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[The Fifth Horseman]

Edit that file using Notepad
I'm not sure if you realise it's binary data and not just plaintext. Notepad will fuck that up completely.

What you should be doing is use COBExtractor to unpack the COB file and edit its' constituent files before using COBExtractor to repack them into a new COB.
You can get COBExtractor here: http://legolas558.iragan.com/index.p...-MODding-Tools (just click the [V] icon, the detail pages are broken), and http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/GAMES:Asc..._Modifications has instructions on using it. The Mod Guide explains a bit more about the actual files inside the COB and editing them: http://legolas558.iragan.com/index.p...ncy-I-MODguide

[Nicheal]

Originally Posted by Eagle of Fire

Why would it take so much space? Simply copy
the files you modded and offer your mod to those who already have the game.

This game has been up on the site for a very long time. Many if not most of
the old members here have it already.

no. Why is Ascendancy NOT available in here? "esa protected", that means,
that the Logic Factory is interested in its Deal "Ascendancy as Universal App",
and NOT interested in another Downloads "Ascendancy as poor old PC Game".
If it would be in the Logic Factories Interests, Ascendancy would be downloadable.
So it is NOT in the Logic Factories Interests, to make Ascendancy or Mods available,
and so it is illegal to "simply copy modified Files in here"... i think.

The Logic Factory probably asked Abandonia for stopping the Ascendancy Download,
for bringing the Deal with the AppStore on its Way as exclusive Product,
and so every modified File would probably be deleted by Abandonia.

If @The Fifth Horseman or if @Abandonia or @The Logic Factory
allow to upload my Modded Files, i would do. Not more than 1 MB.


@The Fifth Horseman

I'm not sure if you realise it's binary data and not just plaintext.

i do not know nothing about that binary data stuff.
But you should have visited the Ascend00.COB FIRST, and THEN tell yours...
the Ascend01 and Ascend02.COB are completely encoded Data Files,
including all Graphics, Sound and Programming Algorithms Stuff, but the
Ascend00.COB includes the specific Attributes and Values, Dude.

There you can simply change every Value, and you will get it into the Game!
For example to change the Turn Costs of MegaFacility, it is only necessary
to change a 120 into a 180, and if you change it into a 1200, like i did,
you have to change a blank Space into that new Sign to not getting the
Parameters malfunction, without compiling for sure.

Notepad will fuck that up completely.

that must be a modern day miracle, cause i played that already, and it kicked
my ass like i modded it in, Dude... but yes. The Programming Algorithms change
their Behavior caused by the new Data! But thats what i expected!!!

That COBExtractor did nothing, only to write a Text-Editor Notation, which
Files it found in 01 and 02.COB... and that i knew already by only reading them.
Believe me, Fifth Horseman, it damned WORX!

[The Fifth Horseman]

The Logic Factory probably asked Abandonia for stopping the Ascendancy Download,
for bringing the Deal with the AppStore on its Way as exclusive Product,

Yes.

and so every modified File would probably be deleted by Abandonia.

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.

But you should have visited the Ascend00.COB FIRST, and THEN tell yours...
the Ascend01 and Ascend02.COB are completely encoded Data Files,

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

that must be a modern day miracle, cause i played that already, and it kicked
my ass like i modded it in, Dude... but yes.

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.

That COBExtractor did nothing, only to write a Text-Editor Notation, which
Files it found in 01 and 02.COB... and that i knew already by only reading them.

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.

[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.

I have a question concerning this games invasion system (this was the only forum I found with an actual active thread on this old lad).

It happenend multiple times to me allready, that an enemy vessel warped into one of my perimeter systems, but stayed out of range of my orbital missile batteries. I couldn't do anything but to wait for the next day(/s - sometimes they wait), only to get a popup that my system has been invaded and taken over... .
Those perimeter planets are usually equipped with two orbital shields and three missile batteries, and yet they just sneak past them. (the last time that made me somewhat ragequit and search for solutions had even additional 2 ground shields for invasion resistence to counter this behaviour....)

