Grox

"Being useful to the Grox is good for your survival."

- The Grox

The Grox are a sentient species of cyborg aliens that are supposedly the most evil and hostile race in the galaxy. They are feared by every alien with a philosophy and an archetype. The Grox control a vast empire with thousands of star systems and inhabit anywhere near the Galactic Core.

Nature
"The Grox are the ultimate evil in the galaxy. They are machines that exist entirely outside of nature."

- Stones of Life

Feared and hated by every empire in the galaxy, the Grox as a species are extremely delicate and weak and have only survived due to their incredible intelligence and technological advancement over other species. As they developed among incredibly hostile species, they themselves grew to believe that the only way to survive in the universe was through aggression and expansion. They are an ancient race, having been spacefaring for eons while nearly all other races weren't even sapient yet. Although their minimal senses and strength have been enhanced by cybernetic implants, they're still among the most feeble sapient lifeforms in the Galaxy, but make up for it with incredible military might, and the ability to prosper on barren planets.

Unlike most land creatures, Grox are intolerant of conditions survivable to other life forms. As such, they can only survive on T0 planets. If a planet's terrascore is raised, the planet cannot be inhabited by Grox unless anti-terraformed. It may be true that, since every religious artifact mentions that the Grox must be opposed, they are of another archetype; it would appear that they are an archetype unto themselves. For some reason they wish to see it that nobody gets to the Galactic Core, possibly to keep the Staff of Life hidden, so it cannot be used against them. Some people think that The Grox are actually a later version of the human race, as humans are no longer on Earth, which is T1 in the game. This could be possible due to humans' greater reliance on technology. The Grox' spaceships can also be seen in the Creature Stage, occasionally abducting creatures, so the Grox may have been the first sentient beings.

Culture
"The Grox are machines with absolutely no sense of humor! They destroy entire races and never offer an explanation of what it is that ticks them off!"

- Blocks of Chance

The implants of the Grox serve an important religious, as well as functional, purpose. The implants not only improve their abilities for functional reasons, but also distance the Grox from others. The implants' purpose may also be to remind them of their own physical weakness, which would explain why the Grox consider other empires unfit to roam the universe, due to the belief that they don't deserve their gifts. The Grox may attempt to mimic the average life form's behavior to manipulate them, but they are bad at portraying a 'normal' personality without drawing attention to their cyborg anatomy and their obsessive hatred for every other life form. They do, however, understand the Spice trade and Sporebucks, the common Galactic Currency.

Toxicity
The Grox are 'toxic', as exposure to conditions survivable to other life forms causes them to disintegrate. If the player abducts a Grox citizen, they are incinerated because they are 'too toxic for your Cargo Hold.' This 'toxicity' is shrouded in mystery, but it does indeed tie in to how the Grox Empire is viewed by other civilizations, as an abomination of incomprehensible size that must nevertheless be feared.

Aggression
The Grox are approximately two times as distrusting as a Warrior Empire (-15 or -30 compared to the Grox's -70). They also have a resistance to relationship improving devices, such as the Super Happy Ray. The Grox are extremely hard to defeat or ally due to their size and aggression. They will attack systems tens of thousands of parsecs away in their war on all fully organic life, and once attacked the receiving planet of the Grox raid always seems to be too shell-shocked to communicate with the player's ship.

In Other Culture
Almost all philosophies hate the Grox. Scientists and Diplomats don't actively hate them, as Scientists are somewhat admiring and are curious about them (possibly because of their technological achievement?), while Diplomats regard them as a powerful potential ally. Bards think of them as "no fun at all" and say they are "not explaining what ticks them off." Warriors and Knights view them as the ultimate challenge and rivals, Traders regard them as enemies of universal happiness, Zealots hate them for religious reasons, and Shamans and Ecologists say they are unable to reach harmony due to their murders and hatred of nature. They are also disliked due to their ownership of the contested Galactic Core, desired by all except possibly Bards ("We never wanted to go there anyway").

Appearance
The Grox, being cybernetic creatures, most notably exhibit cybernetic implants that replace the the right eye, right arm, right leg, and part of the abdomen. They are the most notable for their hostility, but are also notable for their asymmetric, weak, impish appearance. They are short, orange in colour, and their non-cybernetic parts are weak creature parts.

Biology
They have an astonishing number of colonies surrounding the Galactic Core, serving as an obstacle to the player. They are extremely aggressive and are only able to survive on otherwise uninhabitable T0 planets. Raising a planet's T-Score will make it impossible for the Grox to inhabit it and will destroy any existing Grox colonies on said planet. It is extremely hard for any empire to defeat the Grox, since their amazingly vast empire spans 2400 systems with more than 5000 planets.

Abilities

 * Too toxic for cargo hold. (Cannot carry Grox in your spaceship)
 * The Grox, when launching a land-based assault, often use genetically bred soldiers, (Dronox and Insectrox) to attack because the Grox can only survive on T0 planets.

