Not even the sun is spotless. And though the space phase of Spore might be one of the most innovative space games ever, there are many flaws, some of them even making the game unplayable.

Here are some:

* War diplomacy is broken. A human player can only make peace by playing an enormous tribute.
* Warfare is broken altogether. Seizures of planets are too fast. AI invasions come too often. AI does not seem to have the ability to retreat.
* The radar points out artifacts or money bags even during battle. This is annoying. Point out the closest enemy, or turn off.
* The player might meet a "twin" race, with identical name and appearance.
* Forced building editor, whenever a new colony is founded.
* The abduction ray is too slow and clumsy. Might add to game atmosphere during early game, but gets annoying over time. Should be able to upgrade.

Have you found any other flaws that ruin the experience of space?

You can turn off the radar.

Yes, I can turn off the radar, but I don't want to do micro-management during burning war.

I think that spore has a lot of potential, but I'll have to see how the patches go.

and yes


I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO PICK UP SPICE. WHAT AM I, A DAMN TAXI DRIVER?

Many of these flaws could hopefully be corrected by a patch.

* Warfare is broken altogether. Seizures of planets are too fast. AI invasions come too often. AI does not seem to have the ability to retreat.

I think I saw an AI retreat, but that might just have been because the other AI wiped out all its ships. It wasn't one of my planets.

* Forced building editor, whenever a new colony is founded.

That hasn't happened to me, either.

* The abduction ray is too slow and clumsy. Might add to game atmosphere during early game, but gets annoying over time. Should be able to upgrade.

This is annoying. It'd be nice to be able to pick up a creature without picking up sixteen trees as well. :lol:

"]I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO PICK UP SPICE. WHAT AM I, A DAMN TAXI DRIVER?

Also, this. Why do you have to zoom down to pick up the spice? You're the Admiral, they should be flying it up to you.

I remember having some dumb species I'd never met demanding tribute off me, but nothing game-breaking's happened... yet.

Agree that you shouldn't need to zoom down to system view to collect spice.

Maybe there should be some kind of colony improvement - like a space elevator - handling that.

My second time reaching space stage has been enjoyable so far..
in 2 hours only had 4 pirate attacks and 1 attack from enemy.
I have ignored "pay us money" which I don't have.
Still can't get many colony packs? Or make any changes to homeworld cities or the one colony I have?
must be I don't have enough money?:(

I agree that AI invasions come way too often. It's frustrating that my cities' defenses don't seem to be enough to keep them away, ie. I keep having to stop what I'm doing to go defend the homeplanet

Check out my thread please, TyranusBonehead

Colony packs are easy to get in your allies systems, quite cheaply.

Another reason why I stop playing that particular game after the Civilization phrase. I start over and play a new game.

* Forced building editor, whenever a new colony is founded.

That is truly annoying. I mean, when I put a new colony on a planet it doesn't put any building or vehicle design by default. I have to re-pick the same choices over and over again. I guess I MIGHT want to have different looks for different planets, but I'm pretty sure most of us want to keep a standard look across at least MOST planets. I didn't spend 45 minutes in Civ Stage designing buildings for my worm species (and then spent 15 minutes winning Civ Stage...) just to pick other stuff in Space.

They did say making it to the center of the universe was going to only happen for the hardcore.

They did say making it to the center of the universe was going to only happen for the hardcore.

"Hardcore" AKA someone with 20 minutes on their hand and the wits to buy a 6-7 health packs and 6-7 energy chargers.

Is there a way to fire while in space "other" attacking ships can fire on my ship,while I am in space,but I can only fire back once I have zoomed into a planet?

Is there a way to fire while in space "other" attacking ships can fire on my ship,while I am in space,but I can only fire back once I have zoomed into a planet?

I really don't think you can. I think I noticed that one of the weapons you can get fires back at them, but it's not that useful. I think it's the auto-minigun thing, the one that says "automatically fires back at attacking enemies", or something like that. It's of marginal help.

I really don't think you can. I think I noticed that one of the weapons you can get fires back at them, but it's not that useful. I think it's the auto-minigun thing, the one that says "automatically fires back at attacking enemies", or something like that. It's of marginal help.

