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[Nicheal]

No. As long as all you upload is the modded file, it's OK -
they are useless if someone doesn't already have the game.

then i could upload the whole Mod, without all primary Game Files?
Wrote a small README, wrote a small BATCH File for all the three Difficulty Levels,
created three Difficulty Levels "Kicking hard", "Kicking harder", and "Please stop kicking me"...

The COB format is itself a file system containing the actual data files.

yeah. And encoded it is damned Work to locate every single Data, true.

When editing it, you probably saw a bunch of weird symbols early in the file -
that was raw binary data describing the locations of the files inside the COB.

yeah, too.

Then it is a minor miracle indeed. All it would take to mess things up is Notepad
reading or saving a character or two wrong (been there, done that; using Notepad for editing
something that is not plaintext is a bad idea)
or merely changing the length of any file inside the COB by a single byte.

Totally right. To change binary encoded Material is senseless, and causes
a total Malfunction, for sure. To add only one Byte to the Ascend00.COB,
it causes the same. But i change Bytes without doing any other Changes,
and thats enough to give Ascendancy a new... Bite, and thats a Miracle,
i was so happy about, so i told you. That this little Ascend00.COB and this
little Modification causes a brandnew Feeling, and thats a Miracle, i could
have done ten Years ago...

It seems you need to create directories named ascend00 ascend01 and ascend02 first.
For some reason the program is unable to create them by itself.

nice Information...
but to change Graphics or Sound, THAT was never the Problem of Ascendancy.
To change the AI would perhaps be impossible for me, and to change what
i already changed is enough for a sweet new Bite.

I will take the whole Stuff without the whole primary Game Files, and upload,
next Days, and you will surely check...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

here: a Supremacy Super Mod it seems...

here: another Guy had the same .COB Idea...




I call my Ascendancy Mod

ASCENDANCY THE SUPREMACY

or the SUPREMACY AND TOTALLY CRACY MOD.


Very proud of, and very very happy to at last be able to play Ascendancy like i ever dreamed.

Some Problems i have, cause the AI Plus in Factory/Sci must perhaps be
better balanced... it kicks heavily, and three actual Test-Games ended up with
one Extinction of the Human Player and one total Overthrow of... the Human Player.

Thats a big Problem: I play Ascendancy not as hard as i could, a poor Practice
over the Years, but i should do, cause SUPREMACY! balances the Stupidity of the AI
by a huge Factory/Sci AI Plus, and that AI Plus might be too heavy.

I saw in Ascendancy, that to play Average Star Cluster and four/five Species will bring
a great AI Enemy perhaps, but for example the Nimbuloids in SUPREMACY! Average Star Cluster
and five Species made some bad Shots, extinct one two three, and now they are supreme,
and to win that Game will perhaps be impossible.


If you will play SUPREMACY!, you should know some Things:

-The AI is still stupid!!!
-Perhaps you will get a traditional boring Game
-Perhaps it will be a short Game (for you)
-You should play hard, SUPREMACY! is not the original Ascendancy

If i could edit the "AI Art of Ship-Building", in binary Stuff, so that the AI Ships would be better built,
less of all these special Weapons the AI does not use anyway, and more of Shields and Energy,
that would be a huge Thing to me. But now... hope you enjoy.



Take the CRACY.zip and SUPREME.zip in your Main-Folder Ascend and unpack.
There should be 2 new Sub-Folders SUPREMACY and CRACY.
Sub-Folder SUPREMACY includes the Easy00, Middle00, PHeavy00, Heavy00, PSupreme00, Supreme00,
and Original00.COB, the RESUME.GAM, my Nougat.LF, plus the actual Ascendancy Logo, =10 Files.
Sub-Folder CRACY includes the CEasy00, CMiddle00, CCHeavy00, CHeavy00, CCCracy00, CCracy00,
TEasy00, TMiddle00, CTHeavy00, THeavy00, CTCracy00, TCracy00, and the RESUME.GAM, =13 Files.
In Main-Folder should be my BATCH File, its CHOICE.COM, my README Text, and the new SUPREME.EXE,
=4 Files.

An Absolute of 27 Files.

Unpacked, you have to choose your MOD out of these three: SUPREMACY, CRACY, TOTALLY CRACY,
and you have to choose the Difficulty out of their six available Difficulties.
To copy the chosen MOD Difficulty in Main-Folder and renaming it into ASCEND00.COB, you can use
the BATCH File, it will open by automatically using its CHOICE.COM, and offering the Options,
and automatically copy the required Files into the Main-Folder. By using the Directory:
BATCH and CHOICE must be in Main-Folder, and its required Files in Sub-Folders as i told above,
so that the BATCH can copy out of the Subs the chosen MOD Difficulty in Main-Folder and renaming it.

