Creature Stage



After a player's creature grows from the Cell stage, they leave the sea and enter Creature stage, the first 3D stage of the game. At the start of the Creature stage, players evolve their creature from an enlarged version of the player's final cell up to an intelligent species. There are many possible combinations of parts to create near-infinite varieties of creatures. The different creature parts give the creature different abilities. In addition to these abilities you creature has one consequence ability gained by it's behavior in the cell stage.

During this stage the aim is to gain DNA to increase the size of your brain, with goal of evolving your creature to sapience. The main ways of earning DNA is either by befriending other creatures or by hunting them; your creature's consequence abilities for future stages depends on which you concentrate on, or if you choose a balance between them.

Each time you increase the size of your brain you gain one space in your pack, which you can add befriended creatures to. You can gain a maximum of three spaces to add creatures to. The creatures in your pack can help you befriend or attack other creatures.

Creature Parts
Before beginning this stage, the player has a chance to edit their cell into a proper creature, albeit with cell parts. The player can also optionally add legs or create a slug. The parts you choose for your creature will decide which base parts you unlock. Similarly, the base parts you use the most will increase your chances of unlocking an upgraded version of that part. If you're going for a particular look, you'll need to choose carefully. See each Parts section below for tables listing all the different parts and their DNA cost. More general information on limbs, eyes for sight, hands, weapons and accessory is given at their respective pages.

(Amphibious creatures or other such combinations are not possible, nor are subterranean or arboreal creatures possible. There are no underwater portions of the game, except for Cell stage).

The abilities of the creature depends on the parts added in the Creature Editor. There are 4 combat abilities, 4 social abilities and 5 movement abilities.

Types of attacks are:
 * Bite. Damages target through a bite.
 * Charge. Usable only from range. Stuns target, and deals slight damage.
 * Strike. Heavily damages all nearby enemies.
 * Spit. Usable at range and in melee. Does damage over time to target.

Social abilities: Also creatures can gain ability to Jump, Sprint, Sneak or even Fly but for a limited time only.
 * Sing. Impresses target through a song.
 * Dance. Makes your creature dance and flip, impressing others.
 * Charm. Accessories charm other creatures making them impressed.
 * Pose. Makes your creature pose impressively making others like you.

They can also use a Mating Call.

Different body parts are found in bone piles scattered around the world. They can also be gained by being friendly towards or killing Alphas of different creature types.

Parts Available in the Early Creature Creator
Parts in the Early Creature Creator are the same parts that were available in the Cell stage. When constructing a creature in the Creature stage these parts are only available at the very beginning of the stage; if you have evolved your creature from the Cell stage then only the parts that you unlocked in the Cell stage are available. The abilities the parts give in the Creature stage are somewhat related to their function in the Cell stage.

Mouths


 * Filter Mouth - Herbivore. 15 DNA Points. Mating Call. Bite Level 1. Sing level 1. Eats Fruit.


 * Jaw - Carnivore. 15 DNA Points. Mating Call. Bite Level 1. Sing Level 1. Eats other creatures.


 * Proboscis - Omnivore. 25 DNA Points. Mating Call. Bite Level 1. Sing Level 1. Eats fruit and other creatures.

Movement


 * Cilia - 15 DNA Points. Lets you to jump. Jumping allows access into hard to reach areas.


 * Flagella - 15 DNA Points. Lets you sneak. You can sneak up on creatures or hide from attackers.


 * Jet - 25 DNA Points. Lets you sprint. Sprinting increases your speed greatly for a short time.

Eyes


 * Beady Eye - Lets you see what is going on. 5 DNA Points.


 * Stalk Eye - Lets you see what is going on. 5 DNA Points.


 * Button Eye - Lets you see what is going on. 5 DNA Points.

Weapons


 * Spike - 10 DNA Points. Charge level 1. Charge attacks a single target from a distance. You run up and stun them on impact.


 * Poison - 15 DNA Points. Lets you spit at another creature from long range.


 * Electric - 25 DNA Points. Charms creatures.

Legs


 * Brawnysaurus - Speed Level 1. 50 DNA Points.


 * Phatella - Speed Level 1. 50 DNA Points.


 * Thundercalf - Speed Level 1. 50 DNA Points.

