Colony Ship
The Colony Ship is the heavy alternative to the Colonization Pod — a larger, more durable vessel that carries enough colonization infrastructure to establish a functioning starter economy the moment it lands. Where a Pod claims a planet, a Colony Ship claims a planet and gets it producing immediately.
Colony Ships are slow and unarmed, but their hull is substantial enough to survive a fight it should never have been in as long as an escort is present to absorb the incoming damage. Losing one on the way to a target sets back an expansion plan significantly more than losing a Pod does — build the escort fleet first.
Stats
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Attack | 0 |
| Defense | 15 |
| Speed | 2 |
| Cargo | 500 (colonization payload, not tradeable) |
| Metal cost | 45 |
| Crystal cost | 20 |
| Deuterium cost | 5 |
| Special | Survives combat if escort present. Seeds starter buildings instantly on colonization |
Visual Aesthetic
A larger, reinforced cousin of the Colonization Pod — the same ring-module logic scaled up, with visible cargo-bay doors and a heavier drive section to move the extra mass. Terran Colony Ships are stacked ring modules with airlock hatches every forty degrees. Catari versions are grown as a single crystalline hull rather than assembled from modules. Xantha Colony Ships travel with a visible chitin shell over the payload core. Zikoan Colony Ships show the same patchwork-repair aesthetic as their combat vessels, scaled up.
UI Tooltip
Heavy colonization vessel. Seeds starter buildings instantly on arrival. Slow — always escort.