Grox

"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 Volume 8

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

- The Grox

The Grox are a sentient species of cyborg aliens that are the most evil and hostile race in the galaxy. They are the most notable for their evil and hostility, but are also notable for their asymmetric, weak, impish appearance. They have an astonishing number of colonies surrounding the galactic core, serving as an obstacle to the player. They are drastically aggressive and only seem to be able to live 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. The followers of Spode believe that the Grox are the greatest evil, even more so than regular persons who reject the will of Spode, and only The False God That Will Come is hated as much as them. And since everyone hates the Grox, most of the scriptures at some point mentions them as the most unearthly beings in the galaxy. All of the creatures in the Spore Galaxy follow particular archetypes, which cause them to oppose the Grox.

Grox Vehicles
Grox have powerful but slow vehicles, with exception to the Grox spaceship.


 * Grox Grumbler - Land vehicle
 * Oceanic Grox - Sea vehicle
 * Groxoplane - Air vehicle
 * Grox (spaceship) - Spaceship

Grox Buildings
City Hall: Grox Platz

Factory: Grox Stacks

Entertainment: Grox-o-Plexx

House: Grox Sweet Grox

Turret: 1600 HP

Abilities

 * Too toxic for cargo hold.
 * The Grox, when exterminating a species, will take the remaining lifeforms, and use them as soldiers. This is seen as when they use the Dronox or the  Insectrox to act as soldiers so the Grox, themselves, don't have to get their hands dirty.

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.

When communicating with them, it is common to hear them say the hex phrase "9994", the only piece of in-game dialogue that is similar the language the player had selected, besides that of Steve, and is also the ending decimal for the atomic mass of Oxygen. They often tend to repeat themselves, saying the same phrase several times in one animation, such as "Nforbert" (said twice in the same animation) or "Nor bab zepruva!" (said over many Groxanimations, 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*".

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

How to ally with the Grox


"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.


 * 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 (just head towards the center of the galaxy and you will meet them long before you get there).
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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...

How to defeat the Grox
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, 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.

Player 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, because 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 a Uber Turret each, 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 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.

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.

Playing as the Grox

 * It is possible to play as the Grox using hacks. This does not let you have their empire or archetype but does let you play using the Grox creature. You can play as the Grox in the Cell, Creature, Tribal, Civilization or Space stage by saving the Grox PNG shown here, then dragging it over the creator and using the hack to allow you to save.


 * To get the Grox into your editor, download the right PNG file from this page and then follow the steps for these two following options: Enter the Creature editor and press Alt and Enter (Command-Enter if you're using a Mac) at the same time. The game will now no longer be in fullscreen mode. Now all you have to do is open up the folder where the PNG is stored and then drag the PNG directly into the editor. The Grox should now be loaded and editable. Another way to edit The Grox: Drag the PNG into the Sporepedia (The following steps can be done AFTER you've already downloaded the PNG if you haven't). Then, enter the Creature Editor, go to the Sporepedia by clicking the Sporepedia button, then go to the 'Everything' sub-folder. Click on the search bar and enter 'Grox' or 'The Grox'. Find them and double click their image. If you just click the 'Edit' button it will come up with an error message. The error message reads "This creation uses Spore parts that are not installed.". Technically this is not true, as every copy of Spore has the cyborg parts. Players are merely forbidden to use them. Once you have double clicked on their image, the Grox will load into the editor. If you wish to save the creature using the Grox parts, you must still use a hack or mod, otherwise you must remove the unique eye and the cybernetics. Go to SporeBase.com for instructions.


 * It is also possible to play as the Grox by uploading a PNG of the Grox into the space or captain outfitter(s) and save them, you can color them however you want, but the cyborg parts wont change color, making them truly resemble a Grox.

The Grox's appearances in 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.

If you ally with the Grox and take one of them to an adventure, it will look like a common Grox citizen.

Videos
How to Ally with the Grox

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The Grox Anthem

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Grox being played in Tribal stage

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How to destroy the Grox

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The Grox destroyed

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Grox Kropot Os Grox