Elite Dangerous System Col 285 Sector WL-L c8-40 - Naming 138 Facilities

The Name's the Thing – Or, How I Named 138 Stations, Settlements, Ports, and whatnot...
Introduction To The Grand Tour, PART IV

Probably boring to read about, but naming all the facilities was fun. A few have custom names, but the vast majority were random… eventually. Some facilities were incredibly stubborn and took many re-rolls to get a good name.  Others rolled good names right off the bat. I tried to spend less than an hour clicking the button for a good name, but some just didn’t cooperate.

• In most cases, priority goes to Science Fiction authors.
•  2nd Priority went to RNG rolled names that had a personal connection for me.  You’ll notice there are no less than 8 places named LUNA. That’s because she’s currently our only dog, and at our age, the last one we’re likely to have. We both spend a lot of time and attention on her.  If Luna's name came up, I always took it.
• Sometimes, a name just made me laugh, and that was good enough.
• Then there were the ones that refused to roll a good name. In some cases, I just gave up and took the first one that seemed sort-of-okay. Went back later and tried again, until they all had names I liked.
• A small number cost ARX for custom names.  Memorials to family who have passed on; tributes to still-living family (Mainly Monique, and Mom); or a fond tip of the hat to favorites, like Star Trek, Sherlock Holmes, and Terry Pratchett.
  
  

I used Google to help me identify names I didn’t recognize, and AI to write most of the descriptions below. Not only is AI theme-appropriate “Science Fiction” from the viewpoint of a child of the 1960’s, it’s also a time-saving godsend. I've edited all the AI descriptions, and the rest are purely my own fabrication. No need to blame AI for everything.
This project has already taken many months; I'm grateful for anything that saves time.

All these ‘biographies’ will probably bore most readers. I wanted somewhere to document what each choice meant to me, because this helps me retain my own memories better. So if you’re interested, I’m grateful. And if not… it’s okay. This is mainly an effort to keep memories that are meaningful to me.

The following pages include descriptions explaining the meaning behind each name.  Many I knew, some I had to research before choosing.  All 138 facilities are listed in order of distance from the sun.  At least, according to the in-game architect’s view.

Each facility includes it’s location by

Planet/orbital designation

Facility name

Type

Largest landing pad.

The following posts (and videos) are broken apart to keep reasonable lengths per page.

Elite Dangerous System Col 285 Sector WL-L c8-40 - Building the Cobra Mark 5 Tourist Tripper

Cobra Mark V – Custom build for In-System Tourist Tripper, the Goddess Mnemosyne.
Introduction To The Grand Tour, PART III

When I finished colonizing Col 285 Sector WL-L c8-40, there were 138 total facilities that had been built over the course of 6 months and a week. I play… slowly. And colonize solo. It takes a long time.

For personal reasons expressed elsewhere, I now want to create a video library. One visit at a time, a reminder of all the fun colonization was.

Not all facilities can dock my Panther. Nor even the Corsair. There are a number of facilities with only small landing pads. No need to consider the ones without landing pads, but it’s common sense to select a small ship for the Grand Tour. Whatever size the landing pad, a small ship can always fit.

Having been a fan of the game since the C-64 and Amiga days in the mid-1980s, it had to be a Cobra.
The Mk3 would have been iconic. The Mk4 would have been exclusive. (It was only released to a specific group of players.) I liked the Mk4 back then; it was less maneuverable, but had more shielding and an additional weapon slot. Haven’t flown it in years.
But now there’s the Mk5. All I’m hearing is that it’s by far the best small all-rounder. Before the Kestrel, it might have been the best small ship period, but it sounds like the Kestrel has the best small combat role.

To date, this is the ultimate Cobra. It’s like they took all the best of the Mk3 and Mk4, then ramped it up with Caffeine and jet fuel.
There’s a lot of reasons to like it, and I hadn’t built one yet.

It had to be excellent at in-system hops, so SCO was a no-brainer.
It had to be a durable shield/hull tank, because I struggle at keeping my focus, and am error prone. Always build something that can survive my mistakes.
Needs speed and agility, because if I’m flying a tiny little ship, then escaping is important.
Something with enough firepower to fight back, because I don’t like running away.

