Tribes Vengeance Newblood Guide

This guide contains information that will cut down on the time it'll take you to become a better player.

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INTRODUCTION

This guide contains information that will cut down on the time it’ll take you to become a better player.

The Tribes series of games all have high learning curve, so if you find yourself to be a terrible player at first, keep in mind that some people have been playing Tribes for over 7 years. The fastest way to be a good player is to play regularly, learn to effectivly ski / jet and watch a few match demos. No one will ever be able to teach you how to aim. Have respect for elder players and there’s a good chance they will take you under their wing, or even invite you into their clan.

THE GOLDEN RULES OF PLAYING ON A PUBLIC SERVER

No rape under 6 v 6 players No team-killing No cheating, hax or exploits No abuse, swearing, rascism, harassment No chat-spamming No team-swapping to create unbalanced team numbers Always play with good sportsmanship!

TRIBES TERMINOLOGY

With every game you play, comes unique terms that people use to describe an item or an action. Tribes: Vengeance has it’s fair share. A few of the most common terms you may come across while playing. T:V

  • Tribes:Vengeance T1, T2
  • Tribes 1 and Tribes MA
  • Mid-Air. It’s the act of hitting a player with a projectile while he’s in the air. LO/MO/HO
  • These are short for different armor classes on offense (Light Offense/Medium Offense/Heavy Offence) LD/HD/MD
  • Same as above, except Offense has been replaced with Defense TM
  • Turret Monkey. A TM dedicates themselves to deploying mines, turrets, Invs, repair stations and keeping the Base up. A great TM will learn the best places to deploy such devices to deal maximum damage to the enemy. Capp, Capper
  • A player that captures the enemy flag Rape
  • Rape refers to attacking and destroying immobile base assets such as the inventories, the generator, the sensor and deployable stations. Rape is an integral part of tribes and a key tactic in matches. However, the generally accepted rule for public servers is do not rape when there are less than 6 v 6 players on the server. Even then players may opt for no rape. Failure to observe this most important rule will often result in being banned from the server, sometimes permanently. Turtling
  • Turtling is when both teams have the other team’s flag, and at least 1 of the cappers is hiding in his base for protection. This is considered very lame. In some servers, it can get you TK’d, kicked, or banned. Nobody likes 20 minute standoffs due to players hiding in their base, in Heavy with turrets, mines, and repair packs to protect them. It can make the game very boring. Osnipe
  • Offensive sniping. This isn’t much of a problem in T:V as it was in previous Tribes games. Basically osniping is when you do nothing but snipe the enemy when they’re in their base. Sort of like spawn camping from far away. Like turtling, this is frowned upon by some players. T:V has put an ammo limit on the sniper rifle, so it’s not as bad anymore. BB
  • Body Block. Pull out your buckler and simply run into a player. The buckler will push them in the direction you’re facing. Best used against players coming to cap your flag. HoF
  • Heavy on Flag. This is when a player suits up in HD and sits at his/her flag stand and tries to stop all incoming cappers. This doesn’t work as well in T:V as it did for T1/T2. In T:V you might come across the term MOF more often since Medium armor does a better job in this game. DJ
  • Disc Jump. If you need to gain some hight/speed, this is an easy and instant way. Simply look down at your feet, fire a disc, and use your jets. You’ll lose health, but sometimes the situation demands it. Skiing
  • This doesn’t need much of an explanation in T:V. Skiing has been simplified so that all you need to do is simply hold down your ski button. This allows you to glide over terrain with little friction; a great way to not lose momentum/speed when traveling to your destination. Loadout
  • A pre-set assembly of armor, weapons, and packs. This is a quick way to use the inventory station and grab everything you need all in 1 second. The use of loadouts is absolute. Your team needs you for every second of the match. Don’t waste 5-10 seconds in the station selecting your equip. Not only are you out of the action, but you’re also taking up an inventory station that somebody else might need to access. GLHF
  • “Good Luck Have Fun” GG
  • “Good Game” NS
  • “Nice Shot” GF
  • “Good Fight” Whoring
  • Using a weapon like the Chain-Gun almost exclusively to great effect eg) “CG Whore!”

GAME CONCEPTS

Voting

  • You can vote to kick any player in the game. What you need to do to cast a vote is simple. Press Esc to bring up your menu. It’ll have a list of all the players on both teams. Simply click once on the player to highlight their name. On the left hand side there is a list of buttons, one of which is “vote to kick”. You can also vote for map changes.

