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Frequently Asked Questions
This FAQ is still being updated so if you don't find your answer here, check back soon.
Before attempting any of the solutions in this FAQ, make a backup copy of your colony.
Current Release Version: 0.97.x
How do I make a backup copy of my colony?
Click/Tap the Gear Icon (Upper Left), choose Return to Title, then More Options, choose Game Data, then choose Backup Game File. You will be asked where to save the file. Choose a location and wait for the save to complete.
Can I play the same colony on my mobile device and on my PC?
Yes. However you will need to download the desktop version here: https://market.ape-apps.com/my-colony.html
Do not try to play the same colony on your mobile device and the web version. The web version of My Colony is the live development version is often out of sync with the mobile and desktop versions of the game.
It is no longer recommend that syncing colonies be done via Facebook and Cloud Sync as these have been known to cause corrupted save files. Therefore, you will need to manually move your colony between platforms. To do this, exit to the title screen of the game and click More Options -> Game Data -> Backup Game File. Choose the colony you wish to move and then save it to a location you can remember. Using a transfer method of your choice, move the save file to the new device. On the new device go to the title screen choose More Options -> Game Data -> Restore a Game File. Choose the file that you imported.
How do I fix 'Import failed ex3' error when restoring a backup?
1. Go to My Colony folder.
2. Delete everything except files with .mcz or .mcb or cs extension.
3. Go to Application manager, scroll down to My Colony app.
4. Force stop the app.
5. Clear cache and storage data.
6. Now open app and restore your backup.
Where can I find information about buildings/bots/research?
Click/Tap the Gear Icon (Upper Left) then choose Encyclopedia. If you can't find what you're looking for there you can find a searchable list here: My Colony Reference
Why are my colonists sick?
Colonists will lose health during the course of the day, more so while at work. A colonist is considered sick when their health is at 70% or below. To heal sick colonists, build the Medical Clinic.
Why are my colonists angry?
Everyone needs to let off a little steam now and then, especially your hard working colonists. Give them a chance to do that by building a Green Dome, Internet Relay Booth, Pub, Pyramid of the All Seeing Eye, or any other facility that provides entertainment for your colonists.
Why are my colonists dying?
First and foremost, colonists require food and water. If you are producing enough of these, make sure that your colonists can access their places of work and their residences. Every building that requires workers, houses colonists, or provides entertainment needs to have one free grid square (either dirt or pavement) adjacent to it so that colonists can access that building.
Why is my game so slow?
Slowness in the game or "lag" is generally caused by the colonists, bots, or miners not being able to access the buildings they need to access. Buildings that require workers, residences, or entertainment facilities need to have one free grid square (either dirt or pavement) adjacent to the building. The same goes for miners so that they can deliver resources to their respective buildings.
A large number of bots and miners can cause slowness too. Try reducing their numbers to see if the lag improves.
Some of our phones and computers aren't as great as we'd like to believe. You can manage some of settings for the game to improve it's performance. Open the Game Menu by clicking/tapping the Gear Icon, then choose Engine Settings. Here you can tune some aspects of the game to give better performance on your device.
Why aren't my colonists finding jobs or homes when I have plenty of both for them?
Colonists take some time to consider their options for employment and decide on a job. Give them a few minutes to make up their minds. Once they choose a job, they'll pick housing located close to their place of employment. You can manually assign colonists to jobs by clicking/tapping the colonist, clicking hire ( or change jobs for employed colonists) then, click/tap the building where you'd like them to work.
Why aren't my buildings producing?
Make sure your building has workers assigned to it. Click/Tap the building. If workers are assigned you should see something like "3/3 Workers". The number of workers a building requires will vary. If no workers are assigned, the building will not produce resources. There are some exceptions to this rule, greenhouses for example.
When workers are assigned to the building, but it's still not producing, check to see if the workers are in the building working. Click/Tap the building then click/tap on x/x workers. You will get a list of which colonists are assigned to work in the building and their current status. If you don't have workers with a status of "Working at.." then they are all off duty (traveling to or from work, sleeping, healing, or relaxing) and the building will not produce resources. Your workers will eventually return and the building will start producing resources.
Some resources in the game have a storage capacity, like food, water, and rum. If the resource is full to capacity, production will be halted until some of the resource is used.
Some buildings depend on some resources to produce ie ( uranium enrichment facility needs aluminium to produce uranium, and banks need money to create more money )
Why can't I build xxxxx?
