Grox/Trivia

This page consists of various trivial facts about the Grox as a species and an empire.


 * In the Creature stage and Tribal stage, a spaceship occasionally will appear and abduct creatures from the player's home planet. Using the spyglass or clicking on the ship will show what ship it is. Also, a crashed alien spaceship can sometimes be found during creature stage, and the wreckage will remain on your planet throughout the game. Sometimes this ship is a Grox ship. If it is a Grox ship it will have a poisonous looking purple cloud floating from it. The cloud has no effect on the avatar, however. Since the Grox show up to look at your planet in the creature stage, it can be assumed that the Grox are a very old empire, considering most games it will still take a billion or more years before reaching Space Stage. This puts the Grox as a very old empire.


 * If you ally with the Grox, go to one of their cities to hear their anthem. The player will hear only static and keening, but if the player waits long enough, the static will disappear and one of the Grox will start singing happily in a deep, strangely not robotic, voice. (see below) This has been likened to the poetry of the Vogons from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.


 * The Grox are believed to be based largely on The Borg from the Star Trek series, in fact their name in the coding (and original name) is Grob, which is Borg backwards, and sometimes when they declare war, they will say "Resistance is futile!", a famous Borg quote.


 * It's probable that the first name Maxis gave to the Grox was Grob. One proof is that if you open the Spore_game.package (files with all contents on the game, found in the "Data" folder) using a special program and go to prop/#02CB089D (where information about the badges are located) there will be two files called "grobally.prop" and "grobdefeat.prop" (notice it's written grob, not grox). Both have information about the "Badge Outta Heck" and "Dance With the Devil" badges which you can acquire by defeating or allying with the Grox.


 * They may also be based on the idea that humans are becoming more dependent on technology, and how we (humans) may not even have been able to survive this long without our intelligence. The Grox also reference current human culture when you break an alliance with them, mentioning CD's, lava lamps, and hoodies.


 * If you end your alliance with the Grox, they will take it a bit harsh, saying that anyone else would love to ally with them.


 * The Grox can be dragged and dropped into the creature editor, provided one can find the PNG, when loaded. Clicking on an asymmetric part instantly turns it symmetric, the parts do not have morph handles and the robot cranium is very glitchy when symmetric, they also can not be saved without a Hack unless the eyes are removed and the cybernetics are taken off.


 * The followers of the Books of Science call them an experiment that has not run its full course. Despite the vagueness, there is seemingly more for the Grox in the future.


 * The Grox often make humorously poor threats and compliments due to their misunderstanding of the culture and personality of normal species, like "You will not get a holiday card this year!" and "Good work! You are a credit to all slow thinking carbon based lifeforms.".


 * When the Grox declare war on you, their message declaring war to you finishes with the words "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!", a reference to the Daleks from the Doctor Who series.


 * Playing as the Grox causes you to be called the The Grox Empire in space and your color is a bright red, as opposed to their signature dark maroon.


 * If the player is allied with the Grox and uses the hologram scout near one of their cities, if the player looks at a citizen, they will see that the bright red usually seen on them is not in the detail section and, they will see a magenta-maroon color instead. This is the unique empire color of The Grox Empire,and every citizen has this color painted onto them. In space an NPC empire's color is not governed by it's actual color in the editor, and this color is painted onto the bodies of all citizens. This is different for the player's empire, it's color is governed entirely by the color given to it in the editor. This is an explanation as to why playing as the Grox has your color be the same bright red as seen on the Grox individual in the communication screen.


 * When a Grox colony surrenders, the transmission reads "Grox Surrender. Does Not Compute" This is a reference to robots in popular culture doing something outside of their capabilities, or when one actions against their will.


 * It is still possible to ally them without breaking Galactic Code.


