April 2000
4.27.00          Tribes2Players is looking for help organizing the TribesCon convention:
I NEED HELP!!!! I need some major help for TribesCon 2000. If you are interested I have these jobs available....
1) Web Designer - Need a good looking website ASAP
2) Social Engineer - Need someone to call local companies and convince them they want to sponsor this event with anything they can provide.
3) Logo Designer - Need a sweet logo to post everywhere.
If anyone here works at any good companies that can make T-Shirts, Buttons, Posters, can provide T1 or better to a remote location, anything and everything would be welcomed. Thank you all. Contact me by sending mail to Colosus@Tribes2Players.com


  I'll be gone this weekend for a state science olympiad competition, cheering my old school team on with a bunch of friends :)   With Dynamix gearing up for E3, I don't expect much more Tribes 2 news will occur during that time, and I'll post updates for anything that happened on Monday when I'm back.  Hope you have a good weekend, and here's hoping the team makes it to the national competition.  ;)

4.26.00          Just noticed on Blue's News that the NV15 (now revealed as the GeForce2 GTS ) has been released to a bunch of hardware sites for reviews.  Check out AnandTech, Sharky Extreme, FiringSquad, RIVA Station (thanks Savage News), Extreme Hardware, GameSpot, Björn 3D, and iXBT (thanks G256 Games) for the reviews :)  Hm... Tribes 2 and GeForce 2... coincidence? ;)

Added the headlines for yesterday... that's what I get for posting late at night :b

4.25.00          Just saw this over at the Tribesplayers Forums regarding a new patch and mod for Tribes 1:
Okay...reason prevails! The patch is being made and will arrive...well...as soon as its done.
The initial programming work is done already and we're about to enter QA. I'm not sure how long the QA process will last.
Details:
-- The Heavy Offense tactic is a direct result of the sub-orbital velocity of skiing. Therefore, we're capping the ski velocities. Lights can still go pretty fast, mediums are slower than lights, and Heavies can still ski, but at reduced speeds. This should restore much of the previous game balance, but still leaves skiing as an effective tactic, although you will need to adapt tactics accordingly.
-- The flag/mine/sensor/etc. cheats are a result of a lack of CRC checking. They allow a local user to change models and textures of critical game elements on the local machine only, thus allowing a user to see six-story tall flags on his machine, while all other gamers see the normal flag on their machines. The new CRC checking will prevent this from occurring as the system checks your local shapes to see if they conform to what the current game or MOD being played is supposed to use.
This patch should be ready soon (I have no idea what soon really means, so don't ask). When it is public, we will also be setting up an unofficial mod called "BasePlus". The BasePlus mod will be a Dynamix-created mod where we use Tribes 1 as a test bed for many of our game balance changes we intend to put into Tribes 2. We'll be improving the medium armor, messing with vehicles, altering weapon characteristics, etc.
In otherwords, we're setting it up so that y'all can see design changes as they occur and participate in the process, giving us feedback at the same time.
How does that sound to you?
-- Dave Georgeson
Producer/Director, Tribes 2.
It'll be nice to put an end to the arguments over cheating with models of flags, mines, turret zones, etc ;)  And the BasePlus mod sounds really great :D  Unofficial Betatesting anyone? :)


  And before you start wondering about losing skiing, let me add this other post:
Small modification and important for those that care:
The patch DOES NOT change the skiing rate if you do not play on a BasePlus mod.
Therefore, for those of you that don't want to change your skiing rate, you can still patch and play normally. You'll still benefit from the CRC checking, but not get the ski cap.
-- Dave.
I think we owe the Dev Team yet another big thankyou :)

  Yet another post that just needs to be added ;), describing the BasePlus mod:
Well...to tell the truth...we haven't really decided all of it yet. BasePlus will start out only on 4-5 Dynamix-run servers as we tweak parameters here and there. Capping ski speeds, changing the railgun so it's less effective at long range, lengthening the ELF range somewhat, toughening up vehicles, possibly adding weapons to vehicles, etc.
Then, when we like what we're seeing and have the T1 weapons and vehicles balanced more in the way that we envision the game in T2 to be played, we'll most likely wrap it all up and publish it as a MOD that can be used by y'all.
You can use it or not. If you play the BasePlus mod while it's being developed, you will be instrumental in providing feedback to us about those changes and can actually help groom T2 balance somewhat. If you wait until it's all done, then you'll have "Tribes 1.5" to play, if you so desire.
Or you can just play Tribes 1, subtitled "Heavy Offense", and be happy. heh.
-- Dave Georgeson
Producer/Director, Tribes 2.