Scoring

  • Tribes is mainly a Capture the Flag game. Nobody else really cares about your personal score. Anybody can suit up in HO and fire mortar rounds into a tiny room that is filled with enemies for 20 minutes. In fact, a lot of people get so carried away with blowing up enemy gens/inventory stations, they ignore the guy that’s been stealing their flag all game. Cappers don’t care if you’re destroying their base as they’re too busy winning the game. Players who stay flag-focussed tend to progress rapidly in this game.

Jetpacks

  • This is the most important tool you have at your disposal. Your Jets are fuelled by your energy (represented by a blue bar on your HUD). You’re going to need to learn how to conserve your energy supply in order to utilize your jet pack. If you find yourself in a duel with the enemy, your jet pack will save your life. When you fly through the air, you make yourself a harder target to hit. The weapons in Tribes: Vengeance are projectiles, and are best used against a player who is on the ground. Some of the more popular weapons deal explosive damage; so if you’re in the air, you’ve reduced your enemy to rely on marksmanship. They’ll need to deliver a MA, or throw hand nades to deal damage. Learn to ration your energy. If you use it all in 1 burst, you’ll find yourself grounded and vulnerable while you wait for it to recharge. Generally you start off skiing down hills, and jetting up over the other side.

Skiing

  • Tribes can be a very fast-paced game, and skiing is the reason why. For those of you who played the single player missions and couldn’t get past the Phoenix trials (more specifically the speed trial); DON’T GIVE UP! This isn’t a skill you can ignore. You won’t be a great help to your team if you’re unable to ski properly. The reason for this is; most of the T:V servers are CTF. The entire point of CTF is to be the team that captures the most flags. I can guarantee you that a good capper in T:V knows what he/she is doing, and you’re going to need to be able to keep pace. A good capper will spend a lot of time practicing ski routes. A ski route is a path a player takes that’ll allow them to gain the most speed, grab the flag, and continue the momentum back to their flag stand. If you’re team can’t chase down players that are capping your flag, you will lose. Ultimately, if you want to master skiing, you’re going to have to memorize your maps. Practice learning ski routes on your own time. A good capper can ski without stopping indefinitely. The longer you can keep your speed going, the better. For best results, you’ll want to hit a slope at a parallel angle, and make sure the slope does not have any bumps or pits in it. For some maps, this can be easier then others. Isle for example is great for skiing. It has very high slopes across the entire landscape. A true way to master skiing is to combine it with the use of a grapple. You can use the grapple to change your direction without taking a huge drop in speed or energy.

Armor

  • 3 choices, each with their own pros and cons. Each armor class will determine: your health, energy, movement speed, weapons, and ammo. Little explanation is needed for the first 3 among that list. The lighter you are, the less health, and energy you’ll have and the faster you’ll move. Also the bigger you are, the more ammo you can carry. Now for weapons: there are 3 weapons that are class-specific (1 for each class). Light armor gets to use the Sniper Rifle. Mediums can carry the buckler. Heavies get the mortars. Armor selection almost comes down to personal preference. Any class can be useful in almost any situation, if you have a lot of experience. Sometimes if the enemy is turtling in their base, a HO with a shield pack might be your only way of getting your flag back. Generally, players use light for capping, heavy for base attack/defense, and medium for both.

UTILITY PACKS

Energy

  • Passive mode - Regenerates energy supply faster then normal Active mode - Gives an instant boost in speed For cappers, it can aid your skiing and the active bonus can mean the difference between a quick death, or a quick getaway. Keep in mind, this pack will give you a boost of speed in the direction you’re facing. So if you’re in the air and looking down at your feet, activate the pack to drop quickly. This can give you a huge boost when skiing. Example: if you ski down a slope, and use your energy pack while you ski… you’ll gain a huge boost in forward momentum (make sure you look at your feet when you use it while skiing). If you used the pack after you had gone down the slope and into the air; the pack will give you a boost sending you upward and outward. Your speed in this game is based on your forward momentum, so using the pack while you ski down will actually give you a faster speed. Using the pack once you’re in the air will send you further but slower. You’ll have to decide which method will benefit you best.

Speed

  • Passive mode - Improves running speed Active mode - Speeds up rate of fire The passive mode doesn’t offer much considering players prefer to travel via jet packs. However, the active mode on this pack can make a huge difference to your rate of fire. Lets look at the chain gun: normally, the CG can fire about 40 bullets in 5 seconds. With the active speed pack, you can fire 75 rounds in 5 seconds. This can make a big difference if you’re chasing a player that has capped your flag and is en route back to his base.

