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[greycommotion]

Are super distant colonies viable?

I'm currently using several mods i.e. Nexerelin, Grand Sector (much bigger sector) and Underworld (tougher pirate ships designs).

I'm based on a Terran planet, roughly 100+ light-years from the nearest inhabited system. I had 2 million credits to get the new colony up and running.

Accessibility is roughly -187% (with a spaceport) which means that population growth is not really possible.

100% growth incentives raise it to +1% - which yeah...isn't great (and bleeds me dry among other costs).

I've got a high-tech fleet consisting of 1 dreadnaught, 1 battleship, 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers, 2 light carriers and a bunch of frigates.

I'm being hammered by overwhelmingly strong pirates fleets (despite being a less than 1-month-old colony, theoretically unknown to anyone in the core systems or pirate cartels yet) which I can't beat.

[Underworld means I'm not going up against converted super-freighters; the pirates have proper (albeit low-tech) capital ships.]

Importing ship hulls is not possible due to the distance from the core, and it's far too early for me to have any kind of Heavy Industry. Naturally, the planet has no trade in any goods whatsoever.

So I'm the only line of defence - which isn't enough

I could maybe destroy the pirate base (I haven't checked it out yet); but, let's face it, another one will only spawn immediately after.

What are my options? :S

Do I grit my teeth, accept the raids, try to get a second colony going to mitigate the accessibility malus?

Or politely ask everyone to pack up their stuff, get back on the colony ships, head back to the core, swear ABSOLUTE VENGEANCE against all pirates, brood, and then try somewhere closer to the core when I've got the funds?

PS: If I do abandon this colony will someone else try to take it? Terran planets are rare after all...

[bobucles]

Building a second colony nearby does a lot to change the "nearby colony" penalty. Keep an eye out for systems with multiple decent planets. They don't all need to be winners for the system as a whole to be great.

[Null Ganymede]

Time and credits can buy accessibility. You'll want a self-sufficient group of colonies that can supply each other without requiring cross-faction imports. It'll be expensive.

I'd consider modded playthroughs that make travel (Awakened Gates?) less of a pain in the ass, or allow you to build orbital habitats and mining stations nearby. As it is "interesting" colony challenges are often just a credits+time grind.

[NephilimNexus]

IMHO, cryovolcanic worlds are second only to terran worlds in usefulness.  This is because many of them have all three of regular minerals, rare minerals and gas.  This makes their potential for mining is amazing, as (given time) you can have one world that has mining, refining, light industry, heavy industry and fuel production all operating without any need for imports of anything but food and organics.

If you can find anything that allows growing food (most arid & tundra worlds will suffice for this, even if not as ideal or terran and jungle) in the same system as one of these three-resource blessed cryovolcanic worlds then you've won the lottery - with just two planets (one for food, one for everything else) you can have a completely self contained economy without ever leaving that one star system.

[wei270]

not in vanilla 4 industry cap

[cerberusti]

They are good even with an industry limit.  You really just need to harvest there. 

In my vanilla game I set up my colonies on three moons of the same gas giant, about 20 ly from the core.  It was the best spot in my opinion out of the approximately 40% of the map I have explored.

Cryovolcanic - moderate rare ore, moderate ore, diffuse volatiles (tectonic activity, extremely cold, low gravity)
Cryovolcanic - ultrarich rare ore (+3), abundant ore (+1), abundant volatiles (+1) (tectonic activity, extremely cold)
Arid - Extensive ruins, adequate farmland, sparse ore (-1), abundant organics (+1) (inimical, hot, habitable, decivilized subpopulation)

Every need is satisfied in faction by a very nearby moon.  Decivilized has a population bonus, although not a huge one.  My criteria were first to be able to satisfy every need in system, and second the best ruins I could find.  I liked the convenience of having everything so close as well, it won out partially for that reason.  Three colonies is enough for all industries and all colonies to have a high command. 

[NephilimNexus]

Plus the farther away you are from the core the less likely the major players are to try and raid/attack you, not having to deal with Hedgemony inquistions inspections every other month is a good thing, and getting noticed like "enemy will arrive in a year or two" is a lot better than "enemy will arrive next week".

Though pirates, for whatever reasons, seem immune to distance and will still build annoying bases out in the middle of nowhere just to harass you.  Though it can be kind of lucrative to come home after a year long journey to find the wrecks of twenty or more pirate ships all sitting in your home system, just waiting to be looted.

[intrinsic_parity]

+1 or +2 volatiles will give more income than the rest of the mining combined. Refining is also low upkeep high profit (noticeably higher than the other income industries in my experience). Throw fuel production (with synchrotron) in as well and you will make nearly as much as a terran colony would make and also reduce upkeep on other fuel production worlds by providing volatiles. Its definitely worth having cryovolcanic colonies. They might make 5-10% less than a super optimized terran world but it's 100% worth it if you can get a couple good colonies in one system. They will all get accessibility boosts from being in the same system meaning they will perform better than a lone colony on a perfect terran world. I prioritize having 2-3 colonies over the quality of the worlds because it allows for stacked orbital defenses that can repel almost every raid/expedition and also gives a significant accessibility bonus (and also a growth bonus for the smaller colonies in the system although I'm not sure if that's in vanilla).