In order to build a certain building you must have completed the accompanying research, have the required resources, and have built the bot that would construct the building. Please refer to this page for building and research requirements: https://www.my-colony.com/reference/
"I'm having issues with the game "force closing" on my Android device. What do I do?"
If you are experiencing a lot of Force Close problems on Android, one thing to try to do is make sure that your "Android WebView" component is upgraded to the latest available version and that it is not disabled or blocked. This is an update that comes in through the Google Play Store.
What is a Colonial Charter and how do I use it?
You can find your charter code in the game menu under statistics: Gear Icon -> Statistics -> Overview -> Charter Code. Your game must be in online mode.
A Colonial Charter is a unique code assigned to each colony when it is started. When you start a new colony you have the opportunity to enter a Charter Code. If you enter another player's Charter Code, you will join that players Commonwealth and pay taxes to the player who's Charter Code you used. If you do not use another player's Charter Code when you create your colony, you will be a dependent colony of Earth.
Belonging to a Commonwealth has advantages. During the game, you will need to pay your colonists. Part of this payroll can be refunded by your parent colony (the player who's Charter Code you used). Later in the game, trading between members of a Commonwealth will become available.
You may also choose to declare independence and leave the Commonwealth to start your own. Other players can use your Charter Code to become a dependent colony to you. This means you will no longer pay taxes, but also means that no one will help you with your payroll.
What is a dependent colony or sub-colony?
A sub-colony or dependent colony is one that uses the charter code of another player (or your own). The sub-colony pays taxes to the main colony instead of to Earth. A main colony and sub-colonies form a Commonwealth. The main colony may choose to reimburse sub-colonies for a portion of their payroll. Sub-colonies can declare independence from the main colony. Commonwealth trading (not yet implemented) allows the main colony and sub-colonies to trade resources.
To create a sub-colony, use your own charter code or another player's when you create the colony.
How do I get my colonists out of retirement?
Colonists retire when they have saved enough money. The cost to retire can be found under "Statistics" in the "Retired" section. To bring them out of retirement you can levy a tax on them. Click on the Capital or Consulate, click Policy, then click Tax Collection.
I used all my Aluminum! How do I get more?
My Uranium Enrichment Facility isn't producing uranium and I have plenty of aluminum.
The Uranium Enrichment Facility needs 1 aluminum and 1 uranium to produce 2 uranium. If you have 0 uranium the UEF will not produce more uranium.
"I was told to do a "hard reload/refresh" of my browser. How do I do that?"
Please see this link for instructions: https://www.getfilecloud.com/blog/2015/03/tech-tip-how-to-do-hard-refresh-in-browsers/
My colony has disappeared!
If you play the browser (HTML5) version of My Colony and your colony has disappeared, this is most likely due to the browser's cache becoming full and it being cleared. When a browser's cache becomes full, it will clear it without warning. Since your colony is automatically saved to the browser's internal database your colony is removed as well. To prevent this, make manual backups of your colony on a regular basis.
Why are some of my buildings deactivated? I didn't deactivate them!
Starting in version 0.37.0 buildings that do not have a free tile adjacent to them and a clear path to the rest of the colony will become deactivated over time.
Why are my bots/bugs not harvesting?
Every Harvester needs a drop off point where it can deliver the resources and you must have the storage capacity for the resources you are harvesting. Drop off points and storage can be found in the General Reference located here:
https://www.my-colony.com/reference/general.html
What do I do about smog? I received a warning about smog.
Atmosphere causes sickness if it's higher than 15 million. There are various buildings which will consume atmosphere.
What do I do about trash?
Trash starts to cause sickness of its higher than 5,000. There are various buildings which will consume trash.
Can I repair all buildings with a single click?
Yes. you can. If you have a consulate or capitol that is at least level 2, there is an "infrastructure repair" option. It repairs every single building that is damaged.
I set my game to online mode from offline mode. Where did all my resources go?
Losing all resources is the price you pay for taking your game from offline mode into online mode. Because of the differences between gameplay in each mode, resources are reset to zero when switching to online from offline.
This FAQ is still being updated so if you don't find your answer here, check back soon.
Before attempting any of the solutions in this FAQ, make a backup copy of your colony.
Current Release Version: 0.97.x
How do I make a backup copy of my colony?
