"You’ve defeated the mighty Grox. Is there life after that?"
Badge Outta Heck is a secret badge in Space Stage, awarded for eradicating the Grox.
NOTE: The player must download and install patch 1.04-1.05 or the Expanded Travel Radius Mod to be able to reach all Grox systems.
Badge itself looks like a mounted Grox head, excact trophy of its head.
Tips
Eradicating Grox is difficult to do, even with cheats. The Grox control exactly 2,400 systems and about 5,000 planets and therefore will take a lot of time. The Grox have few weaknesses and have formidable ships.
Grox Tactical Weaknesses
- Terraforming a planet to T1 will remove the Grox from the planet, so prepare accordingly.
- Many of the Grox's colonies contain only one unfortified city, but the cities get defended more heavily as the player nears the core, so a viable strategy would be to to start with the core systems, as this will be more useful in the long run than whittling them down from the outside, as that will exhaust more resources and give the Grox more time to attack you.
- It is easy to tell when a spaceship will use a mega repair pack, they fly to a safe spot
- If you Increase the Grox's disposition with you (by doing lots of missions/socialisation for them), you should be able to get to the core without being ambushed by Grox ships, this should allow you to find a good place to start the attack, but remember, as soon as you hit the first city, you will declare war on them and they will attack, so choose wisely.
- The Staff of Life item can grant you 42 free 'kills', as well as creating useful planets to which you can quickly colonise for recharging, but due to the limited amount per save, it is recommended that you use them sparingly.
- Many of the Grox's planets have a low atmosphere and a cold temperature. Using the volcano terraforming tool can be very effective in exterminating whole planets.
Effective Tactics
You have five basic options when trying to defeat the Grox by force: terraforming, conventional warfare, or planet busting or Zealotry or allied attacks. In all but one of these 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(but most of the time the Uber Turret will do) 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.
Allied Attacks
Buy 10+ monoliths. Go to a Grox planet near the core and use SoL to terraform. Drop a monolith to uplift species. Repeat as necessary to systems, but make sure the systems targeted are far enough away so the future empires won't go to war with each other. Establish T3 purple/pink/green spice colonies in the center with uberturrets as profit centers. After a while, when the uplifted species reach the space stage, ally and bribe them to conquer Grox systems, finishing off any system with 2+ Grox planets. After a while, the entire central area will be allied territory. Repeat as necessary with other areas.
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). This strategy requires 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 local defense ships, which are the stronger of the two defensive classes of Grox ship, having 2400 health as opposed to 800, 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. The weaker patrol ships will continue to fight to the death, even after the destruction of all colonies on the planet, but their low health makes destroying them a relatively simple task.
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.
Also, if you are a Zealot, you could uplift a bunch of planets using the Monolith tool, then use Fanatical Frenzy on one of those planets, save and exit (which recharges Fanatical Frenzy), and repeat that procedure. This is a very slow procedure and there is one other thing you have to do if you want the best results, which is terraform. Once you got all these colonies, you can do the warfare stuff. Note that the Monolith is going to be much more expensive than the Colony Incredi-Pak used normally for building up your number of colonies, but doing this saves you the trouble of putting buildings there. Note if you are a Zealot you can take over Groxen planets without incuring anger although it does help to ally them first.
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 (about 5000 PBs needed to destroy all Grox planets) it would require nearly 12.5 billion Sporebucks (and 5000 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; 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, however using Superweapons will mean that their relationship will not go down with you and so they will not declare war and attack your planets. This is especially useful with Fanatical Frenzy as all you have to do is use it and it captures the whole star system, save and exit to menu then repeat, which is time consuming but a relatively easy tactic. 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.
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. You should always save your game before bidding 500,000, as underbidding will anger them very much! 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. This is the procedure if you want to defeat the Grox this way.
1. Ally with them.
2. Become a Trader (if you're not one already)
3. Propose a trade route
4. De-terraform any T1,T2, or T3 planets in their system (this lowers the cost of their system)
5. Use Cash Infusion on one of their planets that has two colony buildings
6. Save
7. Buy their system for 500,000 Sporebucks
8. Sell all of their buildings until your money adds up to the previous amount that you had
9. Search for any artifacts on the planet (optional)
10. Propose another trade route
11. Save and exit to Spore Main Menu (Immediately recharges Cash Infusion), and replay the game. From there on, the process repeats from step 3. This method is slow and should only be used if no other options are available. Terraforming is the best solution if you have Energy Mega Pack and Extreme Energy Storage in your disposal.
Note: If you have already allied with the Grox you are allowed to use "Fanatical Frenzy" (the Zealot super weapon) on their planets, without hurting your relationship with the Grox
Colonization
One interesting weakness of the Grox is their the fact that an Uber Turret can always take out any Grox invasion force. One very viable strategy is to Use the Staff of Life on one of their planets, set up as many cities as you can, and set up as many Uber Turrets (1 planet=1 uber turret) as possible. This will become a permanent foot hold. However, you should put a happiness booster on the planet, and focus on putting lots of Entertainment buildings on the planet, so as to keep them happy.
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 fully 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.
Finding Their Homeworld
The Grox's home planet is right next to the Center of the galaxy, often the closest system to the center. If you start to blow up their cities on their home planet, and follow their home planet as it is displaced by your conquering, you can actually capture their cities instead of blowing them up! Another way, if the first option does not work, is to make sure the "empires" star filter is on. You will see the Grox empire in several branches. Follow the branches until you see the very center of the tangle. You may have found their home planet, if not, keep looking for similarly important planets.
The Staff of Life
It is possible to get to the center of the galaxy without destroying the Grox, you have to capture 1 or 2 planets along the way so if you die, you'll be sent back to nearby empire, and you can refuel and repair your ship. So once you make it to the center and get the Staff of Life, then you can destroy the Grox. Simply go to one of their planets and use the staff of life on it, their only colony on it will be destroyed. Then place a Monolith on the planet, that will help the lifeforms on the planet. Then go out and use all of your SoL charges on the other Grox planets, then use the Monolith on them. Soon you'll have 42 allies, send them to go to war with the Grox, not to mention that you also go to war with some of the planets and, that should help you out a lot.
Languages
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? ”
European Portuguese:
Medalha do Outro Mundo “ Derrotou os poderosos Grox. Existe vida depois disso? ”
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?”
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:
Utmärkelsen åt helsicke “ Du har besegrat de mäktiga Groxerna. Finns det något liv efter det? “
Finnish:
Kropontorjuja “Olet kukistanut mahtavat kropot. Onko elämässä enään lainkaan haastetta?“
Trivia
- The badge's name comes from the expression "bat out of hell."
- The badge is meant to represent a picture of a mounted Grox head.
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