The Complete Guide to Seeds, Flora, and Fauna in Waking Mars

Much of the joy of Waking Mars is in discovering things on your own, but you didn’t open a guide looking for a lecture, did you? No, you came for the sweet secrets. The forbidden knowledge. You want to get right into the gardening and have the science done for you. Don’t worry, friend. We’ve got just what you need.

Seeds Cheat Sheet

First up, the seeds. There are six different types you’ll come across, with one of them coming in two variants. Here’s a list, along with a little useful information about each.

Halid Seeds: These are the first seeds you encounter. They’re green, and when planted in fertile soil they will grow a Halid Zoa. That’s all there is to these.

Hydron Seeds: These blue seeds are basically water. Plant them in fertile soil to grow a Hydron Zoa. You can also use them to water fertile soil, or to activate dormant Ledon Zoa plants.

Prax Seeds: These yellow seeds can only be planted in acidic soil. They’ll grow a Prax Zoa plant, a nasty bit of work that likes to eat various fauna.

Feran Seeds: Red seeds that grow Feran Zoa when planted in acidic soil. In addition to growing Feran Zoa, they also act as explosives. They can destroy weak objects, destroy other Zoa, and kill certain fauna if consumed. Be careful with where you plant these.

Ledon Seeds: Gray seeds that will grow a dormant Ledon Zoa when planted in fertile soil. These seeds are unusual in that Liang can’t actually pick them up. Instead, they just float up to the top of the environment.

Cephad Spore: These come in orange and purple varieties. Both types float and will try to get away from Liang if he comes near. The orange type is acidic and will grow an acidic Cephad Zoa if planted in acidic soil. It can make soil acidic and will kill any plants that require fertile soil. The purple type is alkaline and will grow an alkaline Cephad Zoa if planted in fertile soil. In contrast to the acidic variety, this type will make soil fertile and kill any plants that require acidic soil. Using these spores to manipulate the type of available soil is vital to success.

Flora and Fauna

Seeds are one thing, but what you really need the dirt on are the various life forms you’ll be dealing with, right? Here’s a list of all of the flora and fauna in Waking Mars, along with a bit of useful info on each of them.

Halid Zoa: The first flora you’ll encounter. It needs fertile soil and will respond to being watered by generating seeds and healing Liang. It’s worth 15 biomass points in its base form.

Hydron Zoa: This plant provides the Hydron seeds you’ll need to water soil. It needs fertile soil to grow. Extremely useful, but the downside is that it provides a mere 10 biomass points in its base form.

Prax Zoa: This aggressive flora will attack any nearby life forms, including Liang! It needs acidic soil to grow and will only produce seeds if it eats a life form. While it can be troublesome to work around, you can distract it by giving it a seed to play with. It’s worth a whopping 40 biomass points in its base form.

Feran Zoa: The flora itself isn’t bad, but its seeds are explosive and can hurt other life forms, Liang included. It needs acidic soil to grow. Feran Zoa have a bad habit of destroying all other life forms in an area and completely infesting it. It’s worth 30 biomass points in its base form.

Ledon Zoa: This flora needs to be planted in fertile soil and will only generate seeds if the soil is watered or enriched. Its seeds will float to the top of the environment and cannot be collected by Liang. Difficult to deal with, but it’s worth 40 biomass points in its base form, so it’s worth the headaches.

Cephad Zoa: This flora comes in two different types, acidic or alkaline, depending on what kind of soil it is planted in. Either type will spit out seeds that kill the opposite type of life form and change the acidity of any soil it hits. Because of these behaviors, Cephad Zoa can quickly clear an area and infest it. This wouldn’t be terrible if not for the fact that they are tied for the least valuable life form in terms of biomass value, worth a paltry 5 biomass points in their base form.

Larian: This fauna hangs from roofs and dangles a long tentacle down. It will eat anything it grabs with that tentacle, even going so far as to chew on poor Liang. If it catches a Phyta or Cycot, it will produce compost that can be used to enrich soil. If it eats an explosive Feran seed, it will be killed and cannot be brought back. It is worth 40 biomass points.

Cycot: This is another fauna type, but it moves around. It likes to collect seeds, and will try to bring them back to its nest. If it brings back 4 seeds, a new Cycot will be born. While normally not aggressive, it will attack Liang if he gets too near to its nest. It can be killed if a Larian snatches it with its tentacle, a Prax Zoa attacks it, or a Feran seed explodes near it. It’s worth 40 biomass points.

Phyta: This creature loves seeds and if it eats one, it will reproduce. It is very skittish and will run or jump away from Liang if he comes near. It can be killed if caught by a Larian, attacked by a Prax Zoa, or hit by the explosion of a Feran seed. While it reproduces easily, it’s only worth 5 biomass points.

Use this knowledge wisely and you’ll have flourishing Martian caverns in no time!