I am just going to list ways the ascension gate could be made.
A. It could be a physical Megastructure, powered by black holes ,supernovae ,or neutron stars.
B. It could be an artificially created wormhole
I was originally going to list more, but then I couldn’t think of any more
It could be a device creating such a massive force through time that it reverses the universe, with shields protecting your colonized - or allied, if you want - systems, although I don’t know what this would look like, maybe just a bunch of Dyson spheres/fusion reactors/antimatter reactors/zero point energy harvesters, connected to a tiny, bland sphere. I think it would be a funny end if you advance technology farther then anyone could imagine, and generate more energy than any civilization should ever need, just to make the most bland looking thing ever.
Here’s how it “actually” is (what I based the way it is right now in the game as a prototype):
Simple as that. And those properties lead very nicely to it being an end goal of the game by requiring researching all technology and collecting vast amounts of energy. Both of those goals give other space empires the chance to stop whoever is building the ascension gate which gives a nice bit of last conflict in a Thrive playthrough.
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It has to be 20 characters long so bla bla bla
Instead of replying “ok” and using post filler, which is against the rules, you can like a post or give it a 
i always pictured entering the ascension gate like this.
you would finish building and powering the ascension gate, the cutscene starts to play. hundreds of large passenger carrier ships line up in rows, almost resembling as though they might be going to war. the camera zooms in and flies through one of the window of the ship and peers out of the front window, along with several creatures (or the camera zooms in on an empty spot, like ship POV, regardless) you see ahead, a large rectangular structure, segmented in nature, blue (or other color) energy zaps along the frame, and the frame almost looks to break apart from the shere force of the energy rushing along it, and it separates. Quiet for about half a second or so before a bright bead of light blasts open in brilliant rays of light. you now see the siloets of the many space ships fly off to the center of the ascension gate. then credits roll or whatever.
Have you played the latest Thrive release all the way to the end? The ascension gate and the ascension cutscene is already in the game.
i finished the current game a couple days before my last post, i want sure if that was more or less a place holder animation of sorts, i assumed that because with a name like “ascension gate” and with the device being discussed as needing an extraordinary amount of power i had expected something more grandiose than what’s currently in the game. Is the current animation more or less what that cutscene might be like in the finished game?
Just placing a bunch of the dyson swarms wouldn’t be engaging gameplay at all, just annoying so you just need one in the prototype.
It’s pretty much structured exactly like I imagined it, but obviously the scene is quickly thrown together so that I didn’t need to find an artist to collaborate with / spend a lot of time tweaking the scene.
ok, i just mis-understood given the posts ive read then. I do wonder just how much power will be needed to power the gate though.
(I am the same Amir as the OP, but using a different account) I imagined it as a large gate-shaped megastructure. Like this image I found online
but much bigger, on the scale of a ringworld or something
and there would be spaceships flying into it
I imagined it as a large ring structure, with minimal thickness and length.
I previously had imagined it similiarly to @aah31415
But actually the way it is currently made in prototype endgame cutsene is quite good too for me. It feels like you are not ascending yourself with your ships, fleet or whatever you’ll bring, but only you and your body.
So ascension gate in such form only makes one god entity and the rest of your species stays here?
The first member to ascend can just use their powers to immediately ascend the rest of the species. Just make sure you trust Bob before letting him be the first one through the ascension gate.
I wonder how much a betrayed civ could do against a malevolent deity… perhaps they could manipulate it emotionally?
In all seriousness though,depending on a few final choices,they would probably bring the leader and/or a computer containing a small portion of their most powerful artificial superintelligence. Maybe the lead scientist.(first that is,others would probably,go afterwards)
An idea for the stages and final game strategy of the Ascension Gate!
Intro:
I had an idea for the time the Ascension Gate is first activated and for the several stages it goes through before being used for Ascension. This seemed the best topic to put it under, so I am sorry if it is not. I know this post is huge, but I believe the idea here would bring a lot of “stress” and risk to each and every step of the Ascension Gate race, which would make gameplay more interesting and competitive with other AIs’ empires. It also fits super well under the narrative that the Ascencion Gate is overpowered, but hard to build and almost “impossible” to use (supposedly quoted from someone, but now I couldn’t find it).
Idea 1:
First, the Ascension Gate goes through these main stages (not the official names, but just for clarification):
Idea 2:
Some properties of the Gate:
→ Activation must be done locally at the Gate and requires a completely built Gate;
→ The Activation of the Gate creates an instant Hyper Pulsar wave, which disables every electrical system and wrecks every nervous system (kills) inside a gigantic radius in space. This radius is huge and anything in the pulsar wave’s path will be impacted (inorganic and organic matter);
→ Ascension - When the Gate is used and Ascension finally ocurrs. It requires an Active Ascension Gate.
Benefits of these ideas:
The player cannot Ascend immediatly after Activation of the gate, because every living being (friend or foe) will be killed inside that huge radius upon Activation, due to the Hyper Pulsar wave. So, ships sent for Activation are obviously a required sacrifice.
The player cannot just throw a single ship to Activate the gate, because other empires will know that the Gate is built and awaiting for Activation. So, enemies will be camping near the Gate and try to prevent you from activating it, forcing you to sacrifice a higher portion of your fleet to ensure it.
The Hyper Pulsar wave creates a window of time between activation and usage of the Gate and it “cleans” the entire space inside its radius. This is the last opportunity for other empires to deny you from using it or attempt to use it themselves; Therefore, after Activation and after the Hyper Pulsar wave fades out, every fleet awaiting at a safe distance will furiously race for the Gate in a gigantic carnage. Allied empires may protect you from others or may even try to get first to the Gate themselves, while your enemies will race and hunt you down and also attempt to reach it first. (Note: by activating the Gate, the player is coerced to race for Ascension, since not doing so ensures someone else gets there first, possibly an enemy… and no one would appreciate an Ascended enemy empire…)
In retrospective, when deciding to Activate the Gate, the player must balance between the portion of the fleet to sacrifice for Activation and the portion of the fleet to await at a safe distance and make a final race for Ascension. Obviously, enemies may ally themselves and will launch offenses to both fleet portions regardless, thus the risk and need for a strategy arise.
Conclusion:
With all of this above, when the player finally reaches the stage of the Built Gate (after spending ridiculous amounts of resources and time in researching and building), he/she/… also has to ensure sufficient numbers of resources, troops and tech for the Activation attempt and for the Ascension final race.
Summing it up, the decision to Activate the Gate forces the Ascension final race and is a huge gamble which requires sacrifice, strategy and much previous effort.
Final Note:
Thanks for reading all of this. Please share your thoughts!
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Additional and Not-So-Important Ideas: (due to no consecutive repplies, the post was edited once to add these)
Extra-tech advancements and precious materials can be used to sustain the Pulsar wave at a closer distance and this could have levels to it. This enables the player to start the race for Ascension closer than others, gaining obvious advantage. AIs auto evo empires would obviously have this feature available too.
Other empires could try to destroy the Gate, but it is highly armored and with enormous “health”. This means that only in the case of gross negligence a Built Gate could be partially or totally destroyed, which would force construction again. So, a Built Gate could be ruined all the way to just a Researched Gate. (Also, the Gate has to be able to sustain enough damage so that it is impossible to be destroyed during the Ascension final race, which would be extremely annoying at that stage. But obviously, whatever the devs decide ahah!)
(a second edit: trying to correct grammar mistakes for clarity)