History VideoGame / Ascendancy

* {{Terraforming}}: Black squares in planets don't allow you to build anything but communication rails or global projects. But when you've researched Terraforming, you can turn them into white squares. However, the Orfa don't need Terraforming: they can build anything on black squares.

* ImpossibleThief: The Dubtaks steal knowledge. Even from those species they've never met.

* YouWillBeAssimilated: The Minions appear to be the most Borglike of this game in that their dialog consists of very direct statements of the sort the Borg would issue, and their special ability is that they are masters of invasion: only one invasion module is necessary or used up when invading. However, ALL species actually meet this criterion, because when ANY of them invades a planet owned by another species, the planet's population does not change. Thus the entire population of the planet as owned by the previous species has in fact been assimilated - changed into members of the conquering species. This is made clear when you conquer a race's last planet. You get a message saying that they are now extinct. This would not be the case if you merely enslaved them.

The variety of technologies, the TurnBasedCombat and the different species made this game quite popular in its time. However, the poor AI was also well-known, even though The Logic Factory released a patch to make the rival species a bit more intelligent.

* DiscOneNuke: If you get lucky, you can access super-advanced technologies early on by way of Xenoarchiological Ruins, though they can also fall under AwesomeButImpractical if they're so advanced that it would take forever to exploit them with your current technology (Research Campuses, for example, will take almost one hundred days each to build when you still only have the basic Factory.
* EldritchAbomination: The Shevar definitely have traits of this. They are extradimensional inorganic beings that are hostile to all other life, and, to quote their starting description, "they aren't purposely hostile or evil, but their values are incomprehensible and they do not recognize the creatures of this universe as living beings". However, they are no more powerful than the other playable species.

** For that matter (what is this trope called), there's a low-level technology that comes early in the game called "Momentum Deconservation, and a high-level technology that comes late, called "Megagraph Theory", which allows the building of an internet. In the real world, of course, building an internet is much easier than deconserving momentum. In fact, a technology that would allow momentum deconservation would go hand in hand with perpetual motion and therefore be a sort of holy-grail omega technology.

* StopHelpingMe: The [=iOS=] port includes features not present in the PC version, such as auto-build and auto-research. As can be expected these can be a crapshoot, as the AI likely has no idea what you want and will just follow a pre-programmed build/research path. You also can finally save and load ship templates. Unfortunately, the game automatically upgrades all the systems in the template to their latest version, meaning you still have to tweak the ship systems after loading the template. So if you happen to like the extemely-long range of the Plasmatron gun over its more powerful but shorter-range "upgraded" versions, tough luck. Also, if during battle, you accidentally tap the "auto-move" button instead of "next battle turn" (they're very close together and look similar), then your ship will be on automatic for the rest of the game turn, which could very easily lead to you losing a ship and/or planet.

** The intro cinematic looks too much like the beginning of CarlSagan's series ''{{Cosmos}}'' to be just a coincidence. Many of the technologies and discoveries also contain shout-outs to actual advanced mathematical terms, the real life versions of which have absolutely nothing to do with the technologies themselves. There are "Fourier Missiles", and "Fergnatz's Last Theorem" (Fermat's Last Theorem), and Megagraph Theory (Graph Theory - ok, that one pertains a little to what it allows - an "Internet" of all things) for instance.

The variety of technologies, the turn-based combat and the different species made this game quite popular in its time. However, the poor AI was also well-known, even though The Logic Factory released a patch to make the rival species a bit more intelligent.

* WastedSong: Every single alien theme song. All of them are of high quality, but barely last 30 seconds and only when you speak with that species you'll get its melody. So much potential wasted.

* CriticalExistenceFailure: Damaged ships maintain full functionality of all equipment as long as the ship has even a sliver of hull integrity left. However, there are also gadgets specifically designed to destroy or temporarily disable equipment.

* DeathRay: One of the gadgets you can use in your spaceships.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: When controlled by the computer, the Frutmaka and Shevar are very aggressive with declarations of war. (The Dubtaks, on the other hand, are very hard to stay at war with, as they will pester you and ask for peace).

* FourX.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces: 21 different species. But in terms of gameplay, there are no differences except for their special abilities.

{{Ascendancy}} is a turn-based [[FourX 4X]] (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) strategy game set in space by TheLogicFactory and with strong influences from ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion''. Players select a species among the available 21, set the galaxy's conditions (size, number of rival species controlled by CPU, atmosphere - peaceful, neutral, hostile) and begin a race to make their species the dominant one... or let it be destroyed.

!!This game provides examples of:

* {{Always Chaotic Evil}}: When controlled by the computer, the Frutmaka and Shevar are very aggressive with declarations of war. (The Dubtaks, on the other hand, are very hard to stay at war with, as they will pester you and ask for peace).

