Spore Cell Phase Walkthrough Guide

Planet selection

Welcome to Spore! At the start of your game, you will be shown the galaxy map.

From here, it is possible to start a new game, or continue with one already in progress. To start a game off, select a planet of your choice (it really makes no difference besides the colouring). From here, you will be presented the option of which stage to start at. If this is your first time playing Spore, you will only have one option- the cell phase- but as you progress through the ages it is possible to start a new game somewhere else at an age of your choosing, providing you have played through it once on your original game.

Diet Selection and Feeding
At this screen, you are asked to select your diet.
This will prove very important, as this will decide the path your creature will take, and could well influence the outlook of you species and empire in the other four stages.

Carnivore

Choosing carnivore- and sticking to that path- will ultimately lead your race to become aggressive and warlike. This will unlock abilities for each era which will focus on fighting, war, and destruction. Carnivores can eat meat chunks which can be seen floating around the area around you in the Cell phase. It is also possible to consume other creatures by swimming mouth first into them. This will break them down into meat chunks which you can then eat.

Herbivore

If you choose herbivore, your race will ultimately become friendly and peaceful, if you keep to the path. This will unlock abilities that will help with the befriending of other species in the creature and tribal phase, and eventually the converting of other cities and empires in the Civilisation and Space stages. Herbivores eat green plant circles, which can be seen floating about in the Cell phase. Later on they can also be found attached around the edges of bigger plants.

Omnivore

It is also possible to find the proboscis part during the Cell phase, which will allow your creature to become an Omnivore, and so take a middle path, if you are careful. This will lead your species towards becoming a mixture of the other two paths, and eventually industrious with a focus on the economy in the late stages. The abilities unlocked by this path focus on increasing the wealth of your species, and in the Civilisation and Space stages make it easier to purchase the cities/planets of other races. Omnivores feed by either eating green plants, like herbivores, or by swimming into other creatures. This will make them suck DNA and food from the creature, which can be done at least twice before the creature dies. However, Omnivores are not able to feed on meat chunks like Carnivores.


Never fear, though, as it is more than possible to change the direction your creature takes in the Creature or Tribal phase, or even switch mouths during the Cell phase, if you desire!
DNA and Growing

In the Cell phase, DNA is used to purchase new parts for your creature, through the cell creator screen.
This can be accessed by pressing the “call mate” button and swimming towards your mate. DNA is gained from eating your required type of food. Parts can also be sold for the amount of DNA you bought them for. As your creature collects DNA it will grow bigger and gain health, and once a certain amount is gained it will go to the “next level” of size. Eventually, once enough DNA is collected, it will be able to grow legs and go to land.

Parts

New parts in the cell phase are shown by a token, which shows the image of the part it unlocks, as shown here.
These new parts can be acquired by two means. They can either be found by hunting other creatures which possess parts you do not yet have. When the creature dies, a token will come from them in the same way meat chunks do. It is also possible, if you are a herbivore, to simply wait for another creature to kill them, and then pick the part up afterwards. Another way to collect these parts is by finding meteor rocks. These appear as glowing rocks, which once swam into release a part in the same way killing a creature does. This image provides a picture of a meteor rock, and it is in the centre, towards the top.
These parts can be added to your creature through the Cell editor page, as shown under DNA and Growing. These parts have different effects on your creature, which will be displayed if you hold your mouse over the desired part. Note that placement is important for some parts but not for others. Parts like the Cilia will increase your cells speed and turn rate regardless of where it is, but the Electric part will project a field in front of where it is placed. Generally experimentation mixed with common sense will help you decide the best place to put all your parts.



History and Alignment
As you progress through Spore, the choices you make will determine the social path your species will follow. In the Cell phase, this means the type of way in which they feed. It is possible to check which path your species is following by pressing the blue button in the bottom right hand side of your screen, which will then bring up an image showing your creatures past actions and what effect they have had.
Checking this fairly frequently will help to make sure your creature follows the path you want it to.



Land
Eventually, once you have gained enough DNA, your cell will be able to evolve legs and go to land. When you wish to, you may press the bottom blue right hand button to bring up the history graph once more. This will show you the social path your cell has followed for this stage, and what ability it will gain for the creature phase.
This will also determine what type of mouth it will able to use in the next stages- for instance, if you are a Predator, you will only have access to Predator mouths and not Omnivore or Herbivore ones.

After this, you will enter the cell creator for the last time this stage. Your cell will no longer be 2D, but 3D, and will contain the option to add legs.
You may still add/change parts if you wish, as they now perform different functions, but almost immediately you will be able to access parts with better functions once you reach land. Please note that once on land you will no longer be able to use any other mouth type than the one your species alignment path dictates. This means that it may be advisable to take the Omnivore mouth through with you to the next stage, as it means that you will be able to eat fruit and other animals on land, rather than just one or the other, while still retaining the ability and social path you chose to follow.