Example: Establishing a New Colony

Updated: v2026.01.30

This worked example walks through the complete process of establishing a productive colony on a surveyed world – from initial geological survey through colony ship deployment, infrastructure buildup, and trade route development. Each step includes the decision logic, numerical requirements, and timeline expectations.

Note: This scenario assumes a conventional start with TN technology unlocked. Mining output uses base tech (10 tons/mine/year), and construction uses base factory rates (10 BP/factory/year). Higher technology levels will increase these values proportionally.

Objective

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Establish a self-sustaining mining and industrial colony on a mineral-rich moon in a neighboring star system, growing it from initial landing to a productive 50-million-population world over approximately 20 years of game time.

Starting Conditions

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  • Home system: Sol, Earth population 800 million, 20 automated mines on Mars
  • Target: Ganymede (Jupiter system) – previously surveyed, confirmed mineral deposits
  • Jump capability: Jump drive technology available, 1 jump point from Sol to Alpha Centauri (but Ganymede is in-system, no jump needed)
  • Available ships: 2x colony ships (50,000 tons, 25,000 colonist capacity each), 4x freighters (50,000 tons cargo each)
  • Technology: TN-start with basic conventional industry and construction factories
  • Starting minerals on Earth: Adequate Duranium, Neutronium, Corbomite, Tritanium stocks

Step 1: Survey and Site Selection

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Geological Survey Results (Previously Completed)

Before colonizing, a geological survey ship must have surveyed the target body. Our survey of Ganymede returned:

Ganymede Mineral Survey:
  Duranium:    Acc 0.7, Qty 2,800,000 tons  (good)
  Neutronium:  Acc 0.4, Qty 1,200,000 tons  (moderate)
  Corbomite:   Acc 0.9, Qty 500,000 tons    (excellent accessibility)
  Tritanium:   Acc 0.3, Qty 3,500,000 tons  (low accessibility but huge quantity)
  Boronide:    Acc 0.6, Qty 800,000 tons    (good)
  Mercassium:  Acc 0.1, Qty 200,000 tons    (poor -- not worth mining initially)
  Vendarite:   Acc 0.5, Qty 600,000 tons    (moderate)
  Sorium:      Acc 0.8, Qty 1,500,000 tons  (excellent -- fuel production!)
  Uridium:     Acc 0.2, Qty 400,000 tons    (low)
  Corundium:   Acc 0.4, Qty 900,000 tons    (moderate)
  Gallicite:   Acc 0.6, Qty 700,000 tons    (good -- engine production)

Why Ganymede?

Selection criteria for a colony target:

  1. Multiple high-accessibility minerals – Duranium (0.7), Corbomite (0.9), Sorium (0.8) are all excellent
  2. Sorium deposits – enables local fuel production (critical for self-sufficiency)
  3. Gallicite availability – needed for engine construction
  4. Quantity – multi-million ton deposits last decades under heavy mining
  5. Location – in-system, no jump transit required (simplifies initial logistics)

Tip: Accessibility determines mining output per mine. An accessibility of 0.9 means each mine produces 90% of its theoretical maximum. Below 0.3, consider automated mines instead of manned operations – the population cost is not worth the low output.

Colony Cost Assessment 

Ganymede Environment:
  Temperature: -160C (well below habitable range)
  Atmosphere: None (vacuum)
  Gravity: 0.146g (below species minimum)
  Hydrosphere: 0% (subsurface ice only)

Colony Cost Factors:
  Temperature: (160/17.5) = 9.14
  Breathable gas: 2.0 (no atmosphere)
  Gravity: 1.0 (below minimum)

  Final CC: 9.14 (temperature is worst factor)

This is a HIGH colony cost world. Every colonist requires 9.14 units of infrastructure to survive. This means our colony will be infrastructure-intensive, but the mineral wealth justifies the investment.

