stevenmc wrote:lol, thanks for the heads up, not I don't have to use the crop circle thing, just the monolith!

Ok, here's a theory. What happens to a city when all the inhabitants go away? I ask because I dropped a crop circle and then floated above it and zapped anyone that panicked with the mind eraser thingy. In a few minutes, there was a horde of inhabitants standing in the middle of the circle.... I couldn't help but think what would happen if I dropped a bomb? curious if anyone has tried it... is the city just open for the taking after that?

Once I went to a civ stage planet and zapped everybody with a mini-laser , but more kept coming out of the city hall or other buildings. So, I doubt that you can destroy a city like that.

In a Spore pre-release demo on U Tube with Will Wright, he showed a space ship doing a tune with locals of a civilisation in the same vein as the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind which works on the same principle as the other stages whereby you select same instriment/move or in this case note of the civ/creature you want rep with... This ability do doesn't appear to have crossed over on the release of the game

(along with exploding creatures when you place them on a T0 planet hehe)

Doesn't the Bard get Soothing Song? What does that do in conjunction with the crop ciricles?

I donno if this is out of topic, but i discovered this while using the crop circle tool on a civ stage race, I had a civ stage sentient from another planet in my cargo hold and I beamed it down and the inhabitants all gathered in a circle in front of the city hall and the other alien sat in the middle looking as if it was gesturing something and after about 5 seconds it flew up into their city hall(as it had wings). But whenever I drop one of my own race they blast him with lasers.

eugenet wrote:Doesn't the Bard get Soothing Song? What does that do in conjunction with the crop ciricles?

All Soothing Song does is temporarily raise a relationship to 0 if it's below 0.

commanderkeen320 wrote:Does anyone know what crop circles do? It says they're for interacting with tribal and civilization stage creatures, but they don't really seem to do anything.

Also, is there any way to take over one of those planets other than wiping out the inhabitants?

I don't really know what crop circles do.

not even scorched earth tactics would work on a tribal planet that is already claimed. You could drop a monolith near a tribe, and in several million Spore years, that tribe will advance into the space stage... and then if you really want that planet, you can smash and grab it then.

commanderkeen320 wrote:Does anyone know what crop circles do? It says they're for interacting with tribal and civilization stage creatures, but they don't really seem to do anything.

Also, is there any way to take over one of those planets other than wiping out the inhabitants?

They...make pretty pictures?



and not that I have found out, though sometimes I like to kill the whole world by terraforming it into a barren waste land. and once I actually spent the time pummeling the entire planet underwater. took a while, but I have an awesome ocean world now with one small island for my colony.

erzengel wrote:That would be the stealth I mentioned.

I have seen no stealth.


I want that.


How do I acquire this?

commanderkeen320 wrote:Does anyone know what crop circles do? It says they're for interacting with tribal and civilization stage creatures, but they don't really seem to do anything.

Also, is there any way to take over one of those planets other than wiping out the inhabitants?

They do effect the people a small amount (+3 or something), its like the happiness ray, you get points for 'using good tools' or something like that, also a small note, increasing the T level of another races planet gives you around +30 to 40

As for a way to take over planets with out wiping out people, =P buy the place! i thought there would be some kind of religious conversion social tool but far as i know there isnt one.

ALSO! You get stealth for being a kick ass trader (5 or so badges) and i think the other way to get it is getting 5 mission badges, to see how to unlock anything press 'L' and look it up and hover over it

Hope this helps, peace

stevenmc wrote:not even scorched earth tactics would work on a tribal planet that is already claimed. You could drop a monolith near a tribe, and in several million Spore years, that tribe will advance into the space stage... and then if you really want that planet, you can smash and grab it then.

Scorched Earth works amazingly well, but I assume you're talking about the less literal definition. If you bomb all the tribes somehow the planet is still claimed by them. However, if you melt a planet and extinct every species on it, including the sentients (down to T0), then they are gone and the system can be yours.

no, you can just destroy their villages and plop a colony. you might have missed one on the edge of the mini-map as they're hard to see sometimes.

pelican wrote:

stevenmc wrote:not even scorched earth tactics would work on a tribal planet that is already claimed. You could drop a monolith near a tribe, and in several million Spore years, that tribe will advance into the space stage... and then if you really want that planet, you can smash and grab it then.

Scorched Earth works amazingly well, but I assume you're talking about the less literal definition. If you bomb all the tribes somehow the planet is still claimed by them. However, if you melt a planet and extinct every species on it, including the sentients (down to T0), then they are gone and the system can be yours.

Terraforming is as much a weapon as a tool

Seems to make sense. I'll try that.

pelican wrote:

stevenmc wrote:not even scorched earth tactics would work on a tribal planet that is already claimed. You could drop a monolith near a tribe, and in several million Spore years, that tribe will advance into the space stage... and then if you really want that planet, you can smash and grab it then.

Scorched Earth works amazingly well, but I assume you're talking about the less literal definition. If you bomb all the tribes somehow the planet is still claimed by them. However, if you melt a planet and extinct every species on it, including the sentients (down to T0), then they are gone and the system can be yours.

If this is the case for you, then you missed a tribe somewhere. I've blown away every tribe on a planet so I could colonize it plenty of times.