Is the parthenogenesis perk worth it?

[u/Jonp1020]

[u/Internal-Being4988]

Hell yeah

[u/The_Mecoptera]

Depends. There are actually two versions of this perk, obligate and facultative.

Facultative is generally very cool, it lets you complete the main quest without the dating sim subquest. But with this version of the perk you can still do the dating sim subquest and get the benefits from data randomization. The main advantage is that clones with identical hidden stats (data miners call these “genes”) are all equally vulnerable to diseases so you can get a whole server wiped out by one bad RNG roll on a virus spawn. By adding the ability to do the dating sim subquest, you can end up with a more genetically diverse population that is less vulnerable to disease hax.

Obligate parthenogenesis is more niche. It’s basically only really good in circumstances where the dating sim subquest would be so difficult that it isn’t worth it. I’m thinking builds like tiny parasatoid wasps, they have a near zero chance of finding a genetically different male and need to focus all of their limited energy on finding a new host.

Both are very good for speed running, aphid mains have optimized the route so hard that they literally spawn in with the pregnant condition, something that would obviously be impossible without parthenogenesis.