This guide is intended as a reference. Mainly for myself. Other people may or may not find it useful. Read The Long Guide first.

For Psychic Powers see another guide: Psychic Powers

This guide is current as to version 1.4.2b2-14263 "public_test" of Space Hulk Ascension.

The game does not allow you to set maximum display resolution? Or scrolling with the mouse to right and bottom of the screen is slow? You are probably running windows desktop set to more than 100 % scaling.

To stop any issues, go to file "game.exe" in directory "Space Hulk Ascension". Steam takes you there via game properties "browse local files". Right-click on game.exe, properties, compatibility, change high DPI settings, override high DPI scaling behaviour, scaling performed by: Application.

Create file "no_movie" in directory "Space Hulk Ascension" to skip intro movie. Hidden feature.

Most Broodlords have 4 AP. For no apparent reason some have 5 AP, so beware. They are immune to psychic powers, cellular destabilizer agent, fire, acid and frag missiles.

The command area of Sergeants and Battle Heroes is a square, not a circle. Just like the range of Force Barrier. Range for Sergeants is 9, resulting in a square of 19*19 tiles. Range for Battle Hero is 5 (11*11 tiles). The skill Command Vox Range changes graphics but does not increase actual range. (source)

Displayed radii with and without skill differ by one tile:

Every use of an Apothecary power costs 1 Apothecary point. Apothecaries start with 5 points per rank. There is no way to regain points during battle.

Apothecary abilities cool the weapon by 2. Just like movement, reload or Psychic Powers. This enables interesting combinations with Combi-Bolter/Plasma variants.

Everyone in range is suppsed to gain +1 TS and +1 AG which in turn means +1AP.
+1 TS is fine. +1 AG is buggy. Terminators who were inside command range of a Sergeant or Battle Hero at the start of the current turn gain an additional +1 or +2 AP bonus.

Works as advertised. Everyone in range gains +1 BS. See "bug" below.

Works as advertised. Everyone in range gains +1 TS and +1 Willpower. Willpower is pretty much useless. Therefore Metabolic Enhancer is superior.

Works as advertised. Everyone in range gains +1 WS. For melee one might as well go for TS and Metabolic Enhancer. See "bug" below.

Works as advertised. Broodlords are immune. 2 AP to attack 3 targets in front of you in a small corridor is pretty good. If you enter a room full of 'stealers the attack is devastating. Not guaranteed to kill. You need a backup plan to deal with any survivors.

Apothecary abilities have a very short range. Three tiles not counting diagonally. All four Terminators in this screenshot are just inside range.



Both Optic Nerve Enhancer and Reflex Enhancer grant +1 perception in addition to BS or WS. Perception range increases accordingly (confirmed). However, this is bugged: The perception range indicator never changes to display the increased range. Any 'stealers inside the extra range are not spotted immediately. Instead, they are revealed when the Terminator moves or turns. That is probably the reason the game does not mention this effect.

In order to level up, Terminatores require experience (XP). Each successful mission they gain 100 XP per objective and up to 500 for killing Genestealers. Most missions have one or two objectives. The Forge of Heroes includes a good number of missions with three and one with four (The Sleepers Awaken).

XP required for next level is current level multiplied by 250.
Terminators start their career with 10 to 34 XP.

Data derived from section "Weapons" in file "resources.assets".

Power Fist, Chainfist and Narthecium all give +10 attack and +10 defense.

Force Axe/Sword and Power Sword have +20 defense, +20 attack and +30 defense as advertised.

Frost Axe/Sword have +20 defense, +30 attack and +35 defense.

The standard set of Lightning Claws has +20 attack and +10 defense. The fist variant comes with +30 attack (0 defense), the second with +35 attack (and 0 defense).

Wolf Claws have +25 attack and +10 defense. First variant (hidden) has +35 attack, second variant (Skoll) +35 defense.

TH/SS variants have +20 attack/+10 defense, +35 attack/0 defense and +15 attack/+20 defense.

no attack modifier, 20 ammo, 10 heat, 2 bullets per shot

-5 % attack, 20 ammo, 10 heat, 3 bullets per shot

+10 % attack, 14 ammo, 8 heat, 1 bullet per shot

+10 % attack, 12 ammo, no heat, 1 bullet per shot
Never underestimate the power of a Bolter. Good overwatch requires long firing lane.
Best skill to use: Eagle Eye.

focused pattern, + 55 attack (not used), 4 ammo, range 7 (total effect range 10)
Does not use BS.

long pattern, + 40 attack (not used), 6 ammo, range 7 (total effect range 12)
Does not use BS.

wide pattern, + 70 attack (not used), 4 ammo, range 5 (total effect range 8)
Does not use BS.

4 ammo, range 2 (may cover 3 tiles)
Does not use BS.

5 ammo, range 2 (may cover 3 tiles)
Does not use BS.
This weapon renders the standard version obsolete.