 * The Grox have a unique kind of eye, resembling the Beady Eye with visible eyelids, it has been nick-named "Cute eye" or "Grox eye" (though when pressing "i" over it, its name will be "Eyebissed". Parts very similar to it have been released to players in Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack they are called "Necrye" and "Hubba Hubba". There is also an eye in the Bot Parts Pack called "Blinkojo" that resembles a cross between a Grox's organic eye and Cybernetic eye.


 * When pressing "i" near a cybernetic part of the body, you will see its properties. The parts all have the same name and stats as a normal part from either the Creature Editor or the Space Outfitter.


 * Contrary to popular belief, the cyborg parts are not clothing from the Space Outfitter, but creature parts, possibly an attempt by Maxis for players to not access the bionic parts.


 * Occasionally, the Grox in the communication screen will say (in the voice, not the text) "Arb zub zub worb.", which are common alien names/language in pop culture.


 * You cannot trade with the Grox. The button for the trade window is always grayed out, no matter how high your relationship meter is. This is most likely due to the fact that nobody would ever want to trade with them, and they would never want to trade with you, due to their extreme hostility. (However, they can still trade equipment taken from defeated empires, yet they do not, perhaps because they use all the equipment to a functional use and don't have anything left over to trade, or they do not take the equipment at all because they already have superior technology greater than any other empire's, and they do not care to possess inferior technology). This could also be because the Grox have all sorts of amazing, powerful technology that they could trade, but they do not trust this technology in the hands of other "inferior" races, possibly because of the fact that if other empires gained access to their unique technology, they could easily find out all the secrets to their military technology that gives them such might and use it against them. Then those empires could share the technology with the whole galaxy. The Grox would then be matched in strength by every empire in the galaxy, and because everyone hates them and would not hesitate to blow them to smithereens given the chance, basically, they'd be stuffed. In the Stones of Force, Warrior empires mention that "Once the technology gap is narrowed, we will prove more than a match for them."(The Grox).
 * The Grox offer high payment for their missions. For example, a regular empire would offer only 75,000 Sporebucks for an eradication mission. The Grox would offer 150,000 Sporebucks. They may offer that much because rarely anyone, if no one, helps them, so they would pay a high price for anyone to helps them.


 * If the Soothing Song ability is used on the Grox, all empires in a close distance will wage a war on your empire, because nearby empires will hate you for dealing with the Grox near their territory, and they would also hate you for making peace with the Grox, even for a limited time, instead of opposing them like every other empire agrees they should.


 * Some state that the Grox become tougher when Patch 3 is installed, and this has sparked rage in the spore community because many players "have had enough of the Grox.".


 * The number of the planets the Grox control is 2400. Backwards, this number is 0042 (42). This could possibly mean that the Grox are the antithesis to Life, the Universe, and Everything.


 * Allying with the Grox will give you a -200 in your relationship with all other empires. There will be lots of incoming war messages.


 * There is a Maxis-made early creature named "Knot The Grawx". It sounds a lot like "Not The Grox" and it looks a lot like a penguin.


 * The name "Grox" was used as a name for a concept creature on SporeWiki as early as in 2006. This is almost certainly a coincidence. Unfortunately, this famous concept creature was deleted.


 * The Grox is also name of cow-like reptile in the board game Warhammer 40000 background.


 * The equivalent of the Grox in Spore Creatures DS is Gar' skuther, despite differences such as Gar' skuther being a singular entity of an unknown species, as opposed the Grox being an empire. Gar' skuther also has cyborg parts, but these parts are in fact normally usable without cheating.


 * If you ally with The Grox and then take an archetype-changing mission from another empire, The Grox will now also have an archetype-changing mission in their mission list. However, they automatically decline, saying only "***".


 * You are able to use Galactic Code-breaking weapons against most of the Grox planets, without this damaging your relationship with other empires. This is due to the Grox being the only space faring race in a huge area.


 * If you manage to get past the outer Grox planets and towards the Galactic Core (probably by using cheats, or by defeating them systematically) it's a good idea to colonize some planets to keep you supplied with weapons and to use as recharge and repair stations.


