@Orogogus: actually, there was much hype about Tribes being the first engine to truly master indoor to outdoor transitions. I believe it wasn't just on renderer level (more detail indoors), but in how the game accomodates battles in environments both expansive and small.
The Plasma Rifle, even in base Tribes, was a powerful, slow weapon, great for indoor fights, yet I don't see it in Ascend (at my level of unlocks, at least), as I don't see generally much attention paid to the indoor combat. It's pretty much outdoors within small confines.
So yes, indoors were HONORED.
Finally, I was mostly talking Tribes+Shifter mods, not "base Tribes". Without the base Tribes, however, those mods wouldn't exist. And they wouldn't be able to save a shitty foundation.