3 ammo, range 4 (may cover 5 tiles)
Does not use BS.

+ 20 % attack, 40 ammo, 5 heat, probability to malfunction: 5 %
Weapon may explode. Final shot on heat gauge is not save. Allowed to shoot at maximum heat level.

The probability for plasma weapons to go volatile seems identical for all three. At least I cannot find anything in the code which suggests otherwise. Base chance is 10. Which may or may not equal 10 %.

The skill Annihilator improves the base chance to go volatile by 10. (Source: BasicSkills.data in resources.assets) That does indeed double the value.

+ 20 % attack, 50 ammo, 8 heat, probability to malfunction: 5 %
Weapon may explode. Final shot on heat gauge is not save. Allowed to shoot at maximum heat level.

+ 50 % attack, 25 ammo, 3 heat, probability to malfunction: 5 %
Weapon may explode. Final shot on heat gauge is not save. Allowed to shoot at maximum heat level.
Very accurate. Recommended. Shoot twice, reload Bolter (removes 2 heat), shoot two more times and set OW (7 AP).
Valthek-II with perfect accuracy:





















+ 55 attack (not used), 6 ammo, range 7, 1 reload
Does not use BS.

+ 40 attack (not used), 8 ammo, range 7, 1 reload
Does not use BS.

+ 70 attack (not used), 4 ammo, range 7, 2 reloads
Does not use BS.

no attack modifier, 100 ammo, 100 heat, ? range, 10 bullets per shot, 2 reloads, probability to malfunction: 25 %

- 20 % attack, 150 ammo, 150 heat, ? range, 10 bullets per shot, 2 reloads, probability to malfunction: 25 %
Major accuracy issues. Completely useless.

+ 30 % attack, 70 ammo, 70 heat, ? range, 10 bullets per shot, 4 reloads, probability to malfunction: 25 %
Very accurate. Highly recommended.

15 ammo, 20 heat, ? range, 1 or 3 ammo per shot, 1 or 5 heat per shot, 1 or 2 blast range, 5 or 10 damage, 1 reload
This weapon does not use BS. Heat is not an effective limitation.

12 frag missiles, 1 missile per shot, minimum range: 3
Can hit targets outside LoS. Displayed accuracy 70 % or 80 % regardless of BS. Seems less accurate to me. Expect to need multiple missiles. Broodlords are immune. Can achieve cleanse objective.
Main advantage: Comes with Storm Bolter which cannot run out of ammo.

no attack modifier, 12 krak missiles, 1 missile per shot, 5 damage, minimum range: 3
Affected by Targeting Reticules and Chapter bonus. Accuracy identical to Storm Bolter but one shot (which kills) instead of two (for one damage each). Seen hit chances of up to 40 % with BS 5 and 50 % with BS 6. A hit kills a Broodlord. Even those with 4 HP. 3 Missiles and 3 Action Points to kill one Broodlord is not exactly bad. Cannot achieve cleanse objective.
Main advantage: Comes with Storm Bolter which cannot run out of ammo.
BS6 is an option (AG4 only). If the Storm Bolter has a damage relic upgrade, then Krak Missiles seem pointless.

6 frag missiles, 6 krak missiles (see above)
Main advantage: Comes with Storm Bolter which cannot run out of ammo.

150 or 200 ammo, no heat, 15 range, 10 bullets per shot, BS 6, no weapon attack modifier.
The Tarantula unit is ummune to Frag Missiles.

Chests in flash missions may supply weapon upgrades called "Relic Weapons". There are sixteen different types. Once you have an upgrade of one type, you will never see another upgrade of the same type. A Storm Bolter with +1 damage will never receive +2 damage. Saveload to gain maximised upgrades only. Or don't. Up to you. Available upgrades and maximum values are:

+ 20 % to hit
+ 10 ammo
+ 5 heat
+ 7 range
+ 2 damage
+ 1 attack (includes +4 ammo)




+ 4 ammo
+ 5 range








+ 30 % to hit
+ 50 ammo
+ 5 heat
+ 5 range
+ 2 damage
+ 3 attacks (includes + 30 ammo)




+ 20 % to hit









+ 20 % to hit

Teleport Units are very powerful. Maybe even overpowered. They allow to outright blitz some missions. Two screenshots show turn one of mission Decoy (Shield of Retribution). Four Terminators with Teleport Units and Power Field Generators block seven spawn points.

Save game files are stored in the following location:
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Full Control\SpaceHulkAscension

A list of save games including metadata is stored there as well. If you delete individual files, the files no longer match the list and things can get ugly. You need to backup and restore all files. Only delete save games in-game.

The saves seem encrypted. I think I can remove encryption. However, I cannot figure out unencrypted saves. Therefore I cannot build a save game editor.

Some valuable pieces of information in the forum:
Melee mechanics
Thunder Hammer variants
Combi-Weapons
Modding
"Better heat management" Chapter bonus
DLC does not work