Countering the Vortex Beast

Countering the Vortex Beast

The final version of Infinite Space III: Sea of Stars features a new lifeform called the Vortex Beast. This bizarre creature has a base value of 600 credits, but there is only one way to capture it. You must not only have a Hyperdrive installed on one of your capital ships, but there must be at least one empty slot in your cargo hold. If both of these conditions are met, you will capture the Vortex Beast on your first hyperdrive jump. There is, however, one caveat: from time to time, the Beast will eat a random lifeform in your cargo hold, or disable one of your ships' systems if no lifeforms are present. You might now be wondering how to prevent this from occurring when the Beast is in your hold.

The solution can be summed up in just two words: Toy Robot. If this item is present on the map, it is recommended to keep it in your cargo hold at all times, since it will prevent Esmerelda from stealing any items stored there, as I have explained previously. However, there is another use for the robot: to neutralize a Vortex Beast that has entered your cargo hold after a hyperspace jump. If the beast and the robot are in your cargo hold at the same time, the latter will neutralize the former whenever it attempts to wreak havoc. The game even has a special dialog for this, as shown in the screenshot below.

This is the unique dialog that shows up when a Vortex Beast attempts to eat a lifeform or disable a ship system in the presence of a Toy Robot.

In short, there's one other reason to have a Toy Robot in your cargo hold besides safeguarding it from thieves, and that reason is to prevent Vortex Beasts from causing mayhem aboard your ship.