Actually it kills the ships that attack you in space pretty quickly. At least in the games i play. I've taken out like 5 ships with that thing and they don't hurt me at all really.

I meant that if you really play the game like it is meant to be played you have to be hardcore to make it in the center. There are always stupid shortcuts and cheats.

That's the auto-cannon that fires..

One of the bigger flaws I think is that building an empire doesn't really do anything for you. Each extra planet is more of a liability rather than a help. The constant attacks actually aren't so bothersome once you realize that you don't need those planets at all, but the fact that you don't need them becomes even more bothersome than the constant attacks.

I agree. Once you get 7-8 Colonies, any extras are just a liability. The new patch seems to help though. Also, it really helps to get the Pirates-B-Gone ability from the Civilization phase. Green Keeper from Civilization is a good alternative(Reduces Biodisasters).

Yeah this is true. What's the point of having all these planets? Once I have a few systems terraformed I can't keep up with picking up the spice production anyway...

Would have made more sense if terraforming and sandboxing would be more "hands-on" and a central part of the space stage. Right now, I don't really spend time picking creatures for a planet, or choosing its colour or whatever. It's pointless you barely have time to look at it anyway.

Large reparations for peace isn't a flaw. Other games have different mechanisms, but usually suing for peace is depicted as an expensive proposition. Two reasons: 1. that is accurate; and 2. it prevents the player from manipulating the AI through quickie wars. Not at all a bug.

I'd say warfare is broken in the sense that the tech leveling system is broken. If you wait too long to go to war, it seems your enemies have better ships than you, but the only way to ramp up your gear is through leveling which has the theme of "do something in an area many times to get better options in that area". A passive tech investment system would be better. E.g. allowed to build one research building per colony to generate research points.
This is obviously a keep-it-simple-for-the-kids design issue.
AI invasions do come too often. It would be good if there was a way to interdict a fleet enroute to your planets, and a way to count ships so you know when it's safe to leave your planets. But usually the best defense is a strong offense, so if you are at war it's best to just obliterate their planets until you sue for peace. It would be nice if there was less micro-management in rebuilding defenses, and if the "uber-turret" was available much sooner.


The abduction ray is pretty slow. I always go in low when I use it. I think they did that so your ship would be vulnerable when abducting under some circumstances. The ray should work faster when you are at lower altitude.

Twining species is more a problem with the Sporepedia. It doesn't look at species as names, but as graphs. In my games I keep running into several creatures named TREE, Tree, and Tree, all having different eating habbits and forms. Same if you save minor changes to a creature, the program thinks they are completely new.

A default option for setting building types on planets would be nice.

Radar tracking the enemy as opposed to the cash, would be nice. I'd like to toggle it from: cash/mission target, enemy, food web.


Until I realized they cloned the Civ4 city scroll buttons in the city view, I hated rebuilding my home planet after an alien attack. I was flying from city to city.


My flaw list:

Combat is fun, but I wish there were more techs, more weapon types and countermeasures. It's basically just close attack: laser/pulse, or ranged attack: missile/bomb.

Anti-UFO defense pretty much just come in one flavor: weak-*ss, excepting the uber-turret and if you squat at low altitude over an enemy city. Cities need a turret-govenor to allow automated rebuilding. Turrets are way overpriced compared to on the homeworld.

No way to interdict space travel. E.g. no space piracy against trade routes, no attacking ships before they reach your planet.

Doesn't seem to be any kind of material build-up of enemy forces, just timed spawning. Would be preferable if the enemy built up forces, maneuvered, etc..




Not even the sun is spotless. And though the space phase of Spore might be one of the most innovative space games ever, there are many flaws, some of them even making the game unplayable.

Here are some:

* War diplomacy is broken. A human player can only make peace by playing an enormous tribute.
* Warfare is broken altogether. Seizures of planets are too fast. AI invasions come too often. AI does not seem to have the ability to retreat.
* The radar points out artifacts or money bags even during battle. This is annoying. Point out the closest enemy, or turn off.
* The player might meet a "twin" race, with identical name and appearance.
* Forced building editor, whenever a new colony is founded.
* The abduction ray is too slow and clumsy. Might add to game atmosphere during early game, but gets annoying over time. Should be able to upgrade.

Have you found any other flaws that ruin the experience of space?