The Cobra Mk5 checks all the boxes. It’s the spiritual successor to the ship that started it all. It’s a fast, agile, tough fighter when it needs to be. Even loaded to the gills, it gets 39 LY jump range. (And really, it doesn’t need jump range anyway, since it’s an in-system mudskipper.)
Just for those times when it does need to travel (like engineering)… it’s got a pocket-sized Class 2 Fuel Scoop. Glacially slow to fill the tank, but it beats running out of fuel somewhere.

It’s a beauty of a ship. Great aesthetics. Easy to fly. Lots of punch when you hit the gas.

(I’m no expert, but if you want to see the build, here’s the link: https://tinyurl.com/Cobra-MkV-Mnemosyne

It doesn’t have to be the best there ever was. Just has to meet my needs.

After building and engineering, wanted to fly it. And it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve truly played, because writing all this and planning the trip kept my free time occupied. Time enough to get rusty.
Figured a quick jaunt to the Nav Beacon was called for. A chance to get some flight practice, and a light combat refresher. If it turned out to be too much, she was relatively cheap to build, a rebuy won’t kill me…
Did not expect the result. Got mostly light and mediums, but there was one Elite Anaconda that I expected to end me. Only it was like playing on easy mode. I’m over-spinning, losing my targets, getting confused and forgetting what buttons to push… and never took any damage. Never even took significant percent off the shield.
Maybe the Nav Beacons tend to give inexperienced opponents, but it was a fantastic ship to get back up to speed in. Extremely forgiving.

After these videos are done, I’ll test it in a HazRez and see if she still feels tough...

Next, a cool name. I considered several. Nothing clicked until Grok suggested Mnemosyne.

The Goddess Mnemosyne presided over Memory, and Remembrance. With my cognitive problems, that’s not only apropos, it’s kind of poignant. The whole purpose of this project is to give me tangible memories for when my actual memories fade. Naming her Mnemosyne feels like a good omen.

Even better, Grok suggested MUSE9 for the call sign. Mnemosyne was the mother of the NINE muses, the spirits of inspiration for humanity. The entire theme ties in beautifully to this project.

Great ship, great name, and the engineering is done.

Time for the next step.

Elite Dangerous Colonization - Grand Tour of Col 285 Sector WL-L c8-40 (PART II)

 When I check my system on Spansh and Inara, they have a lot of errors.  Weeks later, there are still “construction sites” showing.  Old ones that have not been “construction” for significant time.  I hope that will correct itself in the next few weeks now that I’m no longer building this system.
Even the architect view in Elite shows 3 active constructions, which is incorrect.  There are no active constructions, all builds are complete.

That’s why the list in the previous post included my personal spreadsheet.  To keep Raven Colonial accurate while building, I couldn’t work from live data.  Had to use saved data and update Raven manually.  Since I wasn't certain my data would be saved accurately, it's all on a manually maintained spreadsheet.

Elite is my favorite game of all time.  Ever since the 1980s with the Commodore C64, and later, the Amiga.  “Elite Dangerous” ramped it up, made it modern, and in spite of the occasional misstep, kept the spirit of the original.

“Dangerous” came out 2014/15 (I joined the Beta in 2015, but think the Alpha was started in 2014.)  The servers have been running for over a decade.  I’m grateful, and try to buy a few ARX now and then as a thank you.  I'm worried that Elite won't be around forever, at some point the servers will go down for the final time.
On the other hand, my struggle with cognitive and memory issues has its ups and downs.  For 4 years, I lacked the cognitive skills to play Elite.  In mid-2024 I started improving and decided to re-learn Elite.  Took months, but by early 2025 I was back in “The Black,” playing Elite again.

A year later, and it feels like I’m losing some progress.  My plan for this entire system has been to complete it, then make videos visiting every facility, one by one.  If things go well, by the end I’ll have a library of iconic videos, reminding me of the incredible ride Elite has been. 
Something so that when the servers are gone, or if I’m no longer able to play, I can pick a video, watch a cherished memory, and smile.  

Once the facilities are all visited and documented, there’s HazRes, Mining, Missions, Trading, Exploring… Maybe I’ll record the process of building and engineering a new ship.  Maybe even look into on-foot missions, or Exobiology.
Probably not those last two.  They don’t sound fun. (The new vessel, Nomad, will be released next week, which may change my opinion of exobiology.)

