System Colonisation

Elite Dangerous Trailblazers Key Art — ED Trailblazers

System Colonisation lets players claim and develop uninhabited star systems with free-form expansion in the galaxy.^[1] The player becomes the System Architect when the initial colonisation stages are complete. This allows you to manage colonial development. It's an open process that can be performed by a solo commander, squadron or faction.^[2]

Colonisation has rapidly increased the number of human inhabited systems from the The Bubble across the Inner Orion Spur.^[2] There is an ongoing effort to colonize the Colonia Region. The playable beta version launched on 26 Feb 2025.^[3]

Claim[]

Colonisation Ship ED — Colonisation ship

System colonisation is a player-driven way to expand the Bubble and colonise new systems^[4] Claiming a system works on a first come, first served basis.^[5] The player must find an unpopulated system within 15 light years of a previously inhabited system and claim it from a System Colonisation Contact, available at any Star Port.^[6] Scanning a star system in advance with an FSS reveals the number of slots that are available for construction; larger planets can typically accommodate more surface structures, while a larger number of celestial bodies provides more room for orbital structures.^[7] Some systems are more valuable for construction and different stellar and planetary bodies can boost or negatively impact different kinds of economies.^[7] Showing the System Map in Architect Mode will display the available orbital locations and the number of ground locations available on each body. One of the orbital slot icons will have a flag instead of a "+" sign: this indicates the location where the primary port will be constructed. If that primary port location isn't good, it is not recommended to spend commodities building anything other than a Military outpost. (Why Military? It provides population and security: most other structures subtract security, so it's one of the hardest system statistics to keep up.)

The player must purchase a claim with credits from a Colonisation Contact (CC).^[8] The CC is a member of a faction in a populated system in The Bubble, and will become the initial dominant faction in any system that is successfully colonised (allowing existing BGS factions, player minor factions and - through faction proxies - the superpowers to expand their influence).^[8] A Colonisation Beacon must be deployed in that system within 24 hours.^[8] If this is not done within the time limit then the claim is revoked.^[8] If this process fails twice, there is a 3 day wait until another claim can be made.^[9] The Beacon costs 25 million credits. Multiple new systems cannot be colonised at the same time, though once an initial startport is constructed, another system can be claimed.^[9]

After the Colonisation Beacon has been placed, a Colonisation Ship (CS) will arrive in the system at the initial port location.^[8] These ships are among the largest megaships in the game (easily dwarfing a Drake-Class Carrier) and offer 32 landing pads for cargo deliveries.^[10] The player must deliver a list of items to the CS which depends on the starport type^[8] and acts as an initial hub to work on in the system.^[10] Logistics is key to building a starport by transporting materials into the system.^[11] One all materials are delivered, the newly made starport will appear in the final stages of construction and will be finished after the weekly server tick.^[8] The primary port must be deployed (built) within 4 weeks; if it is not completed within this time limit then the claim will revoked and any commodities will be lost ^[8]. The architect will also be unable to make another claim attempt for 3 days.^[9] The station under construction appears as an uninhabited starport covered in scaffolding, with inactive vendors and services, and notices advising final deployment is underway.^[12]

Once the primary starport is built, the colonization beacon becomes a nav beacon.^[8]

The Type-11 Prospector Update 2 introduced new functionality to prevent 'claim sniping'. When the primary port is completed in a newly colonised system, an exclusive lock on making claims FROM that system's colonisation contact will be enforced for a short period.^[13]

The System Architect may exclusively make claims from the system for 30 minutes^[13]
After this 30 minutes expires, anyone within the System Architect's Squadron may make a claim for the next 23.5 hours^[13]
- This will function even if the System Architect is in their own solo Squadron^[13]

After a total of 24 hours, the exclusive claim rights lift and any player may make a claim from the newly constructed system^[13]
- Note that if the System Architect is not in a squadron, then only the 30 minute lockout applies^[13]
The claim panel via the colonisation contact has been updated to display when a lockout is in effect, and details the remaining duration^[13]

A new Colonization Contact will appear in the completed starport; this gives the option to claim and colonize another system within 15ly by contacting the Colonization Contact.^[7]^[8] There is no limit for how many systems a commander can claim, assuming the the systems are valid and there are no outstanding primary star ports under construction.^[5] ^[7] Given the relatively short distance of 15ly, it is not uncommon for commanders to create a daisy chain of sparsely inhabited systems to create a path towards a more desirable yet distant system.^[10]

If the claimed system has planets with rings, there is a chance that Resource Extraction Sites will be created in the rings.

