Tribes 2 includes a diverse list of weapons ranging multiple roles:
Spinfusor / Disc Launcher[edit]
The spinfusor is the most popular weapon in the Tribes universe. It is a slow-reloading, disc projectile launcher. For most people, the Spinfusor is included in every loadout because it has a good damage rating and large explosive splash area. Known for being one of the most difficult staple weapons to master in online gaming, players are complimented for "Mid-Airs" (or "MAs"), hitting another player with a disc while both are in flight. It is considered a distinction of the Tribes Universe.
Chaingun[edit]
The chaingun, a machine gun featuring the highest rate of fire in Tribes 2, is another popular weapon. Relatively easy to use, it is primarily used at close to medium range. The spread of bullets becomes very erratic over long distances, and while long range damage is low it is still useful for harassing players. The flechettes are actually designed to explode inside the target. Whoring is player slang for unloading many bullets at the same player without reserve. Some players consider this tactic to be unfair.
Grenade Launcher[edit]
The grenade launcher is a grenade-launching weapon capable of inflicting critical damage. Ambushes with this weapon are often deadly against scout armors. The weapon has an excellent reload rate and a long range capability, make it a key tool for many roles. The projectile is lobbed in an arc from the weapon, which distinguishes it from most other weapons (apart from the Fusion Mortar). The projectile will bounce if it hits a surface early enough, otherwise it will explode upon contact with any object.
Blaster[edit]
The blaster is a weapon that fires a small, fast-moving ball of energy that does fairly minimal damage. Widely regarded as useless, it is, however, the only weapon that can bypass the protection of an opponent's shield pack. It is a relatively short-ranged weapon usually used in indoor battles or base invasions. Note that shots from this weapon will bounce off surfaces limitedly, so a missed shot can hit other objects, including the player who fired it. When an energy pack is equipped with this weapon, a player's energy recharge rate is higher than the blaster's drain, effectively giving it unlimited ammunition as long as the energy is not used for jetting.
Laser Rifle[edit]
The laser rifle (sometimes regarded as the sniper rifle) fires an instantaneous red beam of energy. It can only be used by the scout armor while wearing the Energy Pack. The shot drains the wielding player's energy reserves completely, which can be a problem if enemies are close. "O-Sniping" (Offensive Sniping), or persistent sniping of the opposition's defense, is despised among some players and is grounds for being "kicked" from some servers. This rifle is most effective with headshots, which award bonus points, and can reduce a Scout's health to near zero.
The Laser Rifle may be used in conjunction with the Spinfusor for a deadly long-range "combo" attack, favored by some snipers. In this technique, the sniper establishes a good sniping location, and locates a distant relatively stationary enemy player using the HUD's zoom feature (players using inventory stations or vehicle bays are the most vulnerable). The sniper fires a Spinfusor disc towards the target, then immediately switches to the Laser Rifle and takes aim for a head shot. An instant before the Spinfusor disc reaches its target and explodes, the Laser Rifle is fired. The combined power of these simultaneous attacks will kill Scouts outright, and can kill or inflict severe damage to higher armor classes.
Shocklance[edit]
The shocklance is a close-ranged weapon which "shocks" the opponent with a beam linking the wielder and the target. The shocklance can kill any player if used from behind the target, effectively making it the only one-hit-kill weapon in the game. With a high energy consumption and slow recharge rate, this weapon is favored by cloaked infiltrators. The distinct electric buzzing of this weapon being used and charged up can alert enemies. It should be noted that if this weapon hits an aircraft, it imparts a significant angular velocity to that aircraft at the point of impact. Thus, it is possible to overturn and destroy air vehicles with one well-placed lancing.
