Planetary Building Faq

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Automation Ship

Contents

I. REVISION HISTORY
II. INTRODUCTION
PLANETARY NODES.
- III. PLANETARY BUILDING LIST
* SPECIAL OCCURANCES *
II. INTRODUCTION
III. ALIEN RACE LIST
IV. LAST WORDS
II. INTRODUCTION
II. SHIP MODULE INVENTORY
III. LAST WORDS
- SHIP TYPES.

I. REVISION HISTORY

FAQ started Added Introduction Added Alien Race section Added Last Words section [NOTE: My revision history starts at version 1.0 and each change will be noted as a .1 addition, so the 3rd revision, if it ever gets to that, will be the version 1.3

II. INTRODUCTION

This FAQ is to give you a general outline of the planetary structures you can build and what they do. Each structure has a specific purpose, and some have multiple purposes. I have found that certain structures are pretty much worthless to build, since they either duplicate abilites of other structures or you receive the structures too late in the game for them to make any difference. Overall when building a colony, you have 3 general areas you can concentrate on. Industry, Research, and Productivity. Industry structures add into your industry total, which is used for building other structures and ships. This is your major general area you should concentrate on. Research structures add into your technological area, and speed up the rate in which you learn new technology. This is important for you to get the good items in the game, and is your 2nd most important area. Productivity determines how fast your colonists replenish, which allow you to use them to habitat buildings and your ships. While this is important, you will find that productivity is very important early in the game, and pretty much worthless later in the game as you find new ways to grow. Thus productivity is the last area you should be worrying about. [NOTE: Since different planets have different areas of expertise, you have to base your development on what the planet has to offer. While in general colonization works the same way, you can adjust how fast certain areas go depending on what type of planet you are on. An example, mineral planets usually have a lot more industry red nodes thus you will find that industry structures are more worthwhile to build there. ] [NOTE: Industry buildings are used for that planet only. A high industry planet in no way contributes to the industry of another planet. One of the drawbacks of the game. You cannot transfer resources between planets. Every new planet you colonize has to be built from the ground up. Research points ARE transferred across planets. All research points from all planets you control are put into a research "pool" in which your tech learning is figured out. Productivity, like Industry, is limited to that planet only.

PLANETARY NODES.

Planets in Ascendancy are made up of colored "nodes" or squares. Each node is a certain color, and you build your planetary facilities on each node. A small planet might only have a small number of nodes, thus no matter how technological you get, you won't be able to build a lot on them. BLACK SQUARES: Black squares are inhabitable areas, you cannot build any worthwhile buildings on them. You can build connecting tunnels to bypass black squares in order to reach squares you can use. Later in the game you can learn the technology "terraforming" which allows you to change the useless black squares into general white squares, on which you can build. One race you can play in the game allows you to build on black squares as their special ability. WHITE SQUARES: White squares are your general building squares. You can build any structure on them, but they do not give any benefits to any structure. GREEN SQUARES: Green squares give a benefit to any productivity structure built on them, such as Agriplots and Habitats. RED SQUARES: Red squares give benefits to industry structures such as factories and megafacilities. BLUE SQUARES: Blue squares give benefits to, yep, you guessed it, research structures like Laborities and Research parks. You will notice certain types of planets have a greater chance to have a certain type of planet square. Eden planets tend to have a lot of green squares for productivity, while mineral planets have a higher red square count. Take this with a grain of salt. If you develop your planets to a high degree, most of them will become industry powerhouses no matter what type of squares they have.

III. PLANETARY BUILDING LIST

* PLANETARY STRUCTURES * The following list gives the buildings, their general stats, and my notes on them. Different types of planets will penalize or boost certain types of building types. I do not have the overall factors in it, but in general you can figure out that mineral planets are good for industry buildings, eden planets good for productivity planets, etc. FACTORY. Industry 1 The Factory is a common structure on most colonized planets. Factories increase a colony's industry, which helps speed the completion of planetary projects.

[NOTES: The factory is going to be your main primary industry building. Once your colony starts to develop, you will begin turning your factories into industrial megafacilities.] LABORATORY. Research 1 The Laboratory is a center for research and development. Your Laboratories provide research, which allows a species to make technological discoveries. [NOTES: Your laboratory is going to be your main primary research building. Once you start to develop you will begin turning your laboratories into research campus's.]

AGRIPLOT. Prosperity 1 The Agriplot is a highproductivity farming area. Agriplots increase a colony's prosperity, which causes its population to grow more quickly.

[NOTES: Your agriplot will be your main primary prosperity building. Unlike industry and research, often you will not have to upgrade your agriplots because there will become numerous ways to speed up your population growth such as cloning, maybe automation, or just running out of room.]

INDUSTRIAL MEGAFACILITY. Industry 3 The Industrial Megafacility is a huge, selfreliant production plant. Its industrial output is greater than that of a Factory.

[NOTES: This will be your main industry building in the game. Once your industry rating becomes high enough to wean yourself off your basic factories, then Megafacilities will become the major structure on all your planets. More industry is better.]

RESEARCH CAMPUS. Research 3 The Research Campus is a wellequipped experimental center. It is of more research value than a Laboratory.

[NOTES: Once you have a decent industry rating, you can start switching out your laboratories into Research Campus's. Only upgrade on blue squares, its better for your colony to have industry buildings on white, red or green squares. Only build Research campus's on blue squares. ARTIFICIAL HYDROPONIFER. Prosperity 3 The Artificial Hydroponifer is a superefficient nourishment production facility. Its prosperity output is greater than that of an Agriplot.

[NOTES: Once you have decent industry ratings, you can start to change your Agriplots into Hydroponifers. You probably will not change many Agriplots. Once your colony grows better, there are other ways to gain more population instead of having more prosperity. Only put Hydroponifers on green squares. There is no need for high prosperity if your population is close to being maxxed out.]

OUTPOST. Prosperity 1 population +1 The Outpost is an important structure for colonies on small or minimally habitable planets. It provides living facilities for additional population. [NOTES: The Outpost will be your basic population building. You should only build them if you reach close to your population max. Your main population building should be Metroplex's. Only use Outposts or Habitats if you can't build Metroplex's. Once you develop Metroplex's you should be switching out all your Outposts and Habitats. ]

HABITAT. Population +3 The Habitat is a highdensity living and working complex with a precisely controlled internal climate. Habitats provide a colony with additional population.

[NOTES: Habitats are a step up from Outposts, but Metroplex's should be your major building for more population. Only build Habitats if you do not have Metroplex's, and only if you need extra living areas. Most of my colonies never see a Habitat.]

METROPLEX. Industry 1 research 1 prosperity 1 population +1 The Metroplex is an urban center with industrial, technological, and residential capacities.

[NOTES: The Metroplex will be your main building for population increase. Good colonies will have 2 main buildings, your Industrial Megafacilities will be your main buildings, and you will have just enough Metroplex's to keep your population going up. If you ever develop Automation you can just keep building Megafacilities instead, and automate them.]

LOGIC FACTORY. Research 1 prosperity 1 The Logic Factory is a research complex that specializes in the entertainment and happiness of sentient beings. It provides both research and prosperity.

[NOTES: This is a worthless building. Do not ever build one. If its a blue square, should be a Research Campus, if white should be a Industry Megafacility. You won't need prosperity that much.] ENGINEERING RETREAT. Industry 1 research 1 The Engineering Retreat is an academized production plant where engineers devise improvement in logistics and production methods and provides a colony with industry as well as research.

[NOTES: This is a worthless building. Do not ever build one. Should be using Industrial Megafacilities or Research Campus's.]

SURFACE CLOAKER. Battle building The Surface Cloaker uses highfrequency diffaction generators to make a planet surface practically invisible to alien ships.

[NOTES: This device keeps your planet layout hidden. This is a worthless device. It does not stop invasion or provide defense. if you want to protect against invasion, build either stronger orbital defenses to keep away ships (1st choice) or surface shields to repel invasion modules (2nd choice).]

OBSERVATION INSTALLATION. Battle building The Observation Installation scans nearby alien ships. There is no need to build more than one Observation Installation on any planet.

[NOTES: Another building you probably will never need. This building gives you a outline of what enemy ships have in terms of weapons, power, etc. It does nothing to protect you or enhance your colony. Who cares what enemy ships have, blow them up no matter what. Knowing what they have doesn't stop them from taking over your planet. Build a Megafacility.]

TRACTOR BEAM ELEMENT. Battle building The Tractor Beam generates a powerful statis field bla bla bla.

[NOTES: Ignore this worthless device. It draws a ship near your planet, which is only good if you have extremely strong planet defenses to blow it up. Trouble is, you can't shoot and use this device at the same time. So you draw a ship in, it flies away, you draw it in, it flies away, etc. just build something else.] SURFACE SHIELD. Battle building The Surface shield houses defense armaments that protect a colony against alien invasion. Several surface shields may be necessary to defend against large invasion forces.

[NOTES: Your basic defense against invasion forces. The better way to go is to strengthen instead your planetary orbital defenses instead, better to destroy a ship before it gets into your orbit. If you have a strong orbit defense, nothing will invade you. only build these shields if you are getting over welmed by invaders a lot. Save those surface spots for Industrial Megafacilities. One shield will repel one invader module.]

Surface Mega Shield. Battle building The Surface Mega Shield is a powerful defense against alien invasion. It uses protective ion fields to augment the endurance of its defense armaments. It is more powerful than the normal surface shield. [NOTES: A better form of invasion shielding, but again, if you have a good orbital defense you won't need this device. I have NEVER had to build one in many games played. The device will repel either 2 or 3 invader modules compared to the normal shield of 1. Only build one if your colony is in danger of invasion.]

HYPERPOWER PLANT. Special building The Hyperpower plant is a marvel of high technology. By it generating power for all of a colony's industry structures, it significantly increases the colony's entire industrial output. There is no need to build more than 1 per planet.

[NOTES: Boosts your industry, so once you can build it, always have 1 per planet. Most of your planets will be industry oriented, so this always helps.] FERTILIZATION PLANT. Special building The Fertilization plant produces vast quantities of agricultural and hydroponic supplies. It boosts the prosperity of an entire colony. There is no need for more than 1 per planet. [NOTES: A worthless building. Prosperity is the last area you will worry about in the later game, plus at population max it is worthless. There are better ways to raise prosperity.]

