This mod introduces custom colony designations that blend vanilla resource focuses into unique and efficient dual-role settlements.




TLDR: If you first installed HCD prior to July 13th, 2025, and haven't already done a clean re-installation (of the mod) since then, consider doing so. Details in the "Important Notice" at the bottom.

• 14 hybrid designation archetypes + 17 thematic variants, including:[list]
  
• Energy + Minerals + Food - Rural World, back form the dead
  
• Research + Unity - Similar to the "Archive" district specialization
  
• Basic Resources + Unity - One for each basic reource. Production and community.
  
• Basic Resources + Trade - One for each basic reource. Production and logistics.
  
• Minerals + Advanced Resources - One for each advanced resource. Vertical mining and manufacturing.
  
• Focused Research + Basic Resources - One for each matched pair, like the "research support" districts
  
• Build Speed + Resettlement Pull + Amenities - A transitional designation for new colonies
  
• ...and more!
  

Twice the bonuses at half the potency for balanced but versatile colony roles

Fully localized for: English, Español, português (Europeu), português brasileiro, Українська, Русский, 简体中文, Français, Deutsch, and Polski

Works fine with a mid-game install. At least for me.

Designed for compatibility and immersion in a vanilla+ setting[/list]

In the early stages of the game, full planetary specialization isn’t always realistic. You’re often working with whatever bonuses the galaxy throws at you you - sometimes a mix of mineral output, trade boosts, and scattered deposits that don’t neatly align with a single designation.

Hybrid designations are made for those kinds of worlds. They support planets with multiple or mismatched bonuses, letting you take advantage of what's available without leaving potential on the table. Rather than forcing a strict economic identity, these designations provide flexibility and meaningful bonuses for mixed development.

They’re especially useful for empires playing tall or managing just a handful of colonies, where each planet needs to perform across multiple economic roles. Hybrid designations also make adaptation easier, allowing you to pivot as your needs evolve, whether you're scaling up mineral output, boosting unity, or responding to shifting strategic priorities. And for those with a strong RP vision, these designations can reinforce the kind of worldbuilding you have in mind.

Hybrid designations won’t solve everything, but they allow you to work with what you have and still get solid results.

• AI empires won’t use these. That’s on purpose. Balancing for AI selection introduces more opportunities for unexpected consequences than something this niche could justify. That said, weighting for automated colony designation was implemented.
  
• Does not support automated build queues*. I have not written an AI build plan for these designations. This is doable, but not currently on the project map. For now, only use this mod if you intend to manually set your build queues.
  
• Return of some old friends. The "Rural World" and "Fringe Planet" designations are the same, or as close as I could manage, as the designations that were in the game before 4.x removed them. "Colonial Outpost" is as close as the current engine allows me to get to the old "Colony" designation.
  
• Access limitations are inherited. Hybrid designations honor the restrictions of their vanilla parents. For example, Farming designations are unavailable to empires that don’t consume food, so the Rural World (which combines Farming along with Mining and Energy) will be restricted accordingly.
  
• Bonuses are balanced. Each designation is tuned to roughly match an average of the bonuses from the vanilla designations it fuses. You're usually still better off if you can fully specialize.
  

* I have added experimental AI build plans for Rural and Grange. Unsupported. Seems flakey. Use at your own risk. Which has always been the case with using automated build queues.

• Not Iron Man \ Achievements Compatible - This mod alters gameplay mechanics, which is its entire point.
  
• No DLC required – Designations from official DLC (like MegaCorp) will only appear if you own the corresponding content, but the mod runs cleanly either way.
  
• Vanilla-safe implementation – Does not overwrite any base game files. All designations are added via standalone scripted triggers, ensuring compatibility with Stellaris updates.
  
• Mod-friendly architecture – Designed to run alongside other mods that add empires, districts, buildings, or gameplay mechanics. No hard dependencies or shared file conflicts
  
• Load order recommendations - Place below major overhauls (like Gigastructural Engineering, ACOT, or NSC). Place above UI mods or visual tweaks - they don’t interact with designations.
  
• Mod triggered effects may skip hybrids. Traditions or events from mods that reference specific designations (like how Adaptability gives technicians a bonus on Energy Designation planets) may not affect hybrid colonies unless manually patched by you or another modder. The vanilla ones, however, are baked in.
  

I will be rolling out only one more new archetype for this mod, going forward. I want to keep HCD relatively slim with archetypes that apply to the broadest player base. Going beyond 15 archetypes (in addition to the vanilla selection) will bloat the UI in ways most players will not appreciate. But, for the players who believe that too much of a good thing is awesome, I will soon be releasing a companion mod dedicated to edge cases, role-playing, and creative min-maxing. It will be proudly niche and will probably have a narrow appeal, but that is where all the real fun will be going down. For HCD proper, I will continue to release new Thematic Variants (which don't increase overall designation count), and I'd also like to eventually get AI build plans implemented.

If you want a bit more flexibility on your colony designations, this mod is for you. If you need even more options, well, you can drop a suggestion in the comments and we'll see what's possible.

Hybrid Colony Designations - For Planets That Multitask Better Than You Do!


Upgrading to version 2.0.0, Hybrid Colony Designations (HCD) changed the mod’s file structure. Some files were deleted, others renamed or split into multiples. This was necessary for maintenance as the mod grew and I saw risks with the old structure. No internal ID names were changed - everything is 100% backwards compatible. However, Steam does not delete old files during updates. If you downloaded HCD before July 13th, 2025, you’ll likely have multiple, conflicting sources for some designations when upgrading from HCD 1.x to HCD 2.x. In my testing, the conflict is benign: old designations are overwritten, but the error log may show noise. Most players won’t notice. Regardless, here’s a simple fix: UNSUBSCRIBE from HCD and load the launcher. Steam will delete the mod. Then RE-SUBSCRIBE and reload the launcher - it’ll download the latest files.