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Now With More German: Tribes' 'Marksman' Update


The Tribes: Ascend updates keep on rolling out, and so too does evidence of Hi-Rez's continued commitment to filling this game with strange stuff. Sure, they've already added disco, but now there are costumes. And elaborate backdrops. And German. But anyway, as long as the game keeps being good, we should not question the nature of these updates. And there are some pretty intriguing new toys in this update, so here we are.

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The new update largely focuses on the Sentinel, with a heavier hitting but slower sniper, more accurate shotgun, and - in the leading-cause-of-devious-smirks-the-world-over category - a powerful Motion Mine that only detonates when players are moving over it at high speeds.

Soldier and Pathfinder, meanwhile, get a little Spinfusor-flavored love with a secondary weapon version and a momentum-based "Blinksfusor," respectively. For the Soldier, this means assault rifle/Spinfusor is now an option - or Spinfusor/Spinfusor, which is what I immediately thought of until Hi-Rez retroactively stole my joke. To spite them, I'll now suggest a Spinfusor/Spinfusor/Twinfusor combo for when the Soldier grows a third arm in Update 119. Retroactively steal that.

Right then, the Blinksfusor. It's a really cool idea, though I think Hi-Rez may have botched the explanation a bit. In short, its projectile speed is based 100 percent on your movement speed and direction - as opposed to the 50 or so percent of a normal Spinfusor. So, in theory, you don't need to lead your shots as much. Now, Hi-Rez says it's momentum-based, but that sounds more like velocity to me. Or, at least, that's how I understand it. But then, I also spent the first 12 years of my life thinking physics was a food.

At any rate, new things! Go try them. Or just read patch notes here, because the mind is the most powerful weapon of all. Hi-Rez should probably nerf it.

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