New colonies have many requirements. No worthwhile nation in the 31 century undertakes such an endeavor lightly. Even on the distant Terra of long ago, colonization was not done by simply dropping off some hundred men and women with a sack of potatoes and a herd of cattle. They came with tools, building materials, many food supplies and what medicines were known. Carpenters, masons, hunters and administrators, people skilled in one form or another. As it has been, so shall it be.
Hyperions are built with such thoughts in mind. The class is based on a ship owned by the Murkem's Marauders, a Periphery based mercenary group. Helghan engineers had a great deal of time to study the old dropship during their employment by the Republic. Much of the design for the Hyperion is the same, though much of the machinery meant to service Battlemechs has been repurposed its intended work, and has Helghan conveniences such as on board gravity and gravity lifts. The Hyperion is also armed, mostly with an assortment of medium to large lasers, as well as a few gauss cannons. The lasers are detachable, and are usually set up around the colony site after landing.
While the hundred thousand ton dropship does not bring a great deal of people, it does bring a foundation. Brought to colony worlds by Jumpship or Warptrader, a Hyperion will land on a future colony site and begin to unload and set up the necessary infrastructure. Water sources logged by previous expeditions are tapped and water and sewer systems are installed. Electrical lines are buried along with fiber optic cable. Lots for homes and businesses are designed and roads are paved. The beginnings of a future planned city, or even merely a town, are laid.
From there the Hyperion's manufacturing bays will produce building supplies and tools. While not capable of building a full colony by itself, it provides the heavy equipment and industrial mechs to build everything from houses, apartments, shops, office buildings and other homing and commercial buildings. Typically they are supplied by the much larger transport vessel bringing the colony's future inhabitants.
The men and women of the Hyperions typically do not live in the colony, nor are they intended as colonists themselves. A small number stay onboard, living and working in the ship itself. The majority usually live in a collection of self sufficient prefabricated structures that were brought along. These have their own closed power and water systems, though they are typically connected to the colony's systems later. They are not meant to become part of the colony, and are either packed back up when the ship leaves, or are left behind to be cannibalized.
When the town or city is deemed to have progressed enough the ship is no longer necessary, they move on to the next site somewhere else on the planet, if not to a new world.