Help me remember a 4X game from the 1990's
June 5, 2014 12:09 PM Subscribe
There was a Windows 4X game I played in the 1990's I'd like to play again, but I can't remember the name of it.
It was a space game, and the stars were connected by transit lines, which were the only ways to get from one star to another. It permitted multi-player, and a friend of mine and I used to play it on my LAN. It ran on Win95, and the graphics were really good. The AI was legendarily lousy; it became a bit notorious for that. What was most distinctive about it was that the weapons had names like Zapotron. They sounded like Spaceman Spiff's arsenal.
It was a space game, and the stars were connected by transit lines, which were the only ways to get from one star to another. It permitted multi-player, and a friend of mine and I used to play it on my LAN. It ran on Win95, and the graphics were really good. The AI was legendarily lousy; it became a bit notorious for that. What was most distinctive about it was that the weapons had names like Zapotron. They sounded like Spaceman Spiff's arsenal.
Best answer: Ascendancy? Weapon list here.
posted by Etrigan at 12:19 PM on June 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Etrigan at 12:19 PM on June 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
What's "Windows 4X?"
4X = explore, expand, exploit, exterminate. Games like Civilization.
posted by Etrigan at 12:23 PM on June 5, 2014
4X = explore, expand, exploit, exterminate. Games like Civilization.
posted by Etrigan at 12:23 PM on June 5, 2014
Best answer: It's almost certainly Ascendancy. Had space lanes and terrible AI. They did an "aggressor" patch that supposedly improved the AI, but I didn't notice any difference. Also had great music/art/lore.
I think they actually released an iphone version a while back.
posted by selfnoise at 12:47 PM on June 5, 2014
I think they actually released an iphone version a while back.
posted by selfnoise at 12:47 PM on June 5, 2014
Best answer: Good graphics, legendarily lousy AI = ASCENDANCY
posted by Justinian at 2:06 PM on June 5, 2014
posted by Justinian at 2:06 PM on June 5, 2014
IIRC the AI in this game was so awful that you could win by playing the first turn and then hitting END TURN repeatedly without ever doing anything else.
posted by Justinian at 3:51 PM on June 5, 2014
posted by Justinian at 3:51 PM on June 5, 2014
Response by poster: Thanks, everyone, Ascendancy was the game!
Looks like I remembered wrong about it being multi-player. Now that I think about it, there was a different obscure 4X game we played on my LAN. But I don't remember that one well enough to give any hints about what it was.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 5:10 PM on June 5, 2014
Looks like I remembered wrong about it being multi-player. Now that I think about it, there was a different obscure 4X game we played on my LAN. But I don't remember that one well enough to give any hints about what it was.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 5:10 PM on June 5, 2014
Chocolate Pickle: Masters of Orion I or II? They sound similar enough that you might have mixed them up with Ascendancy.
posted by Canageek at 12:26 AM on June 6, 2014
posted by Canageek at 12:26 AM on June 6, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by rhizome at 12:18 PM on June 5, 2014 [1 favorite]