Icons legend[]

Icons displayed on Galaxy map in System colonisation view mode.

Icon	Description	Notes
	System invalid for colonisation	Establishing a colony in this system is not allowed
	Unclaimed system	System is available for colonisation
	Claimed system	4 weeks timer is running for completion of the primary port
	Inhabited system	System is already colonised. Not available for colonisation. Primary port construction has been completed.
	Inhabited system. Facility under construction	System is already colonised. Some facility (base) is under construction inside the system.
	Your colony	This system is claimed? / colonised? by you
	Your colony. Additional constructions are possible
From base's colonisation UI
	System unclaimed but out of range	System is available, but too far from current base for colonisation
	Valid target system	System can be claimed for colonisation from current base

Construction[]

If all commodities for the primary starport are delivered within the 4-week period, the player who claimed the system becomes the System Architect.^[8]^[10] The architect has direct influence in placing existing assets, starports, planet ports, settlements and other facilities.^[11] There's a plethora of tools to work with. The architect has a certain number of actions to deploy construction sites and locations.^[7]

Before trying to place the first facility after completing primary starport, you must wait until after the weekly maintenance tick, which occurs on Thursdays at 0700 UTC. E.g., if you finished the primary port at 2100 UTC on Thursday, you'll need to wait almost a whole week before you can try placing a new facility. If you finished the primary port at 0600 UTC on Thursday, you only need to wait an hour or two. Unfortunately, this has been complicated by the servers not being able to process all new systems during the maintenance tick, so it's possible you need to wait for a second tick before your system responds to attempts to build a new facility.

Newly placed orbital structures will deploy a Space Depot to handle deliveries and construction, while surface surface facilities deploy a local construction site. Each facility costs commodities and materials to build, with larger facilities requiring more commodities of specific types to complete. There is no time limit for building additional facilities after the initial starport is completed. When construction is finished, the station services will be available after the weekly server tick. After selecting the site for your first facility, verify that the number of concurrent construction sites decreased: this value is found in the Architect View. If it didn't decrease, your system may not have had its first maintenance tick yet. A Javelin-Class Carrier can carry lots of cargo. Squadron mates can help to make hauling easier.

For new surface facilities, after choosing the site, you must leave the instance for the construction site to appear. The construction site for a surface facility may appear immediately after leaving the instance, or it may take up to 48 hours. If it hasn't appeared after 48 hours, check the Architect View to see how many concurrent constructions you can have. If that number didn't decrease after selecting the site, it's possible your system didn't have its first tick of weekly maintenance yet. If a tick happened during the 48 hours you waited, you may want to try placing the site again. Otherwise, you'll need to wait until the tick to try placing the facility again.

The Architect can leave the system in whatever state and return later. Once the system architect moves on, the system development stays as it is with an active BGS.^[5] You stay the System Architect of all your colonies forever.^[5] You can return to edit, add more to one of your old colonies.^[5] There are no colony upkeep costs^[5]

Facility location[]

Note: When opening a new construction project inside your system, although it should have been patched, the facility may be placed in a different construction slot than the one selected originally, If this happens, don't panic. Read the demolition section further.

Why is facility location important? - The position of the facility in the system influences the economy of that system. Facilities closer to their orbiting celestial bodies have more influence than the ones orbiting further. Essentially, the further the facility to a starport, the weaker the market connection.

Ground Ports[]

Do not build ground ports yet: they don't seem to be affected by economic influences. Orbital ports seem to work, however. (Surface Settlements and Surface Hubs seem to work fine: it's just the four Planetary Port surface installations that never sell more than three commodities.)

Colony Tech Tree[]

Colonization Beta 1 Tech Tree by CMDR VanionBB — A chart illustrating the upgrade paths and building requirements for colony development.