INTERNET. Special building The Internet provides a colony with a highspeed information and data transfer system. It greatly improves the progress of research centers. There is no need to build more than 1 on a planet. [NOTES: A great building to put on planets that have a lot of research areas. I say if you have more than 3 or 4 blue research areas, make sure you have a Internet building on the planet. CLONING PLANT. Special building The Cloning Plant organically duplicates new members of a planets population. There is no need to build more than 1 per planet.

[NOTES: While the cloning plant doubles your population growth you usually get it so late its worthless, because you are at your population max anyway. Pretty much a worthless building at the stage you receive it.]

TRANSPORT TUBES. Special building Basically tubes are used on black squares in order to reach areas you can build on. The provide no benefit to your planet other than reaching far away building squares. Once you research terraforming, make sure to change your tubes into useable white squares. XENO ARCHEOLOGICAL DIG. Special building This building is used on special tech Archeological ruins. It is useless on all other areas. Once you use this Dig on a dig site, after a period of research the dig site will reveal ancient technology. * ORIBTAL STRUCTURES * SHIPYARD. The shipyard is an enormous orbital center for the production of space ships. It is a necessary first step towards space exploration. You need a Shipyard to build ships.

[NOTES: Yep, you need one to build ships. You only need a shipyard on a colony that is large enough to have a industry that can build ships with any efficiency.]

ORBITAL DOCKS. Orbital docks provide a maintenance platform to repair and refit ships. When a ship is refitted, its contents may be changed and its hull repaired. [NOTES: A decent sized planet needs one so that a ship can use it to repair and refit. While many planets cannot house a ship yard, smaller planets can house a orbital dock for basic repair.] ORBITAL CLOAKER. The Orbital Cloaker uses modified diffraction generators to disguise structures in orbit, rendering them invisible. [NOTES: A nice structure, if you were in multiplayer. Not really useful against computer opponents. Best to just blow up anything that comes close to your planet. Stick to shields/weapons.] ORBITAL SHIELDS. Shields are a colony's primary defense against alien invasion. As long as a colony is protected by a Shield, alien ships may not enter orbit. [NOTES: Shields and weapons are good. Always have at least 1 orbital shield per planet, even just to stop an invasion ship.] ORBITAL MEGA SHIELDS. Same as orbital shields, but much harder to destroy. [NOTES: At the point you get mega shields, you probably will be doing fine anyway. Drop your regular shields and put up mega shields. no brainer.]

ORBITAL MISSILE BASE, SHORT RANGE ORBITAL WHOPPER , LONG RANGE ORBITAL

WHOPPER. These 3 weapon systems will be your defense to shoot down enemy ships. Missile bases are your basic defenses. Short range whoppers have the same range as missiles ,but can fire 3/day compared to the missiles 1 per day. Long range Whoppers are your best weapons, able to fire at long ranges. Make sure to have a minimum of 1 weapon per planet, and more weapons for planets at hub areas, strong points, and planets near enemy activity.

* SPECIAL OCCURANCES *

The following aren't exactly buildings, but are special techniques you can learn through technological development. ALIEN HOSPITALITY. While a colony dedicates its industry to this Alien Hospitality, it helps improve diplomatic relations with alien races. [NOTES: When used, it will turn all your industry off and focus a part of that industry rating to your "alien diplomacy" rating. Used only during peacetime, during hostile games diplomacy usually has no effect. The better industry on a planet, the more is put into the Alien Hospitality.] ENDLESS PARTY. While a colony dedicates its industry to Endless party, it increases the colonies prosperity rating. [NOTES: At the stage of the game you get this ability, you will probably be at or close to your max population rating anyway, so it will be rarely used. What is good is that once you get this ability, you can totally get rid of any prosperity buildings on the planet like Habitats and build Industrial Megafacilities instead. Should you ever need any extra population if you have space, you can just switch on Endless Party and once filled up, switch back to normal game play.] SCIENTIST TAKEOVER. While a colony dedicates its industry to Scientist Takeover, it increases the colonies research rating. [NOTES: A great ability, since research means more and faster tech improvement. Activating this ability turns off your industry and donates a percentage to your research rating for the planet. I suggest that you only use this ability once you have totally maxxed out a planets growth and colonization. Of course this happens quicker on smaller planets. Nothing else to do on a small planet? Switch it over to Scientist Takeover and let it help add to the research pool.] AUTOMATION. Automation is a process by which the personnel maintaining a structure are replaced by robotic equipment. When a structure has been fully automated, its personnel are freed for use elsewhere on the colony. [NOTES: Automation is a nice ability. As long as you have 1 free citizen, you can automate a building so that it frees up other citizens for work. Once you develop Automation you can ignore any population enhancing buildings such as Habitats, Metroplex's, etc. Just build Industrial Megafacilities, automate them, and build more. This way, one citizen can build an entire world. TERRAFORMING. Terraforming is a project for colonies to transform black surface squares into white squares, and then the colony can build structures on it. [NOTES: A must have ability later in the game, so you can maximize production on planets, especially low habitat ones. Every race will use this ability to increase their planets abilities. Only 1 race, which can colonize on black squares, will never need terraforming.] LUSH GROWTH BOMB. The Lush Growth Bomb combines technology with organic synthesis equipment to make a planet surface more habitable. Only 1 lush growth bomb will work on any one planet. Multiple uses will not increase growth any more. [NOTES: A great effect, it provides a bonus to habit size, adding in a greater maximum population rating. Sadly, most games you will never see this ability, I have only seen it once. More population means less buildings needed for habitat only, and more you can use for industry and research.]

IV. FINAL WORDS

This will give you a basic understanding on how to build and what to build on your colonies. Really you need to play the game to get a much better understanding on how it works, but once you get the hang of it, its pretty easy. When starting your first planet, you want to build 1 agriplot, 1 factory, and 1 laboratory first. That is only needed on the first planet. On any colony, you want to make sure that your productivity is high enough so that early on, you arent' wasting time "waiting" for colonists to appear so you can use them. Your main building on new colonies should be Agriplots. Best to have a 2 to 1 ratio of Agriplots to other structures. Once your production of colonists is working at a decent rate, then up your industry some. Later in the game when you have more advanced buildings, you still have to build new colonies from the ground up, the advanced buildings still won't be usuable until your industry is high enough. Early on have plenty of agriplots, put plenty of factories about, and once you approach your max population, start switching your factories over to Industrial Megafacilities. When you need to expand your population, go with Megaplex's first, then Habitats, then Outposts last. In general, I have some agriplots for early productivity, One Hydroplant and many Industrial Megafacilities. Metroplex's for population. If you have alot of blue squares, then one Internet building and many Research Campus's. I personally never use Cloning, Surface shields or Cloakers, or Advanced farms.

ASCENDANCY!

ALIEN RACE FAQ

V 1.1 Completed 8/24/05

Written and maintained by James Friel Copyright @2005 James Friel ([email protected]/* */) This FAQ is solely intended for use on Gamefaq.com forum site, and may not be reproduced or duplicated without permission of myself. If you want to use or duplicate the FAQ, feel free on other sites, I really am not a greedy person, just make sure to credit the FAQ and myself when doing it. ASCENDANCY is a PC game published by Logic Factory 1995 ===================== TABLE OF CONTENTS =====================

I. Revision History

II. Introduction

III. Alien race list

IV. Last Words

I. REVISION HISTORY

2/10/05 v1.0 FAQ started Added Introduction Added Alien Race section Added Last Words section 8/24/05 v1.1 Added updates on alien abilities [NOTE: My revision history starts at version 1.0 and each change will be noted as a .1 addition, so the 3rd revision, if it ever gets to that, will be the version 1.3]

II. INTRODUCTION

This Acendancy FAQ is made up to give you some info on the various races you can play in the game. The game does include a great Tutorial section, which I cannot stress enough for you to go through to learn a great deal about how to play the game, plus learn alot of valuable info. The Tutorial is one of the best you will find. There are 21 races you can play in the game, each one has their unique background and special abilities. Sadly human is not among them, this is really a galaxy far far away. How you play the game is greatly affected by the race you pick. Some races are designed for fighting, some are designed for peace, while others have special abilites that benefit them no matter what they are in it for. The following is the list in the game describing the races and their backgrounds. You can access their special abilities in the game by clicking on the Special Ability button in the basic Galatic display screen menu. I hope to give you a little info on each race plus some ideas on how to play them.

III. ALIEN RACE LIST

1) MINIONS: SUPREME PLANET INVADERS

Minions are a mysterious group of robot creatures controlled by an unknown extragalactic super force. They are hideously strong and quick. HISTORY. The Minions are a species of artificial lifemachines that serve the purposes of their extragalactic masterspecies. Eons ago, the master species seeded the ancestorunits of the Minions on a planet chosen to accelerate their developmental programs. Their ultimate programming lay dormant throughout their history until reawakened by their cosmic masters. No one knows anything about the location of the masters or their purpose. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Minions are masters of invasion. Their planetary invasions will always succeed. [NOTES: Minions are Invaders, as their special ability states. If you play as the Minions, you want to invade, invade, invade. Your first priority is to build ships with Invasion modules and head for neighbor star systems, hunt down enemy home worlds, and take them over. Hopefully early on you will be quick enough to catch your alien neighbors sleeping, quickly overwelming them. I myself adjust my Invasion ships to be a bit faster, more speed with less Invasion modules. Defending against Minions, you do not want them to get close to your planets. You won't be able to repel them once they get into your orbits. Blow them up before they even get close, fight them in space, because planetside they are unstoppable.

2) SNOVEMDOMAS: BUILDERS OF INDESTRUCTABLE SHIPS

Snovemdomas are incredibly tough, and guard their territories with alarming ferocity. They are generally uninterested in diplomacy with other species. HISTORY. The Snovemdomas evolved as packhunting predators in woods and tundra plains on a very highgravity world. Snovemdomas are about the size of a bear, and their stocky build is deceptive since they are quick and graceful in motion. To the inhabitants of the other worlds, they appear to be imposing and massive. On their own world, the Snovemdomas prey on much larger and tougher creatures, bringing the prey down by overwelming it with numbers and speed. Their bodies evolved strength and lightness (too much mass being detrimental in high gravity), and their bones are made of a hollow but nearly unbreakable forcedistributing honycomb lattice. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Snovemdomas are mighty and tough. Their ships all have doublestrength hulls. [NOTES: When playing as Snovemdomas, your strength lies in your ships. Having ships which are vastly superior to other alien ships of equal design allows you to survive alot easier. Your ships are your strength, lean that way. Have powerful fleets with great Warcraft. In peacetime no one cares how strong your ships are. The Snovemdomas are one of the few races that can take advantage of certain misc items that can be outfitted on a ship that normally don't have much use in combat. When playing against Snovemdomas, take into consideration that their ships are much harder to destroy. Make sure you have a size advantage, or stronger numbers and/or weapons. Use special items that affect their weapons and power instead of their hulls at first.