Plasma Rifle[edit]
The Plasma Rifle shoots hot balls of plasma with an excellent rate of fire. This can be a deadly indoor weapon, and is often used for destroying base assets. Striking a moving target at medium range is difficult due to the projectile's low speed, which is why the weapon is not used outdoors very often. The plasma rifle cannot be used at long ranges due to the fact that the shot totally dissipates after a few seconds. The plasma rifle also cannot be fired while underwater for obvious reasons. Plasma rifles are frequently used by cloak-pack-equipped Scout-class (light) infiltrators as a supplement to the Shocklance, as the plasma rifle does more damage on a direct hit than a Spinfusor disc, with a smaller blast radius and more rapid fire. Plasma rifles also carry between two and three times the ammunition of a spinfusor.
Fusion Mortar[edit]
The fusion mortar is a long-ranged weapon that can only be used by heavy (Juggernaut) armors. It lobs a unique shell which trails green smoke and explodes in a similar green explosion. It has a slow reload rate and behaves similarly to that of the grenade launcher, but is slower, much more powerful, and has a longer range. It is best used while another player uses a targeting laser, or on a beaconed target, but many players can simply eye the distance with experience. This gun can kill scout armors (without activated Shield packs) in a single explosion, and is commonly used for base assault in conjunction with a shield pack. To extend firing range, a player can jet into the air, either vertically or even more effectively, in the direction of the target. The mortal shell receives the motion vector of the player at the moment of firing, so a vertically climbing player lifts the shell vertically and imparts a higher climb rate, a player jetting towards a target also imparts horizontal momentum to the shell.
Missile Launcher[edit]
The missile launcher is a slow-firing weapon that fires heat-seeking missiles on a "hot" target. It can only be used by assault or juggernaut armors. The missile launcher cannot be fired without a locked target, unless underwater. Lockable targets include all vehicles and large base turrets (small turrets such as the spider clamp turret and landspike turret are not in this category), as well as any players and/or bots that have used their jetpack for an extended period of time. Normally non-targetable locations may be fired upon if "painted" by a targeting laser (wielded by a teammate) or tagged by a beacon. Lock on by missile is warned with a characteristic alarm to individual players or all players inside a targeted vehicle. Missiles in-flight toward a target can be diverted by the use of a flare grenade. Missiles are capable of following terrain rather than blindly crashing into (low) hills if a target attempts to use the terrain as cover, however, missiles cannot avoid buildings or steep terrain.
Elf Projector[edit]
The hand-held ELF (Electronic flux) projector drains the energy supply of whatever gets in its path. Perfect for stopping enemies that are jetting away or for draining the shields of a base asset or vehicle. It doesn't require ammo, as it draws energy from the energy cell.
The ELF projector is often used by flag defenders to hinder the escape of enemy flag-cappers. Other uses include eliminating the energy supply of infantry equipped with shielding packs, or to irritate teammates. The energy drain from an ELF gun is not tagged as Team Damage under some (patchable) versions of Tribes 2.
Targeting Laser[edit]
The Targeting Laser (also known as the "TL") is not a weapon as such, and does not occupy a weapon load-out slot: its purpose is to assist teammates wielding grenade launchers, fusion mortars, and/or missile launchers. The targeting laser emits a thin, green beam of light; teammates wielding one of the above-mentioned weapons will see "markers" where the beam ends, and (for the parabolic weapons) a point indicating where to fire so as to hit the targeted point. It is a "free" item to all players, and may be selected by an assignable hot-key. The targeting laser also functions as a pointer to let the pointer let others know where they are; it can also function as a pointer to a certain location or enemy.
Grenades and Cameras[edit]
Every player has the ability to carry a few hand-thrown grenades. The longer the throw key is held, the more force is imparted to the thrown projectile. Several different grenade types are available:
- A standard fragmentation-based explosive. It does the most damage of any grenade, emits a brief smoke cloud, and knocks actors (bots and players) back a short distance.
- A flash-bang-type weapon that temporarily whites out the entire screen of any human players, and keeps affected bots from targeting objects. Actors must be within maximum range of and looking at the grenade when it "explodes": the duration of the effect depends upon one's distance from the grenade. A loud shrieking noise is also emitted from the grenade, so multiple grenades are sometimes used, so that players who look in the direction of the noise out of reflex will be blinded when the second grenade goes off.
