Spaceship



The UFO is the pinnacle of the player's civilization growth, far and away the most powerful vehicle which the player creates in the civilization phase. The construction of the UFO sparks the beginning of the space phase, and once the player has made one, he or she can quickly remove any opposition on their home planet and move on to the solar system. As of E3 2006, the UFO has been revamped and many new features have been added.

Basics
Like everything else in Spore, or at least all the things that have been shown so far, the UFO (once available) will be a highly modifiable object that is built in the UFO Editor. Although the game will automatically present the player with a selection of UFO’s to choose from, varied by the player's playing style (once again like most other aspects) it will be possible to create custom crafts (assuming from a/some basic main UFO structures).

The UFO has been seen to take off from, presumably, the player’s main city amidst the adulation of the player’s creatures, although whether or not this has other effects on the city or creatures is not known (i.e. whether or not it keeps the player's creatures/city/world happy, law abiding, etc).

The UFO has a number of uses, including, but not necessarily limited to:
 * Relocation of creatures, including own
 * Scanning of creatures
 * Allowing the player to traverse worlds
 * Allowing the player to destroy worlds
 * Both military and diplomatic missions

And also comes equipped with various tools, of which the ones demonstrated have been listed below, to our greatest understanding. At some point in time after acquiring the UFO, the player will also gain access to all of the editors. However, it is not yet known at what exact time this happens.

The various tools available to the UFO are made available by earning badges in the space phase. These tools can then be bought by a star system. --Tyrnt 00:44, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Whilst in the atmosphere of a planet, the UFO is seen to project bubbles or rings to illustrate its source of movement or propulsion.

First contact
Once the player's UFO leaves the planet, and then the solar system, the player will find themself in the very large void of space, although the player is not all alone. Using the UFO’s tools (namely the SETI tool, see below) it is possible to find other inhabited solar systems with planets at various stages of evolution. The player can travel to these solar systems and planets to make contact with the inhabitants.

First contact was described by Will Wright as “this little ‘Close encounters’ musical game with them to try to establish a language.” They may or may not respond well. Game play has shown that there are three possible outcomes so far being:


 * Acceptance – Where the player will be free to continue to influence their opinions of themself using diplomatic tools. (see below)
 * Worship – Where the player has impressed the species enough that they are worshipped.
 * Rejection – The species attacks the player by firing upon their UFO.

It seems possible that the player can anger the species as a whole, not just those from the one planet, sparking a kind of intergalactic war. Not much else is known about this.

Once the player has gained acceptance, or if they are worshipped, it has been shown to be easy to promote rejection (for obvious means, see the “Military Tools” section or “Tractor Beam”). It has not yet been shown how you can positively influence a species' reactions to the player whilst they are being attacked, although it is more than likely to be possible to gain, or regain, a species' trust once the game is fully developed.

UFO Tools
The UFO comes with a large variety of tools which let the player do things from firing fireworks to blowing up planets. When the player first unlocks it, they will be allowed to zoom out and view the solar system. Once they have developed the interstellar drive, they can zoom out further and view the part of the Milky Way they are currently in, or even the entire galaxy.

Basic Tools
Basic tools that your starship (UFO) is equipped with. These include the ability to scroll over a planet rapidly by flying over it or zooming out from planets, solar systems, and even out further to look at the entire galaxy and travel to other stars/planets of choice.

Colony Incredi-pack
Creates a colony at the targeted surface. The colony is semi-creature-specific, in that it supplies the colonizers with that species' style of buildings and whatever "atmosphere" they need, be it an air or water environment. As such, the colony can not only be created on dead, or uninhabitable planets, but also on habitable ones (such as creating a colony in an air bubble underwater, or the reverse, a water bubble on land).

When activated, a target appears in which the colony's boundaries are shown. It is best to have at least 1 spice node in this area. When fired, the colony-in-a-box hits the surface and creates a colony.

Availability: You must first do the mission "The creation of a colony" to activate this. It is bought 1 at a time for about 100,000 sporebucks.

Scanner
Scans the targeted object (Whether it be creature, plant, vehicle or building) and adds its data to the UFO's database, Sporepedia. Once this has been done, the player is able to create the creatures they have scanned themselves.

Availability: From the beginning.

SETI Tool
Scans solar systems for intelligent life (radio waves). It does not find them automatically, as it requires the player to move their pointing device over solar systems, like a metal detector.

