GWJ Podcast Playdate #2: Tribes 2 (Free Download!)

I got connected, the server browser listed the server at 112ms ping. In game it didn't feel brilliant, I guess this is down to a lack of lag compensation (?) that has become a standard feature on modern games that I'm just too used to.

Tamren wrote:

maybe if you ditch the bots? They might be hogging cpu time.

Yea, I was thinking we might not want bots for Friday anyway if we get a decent turnout. They were handy while I was testing server access (and learning how the heck to play ;-)). I'll lose the bots. Also made a few other tweaks to the system to help free up some CPU cycles - hopefully that helps.

Tamren wrote:

it could be the packet rate settings are too low as well. I have no idea. None of the other servers I play on have the same problem.

Very possible. I do recall in my spastic late night research to setup the server I read something about some packet settings. Ignored it at the time (since packets didn't matter much until I got the thing running :-)). I'll look into that a bit tonight though.

Does it look like there are many other open "vanilla" servers available in the browser (been too busy tweaking to take a look)? Might be good to have a backup plan for Friday in the (likely) event that I can't get this thing running smoothly.

Ahhh - just saw on the TribesNext forum a server setting is recommended to fix stutter.

SetPerfCounterEnable(0); //server stutter fix

Hopefully that does the trick. I'll try it tonight (probably after 6). Gotta get working!

I just tried it out again and it was running much better. Had a ping of around 50 this time

Radical Ans wrote:

I just tried it out again and it was running much better. Had a ping of around 50 this time

Good sign. I did apply that setting for server stutter just before lunch.

FYI - I'm getting no response from the server now from work - looks to be down. I'll check it out tonight.

Oh man I remember Tribes 2's random quirkiness with the engine. Setting some odd variable would just boost performance like crazy. I actually worked on a mod for this for a while. Very weird engine.

Oh yeh!!! I'll be there!

Hi, please read my comments.

I am a representative from the Tribes 2 competition community. www.teamwarfare.com - I have been playing Tribes since I was 13 for over 10 years. And it is the only game that I continue to enjoy and learn about.

I mean no disrespect. But none of you, none, have any concept of what Tribes is. It is an incredibly difficult game that has a high learning curve. Nobody wants to admit that they are an average person that couldn't understand "vehicles weapons and flags". On the surface, the game seems to be an easy thing to understand, its just a video game. But when you get really good at the game you will realize what Tribes gameplay really is. An incredibly difficult and fun blend of skill, speed, and strategy. Its kept me interested for over 10 years. I am still a student of the game.

An analogy could be drawn to starcraft. Starcraft is so complicated that I could play it for 8 years and still not be very good compared to the pros. I could study and study, I could take a starcraft class at MIT (for real), and I still wouldn't be good. It wouldn't be fair for me to claim I knew what starcraft was about because I played it vs my friend and it "seems" like an easy concept to understand. Hey! Armies vs Armies? How hard could it be? Hard. Tribes is hard.

If you reach out to the community, we will help you learn the game and be able to really say what its about. Keep in mind, that this game is best in competition, with an actual organized team vs another. Huge maps with tons of vehicles are not what tribes is about. The problem is, these are the things which attract newbies that would otherwise have a hard time understanding the deep gameplay behind the pub server.

Here is an example of two highly skilled teams fighting each other in competition. IA and Rapture. This match was casted by a great person in the community Nordramor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igjM6...

Watch that, and you will see how intense the game can get.

If anyone wants to learn tribes, the community will help you. There is even a team out there now called bottlecap that taught completely new players to play. 2 vets turned a team of newbies into a relatively competitive team.

http://www.teamwarfare.com/forums/fo...

If tribes interests you, post in that forum. We'll help point you in the right direction. The saddest part about tribes is that the masses really and truly will never play it as it truly is. Its one of the greatest game concepts to ever be made.

Nice of you to reach out Kambul, but we're only setting this up primarily as a nostalgia trip. I'm sure some folks will look into it deeper once they've gotten a taste of it

Kambul wrote:

Hi, please read my comments.

