User:Technobliterator/Workplace/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 supposedly the most evil and hostile race in the galaxy. They are the most notable for their 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 nearly 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. The Grox are also unique in that that they do not belong to any of these archetypes, and no other empires can follow their philosophy in-game.

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 hex phrase "9994", the only piece of in-game dialogue that is similar the language the player had selected, besides that of Steve. "9994" could reference the ending decimal for the atomic mass of oxygen (15.9994g/mol), or 9994 Grotius, an asteroid in the Sol system. 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 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.

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: 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.
 * 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.

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.

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

The Grox Anthem 425px

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