A W H O L E N E W U N I V E R S E O F 3 D C O M B A T S I M “The game is fast and fun with dazzling 3D landscapes.” -GAMEPOWER www.starsiege.com “Clearly the frontrunner in the industry-wide mech war.” Go for the ‘Goad’... -OGR.COM To purchase call 1 (800) 757-7707 or visit your local retailer. © 1998 Sierra On-Line, Inc., Bellevue, WA 98007 ® and/or TM designate trademarks of, or licensed to, Sierra On-Line, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s 1. Overview and Introduction 3 What is Starsiege TRIBES? 2. Quick Start 4 Starsiege TRIBES is a unique first-person shooter set in the Starsiege universe. Combining breathtaking visual displays with seamless gameplay, TRIBES will revolutionize the world of multiplayer squad-level games. 3.
Note: If this is your first time playing TRIBES, it is highly recommended you start by playing the single-player “training” missions in order to acquaint yourself with the controls and feel of the game. Once you feel comfortable enough to jump into a multiplayer game, follow the steps below: • Dial up your ISP (Internet Service Provider) to get connected to the Internet. • Open TRIBES, either by double-clicking on the TRIBES icon on your desktop or by selecting it from your START menu.
Tr i be s F i c t i o n greaves feel like small protection amid the chaos erupting around you. sharp, popping crackle of laser bolts. Someone to your left screams and explodes in white fire. Remember your training, your father’s voice whispers from memory, and you realize you must follow your lessons to the letter if you are to survive this day. This is no training game, and you’re not facing the prospect of bruises or embarrassment.
Tr i be s F i c t i o n Tr i b e s F i ct io n favor swiftness and daring. The Diamond Sword, who weave strategies of shadow and steel. And the Blood Eagle, butchers who laugh in the face of fire... Your lessons. Yes, you remember how you sat with the other children on the training ground of your birthworld, listening to Old Kantele as he lectured in his rasping whisper ... There are only three foes worthy of our mettle, young ones.
Tr i b e s F i ct io n know you’re going to die. Two standard weeks back, the Blood Eagle dropped onto a world held by your people, slaughtering the populace and setting the flayed bodies of their victims on spears around their LZs. The ghosts of our 10 Tr i be s F i c t i o n people cry out for vengeance, the elders said. The famed Scar Captain assembled a battalion of warriors to strike in retribution. You joined quickly, eager to serve your people and win glory in the eyes of Phoenix.
Tr i b e s F i c t io n enemy does not forgive blindness or laxity. “Left, newblood! Left, damn it!” Minerva’s voice screams in your ear and you tear your gaze away from the peltast to see a battered scarlet myrmidon drawing a bead on you with something big and black. You roll up and boost hard for cover. The myrmidon sidesteps to avoid fire from Minerva as she pokes a longrifle over the crest of the hill and snaps off a couple of shots.
Tribe Descriptions Children of the Phoenix “Someday, perhaps, the tribes will be one again. Let us keep that flame burning. Until that day comes, we must remain vigilant against those who would extinguish the light and cast us into the darkness of anarchy.” — Renn Gistos yl-Harabec, Phoenix Prime he oldest and most traditional of the tribes, the Children trace their ancestry back to the legendary Harabec, the immortal Phoenix. Their ultimate goal is reunification of all tribes under the Phoenix banner.
Tr i b e D e s c r i p t i o n s Starwolf Claws, and then into Squads. “Victory is within our jaws today. The Great Wolf walks with us this day, and those who fall shall walk with him for all eternity.” — Viktor Abanath, Great Sergeant, Third Claw, Hepta Ourubis Pack On the Children of the Phoenix: "The Phoenix want everyone to suck up to them, but they'll never make us bow our heads. Never. We choose our own way." The Starwolf tribe evolved from humble origins.
Tr i b e D e s c r i p t i o n s Diamond Sword “The sharpest sword cannot compare to the sharpest mind.” — Wylim Totoro, Warrior/Philosopher he Diamond Sword craft the most innovative and dangerous strategies of any tribe. They say the mind is the greatest weapon, and practice a philosophy derived from the Zen Buddhist teachings of ancient Terra. Tribe members tend to be enigmatic, even cryptic. When not fighting, they are usually meditating on obscure riddles.