- A concussion grenade, which does no damage, will knock players a fair distance and cause them to drop a random weapon and any carried flags. Note that more than one flag may be carried, depending upon type of game being played.
- A flare grenade, which may be used to mark one's position and will attract all nearby homing missiles, regardless of team. Flare grenade are minimally affected by gravity, are more affected by air resistance, and do no inherent damage whatsoever (though any attracted missiles are a different matter).
Alternatively, the player may choose to equip cameras instead of grenades. These occupy the grenade slot in the player's inventory, and are thrown in the same manner. When thrown against a surface, such as the interior or exterior wall of a base, the camera will attach and reorient itself. The camera then becomes a selectable item in the command circuit, allowing players to view remote locations. The camera provides a visual confirmation of the enemy, allowing turrets and other base defenses to lock on to a target which would otherwise be considered nonexistent.
Although remote viewing is the camera's originally-intended use, most players do not make use of them and prefer the more deadly grenades. Instead, the camera has been adopted by some experienced players as a general purpose "foothold" because it is possible to stand on top of a camera that is attached to a vertical surface. This allows players to hide in hidden or ignored corners of bases, out of sight and stray fire of players on the opposite team. This technique may be used in conjunction with a cloaking pack to great effect: cloaked players may hide on high pillars or in rooms with high ceilings, and if any opponent happens to glance upwards, the otherwise-innocuous camera is all that is visible. When the coast is clear, the player can drop from the camera and begin to inflict damage to enemy equipment before hiding again.
Another way more defenders use cameras is to hinder enemy movement. At least 2 (sometimes 1) teammates would stand behind an all-pass forcefield and deploy cameras at the base of the forcefield, hindering those who try to enter. Though, this was later replaced with deploying pulse sensors, instead of cameras.
Mines[edit]
All players can carry a few proximity-detonated land mines. These mines do a fair amount of damage, enough to severely damage someone in Light Armor. They are often placed around the flag or near the generators in bases. Once thrown, it takes a moment for them to arm themselves. A common practice is to place them close to blind corners inside bases so that intruders will not have time to react to them until they trigger the mine. Another common practice of infiltrators is to damage a station to near-destruction and to place a mine at it. In this manner, someone attempting to repair or use the station will cause the mine to detonate, subsequently destroying the object, with the combined explosions often causing fatal damage to that player. Mines cannot be affixed to non-horizontal surfaces (i.e. walls) or players, and may be destroyed by firing upon them. In game modes with teamplay, each team may only have a certain number of mines active, and players may not use mines in deathmatch mode. Bots will never deploy mines in un-modded versions of Tribes 2.
A common practice in close-quarters combat situations is deploying mines rapidly so that either they will detonate on contact with a nearby enemy or the mines will detonate on contact with one another, generating enough explosive "splash damage" to injure or kill the enemy. Alternatively, a player may throw a mine and then quickly shoot it with the spinfusor to create a large explosion. This maneuver is often referred to as "Mine Disking."
Beacons[edit]
All players can carry a few hand-placed beacons. These beacons have two modes. The first marks a target for weapons fire by giving telemetry for the Grenade Launcher and Mortar weapons. This also allows missiles to lock on to the beacon. Overall, its functionality is the same as a targeting laser, but does so in a static fashion, and may be destroyed after being placed. One tactic is to place a series of beacons under an enemy vehicle pad, with the beacons travelling down the center line of the pad, so their targeting rounderals also indicate the orientation of the pad, providing a better aiming target for mortar users. This also permits roving mortar fire, in the knowledge that the rounds fired will still be on target (the rounds being walked up and down the pad), which helps to reduce the obviousness of beacon use to the opposing team (which is rather clear when rounds fall constantly on exactly the same point). Beacons, for bombers and turrets, also provide a large circle above the position of the marker. This helps bombers by locating just how far away they need to bomb/where their target is.
The second mode is for location marking (such as a deployed Inventory Station), which appears simply as a location and distance indicator on friendly displays, without the heat signature and the target for projectiles affected by gravity.