AI colony ship design

[Q]

Most of us have seen in the later game a problem of the AI with its colony ships: the AI sends colony ships to destinations that are to far away to be reached with the limited supply in the ship. Contrary to all other ships, the resupply minister does not care about colony ships to resupply. So what happens is that the colony ships continue to travel at the minimum speed of one move per turn after they run out of their supply. Therefore it can take years till they reach their destination! I don't know how to change the behaviour of the resupply minister so I changed the design of the colony ships as follows:
Name := Colony (Rock)
Design Type := Colony (Rock)
Vehicle Type := Ship
Default Strategy := Don't Get Hurt
Size Minimum Tonnage := 10
Size Maximum Tonnage := 5000
Num Must Have At Least 1 Ability := 1
Must Have Ability 1 := Colonize Planet - Rock
Minimum Speed := 2
Desired Speed := 3
Majority Weapon Family Pick 1 := 0
Majority Weapon Family Pick 2 := 0
Majority Weapon Family Pick 3 := 0
Majority Weapon Family Pick 4 := 0
Majority Weapon Family Pick 5 := 0
Secondary Weapon Family Pick 1 := 0
Secondary Weapon Family Pick 2 := 0
Secondary Weapon Family Pick 3 := 0
Secondary Weapon Family Pick 4 := 0
Secondary Weapon Family Pick 5 := 0
Shields Spaces Per One := 0
Armor Spaces Per One := 0
Majority Comp Spaces Per One := 10000
Majority Comp Ability := Colonize Planet - Rock
Secondary Comp Spaces Per One := 0
Secondary Comp Ability :=
Num Misc Abilities := 3
Misc Ability 1 Name := Quantum Reactor
Misc Ability 1 Spaces Per One := 10000
Misc Ability 2 Name := Cargo Storage
Misc Ability 2 Spaces Per One := 400
Misc Ability 3 Name := Standard Ship Movement
Misc Ability 3 Spaces Per One := 50

In the beginning of the game nothing is actually changed in the design. It still has five engines and one cargo component. When in the later game the AI has researched quantom reactor however this will be used in the colony ships and the number of engines are reduced to three to get the necessary space. Because at this level the AI will also have quantum engines the speed remains still one move above the initial value with ion engines. This design needs more resources to be built with the quantum reactor, but I think it is worth-while for the AI. For human player this design is not necessary.