The tech tree image shows the beta 1 version (Feb 2025) of the building requirements for a colony.

Each construction adds or substracts the following: Population Increase, Max Population, security, tech level, wealth, standard of living, development level.

Facility demolition[]

A recent update made it possible to dismantle unwanted or wrongly placed facilities.

How to cancel facility construction in an already claimed system:

Open the galaxy map, find the target system the facility is located in
Open the system map and go into architect view mode
Select the facility you want to demolish/cancel construction
Press the demolish/cancel button at the bottom of the construction site required commodities list
Confirm

The demolition process will be completed after server tick/maintenance, a count down timer will be shown in the UI.

Important notes when canceling/demolishing:

- Primary ports may not be demolished.
- Already delivered commodities will not be refunded.
- If you spent Arx to personalize a starport/outpost, it will not be refunded. (This may need confirmation, but assume as such) Starport/outpost paint jobs should still be in your account inventory and it should be possible to apply them to any other starport you constructed, like ship paint jobs.
- Construction points that were used to build that facility will be refunded.
- There is no limit to how many demolition/canceling requests can be made at the same time.
- It is possible to change your mind at any time before the demolition timer count down, by selecting the facility and pressing the "cancel demolition" button, if you decide to keep the facility. Construction progress will be kept.
- (This needs confirmation) Already completed facilities commodities will not be refunded, and any income that such facility contributed to the weekly System architect payment will be lost.
- Any benefits that the facility contributed to the system will also be lost.

More investigation is required on the subject.

Orbital Facilities[]

The system map shows all potential locations for a orbital facility. You can select the location and choose a facility to be deployed. Deliver goods and once that's finished the facility will be deployed.^[7] There are multiple tiers for orbital facilities.^[7] The big spaceports such as the Ocellus take a lot of effort.^[7] A supporting economy with small and mid-tier facilities are needed to unlock the large-tier facilities.^[7] The available orbital facilities are from ED: Horizons.^[7] Here's a list of facilities that can be built:

**Orbital facilities**
Facility	Type	Economy	Location	Tier	Requires	Landing pad	Construction Points Cost	Construction Points Reward	Initial Population Increase	Max Population Increase	System Economy Influence	Security	Tech Level	Wealth	Standard of Living	Development Level
Coriolis	Starport	Colony	Orbital	2	First station	Large	Tier 2: 3	Tier 3: 1	1	0		-2	1	2	3	2
Asteroid Base	Starport	Extraction	Orbital	2	First station	Large	Tier 2: 3	Tier 3: 1	1	0		-1	3	5	-4	7
Ocellus	Starport	Colony	Orbital	3	First station	Large	Tier 3: 6		5	1		-3	6	7	5	8
Orbis	Starport	Colony	Orbital	3	First station	Large	Tier 3: 6		5	1		-3	6	7	5	8
Commercial Outpost	Outpost	Colony	Orbital	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1	0	0		-1		2	5
Industrial Outpost	Outpost	Industrial	Orbital	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1	0	0			3			2
Criminal Outpost	Outpost	Colony	Orbital	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1	0	0	Contraband	-2		2
Civilian Outpost	Outpost	Colony	Orbital	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1	0	0		-1		1	1	1
Scientific Outpost	Outpost	Hightech	Orbital	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1	1	0			3
Military Outpost	Outpost	Military	Orbital	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1	1	0		2
Satellite	Installation		Orbital	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1						1	1	1
Communication station	Installation		Orbital	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1				1	3
Space farm	Installation		Orbital	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1			Agricultural				5	1
Pirate base	Installation		Orbital	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1			Contraband	-4		3
Mining outpost	Installation		Orbital	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1			Extraction			3	-2
Relay station	Installation		Orbital	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1			Hightech	1				1
Military	Installation		Orbital	2	Small/Medium/Large Military Settlement	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1			Military	6
Security Station	Installation		Orbital	2	Relay station	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1			Military	8			3	2
Government	Installation		Orbital	2	First station	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1				2			6	2
Medical	Installation		Orbital	2	First station	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1			Hightech		3		5
Research station	Installation		Orbital	2	Small/Medium/Large Scientific Settlement	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1			Hightech		8			2
Tourist	Installation		Orbital	2	Small/Medium/Large Tourism Settlement	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1			Tourism	-3		6		2
Bar	Installation		Orbital	2	First station	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1			Tourism	-2		2	3

