the ground. Cappers aren’t stopped by a single ELF anymore; you’ll have to work to bring that flag back home.

C'mere slick

Capper about to make a grab

Bzzt

The Defense

The changes to Classic were not made in a void however. Attention was paid to defense, and appropriate changes were made to boost the defense up to compensate for the incredible speeds offense players are capable of attaining. Heavy defense players for example, got a slight boost to their shield packs, giving them a much higher damage to energy lost ratio when hit.

The most notable change on behalf of defense players is the return of the mine-disk. The mine-disk is an ancient tactic from the days of Tribes 1 where a player throws a slow moving mine into a target’s path and then shoots it when the target passes over it. Given the very limited range on mines, and their qualification for the slowest moving projectile in Tribes, this is not an easy task by any means. Players capable of acquiring the skills necessary to mine-disk can literally change a battle giving them a potential one shot kill on an enemy in light armor, or significantly raining on the parade of a heavy.

Defense, much like offense, is fun to play again, since your base, your flag, your turrets and more are constantly being pounded by the enemy. The few new goodies keep things fresh, and it is a rare day that even in a pub game that the average defense player will become bored.