Language


The Grox voice is a glitchy, beeping, fluctuating, computerized voice with many strange words, and is also composed of what pitch or tone is used, though their anthem is quite different from this. It consists of static, robotic keening and a deep, happy voice singing. In a rare glitch you are able to trade with the Grox. During this time, they have somewhat different sounds, in which their voice is high and calm with some sudden moments of glitchy anger. At some point they are even heard laughing.

When communicating with them, it is common to hear them say the name of a common animal in speech "999Horse", the only piece of in-game dialogue that is similar the language the player had selected, besides that of Steve. They often tend to repeat themselves, saying the same phrase several times in one animation, such as "Rforbert" Followed by "Forbert!" then glitchy anger and then "Nor bab zepru!" which is similar to another piece of in-game dialouge, "Nor bab zepruva!" (said over many Grox animations, usually when you're at war). Occasionally, they will literally scream in rage at the player, yelling "FHAEEEEEEEEEE". If the Grox are allied, if you send their ship to attack something, you might hear the pilot say "Grobgrobgrob2". If you do an AOE repair for your fleet, you might hear the Grox pilot make some robotic noises, sounding like "*SHVEEGLE-SCREEP*".

Vehicles
Grox have powerful but slow vehicles, with exception of the Grox spaceship.
 * Grox Grumbler - Land vehicle
 * Oceanic Grox - Sea vehicle
 * Groxoplane - Air vehicle
 * Grox (spaceship) - Spaceship

Buildings

 * City Hall: Grox Platz
 * Factory: Grox Stacks
 * Entertainment: Grox-o-Plexx
 * House: Grox Sweet Grox
 * Turret: 1600 HP

Tactics
Although the Spore manual says "They don't understand relationships", you may still deal with Grox.

Alliance tactics


"The Grox are a machine race that have blockaded the center of the galaxy. They are extremely dangerous. We have not managed to establish a working relationship with them."

- Scrolls of Order Vol.9

If you wish to ally with the Grox, it is highly recommended that you are friendly in the tribal stage (green card gives a +10 reputation) and that you do not have any allied ships with you (they will attack the Grox ships, which will lose -70 points in your relationship). Ideal archetype is Zealot, because they can have illegal weapons (i.e. weapons that break Galactic Code) and can be friendly in tribal stage, unlike Scientists, who have the other illegal weapons. However, to be a Grox-allied Zealot is somewhat illogical, because they hate the Grox more than any other archetype. It is also highly recommended that you have a 200+ relationship with them.

You will need:
 * Something to break the Galactic Code (the Grox like it): 4 Planet Busters, or Fanatical Frenzy/Gravitation Wave.
 * Friendly Tools: The Happy Ray (the Super Happy Ray is highly recommended), or Fireworks
 * Gifts: 400,000 Sporebucks.
 * An embassy (note that the Grox will attack it, but it may give a reputation boost)
 * Humongous amounts of Repair and Recharge packs (it's much cheaper than using Grox resources - they charge a lot)

To ally with the Grox, fly over to them where they are located near the Galactic Core after you have disbanded your allied fleet and turned off Auto Blaster, or you are in a galaxy of trouble.
 * Give them the 400,000 Sporebucks for the maximum +10 reputation.
 * Use the Super Happy Ray/Fireworks until you get the maximum +30 reputation for using friendly tools. The Recharge packs will be useful here, along with Repair packs due to how much energy Super Happy Ray uses,
 * Do missions for them until you get the maximum +50 reputation. You will also get a +5 for the "You agreed to help Us". The Repair packs will be useful here.
 * Try the embassy. Keep trying if it doesn't work. If it does, that's +10 reputation when it's done.
 * Blow up 4 planets near the Grox, or use Fanatical Frenzy/Gravitation Wave as well. The goal is to get the maximum +50 reputation for breaking the Galactic Code.
 * Start a trade route.
 * Ally them.

It helps to have some colonies nearby where you can occasionally repair/recharge and get some tools.

Note that your reputation will be decreased by 200 with other empires when you are allied with Grox. This means that every empire you have contacted, who did not have at least a +150 reputation with you before then, will immediately declare war on you. You can pay money to end the war, which will erase everything about your reputation - including the -200 from allying with Grox. Empires you have not contacted will instantaneously declare war on you when you contact them. The war transmissions will cover the place. However, the empires won't attack you until you answer their war transmissions. If you dislike the war transmissions, save the game and exit. Come back and they won't be there. The Grox ship that you are sent will have 3,600 health.

Whatever you do, don't upset the Grox, whether you're allied or not...

War tactics
Many players, having most of the badges and achievements, turned their attention to possibly the greatest challenge the game presents - destroying the Grox Empire. However, a problem quickly presented itself: there are a few star systems that, because of the reduced travel radius when approaching the Galactic Core, are too far away from any other star to be reached. This means that without a mod or the 1.04 patch, or meeting Steve first, the Grox cannot be completely defeated. You can use a bungee jumping glitch. On your way to a planet, click on another planet, and you'll probably be able to get there.