I am a representative from the Tribes 2 competition community. www.teamwarfare.com - I have been playing Tribes since I was 13 for over 10 years. And it is the only game that I continue to enjoy and learn about.

I mean no disrespect. But none of you, none, have any concept of what Tribes is. It is an incredibly difficult game that has a high learning curve. Nobody wants to admit that they are an average person that couldn't understand "vehicles weapons and flags". On the surface, the game seems to be an easy thing to understand, its just a video game. But when you get really good at the game you will realize what Tribes gameplay really is. An incredibly difficult and fun blend of skill, speed, and strategy. Its kept me interested for over 10 years. I am still a student of the game.

An analogy could be drawn to starcraft. Starcraft is so complicated that I could play it for 8 years and still not be very good compared to the pros. I could study and study, I could take a starcraft class at MIT (for real), and I still wouldn't be good. It wouldn't be fair for me to claim I knew what starcraft was about because I played it vs my friend and it "seems" like an easy concept to understand. Hey! Armies vs Armies? How hard could it be? Hard. Tribes is hard.

If you reach out to the community, we will help you learn the game and be able to really say what its about. Keep in mind, that this game is best in competition, with an actual organized team vs another. Huge maps with tons of vehicles are not what tribes is about. The problem is, these are the things which attract newbies that would otherwise have a hard time understanding the deep gameplay behind the pub server.

Here is an example of two highly skilled teams fighting each other in competition. IA and Rapture. This match was casted by a great person in the community Nordramor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igjM6...

Watch that, and you will see how intense the game can get.

If anyone wants to learn tribes, the community will help you. There is even a team out there now called bottlecap that taught completely new players to play. 2 vets turned a team of newbies into a relatively competitive team.

http://www.teamwarfare.com/forums/fo...

If tribes interests you, post in that forum. We'll help point you in the right direction. The saddest part about tribes is that the masses really and truly will never play it as it truly is. Its one of the greatest game concepts to ever be made.

Here are his links, for your clicking pleasures:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igjM6KOm8ZE
http://www.teamwarfare.com/forums/forumdisplay.asp?ForumID=4

Thanks for the reach out. I'm sure a number of us will be interested into getting deeper into this.

Scratched wrote:

I got connected, the server browser listed the server at 112ms ping. In game it didn't feel brilliant, I guess this is down to a lack of lag compensation (?) that has become a standard feature on modern games that I'm just too used to.

The lag compensation makes sniping annoying. I have no trouble lining up my crosshairs with whatever, but because of the lag I have to lead the target by a significant amount. The laser rifle doesn't have a maximum range and is only limited by line of sight and the fog horizon. My longest shot was well over 500 meters. At that range you have to lead the target by well over an inch, so guessing the correct place to hit is tough.

Kambul wrote:

I mean no disrespect. But none of you, none, have any concept of what Tribes is.

Did your magic 8 ball tell you that?

I've never played Tribes in my life but this quote is awesome:

pompous tribes player wrote:

Nobody wants to admit that they are an average person that couldn't understand "vehicles weapons and flags".

Just watched the CTF video. It's a shame the commentator isn't more energetic.

It's pretty fun. Some of the scrums around the flag caps were reminiscent of a loose puck in front of the net. Good stuff.

Kambul wrote:

I mean no disrespect. But none of you, none, have any concept of what Tribes is.

I'm guessing we were supposed to purify ourselves in the Ganges before handling the sacred cow?

I can see that the Tribes die hards are all very nice respectful folks.

Kambul wrote:

I mean no disrespect. But none of you, none, have any concept of what Tribes is. It is an incredibly difficult game that has a high learning curve. Nobody wants to admit that they are an average person that couldn't understand "vehicles weapons and flags".

How you can list those 3 things without mentioning Jetpacks makes me doubt you have played the game that much.

And Halo seems to have done pretty well with "average people", and it has vehicles, weapons, and flags.

Kambul wrote:

If anyone wants to learn tribes, the community will help you. There is even a team out there now called bottlecap that taught completely new players to play. 2 vets turned a team of newbies into a relatively competitive team.

http://www.teamwarfare.com/forums/fo...

