Frequently Asked Questions

General

How do I report/mute a player in Colonist?

If you click on a person's name/avatar, you will have the option to mute or report them.

Dice rolls have a really strange distribution in some games. Are the dice broken?

• No. Your experience is just one of thousands of games of Colonist played every day. In one game the dice rolls may vary substantially from an ideal distribution, but when you add up all the dice rolls from all the games played in the site, things average out to something resembling a bell-curve distribution
• This article contains a simulator you can use to create distribution graphs using our random dice algorithm (thanks @Charith)

Ranked System

How long does a season last?

Each season lasts 3 months. You can check its progress at the bottom right corner of the Leaderboards.

What are placement games?

• Before a player appears on the leaderboards, they need to play 10 placement games. These games still count as ranked and their result will be reflected in the leaderboards
• Placement games are reset at the start of every season. This helps keep things fresh for players, encouraging them to keep playing and making sure the gaming experience stays exciting season after season

What is Rating?

Matchmaking Rating is a value that determines the skill of each player. Winning increases a player's Rating score, while losing decreases it. Players are matched according to their Rating.

How does Rating work?

• Rating gain/loss for each player is calculated before the game starts, and only 1st place will gain Rating. If you do not win, you lose the same Rating points whether you finish 2nd, 3rd, or 4th place
• Your Rating gain/loss is based on Rating gap. Winning against higher ranked players will increase your Rating more than winning against lower ranked players
• The Rating gained/loss during initial placements also considers your performance in previous seasons. That's why some players might get a higher rank with less won games than others. As long as your performance stays consistent, playing around 40 games will get you back to your previous rank
• This emphasis on recent performance helps maintain fairness and balance in player rankings by preventing drastic swings and rewarding consistency

Is Rating reset after each season?

• Your starting rank in a new season (after the new placement games) is influenced by your performance in the previous season
• A soft reset happens when a new season starts, so expect to decrease 1-2 divisons. If your performance stays consistent, playing around 40 games will get you back to your previous rank
• Once you've stabilized the only way to climb is by consistently beating players better than you and maintaining a win rate above average. The average win rate for 4p is 25% and the average win rate for 1v1 is 50%

What are the game settings for each Ranked game mode?

• Base Game: 10 points to win, 7 discard limit, Fast speed
• 1 v 1: 15 points to win, 9 discard limit, Friendly Robber, Very Fast speed
• Cities & Knights: 13 points to win, 7 discard limit, Fast speed

Bank cards are hidden in all game modes

Are there rewards for finishing a season in the top positions?

• Players that finish the season in the top 50 of each game mode earn a free Membership
• 3 months of Membership will be gifted
• The Membership can be activated through the Store (gifts expire after 2 years)
• Ranked 1st, 2nd & 3rd: Elite Membership
• Ranked 3 to 25: Premium Membership
• Ranked 26 to 50: Plus Membership

Rewards for future seasons may be subject to change

Store

Do my friends need to become Members to play expansions and maps together?

No, just like owning a board game, only the host needs to be a Member

How can I change my Membership?

1. Go to the Store
2. Click Manage
3. Click Update Plan
4. Click Monthly then choose the plan that you would like to change. Click Continue
5. Once you confirm the plan you would like to choose, review the details and click Confirm

How can I cancel my Membership?

1. Go to the Store
2. Click Manage
3. Click Cancel Plan
4. Your membership will be automatically canceled at the end of your billing cycle

If I change my Membership, when will that change take effect?

The same day that you modified your subscription, proration will apply from the new and old Membership.

If I cancel my Membership, when will that change take effect?

At the end of your billing cycle. Monthly Memberships will end in a month. Yearly Memberships will end in a year.

What expansions are currently available?

• Base Game 5-6 Players
• Base Game 7-8 Players
• Cities & Knights
• Cities & Knights 5-6 Players
• Seafarers
• Seafarers 5-6 Players
• Seafarers + Cities & Knights
• Seafarers + Cities & Knights 5-6 Players

What expansions will you be releasing next?

Vote for the next one in our suggestions site.

Can I try out an expansion before subscribing?

You can join an expansion game in the lobby or ask someone in our Discord Community to host an expansion game for you.

Do my friends need to buy the expansion too to play together?

No, just like owning a board game, only the host needs to own the expansion.

How do I play the map/expansion that I subscribed for?