3) ORFA: BLACK SQUARE DWELLERS

Orfa are from a seething, volcanic world, and they are able to subsist on raw minerals. They are slothful but highly intelligent. HISTORY. The Orfa are grazing animals that evolved on a hostile world. Their bodies are very dense and tough, and they are as happy in a pool of lava as pigs are in a wallow of filth. They prefer vegetaion and a diet of complex organic molecules but they can subsist on raw minerals. They are not harmed by the radiation, heat, cold, chemicals, or physical buffeting of any known planetary body, nor do they require an atmosphere. They have no known natural enemies (nothing on their home world is able to make a dent in their hides) and no particular difficulty surviving in almost any environment. It is likely that they evolved sentience due to competition for mating. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Orfa are unfazed by hostile environments. They can build on black planet squares. [NOTES: When playing the Orfa, you have a slight advantage in the speed in your colony growth. You don't have to waste time building connection tunnels nor spend time Terraforming once you gain that skill. You can also develop barren planets at quick speeds, which other races will not be able to do for a good long time. Take advantage of this fact. Your main goal to start is to get colony ships going and colonize as many planets as you can, each planet you colonize can grow very quickly. You want alot of fast growing planets. This ability makes you good in all around playing, either warlike or peacetime. When playing against Orfa, you shouldn't have a large problem. Since the computer AI isn't great, usually they won't take great advantage of their fast growth, at least I never saw it. Treat them as any other race with basic abilities.

4) KAMBUCHKA: CLAIRVOYANTS

Kambuchka subsist by filtering the rich, soupy atmosphere of their world. A Kambuchka's entire body is a convoluted sensory membrane. HISTORY. The Kambuchka evolved in the dense, foglike atmosphere of a large planet. They see by feeling the atomic vibrations of their surroundings on their convoluted membrane bodies. The Kabuchka cannot move quickly in the atmosphere of their home world, so they evolved the ability to detect faraway living things, both to help them find food and to help them avoid predators. SPECIAL ABILITIY: The Kambuchka can sense life forms from far away. They can see all alien home stars. [NOTES: The Kambuchka are one of those races who's special ability really doesn't have any impact on their playing. Big deal, they can see where other home worlds are located. They have no benefits in getting there, or surviving battles or growing. You still have to explore all areas to find those lanes to those homeworlds, and any race that reaches those areas are notified anyway. Their special ability is no benefit whatsoever. Play them only if you want a challenge. When playing against Kambuchka, sigh and breath easier that they will be a easy race to deal with in any situation.

5) HANSHAKS: TELEPATHIC DIPLOMATS

Hanshaks are an ancient race of toroidal mindbodies. They are in tune with life and nature, and are masters of communication. HISTORY. The Hanshaks can communicate telepathically with other sentient life. The Sanshaks are few, but they are renowned for their wisdom and intuition. After an early technological surge, they dismantled their cities and returned their world to its natural state, developing a culture devoted to enlightenment and living symbiotically with nature. They have managed to retain a knowledge of technology in their druidic society. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Hanshaks are telepathic communicators. They can talk to all other races from the start of the game. [NOTES: Hanshaks are ok diplomats and have a slight advantage of all other races in that they can start diplomatic relations sooner than the other aliens. This in no way gives them advantages in diplomacy, they just get a early start. This is not a great special ability, since it doesn't take you long to start encountering other races anyway, but any little bit helps. This is a peaceful ability, against hostile aliens they usually ignore your talks anyway, so starting early doesn't do much. A lesser special ability. When playing as Hanshaks try and use your communication skills early on and try and make friends. Not much else you can do with it, im afraid. When playing against Hanshaks, you don't really have to worry about much. If its peacetime you will usually make some alliances anyway, and during war time most other aliens ignore your talks. Having Hanshaks talking to you at the start of the game usually only ends in them declaring war quicker than the other races. Big deal, your going to kill them all anyway right? haha.

6) FLUDENTRI: INSTANT HEALERS

Fludentri are composed entirely of liquid, and a severely injured Fludentri heals in seconds. They are ambitious and unintellectual. HISTORY. The Fludentri evolved on a world covered with ocean. They are composed of polymerized liquid. When a Fludentri is injured it regenerates in seconds, its fluid anatomy knitting together immediately after physical damage occurs. A Fludentri dies only when its entire body is disrupted at once. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Fludentri are resilent. They can repair all damage to their ships. [NOTES: Another race with a weak special ability. While this special does have limited combat uses, when it rolls around you usually aren't loaded up with a ton of damaged ships waiting. It doesn't provide much benefit early in the game and is only useful later. When playing, simply play normally not worrying about your special ability. Once you reach a point where you are building alot of ships you can start to keep an eye on the special ability. Again not much else you can do. Playing against the Fludentri, you treat them as a race with no special ability. The ability really won't have much effect on you since you probably will be destroying their ships, so there won't be any "injured" ships to heal.

7) BALIFIDS: SUPER DIPLOMATS

Balifids are cute little rodents. Their disarming appearance belies their ruthless diplomatic skill. HISTORY. The Balifids evolved on a hospitable but competitive world where they developed the ability to disarm and win over their competitors. Other creatures instinctively feel protective of Balifids. The Balifids have a huge capicity for funthey take nothing very serious and are friendly and curious. Despite their naive and harmless image, the Balifids are deeply intelligent and highly perceptive. They survived as a species because of their keen awareness of the outlook and motivations of other creatures. SPECIAL ABILITIES: Balifids are disarming diplomats. They can force all aliens to make peace with them. [NOTES: As their description says, they are diplomats. And they actually have a great ability to that effect. Use it. Make friends, try and do some trading, and keep the peace. This won't have much effect on your colony growth other than making sure you keep an eye out on your diplomatic status with your neighbors. I haven't tried them in hostile mode to see if they offset the hostility other races do. When playing against Balifids, they don't get any benefits in battle. When fighting against them, they probably will have other races as their friends, but then again, you are fighting usually against everyone else anyway so no big difference. I'd treat them as a race with no special abilities, even though their diplomat abilities might get them technology a tad quicker than others.

8) SWAPARAMANS: ENERGY DOUBLERS

Swaparamans are cosmic exiles. They were driven from their home world by the dread Frutmaka, and survived only by finding great strength in adversity. HISTORY. The Swaparamans evolved on the first planet of a binary star system. The dualstar configuration influenced the development of duality inversereality structures that continually build in the minds of the Swamparamans like electricity charging a capacitor. Once charged, the Swamparamans can release their stored potential. They evolved on the same world as the Frutmaka, but were driven from their home world. A tiny number survived and were able to flee in space vessels that they patched together in secret. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Swamparamans produce extra power. They can double the power of all their ships. [NOTES: This could have been a good power except they limited it to only working on the turn its used. So you have double power on one turn only, which basically is almost useless compared to the powers of other races. When playing against the Swaparamans, consider them with no special ability what so ever. 1 turn of double power is nothing.

9) FRUTMAKA: TELEPORTERS

Frutmaka share a common home world and ancestry with the Swaparamans. Their blackhole god, Graveesha, has given them the ability to warp space. HISTORY. The Frutmaka evolved near a blackhole on the same planet that gave birth to the Swaparamans. Long ago they drove the Swaparamans from their mutual home world. The Frutmaka move with glacial slowness. They are nearsessile fungal animals that obtained high intelligence early in their evolution. Their fustration at being fully aware and helpless while they were being eaten alive by predators gave way to the development of a latent telekinetic ability. Modern Frutmaka have a formitable ability to teleport objects with the force of their wills. Combining abilities, they can teleport large objects across huge distances. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Frutmaka are able to repel. They can warp alien ships out of their colonies stars. [NOTES: While the Frutmaka have a nice special ability, sadly you won't be taking advantage of it too much. Why? Because if you are any type of decent player at all, you will be doing your fighting in OTHER alien's star areas, not yours. If you are doing so bad that alien forces are invading your areas easy, then you are in trouble. Don't worry about your ability much. Expand, grow, and Keep in mind that the ability is there in a emergency situation. Expelling enemy ships only delays them, it does not destroy them. Keep the power for emergencies. When playing against Frutmaka, its the exact opposite. You probably will be encountering their ability alot if you are trying to take over their areas. There isn't any defense against it so you just have to keep pushing at them. Again, all it does is delay you. Take advantage of it, refit if needed. Consolidate and head back.

10) SHEVAR: ENERGY SAPPERS

Shevar are a nonorganic lifeform, and masters of the dark forces of the universe. They harness arcane powers that sap and oppose all life. HISTORY. Little is known of the Shevar. They are sorcerers, masters of dark forces from another universe. They are an inorganic lifeformthey follow most definitions of life but are composed entirely of inorganic substances. They are able to harness an antienergy that draws in and consumes energy and life force. It is believed that the Shevar came from another universe with different physical laws. They experimented with their arcane arts until they opened a way into this universe, and the pathway they opened led to a planet teeming with life. This was a unimagined bounty to the Shevar and they utterly devastated this world, feeding on its life force. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Shevar are powersappers. They can wipe out the power of all alien ships in systems they occupy. [NOTES: When playing as Shevar, you find limitations on their special abilities similiar to that of the Frutmaka, you will be able to use your ability, but it won't be as effective as you might like because you probably will be doing much of your fighting in other systems, not yours. Also, battles probably won't be too long in scope, if you leave alot of enemy ships about that this power can work on, you are not doing the job right. Play as a normal race but just keep in mind that in a emergency you have a good backup ability to help you defend your area. When playing against the Shevar, again, its the exact opposite. You will encounter their power more than if you were playing them, simply because you will be in their area more than they are in yours. Take it with a grain of salt, You won't be in a huge fleet battle that should make a big difference when the power is used.

