Space Phase
In the Space Phase, the player can take their civilization to the galaxy beyond.
'Terraforming' is now available, allowing the player to transform uninhabitable planets with special tools to forge oceans and landscapes or change and regulate temperature. These tools can also be used as weapons by the player against enemy worlds.
Players can crash comets into the world to add water, erupt volcanoes or initiate several other forms of natural processes to make the planet suitable for life. Alternatively, the player may create bubble cities on worlds otherwise unsuitable for life that act as self-sustaining arcologies.
Monoliths, artifacts and other items can be placed on worlds to trigger the evolution of intelligence in primitive lifeforms across the galaxy. Other creatures may also be abducted from one planet and transferred to another.
There are also other civilizations called 'empires', mostly created by other players, and the player can interact with these as either friend or foe. The player can either unite or conquer the galaxy through diplomacy or triggering a galactic war. The player also has the ability to destroy a planet to bring other worlds into submission.
When a UFO visits a world with intelligent life, the player may choose to impress the beings with fireworks, attack them with weapons, or mystify them with crop circles. Players can also beam down holographic images of their creature for more direct interaction with the AI civilization. User-created civilizations react to the player depending on its behavior and personality, which is based on the play style of the user who created them. UFOs can also be used to abduct alien creatures from their homeworld for transport to another world to test its livability.
There are over 50,000 planets in Spore's galaxy, including Earth and our own solar system, that all behave as they would reality. Time can be accelerated to watch the dynamics of the galaxy and observe elements such as supernovas, turning spiral arms, nebulae, black holes, and more.
The Space Phase is the definition of 'Sandbox gameplay', in that even though the player has gained near control of everything in the game, previous phases of the game can be easily revisited, meaning there is virtually no end to gameplay.
This is considered to be the final stage of the game, though there is a purported 'secret ending' to Spore that only the most dedicated players will find.
