Overview
You could uplift the primitive neighbors ooorrrrr you could, you know, eat them.
Origin
Necrophage plays very similar to Syncretic Evolution, with a few twists that are mostly positive. Your Prepatent species isn’t quite as strong as a Servile Syncretic species, but your Necrophage species has quite a number of bonuses over a Syncretic dominant species.
Necrophage Origin rules are:
- Can Convert Pops of other species to Necrophage
- Only Necrophage pops may be Rulers or Leaders
- Start with 12 Prepatent Pops
- Guaranteed Habitable World(s) are populated by Primitives
- Must not be: Xenophile, Fanatic Xenophile, Fanatic Egalitarian, Death Cult Civic, Corporate Death Cult Civic, Gestalt.
You start on a regular Homeworld of your climate choice, with 30 total pops (18 Necrophage, 12 Prepatent). You pick traits for both Necrophage and Prepatent Species, just like Syncretic Evolution, and can therefor optimize both. Prepatents are enslaved by default, this is why Xenophile is blocked.
Do note however, that Necrophage and Fanatic Purifier have a painful conflict: FP cannot enslave, and thus your Prepatent species is genocided, leaving you only with Necrophage pops as your only species. Thus, you are crippled with -75% (or lower) pop growth speed. Forever. Until you invade and eat new pops. You *can* pick this Origin+Civic combo but I wouldn’t suggest it 😛
Trait
You have two species to pick traits for, your Necrophage Species and your Prepatent Species. Your Prepatent Species are identical in choice to any normal species, but Necrophage species must have Necrophage trait:
- Leader Lifespan +80 Years
- Ruler and Specialist Resource Production +5%
- Pop Growth Speed -75%
- Worker Resource Production -10%
- Food / Mineral upkeep -50%
This trait cannot be added or removed by Gene Editing, just like Lithoid or Void Dweller traits.
Setting up both species
Because the Necrophage trait enhances Ruler and Specialist production while hurting Worker production, and the Origin itself restricts Leaders and Rulers to Necrophage pops, it is only logical to optimize Necrophage pops as your Ruler/Specialist class, and your Prepatent species to Workers. Your necrophages will not reproduce, only your Prepatent species and other species you may ah, “obtain” later can reproduce. Because of this, Slow Breeders is a free 2 trait points for Necrophage, whereas it is normally a terrible trait choice.
Here is an example of one way to optimize both species. For my Necrophage species, I picked:
- Intelligent
- Charismatic
- Adaptive
- Slow Breeders
- Unruly
For Prepatents, I picked:
- Rapid Breeders
- Ingenious
- Communal
- Unruly
- Slow Learners
You can pick whatever you like, of course, but you should avoid Worker related traits like Industrious on Necrophage, and Specialist related traits like Intelligent on the prepatent. I don’t recommend picking Repugnant on Prepatents (unlike Servile Syncretic pops) since the Necrophyte jobs they fill for Chamber of Elevation will be a useful source of Amenities, and they can fill Holo Theater jobs with Domestic Servitude.
Primitives, help I have zero stability what do
For sake of example, our species starts on an Arid homeworld, and thus that’s our ideal climate. We have 2 Guaranteed Habitable Worlds spawn in match options. These two Guaranteed Habitables will be of the correct climate (Arid) and populated with primitives, ranging from Stone Age to Iron Age from what I can tell.
When you first start scouting and find your habitables, build outposts asap in orbit.
You want to train 2 assault armies on homeworld, once you have 200 minerals to spare. These armies can be ordered to invade the Primitive world; you don’t need a colony ship at all, there is no colonization time, and you automatically enslave the savages living on your new colony. This is a very fast boost of pops early game.
HELP I HAVE ZERO STABILITY AND SLAVE UPRISING AND AHGGHHHFGXZ
When you Invade a primitive planet, you get the Culture Shock modifier added for that planet, for -20 Stability for 10 years. This prevents anyone from being resettled off the planet, even if you resettle Prepatents onto the planet for example.
The fast solution is to adjust your Species Right by pausing right after invasion. Set your new slave pops to Indentured Servitude to fill Specialist jobs you will need. Set Living Standards to Decent conditions for a microscopic increase to upkeep and a significant happiness bonus (well, -20% happiness compared to -30% with Chattel Slavery). Higher Happiness = higher Stability. Build a Holo Theater (or Temple is Spiritualist) to increase Amenities, and have your new pops work the jobs. These changes should bring Stability to at least 50% assuming you have no unemployment or housing issues. Or, you can allow crime for a moment and Negotiate with Crime Lords for the +10 Stability bonus, and then use the above species rights to minimize the crime for good Stability.
Standard conversion process:
After you Invade, build a Holo Theater (or Temple if Spiritualist) for the Amenities. Amenities surplus will buff Happiness, which increases Stability, and helps reduce the crime long enough to wait out Culture Shock. Indentured Servitude pops will not work Entertainer/Duelist jobs, so you’ll have to enslave them as Domestic Servants or resettle two non-enslaved pops to the colony to fill them.
Once Culture Shock is out, you can build Chamber of Elevation to start converting the locals. If crime is bad, resettle a Necrophage to the newly conquered planet AFTER you lock out Ruler jobs, since only Necrophages may be Enforcers. Remember to adjust Slavery Type and Living conditions as described above.
Fastest conversion process:
After you invade, set the local species to Undesirables, and select Necrophage as your Purge type.
The pops will quickly convert into Necrophages, but you’ll want to resettle at least one Prepatent species so you have normal pop growth as well. Although Necrophages have almost no pop growth speed, low habitability will still impact Amenities, Happiness, and Consumer Good upkeeps. This can lead to low stability, and because of the Culture Shock modifier, pops cannot be resettled off of this new colony, only onto it. Lithoids and other Habitability bonuses (such as Cyborg) help with this.
Faster conversion process
Raiding Bombardment Stance can be unlocked by Barbaric Despoilers Civic or the Nihilistic Acquisition. Raiding allows you to scoop up an entire planet full of Primitives and automatically resettle them as slaves. Although you can’t completely depopulate the planet, you can simply Resettle the slaves wherever you need.
This can be slow early game if you don’t take Supremacy tradition and boost your Bombardment damage, or lack Alloys.
The Slooooow conversion:
Build an Observation outpost and Uplift the savages without conquering them after waiting forever to roll the Uplift tech.
For the weak of heart and will.
Now what
Now you should have two or three functional planets and can probably survive until the Khan appears and you grovel to be a Satrapy. Please clap.