Tr ib e D e s c ri p t i o n s Blood Eagle "There's one simple rule in war: Win and live, or lose and die. If the other tribes are too weak, we'll carve the blood eagle on their sorry carcasses and carry the remains as banners into battle." - Brakus D'Vehne, Blood Eagle Talon Prime he Blood Eagle claim descent from an Order of Imperial Knights sent to conquer the tribes long ago. They maintain a formal military hierarchy marked by byzantine politics.
Tr i be s T i m e l i n e TRIBES Timeline ca. 2832 — Starsiege ends. 2845 — Beginning of the Chase. Humans pursue defeated Cybrids to other star systems using new FTL technology. 3245 — Beginning of Cyberstorm corporate wars; discovery of first interstellar transfer conduit, or “jumpgate.” 3289 — Discovery of first “meta-jumpgate,” allowing travel over far greater distances. 3291 — Cyberstorm corporations battle for control of the meta-jumpgate.
Tr i b e s T i m e l i n e into tribal space falter and fade. It is a time of much prosperity among the tribes, and a lengthy period of peace ensues. Many smaller tribes fall back in line with the Children of the Phoenix. 3831 — Hector Komarosu, Great Eagle of the Blood Eagle, is assassinated. The culprit is never caught or identified, but the Blood Eagle’s age-old nemesis, the Starwolf, are blamed.
Tr i b e s T i m e l i n e centuries, and call for all tribes to aid them in destroying the Blood Eagle once and for all. 3933 — Many Starwolf swear an Oath of Vengeance upon the Blood Eagle, declaring all-out war upon them. The Children of the Phoenix decline to enter battle but offer to act as judges and mediate the conflict. 3935 — First attempt at mediation by the Children of the Phoenix between warring Starwolf and Blood Eagle factions results in thirty-eight dead, over 200 wounded.
Quick Start and Demos Advanced Reference section on page 61 on how to start a server). If you joined a server last time, you will be taken to the JOIN SERVER screen. If this is your first game, you will go to the P LAYER SETUP screen. Menu System: From the startup screen, click on either the quick Start or Play Game buttons to start playing the game. Click on the Demo button to view previously recorded game demos. To go to the Starsiege T RIBES website, click on the Website button.
Player Set-Up Play Game Player Setup Screen At the MA IN MENU screen, press PLAY GAME to go to the PLAYER SETUP screen. If this is your first time playing TRIBES, a dialog box will appear, prompting you for a player name. Enter the name for your player, then click on DONE to continue. The dialog box will also appear if you select NEW to create a new player. To remove an existing player, select that player’s name from the player list and click on REMOVE, then press OK at the prompt to confirm.
Joining a Game To record a demo while playing, check off the Record Demo box. Joining a Multiplayer Game To join an Internet game, select JOIN MULTIPLAYER from the CHOOSE GAME TYPE menu. To play a multiplayer game over the Internet you must be connected to your ISP (Internet Service Provider). A list of servers will appear in the server list box. This list will automatically refresh upon entry. The process may take some time.
PING and Lag with a high P ING rate and a lagging game with a low PING rate. As long as the flow of information between computers is consistent, you should have no problems playing over the Internet. When the PING rate fluctuates wildly, that is when you will start having problems with lag. Choosing a Team If you have continuous problems with lag, make sure you are playing on fast servers with low PING rates. If this does not solve your problem, make sure you are using a dependable ISP.
Player Basics Player Basics The player has a 360-degree range of motion and is capable of running, crouching (light armor only), jumping, sidestepping, and a host of other actions. W = Move Forward S = Move Backward A = Sidestep Left D = Sidestep Right Space = Jump X = Crouch Num. Pad 6 = Num. Pad 4 = Num. Pad 8 = Num. Pad 2 = Num.
HUD HUD Heads-Up Display (HUD) 1. Armor Level Meter Displays the current status of your armor. The bar will change from green to red once it dips below 25%. Once the armor falls to zero, your player dies. Armor can be repaired with the use of a repair pack or kit (see page 45 for more information on repair packs). 1. 2. Energy Level Meter Measures the amount of power presently stored in the armor’s energy cell.
