============================
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 extra-galactic super force. They are hideously strong and quick.
HISTORY. The Minions are a species of artificial life-machines that serve
the purposes of their extra-galactic master-species. Eons ago, the master
species seeded the ancestor-units 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 pack-hunting predators in woods and
tundra plains on a very high-gravity 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 force-distributing honycomb lattice.
SPECIAL ABILITY: The Snovemdomas are mighty and tough. Their ships all have
double-strength 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, fog-like 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 what-so-ever. 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 mind-bodies. 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 fun--they 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 dual-star configuration influenced the development of duality
inverse-reality 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
black-hole god, Graveesha, has given them the ability to warp space.
HISTORY. The Frutmaka evolved near a black-hole 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
near-sessile 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 non-organic 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 lifeform--they
follow most definitions of life but are composed entirely of inorganic
substances. They are able to harness an anti-energy 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 power-sappers. 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 once-barren 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 ever-changing and are not agreed upon but handled purely by
intuition- each Govorom knows instinctively where its region lies. Given an
already-hospitable planet, they are able to transform it into a paradise.
SPECIAL ABILITY: The Govorom are nature-goddesses. 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 mind-control can leave a victim
uncertain of which memories are real and which were implanted.
HISTORY. The Ungooma are a species of adaptive-intelligence beings that
evolved as though-parasites 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, self-protection 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 shape-shifting 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 single-celled creatures that reproduce at will. They are
extremely expansionistic and communication with them is difficult.
HISTORY. The Mebes are large single-celled 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 thin-atmosphere 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 tree-people. They are respectful of other life, but
want more than anything to be left alone.
HISTORY. The Arbryls are tree-people who evolved on a huge eden planet
containing only plant life. They are peaceful, slow-moving, 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 jewel-like water creatures. Their brains are organic optical
computers, making them lightning-quick.
HISTORY. The Chronomyst are a deeply religious and philosophical race who
spend much of their time in trance-like 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 six-legged 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 duress-stress 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 30-40 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.
