Colony

Overview
The Colony is the basic unit of production and resource gathering in the game. Each empire begins with a single colony - its Homeworld. Colonies produce in three activity areas: Food, Science, and material Production (Ships, Buildings, etc). Colonies also house and grow Population.

Colonies (along with Outposts) also act as bases, determining the operational range of the empire's ships.

Strategic success in the game requires expanding the productive capacity of the empire by developing existing colonies and founding new colonies.

Population
Population is the basis of the production of all types of resources. Each Colony has different efficiency factors for the three areas of Food, Production and Science, which multiply the effectiveness of each unit of Population when it is allocated to that activity.

The unit of Population is 1M - 1 million inhabitants. New colonies start at 10m population.

Population Growth
Population growth is variable, based on the ratio of current population to the maximum population the planet can support. Percentage growth slows down as the planet reaches maximum. For optimum population growth occurs when this ratio is as similar as possible on all colonies. Population growth rates are also adjusted by planetary modifiers based on Climate etc.

Population Movement
Population can be transferred between Colonies. The population moves at the standard movement speed. The cost is 1 credit per population unit per turn of travel distance (paid immediately up front). For transfers within the same system, the cost is zero and the transfer is immediate. Otherwise the productive capacity of the transferred population is unavailable until it reaches the destination. Food requirements do not need to be paid while population is in transit between systems.

Population cannot be reduced below 1 unit by transfers (only by enemy attack).

Population transfers, particularly within the same system, are useful as a way of optimising production to meet current needs, particularly when the different planets have different efficiencies.

Food
Each unit of Population requires 1 unit of food per turn. Food will be transported between Colonies when necessary, costing 0.5 credits per food unit (regardless of distance). Excess food is sold for 0.5 credits per unit. This can be a useful source of income (similar to Trade Goods).

If there is insufficient food at a colony, this will cause unhappiness and reduction in population.

If enemy warships are present in a system, colonies in that system are considered Blockaded, and cannot receive transported food. Again this will cause severe population losses each turn.

Production
Population allocated to Production produces "cogs" or "shields" according to the efficiency factor for that planet. The product of allocated Population x efficiency factor gives the total Production per turn on that Colony, shown in red on the Colony's bar chart.

Production can be of Ships, Buildings (including general facilities), or abstract Trade Goods.

Ships
New warships and non-combat ships can be built or existing warships can be Refit. Only one Ship or Building can be under construction on a given planet at the same time. See Ships for more detail.

Refit
If a ship is Refit, an existing ship of one design (usually older) is converted to a different design (usually newer) at a reduced cost. The cost is significantly reduced compared to building a new ship of the new design. This is a good technique for taking advantage of newly developed Ship Component technologies, more quickly and cheaply than building entirely new ships, while also conserving command points.

It is possible to Refit to a different class (e.g. Refit a Destroyer type to a Cruiser type) but the cost savings is less.

In general the production cost of a Refit is calculated by subtracting half the build cost of the old ship from the normal build cost of the new ship. If Refitting from a more expensive design to a cheaper design, this can even result in the Refit being free. Typically a like for like refit is about half the build cost of a new build.

The ship being Refit immediately disappears from the map, and does not count for command points while it is being refit. If production goals are changed during the refit of a ship, the ship is scrapped but no coins are given. The accumulated new production is transferred to the new production goal in the normal way however.

Unfortunately, refit ships carry the old design name, despite having the properties of the new design. This can be confusing when managing fleets, if you use design names that reflect capabilities that change as your technology advances.

Buildings
Buildings, facilities and general planetary improvements can be built. Only one Ship or Building can be under construction on a given planet at the same time. See Buildings for more detail.

Trade Goods
Trade Goods simply converts production power into money, at 0.5 coins per Production point per Population. This is exactly the same as selling off excess Food.

Unlike other Production activities, selecting Trade Goods will cause all currently accumulated Production work in progress on that Colony to be lost.

Switching Production Goal
Normally when you switch Production to a new ship or building, accumulated work in progress is carried over directly to the new item, even when changing from a ship to a building or vice versa. The exception is when switching to Trade Goods. There are also consequences for a Refit - see above.

Outposts
Friendly Outposts in a system can increase the Science or Production output of all friendly colonies in that same system.

Space Defences
Structures can be built to help defend Colonies from warship attack. See Buildings. Friendly warships present in the same system will also help defend any friendly colonies (or Outposts) in that system. There is no other way to prevent Bombardment

Colony Assault
If enemy warships destroy all space based defences, the enemy can launch a Colony Assault with enemy Troops. The presence of friendly Troops and certain defensive Buildings will help to resist this. If the defense fails, the Colony, along with any surviving Buildings - and potentially some credits and technology - will be transferred to the enemy.

At least one warship must be present in order to initiate a Colony Assault.