All of this information is available in an in-game information menu, and laid out in a more accessible fashion. This post is a never-ending wall of text that probably shouldn't be read.

NOTE: The mod has two policies enabled by default for automated planet development. Even with these switched on, there are some manual edicts that can be used, or planet development can be ignored completely if you wish.

If you've read all of the topics listed below and want to manage planets completely manually, you'll know what to do!

Regardless of whether you want to manage planets manually or mostly automatically, I recommend reading at least the first three topics (with red text) to get an idea of the mod's changes.

If you're interested in managing planets manually, I recommend reading all of the topics, as they cover the details of planet development and how it is managed. Plenty of tooltips have been added to the game to provide as much information as possible.

If you'd prefer to watch videos instead, check youtube videos linked on the Steam Workshop page (intro and gameplay vids).


Welcome to Planet Development Overhaul - here's what you need to know:

1. There is an empire edict called Planet Development Information that launches a menu covering the mod's features and explaining various new mechanics.
2. Automated planet development is enabled by default via the Infrastructure and State Industry empire policies. This covers regular planet development, while leaving various planetary edicts for manual fine-tuning.
3. Pops, Tiles, Buildings and planet size are largely irrelevant - the mod features new systems that minimise/replace them.
4. Food has been reworked into a system for planets referred to as Logistical Capacity, representing the ability of an empire to maintain its planets. Keep it positive!
5. There are many new empire policies and planetary edicts for fine-tuning, flavour, streamlining.
6. There are two new entry-level megastructures - the Dyson Ring and Orbital Ring.
7. All AI empires use the same mechanics as the player.
8. The mod's systems improve both game and AI performance.
9. Compatible with most mods, but avoid using this with mods that add new buildings that generate standard resources (energy/minerals/food/science) as it will completely break the balance of the mod.


Planet development is now largely independent of pops, tiles and buildings.

Development is instead based on a variety of new systems such as Population and Infrastructure, and uses of planetary edicts and empire policies for management. The result is focus on strategic development of a planet, or if desired, automating it completely via empire policies.

Pops still serve various mechanics such as happiness and unrest, migration, representing factions, and compatibility with event mods. Migrating pops will add to the population of a planet. As quantity of pops no longer matters, planets are limited to 5-8 for slightly better performance.

Tiles still have deposits and can be worked by spare pops for some bonus income, and provide a nice view of the planet. As with pops, the number of tiles per planet has been lowered for improved performance. It doesn't matter how many tiles planets have. Choose planets for their class, location and modifiers instead.

Buildings have mostly been disabled, although many uniques are still in, some constructed (civic and tradition buildings), some built via edicts (planetary shields and fortresses).

Food has been reworked into Logistical Capacity and is used by planets rather than pops. It represents an empire's ability to logistically support its worlds. Newer colonies will run food deficits that will need to be covered by the surpluses of more developed worlds.


Base economic output is noted in the 'Planet Economy' planet modifier.

The economy of the planet is largely no longer directly under our control, but grows automatically as planets become more populated and developed. It can be directly developed through investment in State Industry, and indirectly developed through Infrastructure investment, specialisation, and various projects enabled via planetary edicts. See other topics for details.

All empires and planets use the new system, but start at varying levels. The homeworld of normal empires begin well populated and developed and will likely remain the most important worlds of their empires. Fallen Empire worlds begin highly populated and incredibly developed, making them strong opponents and worthy conquests.


Population is noted in the 'Planet Economy' planet modifier

All planets now feature a population value that grows automatically over time, starting once a colony has been established. It increases throughout the game and has no practical limit (other than habitats, which are limited to one billion), so worlds already established at the start will likely remain the most populated planets throughout the course of the game.

Population can be affected by events such as occupation and migration, and in the future, events such as disease and disasters. There is currently no way for the player to directly affect population.

Unfortunately it's not possible to place the actual population figure on the planet screen, so a rounded figure is placed on the planet modifier.


Infrastructure Level is noted in the 'Infrastructure' planet modifier.

Infrastructure is set to be managed automatically via the Automated Infrastructure Development empire policy. It is recommended to leave it on unless you're familiar with the mod's mechanics.

All planets now feature an infrastructure value that grows automatically over time, starting once a colony has been established. Infrastructure and population are essentially in a race against each other, as measured against each other they determine a planet's Infrastructure Level.

Infrastructure Level is measured on a scale between 0 and 100% (with 50% being average) and is a representation of planet infrastructure's capacity to support its economy. If the infrastructure level increases above 50%, bonuses are applied to the planet's output; if it falls beneath 50%, penalties are applied. It's important to maintain or increase the infrastructure level to get the most we can out of the planet's economy.


Managing Infrastructure Automatically
The Automated Infrastructure Development empire policy automatically maintains the current infrastructure level of all planets, protecting against the penalties of failing infrastructure. This is enabled by default and allows us to safely ignore infrastructure, although we won't get the most out of it.

While maintenance of infrastructure can be done automatically, improving it requires manually use of the 2 Year - Auto planetary edict, which will boost infrastructure over a period of two years.

