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Colonies

Last updated: August 21, 2026

Colonies is the dedicated holdings register: every world you hold, every world you are surveying, and those you have yet to claim. Three states, one list — which tells you something about how Terminus thinks. A world you have not taken is still your business, because knowing what is available is half of a frontier strategy. The register is the strategic view; an individual colony has its own surface where its development state can be inspected directly.

Held, surveyed, unclaimed

The distinction is the register's whole structure. Held worlds are yours and generate the consequences of whatever you have built on them. Surveyed worlds are known — information you paid exploration to acquire. Unclaimed worlds are the pipeline. Reading the register is mostly reading the balance between those three.

From register to surface

A colony surface shows an established world and its development state. It is where the abstraction becomes concrete, and it is the natural companion to the buildings ledger: the register says what you have, the surface says what it looks like, and buildings says what is on it.

Colonies are commitments

Every held world adds something to defend and something to maintain. Expansion in a persistent game is not free, and the defence and reports surfaces are where the bill arrives.

Costs, timings, yields and limits are rules, and rules are in the versioned manual. This page describes what the surface is for, not what it will cost you.

Official source

Canonical source for this subject: Colonies — Terminus. Checked 21 August 2026 — where this guide and the live service disagree, the service is right.

  • Buildings — The colony structure ledger, its upgrade costs and its 3D dossiers.
  • Frontier Exploration — Exploring sectors and systems in a persistent and unstable frontier.
  • Planetary Defense — Inbound columns, bastion works and garrison strength across your holdings.
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