Badge Outta Heck

''You’ve defeated the mighty Grox. Is there life after that?''

You gain this badge by totally eradicating the Grox. This is extremely hard to do, even with cheats. The Grox control exactly 2,400 systems and thus will take a long while. The Grox possess few weaknesses and have formidable ships so you'll need some help.

NOTE: The player must download the official Mod Expanded Travel Radius if he/she wishes to get this badge! Download it here!

Players can also install patch 1.04 which allows all systems to be reached.

Grox Tactical Weaknesses

 * Terraforming a planet to T1 will remove the Grox from the planet
 * Anti-matter weaponry with shield and extreme health
 * Many of the Grox's colonies contain only one unfortified city
 * It is easy to tell when a spaceship will use a mega repair pack, they fly to a safe spot

Effective Tactics
You have three basic options when trying to defeat the Grox by force: terraforming, conventional warfare, or planet busting. In all three strategies it is recommended to have maximum-level Health and Energy (ideally with either the Prime Specimen or Speed Demon ability from Creature stage plus Power Monger from Cell stage), large numbers of Repair Mega Packs and Energy Mega Packs, and one or more (well-fortified) colony systems near or in Grox territory from which to repair and resupply. It is also highly recommended to have the Shield tool. It is wise to have acquired a large bankroll, though the amount needed depends on the strategy and tools used (Energy Packs for energy weapons and tools are relatively cheap; use-based terraforming tools and weapons are more expensive)

Lastly, you should make sure your home empire worlds can cope with problems without you, as you will be halfway across the galaxy and any calls from home will be at least a moderate inconvenience. The Return Ticket ability or a convenient Black Hole can help you defuse an emergency situation like an Eco Disaster, but for the most part your colonies should be happy, biologically stable, with no nearby enemy empires, and most importantly, well-fortified. A T3 world with 3 cities, maximum fortification and an Uber Turret can defend itself against almost all empire attacks without your help, even from the Grox, and such defenses will wipe the floor with pirates. The worlds you care about keeping, and the ones most commonly raided by the Grox, should be at least T2, fully-colonized, and fully-fortified. The Green Keeper ability earned by getting the Religious trait card in the Civ stage will reduce biodisasters, as will the Bio Protector and Bio Stabilizer colony tools.

Terraforming
Terraforming as a weapon against the Grox is similar to but opposite from using terraforming tools to reduce any other enemy empire world's T-score; the objective when terraforming Grox planets is to increase its T-score to T1 or better, at which point all Grox life and civilization on that planet is destroyed. It is not necessary to fill out the food web of the planet (unless you wish to colonize and fortify it); simply get the temperature and atmosphere levels inside the habitable range. Terraforming using the energy-based tools is simple, straightforward and the cheapest, but among the slower options. The strategy is simply to pick the appropriate energy-based terraforming tool and use it on the planet while constantly moving to avoid Grox ships and colony defenses. Use-based tools such as Ice Comet and Volcano are expensive but often useful as they can be placed on one planet of a multi-colony system while you use energy tools on another planet in that same system. If a player plans on terraforming the Grox into extinction, it is recommended to have a large stock of Energy Mega Packs as terraforming takes a lot of energy (the Staff of Life can help here, but with only 42 uses the number of planets it can terraform is insignificant compared to the vastness of their empire). However, planting an ammo terraforming tool that goes in diagonal directions will destroy it.

Conventional Warfare
Conventional warfare against the Grox requires weaponry more powerful than standard. The only weapon that can take out swarms of Grox ships in one shot is the expensive Anti-Matter Missile, though Proton Missiles and Lasers also work well though you may need to repair more often. To eliminate cities your best option is using the similarly expensive Anti-Matter Bomb, which can also destroy the enemy in a single blast, though the Mega Bomb is almost as good (most cities require only two to four hits). You'll be in for a long and grueling war, but it is one of the most fun! Also since your full empire is halfway across the galaxy, they can only stage sporadic raids on your most prized worlds (and if you set up a few colonies in Grox territory they will focus on those and not your home space). On more than half of Grox planets, they have nothing more than a city hall or two or three buildings, so it is better to save your Anti-Matter Bombs for larger colonies.

Since most of the Grox cities are unfortified with minimal buildings, first fly close to the city to draw the local defense UFOs (as well as the area patrol UFOs if they followed you down to the surface) away, then fly back low and dump a few Mega Bombs or an Anti-Matter Bomb at its city hall to destroy the city. Once the city is destroyed, all Grox UFOs will disengage and start to ascend out of the planet. Make sure not to enter orbit before the area patrol UFOs disappear from the planet's surface, or they will keep attacking you once your UFO enters orbit.