Armor HUD Component Configuration The various H UD components may be repositioned on the screen or turned off entirely. Press K to toggle the HUD menu. H UD items that are active will be checked in the box to the left of the name. Click on the check box to toggle these items on and off. You may also move HUD items around the screen in this mode. To do so, click on each item and drag it to where you want it placed on the screen. Any changes you make will save and automatically restore the next time you play.
Weapons Blaster It is said that tribal children learn how to use this weapon before they learn how to walk. A simple low-tech pulsed energy pistol, the Blaster is linked to the player’s energy cell, providing limitless ammunition. To use, press 1. Plasma Gun A relic of the old Imperial armies, this weapon has found new life with the tribes thanks to the Forge of Hephaestus tribe, long renowned for their skills as the armorers and weaponsmiths of all the tribes.
Packs within their detection range. To deploy a mine, press M. The longer you hold the key, the farther from the player the mine will deploy. absorb some, if not all, damage directed toward the player. The pack can be deactivated by pressing P. It will automatically deactivate once the power cell runs out of energy. Grenades A thrown grenade lacks the range of a grenade fired from the launcher, but does give the user more accuracy against nearby targets.
Packs Vehicles Remote Inventory and Ammo Stations These deployable stations provide ammunition and supplies away from a player’s base. They can only be carried by a tribesman in medium or heavy armor and have a limited energy supply. See Stations on page 50 for further information. pulse sensor enables the user’s team to increase the range of its sensor network. Remote Motion Sensor The Cerberus motion detector is small and unobtrusive, often missed by an enemy rushing into battle—often a fatal mistake.
Ve h i c l e s a n d Tu r r e t s All vehicles use the same movement keys as the player. All vehicles have vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capabilities. Pressing the jetpack key will cause the vehicles to move vertically if you are not pressing any other movement keys. Scout Flyer The Gyrfalcon one-man flyer is an invaluable advance reconnaissance vehicle, highly maneuverable, and armed with rockets. While very fast, it has a low ceiling and is extremely vulnerable to ground fire.
Stations Generators All power for a base — for turrets, stations, doors, etc. — comes from its generators. Without power, these devices will not function. The larger Solaris and smaller Tokamak are most frequently used. In a well-lit environment, solar panels are also used to produce energy. Enemy tribes often target generators, so be sure to defend them well. These, like most other objects, can be repaired with the repair pack.
Elevators and Doors Image Enhancer Any object detected by any member of your team using their image enhancer is also added to your sensor network. This can counteract jamming, for example, a turret that had been nullified by a sensor jammer will fire on a target being spotted by a player with the image enhancer. Jammers Jamming devices can nullify pulse sensors. Motion sensors, cameras and image enhancers, however, vannot be jammed (see Remote Jammer on page 48).
Personal Digital Assistant that object or player. If it is a player that is moving, the map will scroll with the player and remain centered on him or her. Selecting another player or object will center the map on that player or object. Clicking on the CENTER button again or clicking on the map will turn off the center mode. indicates command status. If it is blank, that player has no current command. Yellow indicates that the player has been issued a command but has not yet acknowledged it.
Controllable Objects Due to the limitations of this device, the transmission may be somewhat jerky and not updated on a regular basis. Mission Objective V iew has a solid center, then the device is active. If the icon is dark green, it is not powered and is not active. To turn the Teammate View function off, click on the Teammate View button again. Controllable Objects List Click on the Controllable Objects icon to display the controllable objects list.
Inventory View Inventory View From the PDA, click on the INVENTORY button or press I from any game screen to view the player’s current inventory and items available for purchase if the player is at an inventory station. The current available team energy is also displayed. The objectives for all missions are displayed on the Mission Objectives Screen and are updated as the mission progresses, such as the number of times your flag has been captured.
M is si on Types them back to your base to place them on their pedestals. Once your team captures all the items, you win the mission. Items can also be captured from your enemy’s base. If no team has captured all the Items by the time the time limit is reached, the team with the most items in their base wins. Server Menu Options Deathmatch There are two flavors of deathmatch; single-player and team.
