Lest we forget: SPORE

[Zazazu]

Civ stage sucks donkey balls. Thankfully you only have to play it half way through. Next time, I'm cheating it. Blech.

Space can get repetitive if you are following a set path...only going for alliances, for terraforming, etc. But there are a lot of options as to how you can approach the goals your empire gives you.

[jfade]

Space can get repetitive if you are following a set path...only going for alliances, for terraforming, etc. But there are a lot of options as to how you can approach the goals your empire gives you.

I find taking on missions from other empires can be fun too, at least it gives some more variety that way. I have barely scratched the surface though, and haven't had time to play in a while, so I look forward to playing it again when I can.

[Faizah]

Motion Sickness update - Windowed mode helps a lot, for some reason. I've made it to tribal stage...now I've realised that the game is actually kind of boring. So, all that effort to get it working for me and I don't think I can be bothered completing Civilisation stage *shrugs*. I guess I'd like to ask those who've played it through, does it get any more exciting?

Yes. Space stage is what it's all about.

Seriously. I find tribal and civilisation to be a bit of a drag, civilisation is a snap if you're economically based (finish tribal in blue), just keep trading and buying everyone else out, but it's hardly exciting. But, space? Totally worth it.

[kutto]

I found creature and tribal quite dull, but civ was fun; and cell and space are definitely a blast.

[Solowren]

Creature is my favorite. :] You get to control the little dude! And make him fly and kill things!

Also, I just downloaded a shitload of pokemon creatures from the Sporepedia. This one guy make a bunch. The game tells me Charmander is wandering around somewhere on my herbivore's planet.

[Hellyes]

Just wanted to let everyone know.  According to this online article (don't know how reliable this information is) if you are using a no-cd crack you can install Spore as many times as you want.  This suggests that a crack bypasses the 3 install limitation.

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/09/10/spore-seeds-rootkit

[jsalemi]

Just wanted to let everyone know.  According to this online article (don't know how reliable this information is) if you are using a no-cd crack you can install Spore as many times as you want.  This suggests that a crack bypasses the 3 install limitation.

Umm, simple reading here will indicate that using the no-cd.exe means just that, and also means you don't get SecuROM on your system. This is not news. 

[Hellyes]

Just wanted to let everyone know.  According to this online article (don't know how reliable this information is) if you are using a no-cd crack you can install Spore as many times as you want.  This suggests that a crack bypasses the 3 install limitation.

Umm, simple reading here will indicate that using the no-cd.exe means just that, and also means you don't get SecuROM on your system. This is not news. 

I was just passing this information on, as people were asking about this earlier in the week.  Of course I knew that you don't get SecuROM on your system with a crack, but there has still been some uncertainty whether or not using a crack would specifically bypass the 3 install limit and allow you to reinstall as many times as you want. 

[Zazazu]

With the no-cd, you don't have to activate your game. It's the activation that locks up after three installs, far as I've heard.

Creature is my favorite. :] You get to control the little dude! And make him fly and kill things!

I also like it because I never know what I'm going to end up with when I start creature. I randomize the body shape, then add parts as I get them. The first foot type I get determines what row of feet are available to him, in my mind. Same with hands, eyes, etc.

[Ellatrue]

Here's my stuff from the creature creator.

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/ellatrue/Spore/

Highlights:

Landshark:


Dopefish:


Lawliphant:










I enjoy making fish with legs. There's also a peen monster, but if you are male, I recommend you do not download. It is rather disturbing in the game. The lawliphant is a flying elephant, covered in flowers, with butterfly wings for ears. It runs backwards on three legs and farts glowing balls of doom for a spit attack.

[Zazazu]

The Lawliphant reminds me of the sushi creations I downloaded from Bernoully. I have a couple of backwards creatures. One is a very thin snail, the other is this three-legged tufted thing. Both were accidentally backwards.

[jsalemi]

I don't know if I got a bad copy, but I've had nothing but problems -- graphic glitches, random crashes, even had my tribal leader constantly lock up and not be able to even feed himself.  Once I couldn't find him, and when I clicked on his avatar he was floating in space above the planet.

That said, I'm not so much impressed with Sprore.  I was never a fan of SimCities, and while I used to play Age of Empires, I'm over that phase .  I may give Spore just enough of a try to see if the space stage really does salvage it, but so far, I'm more likely to just delete it from my disk...

[Surelyfunke]

My favourite stage is the Creature stage. My creatures are herbivores (sometimes omnivores) who mainly socialise, and the social actions are just too adorable.

Next is Space, followed by Cell. Space is fun because it lasts long, the missions are complex and space travelling is great. I absolutely loathe the raids though. My homeworld overlord is so whiny. Cell is great because NOM NOM NOMing other creatures and plants is fun, but it's too short-lived.

Next is Tribal, which is a little tedious if you've just started learning how to play it, then it gets a little too easy (especially if you're a friendly herbivore).