4.24.00          Sounds like Tribes 2's engine is hitting the big time... Zombie studios has announced they have:
4 full-time level designer/builder/mapper positions open on 2 games in development based on LithTech 2.0 and Tribes 2.0.    HL/Quake/Tribes level required for us to evaluate for art direction and game mechanics.
Contact: mark@zombie.com
Thanks to Fraggle for pointing out this news clip on Specforce.net

  Just heard from Scott about TribesHQ, a new site dedicated to Tribes 1 and 2.  Very nice looking site with pictures, links, files, and forums. :)

  From TribesPlayers:  
I wanted to make a major announcement for some very exciting news. EEPROM and Goldberg of Mappers Extreme have joined forces with Resistance Imaging to create "the" Tribes 2 mapping website. The site will encompass all of the great ideas that Mappers Extreme has come to stand for and more. We will be designing custom made Tribes 2 maps on request and will also review other user made maps to rate and post for the public to download. EEPROM and Goldberg will also be designing all to the custom maps for the official Tribes 2 Dark Empires clan Ladder. The Dark Empires Ladder will be the mother of all ladders. We are currently working on building the site and have yet to name it, but we will let everyone know when it is ready.   --Goldberg
 I'll be looking forward to seeing the site when it's up :)

  Tribes2Players is hosting a petition to keep the IRC chat for Tribes2, rather than moving over to Sierra's Won.net:
After the interview with Mark Frohnmayer we found out that Dynamix is taking away IRC Chat and moving to Won.net. There are many of us that have met hundreds of people that they would never know if it weren't for IRC. IRC gives us better chances to actually talk with the people we are battling.
I don't know much about Won.net Chat, but I do know that you can connect to IRC using one of hundreds of different clients with which people have written scripts to allow you to have fun, connect to games and even administer your own channel. What I am proposing here is an IRC Petition to try to convince Dynamix to at least keep irc.dynamix.com:6667 online so that everyone can still connect and have fun without being forced to use Won.net.
If you wish to sign, send an e-mail to colosus@tribes2players.com with your Real Name (first and last) and your e-mail address. I will compile the list and show Dynamix myself. Let's support IRC!
If you're interested in learning more about Won.net before deciding, you can find out more about it here.

  From PlanetStarsiege:
Cyberlot Networks is ready to release their Tribes site to the public. After lots of talk, we still can't figure out what to call it! So we would like the community's help. You can email spoonman@cyberlot.net with your suggestions. The winner will get much praise, mention on the site, and maybe a prize.
On another note, we are looking for staff for the site. We will need a couple news posters with basic HTML knowledge, people to write tutorials, people in charge of getting files posted, and maybe some miscellaneous jobs. Please email spoonman@cyberlot.net.

  Also, Congratulations to the winners of the Tribes World Championship, US-West!  They won the final match Saturday night in hard-fought battles on Nothern Lights and Clock of Night against the Finnish team.  Both teams deserve a round of applause :)  For all the details, go to PlanetStarsiege.

Finally, the Armor section of the screenshots has been updated (no new pics)  with a easier interface, and finally added the descriptions to the armor (compliments of Tribesplayers).

4.22.00          Daily Radar has added a final page to their Tribes Week section, with a bunch of screenshots of Tribes 2 weapons :).  No new weapons are featured, but there are several shots each of the plasma gun, laser rifle, chaingun, grenade launcher, spinfusor, and blaster.  Here's three of the pics:

  Just heard from Dave Georgeson over on the Tribesplayers Bulletin Board that the minimun requirements may be raised to a PII  300Mhz processor.   Now don't go running off on me, this isn't set in stone, as the game is still in progress and optimization is still going on.  I'll have more concrete data for you as soon as Tribes 2 goes into Alpha testing.

