Ascendancy

aka: Ascendancy: De Galactische Uitdaging, Ascendancy: Macht der Allmacht

Released

1995 on DOS

Releases by Date (by platform)

Publishers

Developers

Logic Factory, Inc., The

Moby Score

7.7

#3,802 of 158K

Critics

78% (15)

Players

(69)

Ranking

#235 on DOS

Collected By

88 players

Genre: Strategy
Gameplay: 4X
Setting: Sci-fi / futuristic

Buy (updated 6/5 12:52 AM)

DOS
Amazon $13.50 used at eBay

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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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Sound engine: AIL/Miles Sound System

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Credits (DOS version)

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

Created by	Thomas Blom Jason Decker Arthur DiBianca John Paul Jason Templeman Nenad Vugrinec
Made possible through the efforts of	Jay Templeman Tamsen Templeman Todd Templeman
Additional support and content provided by	Richard Mather Michael White
Packaging and Manual Art Direction and Design by	Amy Jo Bullis Duane Meltzer
Packaging Illustration	Mike Bryan
Manual Digital Enhancement	Mark Goss
AIL and VFX libraries by	John Miles
Special Thanks to the Brøderbund Team	Ellen Jacobson David Kessler Karen Omholt Steve Schreck
AIL and VFX libraries by	Miles Design Inc.
Design & Artwork Coordinator	Matthew Walker
Design	Bill Smith Studio - London
Photography	Miles Cort
Package Design Art Direction	Oliver Dannat
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Discussion

Subject	User	Date
Colonization	vedder (66234)	2009-02-21 12:53:50

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.