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System Colonisation

Revision as of 22:22, 1 June 2025 by Fandom>Univero (added video = Elite Dangerous Colonization Mega Guide Released)

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File:Elite Dangerous Trailblazers Key Art.jpg
ED Trailblazers

System Colonisation lets you claim star systems with player-led, free-form expansion in the galaxy.[1] The Bubble is no longer static.[1] The System Architect manages colonial development. Colonization can be done by a solo commander, group or faction.[2] The beta version is currently playable, launched on 26 Feb 2025.[3]

Claim

File:Colonisation Ship ED.jpg
Colonisation ship

System colonization is a player-driven way to expand the Bubble and colonise new systems[4] Claiming a system is first come, first serve.[5] The player must find an unpopulated system within 15 light years and claim it from a System Colonisation Contact.[6] You can scan a star system in advance to see the number of slots that are available for construction.[7] Some systems are more valuable for construction and different stellar and planetary bodies can boost or negatively impact different kinds of economies.[7] Showing the System Map in Architect Mode will display the available orbital locations and the number of ground locations available on each body. One of the orbital slot icons will have a flag instead of a "+" sign: this indicates the location where the primary port will be constructed. If that primary port location isn't good, it is not recommended spend commodities building anything other than a Military outpost. (Why Military? It provides population and security: most other structures subtract security, so it's one of the hardest system statistics to keep up.)

The player must purchase a claim with credits from a Colonisation Contact (CC).[8] The CC is a member of a faction in a populated system in The Bubble, and will become the initial dominant faction in any system that is successfully colonised (allowing existing BGS factions, player minor factions and - through faction proxies - the superpowers to expand their influence).[8] A Colonisation Beacon must be deployed in that system within 24 hours.[8] If this is not done within the time limit then the claim is revoked.[8] If you failed twice then you must wait 3 days until you can make another claim.[9] The Beacon costs 25 million credits. You cannot claim multiple systems at the same time.[9] A primary starport can be selected and placed in a pre-determined location.[8]

Then a Colonisation Ship (CS) arrives in the system.[8] It is bigger than a Drake-Class Carrier.[2] The player must deliver a list of items to the CS which depends on the starport type.[8] It is a hub to work on in the system.[2] Logistics is key to build a starport by transporting materials into the system.[10] The starport appears in partial construction and will be finished after the weekly server tick.[8] The primary port must be deployed (built) within 4 weeks. If it's not done within the time limit then all progress is lost.[8] Claim will be revoked and any commodities will be lost. You'll be locked out of making another claim attempt for 3 days.[9] The station under construction appears as an abandoned starport with inactive vendors and services.[11]

Once the primary starport is built, the colonization beacon becomes a nav beacon.[8] A new Colonization Contact will appear in the completed starport; this gives the option to claim and colonize another system within 15ly by contacting the Colonization Contact.[7][8] There is no limit for how many systems you can be the Architect, assuming you met the initial conditions per system.[5] [7] You could build basic systems and daisy chain your way towards your favorite system. You can make it your home as the main system.[2]

If the claimed system has planets with rings, there is a chance that Resource Extraction Sites will be created in the rings.

Construct

File:Space Depot ED.jpg
Space Depot

If all commodities for the primary starport are delivered within the 4-week period, the player who claimed the system becomes the System Architect.[8][2] The architect has direct influence in placing existing assets, starports, planet ports, settlements and other facilities.[10] There's a plethora of tools to work with. The architect has a certain number of actions to deploy construction sites and locations.[7]

Before trying to place the first facility after completing primary starport, you must wait until after the weekly maintenance tick, which occurs on Thursdays at 0700 UTC. E.g., if you finished the primary port at 2100 UTC on Thursday, you'll need to wait almost a whole week before you can try placing a new facility. If you finished the primary port at 0600 UTC on Thursday, you only need to wait an hour or two. Unfortunately, this has been complicated by the servers not being able to process all new systems during the maintenance tick, so it's possible you need to wait for a second tick before your system responds to attempts to build a new facility.

