Average Playtime: 1 hour

Ascent - The Space Game

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About

Humanity's vast empire is lost. With the last communication outside the Apollo Sector far beyond human memory, we've been forced to build anew, using only the dregs of the civilization left behind. Now it's your turn to make your mark and help to rebuild our understanding of where we are and where we came from.

Ascent is a Player Vs Environment space-based MMO with a focus on exploration and community. With over 270 BILLION star systems to explore and an emphasis on strong Sci Fi, Ascent encourages Exploration, Colonization, Starbase construction, Research and technology, Asteroid mining, Farming, Trading, and - of course - Combat.

Outside of a pre-defined "Apollo Sector" of nine star systems, everything in the game is made by players. Colonies and Starbases have been built on and around planets and later connected by jump gates. A fully dynamic stock market is maintained by what players frequently buy and sell, with the ability to set prices on various materials at your base. Colonies with individual NPC AI following Maslow's hierarchy of needs can be hired to trade on your behalf, or bribed to allow a smuggling enterprise in another player's colony. Even the governing bodies from colony Mayors, planetary Governors, star system Senators all the way to a Colonial President are all elected by players to give the entire player base a unified voice in their own pocket of space.

Each feature of Ascent is designed with one major rule: "It should be fun to do alone, and even more fun with others". Even things like solo exploration can be more lucrative and benefit the community at large by fulfilling player bounties for certain types of planets. How you play is up to you.

Please note that to keep the game running as smoothly as possible, we use multiple servers. These servers have an ongoing cost, and we have priced advanced-game aspects of the game at $0.99 apiece, with a total of $2.97 per month. To help you get the most out of Ascent, we have included 3 months of premium access when you purchase the game. If for any reason you cannot pay, the game will not lock you out or lose any of your assets, merely restrict you in some advanced areas.

So jump in and enjoy the vast expanse of features we're proud to offer:

  • Exploration - more than 270 billion star systems generated with unique planets, mineral concenrations, agriculturual values and climate
  • Farming and mining on planet surfaces - players can build their own planetary bases for resource harvesting. City simulation style play.
  • Personal starbase construction - players can construct their own starbase to their own design. This becomes your home in space, and your centre for heavy zero-g manufacturing and research
  • Trading - dynamic local NPC markets, player to player global market
  • Dynamic NPC mission system - combat, trade (supply/demand), passenger transport, courier and salvage missions
  • Asteroid mining - manual control of ship and axial mining beam. Player and character skill based.
  • Research - blueprint fragments attainable from salvage missions allow the player to research forgotten and new ships and components, as well as enhancements to their buildings
  • Manufacturing - every ship, weapon and utility module in the game can be manufactured by players and sold or used to customise their ships (which can also be given a custom paint scheme)
  • Gas giant harvesting - because sometimes you need things like hydrogen and oxygen!
  • Space combat - manual control fighter to fighter dogfighting, scales up to big ship broadside duels between cruisers
  • Colonization of outer systems - the largest so far has over 50,000 structures and hundreds of thousands of colonists
  • Outer Star Bases - these can also grow to vast size, open ended in 3D space just as colonies are on the surface
  • Governments - Players who own colonies in a given system can vote for a colony mayor, planetary governor, system Senator and a colonial President. Governors can rename their planets, Senators can rename their systems and approve Jump Gate construction to their systems, and the President can approve jump gate construction to the inner systems.
  • Player constructed jump gates - when approved by the relevant government authorities, players can band together for a community mega-project of constructing new jump gates, extending the reach of new players into the colonized outer systems
  • NPC AI - we are implementing Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs with our NPCs, giving them motivation to act within the game world. We are also developing a system which will enable them to engage in actual text chat with players (like old adventure games only we now have access to incredible new parser technology) in order to achieve their aims.
  • Hiring NPCs as pilots - they will not be able to warp or jump unaided but that leaves a lot of capability
  • Colonial Laws - these will enable you to outlaw or allow certain goods (e.g. alcohol) at your colonies, and lead to...
  • Smuggling - setting up smuggler networks and sneaking banned goods into colonies for fun and profit

As an MMO, Ascent is open to constant development. Below are some of the features we plan to add.