Planetary facilities[]

You can fly around on a planet and choose a custom location to build a facility.^[7] Rotate and place facilities on a planet with a holographic view.^[8] The available slots for additional development are predetermined by the system.^[8] After choosing a facility there will be a ground-based construction site.^[8] Deliver all the goods then the planetary facility will appear.^[8]^[7] The available planetary facilities are from Odyssey and Horizons.^[7] Some facilities give population buffs.^[7]

Warning: In the UI for creating a Settlement, the sizes are shown as "Small" "Medium" and "Large." However, when complete, these will show as "Tiny" "Small (+)" and "Medium (++)" in the Nav Panel. See Issue 73899.

**Planetary facilities**
Facility	Type	Economy	Tier	Requires	Landing Pad	Construction Points Cost	Construction Points Reward	Initial Population Increase	Max Population Increase	System Economy Influence	Security	Tech Level	Wealth	Standard of Living	Development Level
CIvilian planetary outpost	Outpost	Colony	1	First station	Large		Tier 2: 1	2	0		-2			3
Industrial planetary outpost	Outpost	Industrial	1	First station	Large		Tier 2: 1	1	0		-1		2
Scientific planetary outpost	Outpost	Hightech	1	First station	Large		Tier 2: 1	1	0		-1	5			1
Planetary Port	Port	Colony	3	First station	Large	Tier 3: 6		10	10		-3	5	5	6	10
Small agricultural settlement	Settlement	Agriculture	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1	0	0	Agricultural				3
Medium agricultural settlement	Settlement	Agriculture	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1	0	0	Agricultural				6
Large agricultural settlement	Settlement	Agriculture	2	First station	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 2	0	0	Agricultural				10
Small Extraction Settlement	Settlement	Extraction	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1	0	0	Extraction			2
Medium Extraction Settlement	Settlement	Extraction	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1	0	0	Extraction			5
Large Extraction Settlement	Settlement	Extraction	2	First station	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 2	0	0	Extraction		1	7	-2
Small Industrial Settlement	Settlement	Industrial	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1	0	0	Industrial					2
Medium Industrial Settlement	Settlement	Industrial	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1	0	0	Industrial					5
Large Industrial Settlement	Settlement	Industrial	2	First station	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 2	0	0	Industrial			2		8
Small Military Settlement	Settlement	Military	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1	0	0	Military	2
Medium Military Settlement	Settlement	Military	1	First station	Medium		Tier 2: 1	0	0	Military	4
Large Military Settlement	Settlement	Military	2	First station	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 2	0	0	Military	6				2
Small scientific settlement	Settlement	Hightech	2	First station	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1	0	0	Hightech		3			1
Medium scientific settlement	Settlement	Hightech	2	First station	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1	0	0	Hightech		6			1
Large scientific settlement	Settlement	Hightech	2	First station	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 2	0	0	Hightech		10			2
Small tourism settlement	Settlement	Tourism	2	First station	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1	0	0	Tourism	-1		1
Medium tourism settlement	Settlement	Tourism	2	First station	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1	0	0	Tourism	-1		2
Large tourism settlement	Settlement	Tourism	2	First station	Medium	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 2	0	0	Tourism	-1		5
Extraction hub	Hub		2	Small/Medium/Large Mining Settlement	X	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1			Extraction			10	-4	2
Civilian Hub	Hub		2	Small/Medium/Large Agricultural Settlement	X	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1				-3			3	2
Exploration hub	Hub		2	Communication Station	X	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1			Tourism	-1	6			2
Outpost hub	Hub		2	Space farm	X	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1				-2			3	2
Scientific hub	Hub		2	First station	X	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1			Hightech		10
Military hub	Hub		2	Military	X	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1			Military	10
Refinery hub	Hub		2	First station	X	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1			Refinery	-1	3	5	-2	7
High tech hub	Hub		2	First station	X	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1			Hightech	-2	10	-2
Industrial hub	Hub		2	Mining outpost	X	Tier 2: 1	Tier 3: 1			Industrial		3	5	-4	2

Economy[]

Colonisation Linking Infographic 1 ED — Colonisation Linking Infographic

Frontier is patching the economy system on April 30, 2025. They have posted the new economy rules in the patch notes.