Step 2: Initial Colony Ship Deployment

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Preparing the Colony Fleet

Before launching colony ships, we need to pre-position infrastructure:

Initial deployment (Year 1):
  Colony Ship 1: 25,000 colonists (workers for installations)
  Colony Ship 2: 25,000 colonists (additional workers)
  Freighter 1: Infrastructure (minimum 50,000 * 9.14 = 457,000 units needed!)
  Freighter 2: Infrastructure (continued)
  Freighter 3: Infrastructure (continued)
  Freighter 4: Automated mines + construction factories

Infrastructure Calculation 

Initial population: 50,000 colonists
Colony Cost: 9.14
Required infrastructure: 50,000 * 9.14 = 457,000 units

Infrastructure per freighter load (50,000 ton capacity):
  Each infrastructure unit = 1 ton (transported as cargo)
  Per freighter: 50,000 units

Freighter loads needed: 457,000 / 50,000 = 9.14 loads

Problem: We need 10 freighter loads just for initial infrastructure, but only have 4 freighters. This means multiple trips.

Tip: Always ship infrastructure BEFORE or WITH your colonists. Never send population to a world without sufficient infrastructure – unhoused colonists suffer attrition (death). Calculate infrastructure needs before launching colony ships.

Revised Deployment Strategy 

Phase 1 (Year 1, Months 1-6):
  4 freighters carry infrastructure (200,000 units total)
  Hold colony ships at Earth

Phase 2 (Year 1, Months 7-12):
  4 freighters carry remaining infrastructure (257,000 units)
  Colony ships depart with initial population

Phase 3 (Year 2):
  Freighters carry automated mines and construction factories
  Colony ships return to Earth for next load

Transit time Earth to Ganymede at freighter speed (~1,500 km/s):

Distance: ~600 million km (average Earth-Jupiter)
Transit time: 600,000,000 / (1,500 * 3600) = 111 hours = ~4.6 days
Round trip: ~10 days

With in-system transit this short, multiple runs are very feasible.

Step 3: Mining Operations Setup

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Automated Mines vs Manned Mines

For a CC 9.14 world, manned mines require massive infrastructure support per worker. Automated mines require no population and produce the same base output \hyperlink{ref-ex-colony-1}{[1]}:

Manned Mine:
  Output: 10 units/year per mine (at accessibility 1.0)
  Workers: 50,000 per mine
  Infrastructure: 50,000 * 9.14 = 457,000 per mine
  Advantage: Uses population (renewable resource)

Automated Mine:
  Output: 10 units/year per mine (at accessibility 1.0, same as manned)
  Workers: 0
  Infrastructure: 0
  Cost: 240 BP (double a manned mine's 120 BP)
  Advantage: No population/infrastructure overhead
  Disadvantage: Each is 50,000 tons to transport, double the build cost

\hyperlink{ref-ex-colony-1}{[1]}

Decision: Start with automated mines, transition to manned as infrastructure grows.

In C# Aurora, mines extract from ALL mineral deposits on a body simultaneously. Each mine produces from each mineral based on that mineral’s accessibility. Initial deployment:

Per Automated Mine (annual output per mineral):
  Production = 10 * Accessibility
  Duranium: 10 * 0.7 = 7.0 tons/year
  Sorium: 10 * 0.8 = 8.0 tons/year
  Corbomite: 10 * 0.9 = 9.0 tons/year
  Gallicite: 10 * 0.6 = 6.0 tons/year
  ...etc for all minerals present

20 Automated Mines Total Annual Output:
  Duranium: 20 * 7.0 = 140 tons/year
  Sorium: 20 * 8.0 = 160 tons/year
  Corbomite: 20 * 9.0 = 180 tons/year
  Gallicite: 20 * 6.0 = 120 tons/year

Tip: Mines in C# Aurora extract from ALL mineral deposits on a body simultaneously. You do not assign mines to specific minerals. Output per mine per mineral is simply (mine output) * (mineral accessibility). High-accessibility deposits produce more from every mine.

Step 4: Industrial Buildup

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Construction Factory Deployment

Once basic mining is running, deploy construction factories to build on-site:

Year 2-3 Deployment:
  Ship 20 Construction Factories to Ganymede
  Each factory: produces 10 BP/year of installations
  Total production: 200 BP/year

Priority build queue:
  1. Infrastructure (1 BP each, conventional industry can also help)
  2. Additional automated mines (60 BP each)
  3. Fuel refineries (for local Sorium processing)
  4. Maintenance facilities (reduce failure rates)

Conventional Industry Alternative

Conventional Industry produces infrastructure without TN minerals:

Conventional Industry:
  Output: 5 infrastructure/year per factory
  No mineral cost (uses only wealth/population labor)
  Workers: 50,000 per factory

20 Conventional Industry installations:
  Output: 100 infrastructure/year
  Workers needed: 1,000,000
  Infrastructure for workers: 1,000,000 * 9.14 = 9,140,000 units

At CC 9.14, the infrastructure overhead for manned facilities is enormous. The colony starts heavily automated and transitions to manned operations only after terraforming reduces colony cost (see the Terraforming Example for that process – though Ganymede’s CC 9.14 makes full terraforming impractical without advanced technology).