1. Make sure you are logged in
2. Create a room img
3. From game mode select the expansion you want to play img
4. From map select 5-6 player or any map of your choosing img

What sort of skins will be added?

Some planned but not decided skins are: Profile Picture, Game Piece Skin (Road, Settlement, City), Game Skin (map, cards)

My purchase is gone, what should I do?

You probably logged in with a different email. Check that you have logged in with the correct email.

What happened to my Settler/Colonist/Founder pack?

The presale packs have all been converted into in game currency that provide you with the same benefits as the pack:

1. Settlers: 1 Expansion (2800 Cc) + 2 Maps (1000 Cc) = 3800 Cc
2. Colonist: 5 Expansion (14000 Cc) + 5 Maps (2500 Cc) = 16500 Cc
3. Founder: All Expansion + All Maps = 0 Cc

Founder Packs won't receive Colonist Coins, instead they can purchase all Expansions and Maps for 0 Cc.

Are there other ways to get Colonist Coins?

Yes, we have bounties & playtesters, where completing certain tasks and finding bugs are rewarded with Colonist Coins. Join our Discord Community to participate.

In addition, playing in tournaments can also earn you some Colonist Coins. Check for available tournaments.

Gifting

Can I send a gift to someone without a Colonist account?

Yes! You can send a gift link. The recipient will be able to create an account and redeem the gift anytime.

Can I gift to a user with an active Membership?

Yes! If the user is already a Member when you send a gift, they will be able to redeem the gift at any point.

Payment Methods

What are the payment options that I can use?

If you want to buy Colonist Coins, you can pay via:

• Credit or Debit card like Visa, Mastercard or American Express
• PayPal
• Google Pay
• Apple Pay
• Amazon Pay
• Bit Pay
• Or other local methods that are available in your region

For purchasing Memberships, you can use:

• Credit or Debit card like Visa, Mastercard or American Express
• Google Pay
• Apple Pay

Guaranteed safe and secure payments powered by Stripe

Technical Issues

The animations are slow and there is lag

For chrome, enable hardware acceleration.

For firefox, go to about:config and flip gfx.webrender.all to true. Then restart the browser. Source

Extra Links: Get WebGL, How to Enable WebGL

I can't enter Ranked matchmaking because the site incorrectly says that my adblock is enabled

Our site may detect that ads are being removed for a multitude of reasons such as browser extensions, anti-malware software, VPN or firewall protection, or even browsers having built-in ad blocking. If this problem is happening to you, please see here for more information and disable any ad blocking software.

Chat blocks trades in mobile - image

Solutions:

1. For Chrome, go to “Settings” > Click “Accessibility” > turn off “Force enable zoom”.
2. Go to your browser “Settings” > turn on “Desktop site”.
3. Click on the typing area of the chat box, wait for your phone's keyboard to appear, and close it right after.

Clicking "Login with Google", tells me that there is an internal server error. What should I do?

Clear cache files via Chrome -> Menu -> More Tools -> Clear browsing data.

My timer does not work in game. It works in a Bot game but not with friends or in normal online games. What to do?

Windows clock is out of sync. Resync your time to the Microsoft server for your timer to work.

Game Assets Not Loading and Socket Not Connecting and Blue Screen

Usually in old Macbooks and especially at macOS Catalina 10.15.7 there are some bugs with browsers. The bugs are bigger on Safari than other browsers. This OS bug also affects WebGL/Socket/SSL Certificates. This issue has been fixed in the newer versions of macOS, so just update your macOS via Apple Logo menu > System Preferences > Software Update > Upgrade Now button. Source: Mac Research

Contact

We get 100s of emails per day. In order to keep up, any email we see that is trying to sell a product or service is immediately marked as spam. Email at your own risk.

I would like to make a suggestion

Check out our suggestions site

How do I report a bug?

You can report bugs here.

I would like to contribute as a developer, designer, or in a different way

You can check Careers page to apply to contribute.

I have a business proposition. How can I reach out?

Email us at [email protected].

Where can I find more info about your Terms and conditions?

You can visit our Terms and conditions page.

Can't find the answer to a question

You can reach out to us on social media, Discord, or mail us at [email protected].

I was banned, how can I appeal?

Join our Discord and tag @Moderator in the #help channel.

I’m worried about Colonist.io from a copyright standpoint. What assurances do I have about this?

Game mechanics can not be copyrighted. We own all of our assets & codebase. Colonist has no copyright issues.