Limbs

 * Arms & Legs: The only real difference between the arms and legs are how they look. Each arm originally comes with a basic hand, while each leg comes with a basic foot. Neither adds any attributes, and can be replaced as the game goes on. Each arm and leg segment has a complexity of 1.5 and a cost of 15 DNA. Thus any arm or leg with 2 segments has a complexity of 3 and DNA cost of 30; a limb with 3 segments will have a complexity of 4.5 and DNA cost of 45. The default graspers and feet have 0 complexity and cost 20. Note that you can only get the Exoskeletal Limbs by updating Spore.

Eyes & Senses
You can cover your creation with ears, antennae, eyeballs, pig snouts, and so on. The items that are placed in pairs are automatically arranged symmetrically. In fact, you can make a single pig nose split in half so that one nostril is on one side of your creature and the other nostril is on the other side. Just as with all the other items, you can adjust the angle and size of every eye, ear, nose, and mouth you place.

Weapons
The first column is available in the free creature creator demo.



Mouth
(Tip:the consequence you get in the cell stage is what type of mouthes you get in creature stage for instance if your a carnivore you get carnivore mouthes.)

Gaining DNA
Creatures can deal with other species by befriending them or exterminating them. Some species are naturally hostile and cannot be befriended without the herbivore cell consequence ability Siren Song. Once a certain number of particular species are befriended, or killed your creature gains DNA. If you hunted those creatures they will become extinct and no longer appear in your game, if you befriended the creatures then if your brain is large enough you may recruit them for your pack. Either way you may rest at the creatures nest to restore health.

At some stage the player's species will migrate to another part of the continent; reuniting with them is another way to gain DNA points.

After gaining a certain amount of DNA your creature's brain will increase in size. After the first increase in size you can use social skills to persuade other creatures to join your pack. The maximum amount of creatures you can have in your pack increases by 1 each time your brain increases, near the end of the stage you can have 4 creatures in your pack (including yourself). After a creatures brain becomes big enough and they become sentient, the player can enter the Tribal stage.

Also, as your creature's brain gets bigger, their maximum health level will increase, allowing them to survive fights against tougher creatures. They also appear to grow larger.

Consequence Abilities
The following table lists the consequence abilities given by the different types of victory in the Creature stage.

Creature Stage Achievements
Hidden achievements


 * Cerberus - Evolve a creature with three heads.


 * General Custer - Lead 30 posse members to their deaths.


 * Slugger - Finish Creature stage without ever evolving legs.

Strategies for Hard Difficulty

 * Removing joints from limbs so that they become double-jointed saves a lot of DNA.


 * 5 DNA points can be saved by keeping an eye from the Cell stage and not trading in for an eye from this stage. All eyes have equal functionality.


 * The cell's omnivore consequence ability is the best ability for this stage, as it helps with both attempts to charm or hunt creatures.


 * When in the editor, try to remember when you can't afford a more advanced part to replace another, that you'll gain DNA points by selling the older part.


 * When your creature is hungry and you can't find food, return to the nest and mate. Your offspring's hunger bar will be completely full.


 * When meteors fall from the sky, don't run around in circles -- watch for the shadows and avoid them.


 * Swimming too far out into the ocean results in an instant death. Look for when the water becomes darker to tell if you can or can't swim there.


 * If your creature has hands, they can pick food from tall trees, or pick up items and throw them. Sticks do nothing but annoy the creature you throw them at (even your own species), while shells and rocks will stun them for a little while. You can save some throwing items by placing them at your nest. If the tree happens to be too tall, then pick up a stick and throw it at the fruit.


 * The farther into the Creature stage you go, the more you'll notice that when trying to socialize with another creature, they'll call their other members to socialize with them. An easy way to stop this is to just walk near the creature you want to socialize. Notice how they walk away if you get too close. Use this to "push" them away from their nest to socialize with them more easily.


 * A good way to enter a fight is to use Spit at your target, then wait for them to come within reasonable distance, then hit them with a Charge and follow up with a Strike and a Bite. You're less likely to miss the Charge because your target it coming straight at you. If the animal has wings, the charge can miss if they jump and fly. Spit never misses.


 * If your target is running away, use your spit ability to provoke them to attack. Also, spitting at a creature that is trying to fly away will temporarily disable its ability to fly(for about 5-10 seconds or so).
 * When using spit, remember that it helps to be on the same terrain level as your target.


 * When fleeing from a battle, switch to "Social" stance, pause the game, and double click on your members. When you un-pause the game, your creature will beckon its pack members to follow it, and they will run away from the fight.


