The Grox

“Being useful to the Grox is good for your survival.” - The Grox

The Grox are a sapient species of cyborg aliens that are supposedly the most evil and hostile race in the galaxy and the main antagonist in Spore. They are feared by every alien with a philosophy and an archetype. The Grox control a vast empire with 2400 star systems and inhabit anywhere near an estimated 2000 parsecs within the perimeter of the Galactic Core.

The Grox
Feared and hated by every empire in the galaxy, the Grox as a species are extremely delicate and weak having survived only due to their incredible technological advancement over other species. They are an ancient race, having been spacefaring for eons while nearly all other races weren't even sapient yet. Although their minimal senses and strength have been enhanced by cybernetic implants, they're still among the most feeble sapient lifeforms in the Galaxy, but make up for it with incredible military might, and the ability to prosper on barren planets. Grox also have the ability to recolonize on planets if one of their colonies are destroyed.

Unlike most land creatures, Grox are intolerant of conditions survivable to other life forms. As such, they can only survive on T0 planets. If it goes up, the Grox will die. In fiction, Grox leaders like King Grochius II and Javek are immune of the effects of T1-T3 environments unless it is on a very high oxygen moon.

How to ally with the Grox
Allying with the Grox is not easy, If you wish to ally with the Grox, it is highly recommended that you are friendly in Tribal Stage, because you'll get the Gracious Greeter ability, which gives a relationship boost with races you meet. Ideal archetype is Zealot, because they have the Fanatical Frenzy ability (it breaks the Galactic Code) and the Gracious Greeter ability, if they're social in the tribal stage. Scientists have Gravitation Wave, but they can't be social in Tribal Stage.

You will need: To ally with the Grox, fly over to them where they are located near the Galactic Core. You must first disband your allied fleet and turn off Auto Blaster, or your allies will attack the Grox and make things worse.
 * At least four Planet Busters, and Gravitation Wave or Fanatical Frenzy. You can be granted up to +50 relationship points with the Grox if you use an ability that breaks the Galactic Code.
 * Friendly Tools: The Happy Ray (the Super Happy Ray is highly recommended), or Fireworks
 * Gifts: 500,000 Sporebucks for a +10 relationship boost. (the gift's relationship points wear off eventually)
 * An embassy (note that the Grox will attack it, but it may give a reputation boost)
 * Humongous amounts of Repair and Recharge packs (it's much cheaper than using Grox resources - they charge a lot)

How to play as the Grox
To play with the grox, you will need to use the force save mod or else saving it in the Sporepedia will say "The creature can not be saved".

Characteristics
The Grox, being cybernetic creatures, most notably exhibit cybernetic implants that replace the right eye, right arm, right leg, and part of the abdomen. They are the most notable for their hostility, but are also notable for their asymmetric, weak, impish appearance. They are short, red in color, and their non-cybernetic parts are weak creature parts.

Biology
They have an astonishing number of colonies surrounding the Galactic Core, serving as an obstacle to the player. They are extremely aggressive and are only able to survive on otherwise uninhabitable T0 planets. Raising a planet's T-Score will make it impossible for the Grox to inhabit it and will destroy any existing Grox colonies on said planet. It is extremely hard for any empire to defeat the Grox, since their amazingly vast empire spans 2400 systems with more than 5000 planets.

Language
The Grox voice is a glitchy, beeping, fluctuating, computerized voice with many strange words, and is also composed of what pitch or tone is used, though their anthem is quite different from this. It consists of static, robotic keening and a deep, happy voice singing. In a rare glitch you are able to trade with the Grox. During this time, they have somewhat different sounds, in which their voice is high and calm with some sudden moments of glitchy anger. At some point they are even heard laughing.

An apparent departure from the usual computerized voice is the Grox anthem. If a player allied to the Grox comes close to one of the Grox's cities, they will initially hear screeching sounds, but after about 30 seconds, they will hear an anthem that sounds like an opera singer with a deep voice singing a strange song in a weird language.

Age
The Grox do not age because of the robotic parts. Some Grox under the great Conqrix Empire are as old as time itself.

Female Grox
Male grox live really long lifes - over 10 billion years at max. Female Grox however, live shorter lives - half the time as the males.

Notable Female Grox include:

Candira - Empress of the Grox Empire 7 billion B.C. - 500 A.D.

Marissa - Wife of the Destroyer of Haeca and Javek's mother 8 billion - 300 million B.C.