 * The Grox seem to thrive in the radiation produced by the core, because their colonies have more buildings as you get nearer to the core. On the edges of the Grox Empire, there would be only one colony per planet with only 24 spice per colony per hour. Closer to the center, each planet has 2 colonies generating 72 spice per colony per hour. The colonies closest to the center have the most buildings, with two colonies per planet and 132 spice per colony per hour. Colonies that are surrounded by water have only one turret. Those planets are scattered throughout their empire. Their dependence on radiation may add to their infamous reputation. It may also explain the "toxicity".


 * If you have set up some colonies in the Grox empire while fighting them or after allying, there's a chance of other nearby planet becoming space faring. They are usually T1 planets, so it's a good idea to improve their planets to T3 and use the Monolith to speed up their development, after which you should ally with them. These empires can be useful as trading partners and as repair and recharge stations, and if you're fighting the Grox they can be good backup and war partners, but these empires empires also have a good chance of being destroyed by the territorial Grox. If you're allied with the Grox, the Grox will sometimes ask for help when destroying these empires (other normal allied empires ALWAYS ask for help, but the Grox do so very rarely, because with their advanced war technology they nearly never need any help, plus the Grox have a huge ego, they're very self centered and regard themselves as wholly superior and think of everyone else as insignificant dirt, so asking for help too often would compromise their vision of their complete independence, and how they regard others as weak and that others cannot do anything right.), and if you don't help it'll decrease your relationship level with them. The empires in the Grox's territory will get destroyed early if you don't help them, and helping them involves fighting the Grox away, with which comes this: One, stopping a Grox invasion is hardly possible, if you don't have the right weapons and ammo you'll be dead before you can take down just a couple of ships, and two, fighting them involves making instant war, then you're doomed. Also, the newly formed empires will probably get destroyed eventually, even if you try to help.


 * The Grox Grumbler bears a striking resemblance to a vehicle on the inside cover of the SPORE disc box.


 * Sometimes an empire will reference the Grox in it's dialogue. When Ecologist or Shaman empires contact you from outside a solar system, they will sometimes say "As long as you are not machine life, we welcome you.", referencing the Grox. Additionally, when a Warrior empire is telling you about their philosophy, they will say that "There is only one empire that we cannot defeat, but you are not them.(The Grox)". Trader empires may also refer to "telling the Grox on you." when you decline a mission.


 * Sometimes the Grox can be heard screaming at you in the background with weak radio signals when you enter the Galactic Core.


 * During your first few missions, you will have to visit a new planet. On this planet a few drones will attack you and say "Grox999",which is the empire's codename for an emergency self defence procedure for a Grox attack. It is noted that the volume of the Grox's speech sometimes will go into a frequency change, and during which the Grox will make a sound that sounds like "nineninenine Grob".(Grox999) also 999 turned upside down is the Mark of The Beast (Satan's Number). This hex code is also the only piece of in-game dialogue that is in the language the player has selected, besides that of Steve.


 * It will be possible to come into physical contact with the Grox in Spore Galactic Adventures. They will beam down with you in adventures if they are riding in one the player's allied ships.


 * Their home planet changes from game to game.


 * In the Dr. Seuss book, "Oh, Say Can Your Say?" There is an animal called a Grox.


 * The Grox's cybernetic implants are asymmetrical, and they appeared in the final game before asymmetry was released to the public.


 * In the Shera: Princess of Power series there is an episode with a troll named Grox


 * If you accept an Adventure from the Grox, during the pre-beam down crew/captain selection panel, your captain will be illuminated by a red glow, exactly like the one on the Grox communication screen.


 * It is possible that there is a reference to the Grox in the game Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. An AI of The Boss, a war hero, sang, as do the Grox. As The Boss in this game is an AI, they share similiar traits, being electronic, can sing, etc.
 * The grox are a unique archetype called " Groxologist" the unique ability is unknown.