Hey guys, First off let me start off by inviting everyone of you over to /r/tribes where we have built an amazing community dedicated to helping out people who are new at the game and facilitating high-level discussion about Tribes.
Don't wanna read any of this? Just watch this
WTF is Tribes: Ascend Anyway?
Note This video is VERY dated, but still showcases a lot of the things that are a core part of the game. If you skip to about 12:00 into the video that's where the relevant stuff begins.
What is Tribes: Ascend?
Tribes: Ascend is a Free to Play Sci-Fi First Person Shooter made by the people who brought you Global Agenda. At its core it is an incredibly fast-paced capture-the-flag game, (although there are Arena, Team Deathmatch, and Capture & Hold gametypes) with vehicles, projectile weapons, and most importantly: jetpacks. It's a game where most of the fighting takes place mid-air, "twitch" shooting is virtually non-existent, and movement speed / positioning is just as important as aiming ability. There are many parallels that can be drawn between it and UT2k3 as well as the Halo franchise, but it is honestly a completely unique game and the parallels that can be drawn to other games are quite superficial. Here are some videos that might give you a feel of what the game plays like
Focus Trailer
Competitive Match
Tribes Ascend Basics
Differences Between Tribes: Ascend and most FPS's The defining mechanic of the Tribes franchise is something known as skiing You'll notice that in the linked video, the speed of the player does not decrease unless he hits an obstacle dead-on, or chooses to stop pressing the "skiing" button, even when they are not flying through the air. This mechanic lets players travel at speeds that are much faster than 95% of modern FPS's, giving the game an amazingly fast-paced and exciting feel.
The other thing defining mechanic of the Tribes franchise is the presence of Projectile weapons as opposed to hitscan ones. What this means is that when you shoot a gun the bullets you shoot are affected by your movement speed and movement direction, it is not as simple as pointing your crosshair at a target and shooting them as quickly as you can. You need to account for how fast you are going, how fast they are going, and how long it will take your bullets / grenades / whatever to reach them. Because of this, Tribes: Ascend has an incredibly high skill-cap, and "twitch" reflexes are not necessary for being a good player
Here's a video demonstrating how inheritance works
How to Start Playing Playing Tribes Ascend is as simple as going to the official website and signing up for an account. However, I would suggest that you sign up using this referral link or that of a friends (everyone who plays this game has a referral link) as it will give you bonus experience once you reach level 6 which you can use to unlock weapons & classes to play with. If you don't want to use a referral link, the official website is
http://www.tribesascend.com While you're downloading the game, check out the links below to familiarize yourself with how to play.
Tribes 101
First-Timer's Guide
Soldier Guide
Juggernaut Guide
Community There are a number of Tribes: Ascend communities you can find through the google, but if you're interested in playing the game with some really decent people, I would say look no further than /r/Tribes. We have a public mumble server, as well as an IRC channel on Quakenet that are all available through the sidebar of /r/tribes, and are always willing to help out people new to the game.
Some popular community streams are:
TribesCast <-- The official community stream, with pro matches being streamed and casted nightly
TheBlinks <-- Top level Scrims, Practice, and Matches from a 1st person perspective
TITAN <--- One of the best defensive players in the game, very high level play and very entertaining to watch.
Buhlitz <-- Arguably one of the best cappers right now, has some amazing VODs and montages on his channel, definitely check him out.
Final Words / TL;DR If you're looking for a change of pace from CoD and BF3 style shooters, you should give Tribes: Ascend a play. It is an incredibly fast-paced game with a very high skillcap, that has frictionless movement, virtually no hitscan weapons, and very fluid and intuitive gameplay. There are people who complain about the gameplay because it isn't identical to CoD or BF3, but I prefer it to every other shooter out there on the market right now, and I think most of you will too.
Bonus Some Sweet Tribes: Ascend Videos
Buhlitz Montage
Team Egocentric Montage
Forcing Overtime
Flag Scramble