If tribes interests you, post in that forum. We'll help point you in the right direction. The saddest part about tribes is that the masses really and truly will never play it as it truly is. Its one of the greatest game concepts to ever be made.

http://www.teamwarfare.com/forums/sh...
Let's see what the ol' TeamWarfare folks have to say about us...

kryand wrote:

:lol: Dumbass newbs trying to talk like they are "old school" and attempting to analyze gameplay are funny.

Yeah guys, Base CTF!!

Tarzul wrote:

actually maybe someone should join their vent server and explain tribes 2 to them

StarSeeker wrote:

Seriously. That would be awesome...

Maybe I'll try and join their vent tomorrow. See how fast they'll kickban me.

GWJ vs. Teamwarfare

Bad Company 2!

Man I wish I was cool enough to be a tribes 2 master. Maybe I should ditch you gwj punks and join this "TWL". They seem to know everything!

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Kambul wrote:

If anyone wants to learn tribes, the community will help you. There is even a team out there now called bottlecap that taught completely new players to play. 2 vets turned a team of newbies into a relatively competitive team.

http://www.teamwarfare.com/forums/fo...

If tribes interests you, post in that forum. We'll help point you in the right direction. The saddest part about tribes is that the masses really and truly will never play it as it truly is. Its one of the greatest game concepts to ever be made.

http://www.teamwarfare.com/forums/sh...
Let's see what the ol' TeamWarfare folks have to say about us...

kryand wrote:

:lol: Dumbass newbs trying to talk like they are "old school" and attempting to analyze gameplay are funny.

Yeah guys, Base CTF!!

Tarzul wrote:

actually maybe someone should join their vent server and explain tribes 2 to them

StarSeeker wrote:

Seriously. That would be awesome...

Maybe I'll try and join their vent tomorrow. See how fast they'll kickban me.

Silly trolls, you shouldn't broadcast your trolling in advance

Fxeni wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:
Kambul wrote:

If anyone wants to learn tribes, the community will help you. There is even a team out there now called bottlecap that taught completely new players to play. 2 vets turned a team of newbies into a relatively competitive team.

http://www.teamwarfare.com/forums/fo...

If tribes interests you, post in that forum. We'll help point you in the right direction. The saddest part about tribes is that the masses really and truly will never play it as it truly is. Its one of the greatest game concepts to ever be made.

http://www.teamwarfare.com/forums/sh...
Let's see what the ol' TeamWarfare folks have to say about us...

kryand wrote:

:lol: Dumbass newbs trying to talk like they are "old school" and attempting to analyze gameplay are funny.

Yeah guys, Base CTF!!

Tarzul wrote:

actually maybe someone should join their vent server and explain tribes 2 to them

StarSeeker wrote:

Seriously. That would be awesome...

Maybe I'll try and join their vent tomorrow. See how fast they'll kickban me.

Silly trolls, you shouldn't broadcast your trolling in advance :P

Give Swampy a few drinks, and get him in there.

El-Producto wrote:

GWJ vs. Teamwarfare

Bad Company 2!

Sign me up =)

(I was trying to be nice to the crazy folks)

Can someone get me up to speed on this Capture the Flag business?

El-Producto wrote:

Can someone get me up to speed on this Capture the Flag business?

I don't know. It's pretty complicated.

El-Producto wrote:

Give Swampy a few drinks, and get him in there.

Seconded.

El-Producto wrote:

Can someone get me up to speed on this Capture the Flag business?

Sorry, I don't think you are any more capable of understanding it than I am of explaining it. We will just have to be careful not to knock ourselves out while be bang on the keyboard in complete bewilderment while we play.

Although from the sound of it, we might not be able to comprehend it so much, that we will fail at double clicking the icon to start the game anyway.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
El-Producto wrote:

Can someone get me up to speed on this Capture the Flag business?

I don't know. It's pretty complicated.

I understand there are weapons and vehicles involved?

It's a shame you can't forwards link between games when joining a server, so that joining T2 with the wrong password would install and forward you to a game of OpenTTD. I'd pop onto vent to hear that.

I'm looking forward to the revival of Quake 2 so people can tell me how much I don't understand about rocket jumps.