* [[{{Ptitleylrbmgm1}} Design-It-Yourself Equipment]]: For creating a ship, aside from choosing its size, you have to fill the empty vessel with gadgets on a "deck map".

* {{Disc One Nuke}}: If you get lucky, you can access super-advanced technologies early on by way of Xenoarchiological Ruins, though they can also fall under {{Awesome But Impractical}} if they're so advanced that it would take forever to exploit them with your current technology (Research Campuses, for example, will take almost one hundred days each to build when you still only have the basic Factory.

* {{Non Entity General}}: The player character takes on a role as the supreme leader of their species in some form or another, but is never addressed in-game.

* PsychicPowers:

* ShoutOut: The intro cinematic looks too much like the beginning of CarlSagan's series ''{{Cosmos}}'' to be just a coincidence. Many of the technologies and discoveries also contain shout-outs to actual advanced mathematical terms, the real life versions of which have absolutely nothing to do with the technologies themselves. There are "Fourier Missiles", and "Fergnatz's Last Theorem" (Fermat's Last Theorem), and Megagraph Theory (Graph Theory - ok, that one pertains a little to what it allows - an "Internet" of all things) for instance.

* SuperSenses: The Kambuchka can see other species' home planets from the beginning of the game. It is implied in the game that this is due to vibrations the Kambuchka are able to feel.

* {{Terraforming}}: Black squares in planets don't allow you to build anything but communication rails or global projects. But when you've researched Terraforming, you can turn them into white squares.
** However, the Orfa don't need Terraforming: they can build anything on black squares.
* {{Two-DSpace}}: Rather beautifully averted in the star cluster (like in ''VideoGame/StarControl 1'', only better) and solar system views (including the battle engine), except for the sprite-like ship and planet graphics: as you rotate the view, the planets and ships remain face-on to you. Ships also don't point in the direction they're moving. Similarly, although there's beautiful high-resolution art for the planets, when you build on them, the buildings show up on an isometric 2-D grid superimposed on the sphere in a rather bizarre way.
* YouWillBeAssimilated: The Minions appear to be the most Borglike of this game in that their dialog consists of very direct statements of the sort the Borg would issue, and their special ability is that they are masters of invasion: only one invasion module is necessary or used up when invading. However, ALL species actually meet this criterion, because when ANY of them invades a planet owned by another species, the planet's population does not change. Thus the entire population of the planet as owned by the previous species has in fact been assimilated - changed into members of the conquering species.
** This is made clear when you conquer a race's last planet. You get a message saying that they are now extinct. This would not be the case if you merely enslaved them.

* AbsentAliens: Inverted. There are plenty of aliens but not a single human. Despite this, there is a system in the game called Philadelphia.

* {{Disc One Nuke}}: If you get lucky, you can access super-advanced technologies early on by way of Xenoarchiological Ruins, though they can also fall under {{Awesome But Impractical}} if they're so advanced that it would take forever to exploit them with your current technology (the Research Campus, for example, when you still only have the basic Factory, will take almost one hundred days to build each).

* {{Magitek}}: Some gadgets are described as ''magictechnological''.

** MindOverMatter: The Frutmaka are sentient fungi who use telekinesis to compensate for their slow pace and can teleport enemy ships out back to their home systems.

** Also, the Oculons' sight is so incredible they're living telescopes.

** However, a species called the Orfa don't need Terraforming: they can build anything on black squares.

* GreenThumb: The Govorom, able to turn a desert into a paradise.
** This borders on GameBreaker: the vast majority of planets are uninhabitable, comprised of black squares on which few things can be built (unless you have terraforming, in which case it takes a couple of days to turn it into a generic white square). The Govorom can colonize any planet and, once every 150 days, turn a dead planet with only black squares into a garden world with many bonuses to construction. This is devastating in the mid-to-late game.

* {{Disc One Nuke}}: If you get lucky, you can access super-advanced technologies early on by way of Xenoarchiological Ruins, though they can also fall under {{Awesome But Impractical}} if they're so advanced that it would take forever to exploit them with your current technology (research centers, for example, when you still only have the basic factory, will take almost one hundred days to build each).

* {{Always Chaotic Evil}}: When controlled by the computer, the Frutmaka and Shevar are very aggressive with declarations of war. (The dubtaks, on the other hand, are very hard to stay at war with, as they will pester you and ask for peace).

* Two-DSpace: Rather beautifully averted in the star cluster and solar system views (including the battle engine), except for the sprite-like ship and planet graphics: as you rotate the view, the planets and ships remain face-on to you. Ships also don't point in the direction they're moving. (Probably using 2-D sprites was the necessary trade-off for three-D operation under the RAM constraints of 1995.) Similarly, although there's beautiful high-resolution art for the planets, when you build on them, the buildings show up on an isometric 2-D grid superimposed on the sphere in a rather bizarre way.