Each resource has configurable goals for minimum net income, wanted net income, and maximum net income.

Minimum income: If a district or building would cost upkeep that would drop your income below its minimum, Better Planet Automation will not build it yet. If scrapping a district or building would drop your income below its minimum, Better Planet Automation will not scrap it regardless of other factors. If any minimum income is not met, Better Planet Automation will prioritize meeting the configured minimums, and will ignore wanted income settings until all minimums are met.

Wanted income: Better Planet Automation will continue developing more production of a resource until its wanted goal is reached. While developing towards this goal, Better Planet Automation will also seek to optimize placement of resource production by moving existing production from less suitable planets to more suitable planets if possible.

Maximum income: Better Planet Automation will scrap resource production that exceeds a configured maximum, scrapping production on the least suitable planets first.


Better Planet Automation chooses a single item to build, and a single planet to build it on. This makes automation save up stockpiled resources for the top priority item, not depleting automation stockpiles on cheaper but less important things first. When the chosen item is added to the build queue, Better Planet Automation selects something to build on another planet.

Better Planet Automation checks both each planet's local state and your empire's economic situation as a whole, and compares planets with each other, to determine the best thing to build.

Better Planet Automation automatically disables all clerk, colonist, and crime reduction jobs by default, except telepaths, but re-enables them as needed for crime handling or amenities, though in most cases amenities will be handled by other jobs before reaching a point where enabling clerks is needed. In the very early game, it waits for your homeworld's initial clerks to take other jobs, and for another colony to become available to migrate to. When Better Planet Automation first begins managing a planet, it skips the job strata demotion time for any enforcers it removes from their jobs, as a one-time effect to avoid penalizing you for not having already been using it.

Better Planet Automation chooses the first applicable item in the following list as what to build:

1. If any planet has unemployment or no free jobs, stability 50% or lower or cannot auto-migrate, and is not already building something, build something that fits the planet's designation to provide jobs. If the planet has a generic default designation and already enough amenities, then focus on the resource that is at the smallest fraction of your empire's goals.
   
2. If any planet has an amenities shortage -2 or worse, or stability 40% or lower and non-abundant amenities, no unused amenities jobs, and is not already building something, build something to increase amenities there.
   
3. If any planet has a housing shortage and is not already building something, build something to increase housing there.
   
4. If any planet has 25% or more crime, no unused crime reduction jobs, and is not already building something, build something to add crime reduction jobs.
   
5. If your empire has a deficit of any resource, find the planet that is the most suitable for producing that resource, and build something to increase production of that resource if possible.
   
   • If you have multiple deficits, focus only on the worst one.
     
   • If producing the resource costs upkeep of another resource, and the upkeep resource is below its minimum, then develop the upkeep resource to its minimum first.
     
   • If a Betharian Power Plant or a strategic resource harvesting building can be built, and matches the resource, then build that regardless of planet specialization.
     
   • If any planet designated for the resource is available, planets designated for other resources are ignored.
     
   • If multiple planets are almost as suitable, pick one of them that is not already building something.
     
   • If a planet already has multiple open jobs for the resource, do not add more before they are filled.
     
   • Do not develop production of any other resource, on any planet, so that new pops grown on planets specialized for other resources will be unemployed and auto migrate to the planet(s) being developed for the resource that is needed most.
     
   • If total unemployment in your empire exceeds total free jobs in your empire, then ignore the previous listed restriction because potential migrant pops are already abundant.
6. If your empire has no deficits but falls short of your configured minimum income for any resource, do the same as with deficits for that resource. If you have multiple resources that fall short, focus on the resource that is at the smallest fraction of your empire's minimum goal for the resource.
   
7. If all configured minimum goals are met, but you fall short of any configured wanted income goal, then do the same as with deficits for that resource. If you have multiple resources that fall short, focus on the resource that is at the smallest fraction of your empire's wanted goal for the resource.
   
8. If any planet can upgrade its capital building and is not already building something, then upgrade its capital building.
   
9. If any planet can upgrade a resource productivity booster building and is not already building something, then upgrade the productivity booster.
   
10. If any planet can build something to increase population growth rate and is not already building something, then build that. This includes increases to pop assembly.
    
11. If any planet can build or upgrade any of the following buildings and is not already building something, then build it:
    
    • Embassy Complex (capital planet only)
      
    • Psi Corps (if enabled in automation settings)
      
    • Galactic Stock Exchange
      
    • Slave Processing Facility, if at least 3 slave pops on the planet (if enabled in automation settings)
      
    • Noble Estates (if enabled in automation settings)
      
    • Gaia Seeders
      
    • Any of the planet unique buildings that produce unity directly, without needing pops to work jobs
      
    • (Rogue Servitors only) If any planet does not have an Organic Sanctuary, then build one, so that bio-trophies can spread and reproduce throughout the empire. Organic Sanctuaries beyond one per planet are reserved for Forge Worlds.
12. If any planet has 3 housing or less, or needs more planet capacity to keep logistic population growth high, and is not already building something, then build something to increase housing there.
    
13. If any planet has 0 or less free amenities, or stability lower than 50% and non-abundant amenities, no unused amenities jobs, and is not already building something, then build something to increase amenities there.
    
14. If any planet has no free building slots, can add a building slot by building a City District or similar, and is not already building something, then build to add a building slot.
    
15. If total unemployment in your empire exceeds total free jobs in your empire, then build more production of any resource that has an available planet to do so.