Newly placed orbital structures will deploy a Space Depot to handle deliveries and construction, while surface surface facilities deploy a local construction site. Each facility costs commodities and materials to build, with larger facilities requiring more commodities of specific types to complete. There is no time limit for building additional facilities after the initial starport is completed. When construction is finished, the station services will be available after the weekly server tick. After selecting the site for your first facility, verify that the number of concurrent construction sites decreased: this value is found in the Architect View. If it didn't decrease, your system may not have had its first maintenance tick yet.

For new surface facilities, after choosing the site, you must leave the instance for the construction site to appear. The construction site for a surface facility may appear immediately after leaving the instance, or it may take up to 48 hours. If it hasn't appeared after 48 hours, check the Architect View to see how many concurrent constructions you can have. If that number didn't decrease after selecting the site, it's possible your system didn't have its first tick of weekly maintenance yet. If a tick happened during the 48 hours you waited, you may want to try placing the site again. Otherwise, you'll need to wait until the tick to try placing the facility again.

The Architect can leave the system in whatever state and return later. Once the system architect moves on, the system development stays as it is with an active BGS.[5] You stay the System Architect of all your colonies forever.[5] You can return to edit, add more to one of your old colonies.[5] There are no colony upkeep costs[5]

Facility location

File:Slot example.png
Example of slot usage

Important note: As of current game version, when selecting a construction slot and after giving confirmation, there is no guarantee that the starport/facility will be constructed in the selected slot. There seem to be bug that, regardless of the slot that was selected by the player beforehand, the facility may be placed in a completely random slot. Even ignoring this bug, from testing, it seems that no matter the slot selected, there is no insurance of where the station will be placed. You did not mis-click.

Example: if you selected slot 1 for construction, but slot 0 is empty, the construction will be put in the first empty slot which is slot 0 (result from testing, see "Example of slot usage" image on the right). This is especially important due to reports that only a commodity market in slot 0 will be affected by economic influences from facilities at that body.

There is currently no undo option. Every construction project, when confirmed, (except for the primary) are permanent. There is currently no way to remove/move or otherwise modify the construction project.

In the image on the right, the rightmost slot was selected, but the construction began in the leftmost slot, which was slot 0. The second construction on the right is still placed in slot 0, as vertical slot order for moons is inverted.

Ground Ports

Do not build ground ports yet: they don't seem to be affected by economic influences. Orbital ports seem to work, however. (Surface Settlements and Surface Hubs seem to work fine: it's just the four Planetary Port surface installations that never sell more than three commodities.)

Colony Tech Tree

File:Colonization Beta 1 Tech Tree by CMDR VanionBB.png
A chart illustrating the upgrade paths and building requirements for colony development.

The tech tree image shows the beta 1 version (Feb 2025) of the building requirements for a colony.

Each construction adds or substracts the following: Population Increase, Max Population, security, tech level, wealth, standard of living, development level.

Spreadsheets & Guides

Orbital Facilities

The system map shows all potential locations for a orbital facility. You can select the location and choose a facility to be deployed. Deliver goods and once that's finished the facility will be deployed.[7] There are multiple tiers for orbital facilities.[7] The big spaceports such as the Ocellus take a lot of effort.[7] A supporting economy with small and mid-tier facilities are needed to unlock the large-tier facilities.[7] The available orbital facilities are from ED: Horizons.[7] Here's a list of facilities that can be built:

Orbital facilities
Facility Type Economy Location Tier Requires Landing pad Construction Points Cost Construction Points Reward Initial Population Increase Max Population Increase System Economy Influence Security Tech Level Wealth Standard of Living Development Level
Coriolis Starport Colony Orbital 2 First station Large Tier 2: 3 Tier 3: 1 1 0 -2 1 2 3 2
Asteroid Base Starport Extraction Orbital 2 First station Large Tier 2: 3 Tier 3: 1 1 0 -1 3 5 -4 7
Ocellus Starport Colony Orbital 3 First station Large Tier 3: 6 5 1 -3 6 7 5 8
Orbis Starport Colony Orbital 3 First station Large Tier 3: 6 5 1 -3 6 7 5 8
Commercial Outpost Outpost Colony Orbital 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 0 0 -1 2 5
Industrial Outpost Outpost Industrial Orbital 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 0 0 3 2
Criminal Outpost Outpost Colony Orbital 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 0 0 Contraband -2 2
Civilian Outpost Outpost Colony Orbital 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 0 0 -1 1 1 1
Scientific Outpost Outpost Hightech Orbital 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 1 0 3
Military Outpost Outpost Military Orbital 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 1 0 2
Satellite Installation Orbital 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 1 1 1
Communication station Installation Orbital 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 1 3
Space farm Installation Orbital 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Agricultural 5 1
Pirate base Installation Orbital 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Contraband -4 3
Mining outpost Installation Orbital 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Extraction 3 -2
Relay station Installation Orbital 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Hightech 1 1
Military Installation Orbital 2 Small/Medium/Large Military Settlement Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 Military 6
Security Station Installation Orbital 2 Relay station Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 Military 8 3 2
Government Installation Orbital 2 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 2 6 2
Medical Installation Orbital 2 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 Hightech 3 5
Research station Installation Orbital 2 Small/Medium/Large Scientific Settlement Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 Hightech 8 2
Tourist Installation Orbital 2 Small/Medium/Large Tourism Settlement Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 Tourism -3 6 2
Bar Installation Orbital 2 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 Tourism -2 2 3

Planetary facilities

You can fly around on a planet and choose a custom location to build a facility.[7] Rotate and place facilities on a planet with a holographic view.[8] The available slots for additional development are predetermined by the system.[8] After choosing a facility there will be a ground-based construction site.[8] Deliver all the goods then the planetary facility will appear.[8][7] The available planetary facilities are from Odyssey and Horizons.[7] Some facilities give population buffs.[7]

Warning: In the UI for creating a Settlement, the sizes are shown as "Small" "Medium" and "Large." However, when complete, these will show as "Tiny" "Small (+)" and "Medium (++)" in the Nav Panel. See Issue 73899.

Planetary facilities
Facility Type Economy Tier Requires Landing Pad Construction Points Cost Construction Points Reward Initial Population Increase Max Population Increase System Economy Influence Security Tech Level Wealth Standard of Living Development Level
CIvilian planetary outpost Outpost Colony 1 First station Large Tier 2: 1 2 0 -2 3
Industrial planetary outpost Outpost Industrial 1 First station Large Tier 2: 1 1 0 -1 2
Scientific planetary outpost Outpost Hightech 1 First station Large Tier 2: 1 1 0 -1 5 1
Planetary Port Port Colony 3 First station Large Tier 3: 6 10 10 -3 5 5 6 10
Small agricultural settlement Settlement Agriculture 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 0 0 Agricultural 3
Medium agricultural settlement Settlement Agriculture 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 0 0 Agricultural 6
Large agricultural settlement Settlement Agriculture 2 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 2 0 0 Agricultural 10
Small Extraction Settlement Settlement Extraction 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 0 0 Extraction 2
Medium Extraction Settlement Settlement Extraction 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 0 0 Extraction 5
Large Extraction Settlement Settlement Extraction 2 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 2 0 0 Extraction 1 7 -2
Small Industrial Settlement Settlement Industrial 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 0 0 Industrial 2
Medium Industrial Settlement Settlement Industrial 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 0 0 Industrial 5
Large Industrial Settlement Settlement Industrial 2 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 2 0 0 Industrial 2 8
Small Military Settlement Settlement Military 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 0 0 Military 2
Medium Military Settlement Settlement Military 1 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 0 0 Military 4
Large Military Settlement Settlement Military 2 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 2 0 0 Military 6 2
Small scientific settlement Settlement Hightech 2 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 0 0 Hightech 3 1
Medium scientific settlement Settlement Hightech 2 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 0 0 Hightech 6 1
Large scientific settlement Settlement Hightech 2 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 2 0 0 Hightech 10 2
Small tourism settlement Settlement Tourism 2 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 0 0 Tourism -1 1
Medium tourism settlement Settlement Tourism 2 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 0 0 Tourism -1 2
Large tourism settlement Settlement Tourism 2 First station Medium Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 2 0 0 Tourism -1 5
Extraction hub Hub 2 Small/Medium/Large Mining Settlement X Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 Extraction 10 -4 2
Civilian Hub Hub 2 Small/Medium/Large Agricultural Settlement X Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 -3 3 2
Exploration hub Hub 2 Communication Station X Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 Tourism -1 6 2
Outpost hub Hub 2 Space farm X Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 -2 3 2
Scientific hub Hub 2 First station X Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 Hightech 10
Military hub Hub 2 Military X Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 Military 10
Refinery hub Hub 2 First station X Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 Refinery -1 3 5 -2 7
High tech hub Hub 2 First station X Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 Hightech -2 10 -2
Industrial hub Hub 2 Mining outpost X Tier 2: 1 Tier 3: 1 Industrial 3 5 -4 2

