Development Plans Guide
By Hachiman Taro

What plans apply
MOO3 generally applies 3 Development Plans to each and every planet. These are ALL PLANETS (always applied to every planet, although not displayed), Classification 1 and Classification 2, shown on the planets lowest level screen. If the selected plan has not been completed, it has no effect.

How MOO3 determines Classification 1
MOO3 puts development plans into Classification 1 in the following order of priority. Once a priority is met, lower priorities down the list are not considered.

1) Player Defined Plans – PLAYER DEFINED 1 - 5
If a Player selects a player defined plan to apply for that planet in the Classification 1 tab, it will automatically apply.

2) Emergency Plans – BESIEGED, UNREST, STARVING, RAVAGED
If an emergency is in effect, the applicable plan will apply in Classification 1 (if the above does not apply)

3) New Classifications – NEW, NEWLY CONQUERED, NEWLY ACQUIRED
If the planet has been colonised by the owning player for 15 turns or less the applicable plan will apply (if the above do priorities do not).

4) Home System Classification - CORE
If the planet is in the same system as the Imperial Seat of Government CORE will apply in Classification 1 (if the above priorities do not)

5) Development Classifications – FRONTIER, SECONDARY, PRIMARY
If the planet is on a border and univalue (development) is less than ¼ of the ring, FRONTIER apply in Classification 1 (if the above priorities do not).

If the planet is not near the borders and has less than ½ univalue ring (development) SECONDARY will apply in Classification 1(if the above priorities do not).
If the planet is on the border and has between ¼ and ½ univalue ring (development) SECONDARY will apply in Classification 1(if the above priorities do not)

If the planet has ½ or more univalue ring (development) PRIMARY will apply in Classification 1 (if the above priorities do not)

Note: The order in which MOO3 classifies planets in Classification 1 is similiar to the order they appear in your Development plan list (this is NOT true for Classification 2)

How MOO3 determines Classification 2
MOO3 puts development plans into Classification 2 in the following order of priority. Lower number equals higher priority (you should never see a lower priority plan apply if a higher priority plans’ requirements are met).

1) Player Defined Plans – PLAYER DEFINED 1 - 5
If a Player selects a player defined plan to apply for that planet in the Classification 1 tab, it will automatically apply.

2) Emergency Plans – BESEIGED, STARVING, RAVAGED, NO CLASS
If MORE THAN ONE emergency is in effect, the 2nd applicable plan will apply in Classification 2 (if the above does not apply).

If only one emergency is in effect NO CLASS may apply in Classification 2 (if the above does not apply).

3) New / Classification 1 Plan – FRONTIER/SECONDARY/PRIMARY
A planet can be Classification 1 – NEW/ NEWLY CONQUERED/ NEWLY AQUIRED and Classification 2 (WHATEVER WOULD OTHERWISE APPLY IN CLASSIFICATION 1) in some cases. This seems to occur in most or all cases when Classification 1 is one of the NEW classes. After the NEW Classification expires the Classification 2 plan will move into Classification 1 (where it normally belongs) and whatever other plan applies from the Classification 2 priorities will appear here.

4) Mineral Rich Plan - MINERAL RICH
If the planet is rich or very rich in minerals MINERAL RICH will apply in Classification 2 (if the above does not apply)

5) High Bio Diversity Plan – HIGH BIO DIVERSITY
If the planet has ‘Diverse’ Biodiversity HIGH BIODIVERSITY will apply in Classification 2 (if the above does not apply).

Note that (because of the above), the below will only apply to planets that are NOT Mineral rich or High Biodiversity.

6) Size plans - LARGE, SMALL
If the Planet is size 3 or lower SMALL WILL APPLY in Classification 2
If the Planet is size 10 or higher LARGE will apply in Classification 2

Note that (because of the above), the below will only apply to planets that are NOT Mineral rich or High Biodiversity, and are size 4-9.

7) Mineral Poor Plan - MINERAL POOR
If the planet is mineral poor, or very poor MINERAL POOR will apply in Classification 2 (if the above does not apply).

8) Low Biodiversity Plan – LOW BIODIVERSITY
If the planet has ‘Similar’ Biodiversity LOW BIODIVERSITY will apply in Classification 2 (if the above does not apply).

Note that (because of the above), the below will only apply to planets that are NOT Mineral rich or High Biodiversity, are size 4-9, and are NOT Mineral poor or Low Biodiversity (ie they are 'medium' size, average mineral, average ('Heterogenious') Biodiversity.