11) GOVOROM: PLANET NURTURERS

Govorom are spirits of nature. They transformed their oncebarren home world into a lush paradise. They are guarded but trustworthy. HISTORY. The Govorom evolved on a barren desert planet. In order to survive they learned to preserve and nuture the scant resources of their world. They do not have an organized society, they live apart from each other, each being a caretaker of a small region of the planet. The regions they care for are everchanging and are not agreed upon but handled purely by intuition each Govorom knows instinctively where its region lies. Given an alreadyhospitable planet, they are able to transform it into a paradise. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Govorom are naturegoddesses. You can turn your least populated colony into a rich world. [NOTES: The Govorom special ability is very nice, it changes the planet that has less population by converting its resourse squares into better squares. (I.E. White squares into red, blue or green ones) Black squares into white. A great ability in both peacetime and wartime. When playing against the Govorom, they will have better planets, thus better colonies.

12) UNGOOMA: TRAVEL DISRUPTORS

Ungooma are brain parasites. Their mindcontrol can leave a victim uncertain of which memories are real and which were implanted. HISTORY. The Ungooma are a species of adaptiveintelligence beings that evolved as thoughparasites and later developed their own means of thinking and taking control of animals, using the bodies and minds of their hosts for their own needs. They are tiny, and their intellect is derived from the combined thoughts of many thousands of distinct composite personalities which they have. They currently no longer possess the ability to take over a host, but they retain the vestigial ability to exert a limited form of mind control at a distance. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Ungooma are mischievous. They can bump all ships in star lanes backward to their stars of origin. [NOTES: Now this isn't a great ability, considering that this only delays ships for a certain time. I also am not sure if this affects your own ships. If it does, it turns a weak special ability into a useless special ability. When playing as the Ungooma, I would first check to see if it affects yourself. If it does, forget the ability entirely. If not, simply use it every time it comes up just to slow down the expansion of the other aliens. If playing against the Ungooma, you will find yourself delayed alot by their power, not much else you can do but let yourself go down the star lanes. This will affect you earlier in the game more than the latter part. Later on, you will develop faster ships and produce Gate ships to speed your process. The good thing is that this power will slow down other alien races also, so they are in the same boat as you are.

13) DUBTAKS: UNSPORTSMANLIKE SCIENTISTS

Dubtaks practics science in a most unsportsmanlike fashion. Nearly all their knowledge is stolen. HISTORY. The Dubtaks evolved on a world full of aggressive, competitive life. If a dangerous animal was set down anywhere on the planet, it would be consumed in seconds. Although they are not especially aggressive themselves, they survived by excelling at hiding and watching. Their senses cover a vast spectrum of phenomena, so they can tell that something is headed their way. They move like the wind and can fit in small holes and cracks easily. SPECIAL ABILITY: They can steal any technology known by at least two other races. [NOTES: Another race with a excellent special ability. When their turn comes up they can copy any technology known by at least 2 other races. Not just 1 ability, ALL abilities known by 2 others. You can quickly go from having 5 researched areas to 10, or 15. Very very excellent in both wartime and peacetime. Your tech development will proceed super fast. Make sure you research the hardest tech you can, because by the time your special ability comes around, you probably will learn most lesser ones. When playing against the Dubtaks they will be technologically advanced and have pretty much every technique you have, plus most others. The only race that might have a advantage in the tech department are the Chamachies.

14) CAPELONS: PLANET CAMOUFLAGERS

Capelons are adept at camouflage, selfprotection and survival. They keep their motives hidden and are cunning diplomats. HISTORY. The Capelons are masses of flowing fibers who can rearrange their bodies quickly to assume any shape. They evolved on a highly predatory world where their camouflage and shapeshifting were useful for catching their scarce, elusive prey before competing predators could. They eventually developed the power to repel competing predators as a extension to their camouflage ability, making themselves so unnoticeable that the threatening being forgets what itt was thinking about, allowing the Capelon to make an escape. SPECIAL ABILITY: They can make all their colonies invincible for one day. [NOTE: Big deal. You know how long a day lasts in the game? Well it just went by and you can be killed again. This is almost a bottom of the barrel ability, since you won't find yourself fighting a big enemy fleet all on the same day. So how it works, your power comes up, one or 2 planets who MIGHT be threatened can't be attacked for a day, ok, day is past, back to playing. Play the Capelons as a species with no ability, you might use your power once or twice once things start to get nasty, but since it lasts only a blink of an eye, you might keep your planet alive long enough for an enemy to spit at you twice instead of once. When playing against the Capelons, just beat them up like any other species with no ability, you won't even notice their "day of invincibility". Big deal, it will take you 5 days to take down their planetary defenses instead of 4.

15) MEBES: RAPID REPRODUCERS

Mebes are large singlecelled creatures that reproduce at will. They are extremely expansionistic and communication with them is difficult. HISTORY. The Mebes are large singlecelled creatures that evolved on a warm, sunny world. They roll around collecting food on their surfaces and absorbing it into their bodies. They breed rapidly by sexual reproduction. Two Mebes exchange genetic material, they each divides to produce a new Mebe. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Mebes are good at populating. They can increase the maximum population of all their colonies. [NOTES: A top of the line special ability. If you are playing as the Mebes you will have faster developing colonies than most other races. Having more population means you need less habitat structures, which in turn means you can devote that space to industry and research. You want to take advantage of this, and instantly start colonizing worlds as fast as you can. This ability is stronger at the start of the game when population is sparce, but not so great later in the game when your planets can easily develop habitat structures long before you "grow". This ability is excellent for both peaceful and wartime. When playing against the Mebes, you usually will find them ahead in the shipbuilding area, since they develop quicker than many races. They aren't tactically super except for logistics (faster colonies means a tad faster researching and fleet building).

16) OCULONS: SUPER ASTRONOMERS

Oculons are a chivalrous race of astronomers and mystics. They are fierce enemies and loyal friends. HISTORY. The Oculons have only the extremely acute sense of sight. They evolved on a thinatmosphere planet orbiting a bright sun. Their culture is strongly astronomical (they are essentially living telescopes) and they have amassed a great deal of knowledge about the galaxy. They are more mystical than intellectual, and are considered superstitious by other races. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Oculons are ancient astronomers. They can see all star lanes. [NOTES: A nice little ability. This ability doesn't give a big advantage when playing Oculons, but it makes life a little easier when planning ship fleet manuvers, you can tell which lanes are dead ends and which lanes are tactical strongpoint hubs. Of course, simply exploring those areas with ships would do the same thing, you just get a little boost. When playing, make sure to look and secure any strongpoint system areas you see. When playing against the Oculons, treat them as any other race without a special ability. So what, they know the star lanes, the computer usually is programmed like that anyway. That doesn't stop your ships from blowing up their ships.

17) ARBRYLS: SYSTEM ISOLATORS

Arbryls are a gangly treepeople. They are respectful of other life, but want more than anything to be left alone. HISTORY. The Arbryls are treepeople who evolved on a huge eden planet containing only plant life. They are peaceful, slowmoving, and highly intelligent. They are unused to conflict and their philosophy is towards isolationist. They can usually be found standing perfectly motionless for huge amounts of time, thinking their tree thoughts, pondering the world. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Arbryls can disrupt the flow of space. They can block all star lanes entering their colonized systems. [NOTES: When playing the Arbryls, develop yourself like normal. Your special ability isn't really needed much unless you start to fall behind in the power curve and stronger species start to invade your areas. Hopefully you are doing well and invading theirs instead. Your power is more of a "take a breather" ability. If you need to regroup, its a nice backup. When playing against the Arbryls, take into consideration that sometimes you won't be using starlanes in their area. Its not a big deal, most of the time you are busy developing planets to notice that you aren't arriving in a certain system right on time. After you get good and develop Gateships, their power becomes pretty much useless.

18) MARMOSIANS: HOSTILITY DIVERTERS

Marmosians are territorial insects. They use complex pheromone signals to manipulate other creatures into protecting their territory for them. HISTORY. The Marmosians are from the inner world of a hot sun. Their mating pheromones evolved into a general purpose array of complex mood altering scent molecules that allow them to manipulate the base emotions of other creatures. They learned to use the predators of their world to protect their territories, and they tend to repel attacks by causing their enemies to fight each other. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Mamosians can create hatred. They can cause alien species to strongly dislike any species at war with them. [NOTE. When playing the Marmosians, your ability usually is only helpful in a hostile environment, where you can turn your enemies against each other. During peacetime if you have no enemies, your power is useless. Develop your colonies like normal, and keep your enemies fighting themselves, lessening their impact against you. A race benefitial only in hostility. When playing against the Marmosians, consider them a race with no special ability. During peacetime their ability is rendered pretty much useless, and during war modes all the other races are at war with you anyway, so again, the ability is worthless.

19) CHRONOMYST: LANE TRAVELERS

Chronomyst are jewellike water creatures. Their brains are organic optical computers, making them lightningquick. HISTORY. The Chronomyst are a deeply religious and philosophical race who spend much of their time in trancelike meditations exploring inner space. When one with their god, they can float through time and space at a different rate than that experienced by those not ascended. They have discovered a way to use this to access star lanes and accelerate through them. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Chronomyst can change the rate of time passage. They can move quickly through star lanes. [NOTE: Hey, who doesn't hate star lane travel, its boring, takes a very long time, and until you develop Gateships, its...boring. If your playing as the Chronomyst, take advantage of your travel boost. Expand quick, and colonize even quicker. Use your ability to its fullest. Its stronger in the beginning of the game than later on when you develop better ships. Expand expand expand. Get A good number of systems under your belt before you start meeting the other guys. When playing against the Chronomyst, just keep in mind they can move through star lanes fast at times. Always have a warship guarding starlanes near them (you should be doing that anyway). Myself, I consider their power as benefitial to me, the quicker they get to me, the quicker I blow them up LOL.