 * Not as powerful as Rogues but more powerful than the average creature are Alphas. They have 25% extra health compared to normal creature and may attack harder as well. Alphas of your own species can only be found at new nests after migration or other nests that aren't your home.


 * Socialize and hunt in turns of one generation. Put lots of socializing parts on your creature and convince a few powerful allies to follow you. Rogue creatures would be ideal for this, but getting them into your pack is fairly difficult. Once they are in your pack they can be used for some serious warfare. Now you need to get ready for hunting by evolving from a singer into a killer. Once again optimize your creature for killing. Your pack will still follow you after you hatch.With enough DNA, you can evolve a creature level 5 in both killer and social.


 * When you reach the Tribal stage, your creatures will sometimes use their natural abilities to fight, so attach the strongest fighting abilities you can when you're about to evolve, and get rid of social abilities -- they'll no longer have a use here.


 * Any animals of another species a player has in his/her Pack at the time they evolve to the Tribal stage will automatically start out as domesticated animals. This might save a small amount of time at the start as the player doesn't need to domesticate animals if he takes them from the Creature stage.


 * A good way to get extra DNA points (usually 25) and boost your level is to eat eggs from the nests of other creatures. The funny thing is you can eat the eggs of your allies and they don't seem to mind. However, you don't always get a reward from these tantalizing treats.


 * Lots of animals will hate your species for no reasons.


 * When your species evolves into tribe, it will not matter much what mouth you have, fruits are abundant and easy to gather, meat needs to be hunted, eggs (from pets) are for both and if a herbivore fishes at a fishing spot they will collect seaweed instead.


 * When a creature comes charging at you, spit at it and it will slow down, and the charge will not hurt you.


 * To kill a creature stronger than you, but close to your home nest, spit at it, sprint to your nest and the other members of your species will help you quickly kill it.


 * Near the end of the stage, remove the eyes outright. If you can have two or three pack members, your range of vision isn't actually decreased by that much, and the extra DNA can mean the difference between low-level parts and high-level parts in a pinch.  In fact, just before you evolve to Tribe stage, about the only noticeable difference is the lack of color.

Trivia

 * Your creature is apparently always female, as it will always be the one laying eggs. However, when you advance into the Tribal stage, your creature's voice will become gruff, and will have a male name. Of course, it could be that the creatures in Spore have no concept of gender. Creatures may also be hermaphrodites.  No gender,but need another to breed,as seen in the Civilization stage, where weddings can be seen.
 * There are Spice Geysers here, but you can only use them to give you a large boost into the air.
 * Also Volcanos are in random places. If you can climb to the top, they give you a boost in the air.

Events
Sometimes in Creature stage, one of several events may occur. When this happens, a more intense version of the battle music will play, and nearby creatures will flee in terror.


 * Epic Creature - An Epic creature will target the area that the player is in, and wreak havoc. It is strongly recommended to run away (unless you are attempting to kill one), as Epic creatures can/will kill the player's creature in one blow. However, killing an epic will earn you the Epic Killer achievement. Epics are placed randomly around the world, and are usually guarding many large bone piles, which hold valuable parts.


 * Meteor Shower - There will be a flash on the screen, and a large meteor will fall to the ground, and when it crashes it will break into pieces, which rain down on the planet. Other creatures will run around in terror. This appears to have no visible effect on the planet, but if a meteorite hits your creature, you will be stunned for a while.


 * UFO - A UFO will appear in the sky. It may be one of your UFOs, a Maxis UFO, UFOs made by other players, or even a Grox spaceship. Nevertheless, it will fly around, and may abduct other creatures or plants. Be careful, as it may try to abduct one of your pack members. The creature you are controlling wont be abducted, though.


 * Crashes - A crashed ship will somtimes be seen imbedded in the ground. If it is a Grox ship, there will be a poisonous looking purple cloud, though this has no effect on the player.


 * Weather - Most of the time, weather is faily constant but very occasionally storms appear with rain, thunder and lightning.


 * Crop Circles - Sometimes there are crop circles near the third home nest.


 * Cocoons - Strange cocoons hatch into creatures.


 * The Sea Monster - If your creature swims too far from the shore the creature gets eaten by a sea monster.


 * Natural Landmarks - Interesting landforms and Hyper Sized bones.


 * Habitats - There is a wide range of habitats in Spore with different flora and fauna, forests and only a few nests while shorelines may have many.


 * Sleeping creatures - Sometimes certain creatures sleep, and if woken, angrily snap at the players creature.