Economy

File:Colonisation Linking Infographic 1 ED.jpg
Colonisation Linking Infographic

Frontier is patching the economy system on April 30, 2025. They have posted the new economy rules in the patch notes.

Commander Wartface has posted research in the forums that looks useful.

How To Get CMM Composite

If you want your system to generate CMM Composite, you'll need to set up one of the following:

  1. Rocky body without geological signals, biological signals, or terraforming. (Vulcanism and rings are acceptable.) This gives a base economy of Refinery + 1.0. Building a Surface - Planetary Port - Outpost Civilian or Surface - Planetary Port - Port will produce CMM Composite. There's a bonus if the system's reserves level is Major or Pristine, and a penalty for Low or Depleted reserves.
  2. High Metal Content body without geological signals, biological signals, or terraforming. (Vulcanism and rings are acceptable.) This gives a base economy of Extraction + 1.0. You will need to build one of the Planetary Ports with Colony economy (Outpost Civilian or Port) and then build one or more Refineries.

Do not build Industrial, Military, or High Tech facilities on or above the body, as they can quickly consume the CMM Composite production.

If you plan to build many Military, Industrial, or High Tech facilities in the system, you may need to build a second Planetary Port on your Refinery body: only the first Planetary Port will be penalized by the weak links from the other facilities. The second Planetary Port will just receive the strong links from the Refineries.

For a long discussion on this, see this post in the forums.

Estimate Market Production

If you calculate the weights of the various economies (including weak links) for a port, you can use this tool to get an estimate of the supply & demand ratios between commodities. Positive values indicate the market should sell the commodity, and negative values indicate market imports. For instance, my featureless Rocky body with a Planetary Civilian Outpost has economies of Refinery + 1.4, Agriculture + 0.25, Military + 0.25, High Tech + 0.1, and Industry + 0.05. Entering those numbers into the tool, it tells me the "normal" ratio of CMM Composite at the Civilian Outpost is 27.9. This means I should have plenty of CMM Composite available for other facility construction. (Note: Every time you recalculate the economy, you'll need to reselect the number of items to show.)

Government Type

In that same video, Mechan suggests the government type of the faction that controls the port also affects the market: if a government type lists a commodity as illegal, it won't be available in the market.

Further official information

An anarchy system has reduced security.[7]

According to an official announcement[12] on the forum, the economy from a construction specifically affects the markets of starports on or orbiting the same body.

There are also reports that only a commodity market in orbital slot 0 will be affected by economic influences of facilities at that body.

Factions

SC is seamlessly connected with the Background Simulation and with Powerplay.[8] Colonized systems can influence the political state of the game based on the facilities and Market Economies just like the established Bubble BGS.[10]

During the first build in a Colonized system, the system only has the faction from which the colonisation claim was purchased;[8] this allows the Commander to claim from a preferred faction so that it will be brought over to your system.[7] The player will also automatically bring in their Squadron's faction, so in this way the player can control two choices of the four initial factions (see below.) If a different Background Simulation faction conquers the system later, the Colonization Architect remains in control of the system development and resources.[8] The Architect stays the same forever.[5]

The factions that appear when the System is first established are:

  • The controlling faction in the system where the architect placed the claim using a Contact
  • The second-placed faction in that system
  • The faction associated with the architect's Squadron
  • A random Anarchy faction from the claiming system

The founding faction can lose influence in the system, because anyone can enter the system and participate in both BGS and Powerplay gameplay.[7]

