According to the lore, their back is the place where they stick the trophies from their fallen enemies (spikes shown in artwork). 

That doesn't sound like the best place for feeding purposes.

These are the kind of threads i love, im not a dev but i have a theory, if you look carefully you can see that most cravers have some sort of metal backpack or "armor", my theory is that they doesnt eat trhough their mouths instead all of the biomass they adquire ( plants, animals, sentient beings, maybe even zooplancton since they are supposed  to eat the entire planet biosphere) is processed in some sort of biomass slurry filled with the all nutrients they need which is then injected in their digestive system which is probably located in the backpack thing. 

Well, they definitely have mouths.

Nibot wrote:

I was curious because some of them in the art seem to have only square faceplates, with no mouth exposed, but some have the mouth.

My theory still stands maybe the mouth still exist as an organ but its not used anymore or its some sort of leftover like human coxis, and their alimentation comes from nutrient paste from processed humans or whatever. 

I wasn't trying to disprove your theory. I am still curious to hear from the developers on what they think, it is possible that the mouth might not be visible on some of the Cravers from past artwork.

Nibot wrote:

I was curious because some of them in the art seem to have only square faceplates, with no mouth exposed, but some have the mouth.

I think that's because the artwork you showed was from ES1 rather from ES2. I'm assuming that ES2 Cravers have more noticeable mouths rather than their ES1 counterparts. 

That seems to be what I have observed, I wonder if the change in design renders the old concept art as non-canon?

Nibot wrote:

That seems to be what I have observed, I wonder if the change in design renders the old concept art as non-canon?

It's not that much of a change really...Mostly they turned to 4 armed beings now.

The way I see it, they could have small heads and mouths and still be able to devour stuff rapidly. I always imagined them as having a proboscis inside their mouths that they use to inject digestive fluids into their prey, thus dissolving it from the inside and generally making it easier to consume.

Dear Endless Developers,

During the duration of my writing as a Craver, I have come upon several questions regarding the anatomy of the race. From all of the illustrations and lore that I have found, and I may have missed some, I cannot figure out how the Cravers would ingest food. Does their mask slide down to reveal some sort of a mouth, or is there some other type of valve on their armor that gives them the ability to eat? How would their digestive system be integrated into the body so that it could work with this system?

Thank you,

Nibot

vahouth wrote:

According to the lore, their back is the place where they stick the trophies from their fallen enemies (spikes shown in artwork). 

That doesn't sound like the best place for feeding purposes.

Where did you get that though?

Looking through some of the artwork that was on the site, it seems that the faceplates simply cover the mandibles, so it seems that a backpack feeder would be unlikely.

Zennock wrote:

vahouth wrote:

According to the lore, their back is the place where they stick the trophies from their fallen enemies (spikes shown in artwork). 

That doesn't sound like the best place for feeding purposes.

Where did you get that though?

Its from the artbook i think but most cravers doesnt have those at least most cravers on the new artworks.

vahouth wrote:

According to the lore, their back is the place where they stick the trophies from their fallen enemies (spikes shown in artwork). 

That doesn't sound like the best place for feeding purposes.

You sure? to me it looks like its cover the entire face.

Except maybe on the craver leader which has a weird mouth thing. 

solrac137 wrote:

Zennock wrote:

vahouth wrote:

According to the lore, their back is the place where they stick the trophies from their fallen enemies (spikes shown in artwork). 

That doesn't sound like the best place for feeding purposes.

Where did you get that though?

Its from the artbook i think but most cravers doesnt have those at least most cravers on the new artworks.

Yeap, it's from the artwork book.

Also according to the book, the faceplates are usually there due to injury. Even if they're not removable though, there could be mechanisms or some kind of apparatus that enables them to feed.

vahouth wrote:

solrac137 wrote:

Zennock wrote:

vahouth wrote:

According to the lore, their back is the place where they stick the trophies from their fallen enemies (spikes shown in artwork). 

That doesn't sound like the best place for feeding purposes.

Where did you get that though?

Its from the artbook i think but most cravers doesnt have those at least most cravers on the new artworks.

Yeap, it's from the artwork book.

Also according to the book, the faceplates are usually there due to injury. Even if they're not removable though, there could be mechanisms or some kind of apparatus that enables them to feed.

I wonder if this is still canon, considering that the craver leader has been changed and the fact that all cravers have robo legs and helmets now. 

There is another question i wonder about cravers. In their description they are supposed to be the most advanced hunter-gatherer of all time. But they use people as cattle. That's exactly what hunter-gatherer don't do : breeding. People they enslave are supposed to be consumed. In this case, population of a planet controled by cravers is supposed to reduce until the last cravers remain and maybe even starve to death. Thosep lanet are not supposed to be a resilient place like it is in the game. Actually, they are maybe good alien farmers, but no more hunter-gatherers.

SuperMarloWorld wrote:

There is another question i wonder about cravers. In their description they are supposed to be the most advanced hunter-gatherer of all time. But they use people as cattle. That's exactly what hunter-gatherer don't do : breeding. People they enslave are supposed to be consumed. In this case, population of a planet controled by cravers is supposed to reduce until the last cravers remain and maybe even starve to death. Thosep lanet are not supposed to be a resilient place like it is in the game. Actually, they are maybe good alien farmers, but no more hunter-gatherers.

The answer is simple: not every Craver is hunter-gatherer.

https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space-2/forum/65-general/thread/18796-multiple-species-coexistence?page=1#post-145831

Thanks for the link, very intersting ! But that don't make them hunter-gatherer at all. So they have some soldiers and breeders. The fact that soldiers come back with the food/cattle of captured slave put them out of hunter-gatherer type of society, because hunter gatherer means : no breeding, no agriculture, mostly nomadism. 

Also, the link is funny because cravers society works as a totally fucked-up eusocial insect society. Most of the eusocial insect societies tend to increase the life time, chance of survival, of each member of its population (except some cast, most of the time the male repoducers). A strong example : In an ant society, the younger members make the safe and easy tasks (take care of babies, maintain the buildings, etc.), and the old members make the dangerous and hard task (exploration, hunting, etc.), so each ant have globaly the same life time, and is more "worthy". In ants societies, there are some casts (soldiers, workers, queen(s)), but each cast is able to change its role when its needed. Those mechanism tend to make a eusocial insect society stronger, polyvalent, and resilient. 

Cravers are all the contrary. Most of the cravers are destined to die, and reduce the strenght of its society because of the waste of ressources any death is (how many meal a dead craver offer compared to all he did eat ?). Each member of the craver society is not polyvalent (or dont look), so if the wrong cast die or don't born, the entire society is doomed. There is no clue about why they need to be constantly at war : they have an incredibly weak, unable to adapte, and costly society. If they cannot sustain their fucked up system, they canno't survive. 

Honneslty, if cravers invade the earth, humans are dead for sure, but insects, and especially ants will survive to them. Endless scientists who created cravers was super bad at ecology, totally crazy, or very angry...