Step 5: Growing the Colony

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Population Growth Phases 

Phase 1 (Years 1-5): Automated Operations
  Population: 50,000 (minimal staff for oversight)
  Mining: 20 automated mines
  Industry: 0 manned (all remote-operated)
  Infrastructure: 457,000 units (minimum)
  Focus: Extract minerals, ship to Earth

Phase 2 (Years 5-10): Initial Manned Expansion
  Population: 500,000 (imported via colony ships)
  Mining: 20 automated + 5 manned mines
  Industry: 10 construction factories
  Infrastructure: 4,570,000 units (500k * 9.14)
  Focus: Local construction, fuel refining

Phase 3 (Years 10-15): Industrial Colony
  Population: 5,000,000
  Mining: 20 automated + 25 manned mines
  Industry: 50 construction factories, 20 fuel refineries
  Infrastructure: 45,700,000 units
  Focus: Self-sufficient mineral/fuel production

Phase 4 (Years 15-20): Major Colony
  Population: 50,000,000
  Mining: 20 automated + 100 manned mines
  Industry: 200 construction factories, 100 fuel refineries, 50 ordnance factories
  Infrastructure: 457,000,000 units
  Focus: Full industrial capacity, fleet support

Population Transport Calculation

To move from Phase 2 to Phase 3 (adding 4.5 million people):

Colony ship capacity: 25,000 per ship per trip
Trips needed: 4,500,000 / 25,000 = 180 trips (with 2 ships)
Trips per ship: 90 trips
Trip time: ~10 days round-trip
Total time: 90 * 10 = 900 days = ~2.5 years

With 4 colony ships: ~1.25 years

Tip: Population growth is often the bottleneck for colony expansion. Invest in colony ship construction early. A fleet of 8-10 colony ships can move millions of colonists per year within a system.

Step 6: Fuel Production

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Why Local Fuel Matters

Ganymede’s high Sorium accessibility (0.8) makes it an ideal fuel depot \hyperlink{ref-ex-colony-2}{[2]}:

Fuel Refinery:
  Input: 1 Sorium per refinery per year
  Output: 40,000 litres of fuel per refinery per year
  Workers: 50,000 per refinery

With 20 fuel refineries:
  Sorium consumed: 20 tons/year
  Fuel produced: 800,000 litres/year
  Workers: 1,000,000

At 80 tons/year Sorium production from 20 automated mines, we have abundant raw material. The refineries consume only 20 tons/year, leaving 60 tons/year surplus for stockpiling or export.

800,000 litres of fuel per year supports:

A 10,000-ton cruiser at 2,500 km/s consumes ~552 litres/hour at full power
  Annual consumption at 50% duty cycle: 552 * 4,380 = 2,417,760 litres
  Our 20 refineries support: 800,000 / 2,417,760 = 0.33 cruisers continuously

This is still inadequate for fleet support -- scale to 100+ refineries for a fleet depot

Fuel Depot Scaling 

Target: Support a 6-ship destroyer flotilla
  Per destroyer: ~300 litres/hour * 4,380 hours = 1,314,000 litres/year
  6 destroyers: 7,884,000 litres/year
  Refineries needed: 7,884,000 / 40,000 = 198 refineries

This requires Phase 4 industrial capacity (50M+ population)

Step 7: Trade Route Development

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Setting Up Civilian Trade

Once a colony reaches 10+ million population with mineral stockpiles, civilian shipping lines begin operating automatically:

Civilian Trade Activation Requirements:
  1. Colony population >= 10,000,000
  2. Mineral surplus on colony (supply)
  3. Mineral demand on homeworld (demand)
  4. Civilian shipping line exists with cargo capacity
  5. Route is within civilian shipping range

Trade Route Economics 

Ganymede exports (Phase 3+):
  Duranium surplus: ~50 tons/year (mining output minus local consumption)
  Sorium surplus: ~60 tons/year (excess beyond refinery input)
  Corbomite surplus: ~80 tons/year (high accessibility, low local demand)

Earth imports:
  All TN minerals in demand for construction and research
  Fuel (processed on Ganymede, shipped to Earth)

Civilian shipping generates wealth for both colonies through trade. The wealth income from trade helps fund further infrastructure expansion.