But they (additional planets) increase the amount of Spice you get, which is good all-around.

But they (additional planets) increase the amount of Spice you get, which is good all-around.

But you can't hold more than 99 of one type. Basically, two planets per spice colour is enough to guarantee you can buy anything super quickly. After I had like 10-15 star systems under my command, the only reason to expand was... well there's no reason to expand. At that point you just fly around the galaxy looking at things, which can be nice, except meeting other species just increases the odds of demands and stuff. And you're called back to your planet while at the other side of the galaxy, this shouldn't happen. When I'm exploring the galaxy, the colony should just take care of itself.

Ah... I had yet to discover this limit.

Ah... I had yet to discover this limit.

Yeah I thought that once I had a stack of 99 spice of one colour, it'd just start making a second stack. Well no... Only one stack per item.

I have 20 something systems in my game right now, and it hasn't increased the rate of anything. It seems to happen the same for me as if I had only 6 or 7. I have those eco disaster reducers, so I put them out and that hardly happens. Maybe like once since I did that. I have the pirates b gone and that stops them from hardly coming. My ship is pretty hooked up with weapons, so let people make demands. Lot of men tried it and a lot of men died.

People may want to wait to put Eco-disasters protectors since there are badges to be obtained from saving planets from Eco-disasters. After you got these, go ahead, hehe.

Update to patch 1.01, King town..

Alliances are far too easy to enter and keep, especially compared too other strategy games.

You can more or less form an alliance with anyone who is not hostile. You can even see two of your allies fighting each other.

Alliances should be an exception until you encounter the Grox. About then, most neighboring empires would consider to ally.

Alliances are far too easy to enter and keep, especially compared too other strategy games.

You can more or less form an alliance with anyone who is not hostile. You can even see two of your allies fighting each other.

Alliances should be an exception until you encounter the Grox. About then, most neighboring empires would consider to ally.

I still don't know what the point of having an ally is since it only triggers more requests for help. I personally have stopped getting allies altogether. I keep everyone friendly but I don't ally so I have much less running around to do for them. The only annoyance is refusing their requests for alliance every 5 minutes... You get no diplo penalty from refusing.

With allies you can get a larger posse.

But allies should also deter enemies from attacking you (except the Grox).

With allies you can get a larger posse.

But allies should also deter enemies from attacking you (except the Grox).

The posse is useless, gets in the way of my fire line and abduction ray and dies super fast immediately prompting a negative diplo penalty from those species because "I didn't take care of their ships"... WHAT!?

Posses are good for hunting down pirates, and with repair kits they can survive for a decent amount of time.

But as you say, they are too clumsy, and should be of more help than they are.

Can someone help, please...
Any colonies I put down do not produce spice (there are no options to enable factories etc) or turrets.
Have heard you have to make the planet T3?
How do you do that without terraforming tools?
How can I fire back when attacked in space?
How do you get Uber Turrets?

Can someone help, please...
Any colonies I put down do not produce spice (there are no options to enable factories etc) or turrets.
Have heard you have to make the planet T3?

A colony can have buildings only if the planet has at least one complete food web.

Al food web consists of one small plant, one medium plant, one large plant, two herbivores and one carnivore/omnivore. The homeworld offers a mission where you learn to terraform, and to complete the food web.

Be aware that not all T1 planets have a complete food web; but if you carry some animals you will be able to beam them down, so the planet can support an industrial colony.

How do you do that without terraforming tools?
Buy one-shot terraforming tools like meteor rains and atmosphere generators. You can but them from your own colonies, but they are usually cheaper to buy from strangers. Multi-used terraforming tools come available later in the game.


How can I fire back when attacked in space?

You will need to buy a turret for your ship, and activate it.

How do you get Uber Turrets?
When you get a Colonist award for placing many buildings. You will have to wait for long.

One of the bigger flaws I think is that building an empire doesn't really do anything for you. Each extra planet is more of a liability rather than a help. The constant attacks actually aren't so bothersome once you realize that you don't need those planets at all, but the fact that you don't need them becomes even more bothersome than the constant attacks.

Yeah, I've noticed that as well. Mostly I ignore pirates now, and sometimes ignore AI attacks if I've set up the satillite turrets or whatever.