Critter Flux-O-Matic

The Critter Flux-O-Matic is a story-trait building found in a special Point of Interest. It appears inside a sealed room made of Obsidian mosaic Tiles and entered through a Gravitas Door, with a Critter Flux-O-Matic in the center alongside a Computer Podium, a First Aid Kit, and an Anatomy Poster. A section of the right-hand floor is made of Copper Ore Mesh Tiles above a small pool of Polluted Water. This Point of Interest can generate about 3 biomes from the Printing Pod, but not in very hot biomes, biomes too close to the surface, or Oil Biomes.

The building itself is 3 by 4 tiles, with its middle column solid. Its lower-left and lower-right cells are the working cells: critters are delivered to the left side and exit from the right side. When first discovered, the building is inactive.

To begin the story trait, a duplicant must manually activate the building through its interface. After activation, the Critter Flux-O-Matic must be supplied with species data from critters belonging to five different species. Critters placed in the lower-left cell are pulled into the machine, scanned for 15 seconds, and then dropped back out on the lower-right cell. Critter Drop-Offs can be used to move critters into position more easily.

Only five different species are needed for progression. Once a species has been scanned, additional critters of that same species can still be scanned, but they do not advance completion. For example, scanning a Hatch and a Drecko advances progression by two, while scanning a Hatch and a Stone Hatch advances it by only one. The building’s UI tracks the number of species already scanned, and the circular indicator at the top center of the machine fills in one wedge per species.

After five different species have been scanned, the story trait can be completed through the interface notifications. Completion awards one Keepsake and unlocks the Critter Flux-O-Matic’s Gene Manipulation Mode.

Once Gene Manipulation Mode is unlocked, the machine remains usable and changes how scanning works. Its status shows as Online when ready, and it will indicate whether it can receive critters. Variant morphs can still be scanned normally, but they are simply scanned and returned without any additional effect. When a base morph is scanned, however, it is converted into a random variant morph of that species.

The possible results depend on the critter’s current egg chances, or on a baby’s morph default egg chances, excluding the base morph. In practice, this means a critter can only become a morph it could currently lay an egg for, aside from the base morph itself. For example, a Hatch can become either a Stone Hatch or a Sage Hatch, a Pokeshell can become either an Oakshell or a Sanishell, and a Shine Bug can only become a Sun Bug. After a successful morph, the Critter Flux-O-Matic enters a 540-second cooldown before it can scan another critter for conversion.