Click/Tap the Gear Icon (Upper Left), choose Return to Title, then More Options, choose Game Data, then choose Backup Game File. You will be asked where to save the file. Choose a location and wait for the save to complete.
Can I play the same colony on my mobile device and on my PC?
Yes. However you will need to download the desktop version here: https://market.ape-apps.com/my-colony.html
Do not try to play the same colony on your mobile device and the web version. The web version of My Colony is the live development version is often out of sync with the mobile and desktop versions of the game.
It is no longer recommend that syncing colonies be done via Facebook and Cloud Sync as these have been known to cause corrupted save files. Therefore, you will need to manually move your colony between platforms. To do this, exit to the title screen of the game and click More Options -> Game Data -> Backup Game File. Choose the colony you wish to move and then save it to a location you can remember. Using a transfer method of your choice, move the save file to the new device. On the new device go to the title screen choose More Options -> Game Data -> Restore a Game File. Choose the file that you imported.
How do I fix 'Import failed ex3' error when restoring a backup?
1. Go to My Colony folder.
2. Delete everything except files with .mcz or .mcb or cs extension.
3. Go to Application manager, scroll down to My Colony app.
4. Force stop the app.
5. Clear cache and storage data.
6. Now open app and restore your backup.
Where can I find information about buildings/bots/research?
Click/Tap the Gear Icon (Upper Left) then choose Encyclopedia. If you can't find what you're looking for there you can find a searchable list here: My Colony Reference
Why are my colonists sick?
Colonists will lose health during the course of the day, more so while at work. A colonist is considered sick when their health is at 70% or below. To heal sick colonists, build the Medical Clinic.
Why are my colonists angry?
Everyone needs to let off a little steam now and then, especially your hard working colonists. Give them a chance to do that by building a Green Dome, Internet Relay Booth, Pub, Pyramid of the All Seeing Eye, or any other facility that provides entertainment for your colonists.
Why are my colonists dying?
First and foremost, colonists require food and water. If you are producing enough of these, make sure that your colonists can access their places of work and their residences. Every building that requires workers, houses colonists, or provides entertainment needs to have one free grid square (either dirt or pavement) adjacent to it so that colonists can access that building.
Why is my game so slow?
Slowness in the game or "lag" is generally caused by the colonists, bots, or miners not being able to access the buildings they need to access. Buildings that require workers, residences, or entertainment facilities need to have one free grid square (either dirt or pavement) adjacent to the building. The same goes for miners so that they can deliver resources to their respective buildings.
A large number of bots and miners can cause slowness too. Try reducing their numbers to see if the lag improves.
Some of our phones and computers aren't as great as we'd like to believe. You can manage some of settings for the game to improve it's performance. Open the Game Menu by clicking/tapping the Gear Icon, then choose Engine Settings. Here you can tune some aspects of the game to give better performance on your device.
Why aren't my colonists finding jobs or homes when I have plenty of both for them?
Colonists take some time to consider their options for employment and decide on a job. Give them a few minutes to make up their minds. Once they choose a job, they'll pick housing located close to their place of employment. You can manually assign colonists to jobs by clicking/tapping the colonist, clicking hire ( or change jobs for employed colonists) then, click/tap the building where you'd like them to work.
Why aren't my buildings producing?
Make sure your building has workers assigned to it. Click/Tap the building. If workers are assigned you should see something like "3/3 Workers". The number of workers a building requires will vary. If no workers are assigned, the building will not produce resources. There are some exceptions to this rule, greenhouses for example.
When workers are assigned to the building, but it's still not producing, check to see if the workers are in the building working. Click/Tap the building then click/tap on x/x workers. You will get a list of which colonists are assigned to work in the building and their current status. If you don't have workers with a status of "Working at.." then they are all off duty (traveling to or from work, sleeping, healing, or relaxing) and the building will not produce resources. Your workers will eventually return and the building will start producing resources.
Some resources in the game have a storage capacity, like food, water, and rum. If the resource is full to capacity, production will be halted until some of the resource is used.
Some buildings depend on some resources to produce ie ( uranium enrichment facility needs aluminium to produce uranium, and banks need money to create more money )
Why can't I build xxxxx?
In order to build a certain building you must have completed the accompanying research, have the required resources, and have built the bot that would construct the building. Please refer to this page for building and research requirements: https://www.my-colony.com/reference/
"I'm having issues with the game "force closing" on my Android device. What do I do?"
