by Chuck Hoodak

Created on: February 09, 2009

"How I loved the galaxy after I kicked the Followers of Spode out of it"

Spore is a very interesting game, to say the least. The space stage itself takes elements from the very creative creature stage and tweaks it into an adventure that embarks the player on a path of discovery to the center of the universe. The only glitch is that some of the other lifeforms in your galaxy don't want to play nice. Here are some tips and strategy that you can use to change the balance in your favor.

- Get to know who your neighbors are...FAST.

The sooner you know who lives close to you, the sooner you can develop a strategy to deal with potential troublemakers. Followers of Light, and Peace, are a few factions that will be scrambling to make friends with you. Followers of Force have to be watched and appeased. You can make friends with them, but they require more work. The Followers of Spode are pretty much a lost cause unless you decide to learn to be a Follower of Spode, too. If you have the Followers of Spode near you, war is inevitable.

- Making friends and buying systems.

You can run missions to increase your favor with a potential ally, but a very easy way to gain favor with any race is to terraform one of their planets. That will be a big bonus in your favor. Trade routes are good too, but don't pick just any planet to trade with. Remember, this will be a potential system that you will be buying. Find a planet with green, blue, purple or pink spice and make a trade route with them. The better your relationship with your allies the less expensive some items get. Take note of what systems buy spice for what price as that will help you later when your empire grows.

- If you have to fight, take no prisoners.

Some races, especially the Followers of Spode, just don't know when to quit. After several games you will soon get sick of these guys demanding money from you two minutes after first contact. May as well just beat them to the punch and wipe them off the map before they get a lot of systems under their belts (that will just drag the war out longer). Don't leave any of their systems intact because they will only keep attacking you.

If you are in a war, here is a good method for quickly dealing with the enemy:

- Planets with one or two cities

If it is a red or gold spice planet, just blow up the city and be done with it. Red and gold spice planets are a dime-a-dozen and chances are you have too many as it is. If you want to capture the system, attack the city until the white flag

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