Added the weapons to their own page in the screenshot section.  There are now seperate pages for the armor, vehicles, weapons, dev team, ingame shots, and a just for fun section :)  Tribes Etc has a grand total of 195 Tribes 2 pics :D, more than any other place in the world :)

4.20.00          Sorry for the temporary absence...  I had my final exams this last week, and I didn't dare look around much for Tribes 2 stuff, or I'd be sucked away from my studies.  But they're all behind me now, so look forward to regular updates :D.  (And yes, I had to make that wish that the T2 news dam would break just before finals :b)

  Daily Radar just posted a new page to their Tribes 2 interview section as I speak, with the T2 backstory courtesy of our friend Blake "Hex" Hutchins :)   There's new descriptions for each of the tribes, including the "Harbingers of Phoenix" (yes, you heard me right ;) ) and the Bioderm Hordes.  Here's a piece:

In Tribes 2, the BioDerm Hordes erupt from their worlds in the Empire. They seek the conquest of the wilderzone, and they destroy everything in their path. The Tribes are divided and caught up in their own internal conflicts, unprepared to deal with such a rapacious enemy. Though they pride themselves on being the best warriors humanity has ever produced, the ultimate warriors, the tribes now face a near-superhuman race that has literally bred itself to wage total war. They must overcome their own feuds and independent natures if they wish to stave off destruction.

  Daily Radar posted a 4 page interview with Dave Georgeson yesterday.  Some nice new details, including voices, commander screen, and vehicles.  Here's a clip:

The list is as follows (names and design elements are subject to change):
•   Ground Scout: A single-person, very fast, lightly armored vehicle with a forward-firing machine gun and the ability to drop mines and grenades behind it.
•   Assault Tank: Tough, three-person vehicle with a forward-firing plasma gun and two passengers able to provide covering fire.
•   Mobile Point Base: A huge, slow-moving, very tough vehicle capable of carrying seven people. This large hovering behemoth can be "grounded" and activated to form a forward base for the team. The vehicle comes complete with inventory, ammo, and command stations, as well as an AA gun and defense turrets.
•   Flying Scout: Similar to the Tribes 1 flier, but with a forward-firing machine gun. Aerial physics has been changed to make the scout much more nimble and shows inertia more so that the scout is more of a true flier.
•   Bomber: This three-person vehicle has a pilot (with a fixed-forward weapon), a bombardier (who can use a bombsight to drop devastating bombs on targets flown over) and a tailgunner who keeps those pesky flying scouts off the vehicle as it moves.
•   Heavy Transport: This vehicle carries up to five people. The vehicle is unarmed, however, all passengers except the pilot can freely fire in most directions. One passenger can assume the tailgunner position to cover the blind spot to the rear of the vehicle.

  Regarding the new vehicles, Tribes2Players got this e-mail from Got Milk?:

We're still doing some design work, especially on the vehicles - and we only came up with the new ideas for the vehicles last week - so that's why you haven't heard much about it yet... we reserve the right to change our minds about anything we've said in the past up until the day we ship :p

Don't worry about it though, T2's gonna be way FUN :)

- Mark

Thanks Tribes2Players :)

  Daily Radar also added a small preview on 4/17/00.  Highlights include single player mini-campaigns, objectives list, and terrain editor.  Includes some very nice screenshots :)

  Tribes2Players has posted a massive T2 Q&A... 7 beautiful pages of almost every question you could think of :)  Check it out!  Topics include:  Weapons, Vehicles, Water, Skiing, Sound, Weather effects, Graphics Engine, Powerplay, Physics, Graphics Cards, Medium Armor, BioDerms, Gameplay, Misc, Typicals.