20) CHAMACHIES: DETERMINED RESEARCHERS

Chamachies are sixlegged reptilians. They are facinated with technology and gadgets, and produce brilliant engineers and fleet captains. HISTORY. The Chamachies are able to discover major breakthroughs quickly when under duressstress heightens their scientific abilities and amplifies their determination, much like adrenalin heightens physical abilities. In the past a huge, highly advanced alien vessel passed through their system. The aliens discovered that the star lane engry points in that system had drifted into an unstable configuration, and that the forces released from the soon cataclysm would destroy everything in the star system. This sent the Chamachie society into a frenzy of scientific and technological advancement. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Chamachies are brilliant scientists. They can immediately achieve any discovery they are pursuing. [NOTES: Yea baby, heres a kick butt race to play. Very fast scientific achievement means if you play them, you will be ahead of everyone in the scientific area. Make sure you time your special ability with your current research. Use your special ability on the most time consuming areas. Equipt the best items on your ships, build the best items on the ground, and proceed to whip your enemies with your superior technology. Your ability works in peace and war time so Chamachies are always a top race to play. Now if your playing against the Chamachies, thankfully the computer doesn't have your brains, otherwise you and your forces would quickly be toast. Take into consideration that the Chamachies will have top of the line fleets and planetary buildings. I suggest that the Chamachies are the first race you try and eliminate before they get technologically superior.

21) NIMBULOIDS: EXPERT BUILDERS

Nimbuloids are composed of dense, cohesive gases. Their abilities to form tools of any shape and fit into small spaces make them marvelous builders. HISTORY. The Nimbuloids arose on a planet with a thick, reactive type atmosphere. They are composed of gases, and move through the atmosphere by chemically attracting and repelling the molecules of the gases in their environment. They see reality in terms of the intersecting flow of what they call currents: the karmic forces that, they believe, determine destiny. With great effort a Nimbuloid can transform matter from solid to gas and back. SPECIAL ABILITY: The Nimbuloids are extremely productive. They can boost the progress on all their colonies projects. [NOTES: While not as great as the special abilities of some races, the Nimbuloids do have a nice, average ability that works good in both peacetime and war time. If your playing the Nimbuloids, build your star systems like normal. When ever your special ability comes up, take a look at your current productions and see if there is anything you want to change for that building cycle. The reduced production time can help a little if you need a big item build. Later in the game your special ability grows in usefulness, especially when building star ships. Suddenly that 3040 days to make up that big gigantic starship doesn't seem so far away. I consider the cycle when you get a production boost as "ship time". If your playing against the Nimbuloids, treat them as any of the other races that have colony boosting abilities, the computer AI really doesnt' handle them well, but they probably will be ahead of the races with dormant, or useless abilities.

IV. LAST WORDS

And there you have it, the list of the aliens in Ascendency with basic info on their background and abilities. You can read more about them in the game under their descriptions. You get a basic idea of their special abilies, you won't be able to fine tune them unless you play them. As you also see, many races have very good special abilties, some have ok ones and some have pretty much worthless ones. Some are build for peace, some for war, and some for both. The strongest have very good abilities that can be used either way. Overall I consider the best alien races to play to be 1) Chamachies Their fast tech learning really is awesome in both peace and war games. 2) Mebes Their increased population means more productive planets, great in both peace and war games. 3) Govorom If their ability works the way I think, they have more productive planets, both in peace and war games. 4) Orfa Being able to build on black squares lets them have more productive planets than other races, which can't produce on barren planets for a long time. 5) Dubtaks Their tech stealing will get them pretty much all the tech real fast. They are as good, if not better than the Chamachies in the tech tree. HOSTILE 1) Minions Their invasion ability really can dominate other planets. 2) Snovemdomas Their double strength hulls lets their war ships overwelm other race ships, and break even with superior technology warships. PEACETIME 1) Balifids Their peaceful ability really makes diplomacy easy 2) Hanshaks Their initial communication skill gives them a boost early on in the diplomacy department. The other races, you will have some ok powers, and some with abilities that are just plain worthless. Playing them should be for the experienced gamers who want a more difficult game. On a last note, have fun playing the game. Its pretty fun even though its lacking in a few areas. Make sure to get the patch for it to make the computer AI much harder, since the unpatched game has no computer AI period. You can find it on Logicfactory.com, or any other free site that you can download the game from, like Abandonia.com.

ASCENDANCY!

SHIP BUILDING FAQ/ITEM LIST V 1.0 Completed 2/10/05 Written and maintained by James Friel Copyright @2005 James Friel ([email protected]/* */) This FAQ is solely intended for use on Gamefaq.com forum site, and may not be reproduced or duplicated without permission of myself. If you want to use or duplicate the FAQ, feel free on other sites, I really am not a greedy person, just make sure to credit the FAQ and myself when doing it. ASCENDANCY is a PC game published by Logic Factory 1995 ===================== TABLE OF CONTENTS ===================== I. Revision History II. Introduction III. Ship module inventory IV. Last Words

I. REVISION HISTORY

2/10/05 v1.0 FAQ started Added Introduction Added Ship module inventory Added Last Words section [NOTE: My revision history starts at version 1.0 and each change will be noted as a .1 addition, so the 3rd revision, if it ever gets to that, will be the version 1.3]

II. INTRODUCTION

The Ascendancy Ship building FAQ is to help you figure out just what some of the weapons and items in the game do, and to give you some hints on how to layout your ships, what ships to build, how to deploy them, and bla bla bla. Now some info up front. There are 4 sizes of ships you can build, each size technology has to be researched in order to use it. Your first goal in the game is to start building ships to explore other planets and star systems. You will not win the game just sitting on one planet. The faster you can get out and start exploring and colonizing, the better off you will be. Each colonized system you control grants you the ability to have 1 ship, and your home system lets you have 2. You must have all the planets in a system colonized to have a ship slot. Thus if your home system has 3 planets, and you you have all 3 colonized, you have the ability to build up to 2 ships (providing you have Docks which you can build with). If you have 3 systems entirely colonized, you can build up to 4 ships (2+1+1). The first area you will learn will let you build small and medium hull ships. These will get you through the opening years of the game, but you will need to have larger ships in order to survive. Unlike other space games, since you are limited to the number of ships you can have, you cannot build up fleets of tiny ships to overwhelm your opponents. If you have 10 ship slots, its better to have 10 large ships than 10 small ships. Your goal of course is to research Giant sized ship hulls and have your fleet of a dozen or 2 Giant ships running about the galaxy. Once you start building ships, you will have to decide just what types of ships you want, and what items you want on them. Like before, you are limited to your total number of ships and often have to decide between what to build if you find yourself reaching your max. There is a large variety of weapons, shields, engines, generators, and especially misc items to put on your ships. Hopefully the following list will help you decide just what will work for you. SHIPS: SMALL SHIP: Has 5 item bays, one of your earlier ships, good for basic colonization and early exploring. Limited slots mean low power. MEDIUM SHIP: Has 10 item bays, this will be your early game workhorse, with faster exploring and colonizing. Basic protection abilities. LARGE SHIP: Has 15 item bays and will become your workhorse. Early on it will probably be used for battleships as your lesser ships will be falling behind in the power curve. GIGANTIC SHIP: Yea baby! This is the ultimate powerhouse with 25 item bays, thus a big jump up from the Large ship. Once you go gigantic, you never go back. Plenty of bays for anything you want.

II. SHIP MODULE INVENTORY

Here is is, the lists for what you can stick in your ship and what you can't. I will give a general list about each item and description, then you might see my personal suggestions and maybe some techniques on using them. Easier that way than putting said techniques after. Each device will be listed with POWER: How much each device requires to work, in terms of generators it lists how much each outputs. RANGE: The range that weapons or scanners will reach USES: The number of times each turn it can be used. 0 means unlimited. STRENGTH: For weapons its the damage power, Shields is defense power, Drives is distance, Scanners is range extension per turn SPECIAL: Any special powers or requirements the device needs ** *@* ENGINES *@* **

TONKIN MOTOR. POWER 1

STRENGTH 2

"The Tonklin Motor is a weak engine based on an elegant quirk of momentum theory. It is very inexpensive to construct."

ION BANGER. POWER 1

STRENGTH 4

"The Ion Banger sucks in ions from surrounding space and smashes them into each other at high speeds, creating a propulsive force. It is significantly more powerful than the Tonklin Motor."

GRAVITON PROJECTOR. POWER 3

STRENGTH 6

"The Graviton Projector sprays a gravity field in front of a ship, pulling it perpetually forward. The Graviton Projector is more powerful than the Ion Banger."

INERTIA NEGATOR. POWER 1

STRENGTH 6

"The Inertia Negator generates an antimass field that allows a ship to float lightly through space. It is about as strong as the Graviton Projector, but it consumes much less power."

NANOWAVE SPACE BENDER. POWER 5

STRENGTH 10

"The Nanowave Space Bender projects a wideband field of nanoenergy that warps the space around a ship, allowing it to slide rapidly in any direction and it is a very powerful engine." [NOTES: basically with the engines, bigger is better. Pick the best one. You only need to maybe use the Inertia Negator over the Nanowave if you have specific low power ships, like if you are behind in the power generator department. I've always used the Nanowave benders of course]

STRENGTH 13

USES 3

"The Nanomanipulator fires bursts of highly focused nanoenergon flux. The flux induces a chaotic nanowave upon impact that rips through the target, destructively jumbling alternate realities together. It is hugely destructive that fires in quick bursts, and uses a lot of power. [NOTES: Ah...weapons, how fun are they. There are alot of combinations here, its up to the player how they want to work. Do they want ships that are fast and fire long distances, or do they want ships that can go up close and personal and blast away at close range. Keep in mind the power requirements for weapons, you don't want a lot of weapons that will drain your power down extremely fast, don't forget you need your shields and some maneuvrability. Keep in mind the ranges of weapons also. Any weapon with a range of 50 or more has the slight edge of being able to fire upon enemy planets without being able to be attacked by basic planetary missiles. Only when a planet introduces Energy defenses do you have to fear. I think enemy missile defenses have a range of 40 or 45, thus you can barely squeak out of range and hit them. Plasmatrons have extremely long range. Great to get off a first shot, and extremely great for taking down planetary defenses without harm. But don't rely on them in hard battle. There are weapons that can fire faster, plus do more damage even though they don't have the range. *@* MISC . WEAPONS *@* This I put into a special category. These items are under your miscellaneous category, but are used as weapons, thus I have this half/half category.

SMART BOMB. POWER 7

RANGE SPECIAL

STRENGTH 7

"The Smart Bomb uses advanced empathic biosensor technology to determine the relationships between the ship using it and the other ships present in the star system. Once activated, it fires in multiple directions at every ship it has determined to be hostile, doing heavy damage comparable to that of an Ueberlaser. One use expends it." [NOTES: The smart bomb is great for cleaning out enemy battlefleets, but its a one use item, and normally you won't find a large number of enemy ships grouped together, at least not if your doing your job.]

