Orbit 2.0, part 4: the poison clouds now have a source. Until now Ember’s clouds spawned on a timer all around the ship and only stopped once the zone was secured. Now three spore mothers sit close to the Core (500–1,300 px): large green broodmasses that spew out a cloud every 6 seconds, which drifts outward through Ember, and defend themselves with slow rings of spores.
- The plague’s strength is tied to the living mothers: each one destroyed removes a third of it, and with all three gone, no new clouds appear (“SPORES CONTAINED”).
- New Ember objective: Contain — destroy all the spore mothers.
- Shows green on the system map, with a location marker, and a help entry SPORE MOTHERS.
Measured: three mothers 976–1,233 px from the Core, eight clouds after 15 s, all drifting outward; plague strength 100 → 67 → 33 → 0 %; no new clouds after that.