I've been playing this after a bit of computer repair. It's pretty sweet. I never tried Tribes 1.
The Ranger's assault rifle seems like it could use either a slightly larger pre-skill enhanced clip or a very small increase in damage. I generally only use it (mostly ineffectively) at ranges the Thumper can't reach or to finish off someone who is at maybe <25% health who I can't seem to land a Thumper round on at close range or who is fleeing. Also when the Thumper is out of ammo. Also as suppressing fire sort of when an enemy is fighting a teammate in the hope that they turn and look for me or something while I'm still way out of their range.
The main problem with the Assault Rifle is regenerating health. The mechanic is used by the Assault Rifle positively and negatively. The positive is that with the many weak projectiles it's easy to reset someone's health recharge time from a good distance. However, the negative side is that it takes a very long time as well as keeping up with an enemy's maneuvers while perhaps dodging a dozen or more spinfuzors that can kill you with two shots (direct hit for one or close enough for them to switch to the disturbingly accurate pistol to finish you off) if you want to get a kill on a full health enemy solely with an Assault Rifle. The only time I find using solely the Assault Rifle to be worth spending the time it takes to kill an opponent with is when it's a flag-holder, as they can't regenerate and it won't matter how long it takes between hits(since people rarely drop the flag even at low health due to still receiving points). Since the flag holder is usually trying to put as much distance between you and him as possible, the assault rifle actually seems to me to excel in this role of whittling down the flag holder at long range more than any of the weapons available to the first two classes from the start.
I also use it when someone is trying to escape at low health, as despite the fact that they will survive a long time the large number of weak projectiles will have a good chance of at least interrupting regeneration.
I'd say the assault rifle is accurate enough, but once in a while it seems to jam or misfire after firing one round. I don't know if that's part of the backstory on that weapon or not though.
A toggle between semi-auto (places rounds in the center) and automatic (sprays as currently) would be cool. Toggles on all the weapons would be cool but I suppose that doubles the chances of one being overpowered.
The Thumper is very good and makes the Ranger versatile. I use it most successfully when I conserve my energy for a dive bombing attack after the opponent has expended their energy. Often a near direct hit will put an enemy within the health range of being a quick enough kill with the assault rifle to justify using that weapon, but I usually wait until they get out of Thumper range first.
My one criticism of the Thumper would be that it air bursts after a set range. I'd much rather it only burst on impact as it's extremely difficult to use the airburst effectively. Even better, if it had the option of airburst or impact that would appease any theoretical people who like the airburst.
I'm saving up the in game rewards for the Raider class. I play a demoman in TF2 most often and the Raider has a similar grenade launcher with a slight bit flatter trajectory (but not much) than TF2's demoman while lacking airburst and exploding on impact. This means it can function as a mortar, unlike the TF2 grenade launcher, which airbursts and makes for a good round end fireworks display if shot straight up.
The artillery and resupply weapons: 3 4 and 5 are decent. I did a quad kill with the orbital strike after carrying the flag around earlier in the map which explains for how I paid the 10k credit cost. I think the artillery could be cheaper in credit cost, as it isn't used much until it's obviously near the end of the round (and someone has to remember them in addition). Especially 3 needs some improvement, as it's extremely costly for having such a small area of effect compared to player movement speed, while having a hefty delay to make even more difficult to use. It could stand to either affect a larger area or to trigger with no delay after the aiming/charging bar completes.
I've been playing mostly Deathmatch maps. They could really use some vehicles.
I also played Capture the Flag maps. The vehicles are very expensive unless you can capture the flag a few times. The Vertical take off vehicle is cool, but was an extremely unstable gun platform when I used the mouse to control it. Using the arrow keys helped with stability but made it difficult to reach other flight keys or mouse buttons. It looks cool though, nice engine design.
It would be cool to have several types of air vehicles with crew to fit their roles, such as bomber, interceptor (anti-bomber), bomber escort (anti-interceptor) and fighter (anti-escort/general purpose fighter). It would be extra cool if there were a few different types within those classifications, such as a pure fighter and a ground attack/multipurpose fighter; or heavy bomber or light bomber with different crew positions and capabilities relating to them. Two interceptors, one with high speed+cannons and the other following a different doctrine involving long range missiles that fighters can avoid fairly easily but bombers find more difficult. Two escorts, one that either is ground attack capable or that has countermeasures against interceptor missiles (auto tracking anti-missile chaingun turrets or antimissile missiles would be sweet, the latter if aimed to 'lock-on' via a second or third crew position) and one that excels with guns, fair speed and maneuverability in air to air against interceptors and (less) compared to when against fighters. I suppose climbing characteristics mostly matter how high the ceiling is and how much of a priority energy conservation these crazy flying machines have in combat due to how dive and climb affect speed, and thus maneuvers.
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Topic: Tribes:Ascend - Free to play FPS with ludicrous speed (Read 36867 times)