your followers recruit troops, your number of followers grow over time,increasing the rate your produce ressources

provide a place to live, food and activities for your troops
each especie of alien has diferent needs for example:

one especie will eat your minions if it cant find food.

one especie will destroy your base if it is strong enough and unhappy

one especie will leave you if you cant provide test subjects for experiences

each specie have difrent abilities, unlocked with training or reasearch depending on the creature (your scientists dont need to train combat)