Greetings Commanders,

Thank you so much for your feedback and participation in the live Beta for System Colonisation. The response and engagement we have had has been phenomenal and you have progressed in colonising the galaxy at an incredible rate.

So far you have colonised over 8000 systems and completed over 13,000 facilities! In just a few days that is an astounding achievement!

One of the reasons we launched System Colonisation as a live beta was to test this at scale, which is something very hard to do for us internally. Thanks to your astounding efforts we have received lots of incredibly helpful data and feedback and it has also identified an important issue that needs to be addressed. This issue greatly impacts the ability to claim systems and needs more thorough investigation.

To that end we have made the decision to temporarily disable the Colonisation contact and pause the ability to claim new systems. This will prevent further expansion for the time being but does not impact any of the progress already made. Players that have already claimed systems will still be able to colonise within them.

The development team are working on this as a matter of urgency. As soon as we have more to share we will let you know.

Will there be any more changes following this investigation?
During this live Beta we will be continuing to review data and feedback and make changes where necessary. The live Beta is designed to gather data on scale to ensure we can offer the best outcome.

Will my progress be lost?
No! Any efforts made to colonise the galaxy so far will continue to remain in place and you can continue to focus on building and upgrading your systems. This only affects the ability to claim new areas.

I made a claim but it reset when I logged in, what happens now?
Any progress which was made before the pause will have taken effect but may not have been shown on the UI. This is a visual issue and progress will be correctly displayed once our investigations are complete. No progress has been lost.

Will you be rolling back?
There are no current plans for a roll back.

What about the CG Megaships coming to support System Colonisation?
We have temporarily delayed these until next week.

Will my progress be lost?
No! Any efforts made to colonise the galaxy so far, including any System Architect status', will continue to remain in place and you can continue to focus on building and upgrading your systems. This only affects the ability to claim new areas.

My system architect status is missing/I can't continue to work on my systems
This issue is currently being investigated and a solution will be available very soon. Once this solution is in place your system architect status and progress will be displayed correctly.

Elite Dangerous’ new Trailblazers update[www.elitedangerous.com] offers Commanders a whole new way to leave their footprints across one of the 400 billion stars in the galaxy, as System Colonisation puts you at the helm of universal expansion for the very first time.
In this guide we’ll cover everything you need to know about how to build your own new colony and establish your place in Elite Dangerous’ galactic legacy.


You can also learn about System Colonisation by speaking to the new System Colonisation Contact, who can be found in the contact section of station services.



To start your journey to expand the bubble of human civilisation, begin by accessing the new System Colonisation Contact starport service. You will then be presented with a version of the Galaxy Map to select a nearby unpopulated star system (within a max distance of 16ly) and register your desire to claim it.

After selecting the star system you wish to claim, you must then select the type of initial starport or orbital outpost you would like to build in the system. Available types include:

• Outposts
  
• Coriolis Stations
  
• Ocellus Stations
  
• Orbis Stations

The choice of starport and outpost can be further refined with specialisations, such as a Commercial focus which will result in a Colony economy and increased wealth or an Industrial focus which will result in an Industrial economy and an increased tech level.

The cost to successfully register a star system for colonisation requires spending credits, with the specific cost varying depending on the type of station or outpost you have selected. Once you have successfully registered for a System Colonisation attempt, your claim will last for 24 hours, preventing other players from submitting claims.


After traveling to your selected star system, you will then deploy a System Colonisation Beacon at a pre-determined location. Once launched via the System Colonisation Suite (a new module which all ships will now contain, similar to the Discovery Scanner), the System Colonisation process initiates and establishes you as the System Architect.

The beacon now transmits a star-system-wide countdown, signalling the arrival of a colossal System Colonisation Ship, which provides a temporary hub for the overview and contribution of construction efforts.

As System Architect you will then have a fixed period of time to supply a combination of mined and purchased commodities in order to ensure completion of the colony.


If you don’t have the required mined or purchased commodities to complete your colony, a prompt will provide information on how to source them.

When the System Colonisation Effort is successfully completed, the System Colonisation Ship will leave and the completed primary starport will appear nearby.

The newly established colony is now an Uncontrolled Populated star system and is eligible to be expanded into and controlled via Powerplay.


Once a primary starport has been established, it can be improved and upgraded via the continued supply of resources.

As System Architect you can place build instructions for a variety of facilities, located either in orbit of a planet via the system map or on the planet itself by travelling to the surface and identifying the perfect deployment site.

Available facilities include:

• Satellites
  
• Communication Stations
  
• Pirate Bases
  
• Mining Outposts
  
• Planet Ports
  
• Horizon or Odyssey Settlements

Once a new facility has been selected a Construction Effort will begin for that facility. Any Commander can now fly to this location, dock with the temporary structure, and use System Colonisation services.

The dashboard will allow any visiting player to see what facility is going to be built at this Construction Effort and the current progress, with larger constructions requiring larger amounts of resources (commodities) to complete.

Once a facility is constructed, you will see the economy of the star system change, with different facilities influencing the population, standard of living, tech level and more. As more construction efforts are completed in the system, you will gain access to larger and more complex structures to construct.


System Architects will receive a tax payment from each system under their direction, which is derived by the number and scale of facilities constructed. Taxes will be issued each week and can be redeemed by vising an administration contact.

As you grow your network of accumulated system colonies and the weekly tax values increase, a galactic tax will be placed upon any credits earned over 5,000,000 in order to support mass infrastructure maintenance throughout the galaxy.

In addition to tax rewards, System Architects will also receive a small discount to ships and outfitting when purchased in one of your systems with 10 or more facilities.


With System Colonisation, the Trailblazers update[www.elitedangerous.com] for Elite Dangerous introduces a brand-new way to play, interact with other players and leave your mark on the galaxy. For the first time in the game’s history the Bubble is set to grow and it’s you, Commander, that’s in control of the path the galaxy takes.

Trailblazers[www.elitedangerous.com] is just the first step of a packed year for Elite Dangerous, with more new gameplay experiences, ships and refinements to come. We’ll see you on the frontier.