Highlights
- Cydonia, located on Mars, is a crucial industrial city that fuels the United Colonies faction in Starfield, responsible for producing materials and machines for the faction's growth.
- Unlike other high-tech cities in Starfield, Cydonia has a more realistic and aged appearance, giving players a glimpse into the past of space settlements and the United Colonies' hold on power.
- Cydonia serves as the primary mining hub for the United Colonies and supplies materials for the construction of ships, ensuring the faction's military presence and protection against threats. Its importance to the interstellar economy is unmatched.
Out of the countless deep space destinations players will visit throughout their time with Bethesda’s Starfield, few play quite as important a role in ensuring the wheels of industry keep on turning as Cydonia. Located on Mars, Cydonia is a cramped and crowded indoor city that serves as the industrial base for the game’s United Colonies faction. Though it may not have the same slick, sci-fi sheen seen in some of Starfield’s other cities, Cydonia is vital to the continued existence of one of the game’s most militaristic faction. Responsible for churning out the materials and machines that fuel the United Colonies, the Martian city is one of Starfield’s can’t-miss destinations.
What makes Cydonia so intriguing even when compared to larger locales like Starfield’s New Atlantis isn’t just the key role that it plays in the economy of the Settled Systems, but also the distinct feel of the city. Built beneath a shield to protect its inhabitants from the harsh Martian atmosphere, Cydonia seems far closer to what the first real-world space settlements might look like than some of the game’s other high-tech hubs. Players who take the time to explore this industrial outpost will not only get an opportunity to peer into the past of Starfield’s spacefaring societies, but also a better understanding of how the United Colonies holds onto its power.
Starfield’s Martian Outpost of Cydonia Was One of Humanity’s First Homes in Space
Immediately upon entering Cydonia, it’s easy to see from its decidedly dilapidated appearance that the Martian outpost is far older than many of the other human-occupied locations players will visit in Starfield. While the materials mined on Mars by the workers who call it home provide the building blocks for the futuristic cities and ships of the United Colonies, the city itself is a relic of the past. Founded in 2112 by Deimos Staryards Inc., Cydonia was one of the first locations settled by humanity as it took its earliest steps into the stars.
Unlike the carefully planned layouts of other big cities in the game, Cydonia is a multi-use maze of industrial, commercial, and residential facilities all cobbled together over the course of centuries. The cramped nature of the complex leaves little room for creature comforts, with even the city’s mayor forced to live in a condo smaller than the interior of many of Starfield’s ships. While citizens can distract themselves from the claustrophobic surroundings by visiting the bars located on its upper and lower levels, the massive billboard counting the number of hours without incident in Cydonia makes it impossible to forget that it is first and foremost a city of industry.
Cydonia Provides the Machines and Materials That Power Starfield’s United Colonies
The relatively spartan appearance of Cydonia doesn’t just reflect the outpost’s advanced age, but also its primary reason for existence. Rather than being designed to give the humans of the far future a pleasant place to live, Cydonia is, for all intents and purposes, a massive machine built to meet the needs of the United Colonies. The raw materials mined on Mars are used to fuel the expansion of Starfield’s Settled Systems, with priority given to the growth of United Colonies’ fleets.
Still serving as the company’s primary mining hub over two centuries after its founding, much of what is produced on Cydonia is sent to the Deimos Staryards’ off-planet manufacturing facility to construct the ships of the UC Navy. This reliable supply chain assures that the United Colonies can continue to grow its military presence to protect its interests and respond to the increased threats posed by the pirates of the Crimson Fleet.
With its wealth of resources giving it an irreplaceable role in the interstellar economy, Cydonia is one of the most important locations in all of Starfield. While it may lack the aesthetic charms of some of the game’s other cities, without this Martian manufacturing hub, the Settled Systems’ continued growth would be practically impossible.
Starfield is now available for PC and Xbox Series X/S.