Console:Colonization

Version

This article has been verified for the current console version (3.4) of the game.

Celestial body

Classification

Colonization

Planetary features

Planet modifiers

Colonization is the process of establishing control over an uninhabited, habitable planet with a Colony Ship.

The first time an empire colonizes another world, it gains 12x engineering output (between 250 ~ 100000)

Humanoid empire colonizing a new world

Habitability

 Habitability is the measure of how comfortably a species can live on a planet. Most species have a climate preference for one of the primary habitable planet types, although more exotic preferences are possible. A planet's habitability for a given species is determined by how closely its climate matches that species' preference. The 9 regular habitable world types are divided into 3 climate categories: dry, frozen, and wet.  Ring Worlds,  Gaia Worlds, and  Ecumenopolises have maximum habitability for all species, while  Tomb Worlds,  Machine Worlds, and  Hive Worlds (except for  Hive-Minded species) normally have  0% habitability for biological species.

Tier	Base
Gaia World, Ecumenopolis, and Ring World	100%
Hive World for  Hive-Minded species	100%
Exact match	80%
Habitat	70%
Climate category match	60%
Climate category mismatch	20%
Tomb World, Machine World, and Hive World	0%

• Every 1% reduction of habitability below 100% increases pops'  upkeep and  amenities usage by +1% and reduces their job output and species growth by −0.5%. It floors at 0% Habitability, giving +100% pop upkeep and amenities usage, and −50% job output and pop growth.
• Homeworlds have +30% habitability for the species originating from them.
• Robot pops have 200% habitability for each planet type, but empires that aren't  Machine Intelligences require the  Droids technology to build colony ships using robots.
• Low Habitability can trigger various events.

Visual cues

Systems containing habitable worlds will have one or more planet icons that are either green, yellow, orange, red, or blue – depending on the habitability percentage and/or status of the planet(s) in question. Planets with the  Terraforming Candidate modifier don't create planet icons unless they are being  terraformed.

Icon color	Habitability
Green	The world is ≥ 70% habitable for at least one species in the player's empire.
Yellow	The world is 40–69% habitable for at least one species in the player's empire.
Red	The world is < 40% habitable for all species in the player's empire.
Orange	The world is habitable but not surveyed.
Blue	The world is currently being terraformed.

Planets with an anomaly or a pre-FTL species cannot be colonized.

Habitability strategies

As only about ⅓ of planets will match the primary species preferred climate category, to fully and efficiently utilize all habitable planets in their own systems, an empire may want to populate its worlds with alien species, genetically-engineered subspecies, or even robots.

It is also possible to  terraform habitable worlds, though this is a costly and time-consuming process and requires the  Terrestrial Sculpting technology to be researched. Only habitable planets and barren worlds with the  Terraforming Candidate modifier can be terraformed.

Genetic Modification

Using genetic modification, it is possible to create a subspecies of the empire's primary species with a different climate preference. However, as genetic modification targets all pops of the same subspecies on a planet, this needs either a first-in approach, requiring suffering through low habitability until the project is completed, or modifiying the pops on an existing colony, preferably one with increased habitability regardless of current climate preference (Ringworld, Habitat, Homeworld, beneficial modifiers). In either case, the cost of modifying pops will delay researching  society technologies.

Changing a habitability trait costs the equivalent of adding a trait worth 3 trait-points and requires the  Glandular Acclimation technology.

Xenos

With all the possible climate preferences, it is likely that some alien species can live comfortably on planets which are unsuitable to the empire's primary species. The main disadvantage is that xeno pops might not have favorable traits. There may also be unwanted  Xenophile attraction or faction interactions from this path.

Xeno pops can be added to an empire to use as colonists via conquest, migration treaties, or – with the  MegaCorp DLC – the slave market. Empires can colonize with any species that has migration access to the empire, even if no pops of that species live on the empire's worlds.

Uplifting, Enlightening, or Infiltrating a pre-sapient or pre-FTL species is another way to acquire xeno pops. With the first, it's possible to get a rare climate preference trait like  Tomb World Preference. Species native to  Tomb Worlds are extremely adaptive and can thrive on any planet – they have 60% habitability on every normal planet class. The usual way to obtain pops of these species is uplifting pre-sapients found on Tomb Worlds. The Horizon Signal event chain can also create a subspecies of the empire's main species with this trait. Alternatively, pops of the main species on Tomb Worlds may Self-Modify via the A New Species event and develop into their own species native to Tomb Worlds.

It is also possible to purchase pops with the  Tomb World Preference trait from  Racket Industrial Enterprise caravaneers.

