Ascendancy

aka: Ascendancy: De Galactische Uitdaging, Ascendancy: Macht der Allmacht
Moby ID: 257
DOS Specs
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Description official descriptions

Ascendancy is similar to, but nevertheless very different from, Master of Orion. You play one of many races, each with a special ability and special character traits, who set off to explore space, erect colonies (which can each have individual purposes, depending on their raw materials) and engage in battles when you clash with others who have the same goals. Weapons on the ships use power, which has to be supplied somehow.

This game introduces many original concepts, such as the Research Tree - a special scientific display in which discoveries are depicted as icons connected by lines to the "parent" technological breakthroughs and "child" ones, similar to the technology advances in Civilization, but presented in a much more visual way.

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Screenshots

Promos

Credits (DOS version)

31 People (23 developers, 8 thanks) · View all

Created by
Made possible through the efforts of
Additional support and content provided by
Packaging and Manual Art Direction and Design by
Packaging Illustration
Manual Digital Enhancement
AIL and VFX libraries by
Special Thanks to the Brøderbund Team
AIL and VFX libraries by
  • Miles Design Inc.
Design & Artwork Coordinator
Design
  • Bill Smith Studio - London
Photography
Package Design Art Direction
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 78% (based on 15 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 71 ratings with 14 reviews)

Very good, challenging but not overbearing

The Good
Simple to get a game started, many choices in races, each with many different abilities, some with research, some builders, some travelers, some invaders. Chamachies and Nimbuloids are my favorites, but telepaths are good too. The starmap and tech tree have excellent graphics. Each technology has a function, it can be fun trying it. The ruins on some planets can give you an edge in research, just helps keep one jump ahead of the others. I like to set most planets to auto, and concentrate on 1 or 2 for heavy industry.

Patchnote: I recommend it. The game gets a real boost with it, enemies do things they never did before, they play MUCH more aggressive (I got my butt kicked first time). Moby has a link to find it. You can still play the original, or use the patch. Cheat codes available, too, but I haven't tried them.

The Bad
After several games, you develop a method, and the lustre wears thin. OK, the AI is weak, see Patchnote above.

The Bottom Line
A fun game that can entertain you for hours.

DOS · by robert wonderly (1) · 2009

The best strategy game of all time!

The Good
I loved this game. I'm not a major fan of strategy, but I found this game so amazing and addictive, I found myself playing it for hours and hours at a time. The amount of control you have over each individual colony (i.e. placing buildings; orbital structures, etc.) is incredible, and it's automation features allow you to shift some control to the computer. The music is, with the possible exception of games like Myst and Riven, probably the best I've ever heard in any computer game.

The Bad
It can get a little repetitive after you've played it for a while... Each game pretty much starts out in the exact same way. It's only after you've played for a while that things really start getting interesting. Also, the game's AI is really bizarre... It always insists on moving enemy ships in huge groups, and, when attacking, they will behave in a rather odd fashion. Finally, as spectacular as the music is, there's only one or two tracks, and it just plays over and over again, so it can get a little annoying at times.

The Bottom Line
The most addictive game of all time. If you like strategy, get this game now! :)

DOS · by Null McNull (25) · 2000

A Pretty Good turn-based strategy game, but with a few flaws.

The Good
To start out this review, I would like to mention that this game is one of the few strategy games in existence that doesn’t make me want to turn off all of the sound effects and music and throw in one of my favorite CD's. All of the sound effects that are present in the game are perfectly chosen for whatever event they've been assigned to, and they seldom annoy me even if they have been repeated a thousand times. Of particular note, though, is the music. The music has a late 70's-early 80's synth-orchesta space opera theme to it, sort of in the style of the first Star Trek film. The quality of the music, despite being played back at a rather low playback rate, is very good indeed. The music has an epic feel to it and is enjoyable to listen to, and each of the (several) alien races have their own short musical theme that plays during diplomatic engagements, like in Master of Orion 2 (although the soundtrack for that game is inferior compared to the one that this game sports).

Another item of note is the in-game graphics system. While the 256-color palette isn't as sharp as it was back in 1996, it's still quite nice and is capable of producing some very atmospheric in-game graphics (atmosphere being the thing that this game oozes). The style of the user interface is very slick and looks very different in comparison to many other 4X style games. The 3D starmap and system map is easy to operate and it looks very nice to boot.

And on a final note, I also like the system that's used to set up a game session. It has a relatively high amount of options available, and it has a very nice galaxy preview window.

The Bad
There's not much in the way of anything negative I can think of in regards to Ascendancy, except for two non-critical issues, which I will explore presently. First off, it's almost impossible to forge alliances other alien species. You usually have to wait a few thousand turns for them to warm up to the idea, and by then they are usually killed off by one of the more hostile aliens not long after they do decide to sign up with you.

The other problem with Ascendancy is the mediocre combat AI that the computer uses. Instead of employing Incredibly Clever Tactics (tm) to smash your fleet to a pulp, the AI rushes your ships and planets like brain-dead lemmings and open fire as soon as they are in range of a target, regardless if you have (or don't have) superior firepower at your disposal. And the AI will always choose to fight to the death, and it will never make "strategic withdrawals" under any circumstance. Also, the AI has a completely nonsensical method of building structures on the surface of a planet (for example, it will build a factory on a square that enhances research).

The Bottom Line
If you happen to find a copy of Ascendancy available for purchase somewhere, I would recommend that you pick it up. It's quite fun.... just as long as you don't mind the less than strong AI that's present in the game. Besides, the soundtrack that this game sports is worth the price of admission alone.

DOS · by Longwalker (723) · 2002

[ View all 14 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Colonization vedder (70685) Feb 21, 2009

Trivia

PC Gamer controversy

A minor scandal surrounded the PC Gamer review of Ascendancy. PC Gamer gave the game high marks, and made it an Editor's Choice game. However, the individual who reviewed the game for PC Gamer also turned out to be the author of the game's Strategy Guide, leading many to wonder if the review had been padded in order to boost sales of the Strategy Guide.

In Computer Gaming World #151 (February 1997), a letter by William Trotter was published in which he shared his view on the matter. Summarized, he needed money to pay off repairs on his house and therefore gladly agreed to write the strategy guide. However, the developers failed to give him any information on the game, not even technology trees, and a one-month deadline. So he had no other choice but to play the game non-stop for two weeks, becoming eventually obsessed with it. So when PC Gamer hired him for the review, he really thought Ascendancy was a great game, and he failed to see the conflict of interest. In hindsight, he agrees with the bad review in Computer Gaming World (see MobyRanks), the strategy guide turned out to be pathetic and he didn't receive any royalties from it at all.

Awards

  • CODiE Awards
    • 1996 - Best Strategy Software

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Related Sites +

  • Ascendancy
    official game page at Logic Factory's website, archived copy from 1997 by the Wayback Machine

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 257
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Tomer Gabel.

iPad, iPhone added by Techademus.

Additional contributors: Rebound Boy, formercontrib, Patrick Bregger, MrFlibble.

Game added August 29, 1999. Last modified January 23, 2024.