  • Bounty hunting - tracking down fugitive NPCs, whether they are running from the law, or just their enemies
  • Crime and punishment - setting up police and prisons in your colonies, and adventuring as a freelance investigator
  • Assassination - whether blowing up the ship they're in, or tracking them to their home and pulling the trigger, you're a stone cold killer for hire
Platforms
Release date
Developer
Fluffy Kitten Studios
Publisher
Fluffy Kitten Studios
Age rating
13+ Teen
Website
http://www.thespacegame.com/

System requirements for PC

Minimum:
  • OS: Windows 7, 8, 10
  • Processor: Dual Core, 2Ghz
  • Memory: 4096 MB RAM
  • Graphics: Intel HD 5000, AMD A8
  • DirectX: Version 9.0c
  • Network: Broadband Internet connection
  • Storage: 2 GB available space
  • Additional Notes: Heavily multithreaded - will use up to four cores at once
Recommended:
  • OS: Windows 7, 8, 10
  • Processor: Quad Core, 3-4Ghz
  • Memory: 8192 MB RAM
  • Graphics: AMD 6970, NVIDIA GTX 580
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Network: Broadband Internet connection
  • Storage: 2 GB available space
  • Additional Notes: Heavily multithreaded - will use up to four cores at once
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Last Modified: Sep 17, 2019

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Ascent - The Space Game reviews and comments

Translated by
Microsoft from Deutsch
First Impression: Payment Model Ascent-The Space Game is a Mix of Buy2Play with additional Premium and limited Free2Play. Premium Access costs $2.97 (about €2.65) per Month and is Paid by PayPal. The Premium includes 300 Stellar Credits per Month, which are available for the Maintenance of Space Stations per 40SC/. month (Stations built less than 200Km above the egg-against colony are free) and 80SC per Colony per Month. 3 Months of Premium are included in the purchase price and can be redeemed at any Time. So You can play Until you really need Premium. Without Premium * 1 Ring for 6 modules for your own Star Base * Use of ship modules up to Class 5 (max. Class 15) * You can only own Land in Ceres (Grain Farm) and Vulcan (Iron Mine). * Colonies and Stations outside the 9 Core Systems are possible, but must be maintained with SC, which you have to buy extra. With Premium I make it short, any restriction is lifted. Own Star Bases with over 200 Rings, Plots On all core planets, etc. The DLCs You don't really need any of them. The Hawk is a Class 1 Ship that is surhollow pretty quickly. The Bowhead is a Class 12 Ship with a relatively large load space. This brings an Advantage if you want to Houlder Via FTL. A Class 14 Ship, however, already has more Cargo space. In The Prinziep, the DLCs are only there to support the Developer if you want to. Early and Middle Gameplay Initially it's mainly about generating enough Money to buy Beserre Ships, Blueprints for your own Station, property or Own Colony. Blueprints for Ships and Modules can either be collected by Selvatching and then explored or (expensive) purchased by NPCs. You earn money similar to That in Elite through Trade Routes, Missions, Mining and the Sale of homemade Materials and Ships (? and Modules?). Land and Colonies Produce Materials needed to Build ships and their Modules. Endgame If you have a suitable Ship with FTL Propulsion and enough Fuel you can set off to Explore new Star Systems (there are 270 Trillion of them). The particular thing about this is the Newly discovered Star Systems to be named after the Explorer. In this System you can then build Colonies and Stars Bases. In order for players without FTL To enter the newly equipped system, you have to connect it with one Jump gate (more precisely one on each side) with another (which is already accessible with Jumping Gates). Or you can build your own independent Goal network. The Graphic A Glossy Graphic clearly doesn't have A-TSG. But I have also seen Games that (without wanting to work in a Retro) were much worse. The Graphics can be glazed with that of EVE Online for release.
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