Availability: After the first mission.

Tractor Beam
The tractor beam lets the player beam creatures and artifacts (strange items found on barren planets) into the cargo hold. If the tractor beam is interrupted before the object has been hauled in, the object will be sent flying. Will Wright said that, if done right, the object "may even go into an orbit around the planet".

If you have the correct equipment, you can breed, change, and even cross-breed species.

Availability: From the beginning.

Intergalactic Communicator
The "Intergalactic Communicator" is used to receive general correspondence between colonies and races. You can only send communications when in the same solar system, but other races can send from anywhere. Some possible messages you may recieve include:
 * Warnings or threats from other races.
 * Quests or missions, such as requests for help from other planets (as seen in Will Wright's presentation).
 * Possibly introductions or first contacts, requests for alliance and trade...

Diplomatic Tools
Tools which are used to improve standings with other civilizations.

Audio-Communication device
Initiates communication with an unfamiliar civilization through a set of tones and lights.

Availability: Unavailable in early game, if at all.

Fireworks Launcher
Fires fireworks to impress and entertain civilizations.

Availability: Obtain the badge "Treaveler 2" or "Missionista 2".

Monolith
Creates a monolith on a planet which accelerates the technological advancement of the race that discovers it. This is a reference to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Availability: Obtain the badge "Near Encounters 2"

Military Tools
Tools used for combatting enemy civilizations.

Blaster
Shoots balls of energy at the target.

Availability: Unknown.

Laser Beam
Produces a constant laser beam at the targeted area which incinerates anything in its path, War of the Worlds style.

Availability: From the beginning.

Atomic Bomb
Produces an atom bomb-like effect that destroys an entire city in a blast of explosive light.

Availability: Obtain the badge "Conquerer 4".

Planet Buster
Impacts on the planet's surface, and then pauses for a few seconds before instantly destroying the planet, generating a blinding flash of greenish light, and a shaking motion on screen. The debris shown in the lower screen ended up creating an extra asteroid belt around the former planet's star. It is considered a Superweapon. It is also possible that it could be used to destroy other things, although it is unknown if Planet Busters can be targeted to anything other than planets, moons, asteroids, comets and meteors.

Availability: Ontain the badge "Conquerer 5" or "Colonist 5"

Terraforming Tools
Tools used to terraform planets (make them habitable).

Ice Comet
Pulls a comet onto the target surface, for the purpose of generating water (comets consist of large amounts of ice). In the case of a planet with no atmosphere, the water will begin to vaporize and build an atmosphere. May also be considered a military tool.

Availability: Obtain the badge "Colonist 4".

Staff of Life
When fired on a completely barren planet with no atmosphere, it will only take a few minutes to entirely transform the planet. It will create an atmosphere and a biosphere, but it is not certain whether it will create actual creatures or just plants. It is also unknown what effect it will have when used on a planet that already has an atmosphere and is inhabited. It is considered a Superweapon. The Staff of Life was known in the development phase of Spore as the Genesis Device.

Availability: The Staff of Life is given to you upon reaching the center of the galaxy. It should also be noted that it only has 42 uses, a refernce to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galazy.

Volcano
Fires a missile towards a planet's surface which makes a volcano erupt where it hits. Volcanoes are used to create an atmosphere on the planet. May also be considered a military tool.

Availability: Obtain the badge "Colonist 4".

Raise/Lower Land/Water
At some point, the UFO will also be able to raise and lower the land/water levels of an entire planet at once, similar to the terraforming tool that does the same in SimCity 4.

Availability: Most likely available later in the game

Wormhole Key
When the UFO is advanced enough, it can use a black hole to travel to other places. It is unknown where a black hole in question will lead to. It is also possible that this could be used as a military weapon, considering the fact it could be used against planets and, if included, Dyson Spheres and RingWorlds. If it can be used as a military weapon, providing it conforms with all the characteristics of a black hole (inescapable gravity, time distortion, etc), it would render any civilization's defenses useless, as no missile could escape it or have enough time to do so. This would have a very dramatic appearance as a planet could take centuries to be torn apart (real-time events affecting communication would also add to the effect. Such a slow, malicious weapon (technically, it would be the space-time editor) could be considered a Super weapon, perhaps the ultimate one.

Availability: Obtain the badge "Traveler 5" or "Colonist 5".