Improving habitability

Aside from changing climate preference, there are also various other methods for improving habitability:

Species habitability modifiers

	Source
−10%	Nonadaptive
+5%	Bioadaptability
+10%	Starborn
+10%	Adaptive
+20%	Extremely Adaptive
+20%	Cybernetic
+20%	Clone Soldier Ascendant
+30%	Robust
+50%	Lithoid
+50%	Nivlac
Min 50%	Cave Dweller

Empire habitability modifiers

	Source
–2%	Industrial Development 1: Regulatory Facilitation
–5%	Industrial Development 2: Collective Waste Management
–10%	Industrial Development 3: Building a Better Tomorrow
–20%	Industrial Development 4: Environmental Ordinance Waivers
–25%	Industrial Development 5: Project Cornucopia
+5%	Ascetic civic
+10%	Environmental Diversification tradition
+5%	Atmospheric Filtering technology
+5%	Hostile Environment Adaptation technology
+5%	Foreign Soil Enrichment technology
+5%	Eco-Integration Studies technology
+5%	Ecological Protection 3: Integrated Gardens
+10%	Ecological Protection 4: Environmental Control Board
+15%	Ecological Protection 5: Paradise Initiative

Planet habitability modifiers

	Source
−20%	Project Cornucopia feature
−10%	Lithoid Devastation blocker, each
Varies	Planet modifiers
+2.5%	Medical Worker, each
+10%	Tree of Life Sapling
+10%	Gaia Seeder phase 2
+20%	Gaia Seeder phase 3
+20%	Gaia Seeder Outpost

Restricted habitability modifiers

Where		Source
Habitats	+20%	Voidborne ascension perk
Tomb Worlds	+10%	Radiotrophic trait
	+20%	Tomb World Adaptation technology
	+70%	Survivor trait
	+100%	Irradiated trait
Ocean Worlds	+20%	Aquatic
Homeword	+30%	Species originating on planet

Colony ships

Colony ships allow an empire to settle habitable planets or megastructures in owned systems. When ordering the construction of a colony ship, the player is given the option of choosing the species or sub-species of the  pop(s) that will be sent to the new colony. Species require the Colonization Allowed species rights to be selected for new colony ships. Pops are neither consumed nor transported in this process. Once constructed, the colony ship may be sent to any habitable world within an owned system to start a colony. Colony ships take one year to build and their upkeep cost is maintained throughout the whole colonization process. Colony ships can also be built through the interface of the planet to be colonized, which automatically queues the colonization order as long as the path is not blocked.

The cost of a colony ship depends mainly on the empire's primary species class and governing authority.

Primary species
Biological	200 Alloys  200 Food  200 Consumer Goods	200 Alloys  500 Food	50 Alloys  1000 Food
Lithoid	200 Alloys  200 Minerals  200 Consumer Goods	200 Alloys  500 Minerals	50 Alloys  500 Minerals  500 Food
Robot	400 Alloys

The  Frontier Spirit ruler trait reduces the cost of colony ships by −35%.

Alternate colony ships

Meteorite Colony Ship

In addition to regular colony ships, empires with the  Corporate Dominion or  Private Prospectors civics can also construct Private Colony Ships, which cost  500 energy instead. However, the starting pops on a new colony founded by a private colony ship will have random ethics, rather than one of the empire's governing ethics.

Similarly, empires with the  Calamitous Birth origin can also construct Lithoid Meteorites, which cost  500 minerals instead, have no upkeep cost, and take only 150 days to build. Lithoid Meteorites also have a much faster sublight speed than regular colony ships. A planet colonized by a lithoid meteorite gains two Buried Lithoids blockers and the  Lithoid Crater modifier, which adds  −50% habitability.

Colony development

When a Colony Ship lands on a planet, it will be converted into a tier 1 capital building, which can be upgraded further as the population grows. After landing, a period of initial development will occur. The period lasts about 2 years and 10 months at 0 pops, and grows with increasing number of pops. It can also be reduced by the following:

Colony Development Speed Source	Modifier
Habitat	+200%
Evacuation Protocols edict	+100%
AI-controlled Colony Ships technology	+50%
Self-Aware Colony Ships technology	+50%
Ceramo-Metal Infrastructure technology	+25%
Durasteel Infrastructure technology	+25%
Adopting the Expansion tradition tree	+25%
Frontier Spirit ruler trait	+25%
Expansionist diplomatic stance	+15%

While the colony is being established, it is extremely vulnerable: just a few days of orbital bombardment will wipe it out completely. During this period, the new colony does not produce anything and consumes  8 energy. It is possible to remove  blockers while the colony is developing, however their clearance cannot be cancelled or reordered until the colony is fully established. Once the colony has been successfully established, a single pop of the species selected for the colony ship will appear on the planet. It is then possible to develop the planet by constructing  districts and  buildings.

The  Colonization Fever tradition and the  Yuht Cryo Core relic each increase the number of initial pops on a new colony by +1.  Machine Intelligence empires' colonies also start with +1 initial pop.

References

Game concepts