I also have to consider that learning and retaining knowledge isn’t as natural as it used to be. 
It’s a hell-of-an-effort involving notes, spreadsheets, journals.  Detailing how to do things so I can easily find that note the next day and remember how to do it again. I don’t mind learning new things, but have to be highly selective about which things are important enough to make and maintain the effort.

Anyway, that’s the plan.  It keeps me busy, and with luck, will provide memories for an uncertain future.

Elite Dangerous Colonization - Grand Tour of Col 285 Sector WL-L c8-40 (PART I)

 PROJECT INTRODUCTION:

     This is the culmination of a project that began on over 7 months ago.
Finally done building my system. It’s not the first, won’t be the last, but this one is home.
Below is a list of all 138 Facilities in System Col 285 Sector WL-L c8-40

NOTE: I couldn’t build a station in the Asteroid Belt. Made an assumption very early on that you could put any normal orbital in that slot. Turns out you can ONLY build an Asteroid Station there. Nothing else. Now I lack the T2 points to build it.
In hindsight I can't see doing anything differently. Everything is where I wanted it, just as it is.  But it irks me not to complete every empty slot.

Started working on this system December 7th of 2025.
Finished colonizing it on May 14 2026, all of it solo.
It took 6 months and 1 week to colonize everything in this system (ahem… again, except for the asteroid belt. Dammit.)

I used the Panther Clipper Mk II exclusively for this system, though the build underwent several tweaks over time to increase the tonnage.  (Dropped the shield, went Hull Tank, mix of lasers/multi-cannons.)  I'm not a good combat pilot, but no pirate has ever defeated her.  (Having high security helps.)
Named her Imperium Stellae Ultra (Call Sign 'Nfinity').  Bit of a Toy Story reference.

Took a couple of short breaks for CGs, primarily to get the Level 5 Surface Suits. I don’t like the on-foot part of the game, but it made sense to do a quick CG for a free level 5 suit.  
Other than that, it was six months of daily colonizing.

There are 3 T3 builds:
One Planetary Hub.
One Ocellus.
And a Dodec my wife bought for me.
Thank you Monique, that saved a month of hauling.
(Additionally, I solo built an Orbis in my first system, with an Imperial Cutter so please don’t hassle me about paying to win.)

There are:
5 Coriolis stations, and 5 matching Civilian Outposts on each corresponding planet.
1 Asteroid Station
(No, not the one I didn’t build… this one is in some planetary rings roughly at mid-system from the sun.)
30 Large Landing Pad facilities.

The rest of the stations are a mix of Mediums and Smalls, mostly built to farm points or to balance the system score. Plus I like high security, so there’s a lot more security/military facilities than truly necessary.

I initiated construction on Meeker’s Sanctuary on Monday, January 24, 2026.
It was named in honor of my wife, Monique.  As children, her niece and nephews couldn’t pronounce her name so they called her Aunt Meek. Later, it became Meekers. Now, her nephews’ children still call her Aunt Meek.

Began actual construction on Meeker’s Sanctuary on April 4th, 2026.
The delay was planned, because the more T3 facilities, Coriolis, and Asteroid Stations you build, the more Construction points each following one costs. T3 stations go up 6 points at a time, T2s only go up 2 points per build.

So I bought an Ocellus (T3) in advance, while it was still affordable. Didn’t begin working on it for a couple of months because I wanted functional stations which could be used to build the whole system.

Once construction began on Meeker’s Sanctuary, it took 1 month and 10 days to build.
If that seems slow… it is. With some cognitive and memory issues, 3 round trips at a time is usually all I can do before “falling asleep at the wheel.” Pushing past that point results in lots of mistakes. 

Usually minor, but sometimes I’ll fly into a planet or a sun, which slows things down. Sometimes I forget to buy commodities to deliver; sometimes I forget to turn in the ones I just arrived with. It’s less frustrating to take a break, do something brainless for a while, or take a nap, then come back fresh.
6 months and a week later, here’s the final structure of my system.

There are 138 total facilities, counting both orbital and planetary together.
If the facility name includes a name in parenthesis, that means the name was changed later and it may not be updated in Spansh or Inara yet.

The column headers below are:
Order - the order the facilities appear in the Architects' View.
Video# - There are 138 facilities, but only 31 numbered videos (plus a special case video.)
Duration - How long each video is.  It depends mostly on how many facilities in each video.
BODY - This is the planetary body the facility is orbiting or on.
Facility - The name of the facility.
Type - What type of facility it is, for those who want to know.
PAD - What size ship, if any, can dock.  Large, Medium, Small, and NO.

