SPORE - An Update

I approached the game SPORE much as I did Civilization. I have slowly expanded my empire by building trading relationships, and alliances with neighboring empires. I have slowly acquired nearby solar systems though military conquest, exploration, and purchase.

And I have become better at playing the game.

Thinking each step along the way that I would build a huge empire, and then, and only then begin a star trek toward the galactic center - where the Grox hold a secret which is the key to "winning" the game.

But as I expand my empire I have come to believe that I could in fact spend years, yes you read it right, years expanding my interstellar empire.

There are that many solar systems, and planets in SPORE.

Sometimes when I move from one scale to another as I zoom in toward my empire, and then outbound away from the galactic spiral which my empire is located within I notice how very exceeding small of an area my empire makes up.

All of my conquest, all of my allies, all of my enemies, all of those stars which I have yet to visit, but which I have seen on the fringes are in fact just a drop in the swimming pool of SPORE's galaxy of solar systems.

I have been fooling myself.

I keep telling myself that eventually when I have expanded my empire to such a size that my home world is no longer subject to random attacks that I will focus on some headlong trek toward the galactic center, but this could take weeks.

And then I what?

I could see how it could take quite awhile to move toward the center.

I have recently acquired the ability to move through wormholes, but I have yet to see one, so I am guessing that may solve the problem, but I am not sure.

I accidentally launched a weapon which destroyed the entire biosphere of a planet.

The entire biosphere was left ablaze, and soon enough nearby empires, which I had never even known existed, declared war on me.

Luckily I chose not to save my play action, and reloaded the program, and was more careful about not launching such a destructive weapon.

In SPORE a planet is a terrible thing to waste.