MYRMIDONIC CARBONIZER. POWER 4

RANGE 40

STRENGTH 20

USES 1

"The Myrmidonic Carbonizer fires a burst of energy that grows in strength for a while then dissipates. There is a ideal range for the Carbonizer, at which it is the most powerful weapon known. It is a complex and expensive piece of machinery." [NOTES: Very powerful but close range, damage varies. I perfer regular weapons, but if you have a chance to get this early, try it out!]

DISINTEGRATOR. POWER 25

RANGE 25

"The Disintegrator ejects a cloud of infinitesimal bubbles of alternate reality that cause a chain reaction in the target ship, spreading it atom by atom across infinite alternate timelines. The cloud has no substance and cannot be blocked by normal defenses. The Disintegrator can be used only once, is extremely expensive to build, and uses an immense amount of power. It must be used at close range." [NOTES: A very very powerful item, but requires alot of power so you can usually only use it on big ships. You must be very close. The problem I ran into using it was that it was hard to chase down enemy ships when I eventually received it. Plus you had to get close, which means that enemy ships have a chance to open up on you before you get close. Hopefully you have more energy than the enemy ships so you can outlast them in movement, then close in for the kill.] *@* MISC ITEMS *@*

LANE BLOCKER. POWER 3, RANGE 40, USES 1

"The Lane Blocker is fired into a star lane opening where it sits, elevating the inherent gravitational turbulence of the opening to the point where Star Land Drives and Star Lane Hyperdrives can no longer overcome it." [NOTES: Never used it. It does what it says, stops movement in a star lane. Bad side is it stops you also. I consider it alot easier to just blow up any bad guys comming through, but you might use this item if you are being overwelmed in a area and need a breather. Rating 1/5. Not used much.

MOLECULAR TIE DOWN. POWER 7, Range 25, Uses 1

"When fired at a ship, the Molecular Tie Down temporarily immobilizes it by damping the reactions powering its engines. This affects all known normal engineseven the powerful Nanowave Space Bender." [NOTES: This device immobilizes a ship, keeping it from running around. This is really only good if the ship in question has short range weapons so you can keep it from moving while you blast it. Good for using a Disintegrater on also. Also can be used for keeping ships from escaping. Not really used alot, Computer AI is dumb so they don't really run alot, plus your engines are usually up to par to keep up. Rating 1/5. Not used much.]

INTELLECT SCRAMBLER. POWER 7, RANGE 25, Uses 1

"When fired at a ship, the Intellect Scrambler partially wipes the minds of that ship's crew, eradicating their skills and memory of the recent past. It can turn an experienced crew into a group of bumbling rookies." [NOTES: Not a bad device, it screws up the ship a little, which is always great, especially when a gigantic battleship heads towards you. Personally I find my basic tactics are superior to the computer AI anyway, so I never used this device much. I just blow up the enemy instead. Rating, 2/5. Ok, but better tactics.]

BRUNSWIK DISSIPATOR. POWER 15, RANGE 25, Uses 1

"When the Brunswik Dissipator is fired at a ship, it temporarily drains the target ship's generators, leaving it powerless. It is costly to construct and power hungry." [NOTES: A nice device, draining enemy ships keeps them from making the max use of their shields, weapons, and movement. Trouble is, it is a very short range device, so the enemy can maybe run or shoot you some before you get close. I'd use it on good movement ships with the power to handle the device. Rating 3/5. It would be alot better if the range made it worth using during the whole battle, but its a nice device to use on gate guarding ships.]

RECALLER. POWER 7

"The Recaller creates an unstable shunt through star lane space to a ship's home system. The ship using the Recaller moves instantly into the shunt and arrives immediately at its home system." [NOTES: Yea, a instant recaller. Nice huh? Well, at first this device does seem to be very useful, until you actually play the game and find out otherwise. First, as you play the game, you realize that getting a ship back from somewhere isn't the hard part, actually getting a ship from your base to someplace is the long, hard part. For colony ships and Invader ships, you can simply use up your colonies/invaders and distroy the ship, thus freeing up a dock to create another one. Later on you can get some Refit docks made far away so your ships can simply reload instead of remaking them. You will also find out that by the long time a ship leaves your base and actually reaches the front lines (like with war ships), its best just to have them die in battle because their systems and weapons are usually outdated. This device does do alot of good once you have gigantic ships with good weapons/items. You can be out in battle and if you are close to dying, you can pop back home for outfitting. But before then its alot simpler to just remake a new current ship or outfit your ship out near the front lines. Rating..2/5. Kinda useless early on, only good late in the game.

DISARMER. POWER 5, RANGE 40, USES 1

"The Disarmer was first designed as a weapon of peaceit selectively destroys weapons without causing other damage. It uses visual pattern recognition and analysis of energy output to identify a weapon on the target ship, then it causes that weapon to overload and destroy itself." [NOTES: Here is your first awesome addon. This device distroys a weapon on a enemy ship each turn which is very useful. Of course its not useful on a ship without weapons, but then again, you can just blow those up without problems. This can be a extremely powerful addition in battle. Imagine a battleship fighting you with 3 Uberlasers. You can instantly reduce its offensive power by 33% the first turn, and 50% the 2nd turn. A ship with no weapons is just a big target. I always have 1 or 2 of these on my big war ships. On a side note, watch out for enemy ships using them. The computer AI usually isn't good enough to have enemy ships using them (I've never seen one) but if you start seeing it, make sure to carry multiple weapons. Rating, 4/5. A great addon.

GRAVITY DISTORTER. POWER 4, USES 1

"The Gravity Distorter creates a gravitational wave front that emanates from the ship using the device. This pushes small objects, such as space ships, away from the ship that used the Distorter." [NOTES: A nice device which keeps enemy ships away, but really only useful if you have long range weapons and want to keep ships in your range, and out of theirs. Not really useful. You cannot shoot and use this device at the same time, so a enemy ship moves towards you, you push them back, they move again. This tactic is only good if you have multiple Gravity Distorters to make the enemy ship use up power to keep trying to get close to you. Much better to use other addons instead. Enemy ships with long range weapons will make this device useless, plus your taking up alot of room with multiple Gravity Distorters. Better to just have better power and shield items. Rating, 1/5. ]

FLEET DISPERSER. POWER 5, RANGE 100

"The Fleet Disperser is fired at another ship. Its effect is similiar to that of the Gravity Distorter in that it creates a gravitational ripple that repels other ships away from its target. It has a extremely long range." [NOTES: A device similiar to the Gravity Distorter, it has a little bit more usefullness than the Distorter, but not by much. Instead of repelling ships from you, you repel them from another vehicle. You can use this device in a tag team effect. This method works sometimes, but is much more trouble than its worth. Rating 2/5. Works, but other methods of fighting are alot easier. ] XRAY MEGAGLASSES. POWER 7, RANGE 50 "Passive, always in effect, takes no power. The Xray Megaglasses allow you to view the contents of any ship you can scan. They require no power to maintain but are fairly expensive to build. Used in conjunction with powerful scanners, they can be very informative." [NOTES: A nice device for scout ships, but I would never use it on a war ship or colony ship. If you have a scanner on your ship you can view the general power of the ships devices. If you have a scanner AND the Xray Megaglasses, you can see the actual devices. My method is usually to blow up the enemy no matter what they have, so scanners and such don't matter much for me, I'm going to hit them with everything anyway. If you find yourself falling behind in the war ship department, or a specific race seems to be making life hard for you, make up a scout ship to see what they are carrying. Then adjust your ships to compensate. Like I said, I think I used them once, but after a while you can generally tell what enemy ships are using/packing by their methods. Rating, 2/5. Good on a scout ship, but not really needed alot. CLOAKER. "The Vibrating crystals of the Cloaker produce a broad spectrum of noise and interference that blocks all sensors from gathering information about the cloaked ship. The device requires no power and is always in effect once it is added to a ship." [NOTES: A worthless addon. The computer doesn't have the brains to adjust their tactics based on your ship layout, so who cares if they see what your ships are carrying. Hell, are they even programmed to actually use sensors? Well, kinda, but nothing you will notice much, or care about. Just buy a big gun and shoot them. Rating, 0/5.

STAR LANE DRIVE. POWER 0, STRENGTH 1

"The Star Lane Drive is the key to interstellar exploration. This device is activated by the energies emanating from the opening to a star lane, and requires no power to operate. It allows the ship to overcome the barrier of gravational turbulence at the opening and slip into star lane space. The more Star Lane Drives a ship contains, the faster it will slide into star lane space." [NOTES: Rating 5/5. A must have device if you want to play. nuff said.]

STAR LANE HYPERDRIVE. POWER 0, STRENGTH 2

"The Star Lane Hyperdrive is a more powerful version of the Star Lane Drive that improves speed through star lane space. Although regular Star Lane Drives allow slow travel through red links, the Hyperdrive makes the use of red links practical. Star Lane Hyperdrives are much more costly to produce than Star Lane Drives." [NOTES: rating 5/5. A must have device to play the game in later stages]

POSITRON BOUNCER. POWER 2, RANGE 60, USES 1

"The accelerators inside the Positron Bouncer produce a highmomentum blob of particles. When fired at a ship, the particles impart their momentum to the ship, buffeting it away without damaging it. The Positron Bouncer consumes little power and is cheap to build." [NOTES: Another "movement" device that has real little practical use. The Bouncer moves enemy ships away from you, kinda useful if you have weak shields and long range weapons, but since you cannot fire and use this device at the same time, all you do is push the enemy away, and they come back at you. Good if you have multiple devices to make the enemy use up their power, but overall, about as worthless as other movement devices. Rating, 1/5.

GRAVIMETRIC CATAPULT. POWER 3, USES 1

"The Gravimetric Catapult causes the ship using it to experience temporarily exaggerated gravitational force. The ship is pulled toward the strongest gravity well in the vicinitythe nearest sun. The ship whips past the sun, stopping opposite its previous position when it has run out of momentum." [NOTE: This little device actually has some value for fun, but you can get around very easy without it. If you are on one side of the screen and want to get to the other side, this device will easily send you quickly to the other side. This device is nice for slow ships who want to attack something on the other side, or scout ships wanting to quickly bypass the planets to get to a gate on the other side of the system without being shot. Again, easy to work around with decent engines. Rating, 1/5. I've had enemy ships use this some, to really no effect what so ever as I blew them up.]

