Ascension% Rules and Strategies to Succeed

Ascension% is a new category extension for AOC2 created by, developed, and moderated by Katz89. 

The main goal of Ascension% is to, as the name implies, "ascend" from the bottom to the top. This means that the basic premise is that you start with a nation with only a single province and become the number one ranking power on the in-game leaderboards(your ranking can be found at the bottom left of your flag, which itself is in the top left of your screen).

The rules are as follows:
- Basic Victory% rules(i.e no sandbox, no custom/modified scenarios, no changing province values, etc. Essentially no cheating)
- You must start as a nation with one province
- Timing stops at the START of the first turn that you are rank number one
- Unions are banned

Useful strats for Ascension%:
Due to the nature of Ascension%, it is one of the only categories where war reigns supreme now that the Smithy Strat(essentially building up a large army and then threatening war to vassalize and annex as many nations as possible) or similar strats have entrenched itself in most other categories. 
There are, more or less, three ways to approach an Ascension% run. 1: Slow and steady growth 2: Smithy Strat 3: The stab/overthrow strats also known as the overstab strat(developed by Katz89 of course).

Strat 1: Slow and Steady
This strat is the most basic of the three. It involves growing your power conquest by conquest. While the other strats can be flashy, this strat is simple, calculated growth. The basic steps are 1. Declare war and annex some land 2. Recover your forces and assimilate the new provinces 3. Repeat. A simple, consistent strat that works for any scenario.

Strat 2: Smithy Strat
This strat is less useful in this category but is still useful in certain situations. The primary runner for this strat is trevorsmithy and their runs should include a good example of what it is in action. As I've laid out previously it revolves around a flaw in the AI where they are very susceptible to accepting vassalization and annexation when you use the threaten war mechanic. By building up a large force you can then threaten war on multiple nations at a time and then annex them which can help you grow very quickly. It is less useful in Ascension% runs though since due to the weak start and generally shorter runs(and better strats) it isn't as strong as in other categories

Strat 3: Overstab Strat 
This strat is more or less some combination of two different techniques, namely the stab and the overthrow. Both rely on building up the bare minimum power base to attack as large a nation as possible, and the difference between the two is in the targets and goals of the strat. The stab involves attacking a nation, often the current rank 1 power, with the intention of occupying their major cities to both boost your score and to lower their score. The stab should be used last in a run as a means of finishing off the run as fast as possible. The overthrow is a more applicable technique, as it is, more or less, an attack very early on of a major nation. Now this runs into issues because, due to how peace deals work, you cannot peace out for all of their land. This is where the overthrow technique differs from other techniques. Using the overthrow technique you occupy a major nation and then use either the stab technique or other techniques to acquire the last few ranking points you need to reach 
rank 1.
If you want examples of the Overstab strat, Katz89 has runs showing off the technique and there may or may not be a future guide going through the strat in better detail.

Katz89

Age of History 2 Category Extension

CLLs

jordaan7k

Brazil

Mexico

Shu Han

Poland

Germany

France

Luxembourg

Victory% as El Salvador

Conquer as El Salvador

Ascension%

Union%

Alliance%

Vasillation%

Die%

Espirito Santo

Delaware

El Salvador

Victory% as the confederate

Baden

Victory% as Emu

Victory% as Cape Colony

Turkey

Epirus

Thessaly

Athens

Confederate States

Ukraine

Frankfurt

Greece

Georgia

Lucca

Mainz

Otomo

Votadini

China

Kikuchi

Monaco

Lorraine

Cuba

Spain

Andorra

Rapa Nui

Cape Colony

Tibet

Iran

Ming

Castile

Gaya

Khachen

Canada

Bermuda

Austria

Iraq

Venezuela

Ottoman Empire

Normal

No Major Exploits

Victory%

Conquer the World

Aragon

Danzig

Mayotte

Union

Civilization

CE Football War

CE Brazil

CE 1440

CE Modern World

CE World War II

CE Three Kingdoms

CE United States

CE American Civil War

CE World War I

CE Great Emu War

CE Second Boer War

CE Victorian Era

CE Napoleonic Wars

CE Sengoku

CE 1200

CE Byzantine-Sasanian War

CE 5

CE Ancient Greece

CE Warring States Period

CE AoC1

CE Kepler-22b

Ultimatums or Trade Requests

Lite categories

Android

Macintosh

Linux

ADD VALUE TO A CATEGORY (CREATE SUB-CATEGORY) RULES

Let's add least turns category

Terminally suggest changing the name from "Victory% as Emu" to "Emu%"

Clarification For Ascension% End Requirements

Ascension% Run for United States

What goes as game modification?

Labcoat

Gion915

kolya5544

The_Humbugg

Julikos

trevorsmithy

AmigaXOfficial

Fairway