Maxis, under pressure from the community to fix the issue, has released a such a mod that will address the problem of unreachable star systems near the core. This mod is the official Expanded Travel Radius mod.

Players will have to manually place the mod into their data folders, but this does allow players to reach every Grox system.

Even if you have the patch, you must collect the Staff of Life before you get increased move radius.

If you do not have the patch and will not be using it, you can use a different method. Other empires will not be affected by the effects of the core - you can make planets and use Monoliths on them until they are space empires, and have them attack the unreachable Grox planets after paying the Sporebucks. Sometimes there are tribal planets near the core already. Although you can defeat the Grox this way, it is highly recommended that you just download the patch. You will save time and Sporebucks, and you can actually do it yourself.

Before you start, you might want to protect your planets at home with an Uber Turret, due to the fact that Grox don't take over colonies on T1 and above planets, they completely destroy them. Other things (like a Bio Protector) are optional but a good idea.

Although the Grox have 2400 systems (a total of about 5000 planets) at the start, they can be defeated planet by planet. How to do it:
 * Terraforming: Simple, but slow and costs some money or uses energy. Fly around the planet, avoiding Grox spaceships and turrets while you change the T-score to at least level 1. The Grox colonies will be destroyed because they can only live on T0 planets. You can also drop terraforming machines and leave the planet while it does the work.
 * Bombs: Both types are much faster than terraforming tools. Anti-Matter Bombs (very fast, but expensive) or Mega Bombs (almost as fast and no extra cost). Also, dropping volcanoes on their colonies works, and it is cheaper than Anti-Matter Bombs. With the Anti-Matter Bombs, you should be able to destroy a colony with just one shot at the city hall. Mega Bombs may need to be used a few times per colony. The best method is to zoom down low as possible and drop the Mega Bomb right on the city hall. Or you can fly over the colony, high enough to avoid taking any turret fire, and drop bombs as you go by. This is a slower way, but you will receive less damage. With either method you will need to have many energy packs and repair packs handy. Be sure to stock up on those before going into Grox territory.
 * Planet Busters: These "Weapons of Mass Destruction" are extremely fast at destroying Grox planets, but they come with a huge price tag and their use breaks the Galactic Code, as well as the planet! If there are any other empires nearby, you will lose reputation points with them.
 * If the player wants to defeat the grox without using war, you can ally them and then trade with them. This is time consuming but you will get both "Dancing with the Devil" and the "Badge out of heck" badges. You will never get attacked by grox when you do this and so do not have to place many colonies by the core.

If you want to cheat, become a Zealot and use the super-power Fanatical Frenzy. You will get their planets. For an instant recharge, use the cheat setConsequenceTrait (space_zealot), or save and exit, then reload the save. Beware, because you will get the Joker Badge, thus preventing future achievements from being unlocked. You may also do this by saving and exiting after use, but it may take a while.

A fun way to take out the Grox is to ally with them, place a few colonies near the Galactic Core, and then start attacking their systems.

Remember that spaceships and turrets of the Grox empire are far more powerful than average ones, even more powerful than the player's turrets. Thankfully, the Grox aren't very enthusiastic colonists and do not always build many buildings or have the max number of turrets. However, they have full turret and building slots for their colonies near the core. As you go farther out, the building and turret number decreases. Good archetypes for fighting them are Zealots- who can take over colonies instantly, Scientists- who can destroy colonies in one go, Knights- who can summon an allied vessel instantaneously, Diplomats- who can freeze all Grox ships and buildings and Shamans- who can get home instantly in the event of attacks or other emergencies. You should destroy Grox colonies starting near the Galactic Core and work outwards, because they will usually attack your colonies nearest to the core and you will have a only a short distance to travel to defend them.

Galactic Adventures
Almost all Grox in the adventures made by players are replicas. There are many adventures with good Grox rebels fighting the evil Grox. There is one Maxis-made adventure (Infestation) where the Grox send an infection pod to infect a planet, however, the Grox don't actually appear (this is because they die on any planet that is not T0). However, they make use of enslaved species for their terrestrial assaults, the Dronox and the Insectrox - both of which are presumably comfortable on any planet, T0 or not. There are some players that have used mods or hacks to create adventures with the real grox. But they are rarely played as they require the force load hack or Betterspore mod to use.

If you ally with the Grox and take one of them to an adventure, it will look like a common Grox citizen.Grox, although powerful in space stage, are very weak in adventures, so players tend not to use them.

Gallery
PNG images:

Videos:

How to Ally with the Grox ssRJJ4KM4Tg&fmt=18

After Allying with the Grox http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MULF8Sm3mho

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Grox being played in Tribal stage EaBrtrg2sCU&fmt=18

How to destroy the Grox hhTWiPkxSZc&fmt=18

The Grox destroyed TkEUMbaZ58g&fmt=18

Glitch: Trading with the Grox ohE4VjwrjTo&fmt=18

Rare Grox Noises qLRF0CEgy3U&fmt=18

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