On August 21, 2025, Frontier greatly simplified the Economy mechanics: in a given commodity market, the top two economies will not be cannibalized by any economy in that market. The strongest economy will be treated as if no other economies are in the market. The second strongest economy will also be treated as if no other economies are in the market.

Commander Wartface has posted research in the forums that looks useful, but this is from before the August 21, 2025 update.

How To Get CMM Composite[]

If you want your system to generate CMM Composite, you'll need to set up one of the following:

Rocky body. This gives a base economy of Refinery + 1.0. Building a Surface - Planetary Port - Outpost Civilian or Surface - Planetary Port - Port will produce CMM Composite. There's a bonus if the system's reserves level is Major or Pristine, and a penalty for Low or Depleted reserves. If the body has geological signals, biological signals, or terraforming, you may need to add Refinery Hubs on the surface to get the Refinery strength high enough to be one of the top two Economies.
High Metal Content body. This gives a base economy of Extraction + 1.0. You will need to build one of the Planetary Ports with Colony economy (Outpost Civilian or Port) and then build one or more Refinery Hubs. If the body has geological signals, biological signals, or terraforming, you may need to add Refinery Hubs on the surface to get the Refinery strength high enough to be one of the top two Economies.

As long as the Refinery Economy stays in one of the top two spots of the market, you can build whatever else you want in the system (or even on that body).

For a long discussion on this, see this post in the forums, but this is from before the August 21, 2025 update.

Commodities Restricted to Surface or Orbital Markets[]

Some commodities are limited to either surface or orbital markets. The table below describes which commodities are affected by orbital or surface markets.

This may not be a complete list: these are just the ones I know about off the top of my head.

Orbital- and Surface-Restricted Commodities
Commodity	Location	Economy
Ceramic Composite	Surface	Refinery
CMM Composite	Surface	Refinery
Emergency Power Cells	--	Trailblazer Megaships, or High Tech or Refinery near Akhenaten
Explosives	Surface	High Tech or Refinery
Explosives	Orbital	Refinery
Insulating Membrane	Orbital	Refinery
Muon Imager	Surface	High Tech or Industrial
Water	Orbital	Agriculture
Water	Surface	Agriculture or Extraction

Estimate Market Production[]

If you calculate the weights of the various economies (including weak links) for a port, you can use this tool to get an estimate of the supply & demand ratios between commodities. Positive values indicate the market should sell the commodity, and negative values indicate market imports. For instance, my featureless Rocky body with a Planetary Civilian Outpost has economies of Refinery + 1.4, Agriculture + 0.25, Military + 0.25, High Tech + 0.1, and Industry + 0.05. Entering those numbers into the tool, it tells me the "normal" ratio of CMM Composite at the Civilian Outpost is 27.9. This means I should have plenty of CMM Composite available for other facility construction. (Note: Every time you recalculate the economy, you'll need to reselect the number of items to show.)

Government Type[]

In that same video, Mechan suggests the government type of the faction that controls the port also affects the market: if a government type lists a commodity as illegal, it won't be available in the market.

Further official information[]

An anarchy system has reduced security.^[7]

According to an official announcement^[14] on the forum, the economy from a construction specifically affects the markets of starports on or orbiting the same body.

There are also reports that only a commodity market in orbital slot 0 will be affected by economic influences of facilities at that body.

