Orbital habitats

[Rich.h (OP)]

Just a quick question on these. Am I right in thinking that an orbital hab module is simply like having a big empty station (such as Babylon 5) for use by colonists that shuttle between it and the planet to work? Or is it actually meant to be a big station that contains folks who live aboard it all the time?

I notice that an orbital habitat ship has a capacity of 50,000 but never actually have any population cargo. This makes me think I am then essentially sticking living quarters/shops/etc in orbit for folks to live in on a temporary basis while they build things on the planet below before making a permanent move to the planet?

[Charlie Beeler]

The intent of OrbHab's is living space for colony worlds that are functionally uninhabitable but have resources you wish to exploit.

[Wolfius]

They essentially provide the colony they're parked over with living space regardless of it's colony cost, even iirc if it's otherwise N/A. You could mass-produce infrastructure for worlds with high colony costs instead, but in addition to the expense, the higher the colony cost, the larger the percentage of the population that's tied up just maintaining that infrastructure and not avalible for prodctive work, so after a point the orbital habs are just more effective.