FAQ: The Grox%

grox%

What is this speedrun?

grox% is an illegitimate but challenging speedrun. The idea is to start as a cell, then travel through the game as normal, ending it with allying The Grox (the enemy of the universe). There is a badge for completing this, so it is a legitimate achievement, and the speedrun ends when the alliance is set and the badge is earned.
--
How do you ally the enemy of the universe?

The Grox start with -70 relationship. You need +70 relationship in order to form an alliance. To get this, I need to be a social tribe (+10), break galactic code 4 times (+50), complete a lot of missions (+50), start a trade route that lasts for a while (at least +15), donate 500,000 Sporebucks (+10) and agree to take missions from The Grox (+5). Without the social tribe, this would require using friendly tools until I gain +10 relationship, which takes up time, energy and money.
--
Why are you starting and exiting new worlds?

The Grox live in the center of the universe. In order to increase time save, I'm spawning my starting planet closer to the center of the galaxy by starting and exiting other save files.
--
Miscellaneous Information

Cell Stage: Collect as much meat as possible, equip herbivore mouth to ensure a safe and successful creature/tribe stage. I start with a 2-eyed Herbivore to get an extra Flagella as soon as possible, which increases my movement speed.

Creature Stage: Kill everything in sight. Everything. Pretty straightforward. I am specifically looking for parts that give max speed to make my tribal stage faster, but that's about it.

Tribe Stage: Socialize every tribe to get gracious greeter super power in space stage (+10 relationship with all civilizations). I aim to collect nothing but food early game (ignoring the first tribe spawn), then strategically place my tribe members across the land to give gifts to the tribes that hate me, while rotating my social tool count (Wooden Horns, Maracas, Didgeridoos) to the new babies that spawn. Arguably the fastest segment of the run (ignoring cell stage which is super short)

Civilization Stage: Religiously conquer everyone, I start with fast vehicles to quickly gain the spice mines, then change them into religious and bulky vehicles. After conquering my continent, I gain access to Airplanes which I will use primarily in the later stages of Civilization Stage.

Space Stage: With Zealot, I gain the ability to instantly control a planet, so my goal is to find home-planets that are T3 with 10 Cities. Once I capture the cities, I collect spice and sell the buildings until I have enough money to bribe The Grox (500,000 Sporebucks) and a few extras to get me to the center of the universe faster.