In Powerplay, Unpopulated systems are initially unaligned; a newly colonized system will enter the "Unoccupied" Powerplay state once it is fully established. As with any other Unoccupied system, you can then expand your Power's influence using the Acquisition mechanic. Each system has an associated value. Every system is unique to some extent which is represented in system colonisation. This can influence your system of choice.[2]

System colonization is primarily PVE (player versus environment). Players cannot blockade, attack or destroy a colonized system.[5]

Ownership

The controlling minor faction owns the facilities. Some minor factions are allied with a major faction (Alliance, Empire, Federation). The Powers influence and exploit the systems, but don't actually own them. Many ships in a system are owned by a minor faction. Attacking them decreases your reputation with the minor faction. The architect places and manages the facilities in a system. The architect can technically be the owner by allying with a controlling minor faction.

Expansion

Expanding The Bubble with colonies can have a galaxy wide effect. For example new trade routes for traders, new hubs for explorers that you can use as a home base before going into deep space.[2] By having mini-Bubbles with various economies you can haul goods faster to build new colonies.[8] Long-range colonization in deep space means going back to the Core Systems for goods is a long trip.[7]

Naming facilities

Primary ports must be completed before they can be renamed via the system map. Facilities are named by the existing ED naming system. Without spending Arx, a facility can be renamed using the random-name generator up to 5 times. When renaming with the random-name generator, the architect can generate unlimited random names before clicking Apply or Cancel. The new name is only applied (and counted towards the limit of 5 renames) when the architect clicks Apply. 5000 ARX can be spent for a custom name of a facility with infinite renames.[9] Commander name is displayed in the system.[5]

Rewards

The Architect amasses rewards via a regular credit payment from each system under your control. This is derived from the number and scale of facilities in the star system. These payments are issues weekly and can be redeemed by visiting an Administration contact. The weekly payment value increases when you accumulate more systems. A galactic levy is placed on your earnings if you earn more than 5 million credits.[9] Players also receive a small discount on ships and outfitting when purchased in a system with 10 or more facilities.[9]

Trailblazer fleet

On 19 March 3311, the Brewer Corporation deployed the trailblazers fleet to strategic locations on the edge of the Core Systems. These are 'colonisation support hubs' with a bespoke trade market for colonisation materials and goods.[13]

Brewer COO Mark Rennik said in an interview that the first wave of independent colonisation efforts was ‘overwhelmingly popular’. “The speed at which new systems have been settled and expanded is frankly astonishing,” “and I'm delighted that so many pioneers have taken full advantage of this opportunity.”[13]

Ship Name Star System Notes
Trailblazer Dream HIP 90578
Trailblazer Song Orgen
Trailblazer Wish Bletii
Trailblazer Star 34 Omicron Cephei
Trailblazer Promise Klikis
Trailblazer Faith Ngobe
Trailblazer Echo Minerva

Statistics

File:ED Trailblazers Colonization Stats 24 March 2025.png
Trailblazers Colonization stats 24 March 2025

Brewer Corporation released official figures on the initial colonisation rush on 13 March 3311 (2025):[14]

  • 26,684 - Claims have been made
  • 13,165 - Systems have been colonised
  • 24,037 - New starports and outposts have been built
  • 14,216 - Surface installations have been established
  • 983,599,593 - Units of cargo have been delivered to construction sites

Development

Since 2019, there was speculation about a new feature such as Base Building. System Colonisation was unveiled during the Frontier Unlocked #10 livestream on 30 October 2024.[4][2] Frontier's Arthur Tolmie said in Frontier Unlocked #1 (January 2024) that this new feature will be released "this year".[15] While revealed as a colonisation feature late in the year, the update was ultimately delayed until early 2025 after the Cobra Mk V update and the conclusion of the Thargoid war.[7]

Beta

The Trailblazers update featuring the System Colonisation beta was released on 26 February 2025.[3] What you do during the beta stays in-game.[5] Frontier will check that it works correctly, including the tools, make adjustments while gathering data and feedback from players.[7] During the beta, you can only start from the Bubble and expand from the systems.[5]

Videos

References

ru:Колонизация систем

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