CONTAINMENT DEVICE. POWER 5, RANGE 40, USES 1

"The Containment Device destroys one colonizer or invasion module, just as the Disarmer destroys one weapon. It is intended to be a peaceful weapon like the Disarmer. It only causes harm to machineryused to protect planets from invasion." [NOTES: Pretty much a worthless device, unlike the extreme usefulness of the Disarmer. Why eliminate a single colony unit when you can just blast the annoying ship out of the skies. Rating 0/5. Get a big gun instead.]

SHIELD BLASTER. POWER 7, RANGE 25, USES 1

"The Shield Blaster temporarily shuts down the defensive systems of the target ship, leaving it vulnerable to attack." [NOTES: A good addon, especially for war ships of course. Lead off with a Disarmer or 2, followed by the Shield Blaster, and fire away. Only problem, you need to be up close and personal to use it. Rating 4/5. A must have to take down enemy war ships easy if you like the offensive route.]

BACKFIRER. POWER 10, RANGE 25, USES 1

"The Backfirer causes all the weapons aboard the target ship to simultaneously unleash their destructive potentialunaimed, uncontrolled, and chaotically. The more weapons the target ship carries, the more it is damaged by its own weapons." [NOTES: Another nice war addon, especially when you go against later game large and gigantic war ships. Another device you have to be up front and close to use, but well worth it. Rating, 3/5. It of course doesn't do jack vs big weak armed ships. Regular weapons can harm all ships.]

LANE DESTABILIZER. POWER 7, RANGE 25, USES 1

"When fired at a star lane or red link opening, the Lane Destabilizer induces gravity waves at the resonant frequency of the star lane. This causes the ships inside the star lane to be thrown quickly toward their destination point. The Lane Destabilizer itself is destroyed in the process." [NOTES: The hidden underdog of the game, you might overlook this must have item in your bid to cause interplanetary mahem. When used on a starlane it causes any vehicles in it to instantly appear 1 day from the other side, "pushing" them through at high speeds. Later in the game when you have to traverse great great distances which seem to take forever to get too, ships with Lane Destabilizers helping you to get there are a incredible boost that saves dozens, if not hundreds of travel "years". They are pretty cheap to refit also. Rating, 5/5. A must have item later in the game.]

TRACTOR BEAM. POWER 3, RANGE 100, USES 1

"The Tractor Beam allows a ship to pull another ship toward it. It has a very long range and uses little power." [NOTE: Well, not much else to say about this addon, cept it works. It pulls a ship towards you. Trouble is, with decent engines, you can simply fly to enemy ships in a round or 2. Really the only use for this device is if you have a big fleet in wait for enemies. You can sit across from the enemy stargate, and bring enemy ships across to you to blow up one at a time. Bad part is, the rotten enemy computer AI usually attacks only 1 ship at a time, so that tactic usually never is used. Rating. 1/5. Not many uses to use this item.]

CANNIBALIZER. POWER 0, USES 1

"The Cannibalizer is a emergency device that allows a ship to convert some of the mass of its own hull into an energy reserve. This is destructive to the ship, so it is usually used only in a last ditch effort to survive." [NOTES: Huh? The object of not dying is to not take down your hull points. Why would you want to damage yourself? Simply ignore this device and put in another power generator. DUH. Rating 0/5. Worthless.]

MOVING PART EXPLOITER. POWER 10, RANGE 25, USES 1

"Through a combination of ultrasonic vibration, spacetime microdistortion and luck destabilization magitechnology, the Moving Part Exploiter causes devices to break down explosively. The more intricate and advanced the equiptment on the target ship, the more internal damage it suffers from equiptment malfunction. This device is costly to build and consumes a lot of power." [NOTE: Another close range destruction device very useful against higher end bigger ships. It really doesn't do much vs smaller craft, but use it on a large or gigantic ship with lots of gadgets, and whammo. Similiar to the Backfirer. Bad side is you have to be in close range. Rating 3/5. Useful, but I think regular weapons work just as well.]

HYPERSWAPPER. POWER 3, RANGE 100, USES 1

"The Hyperswapper creates a standing hyperwave field between a ship and its target, producing a massive space disturbance that causes them to swap position. It operates at an extremely long range, uses little power, and is cheap to produce." [NOTES: A movement device that kinda is similiar to other movement devices, kinda worthless. The only reason I can think of to use this device is to have it on a big scout ship or Invader, so you can bypass any planetary War Ships. Rating, 1/5. I don't see much use for it myself.]

GRAVIMETRIC CONDENSOR. POWER 5, USES 1

"The Gravimetric Condensor momentarily increases the gravitational field of a star, causing all the ships in the system to be pulled toward the star with great force." [NOTES: Another movement device that doesn't have much value to it. You can use it if you have a warship with close range weapons, since gathering up everyone around you helps with shooting. But since you cannot move and fire at the same time, you just give the enemy the first shot. Can also be good if you have a very strong Planetary defense with energy weapons, you can have a ship draw enemy ships toward the planet to be blasted. Of course, computer AI is dumb anyway so they usually just fly into your range with or without your help. Rating, 1/5. Like many movement addons, not alot of use, and simple good engines do the same thing.]

ACCUTRON. POWER 7, USES 1

"The Accutron is a massive space analysis and targeting system that increases the effective range of all the weapons on a ship. It is fairly costly to build, but can provide a strong advantage in battle." [NOTES: Yep, a device that makes your cool weapons fire at greater distances. Hey, what can be better! Rating 5/5. If you have a big warship, you want one of these on it.]

REMOTE REPAIR FACILITY. POWER 10

"The Remote Repair Facility allows a ship to repair damage without having to enter Orbital Docks. It consists of automated systems spreading throughout the ship, engineered so finely that the repair process resembles organic healing. It uses alot of power when activated, and adding it to a ship is an expensive project." [NOTE: A good addon module, especially for a warship far away from any dock. Considering how long it takes sometimes to get back to your repair areas, this will allow you to stay out a tad longer. I might consider this on a gigantic warship far on the outskirts of my domain, but usually at that point my colonies are doing pretty well and a repair facility isn't far away. If you don't have anything else to fill a slot, this can never hurt. Rating, 3/5. Good addon, but with good picking of power and shielding and half way decent combat tactics, you should easily be 2 or 3 times as good as any enemy ships.]

SACRIFICAL ORB. POWER 3, RANGE 50

"The Sacrifical Orb is a magitechnological device that allows a ship to repair damage to another ship by absorbing that damage itself. It should be used with cautionsome inattentive captains have managed to scuttle their own flagships with it." [NOTES: A decent add on, but with very very limited use. The object is to not take any hull damage, why have one ship lose points while the other gains them. You still have the points loss. You never want this on a warship, but it will do good if you have it on a support craft. Maybe a huge colonizer or invader, something that is in the same system area as your war ships, yet really have no use after you use up their colonies. Have it on a giant Invader ship, use up your colonies and Invasion modules, and before you self terminate or recall, repair a near by war ship that might have hull damage. Rating 1/5. I don't mind losing war ships as long as I can take a good ratio of enemies with me, I'd rather have a extra Invader module or colony module. Nothing worse than trying to Invade a planet and find out that your 4 modules didn't do it, but If you had 5 you would have won.]

LANE MAGNETRON. POWER 10, RANGE 25

"The Lane Magnetron frees the ship using it from the gravitational turbulenceinduced drag normally encountered in star lane space, allowing the ship to slip through the star lane almost instantly. The lane Magnetron uses fully as much power as a Nanowirler produces and can is used once." [NOTES: This is a nice device problem is it takes up a spot on your ship which can be used for more important devices. You can use it in an emergency when you need to reach a place super fast to save maybe a planet area or warships. Sorta a Kamakazee ship. Personally having a Gateship using Lane Destabilizers is alot better than taking up space on all your other ships. Rating, 1/5. A great device but its one time use, especially far out in the outskirts, leaves you vulnerable.]

LANE ENDOSCOPE. POWER 10, RANGE 25

"The Lane Endoscope allows astronomical instruments to penetrate star lane space and scan the system at the other end of a star lane or red link opening. It requires a lot of power to use." [NOTES: Not a bad device, but personally I just send a ship or scout ship to other systems to explore. I want colonies and Invaders to be setting up, just sitting back looking doesn't do it for me. Rating, 1/5. Seeing a star system you are heading too is ok, but I just find out when I get there, plus it doesn't cost me a slot on my ship.]

TORROIDAL BLASTER. Uses 1

"The Toroidal Blaster gives the ship using it a huge boost in engine performance, but it is hard on the engines and usually damages some of them. It draws all the power it needs from the engines and needs no generator power." [NOTES: Another addon, with the same response.. Why put addons that will damage your ship, while other modules will not. Like other like modules, there isn't much use I can see in this device. It might work on a Kamakazee ship that you are trying to rush to a certain area, but I've never had to do that. If I have a system on the outskirts that is in trouble, I will eventually take it back. The computer AI isn't tough enough for me to have to rush so fast to an area. Rating 1/5. Yea it works, but it damages your ship. Duh.]

GIZMOGRIFIER. POWER 4, RANGE 40, USES 1

"Like the Disarmer, the SPeciality Blaster, and the Containment Device, the Gizmogrifier is specialized to damage equiptment without inflicting any other harm. It performs a general purpose version of this concept, and it will destroy the first major device it locks onto." [NOTES: Like the Containment Device, pretty worthless. Why worry about disabling one ship device when you can pick a big gun and blow up the entire ship? Rating 0/5. Who cares if you disable one of their engines, or their scanner. They are still there, and still shooting you.]

REPLENISHER. POWER 8, USES 1

"The Replenisher fully recharges all of the weapons aboard a ship. Its installation is involved and expensive, but it can be a lifesaver in an intense battle." [NOTES: Livesaver? How about being about 2x as powerful on offense than not having the device. Got a ship with alot of power, this device will practically double your firing ability. A MUST HAVE on any big warship. Rating 5/5. Why be able to fire 6 times when this one device will let you shoot 12 times. No brainer.]

