Classic Mod Required?

Titan001

Hi guys. Believe it or not, I'm a newb at this game, and just getting onto the servers and the like, and I was wondering why so many of the servers require the classic Mod to play. I had a few questions about this:

1. When it says "classic", does it mean that it runs with the vanilla game, or is there an actual "classic" mod? I've heard that there is, I just wanted to make sure

2. Is it required? I've heard many different things about this: That it speeds everything up like the original Tribes, that it makes gameplay better etc. etc. Is it required or just strongly suggested?

3. Where do I get it and how do I install it? Like I said, I'm a total newb, so I know close to nothing about this.

I love this game and I'm psyched that it's still alive.

Krash

The game is built around the concept of mods, and the vast majority of common gameplay mods are serverside: i.e. you, the client, don't need to download them. Map packs however are often required downloads because the game doesn't have a way to transfer files; if a server requires any downloads it will generally give you info on what's needed and where to get it in the description info.

Classic is a mod, but not only is it server-side, it's included in the default game install. You can run the online client shortcut for it if you like -- this will add I believe some keybinds, a handful of features most useful to classic server admins, etc -- but it isn't at all necessary if you're just joining other someone else's server.
The general consensus is that Classic is the definitive core experience... because the game is so moddable and varied though, not only is it far from the only thing that can be played, but even one Classic server may not play quite the same as the next -- particularly if they're playing different gamemodes or have server-specific restrictions or rules enforced.