ASCEND.EXE ?? :max:

You didn't gave any relevant details, OS? Program you used to unzip?
FYI: Ascend.exe is the file to run.
Moved? Hmmmm, doesn't sound to good, try 7zip , freeware and damn good, at least with that one you can unzip directly where the folder belongs.
And: delete your old folder before doing a new attempt.
Could you please state your mount lines and inputs in dosbox to get the game running?
95% of the problems with dosbox comes from badly mounted drives/folders.

one of the most fascinating games I played ever. Especially the particular abilities of every civilization were unique. I never played another space-game which built up such a good atmosphere. On my opinion there is just one weakness in gameplay: after you have conquered more than five starsystems the micromanagement on every planet gets on your nerves, because for me it was difficult to overview all the projects for each planet.

Thank you for taking care. And sorry for the few details only.

I run DOSbox on an OSX 10.5 and the folder move did not affect the content of it. See this screenshot for my Ascend folder content:
http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/3461/files.png
As you see there is no other .exe except the UVconfig.

BUT you made the point with the zip tool. I used stuffit expander to extract the zip (with redownload etc.).

Two minutes ago I redownloaded and used OSX built-in extractor instead of stuffit and voila now I got more than one exe.

OK, now I am giving this game a try. According to the messages from other users it will take several hours till I will be back ;)

Thanks again for the hint,
knurps

Eagle of Fire: a personal ascendancy
 

On March 16, 2009, he wrote:

Compare this to September 19, 2004:

Talk about an obvious learning curve. Two thumbs up! :thumbs:

Hey, I'm pulling your leg! No offence meant :3:

I don't really see the difference, except that now I know the loopholes one need to know to win...

I always said this game wasn't so great and that it didn't deserve it's 5/5 mark.

I was 15 when I got this game. My English was spotty and yet I kicked AI ass from the start. The game may not be perfect, but if you follow standard 4X tactics (expand, explore, etc.), it's not very hard. The AI is pretty laid back and you can win the game easily by doing the following:

- get the research to build small ships + colonisation module
- get as many planets colonised from the start, even if they're small - it's free
- focus on defense of your planets, not ship weapons
- research better industrial & research structures

Doing this will quickly give you the edge since you'll be able to research a lot quicker and faster. The trade off is being weak early in the game but if your galaxy is large enough, that's not a real problem since your opponents won't declare war that quickly.

I disagree in one point: AI is so low that it almost doesnt matter what do you do or what dont do, you also can win by
-building only huge ships with lot of firepower and dont hesitate to declare war to some aliens just because they are ugly
-capture resourceful planets no matters how many invasions pods it takes you need new bases all the time. On minor planets wipe out the surface and capture it to deny it to enemy.
-dont build any defensive structure, use slow but heavily armed ships to block star lanes that connect to other empires and arent being used by the main fleet.
-research weapons, shields or armor. Also ship size is very important, the bigger they are, the harder they strike.

I was on my bad side of the bed but the ai of this game is a big deception

The AI doesn't coordinate its attacks either - they'll send ships to your planets but only one at a time so with a few shields and long range defenses, they don't stand a chance.

An Online Manual
 

If anyone is interested, I created an online manual here:

Ascendency

Hope y'all enjoy.

rmfr