Or you can copy and paste one of these 3 MODs x 6 Difficulty 00.COBs in Main-Folder and renaming it
into ASCEND00.COB. You would have to take the RESUME.GAM with it, copy and paste without renaming.
But please remember, that well written and working BATCHES are a nice little Thing. Sounds complicated,
but will bring some nice Ascendancy Games.



+++Now you could play the SUPREMACY MOD Easy, Middle, Prometheus-Heavy, Heavy,
Prometheus-Supreme and Supreme Difficulty. I decided to create these new two Prometheus Difficulty Levels,
to increase the Human Players Factory Plus also. The Middle, Heavy and Supreme Difficulty Levels increase
the AI Factory Plus 20 > 30 > 40, and to increase in Prometheus 1 > 2 will bring the Human Player more Chances,
more FUN! Many Changes Ship-Stuff, Planet-Stuff, Diplomacy, Solar System Names.

+++Now you could play the CRACY MOD Easy, Middle, Cataclysm-Heavy, Heavy,
Cataclysm-Cracy and Cracy Difficulty. I decided to create these new two Cataclysm Difficulty Levels,
to increase the Human Players Factory Plus also. The Middle, Heavy and Cracy Difficulty Levels increase
the AI Factory Plus 20 > 30 > 40, and to increase in Cataclysm 1 > 2 will bring the Human Player more Chances,
more FUN! With redirected Prerequisites.

+++Now you could play the TOTALLY CRACY MOD Easy, Middle, Cataclysm-Heavy, Heavy,
Cataclysm-Totally Cracy and Totally Cracy Difficulty. I decided...
more FUN! CRACY MOD plus most Special Weapons disabled.



For Example the Lane Endoscope was useless in Original Ascendancy. You get that Special
at the End of the Tec Tree and Game, but at this Time all Solar Systems should be explored anyway...
That Special makes more Sense at the Beginning of the Game.

For Example the good old Ship-Stuff like Mass Barrage Gun or Ion Wrap, or even small Ship Hull.
All these Things i never used in Original Ascendancy. The CRACY MOD tries to redirect the
Prerequisites for some Ship-Stuff and Planet-Stuff to balance these Things.

For Example, who knows what the Gravity Distorter does, or the Fleet Disperser, or the
Gravimetric Condensor? Ascendancy includes many Specials, which are almost the same...
they are called like Sci-fantastic Super-Things, but even i forget who is who and which is for what,
and the stupid AI does not use all these Super-Things anyway... so i renamed some Stuff slightly.



And the TOTALLY CRACY MOD disables as the next and final Step the most of the Specials.
Wanted to try to change the AI Art of Ship-Building. All these Ships include many Specials,
which are never used. And all these Energy Weapons cannot be used, cause of the loaded Shields
and the less of Energy. To disable the most of the Specials brings a Plus of Energy into the AI Ships.

An old Game with a damned huge Lack in AI Planet Modernizing, Ship Modernizing, Ship Building,
Fleet Movement and Ship Battle-Actions which i cannot delete. These Things just arent programed.
The Logic Factory tells, that for Example Master of Orion 2 uses AI Cheats to increase the Challenge,
which Ascendancy does NOT, but there are only two Ways to get a Game welldone:

To program a welldone AI, or to damned cheat the AI up.
The Logic Factory tells, that in Ascendancy there are much Ways to succeed, and it is not necessary
to end up all in War, so the "damned huge Lack of the AI" is not relevant, but that Game is called
"Ascendancy", and every Game needs a Challenge, and the Lack of the AI and its Cause to kill the Game

is out of any Question, i think. I tried to increase the Games Aggression and AI Factory Plus,
tried to balance the Tec Tree and the Prerequisites of the balanced Ship-Stuff and Planet-Stuff, and
tried to do all i can modifiying just the Ascend00.COB to get a much better Game, and so
i could play the SUPREMACY MOD as basic MOD, or the CRACY MOD with redirected Prerequisites,
or the TOTALLY CRACY MOD with disabled Specials to increase the AI Ship Strength.
Did everything i could to make that old classic Game to a bite more Challenge, and to that Game, i ever wished to play.

Hm. 24.7.2012. I think, i call that sweet little MOD beta-done.
And now, for anybody who will play this...



Have Fun.







O yes, and a last Thing:
To get some Hints, or Error Messages, or Fun Messages, would be wonderful.

O yes, and a very last Thing:
Managed to do my Batch File 64bit also, hopefully it works on 64bit Systems now!!!




42/41 Downloads of Cracy, and Supremacy ZIPs. Thanks. BUT:


-REMOVED- 1.6, final Version, out now. 8.4.2013.