Resources in Bacterial Takeover include unique collectibles like Minerals or Evolved Bacteria and basic currency like Bacteria and Gene Strands.
Most resources are lost when attacking planets or upon entering a Black Hole, but some — for example Diamonds and Dark Matter — are never lost unless they are actually used to purchase or research something.
Keep in mind, this page is just a summary. Each of the resources has its own specific page with more detailed information.
Contents
Bacteria
Bacteria are your main resource. They are used for purchasing and upgrading colonies and attacking planets.
The primary source of Bacteria is purchasing Bacteria colonies, but there are several other ways as well.
Bacteria can reach large numbers very quickly, which are displayed using abbreviations or scientific notification, if it has been enabled in the settings menu.
The player loses all his Bacteria when attacking a planet or entering a Black Hole. In doing so, more valuable resources are obtained and new Bacteria can be produced faster.
Main page: Bacteria
Gene Strands
Gene Strands are resources that are obtained by killing a percentage of a planet's population. Other means of earning Gene Strands include recycling Evolved Bacteria and completing daily quests. Gene Strands are not lost after attacking a planet.
Unspent Gene Strands provide a 1% increase to global BPS. This can be increased to 2% by researching Schroedinger's Gene at the Dark Matter Institute.
When entering a Black Hole, Gene Strand upgrades are transformed into Dark Matter.
Main page: Gene Strands
Evolved Bacteria
Evolved Bacteria can be discovered through Bacteria Evolution at the Research Lab.
A player can only equip up to 3 Evolved Bacteria at one time, but there is no limit to how many Evolved Bacteria can be owned.
The Evolved Bacteria which are equipped provide powerful bonuses, such as increased BPC and reduced research time, and other positive effects.
When the player enters a Black Hole, many of their evolved bacteria will randomly die. By default, each there is a 90% probability for each Evolved Bacteria to die. Before entering, the player can secure two Evolved Bacteria which will definitely survive. When the player destroys the fifth planet after the first Black Hole, Bacteria Irradiation is unlocked. It is accessible from the Research Lab and can increase the black hole survivability of an Evolved Bacteria.
Main page: Evolved Bacteria
Scientists
Scientists are different from most resources, as they are returned to the player after each use. The only way to lose a Scientist is by resetting the research tree of the Dark Matter Institute (if the Doppelganger technology has been purchased).
The player starts the game with one Scientist. New Scientists can be bought for Diamonds and one additional Scientist can be earned by researching the Doppelganger technology in the Dark Matter Institute. There is no limit to how many Scientists a player can have, but each consecutive purchase of a Scientist increases its price.
Scientists are required in the Research Labs to produce resources, evolve Bacteria, irradiate Evolved Bacteria and Bacteria colonies, clean the lab after Bacteria mutation, etc. After researching the Quantum Leap technology at the Dark Matter Institute, each idle Scientist also doubles the player's BPS.
Main page: Scientists
Diamonds
Diamonds are a premium resource that can be used to purchase:
- permanent BPS bonuses
- permanent BPC bonuses
- extra Scientists
- bacteria equal to 6 hours of BPS
Diamonds can also be used to instantly complete research or reveal the results of Bacteria mutation. Most bonuses that provide incremental boosts, such as additional BPS, increase in price after each purchase.
Diamonds can be obtained:
- from microtransactions
- from daily logins
- by completing achievements
- by watching ads
- by completing other actions in game (e.g. destroying the 10th planet for the first time will yield 100 Diamonds)
Unlike most resources, Diamonds are not lost when attacking a planet or entering a Black Hole.
Main page: Diamonds
Skill Points
Skill points are used to purchase various upgrades in the skill tree. Both skill points and skill point upgrades are reset only when entering a black hole. Skill points are gained by destroying planets. By default, you earn 5 skill points for destroying a planet - this number is increased by 1 for each time you've entered a black hole.
Main page: Skill Points
Nanobots
The primary use of Nanobots is to kill the last percentage of a planet's population, which is usually harder to infect by using only Bacteria. Nanobots are really useful because they kill the remaining population which the Bacteria can't kill so easily. When using Nanobots, the game only uses the minimum number of nanobots that are required to kill off the remaining population. Similarly to Gene Strands and Bacteria, all Nanobots are lost when entering a Black Hole.
Nanobot Production is unlocked after destroying the fifth planet. Nanobots can be produced by Scientists.
After researching Quantum Robotics at the Dark Matter Institute, the player has a 0.1% chance to produce 1 Nanobot with every tap. The Dark Matter Institute also has some other upgrades, which can increase Nanobot strength by 25%.
All of the planets after Atreria have Nanobot resistance, which reduces Nanobot strength. Nanobot strength is not influenced by added infectivity bonus.
Main page: Nanobots
Dark Matter
Dark Matter is used to research technologies in the Dark Matter Institute. Unlike Bacteria and Gene Strands, it is not lost when attacking planets or travelling through a Black Hole.
Dark Matter is mainly earned from trips through the Black Hole. The amount earned depends on the number of unspent Gene Strands.
Main page: Dark Matter
Minerals
Minerals are collectibles that can be discovered through Planetary Research or from destroying Planets.
Each Mineral is unique and gives some permanent bonus to Bacteria production.
Main page: Minerals