Summary
Seeds are the mechanism by which the Dark Fog spreads its influence throughout space. While Relay Stations are deployed only within the Space Hive's system, Seeds are sent out into space and, left unchecked, establish new Hives to colonize other systems.
Mechanics
Dark Fog Hives only produce Seeds after growing very large and established, as a small or medium Hive will use its resources to develop itself and expand its influence within the system instead. Once a Seed is produced, it flies through space with a specific destination system. Seeds are visible on the starmap and display both their system of origin and their destination.
Once a Seed arrives at its destination, it establishes a new Hive and begins gathering energy to grow throughout the system. While the newly-founded Hive is essentially defenseless, it is much more capable of evading the player's notice, as a new Hive is no longer visible on the starmap unless the player specifically looks at the system. Notably, if the destination system has a Hive whose core is destroyed but has not been rebuilt yet, the Seed will rebuild that Hive instead of founding a new one. This scenario is possible if a Hive is destroyed while all its Relays are too busy using their matter to support their Planetary Bases, such as in farming setups.
Player Tips and Tricks
- It takes a very long time for a Seed to actually reach its destination, as they fly through space extremely slowly (at a speed of approximately 1200 m/s). However, ignoring Seeds for too long is dangerous, and if they manage to establish new Hives then the player must take decisive action to eliminate the Hives as soon as possible.
- A Seed can also target a system that already has an existing Hives(s), making the system increasingly hostile if the Seed is not dealt with.
- Seeds are completely defenseless, so if the player notices one and can catch up to it, it can be eliminated without any hassle.
- It may be beneficial to allow Seeds to settle in systems that only have a single planet, as these systems are the easiest places to create Dark Fog farming setups.