SPECIALTY BLASTER. POWER 5, RANGE 40, USES 1

"The Specialty Blaster destroys one specialized device, just as the Disarmer destroys one weapon. Like the Disarmer, it recognizes a particular type of device and disables it with precision and a minimum of destructive force." [NOTES: Again with the kinda worthless destroyers, trying to compare themselves to the Disarmer. Hulk says Disarmer good, all others bad. This device does have a limited use if you are against a high tech enemy that is using Misc items to attack you, like the powerful Disintegrators or something similiar, but rarely is the computer that smart. Rating, 1/5. Pick up a Disarmer, its much better to knock out a enemy warship weapon than maybe knocking out a misc item. ]

GYROINDUCTOR.

"The GyroInductor allows a ship to generate power when it travels up the gravitational gradient of a planet. When the ship leaves orbit, the Gyroinductor creates power. It uses no power and takes effect automatic." [NOTES: I never have tried out this device, I don't see much need for it. If you have a ship with good layout and good power generators, what exactly will this do for you? The only function I can think of for this addon is that maybe during a battle in a star system, if you are low on power and close to a planet, you can enter orbit and then leave, refilling some power. Personally I'd just drop this device and stick in a extra power generator if you are that strapped for power. Rating, 1/5. You won't be using it much if you actually pick it up.]

PLASMA COUPLER. POWER 4, RANGE 50, USES 1

"The Plasma Coupler allows a ship to beam some of its power to another ship across a distance." [NOTES: Not really a addon you will use. Again, good power management will keep you with plenty of power. You might use this if you have a support ship that is with a fleet, something that can repair and give power to front line ships. But I'd rather just drop this Addon and pick up another power generator. Rating 1/5. Really only useful on a support ship.]

INVULNERABLIZER. POWER 20

"The Invulnerablizer sets up a temporary highmagitechnology shield around the ship using it. While it lasts, the shield will not allow the ship to come to harm. It consumes little power but is costly to build and can only be used once." [NOTES: A great device here, and powerful, but really extremely limited use. This item will give you supremely temporarly protection, which doesn't last long but you can survive anything. Maybe some uses for it. If you find a heavly defended star area with strong defenses, have a shield ship with this device lead the way into the area to take the brunt of the first attacks. This way, it has all the enemy forces lose their attacks and survives, then your backup ships swoop in and clean up. Rating 1/5. I would have rated it alot higher except for its one time use. One of the few devices that can protect you from super items like the very powerful Disintegrator.]

PHASE BOMB. POWER 4, RANGE 25

"The Phase Bomb is launched at a planet and destroys structures on the planet's surface. It can be used only once and has short range." [NOTES: The object of taking over a planet is NOT to destroy it while doing it. You want to take it over with its items intact. I consider this item useless, pick a Invader module to help take over the planet. Much more practical and useful. Rating. 0/5. The Invasion modules are 100 percent more useful and effective.]

COLONIZER. POWER 5

"The Colonizer allows a ship to creat a colony on a unoccupied planet. Bla bla bla" [NOTES: Rating 5/5. A must use item during the game. ]

SELF DESTRUCTOTRON STRENGTH 20

"The Self Destructotron is a desperation device. It destroys the ship using it by converting most of the ship's mass to energy, creating a huge explosion that greatly damages other ships nearby." [NOTES: Well, again, the object is to NOT damage your own ship. While this device does do nice damage, the enemy usually doesn't amass big fleets on which to use this. Kinda worthless to selfdestruct when your against only 1 or 2 ships. Rating, 0/5. You won't encounter mass fleets, and only rare Kamakazee attacks would need such a silly item. ]

INVASION MODULE. POWER 10

"The Invasion Module transports a planetary infiltration team to a planet's surface from orbit. It can be destroyed by a planetary Surface shield unless multiple Invasion modules are introduced. Bla bla." [NOTES: Rating 5/5. A must have item during the game. Bring a big ship with lots of modules to quickly take over those annoying planets.]

MASS CONDENSOR. POWER 8, RANGE 100

"The Mass Condensor operates as the Gravitational Distorter, except that it is targeted at a ship. All ships will be attracted toward the affected ship. It works at a long range and consumes alot of power." [NOTES: Kinda useless unless you are doing the tagteam attack, with one support ship and one or more attack ships. Like most movement addon's of this type, simple better engines will do just as good. I suggest dropping this and getting something good. Rating 1/5. Really isn't useful in battle. Computer ships usually come to you anyway.] HYPERFUEL. "Hyperfuel is a onetimeuse power reserve of great capacity. It is a cheap disposable source of power." [NOTES Not bad, but again, if you pick your ship decent you won't have any power problems. Better to drop this and pick up an extra power generator, or a Replenisher for combat. Rating 1/5.]

III. LAST WORDS

Thats about all I know about the items. I've been doing some basic sleuthing and I think I figured out alot, hopefully the numbers are pretty close to what they actually are. Its alot fun to play around with the ships and build them, but sadly the game isn't that difficult and you won't really have a good opponent to test out all your theories on. Now, some Ideas of mine you can use, or not use.

SHIP TYPES.

WARSHIP. This is your typical battle craft. Its not made to do anything except blow stuff up, and protect your other ships. A warship must be the most balanced thought up ship you have, since you need to balance it with weapons, engines, shields, power, and items. Bigger ships allow more cool items, and you eventually want those gigantic ships to allow for the best ratio of items and gadgets. The following misc items I consider a major benefit to any large and gigantic warship. DISARMER. Easily reduces enemy weapons and is a huge tact advantage. SHIELD BLASTER. No defenses, quicker kill. You might not need this if you have great weapons and good shields of your own. ACCUTRON. Longer weapon ranges. Yep, got to have that. REPLENISHER. have your weapons replenished to use again? heck yea. COLONY SHIP. You can figure this one out yourself. Its a ship loaded up with colony modules. You want basic engines, power and space drives. Other than that, colonies. Run into systems, set up your colonies, and either refit, abandon, or recall home to refit. I never have any weapons or shields on this ship. INVADER SHIP. Similiar to the colony ship, this ship is made to take down planetary defenses and take over the colony. You want basic engines, power and space drives. You want 1 good long range weapon 50 range or better. This is to whittle down the planetary defense so you can land. The rest is for INVADER modules. Again, once used up you can refit, abandon, or recall home to refit. I personally keep my invader ship around until I absolutely need another ship. This way they can guard my new planet for a while. Heck, even one little weapon might help. GATE SHIP. This is a specialized ship. You want to plant this ship in the big hub of alot of planets, so you can load up with a bunch of Lane Destabilizers and quickly speed your ships through to other areas. It is especially good if you are in a system that has a refit planet, so you have a unending refit balance of them to use. Basic engines, drives and power, rest fill with Lane Destabilizers. Remember, the Quick movement works both ways, enemy ships will be pushed also. If there are enemy ships in the lane(s) make sure you have some war ships nearby to take care of them when they exit the lane. SCOUT SHIP. Yep, this ship is used to move about fast and explore. You want all engines, gate drives, and power to fuel them. Later in the game when you get bigger ships, you can adjust your Scout ships into Recon vehicles. Adding in Scanners, Xray Megaglasses, or what ever you can keep general track of what your enemies are putting on their ships. I only do this if I experience trouble with a enemy fleet. If you seem to be blowing them up fine, who cares what they are outfitting. TECH SHIP. This ship you might want to consider at the start of the game. The object is to hunt down and drop colonies on planets with those nice planetary dig sites so you can learn advanced technology fast. Have fast ships, a few colony modules, and ignore any planet without a dig site. Later on you might want to put some disposable addons that might make your movement easier. A used dig site is worthless, you want to run in as fast as possible and take them. It doesn't matter if your planet is overrun later, the site info is already yours. SUPPORT SHIP. Great to have in colonies far far away. Your spread out and far from your home. No repair bays nearby. You have a couple big warships trying to keep some strategic lane open but the constant battles are wearing you down. A nice support ship repairing your guys will do wonders. There are probably other type of ships you can think up, but those will give you a idea of things you might try. *@* QUESTIONS *@*

Q) I DID OK EARLY ON, BUT NOW MY FORCES ARE SPREAD FAR OUT ACROSS THE GALAXY, AND IT TAKES FOREVER FOR A SHIP I MAKE TO GET THERE. ANY WAY TO SPEED UP THE MOVEMENT PROCESS.

A) Well, Gateships are always a great way to speed up the process. Having one based near major red lanes and hubs, you can speed up the movement process of your ships in those lanes from 2050 days or more, to 2. A repair bay nearby to refit when your out of Lane Destabilizers is nice also. Another way that works is if you have some refitting orbital bays near the area you want to go. Build ships in your big shipyards with maximum engines and star lane drives and power, and have them move to your outskirt colonies. once in those colonies they can refit and pick up the items they need. A few disposable misc modules might help them get there quicker.

Q) I HAVE USED UP ALL MY COLONIES AND NEED TO GET MORE, WHAT DO I DO.

A) Well, a few things. If you have a planet with a Orbital Dock you can refit and pick up new items. If you have a decent tech level on that planet you can refit fast. Usually even with a low tech level you can refit alot quicker than getting a new colony ship out to that area. You can also abandon that ship and build a new ship at a building area. Finally if you have a recall device on your ship, you can pop back to your starting planet and refit.

Q) I HAVE TRIED TO INVADE A ENEMY PLANET BUT NOTHING HAPPENED. MY INVASION MODULES ARE GONE. WHAT GIVES.

A) The planet has in place surface shields that destroy your Invasion modules. Basic shields distroy one Invasion module before being destroyed. So if a planet has 3 surface shields, you will need 4 of the Invasion modules to take it. Also, don't forget if a planet has a orbital shield around it, you need to take it down in order to enter the atmosphere. All your Invasion ships should have one long range weapon to take down planetary defenses.

Q) MY SHIPS WERE IN STAR LANES, BUT THEY SUDDENLY WENT BACK TO THE START OF THE SYSTEM. OTHER TIMES THEY COULDN'T ENTER. ANY IDEAS?

A) Certain misc items on a starship can affect your movement through the starlanes. Enemy ships might use blockers or something similiar to keep you out. Also some Races have special racial abilities that can prevent star lane travel, they might have used their special abilities to keep you away. Just keep trying, they can't keep you out forever. Thats about it so far, hope the above into helps you out in some way. Ascendancy is a very fun game, but does have some drawbacks. Make sure you download the AI patch with the game to fully enjoy its gameplay as much as possible. If you have any other questions feel free to email me, or if you have additional info on any of the above items, or strategy ideas by all means send them in. [email protected]/* */

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