The Satilla River Tuplar Tree, in Col 285 Sector WL-L c8-40

The Satilla River Tuplar Tree
Col 285 Sector WL-L c8-40

On December 12, 2025 I had enough T3 points to deploy the Dodecahedron! There’s mixed feelings about the Dodec. For me, it was a Godsend. Colonizing solo, big plans, going to take months.  This system is will be my HOME, with 74 orbital and 62 planetary slots to build.

The Dodec Insta-Build saved me around 3 weeks of time. I’ve built an Orbis as a memorial for my Dad in another system. A T3 planetary port in this system. Still plan an Orbis (or Ocellus) in this system. Paid my dues, still paying them. My wife gifted me the Dodec. I’m grateful.
I wanted it to be special, with meaning. Named it the SATILLA RIVER TUPLAR.

The Old Satilla River Tuplar Tree has been gently anchored in my memories for decades. I grew up on the Satilla River. One of best places in the world was where the Tuplar tree grew out on a small spit of land at the side of a quiet cove. (It's long gone, the tree died and rotted away many years ago.)

It was a giant of a tree, home to great fishing, had big "seeds" or small "fruit,” I'm not sure what you'd call them, but they were reddish yellow, and elongated. Had a huge tangle of roots, half in, half out of the river... more or less, depending on whether the river was low or high. Mostly low in the spring and summer. Fishing was best then.

The Tuplar's trunk was gigantic. If anybody was of a mind to swim in that deep, dark, tannin-dyed water on the outer side of the tree, it would have probably taken 5 adults linking hands to go all the way around it. Me, I was a little afraid of being in the water on the deep side of the tree.

We swam in the Satilla, but that particular spot seemed especially foreboding. Going by line length, even when the water was low, it was 10 feet or more.

The ground side was always shady, and pretty. Sometimes there'd be a snake or large skink nesting in the split base of the tree. You could climb around if you were bold, and drop a line straight out from the water-side of the roots and trunk. It would easily drop down 10 feet or so even when the river was low. 

It was my preferred fishing place. I'd often prop up two or three lines on the shore, climb a nearby twisted oak that had a perfect branch for reclining on. If the fishing was slow, I'd read a book.  When I’m unsettled and in need of peace, this is often my chosen memory.

Twenty-odd years ago, I could find online references to Tuplar trees.
Google used to know that Tuplar was a colloquialism for “Tupelo” tree. Now Google thinks I’ve lost my mind.
Grok thinks maybe it was a family colloquialism descended from the Creek language "ito opilwa," swamp tree.

Our Tuplar tree was a landmark to generations of my family. Mom, who will be turning 88 in a few days, remembers that tree being a giant even when she was a child.
My generation is growing older, and our branch of the Satilla River Thrifts and Wainwrights will likely be the final generation to remember the Tuplar tree. “Tuplar” itself will be forgotten.

I’m grateful to Elite Dangerous for the opportunity to make permanent changes to our chosen systems in the game.

 I know Elite has a finite lifespan, but for the duration my system will have a Dodec station dedicated to the memory of the Satilla River Tuplar Tree.

Elite Dangerous - Mapping To Help Plan My Colony

 I'm still struggling to figure out what to build, where, and where not to build.  I especially want CMM Composites.  But I also want an Ocellus station, a T3 Planetary Port, and an Asteroid station.

Some of those have prerequisites that have to be built first.  Also, I built my Primary when I knew a lot less than I do now... which is STILL next to nothing.  I'm still trying to learn, but am afraid my Primary Station may have been a bad choice.  And wouldn't you know, it's the only station you can't demolish.

To help plan, I mapped out a clean diagram of my system, with labels.  Next, after the current CG is over, I'll do a full exploration on every body in the system.  Just in case Inara or Spansh has an error, or incomplete data.  

Once that's done, I'll plan accordingly, then check out Raven Colonial to see if my plan has any hope of working.  In the meantime, I finished creating the system diagram today.  Just in case it helps anybody to see what you can do with Diagrams.net (and I'm a newbie at it, it's very intuitive), and because I may want to reference my map when I'm not sitting at the computer, the map is attached below.
Hope you like it!