Managing Infrastructure Manually
Manual management of infrastructure is done via the 2, 5 and 15 Year planetary edicts and is overall slightly more cost-effective than automated management. The 2 Year edict will boost infrastructure growth, slowly increasing it's level, but it is the most expensive edict. The 5 Year edict will maintain infrastructure at its current level at a moderate cost. The 15 Year edict will resulting in slight degradation over time but an option when on a tight budget.

It is best to either Auto policy plus 2 Year Auto edict, or a combination of 2 and 5 year edicts (cheaper but requires more management) to get the most out of an economy.

The policy affects both core worlds and those in sectors, and sectors will make use of planetary edicts


State industry is contained within a building on a planet tile, and noted in the resource income on the planet summary screen.

State Industry represents the portion of a planet's economy directly under central government control. Unlike infrastructure, it is not necessary to develop, but it can greatly boost a planet's economy over the course of the game.

The state industry building is spawned automatically on a colony soon after its establishment, and investment in state industry periodically spawns resources on the building's tile, gradually increasing its income.


The Automated Infrastructure Development empire policy on High or Low automatically develops State Industry on all planets in the empire. High maximises the gain, while Low achieves half the gain at half the cost. This policy is set to Low by default.

There are two planetary edicts for developing State Industry - the 5 Year and the 15 Year. Both give the same gain rate as the Low policy setting but are 10% and 20% cheaper respectively. Either may be used in conjunction with the Low policy setting, collectively achieving the same gain as the High policy option, but at a lower cost.

The policies affect both core worlds and those in sectors, and sectors will make use of planetary edicts.


Logistical Capacity replaces food and represents the capacity of an empire to support its worlds. If an empire runs out of capacity, natural development on its worlds stagnate.

Logistical Capacity increases for each colony as it develops. Initially, a colony be a consumer of capacity and require the support of more developed worlds. As the colony develops, it will gradually start to produce a surplus and in return be able to support newer colonies. This creates a system where established worlds support new colonies until they are self-sustaining, and provides a check to over-expansion.

If worlds become excessively developed, their capacity output begins to decrease until it becomes a deficit, and a drain on the empire. If enough worlds run a deficit and deplete the empire's balance, the empire and it's worlds will stagnate. Fallen Empires are on the verge of suffering from this condition, although this will be corrected if they awaken and conquer younger worlds.


Most planet development is handled via planetary edicts or empire policies.

Empire Policies
There are a large number of new policies to fine tune our empire for flavour or efficient game-play. These policies cover tax, trade, education, health and crime, and automated planet development.

Planetary Edicts
There are a large number of new planetary edicts to handle infrastructure and state industry development, adjustment of local tax levels, adopting planet specialisation, and constructing various special projects such as planetary shields, fortresses, and a robotic workforce.


The mod adds two new megastructures to the game as part of the shift from micromanaging buildings and pops, to strategically managing planets, systems and our empire.

The Dyson Ring
This functions similarly to the Dyson sphere but has the following differences:
- Requires no technology to begin.
- Far cheaper than a sphere.
- Has construction stages with later stages requiring technology.
- Later levels allow the mining of stars to produce minerals in addition to energy.
- Unlike the sphere it's not restricted in number.
- It has a fraction of the output of a sphere (currently 100 energy).

The Orbital Ring
- Similar to the Dyson Ring, a ring constructed around a planet to expand it's productivity.
- It mainly produces energy, but also increasing amounts of minerals and food.
- Cheap to begin construction, but requires a developed planet (large population).


This mod is Part 1 of an overall overhaul, with the first part addressing general planet development and management, and second part addressing resources and the economy in greater detail. Part 2 is an optional add-on for this mod and will be released 1-2 weeks after this one.

There will likely be a fair bit of balancing and bug fixing, an aim to bring population to the forefront and integrate happiness and migration, and to expand on system development (particularly megastructures).

Summary of Part 2 (optional add-on)
1.(Done) Replace the standard resource system with a more in-depth resource system. The aim is to make it deep and meaningful but not overly complicated, suiting those that want something streamlined and those that want something complex.

2.(Half-done) Add in a large number of specialised planetary industries creating production chains, providing strategic bonuses (rather than provided by mined strategic resources), expanding trading options and varying planet's economies. The industries are established automatically as planets develop, but the player can somewhat influence their direction.

3.(Planning) Create a supply and demand system for each good produced, varying each industries value depending on the demand of their product. This would ideally also include a marketplace for trade.



This mod should be compatible with the vast majority of other mods. The only mods that will likely cause serious issues are those that add new buildings generating energy, minerals, food or science.

Traditions added by other mods that specifically effect tile blockers, building speed or cost won't be worthwhile.

The vast majority of mods should be perfectly compatible - if it hasn't been mentioned here, it probably works.

The following files are overwritten without being renamed:
00_policies.

The following files are overwritten by renamed mod files:
00_buildings, 00_habitat_buildings, 00_synthetic_dawn_buildings, 00_robot_pops, and 00_strategic_resources.
The following files are partially overwritten by renamed mod files:
00_ascension_perks, 00_defines, 00_phys/soc/eng_tech and the diplomacy, domination, expansion and harmony traditions.