Colony Ships & New Worlds
Expansion beyond your home map requires a colony ship — a special vessel built for founding new worlds, not for everyday combat or trade.
Two paths
First colony on a new map
- Send a colony fleet through a jump gate to a map where you have no established colony yet.
- On arrival, you claim the target world and receive starter support — including basic energy and transport infrastructure if your ship is a true interstellar colonizer.
- This is how you open a second galaxy map as your own territory.
Another base on a map you already own
- Select a colonizer fleet and order colonize on an empty planet, moon, station, or old ship on a map where you already have colonies.
- You gain a new outpost with headquarters and defense — but without the full “new map” bootstrap package.
Same map, empty tile: you can also send a colonizer from the galaxy map without a wormhole — click the empty location and confirm colonization when your fleet arrives.
Each colonization uses up colonizer capacity — plan builds at the shipyard accordingly.
Requirements
- A colony-capable ship from the shipyard.
- A valid empty target you can reach (not owned by someone else).
- For jumps to new maps: jump gates, fuel, and gate capacity like any interstellar move.
- Some actions block colonization nearby — for example an active archaeology expedition at the same location.
Strategy
Do not colonize everywhere at once. Secure one new map, supply it via interstellar transport, stabilize economy and population, then expand again.
A scattered empire without logistics collapses under its own weight.