Tribes: Ascend/Generator

Generator
Base Health:	6000
Auto Repair:	5:00 minutes
Upgrade 1:	+2000 Health, -15% Auto Repair (1500 Credits)
Upgrade 2:	+2000 Health, -15% Auto Repair (1500 Credits)
Upgrade 3:	+2000 Health, -15% Auto Repair (2000 Credits)
Upgrade 4:	+2000 Health, -15% Auto Repair (2000 Credits)

The Generator is the heart of the team's base. It keeps all of the base equipment online including: Inventory Stations, Vehicle Pads, Base Turrets, and Radar Sensors. When a team's generator is destroyed these assets go offline, and an automatic message informs both teams. In addition, the Technician's Turrets, Sentinel's Drop Jammer, and Doombringer's Force Field all shut down.

Losing the generator leaves the base vulnerable to classes that would usually have a harder time getting into the base (such as the powerful Juggernaut and Brute) to wreck havoc on attempts to re-establish defenses. Thus it is important to make sure your team's generator is safe, and it is also a good idea to attack the enemy generator whenever the opportunity arises. The generator is always housed in a specific generator room, which is usually deep within the base.

Recently there has been a push to add importance to the generator and several new maps have been created with generator-related changes. On Sunstar there is a half-cylinder force field protecting the teams' flag stand which deactivates when the gen is offline. This allows more varied capping routes than when the field is up. On Permafrost, the flag actually moves out to the roof of the base (where there are nice ramps for the cappers) if the generator is destroyed, while it remains inside when it's online. The map Dangerous Crossing does not have a generator at all, and therefore base assets and player deployables will always work unless they are destroyed themselves.

Upgrades

There are four levels of upgrades available for the Generator, each provides +2000 Health and -15% auto-repair time and can be purchased by spending credits earned during a match. The Generator starts with 6000 health and an auto-repair time of 5:00 minutes.

Defense

It is usually the job of the Technician to protect and maintain their team's generator. Light Turrets are great tools for base defense, they can quickly shoot down enemies that are not expecting them, and help the technician to deal with intruders by making the fight more of a 2 on 1 in their favor. The Improved Repair Tool allows the Technician to quickly repair the generator in the event that it is destroyed. {C}The Doombringer is also proficient in defending by putting up Force Fields over the generator room entrances and laying Mines. Your team's Technicians will be glad to have your firepower in the generator room as well. You can always walk by the generator room and fire a shot or two regardless of your class. This is a great way to keep your base a little bit safer. It is rare for any team to need more than two Technicians; if your team has a lot of them because your base is consistently under siege, it is usually more effective to switch into a heavy class to better defend your base.

In the event that no one is repairing, generators will automatically repair themselves after a certain amount of time has passed. The amount of time depends on what level the generator has been upgraded to, starting at 5:00 minutes down to 2:50 at MK. 4. It is better to repair them before this happens however, as none of your team's assets will function without it (except for Inventory Stations called-in by a Supply Drop). Repair Tools are mounted around the generator room and are accessible at all times. If the generator happens to be offline, and no one else is around, grab a repair tool and fix the generator. If a Technician is available you would be more helpful defending them while they repair.

Finally, if your generator room has become an all out battle field, go destroy the enemy generator! This will help your team get to the flag and get some of the enemies in your base back to their own base.

Offense

Generally speaking you want the opponent's generator to be down at all times. There are a few classes that handle this task well, including the Brute, Soldier and Juggernaut, but the two classes that generally handle this task more gracefully are the Raider and the Infiltrator. Both of these classes have the tools to destroy the generator quickly, and without being detected. Thus it is usually better to leave the destruction of the generator to the Infiltrator or Raider on your team. No team needs more than one Infiltrator at any time; if it is evident that he is having a hard time, it is much better to switch to Raider than to add another Infiltrator to the team. Any weapon can damage the generator, but generally explosive weapons work the best. A generator will take 20% more damage from an explosive weapon (other than spinfusor), but 25% less damage from a bullet weapon. The best choices for generator removal are the Raider's Arx Buster and the Infiltrator's Sticky Grenades.

Controversy

The Generator has become a source of controversy in the Tribes community since the Open Beta of Tribes: Ascend. Many players believe that the generator serves no purpose in the game and therefore defending it is a waste of resources which could be better spent defending the flag. The other side of the argument is that it is difficult to defend the flag when the generator is offline as deployables stop functioning and defenders cannot re-arm at Inventory Stations. The former argument tends to be common among more experienced players while the latter often comes from newer players. Roxton at Cogs & Ink has written a detailed article on this subject (see External Links below). Below is a table with major points from both sides:

Why it's Important Powers Radar Sensor Powers Base Turrets Powers Player Deployables (Turrets, FFs) Powers Inventory Stations Allows Vehicles

Why it's Unimportant Players should be spotting targets Skilled Cappers will dodge Base Turrets Deployables only stop llama Cappers anyway Inv. Stations are worthless, just suicide Only Shrikes are useful and they're not necessary

Damage

Weapons deal damage to the generator differently than they do to any other asset/player. There is some reason behind most of these damage values, but many have simply been modified for game balance. In general bullets do less damage to generators, explosive weapons do more, and spinfusors deal the same amount as usual. Below are the values for each weapon:

Light Classes

Infiltrator			Pathfinder			Sentinel
Rhino SMG	60		Light Spinfusor	770		BXT1 Rifle	400
Stealth Spinfusor	700		Bolt Launcher	1137		Phase Rifle	0
Jackal	625		Shotgun	8*64		Nova Blaster	280
SN7 Pistol	136		Light Assault Rifle	64		Falcon Pistol	56
Throwing Knives	300		Impact Nitron	750		T5 Grenade	1536
Sticky Grenades	3000		Explosive Nitron	975

Medium Classes

Soldier			Raider			Technician
Assault Rifle	60		Arx Buster	750		TCN4 SMG	64
Spinfusor	910		Grenade Launcher	687		Thumper	1137
Thumper DX	962		Plasma Gun	625		Imp. Repair Tool	200/sec
Eagle Pistol	80		NJ4 SMG	64		Sawed-Off Shotgun	8*64
Frag Grenade XL	1650		NJ5-B SMG	112		Sparrow	72
AP Grenade	650		EMP Grenade	2042		TCNG	1500
Proximity Grenade	870		Whiteout Grenade	58
			Cluster Grenade	505+465*5

Heavy Classes

Juggernaut			Doombringer			Brute
Fusion Mortar	3250		Chain Gun	80		Heavy Spinfusor	980
MIRV Launcher	812*4		Heavy Bolt Launcher	1260		Automatic Shotgun	8*40
Spinfusor MKD	840		Frag Grenade	1200		Nova Colt	152
X1 LMG	64					Fractal Grenade	4
Heavy AP Grenade	750					Light Sticky Grenade	2750
Spinfusor Disk	910

External Links

The Generator Problem by Roxton (Cogs & Ink)