Ascendancy

[Boris Godunov]

Ok, who remembers this conquer space game?

I for one think is the most beautiful such game ever made. The interface was lovely, and the graphics still hold up as being really good. Sure, there were some big flaws (very poor A.I., not being able to que/automate build orders, not being able to move a ship to a distant star system without having to give it orders to jump from A to B to C to D etc., not being able to group ships, no ship templates for construction), but these are outweighed by the epic scope of the game (huge tech tree, a very dense star cluster is almost impossible to fully explore, the music score, etc.).

I for one would love to see this game redone, retaining its original beauty but improving the flaws listed above. Anybody else remember it? (I've actually gotten to work on my new computer, and while the music is a little shaky, the game runs beautifully)

[ravagon]

I think its available (justifiably or not) on a few abandonware sites for download. I considered trying it some time ago but was put off as you said by reports of a poor AI.
Maybe I'll give it a try after all ...

[Garth Vader]

It was an interesting game, but suffered from too many flaws.

I didn't like the interface, it required too much clicking to move about, plus with the excess micromanaging I actually wore out two left buttons playing this game.

Ship combat was very interesting, but shields were almost useless. If an enemy had shields you could just stay out of range until he ran out of juice and then move in for the kill.

I agree with your other negatives.

[Ecthy]

I used to be a big player of that game, always preferred Chamachies

[Ecthy]

BTW, I find one of the loveliest details about the game was the music

[Rex Little]

I never heard the Ascendancy music; only played the game on a work computer without a sound card. I suppose I should reload it on my home computer once I get the sound fixed.

Besides the idiot AI, the thing that killed Ascendancy for me was the repetitive micromanagement. On any large planet, you'd build one manufacturing and/or research facility after another, and once you had a sizeable empire you'd be ordering half a dozen of these every turn.

The graphics were stunning, though.

[moomin]

Great demo, that, Ascendancy. Too bad there wasn't any game, because the interface and production values sure were sweet.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Ecthelion
I used to be a big player of that game, always preferred Chamachies

Of course, as the tech advantage couldn't be ignored!

And the music was superb--created an atmosphere that was really wonderful. And I still think the fully rotatable 3-D maps are spectactular.

I would just love to see a redux of the game, with perhaps real-time combat in addition to fixing the other bugs I mentioned. But I would like it to be faithful to the original in terms of graphics style, music and general gameplay (the excessive micromanaging, yes, needs to go...but so it does in all similar god-games of that time).

[MBD]

Yeah, good music, interesting interface -- also had a 3d tech tree, if i remember correctly.

But was undone by the bad play-balance. It was far too easy to win by just being popular/nice with everyone until you reached some threshhold value for the win.

[Andemagne]

I played ascendancy once, and found it too easy,
perhaps because my race had that tech advance thingy.

[moomin]

Oh, it was too easy no matter what you did. The AI simply didn't do much but wait for you to come and crush it. But it was a beautiful game otherwise and would certainly deserve a revival.

[Spaced Cowboy]

I think that I played this three times only, and became so sick of the micromanagement, that I tossed it in the pile. Plus for some reason, it seemed like it took forever to move your ships later in the game.

[Boris Godunov]

I really would like to see a conquer-the-galaxy game with those kind of production values, just a better game. I've tried so many, but none have quite fit the bill. Imperium Galactica II was lovely, but there was limited replay value and felt more like RTS than a great strategy game. The interface was a little clunky, too. And once you defeated that one big fleet the AI always had, you could pretty much overrun it easily.

MoO2 was okay...the graphics are, IMO, ugly, and it is not a particularly satisfying experience. I won't even go into SW Rebellion, the single biggest disappointment of my gaming life!

[moomin]

SW Rebellion held so much promise... and boy did it fail to deliver. But there sure were fascinating concepts - the whole kidnap your ememies subgame, for instance.

I loved, love and will probably always love Moo2. Couldn't care less about the graphics - I think the game just oozes feeling and immersion anyway.

[Boris Godunov]

I did find a way to make Rebellion a little better. Download the RebEd editor, and with that you can seriously reduce the build times and maintenance costs. Makes for a MUCH faster game.

Sadly, it doesn't fix everything else that sucked.