Factions[]

SC is seamlessly connected with the Background Simulation and Powerplay.^[8] Colonized systems can influence the political state of the game based on the facilities and Market Economies just like the established Bubble BGS.^[11]

During the first build in a Colonized system, the system has only the faction from which the colonisation claim was purchased;^[8] this allows the Commander to claim from a preferred faction so that it will be brought over to your system.^[7] The player will also automatically bring in their Squadron's faction, so in this way the player can control two choices of the four initial factions (see below). If a different Background Simulation faction conquers the system later, the System Architect remains in control of the system development and resources.^[8] The Architect stays the same forever.^[5]

The factions that appear when the system is first established are:

The controlling faction in the system where the architect placed the claim using a Contact
The second-placed faction in that system
The faction associated with the architect's Squadron
A random Anarchy faction from the claiming system

The founding faction can lose influence in the system, because anyone can enter the system and participate in both BGS and Powerplay gameplay.^[7]

In Powerplay, Unpopulated systems are initially unaligned; a newly colonized system will enter the "Unoccupied" Powerplay state once it is fully established. As with any other Unoccupied system, you can then expand your Power's influence using the Acquisition mechanic. Each system has an associated value. Every system is unique to some extent which is represented in system colonisation. This can influence your system of choice.^[10]

System colonization is primarily PVE (player versus environment). Players cannot blockade, attack or destroy a colonized system.^[5]

Ownership[]

The controlling minor faction owns the facilities. Some minor factions are allied with a major faction (Alliance, Empire, Federation). The Powers influence and exploit the systems, but don't actually own them. Many ships in a system are owned by a minor faction. Attacking them decreases your reputation with the minor faction. The architect places and manages the facilities in a system. The architect can technically be the owner by allying with a controlling minor faction.

Expansion[]

Expanding The Bubble with colonies can have a galaxy wide effect. For example new trade routes for traders, new hubs for explorers that you can use as a home base before going into deep space.^[10] By having mini-Bubbles with various economies you can haul goods faster to build new colonies.^[8] Long-range colonization in deep space means going back to the Core Systems for goods is a long trip.^[7]

Naming facilities[]

Primary ports must be completed before they can be renamed via the system map. Facilities are named by the existing ED naming system. Without spending Arx, a facility can be renamed using the random-name generator up to 5 times. When renaming with the random-name generator, the architect can generate unlimited random names before clicking Apply or Cancel. The new name is only applied (and counted towards the limit of 5 renames) when the architect clicks Apply. 5000 ARX can be spent for a custom name of a facility with infinite renames.^[9] Commander name is displayed in the system.^[5]

Rewards[]

The Architect amasses rewards via a regular credit payment from each system under your control. This is derived from the number and scale of facilities in the star system. These payments are issues weekly and can be redeemed by visiting an Administration contact. The weekly payment value increases when you accumulate more systems. A galactic tax is placed on your earnings if you earn more than 5 million credits.^[1] Players also receive a small discount on ships and outfitting when purchased in a system with 10 or more facilities.^[1]

Guides[]

Recommended spreadsheets and guides:

Elite Dangerous Colonization Mega Guide - Version 2.0 (by CMDR Mechan)
Colonization construction dependencies
Colonization Build Tree by CMDR VanionBB
System Colonisation Guide (official)
The Pilot's Handbook in the Codex has tutorial information about colonization.

Elite Dangerous Colonization Mega Guide Released

-Audiobook- Colonization Mega Guide

Colonization Guide - Trailblazers Update - Elite Dangerous

Tools[]

Colony building, economy, and logistics planning. (by Raven Colonial Corporation) - Good for planning a build in a new system. Once you specify a system, it will display the features of each body. Once you've selected the facilities you want to build, it will also show the projected economies at each port and total system statistics for Tech Level, Wealth, Security, and etc. Requires you to give an account name in order to save your work. No password or email address is needed. If you care about security, you might want to use something other than your commander's name.
Colonization Construction Details (By DaftMav). reddit post - announcing version 3. This is a spreadsheet with multiple tabs: the most useful tab is probably the Stats tab that shows the economies, points, and statistics for each type of facility. Having all of that info on one screen makes it easy to find which facility fills your next need, e.g. "I want a facility that gives High Tech economy and gives me a T2 point."
ED Colonization Helper by CMDR Mr.Smile - an ED construction tool with carrier and multi-CMDR support.
EDColony - a real‑time logistics companion for Elite Dangerous colony construction. It tracks your active depots, totals what’s still needed, and shows exactly how many trips remain based on your ship’s loadout. This tool was created to provide useful real-time information without the need for manual data input.

