40 articlesWarhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader puts you in charge of much more than just your flagship. As the Rogue Trader, you’ll need to get upgrades and traits for every Colony. At the same time, you have to reclaim worlds throughout the Koronus Expanse.
In case you’re wondering, Rogue Traders in Warhammer are powerful Imperial servants who get to control a starship and also manage a variety of colonies across the galaxy.
That said, colony management looked intimidating when it was first introduced. However, it’s actually one of the most rewarding systems in the game. And since launch, Owlcat has made a lot of upgrades and changes to colony progression.
So in this guide, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about colonies, their upgrades, and their traits!
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How to Get Every Colony
All five colonies in the game can be acquired during Act 2 of the game. In fact, four of them are tied to the main story and completely unmissable due to that!
However, Foulstone is a notable exception as it can be missed entirely if you make certain dialogue choices.
Nonetheless, here’s how to get all five colonies:
- Foulstone, Trinnitos System – Available during Act 2. Accept to provide protection to Vox Master Vigdis and then select the Dogmatic or Iconoclast choice at the end of the book segment.
- Choosing Heretic choices while interacting with Vox Master Vigdis and during the book segment will lock you out of getting Foulstone as a colony!
- Janus, Telikos Epsilon System – Automatically unlocked after completing the “World Shapers” story quest during Act 2.
- Dargonus, Mortus Acies System – Automatically unlocked after completing the “Spiders in a Jar” story quest during Act 2.
- Kiava Gamma, Cranach System – Automatically unlocked after completing the “Flame in the Dark” story quest during Act 2.
- Vheabos VI, Mortus Acies System – Automatically unlocked after completing the “Blades in the Void” story quest at the end of Act 2.
How Colonies Function
Colonies have 3 main stats related to them, as follows:
- Efficiency – How many resources you get from a colony, with each point yielding 10% more resources.
- Complacency – Governs how much Profit Factor a colony generates. Each point increases Profit Factor generated by 10% but also lowers the completion speed of projects by 10%.
- Security – The most esoteric of the stats, it governs how well a colony handles negative events. It’s unclear how exactly it works, but it does lower the loss of resources from negative events.
All of these 3 main stats can be raised up to 10 by completing Projects and obtaining certain Traits.
On top of these main stats, there are also a variety of resources that are required for research projects. There are a lot of them, such as weapons, provisions, people, and Adamantium.
However, all of these resources can be earned by completing quests, Colony Projects, and through using Extractiums on your colonies.
You can get Extractiums by purchasing them from vendors and by trading.
All resources mostly work the same as far as your Rogue Trader is concerned, it’s just that different resources are required for different projects!
But, we’ve mentioned projects quite a few times already without explaining what they are, right? Well, time to change that!
What Colony Projects Are and Which Ones To Get
Colony Projects are, in essence, upgrades for your colony. They can be researched from the Colony Management screen for each colony, and there are dozens for each colony.
They all require varying amounts of resources, and they all have a variety of effects.
For example, some of them will increase your reputation with certain traders, while others will just make the colony generate more of a certain resource.
Back then, you have to carefully plan every single project since progression was a bit too restrictive. That’s no longer the case now, thanks to the colony overhaul.
For example, Psyker-focused parties can obtain several exceptionally strong pieces of equipment through colony projects, while other developments provide replenishing trauma-removing Medkits, additional escort ships for Voidship combat, or permanent stat bonuses that remain useful throughout the campaign.
Likewise, projects that unlock Navigator Insight, consumables, or improved ship performance generally provide excellent long-term value regardless of your chosen archetypes.
Colony Traits
Lastly, let’s look at Colony Traits. These are smaller upgrades that you can earn during the game’s events or by purchasing them via Contracts.
Contracts can be found in their own tab inside your Journal. They can be unlocked by making certain dialogue choices throughout the game or by just progressing through quests.
You can choose to fulfill Contracts anytime you wish, all of them just require you to pay a certain amount of your colony resources.
In exchange, you’ll either get different resources or obtain Colony Traits.
There are also two types of Colony Traits, which you can differentiate by their color.
Golden ones are the “Chronicle of the Protectorate” traits, which are based on choices you make during events and when researching projects.
They generally don’t affect a colony’s functionality, they just explain its story.
Green ones are the common traits you’ll get by meeting certain objectives in quests or by completing contracts, and they all provide boons to your colonies.
Truth be told, most of the important Colony Traits you can get are decided at the end of Act 2, as we will explain in our next section.
Important Colony Traits To Get
Several companion rewards obtained during The Emperor and My Right have changed since release.
For example, Jae and Cassia no longer provide the same colony stat bonuses. Instead, they now grant Kasballica reputation and Navigator Insight respectively. This makes them valuable for entirely different reasons.
Pasqal and Abelard continue to offer powerful Efficiency bonuses, while Heinrix remains an excellent option for improving Security across every colony.
Due to these changes, there is no universally correct pair of companions to choose anymore.
If you’re interested in faster economic growth, you’d want to aim for Efficiency bonuses. If you spend a lot of time optimizing warp routes, you may find Cassia’s Navigator Insight significantly more valuable than before.
That said, don’t become overly concerned with maximizing every single colony statistic.
With the colony overhaul, it’s now entirely possible to reach the stat cap naturally while completing enough projects to earn excellent equipment, consumables, and ship upgrades along the way. Personally, it’s best that you view colonies as a long-term investment.
Keep your resource production steady, complete projects that complement your current companions, and pursue narrative choices that fit your role-playing preferences.
Anyway, this brings us to the end of our guide! We hope we’ve helped you make the most out of managing your colonies in Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader.
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