I was reading Natural's movement thread, and the subject of gliding was brought up by a few different people. Here's my take on it.
At first I didn't like the idea, I enjoy the uncontrollable sense of always being in combat with gravity. It's like a weird synergy Tribes puts forth. There's nothing better than falling from thousands of feet up, gaining immense speed, and hitting a valley perfectly smooth, all without using too much jets to slow your fall. Exhilarating.
However as I thought more and more about it, I began to like the idea of being able to glide along. Natural mentioned some sort of wing flaps beneath the arms, others mentioned a glide pack. Well, I like the glide pack idea, a LOT. Here's why.
I think we've all come to the conclusion that Tribes is all about movement. Being able to ski a route perfectly is more fun than killing people to many. If you look at the current offerings for packs, one sees that only one of the packs leads to increased movement abilities, and that is the Energy pack. I say we need more movement-oriented packs.
Say, for instance, T3 incorporated the normal array of packs and added in the Glide pack. To be a capper, which pack would you choose, the Energy or the Glide pack? Let's explore the differences in playing style each pack would elicit if chosen.
The Energy pack would give you lots more energy so that you have lots of jets. This, in current Tribes physics models, lends to lots of altitude which equates to lots of speed. It also gives you the ability to always be moving if you are a skillful skiier.
The Glide pack wouldn't add any energy to your energy bar. It simply opens/closes on command using the use pack keybind. Because there is no added energy to your jets, technically it would be impossible to gain any altitude over what you'd be able to do if you didn't have a pack at all.
I will now give you two T3 scenarios as two players who have two very different capping styles, the first being EnergyMan and the second being SugarGlider:
EnergyMan swears by the Energy pack. He comes directly from a T1 background and is very adept at skiing and improvising routes. He is very quick to the flag and exiting it. If you don't snipe him you'll probably lose your flag. We all know what this guy is like, so I will now go onto explaining how I see the Glide pack.
SugarGlider is the best Glide pack user. His style is this: He skis his route towards the flag, but when he comes near it he stays in the air using his Glide pack. Circling above he waits until the flag is clear and then swoops in to grab it. Using his control surfaces on the Glide pack he is extremely manuverable and is able to dodge shots left and right. After grabbing the flag he swoops away, using minimal jets because his momentum is still carrying him at a relatively fast speed (although not as fast as EnergyMan can get). The defense begins to chase him, but is out manuvered by SugarGlider's jukes. Not only that he fans out his glide fins like a giant air brake, stopping him almost instantaneously. The defense overshoots him by a hundred meters, while he discjumps in a different direction to thwart them once and for all as he caps.
So what I am trying to describe here is the fact that adding additional 'movement packs' will allow for even more increase in skill abilities T3 will have to offer. And by not making it default by integrating it into the armor and by making it a pack, you give the choice to players to work on whatever style of play suits them. It also adds a whole new dimension to replayability, something that Tribes reigns superior over other FPSs.
At first I didn't like the idea, I enjoy the uncontrollable sense of always being in combat with gravity. It's like a weird synergy Tribes puts forth. There's nothing better than falling from thousands of feet up, gaining immense speed, and hitting a valley perfectly smooth, all without using too much jets to slow your fall. Exhilarating.
However as I thought more and more about it, I began to like the idea of being able to glide along. Natural mentioned some sort of wing flaps beneath the arms, others mentioned a glide pack. Well, I like the glide pack idea, a LOT. Here's why.
I think we've all come to the conclusion that Tribes is all about movement. Being able to ski a route perfectly is more fun than killing people to many. If you look at the current offerings for packs, one sees that only one of the packs leads to increased movement abilities, and that is the Energy pack. I say we need more movement-oriented packs.
Say, for instance, T3 incorporated the normal array of packs and added in the Glide pack. To be a capper, which pack would you choose, the Energy or the Glide pack? Let's explore the differences in playing style each pack would elicit if chosen.
The Energy pack would give you lots more energy so that you have lots of jets. This, in current Tribes physics models, lends to lots of altitude which equates to lots of speed. It also gives you the ability to always be moving if you are a skillful skiier.
The Glide pack wouldn't add any energy to your energy bar. It simply opens/closes on command using the use pack keybind. Because there is no added energy to your jets, technically it would be impossible to gain any altitude over what you'd be able to do if you didn't have a pack at all.
I will now give you two T3 scenarios as two players who have two very different capping styles, the first being EnergyMan and the second being SugarGlider:
EnergyMan swears by the Energy pack. He comes directly from a T1 background and is very adept at skiing and improvising routes. He is very quick to the flag and exiting it. If you don't snipe him you'll probably lose your flag. We all know what this guy is like, so I will now go onto explaining how I see the Glide pack.
SugarGlider is the best Glide pack user. His style is this: He skis his route towards the flag, but when he comes near it he stays in the air using his Glide pack. Circling above he waits until the flag is clear and then swoops in to grab it. Using his control surfaces on the Glide pack he is extremely manuverable and is able to dodge shots left and right. After grabbing the flag he swoops away, using minimal jets because his momentum is still carrying him at a relatively fast speed (although not as fast as EnergyMan can get). The defense begins to chase him, but is out manuvered by SugarGlider's jukes. Not only that he fans out his glide fins like a giant air brake, stopping him almost instantaneously. The defense overshoots him by a hundred meters, while he discjumps in a different direction to thwart them once and for all as he caps.
So what I am trying to describe here is the fact that adding additional 'movement packs' will allow for even more increase in skill abilities T3 will have to offer. And by not making it default by integrating it into the armor and by making it a pack, you give the choice to players to work on whatever style of play suits them. It also adds a whole new dimension to replayability, something that Tribes reigns superior over other FPSs.