  Noticed on Blue's News that Got Milk? is trying to integrate OpenAL into the Tribes2 source code...  Unknown whether this is just for the server code, or whether we may see T2 released for Linux as well :)

  Also noticed on Blue's News that Sierra has announced that Motley Crue will be providing the one of the background music tracks for Tribes 2, as well as exclusive ingame sound effects.  Here's a clip from the official press release:
Bellevue, WA (April 17, 2000) - Sierra Studios(tm), Dynamix(r), Motley Records/Beyond Music and legendary rock band Motley Crue are proud to announce their collaboration to produce a single for Dynamix's upcoming PC team-based action game TRIBES 2.
Motley Crue, currently in studio recording their next album "New Tattoo," will offer one of their forthcoming singles to be featured on the TRIBES 2 soundtrack. The song, which has not yet been titled, will also be heard on the band's approaching summer 2000 "Maximum Rock" tour and on the new album, due out June 20th. In addition to this feature song, Motley Crue will provide exclusive in game sound effects, with selected guitar and drum loops.
"We're fortunate to have this opportunity to work with the members of Motley Crue and Motley Records /Beyond Music on this promotion," said Jim Veevaert, vice president of marketing for Sierra Studios. "Motley Crue's musical style and edge will really compliment the action and gameplay found in TRIBES 2."
"Providing music for a game like Tribes 2 is a natural progression for our band, it's another medium for us to share our music with a new audience," commented Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue. "Games are a growing form of entertainment, and this is an opportunity for us take another step into an environment of new technology and forward thinking."
Motley Crue's essential albums, Too Fast For Love, Shout At The Devil, Theatre of Pain and Dr. Feelgood sold over 40 million copies and produced over four Top Ten Singles. In 1999, Motley Crue re-released their multi-platinum catalog on Motley Records simply titled "Crucial Crue." In addition the band has played to over 30 million fans and is credited by some as having helped define rock music and lifestyle to the 'MTV generation.

Finally, I've updated TribesEtc's screenshot section with the new shots. :)  Also, I've sorted out the news archive to provide easier access to old news.

4.14.00        Haven't seen any new T2 stuff for almost a week :(  Here's hoping the floodgates will break again soon :)

  The Dragon Talon Mercenaries are sponsoring a newbie training night tonight for Tribes 1.  Look for them in channel #DTM around 9 CST (10 EST, 7 PST, I think...) .  We'll be glad to help out if you're relatively or completely new and would like some suggestions or encouragements.

4.13.00          Thank you to all who voted for the MWeb poll yesterday!  Here's the results:

"Ok Troops. We're finally there. Thanks to the resounding flood of votes on the tribal forum and especially on the mweb poll, we're getting not one, but TWO Tribes servers!

For now, we're going to host Base Tribes on a jhb server and Rengades on the Cpt one. Later I hope to turn this into Tribes and Tribes2.

Huge amounts of thanks to all you 'orrible little men and women who helped make this happen, and especially to Neter and Gosh't who recognised the Tribes community for what it is.....alive.

4.12.00        News has been slow lately...  Two small news blips to add:

  Added another poll to the polls section... here's the description:
    MWeb - South African games server
Results of poll will determine what game gets another server in South Africa.  Give our fellow tribesplayers over there a hand, and vote for Tribes ;)
        Games:  First person 3-d shooters (i.e. Tribes 1)
        Poll ends: Unknown
            Restrictions: One vote per person

  Also, I noticed that the Shellshock mod (in planning for Tribes 2) has posted a small Q&A with Dave Moore, focusing on several model issues.

4.09.00          Gamespot's got a preview of Tribes 2 up and running, along with 6 new screenshots.  Here's a clip:

Land-based vehicles will be another addition to Tribes 2. Like their air-based counterparts from Tribes, these vehicles will come in scout, assault, and transport variants. All three of these vehicles will come with a default loadout of weapons, but the assault buggy will have a turret with barrels that can be replaced with rocket launchers, grenade launchers, or chain guns, depending on what the situation. The air-based vehicles will remain intact in Tribes 2, and will boast a number of improvements from before. The light scout, for example, will lose its missile in favor of a pair of chain guns. Ardent Tribes players will remember the frustration caused by the missile's inaccuracy and inefficiency in combat. The heavier assault air vehicle will have bombing capabilities for an even deadlier punch. Dynamix will also be adding three new weapons to Tribe's original nine, which have been completely remodeled and thoroughly playtested for balance. While the team hasn't decided on the final three weapons, Frohnmayer did say that one of those is a new rocket launcher.
Alright! :)

  Just noticed over at Tribes2Players.com that IGN has a new preview of T2 up.  Highlights include network code optimization, AI, update on progress, refinded commands, map editor, and natural hazards.  They also have some new pics.   Here's a couple:

  Doh... just noticed I forgot to provide a link for the T2P Mark Frohnmayer IRC interview. :(  Here's the formatted txt file.  Sorry for the confusion.