If you are experiencing a lot of Force Close problems on Android, one thing to try to do is make sure that your "Android WebView" component is upgraded to the latest available version and that it is not disabled or blocked. This is an update that comes in through the Google Play Store.
What is a Colonial Charter and how do I use it?
You can find your charter code in the game menu under statistics: Gear Icon -> Statistics -> Overview -> Charter Code. Your game must be in online mode.
A Colonial Charter is a unique code assigned to each colony when it is started. When you start a new colony you have the opportunity to enter a Charter Code. If you enter another player's Charter Code, you will join that players Commonwealth and pay taxes to the player who's Charter Code you used. If you do not use another player's Charter Code when you create your colony, you will be a dependent colony of Earth.
Belonging to a Commonwealth has advantages. During the game, you will need to pay your colonists. Part of this payroll can be refunded by your parent colony (the player who's Charter Code you used). Later in the game, trading between members of a Commonwealth will become available.
You may also choose to declare independence and leave the Commonwealth to start your own. Other players can use your Charter Code to become a dependent colony to you. This means you will no longer pay taxes, but also means that no one will help you with your payroll.
What is a dependent colony or sub-colony?
A sub-colony or dependent colony is one that uses the charter code of another player (or your own). The sub-colony pays taxes to the main colony instead of to Earth. A main colony and sub-colonies form a Commonwealth. The main colony may choose to reimburse sub-colonies for a portion of their payroll. Sub-colonies can declare independence from the main colony. Commonwealth trading (not yet implemented) allows the main colony and sub-colonies to trade resources.
To create a sub-colony, use your own charter code or another player's when you create the colony.
How do I get my colonists out of retirement?
Colonists retire when they have saved enough money. The cost to retire can be found under "Statistics" in the "Retired" section. To bring them out of retirement you can levy a tax on them. Click on the Capital or Consulate, click Policy, then click Tax Collection.
I used all my Aluminum! How do I get more?
- Import it via the Uranium Enrichment Facility. Click the Uranium Enrichment Facility, then click Import.
- Import it via Galactic Freight. Click the Galactic Freight Building -> Import -> Aluminum.
- Ask your Commonwealth Leader. Click the Consulate -> Commonwealth -> Request Aid -> Aluminum. A message will be sent to your Commonwealth Leader that you need aluminum. This does not guarantee you leader will send it. If you are a sub-colony of United Earth this method will not work.
- Buy it on the Galactic Board of Trade. Click the Galactic Board of Trade -> Trade -> Buy -> Aluminum.
My Uranium Enrichment Facility isn't producing uranium and I have plenty of aluminum.
The Uranium Enrichment Facility needs 1 aluminum and 1 uranium to produce 2 uranium. If you have 0 uranium the UEF will not produce more uranium.
"I was told to do a "hard reload/refresh" of my browser. How do I do that?"
Please see this link for instructions: https://www.getfilecloud.com/blog/2015/03/tech-tip-how-to-do-hard-refresh-in-browsers/
My colony has disappeared!
If you play the browser (HTML5) version of My Colony and your colony has disappeared, this is most likely due to the browser's cache becoming full and it being cleared. When a browser's cache becomes full, it will clear it without warning. Since your colony is automatically saved to the browser's internal database your colony is removed as well. To prevent this, make manual backups of your colony on a regular basis.
Why are some of my buildings deactivated? I didn't deactivate them!
Starting in version 0.37.0 buildings that do not have a free tile adjacent to them and a clear path to the rest of the colony will become deactivated over time.
Why are my bots/bugs not harvesting?
Every Harvester needs a drop off point where it can deliver the resources and you must have the storage capacity for the resources you are harvesting. Drop off points and storage can be found in the General Reference located here:
https://www.my-colony.com/reference/general.html
What do I do about smog? I received a warning about smog.
Atmosphere causes sickness if it's higher than 15 million. There are various buildings which will consume atmosphere.
What do I do about trash?
Trash starts to cause sickness of its higher than 5,000. There are various buildings which will consume trash.
Can I repair all buildings with a single click?
Yes. you can. If you have a consulate or capitol that is at least level 2, there is an "infrastructure repair" option. It repairs every single building that is damaged.
I set my game to online mode from offline mode. Where did all my resources go?
Losing all resources is the price you pay for taking your game from offline mode into online mode. Because of the differences between gameplay in each mode, resources are reset to zero when switching to online from offline.