The WORST has to be Civilisation stage. What the HELL were they thinking. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

[Invisigoth]

Yeah you just need the -w on the shortcut.

There's actually an ingame option under settings for windowed mode, too.

Motion Sickness update - Windowed mode helps a lot, for some reason. I've made it to tribal stage...now I've realised that the game is actually kind of boring. So, all that effort to get it working for me and I don't think I can be bothered completing Civilisation stage *shrugs*. I guess I'd like to ask those who've played it through, does it get any more exciting?

Yes. Space stage is what it's all about.

Seriously. I find tribal and civilisation to be a bit of a drag, civilisation is a snap if you're economically based (finish tribal in blue), just keep trading and buying everyone else out, but it's hardly exciting. But, space? Totally worth it.

Another easy method (once you have airplanes and at least one military city) is to forget about land vehicles and boats and instead make a huge swarm of airplanes. You can knock out even a heavily armed city pretty quickly with minimal losses and every city you take via military means can be turned into a military city and help grow your swarm. I'll have to try the economic method though, I haven't bothered with any peaceful attempts at the civ stage.

[kewian]

Well if you are really desperate to quickly take over cities , which at first I thought was hilarious, you can use the ICBM bomb but it levels the houses etc  and you cant rebuild on them. 

[Zazazu]

The religious take-over is nothing short of awesome, though.

[J. M. Pescado]

I present to you, my finest Splotch creation.

This is Fwoggie. He is cute and harmless. He is not at ALL a vicious eatbeast. Notice his total lack of any apparent weaponry.

[EsotericPolarBear]

I was just passing this information on, as people were asking about this earlier in the week.  Of course I knew that you don't get SecuROM on your system with a crack, but there has still been some uncertainty whether or not using a crack would specifically bypass the 3 install limit and allow you to reinstall as many times as you want. 

The real question is "Can you use the no-cd AND activate online without having securom installed?"

I'm thinking about buying it so I can share creations with my sister and her kids, but I don't want all that extra "security feature" shit on my system.  Especially since I just finally cleaned the last remnants from before I became an enlightened gamer.

[rohina]

Space stage made me want to play Alpha Centauri, which I am downloading now.

Get the expansion as well. SMAC is one of the bestest games evar.

[jsalemi]

The real question is "Can you use the no-cd AND activate online without having securom installed?"

Yes, because you'll be activating a legitimate serial number if you buy it.

[Faizah]

I present to you, my finest Splotch creation.
--image snipped--
This is Fwoggie. He is cute and harmless. He is not at ALL a vicious eatbeast. Notice his total lack of any apparent weaponry.

Okay, where's it hidden?

[kuronue]

Ok, so, WTF?

-edited for clarity-
So why did it brand me Economic up at the top?!

Well.. there is no benefit from being 3red or 4 red- they both equal warrior.
It "should" have moved your arrow on things that were shifting you in your history. You can press T at anytime to see the history, even if you are at completed. (useful in say creature phase where you may be a few kills or dances from where you want to be)

I have never had a shift of philosophy in Civ stage, but then I haven't really tried.  I find it much easier to swing major arcs in creature or tribal. (say going from green to red then back again before civ)

If it changed you over with no hint of what was doing so in the history that is rather odd behavior.

I know it's still warrior, but I was quite proud of my row of all red. Sometimes I think I'm slightly OCD the way I like things to match up perfectly like that.

It did move the arrow in response to my actions, but the arrow was still firmly in the red zone when I ended - but then, it didn't move for my bribe at all. Maybe it secretly counted that as economic and didn't show it? I never purchased a city, which is what I figure would swing me.

[Zazazu]

Songie


The creature is kind of iridescent in-game. His fin-things are actually attached to legs, so they wiggle when he dances. He prefers to use the central grasper. Went through creature stage with a band of rogue creatures, which made socializing a snap. In tribal, he decorated his tail with miniature masks. I got the race through civ as economic, which I definitely prefer to religious.

One of the epic creatures inadvertently helped me out in tribal stage. A huge damonet (the creature I used in the first post of this thread) attacked a new tribe and killed four members before he was done in. He made it a really easy conquest.

[witch]

I present to you, my finest Splotch creation.
--image snipped--
This is Fwoggie. He is cute and harmless. He is not at ALL a vicious eatbeast. Notice his total lack of any apparent weaponry.

Okay, where's it hidden?

Yeah, that's the first thing I thought. 

[jfade]

I don't know if I got a bad copy, but I've had nothing but problems -- graphic glitches, random crashes, even had my tribal leader constantly lock up and not be able to even feed himself.  Once I couldn't find him, and when I clicked on his avatar he was floating in space above the planet.

I had tons of graphical glitches too, but I updated my graphics drivers and all the problems went away, so I guess that was what caused it. *Shrug* Never had the tribal leader issues though.