  I just added a vehicles page to the screenshot section, as I've run across pics of 4 of the 6 vehicles so far (at least I think...  I'm not postive about the APC)... so go on over, take a look, and start fighting for the driver's seat ;)

More pics have been added to the T2 shots section as well...

4.08.00          Incite has a sweet new T2 movie up :D  There's a small 4 Mb and large 11 MB version, both showing the buggy, movements, and animations :D  Wow!

4.06.00          Incite has 5 more shots up :)  Sounds like it may be the last we'll see from them for a while.  As always, all shots have been added to the screenshot collection in their full, unedited glory, in their original size. (once you click on the thumbnail)  :)  Here's a couple of incite's latest:

  Also, I've noticed several shots of previews from PC Gamer, PC Accelerator, and NextGen over at Tribes2Players.com ;)  You can bet I'll be picking up copies of the magazines when I see them on the stands ;)  One of the PC Accelerator ones is a list of some of the weapons :D  Here's a copy:


  Finally, the screenshot section has been updated with all known Tribes 2 screenshots...  124 total  :D  I've divided the section into 4 pages, in order to speed up loading times for you.  Newest shots are on page 4.  Don't forget that you can obtain full res shots by clicking on the thumbnails. ;)

4.04.00          Incite has 5 new shots up... possibly the best yet ;)  Wow!  Here's just one or two:

  IRC chat results:  The IRC chat last night with Mark "Got Milk?" Frohnmayer went over extremely well :)  A big round of applause to Mark, and to Jees, Col, and Inq for setting up the well-organized chat.  If you missed it, or would like to review all the questions asked, you can either see the IRC log file from Tribes2Players or this formatted version (spell-checked, nick changes and join/leaves removed) I worked up.  All I can say is they are huge :) (er... not space wise, but content) ;).

Also, the Tribes Companion has been delayed :b  I was just polishing it up when T2P sponsored the IRC chat, and I've got a wealth of new information to incorporate into it.  Sorry for the delay, but you'll like the results.  I'm also hoping to get some new screenshots to add to the Companion. :)

4.02.00          Tribes2Players will be hosting an IRC question and answer period with Mark Frohnmayer tonight, in channel #Tribes2Players.com at 7:15 PM PST.  For the particulars, head over to Tribes2Players.  Hope to see you there ;)

  Tribal War has two new Tribes 2 shots :)  You can find them here, under the news section for April 1. (TW has moved to a new server, so their DNS is looks a little odd right now, but it'll be fixed shortly)

  I've updated the screenshot section with all the recent T2 shots.  As with before, click on a screenshot to enlarge it.

4.01.00          Hmm.. guess there's a lot of people interested in Tribes 2 :)  Fraggle's server for Starsiege-Tribes.de crashed, as did the first one or two to mirror the Tribes 2 movie (described below)...  So here's another two links to relieve the stress:  Blue's News and 3dGamers.

  Saw over at Starsiege-Tribes.de that there is a new Tribes 2 movie out :D.  Since the web site is in German, you can either wade through their site and look for the big Tribes 2 banner in the news, or click here for a direct link to the video.  The movie combines parts of the 1999 E3 movie with some new shots of a Blood Eagle (medium?) running around a desert world and its base interiors.  Not quite as exciting as the older E3 movie, but worth looking at.  It's about 10 or 11 megs, in QuickTime format.

  Tip of the day:  As you may already know, 4/01/00 (April Fool's Day) is known for inspiring certain dubious news stories... keep that in mind as you look at news posted elsewhere today ;)