Strategic use of allies can be very helpful in conventional warfare; allies can be bribed into attacking Grox worlds, which takes some heat off of you and increases the damage done over time. The Monolith tool can be used to create ready-made allies right on the front lines; find (or make) a T3 world close to Grox territory and plant a Monolith. When that race reaches the Space stage, ally with them (a $100,000 gift plus the fact you uplifted them will be enough) and ask them to attack the Grox.

There is a glitch that can be exploited to your advantage; pausing the game whilst zooming in or out of a system halts Grox attacks.

Weapons of Mass Destruction
The final way is to seriously pack up on Planet Busters and destroy all of their planets. This is immensely expensive; Planet Busters are sold by Warrior empires for 2.5 million Sporebucks each and by your own empire for 5 million, so doing the math (at least 2400 PBs needed to destroy all Grox planets) it would require between 6 and 12 billion Sporebucks (and 2400 visits to Warrior empire planets) to rely solely on this method. However, Planet Busters are easy to use, so procuring a large number of them to supplement another strategy can be very effective, and though expensive. It may be a good idea to have the Gravitation Wave superweapon available by using the Scientist philosophy; it has a similar one-shot effect, however it does not destroy the planet meaning you or an ally can terraform and colonize it as a forward base. Additionally, using WMDs actually increases the Grox's relationship with you, as their reaction to breaking the Galactic Code is favorable unlike all other empires. However, unless you wish to ally (see Dance With The Devil), this is of little use as the Grox will continue to shoot at you regardless of your relationship score with them. Remember, if you use a Planet Buster or the Gravitation Wave within 10 parsecs of an allied empire their opinion of you will drop sharply, even though it was used against the Grox.

Another good method is to evolve as or change philosophies to Zealot, and use your Fanatical Frenzies on their multi-planet systems, as this gets rid of them quickly, plus you get the cool Grox cities!

Economic Warfare
You can also defeat the Grox by economic means. By increasing your relationship with them enough to trade, you can start trade routes with their worlds. Make sure that you turn your auto-blaster off, as destroying one of their ships may irreparably damage your relationship. Once you've established a good relationship (blue face), you can start trade routes, at the fruition of which Grox systems can be bought for relatively cheaply; as all of their planets are T0, you can purchase systems for 500,000 sporebucks, occasionally 1,000,000. This method is very slow compared to a direct assault, but your worlds will never be attacked. Keep in mind, however, that your ship itself will still be attacked by Grox unless you ally with them, no matter how strong your relationship is.

Homeworld
Taking out the Grox homeworld has the same effect as taking out one of their many colonies. They will randomly choose another planet as their new empire capital after their former homeworld is conquered, like any other empire.

The Grox homeworld is simply a T0 planet with three partially fortified cities. It is much easier to conquer using conventional warfare compared to other empire home planets with 10 or so fully fortified cities, perhaps easier still to destroy using terraforming, which can be used when on the run from Grox ships, and will destroy all three cities instantly once T1 is reached.

The Badge Itself
After you've finally defeat the Grox (destroyed every single of their cities/systems) you'll get this badge.

English US and GB: Badge outta Heck „ You’ve defeated the mighty Grox. Is there life after that? “

Polish: Odznaka z piekła rodem “ Udało ci się pokonać wszechpotężnych Groksów. Czy można dokonać czegoś więcej? „

Brazilian Portuguese: Emblema Infernal „ Você derrotou os poderosos Grox. Há vida após isso? “

French: Badge Morkitu “ Vous avez vaincu les puissants Grox. Y a-t-il une vie après ça? ”

German: gRob-Plakette “ Du hast die mächtigen Grox besiegt. Ist ein Leben danach Überhaupt möglich? “

Spanish: Medalla de los mil demonios “ Has derrotado a los poderosos grox. Se puede pedir más?”

Portuguese: Medalha do Outro Mundo “ Derrotou os poderosos Grox. Existe vida depois disso? “

Italian: Bella medaglia “ Hai sconfitto i potenti Grox. Adesso cosa farai? “

Russian: Искоренение Зла “ Могущественные Гроксы побеждены. Что же ждёт нас в будущем? “

Dutch: Helse badge “ Je hebt de machtige Grox verslagen. Is er leven na de Grox? “

Swedish, Greek, Hungarian, Norwegian, Czech, Danish, and Finnish versions are all on the video.


 * Videos of The Grox's last moments/ Unlocking the Outta Heck Badge

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