Trailblazer fleet[]

On 19 March 3311, the Brewer Corporation deployed the trailblazers fleet to strategic locations on the edge of the Core Systems. These are 'colonisation support hubs' with a bespoke trade market for colonisation materials and goods.^[15]

Brewer COO Mark Rennik said in an interview that the first wave of independent colonisation efforts was ‘overwhelmingly popular’. “The speed at which new systems have been settled and expanded is frankly astonishing,” “and I'm delighted that so many pioneers have taken full advantage of this opportunity.”^[15]


Ship Name	Star System	Notes
Trailblazer Dream	HIP 90578
Trailblazer Song	Orgen
Trailblazer Wish	Bletii
Trailblazer Star	34 Omicron Cephei
Trailblazer Promise	Klikis
Trailblazer Faith	Ngobe
Trailblazer Echo	Minerva

Statistics[]

ED Trailblazers Colonization Stats 24 March 2025 — Trailblazers Colonization stats 24 March 2025

Brewer Corporation released official figures on the initial colonisation rush on 13 March 3311 (2025):^[16] 8 months after Trailblazers launched, the Bubble has expanded exponentially on 4 October 2025.^[17]


Objective	13 March 3311 (2025)^[16]	4 October 3311 (2025)^[17]
System claims made	26,684	101,531
Systems colonised	13,165	75,984
New starports and outposts built	24,037	73,825
Surface installations established	14,216	118,703
Units of cargo delivered to construction sites	983,599,593	-
Space installations completed	-	203,813
Most popular construction	Industrial Outpost - Vulcan - 5,970

Ships[]

The recommended ships for colonization have large cargo capacities. This enables hauling vast quantities of commodities and materials to complete facilities.

Ship Name	Landing pad size	Cargo capacity	Jump range	Top speed	Boost speed	SCO-optimized	Cost
Panther Clipper Mk II	Large	192 t (default) 1238 t (max)	12.52 ly (default) 25.71 ly (upgraded)	182 m/s (default) 206 m/s (upgraded)	252 m/s (default) 286 m/s (upgraded)	Yes	301,388,902 CR
Type-9 Heavy	Large	348 t (default) 790 t (max)	9.15 ly (default) 22.12 ly (upgraded)	132 m/s (default) 151 m/s (upgraded)	202 m/s (default) 232 m/s (upgraded)	No	76,555,842 CR
Type-8 Transporter	Medium	176 t (default) 406 t (max)	23.42 ly (default) 29.37 ly (upgraded)	201 m/s (default) 228 m/s (upgraded)	342 m/s (default) 387 m/s (upgraded)	Yes	38,453,970 CR
Type-7 Transporter	Large	128 t (default) 306 t (max)	13.14 ly (default) 29.75 ly (upgraded)	182 m/s (default) 209 m/s (upgraded)	304 m/s (default) 348 m/s (upgraded)	No	17,472,252 CR
Type-6 Transporter	Medium	50 t (default) 114 t (max)	13.38 ly (default) 30.73 ly (upgraded)	223 m/s (default) 255 m/s (upgraded)	356 m/s (default) 406 m/s (upgraded)	No	1,045,945 CR
imperial Cutter	Large	164 t (default) 794 t (max)	8.21 ly (default) 25.70 ly (upgraded)	202 m/s (default) 232 m/s (upgraded)	323 m/s (default) 372 m/s (upgraded)	Yes	208,969,451 CR

Development[]

Since 2019, there was speculation about a new feature such as Base Building. System Colonisation was unveiled during the Frontier Unlocked #10 livestream on 30 October 2024.^[4]^[10] Frontier's Arthur Tolmie said in Frontier Unlocked #1 (January 2024) that this new feature will be released "this year".^[18] While revealed as a colonisation feature late in the year, the update was ultimately delayed until early 2025 after the Cobra Mk V update and the conclusion of the Thargoid war.^[7]

Beta[]

The Trailblazers update featuring the System Colonisation beta was released on 26 February 2025.^[3] What you do during the beta stays in-game.^[5] Frontier will check that it works correctly, including the tools, make adjustments while gathering data and feedback from players.^[7] During the beta, you can only start from the Bubble and expand from the systems.^[5]