Tip: Civilian trade routes activate automatically when supply and demand conditions are met. You do not need to manually set up routes – just ensure both colonies have spaceports and the civilian economy is enabled. Check the Economics window to monitor trade activity.

Military Supply Routes

For strategic mineral transport (when you want guaranteed throughput rather than civilian shipping):

Military freighter route (standing order):
  4x Freighters assigned to Ganymede-Earth circuit
  Cargo per trip: 200,000 tons total capacity
  Trip time: 10 days round-trip
  Annual throughput: 36.5 trips * 200,000 = 7,300,000 tons/year

  This vastly exceeds current mining output
  Reduce to 1 freighter for current production levels
  Scale up freighter assignment as mining grows

Step 8: Long-Term Colony Viability

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Self-Sufficiency Checklist

A colony is self-sufficient when it can:

[x] Mine its own minerals (Phase 1 achieved)
[x] Produce its own fuel (Phase 2 achieved)
[x] Build its own installations (Phase 3: construction factories)
[x] Maintain its own ships (Phase 3: maintenance facilities)
[ ] Build its own ships (requires naval shipyard -- Phase 4+)
[ ] Conduct its own research (requires research labs -- Phase 4+)
[ ] Grow population naturally (requires low CC or massive infrastructure)

When Ganymede Becomes a Fleet Base 

Fleet Base Requirements:
  Fuel depot: 10,000,000+ litres stored
  Maintenance facilities: 50+ (for destroyer-class vessels)
  Ordnance factories: 20+ (missile production)
  Naval shipyard: 1x 6,000-ton capacity minimum
  Population: 25,000,000+ (workforce for all facilities)

Estimated timeline to fleet base: Year 15-20

Common Mistakes

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  1. Sending colonists before infrastructure: At CC 9.14, every colonist needs 9+ infrastructure units. Sending population without pre-positioned infrastructure causes attrition (deaths). Always ship infrastructure first.

  2. Ignoring colony cost in planning: A CC 1.0 world needs 1 infrastructure per person. A CC 9.14 world needs 9.14x that investment. Factor CC into ALL logistics calculations.

  3. Overcommitting to manned mines on high-CC worlds: At CC 9.14, the infrastructure cost per manned mine worker makes automated mines far more cost-effective until CC is reduced through terraforming or genetic modification.

  4. Neglecting Sorium deposits: Fuel independence is critical. A colony that cannot produce its own fuel depends entirely on supply lines from Earth. Prioritize Sorium-rich worlds for colonization.

  5. Forgetting transit capacity: Moving millions of colonists requires dedicated colony ship fleets. A single 25,000-capacity colony ship takes years to populate a major colony. Plan ship construction accordingly.

  6. Not building a spaceport: Civilian trade requires spaceports on both endpoints. Without a spaceport, no civilian shipping will service your colony regardless of supply/demand conditions.

  7. Ignoring maintenance: Ships and installations suffer failures without maintenance facilities. A remote colony without maintenance support will see increasing equipment breakdowns over time.

References

\hypertarget{ref-ex-colony-1}{[1]}. Aurora C# game database (AuroraDB.db v2.7.1) – DIM_PlanetaryInstallation PlanetaryInstallationID=7 (Mine). MiningProductionValue=1.0 (10 tons/year per mine at accessibility 1.0). PlanetaryInstallationID=12 (Automated Mine). MiningProductionValue=1.0 (same base output as manned mine). Workers: Mine=0.05 (50,000), Automated Mine=0.0.

\hypertarget{ref-ex-colony-2}{[2]}. Aurora C# game database (AuroraDB.db v2.7.1) – DIM_PlanetaryInstallation PlanetaryInstallationID=3 (Fuel Refinery). RefineryProductionValue=1.0 (40,000 litres/year at base tech). Workers=0.05 (50,000).

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