Hosting a Game Hosting a Game Hosting a game will start a TRIBES server on your computer that other players can join. Note: If you are hosting a game and you quit from the game, all of the other players will be disconnected automatically. To host a multiplayer game, go to the CHOOSE GAME TYPE screen. Select HOST MULTIPLAYER from the CHOOSE GAME TYPE menu. Click on the NEXT button to proceed to the CREATE SERVER screen.
IRC Once you have chosen a server and a nickname, click on the CONNECT TO IRC button. Chatting in I RC Once you have logged into IRC, you will automatically enter the TRIBES chat room on IRC. All I RC chat occurs in “rooms.” You can be in several rooms at once, but only one room is displayed at a time. The title and current topic of the room will be displayed underneath the room scroll bar. If you are in multiple rooms, these rooms will be displayed across the top of the screen on the room scroll bar.
Options - Movement Options - General Controls These screens allow you to customize the game controls. General You can modify what keys are bound to general game functions at this screen. Movement You can modify how you want the keyboard set for player movement here using the menus provided. Chat Menu: Brings up the chat menu on the screen. Toggle Message Size: Toggles the size of the chat window. HUD Config: Brings up the H UD menu. Game Chat: Sends a message to all players.
Options - Inventory Inventory You can modify how you want the keyboard set for weapon and inventory selection here. Weapons: Blaster, Plasma Gun, Chaingun, Disk Launcher, Gren. Launcher, Laser Rifle, ELF Gun, Mortar, Targeting Laser: Selects that weapon from your inventory. Fire Weapon: Fires currently selected weapon. Prev. Weapon: Cycles to the previous weapon in your inventory. Next Weapon: Cycles to the next weapon in your inventory. Deploy Mine: Deploys a mine. Throw Grenade: Throws a grenade.
Options - Sound Sound You can modify your sound preferences at this screen using the slide bars shown. 2D FX Volume: Adjusts the volume of all non-3D sounds (mouse clicks, voice commands, etc.). 3D FX Volume: Adjusts the volume of all 3D sounds in the game (explosions, etc.). Music Volume: Adjusts the volume level of CD audio. CD Music: Turns the CD audio track on and off when playing the game. Voices: Turns player voices on and off when playing the game.
Options - Networking Network You can adjust the network settings using the menus provided on this page. Port Number: The port that your computer uses for sending and receiving packets from other players. The default setting is 26000. Packet Size: Sets the size of the packets sent to and from the server. The default setting for packet size is 200 bytes. We recommend you use the T1, ISDN or modem defaults that best fit your Internet connection.
Options - Filters Join Display These pages are used for customizing the Join Server screen Filters Filters Filters are used to weed out servers that you don’t want to see listed in the Join Server list. Standard usage includes filtering out servers with pings that are too high, with no players currently attached, etc. Each filter is a collection of conditions that are applied to each server; those that do not pass are not displayed.
Jeff “MotoMan” Tunnell, Executive Producer Ken “Slime Boy” Embery, Producer Tim “Slacker” Gift, Director Mark “Got Milk?” Frohnmayer, Lead Software Engineer Mark “Coiler” Brenneman, Art Director Scott “CornBoy!” Youngblood, Lead Designer Game Programming Mark “Got Milk?” Frohnmayer, Lead Software Engineer Tim “Slacker” Gift, Director Nels “Nailz” Bruckner, Software Engineer Dave “Symlink” Moore, Software Engineer Tinman “Thulsa Doom”, Software Engineer “Missing” Lincoln Hutton, Software Engineer Robert “Fen
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Index Permanent, 44 Ammo, 44 Energy, 44 Jammer, 45 Repair, 45 Shield, 44 Personal Digital Assistant, 53 Center mode, 53 Commander View, 53 De-selecting A Commander, 55 Issuing Commands, 55 Player List, 54 Selecting A Commander, 55 Teammate View function, 55 Controllable Objects List, 56 Favorites, 58 Inventory View, 58 Map Marker, 54 Map Overlays, 54 Marker button, 54 Mission Objectives View, 57 Name tags, 54 Names button, 54 Selecting items, 54 Sensor button, 54 Sensor Circles, 54 Static Objects List, 57 Z
