Very large ships that travel the wormhole network housing a permanent population. The ship is a colony. They are the location of choice for people who don't wish to live permanently in a star system. Colony ships will visit different systems, stay for a few months or longer, and then travel to another system. Generally the reason people choose this lifestyle is to be able to move immediately in the event of war and conflict. Many house 'closed' populations, the people living in the colony ship all follow the same lifestyle, and anyone wishing to join the colony will be expected to adopt the same lifestyle. Religious orders, artist groups, spice farmers and groups of scientists are just a few examples of societies that choose to live on a colony ship. Many are cylindrical and spin to produce spin gravity, but designs that have a freefall, or weightless environment are common.

These ships will also travel across open space to visit star systems outside the wormhole network. Some of these systems have populations, many do not. When visiting stars without a wormhole, most colony ships will do mining for rare metals to trade when they eventually return to the wormhole network or encounter a society needing those metals. These miner groups make up a significant portion of colony ships, they travel to unsettled system across open space, mine and then return to the wormhole network to trade. During the journey, the population will engage in whatever pursuit they wish, mine for a few years, and then return with a large load of valuable metals. These journeys will often take ten years or more, and the miners will leave their funds invested to reap the rewards when they return.

They are the ships of choice for settling new star systems outside the wormhole network, often carrying a small wormhole that can be enlarged for travel when the new system is settled. Sometimes the point of settling a star system outside the wormhole network is to be away from wormholes and the conflict that seems to be inevitable when connected to the network, and no wormhole is carried along. Colony ships are also used for exploring new systems, usually carrying a small wormhole with no intent of enlarging it for travel, using it only for communication.