FPS General

Hi-Rez Studios just sent out a brand new developer diary which announces and goes in-depth with Tribes: Ascend's upcoming update Raid & Pillage.

So named for it's focus on the Raider player class, Raid & Pillage is bringing two new cosmetic skins and a handful of new weapons for the Raider class. The skins come in the form of a Griever Skin and a Mercenary Skin. The Grievers are scavengers originally, they would pick over battlefields in an almost vulture-like fashion. Modern Grievers, however, are smugglers and pirates. 

Hi-Rez also offered up a tidbit on the Mercenary skin backstory. Like Grievers, Mercenaries are tribeless but will fight for whoever picks up their contract. Both skins, of course, can wield the three new weapons. The Plasma Rifle will be familiar to Tribes veterans and looks like a formidable weapon in Tribes: Ascend. The Plasma Gun doesn't deal as much damage as a Spinfusor, but has a higher rate of fire, making it a worthy foe. 

The NJ5-B is a variant of the popular NJ4, another Raider firearm. The NJ5-B, however, has a lower rate of fire and smaller clip but its larger projectile deals more damage than the NJ4. The last weapon is actually a grenade - the Cluster Grenade - which separates into five smaller 'bomblets' which will each detonate. The Cluster Grenade, as Hi-Rez puts it, is good for clearing out bases near objectives and similar applications.

All of this content is part of the Raid & Pillage update, but we don't have a release date for that just yet. Stay connected to our Tribes: Ascend forum and visit http://www.tribesuniverse.com/ to get started playing Hi-Rez Studios awesome first-person shooter.