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 own (assumingly 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 over the occurrence, 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.

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 himself in the very large void of space, however 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 himself using diplomatic tools. (see below)
 * Worship – Where the player has impressed them enough that they worship him.
 * Rejection – They’ll attack the player by firing upon his 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 worship him, 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 busy firing at him, 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, he will be allowed to zoom out and view the solar system. Once he has developed the interstellar drive, he can zoom out further and view the sector of the galaxy he is currently in or even the entire galaxy.

Basic tools
Tools which are used for most common tasks.

Colony beam
Creates a colony at the targeted surface. The colony is semi creature specific, in that it supplies them with 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)

This tool is not so much a beam as the visual effect for it is a glowing circle which marks where the colony shall appear. The colony pops into existence in a flash of light, however this may change as the game development progresses

Availability: Most likely available out of the box.

Scanner
Scans the targeted object (Only creatures have been targeted in demonstrations so far) and adds its data to the UFO's database, Sporepedia. Once this has been done, the player is able to create the creatures he has scanned himself.

Availability: Most likely available out of the box.

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

Availability: Most likely available out of the box.

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".

Although it is not confirmed exactly how, the tractor beam can also be used for cross-breeding.

Availability: Most likely available out of the box.

Communications Screen
The "Communications Screen" is used to receive (and possibly send) general correspondence between colonies and races.

Availability: Most likely available out of the box.

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: Most likely available out of the box.

Fireworks launcher
Fires fireworks to impress and entertain civilizations.

Availability: Most likely available out of the box.

Monolith
Creates a monolith on a planet which accelerates the technological advancement of the race that discovers it.

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.

Availability: Unknown.

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, of course.

Availability: Most likely available much later in the game through research or an artifact.

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

Comet Tractor Beam
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: Unknown. Probably available through research or an artifact.

Genesis device
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.

Availability: Most likely available much later in the game through research or an artifact.

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

Availability: Unknown. Probably available through research or an artifact.

Other abilities
When the UFO is advanced enough, it can use a black hole to travel to other places. It is unknown where the black hole leads to.

Availability: Most likely available much later in the game through research or an artifact.