Spore: A Primer

Spore, what can I say...it's a game.

Outside of that, it is what you make it, a means of explaining one's destiny, or a simple concise meaning of life, whichever way you slice it, it is a game. The essence of the game is not in the creation of creatures, building vehicles and exploring space with comic book imagery . It goes deeper than that, it is about the person playing the game and that person's view of life. It is not where you come from, but where you are going. It is about creating destiny, creating a plan and following both while either co-existing with others as they search for their own personal meaning in life, or squash them like bugs for impeding you on yours.

There are five distinct games, which make up the metagame of Spore. The first four games each build to design the flavor of the fifth and last game, the Space phase. Each game has the same basic structure or purpose, which boils down to interaction. The Cell, Creature, Tribe, Civilization.

Each of the Phases can be viewed as a "Character Generator" like in most role playing games where skills and abilities are chosen for the character. The first four phases are where the creation of the character is played out, with the previous phase having a lasting effect on the "personality" of the character as well as providing level specific abilities.

There are three distinct "classes", Warrior, Trader and Shaman. There are other classes, which are listed below, these are a variation of those above. In each Phase, there are three "Areas". Each area is based on how one interacts in each Phase. The classes of Warrior,Trader and Shaman, each follow their own path in all phases, the Warrior, and Shaman are the extremes whereas the Trader is a mix of both.

Each Area is color coded, Green,Blue and Red.
Color- Cell- Creature- Tribe - Civilization- Space
Green- Herbivore- Social- Friendly- Religious- Shaman
Blue- Omnivore- Adaptive- Industrious- Economic- Trader
Red- Carnivore- Predator- Aggressive- Military- Warrior-

The other variations are based on which path is followed in each Phase.

For example. the Diplomat, is an Omnivore-Social-Friendly- Economic or Blue-Green-Green-Blue (it does not matter what order). Each "area" gives a specific ability later in the space game, therefore for the specific ability the order is important. There is a "Superpower" given to each class.
The Diplomat can have the following abilities in the Space game (depending on the order), which is earned in each phase.

Cell-Gentle Generalist: A discount on all standard equipment.
Creature-Pleasing Performance: Your colonies are happy and reduces the likelihood of revolt
Tribal-Gracious Greeting: Boosts your initial relationship with alien races.
Civilization-Spice Savant: Increases spice production from all your colonies.
Superpower-Static Cling: Immobilizes all enemy ships and turrets on the planet.

Here is a list of the possible abilities that a Diplomat could have:

Cell
Social Suave - Gives you an immediate negotiation discount on all social tools
Gentle Generalist - Gives you a discount on all standard equipment.

Creature
Pleasing Performance - Makes all of your colonies happy and reduces the likelihood of revolt
Speed Demon - Makes interstellar space travel zippier

Tribal
Gracious Greeting - Boosts your initial relationship with alien races.
Colony Craze - Gives you a discount on all colonization tool trades.

Civilization
Green Keeper - Decreases the rate of biodisasters on all of your colonies.
Spice Savant - Increases spice production from all your colonies.

Compared to a Warrior
Power Monger - increases the effectiveness of all weapons
Prime Specimen - increases your spaceship's total health.
Arms Dealer - discounts on all combat tool trades.
Pirates-B-Gone - acts as pirate repellent reducing the likelihood of raids
Superpower- Opens a portal that brings a squadron of pirates to the planet

Here is a list of the Archtypes, Bard, Ecologist, Zealot, Diplomat, Scientist, Trader, Shaman Warrior, Knight and Wanderer. (I will post on each as I play them)

As with creating a character in an Role playing game, the player must decide what the final character will be. During each Phase, the player can look at their current place on the timeline to see where they are heading, and by adjusting the interactions they can effect the outcome of the end character. The player can plan ahead, or just play it as it happens and accept the outcome, or delete and start over..and over and over till they get the character they want.

Each phase has a determined ending, so movement to the next level is possible, however each phase can continue on past that point.

The Cell stage determines the body parts types that are available for the creature Phase. These types are divided into Carnivore, Herbivore and Omnivore, each part has four variations, that improve in abilities. The actually parts are randomly spread throughout the Creature Phase, so each time the creature phase is played, the chance to create the same creature with the same parts is slim. However, the player may chose to continue the Creature Phase until all parts are all found.

Before moving to the Tribal phase this is the last time in the Creature Editor to make the final version of the creature. The Tribal stage is basically two options. Either make allies by playing music, or beating them to death with stone axes and sheer determination, or both.

The Civilization stages begins with a city, based on previous play, it can be either Religious, Economic or Military, this effects the type of vehicles that are produced as well as how the opposing cities are "converted". The religious and military are basically launch and attack, whereas with economic, a trade route has to be created and then over time, the city can be bought out, if the price is meet. When attacking a city, (military vs a military city) the only city type that can be built from the ashes is, military, however if a military unit "converts" a religious city, there is a choice to keep it religious or make it military.

The Space Game..............to be continued