I wouldn't even care so much, if it was that easy to take them back for me too (high developed production planets are bordering close to these, so I could quickly raise invasion and intercept vessels). But whenever I try this tactic, I get shot and destroyed. By the same cannons even, that just refused to shoot approaching enemys, because they belong to them now.
Every step that moves me closer to the planet is an opportunity for them to shoot, and I need multiple of them. I made the ships able to stand a bit under fire with one shield bubble, but they cannot last longer than the fourth round or so. Which wouldn't be that terrible again, since I usually reach the planets in the second round allready, but then I somehow can't enter orbit. Whenever I click the planet, my ship just vanishes and spawns around him again, as if it just left orbit. Of course the enemy is getting a free shot at me after any of these attempts.

So as a quick summary:
- My planets cannot make the same 'shot for every step they approach you' thing, that the enemy throws at me
- Instead they don't do anything to defend themselves, just let the enemy into orbit (which never worked for me in x^4 tries and fails) and get taken over so quick that I just get a notification in the next round, that something went wrong and I lost a fully developed colony, including all of their defenses to some lonely weasel marodeur ship .. nice!

So I guess I am doing something wrong - maybe some configuration I overlooked? Or is there a special commando tactic equipment - stealth maybe? (didn't research that one jet)

How to counter? What to do?


Oh, and of course I have tried enough to get these systems back by real force and just destroy all their defenses. But still being a few rounds away from large ships with allready available plasma weapons, my medium warships are just not capable of overcoming such heavily fortified planets.
So one time I assembled 3 warships at once, which is quite the armament considering, that I just owned around 10 systems at this point. ..And they failed miserably. Whenever one of them got hit, this ship and EVery other lost around 2,5 barrs of energy.
At first I thought it was some sort of unfortunate racial trait of my enemy, but then I found out.. it's not.
So jeah, I don't really get what the point of attacks with multiple ships is, since you can only use one for real - because if the enemy is able to fire back at the same rate, the rest of your ships cannot do anything anymore, since their energy is allready 'somehow' depleted.
I don't know how they are justifying such nonsense. I even had my ships coming from different lanes, so one them was far appart, but they still all loose energy. Area drain effects from mere Missile Batteries, yeah.. ok.


The game still seems to be pretty easy, but random jump-at-you border-conquering like this is really annoying. And unfair - I cannot do the same.

I hope somebody here is still fit enough in this game to help.

[The Fifth Horseman]

IIRC, the orbital weapons need to be fired manually.

I know, but that is not possible if the enemy stayed out of range. They wait on the edge of the system and then jump at you in one quick between turns time. You don't even see it happening.

While the player has to encounter an enemy planet stop and go wise, where every step provokes one weapon to fire, the KI is either shot with all weapons when within range, ..or just not.
So it seems, if they just have enough engines or energy to reach you in one turn, NOthing is ever going to stop them, or what?
But even if I would likewise be able to get to their planet without being shot, I would still not be able to enter orbit if there are cannons around, because that appears to be a KI only trait too.

..Different mechanics for human player and KI, I hate that. Natural unbalance.

[Eagle of Fire]

In fact, it is not even a different mechanic for the AI. It is simply that you need to be there to fire those guns manually and you are not when you end your turn.

The best way to prevent such a situation is to have a defensive ship of your own patrolling the system. The AI plain suck very big time in Ascendancy so it is more than easy to design a ship which can destroy anything in its path.

Another option would be to pass your tactical turn. I think there is an option to do that in the planetary system menu. This would take the opponent ship into range before they land to your planet and you'll get a chance to hit it.

Ah, thanks! Never thought of trying that out. As allways when something is obvious and easy.
I think that will do the trick \(OuO )/

[Oskatat]

It usually does. If the attacking ship has weapons it'll close in to fire, unless you outgun him a lot, usually only counting ships. If the AI is using molecular disassociators and you have orbital batteries you might be in trouble, since they'll outrange you, and however stupid, they'll sit there and shoot instead of comming within range. Where the AI then messes up is if a shorter ranged weapon got put in too, it'll now close in (if energy is left) so you can shoot it to pieces