Elite Dangerous - Colonizing Pre-Requisite Structures List

 

This is created by Gemini. It took some clarification, but he did a great job on the list!  There are some great resources online, but I couldn't find anywhere that listed the pre-requisite builds.  

GEMINI:
As requested, here is the complete list of buildable structures, organized by location, cost, and the required structural prerequisites that unlock them.

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1. Orbital Structures

Orbital structures are built at available orbital construction slots around a star or planet.

Structure Name	Build Cost (Points)	Generates (Points)	Required Prerequisites	Primary Effect / Focus
T1 Satellite	0 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T2	None	Low Wealth, Standard of Living, Development
T1 Comms Station	0 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T2	T1 Satellite	Low Security, High Tech Level
T1 Relay Station	0 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T2	None	Low Security, Low Development
T1 Orbital Bar	0 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T2	T1 Satellite	Low Wealth, Low Standard of Living
T1 Space Farm	0 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T2	None	High Standard of Living, Low Development
T2 Military Installation	1 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T3	T1 Relay Station	High Security
T2 Security Station	1 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T3	T1 Relay Station	Very High Security, Development, Standard of Living
T2 Government Installation	1 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T3	T1 Relay Station	Low Security, High Standard of Living, Development
T2 Medical Installation	1 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T3	T1 Comms Station	High Tech Level, High Standard of Living
T2 Research Station	1 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T3	T1 Comms Station	Very High Tech Level, Development
T2 Tourist Installation	1 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T3	T1 Orbital Bar	High Wealth, Low Security, Development
T2 Pirate Base	1 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T3	T1 Satellite	High Wealth, Very Low Security
T2 Outpost	3 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T3	None	Medium Station (M-pad), adds various stats
T2 Asteroid Base	3 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T3	None	Large Station (L-pad), adds various stats
T2 Coriolis Starport	3 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T3	None	Large Station (L-pad), adds various stats
T3 Ocellus Starport	6 T3 / 0 T3	+0	None	Largest Station (L-pad), adds high stats
T3 Orbis Starport	6 T3 / 0 T3	+0	None	Largest Station (L-pad), adds highest stats

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2. Planetary Settlements

Planetary structures are built on available settlement slots on a landable planet.

Structure Name	Build Cost (Points)	Generates (Points)	Required Prerequisites	Primary Effect / Focus
T1 Small Settlement	0 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T2	None	Low Security, Development, Standard of Living
T1 Mining Outpost	0 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T2	None	Low Wealth, Low Standard of Living
T2 Medium Settlement	1 T2 / 0 T3	+2 T3	T1 Small Settlement	High Wealth, Standard of Living, Development
T2 Large Settlement	1 T2 / 0 T3	+2 T3	T1 Small Settlement	High Wealth, Standard of Living, Development
T2 Planetary Outpost	3 T2 / 0 T3	+1 T3	None	Medium Port (M-pad), adds various stats
T3 Planetary Port	6 T3 / 0 T3	+0	None	Large Port (L-pad), adds highest stats

Key Takeaways for Your Plan

1. The Communication Station Prerequisite: The data confirms your suspicion! The T1 Comms Station itself has a prerequisite: the T1 Satellite. Once the Satellite is built, the Comms Station becomes available.

2. Point Generation Meta: You are correctly targeting the structures that generate T2 and T3 points for your final builds.

   • To get the 3 T2 points for your Coriolis (T2) / Asteroid Base (T2), you will need to build at least 3 T1 structures (like Satellites, Comms Stations, or Relay Stations).

   • To get the 6 T3 points for your Orbis/Ocellus (T3) / T3 Planetary Port, you will need to build the T2 structures that grant the most points: Medium/Large Settlements are the most efficient, granting +2 T3 points each, meaning you'll only need to build 3 of them (which, in turn, requires 3 T1 Small Settlements).

3. No Immediate Doubling: Since you are building just one T2 and one T3 large port (after your initial port), you will not trigger the cost doubling (which happens upon starting the second T2 or T3 large station).

Enjoy the calming process of hauling, Commander. Building a system is a marathon, not a sprint, and having a plan is the key to minimizing wasted trips! o7

For another look at how the entire construction point system works, you can check out this guide: How Build Points Work: A Trailblazers Tutorial.