Shield

  • Passive mode - Reduces about 25% of the damage you normally take Active mode - Reduces about 80% of the damage you take If you’re suiting up in heavy armor, you might want to consider taking this pack with you. Since Heavies are big and slow, you’re more prone to be a sitting duck to the faster and more agile lights and meds. This pack also provides a feasible alternative to the energy pack for light cappers. Cappers need a speed boost, and disk jumping is a quick way of doing so. The shield pack recharges faster then the energy, so if the map is small enough, it might be better for you to use 2 disk jumps, rather then 1 speed boost. A disk jump without a shield pack can take off about 40 health. With the shield pack, it’ll only take off 10-12 health (more or less).

Repair

  • Passive mode - Slowly regenerates health Active mode - Quickly repairs other players and units in sorrunding area (stations, vehicles etc.) The repair pack can not be used on yourself in the active mode. The uses for this are self explanatory, if you want to use it for something other then base repair, you’d be an asset to the others on your team. Ideally, if you pilot a vehicle, you’ll want a repair pack. Vehicles take a long time to respawn at your base, so don’t waste them. The longer you can keep your vehicles in the battle, the better off your team is. As the pilot, take a repair pack. Once your vehicle’s health gets low enough (25% or so), try to get to a safe spot, repair, and get back into the action.

WEAPONS

Spinfusor

  • Also known as the disc launcher, this gun is probably you’re most used weapon. The disk is a slow moving projectile that can deal about 40 damage on a direct hit. It also has an explosive feature when it makes contact which can push a player off his path. This weapon is the sole reason for staying in the air. If you remember the tutorial on jets, then you’ll know why it’s important to stay in the air. If you’re on the ground and not moving very fast, your opponent won’t need to be very accurate with his/her shots since the blast damage will chip away at your health. Mastering this weapon is one of the skills that separates the vets from the newbloods. Even though staying in the air will give you a better edge in a spinfusor fight, a vet can still drill you with multiple MAs. MA hits not only take off the most damage, but they knock you back far and fast. Also, player speed is a big factor when you’re aiming your shot. If you’re chasing a capper, you’re going to have to aim far ahead along his/her path. Ideally, you won’t be using this weapon when chasing a capper. If they have a marginal lead on you, the Grenade Launcher is a better choice.

Chaingun (CG)

  • In the right hands, this gun can deal a lot of damage quickly. Since the bullets don’t fire dead on, the further your target is, the lower your accuracy will be. Also, the accuracy will decrease the longer you hold down the fire button (due to the weapon overheating). So if it’s at all possible, sit in the water or fly through the air to keep it cooled down. Failing those 2 suggestions, try tapping the fire button to fire 3-4 round bursts, it’ll give a slower rate of fire, but you’ll have better accuracy. What makes this gun deadly is the use of the speed pack’s active mode. If you’re close to your target and use the speed pack in combination with the CG, you can take off a lot of health very quickly. This weapon is also best when used to finish off an enemy. If your opponent is down to 20% health or less; a few rounds from your CG is a quick and easy way to finish them off.

Blaster

  • For those of you new to the Tribes series… this is NOT a shotgun. Since T:V is a prequel to T1, mostly everything that was in T1 has been taken back a few technilogical generations. In T1 and T2, the blaster fired a pulse of energy. Since T:V is more primitive it doesn’t look as fancy, but it is still an energy weapon. It does not use ammunition, it’s tied into your energy reserve. Much like the CG it’s accuracy is poor over long distances. Also like the CG, this weapon can really shine when used in close proximity to your target with the speed packs active boost.

Grenade Launcher (GL)

  • This weapon is better aimed when you have elevation over your target since this projectile arches downward when it’s fired. The more elevation you have, the further you can fire this weapon. Once you’ve learned how to aim ahead of your target’s path, it’s quite easy to drill them from a distance… a task that is not so easy with the spinfusor. This weapon is also good for bouncing shots around corners. It’s a good way to clear out turrets or mines from an enemy base before you enter.

Rocket-Pod (RP)

  • The Rocket Pod has a distance limit to it. If you’re too close, the missiles won’t arm themselves and will be useless. If you fire them from too far way, they’ll do very little damage or none. Once you’ve gotten the hang of firing from the proper distance, lets take a look at your targets: vehicles, and other large and slow moving targets. Not all vehicles are easy to hit with this gun. Fighter pods are very hard to hit. Tanks and rovers are usually stationary, so let them have it. Also, players in heavy armor hug the ground and aren’t very fast. As log as you can aim to hit the ground they’re next to, the explosion can work down their health.

