There are currently four modes available to play in Tribes: Ascend. A fifth mode, Rabbit, was playable during the beta, but is now only available on custom servers.
Team Deathmatch[edit]
The simplest game mode. Both teams start with 100 lives. The goal is to take out all the lives of the enemy team or have more lives when the timer stops. The first kill in a match spawns a flag that can be grabbed by any team. The team that has the flag will get double the points when they get a kill.
Capture the Flag[edit]
The main game mode of Tribes: Ascend, and the one it's known for. There is a flag at the bases of both teams. The objective is to take the enemy flag and capture it at your own flag stand. The flag cannot be captured if your teams flag isn't at its flag stand. 5 captures are required to win, though a team can still win if they have more flag captures when the timer stops.
Arena[edit]
A fast-paced, deathmatch-heavy mode. Teams in Arena are limited to five players per team, and both teams start with 25 lives. Once the lives of one team has been exhausted, they will no longer have respawns. The team that wipes out the opposing team wins. This mode is played in a best-of-3 format, each round having no time limit.
Capture and Hold[edit]
There are multiple control points, 3-5 depending on the map, and each team must capture them. A player only needs to touch the control point immediately capture it. If 5 seconds have passed and the control point is still theirs, the owning team gets 1 point. The team gains an additional point for every second that control point is held. Once a team has achieved the winning point total, which is 100 times the number of control points on the map, they win.