Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-26967247-20160209215523/@comment-27394361-20160417195129

The difference between an insect hive (like ants or bees) is that in the case of insects every individuals is important and as the same rank. As anybody here read The Ants by Werber ? Sure, every ants is born with a purpose she will follow her entire life, some to collect supplies, some to nurse newborn, some to fight, some to build, some to breed. But that doesn't make a fighter superior to a builder, or a builder superior to a harvester. They have a different function, but not a different importance, because they believe each and every one is important, and cover one vital aspect of the whole anthill.

That's why in Homeworld Pearls are inferior, because they are disposable, they're here to show the rank of the one they belong so they're not exactly "useful" (sorry to say that, but that's a fact).