Burner

  • Another energy based weapon, so you don’t need to worry about ammo. You can come up with a bunch of uses for this weapon. Fire it at a generator to have it’s shielding constantly drained. While it’s burning, throw some hand nades and discs, and it’ll be destroyed in seconds. Burn fighter pods and players that hang from the roof. In maps like cavern, you can have some tricky players that can be a little hard to hit because they hang from the roof and swing in a circle. Pull out your burner and constantly fire into their path. Those grapple users seldomly try to do that twice after they’ve been burned and realise their tactic is easily countered.

Buckler (Shield)

  • As mentioned before in the BB definition. This weapon can not only defect projectiles, but also other players. This weapon is limited to medium class armor. Since you can guide the buckler when it’s thrown, it’s possible to hit a player twice in one throw (once when it’s thrown, and once as it returns). Simply holding the buckler can deflect projectiles, but this takes a lot of practice because the buckler only covers about 40% of your body. The buckler is the main reason why mediums can be better on the flag stand then a HOF. There are few things funnier in T:V then when a capper is skiing towards your flag at 150mph+ and you BB back in the direction he came from. On a map like Emerald, it might be a good idea to BB the player into the fence. If you have turrets set up close to your flag, even better. not only will you stop the caper dead in his/her tracks, but they’ll be dead in a few seconds as well.

Sniper Rifle (SR)

  • The SR is restricted to light armor only. Also, it uses both ammo and energy. Head shots deal more damage, so if it’s possible, aim for the head. Another thing of note; the damage your shot deals is based on how much energy is used. If you fire with a full energy bar, you’ll deal a lot of damage. Taking a shot right after you first would be a bad idea. It’ll do very little damage, and your target will probably spot the red beam if they didn’t see it the first time.

Mortar

  • Only heavy armor is blessed with this weapon. Mortars make very good offensive and defensive weapons. How you use it is up to you. If you practice your timing, killing cappers as they grab your flag can be both fun and a strong defence. Destroying every piece of equipment in the enemies base is another obvious use for the mortar.

Grappler

  • With a lot of practice, the grapple can be used for a lot of situations. Most obvious use; hang from the ceiling. If you’re in the air, you can avoid splash damage from weapons like the spinfusor, grenades, and mortar. I’ll let you decide where to hang from. The grapple makes a quick getaway tool in cavern for a flag capper.

I mentioned earlier under the skiing section that the grapple can help you change your direction with no loss in momentum. If you grapple to the ground, and hold down your ski button, you’ll ski in a circumference around the anchor. This means you can pull a 180 degree turn on the spot and not slow down. This is a bit harder then it sounds. You’ll want to practice this over and over. It would be better if you could see it demonstrated (play long enough to get showed up by a good grappler and you’ll get a good idea).

Hand Grenades

  • Make sure you bind these to a key you can easily press as you’re moving/strafing and firing your weapon. Hitting the enemy with a disc is good. Hitting the enemy with a disc and a hand grenade is better. Configure your keys any way you want… just make sure you can use those grenades. Hand grenades and disc combo is also a quick way of taking down a generator in 3 seconds. Just spam those two weapons simultaneously and you can take out an enemy rover in a few seconds as well. One final use is when you’re dueling another player and you’re both in the air. Hand nades explode quickly, so hitting your opponent while you’re both in the air isn’t too difficult. Shock Knife

  • An underutilised weapon available by pressing the tilda key (~). In some servers the shock-knife damage has been greatly increased making it a very handy tool, as it not only quickly kills an opponent, but humiliates them at the same time!

DEPLOYABLES

Repair Station

  • Probably best used when planted next to a generator, sensor, or a group of deployed turrets. If your teammates can place turrets and a repair station together, you’ve got a good place to idle if you have the flag and are waiting for you flag to be returned. Anyone coming after you will have to deal with you and the turrets; all of which will be constantly repaired.

Turrets

  • Place these together. I highly suggest close to the flag and hopefully next to the repair station. There can be some conflict within the team when it comes to deployables. Some people will want turrets to defend the base or gens. Others think they are better allocated towards flag defence. Turrets need constant repair and replacement. It only takes 2 discs to destroy a turret… so if you’re on defence take a repair pack with you and keep the turrets fully repaired. If one goes down, get another one to take it’s place ASAP.

