Colonies and Colonists

• Homeworlds
  There is an unlimited supply of colonists who are willing to pay to leave their homeworld. Homeworlds are the only source of colonists, all other planets are colonies or potential colonies.
  
  
• Transport and Payment
  Ships may only carry passengers or troops who are of the same race as the shipbuilder, as they do not carry life-support equipment compatible with other races. Colonists may only be unloaded at planets which are populated by the same race. Colonists pay the ship captain when they arrive at their new home. The captain receives more money for delivering colonists to less crowded planets. Small planets might seem crowded with relatively few colonists, while large planets could potentially have a large number of colonists without seeming crowded.
  
  
• Founding a Colony
  If a planet has no population, unloading the first 100 colonist families will found a new colony. The founding player gets to name the new colony, and collect any taxes from commodity trading as long as he maintains control of the colony.
  
  
• Colony Populations
  Colonists do not reproduce, colonies only grow their populations when ship captains bring more colonists. Colony populations can be reduced by xenocidal ground attacks or by the presence of illegal commodities such as weapons or addictive substances.