Mines

  • Not much to say about these guys… putting one on your flag stand is usually a good insurance policy. Any other high traffic area in your base where the enemies like go is a good place for a mine. If you want a laugh, try putting on on the enemy’s flag stand. Inventory Station (INVO)
  • The only place you can put down a station where your whole team can find it is at your base… even though your base already has inventory station. Which doesn’t leave many other options,other than using it for your own private use. If that’s the case, it should be around your base somewhere to restock players on defence. Try not to put one out in the middle of nowhere so you can resupply you sniper rifle ammo.

VEHICLES

Fighter Pod

  • Small, agile, fast rate of fire and an infinite amount of missile. Aside from chasing down cappers the pod is good for destroying other vehicles and as Base defense against incoming Heavies.

Assault Ship

  • A powerful ship when it’s fully armed. If you jump into the pilot’s seat, let your team know you need two gunners. 1 fighter pod can take down an assault ship quickly so make sure you’ve got a fully loaded ship. If you are the only gunner in the ship, you can change seats by pressing 2 and 3 on your keyboard. This will toggle you between the two guns. Keep that in mind when a fighter flys out of your field of view.

Rover

  • This vehicle can carry 6 players. Aside from a direct transport into a base, the rover can be used as a 3rd spawn point. Generally, you’ll want to park the rover close to a base, but far enough out of sight. It also helps if the enemy’s radar is down. If you find an enemy rover close to your base, jump in the driver’s seat. Once you do that, it becomes your team’s rover, and the enemy won’t be able to spawn from it. Unfortunately, there’s a bug that prevents stolen rovers from becoming spawn points for your team… but at least the enemy can’t use it either. Once you’ve stolen it, either drive it out to the middle of nowhere and leave it, or destroy it. Just make sure the enemy doesn’t take it back.

Jump Tank

  • Fairly simple to use. I don’t have much advice for you that you can’t already imagine on your own. Sometimes people will get annoyed if you park the tank on the flag on a public server.

EXTRA TIPS

  • Organized teamwork might be a little tough to pull off in a public server where you’re playing complete strangers. One thing you can do to work with teamates is help the flag carrier. Keep yourself available so when a teammate takes the flag, you can escort him/her back to your base.
  • Be flexible. If you’re on HO keeping the enemy’s base in ruins, and they’re still beating your team in score then it’s time for you to either go on flag defense, or start capping. Even if your previous task was important, Flag capping takes priority over all. Try not to stick to one position and hope someone on your team will start capping.
  • If your base is under constant attack by HO players, there’s a good chance they’re spawning from a rover. Heavy armor is slow, so if you notice a HO in your base moments after you just killed him, there’s probably a rover close to your base. I see a lot of new players with the wrong priorities. They’re stuck in a loop of: kill HO, repair, kill HO, repair, etc… Instead it’s more important to leave your base, spot the rover that’s hidden close by, and destory it. Once you’ve done that, then you kill the HOs, then you repair.
  • Get to know and use your voice chat!
  • Pilots of the Fighter Pods are vulnerable from behind. In maps like cavern where they fly low, try to deliver a MA from behind. It’s possible to kill the enemy pilot without dealing a lot of damage to the pod.
  • Similar to the last tip, players that operate base turrets are also vulnerable, either from behind or above. I find it easier to run up to the turret, jet above the gunner’s head drop discs and nades down onto him. If you wish to keep your distance, grab a sniper rifle and get some easy head shots.
  • I can’t stress the usefulness of hand grenades. By throwing those at the same time you fire a disc or GL, you can easily destroy stations, generators, grounded vehicles, etc. Since you can carry 5 hand grenades, you can destory objects in a matter of seconds. This can be useful if someone has placed a bunch of turrets around a repair station. Since the station will instantly begin fixing any damage you cause, the additional nades will make the repair staion irrelevant.

CONSOLE COMMANDS

To access the console in game, press the tab key. some commands include (type these without the “quotes”):

  • name ### <- sets your name to ###
  • stat fps <- displays fps
  • stat net <- displays ping
  • open 1.2.3.4:5678 <- connect to a server
  • fov ### <- changes the field of view. default value is between 90.
  • ignore ### <- ignore(not see) all chat by player ###.
  • mapvote ### %%% <- vote for map ###, you can also set gametype to &&& (for example rabbit, what is not possible through admin tab).