9) Habitability Ring Plans – RED, YELLOW, GREEN, SWEET SPOT, PARADISE
If none of the above apply, the planet will apply a plan based on it’s habitability ring in Classification 2

Notes and exceptions
There is a bug in the Classification 1 priorities, which will sometimes result in an incorrect Development plan appearing here. This has been acknowledged by QS programming and will be addressed in the forthcoming Code Patch.

'DEA Type' Classifications
FARMING, MINING, MANUFACTURING, RESEARCH, TRADE etc
These have not been found to apply anywhere. Post data patch they are not selectable (with the exception of RECREATION). One Hypothesis is that they may soon have a new function (post code patch).

Regional Zoning effects
Development Plans have the some effect when Regional Zoning (in the Empire tab) is set to SPECIALISED. This will result in highly specialised world which will likely produce more efficiently (based on what it is suited for), but be less self-sufficient (and therefore less able to withstand blockades). Note that this is often what you will desire anyway, so your plans may seem to be having a larger effect in Specialised

Development Plans have more effect when Regional Zoning is set to NATURAL. These Planets look after their immediate needs, then look at your Development plan priorities / what the planet is suited for to determine what to build.

Development Plans have limited effect when Regional Zoning is set to BALANCED. This will result in a world which is highly self sufficient (it will have a balance of everything, regardless of empire priorities).

Viceroy priorities
The Viceroy AI is hard coded with some priorities, which are not accessible to the player. However these priorities are generally very sensible on closer inspection. For example, a new planet will almost always build an industry DEA first, regardless of Development plan priorities. This serves to actually speed the overall construction of the next DEA because it gives the planets more production capacity to build with.

In most instances the AI Viceroy will have a group of pre-set (hardcoded) priorities designed to deal with whatever situation it finds itself in. You will find that this makes the Viceroy relatively competent at self-management. Your development plans are therefore best used as general directions that will sway your empire in the direction you wish, but not to an unbalancing degree.

Essentially what this means is that a Development plan is an instruction to the planetary Viceroy to give higher priority to the policies contained within the plan. It is not a direct order to build what is in the plan, and the Viceroy will still have other priorities in addition to your instructions. To give direct orders, you must manually place items in build queues (where possible).

To make an analogy. If you’re the President of the USA, and you order the Governor of Texas to increase the industrial output of the state, the Governor isn’t going to stop everything else and exclusively build factories. There will still be farms, commercial districts, mines (where mineral deposits exist), fun parks, government offices etc in significant numbers in Texas, according to its needs / what individual areas are suited for. However overall Texas will likely start building more factories and therefore increase industrial output. Similarly, as President you are not going to order Texas to have a Slinky factory on the corner of Smith and Jones Sts, Springfield (hence why you don’t place DEA improvements directly in the build cue).

View Development plans as overall directions (rather than direct commands) and you will remove a source of frustration for yourself.

DISCLAIMER: THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS COMPILED FROM RESEACH AND POSTING DONE BY BRAWLER, ZODICUS,CAN_ttal DAGDAAND DA_BLADE. EXCEPT WHERE NOTED IT IS CONSIDERED TO BE RELATIVELY CONCLUSIVE.

Development Plan Emphasis effects

A PRIMARY development plan Emphasis will have a marked effect on development (depending on other factors involved, including Regional Zoning and Viceroy priorities). The relative weighting of a PRIMARY Emphasis (compared to other weightings) is said to be 1.0.

A SECONDARY development plan Emphasis will have some effect on development (depending on other factors involved, including Regional Zoning and Viceroy priorities). The relative weighting of a SECONDARY Emphasis (compared to other weightings) is said to be 0.7.

A TERTIARY development plan Emphasis will have a limited effect on development (depending on other factors involved, including Regional Zoning and Viceroy priorities). The relative weighting of a TERTIARY Emphasis (compared to other weightings) is said to be 0.3.

One way to increase the influence of a selection in development plans is to select it more than once, either in that same plan, or in two that both apply at once, since they 'stack'.

Development Plan Policy effects
Selecting the following plans gives priority to the following actions

MINE
Build Mining DEA’s, Mining Capacity improvements, and Mining efficiency improvements

FARM
Build Bioharvest DEA’S, Bioharvest capacity improvements, and Bioharvest efficiency improvements.

MANUFACTURE
Build Industry DEA’S, Industry capacity improvements, and Industry efficiency improvements.

RESEARCH
Build Research DEA’s, Research capacity improvements and Research efficiency improvements

GOVERNMENT
Build Government DEA’s, Government capacity improvements and Government efficiency improvements

RECREATION
Build Recreation DEA’s, Recreation capacity improvements and Recreation efficiency improvements

MILITARY
Build Military DEA’s, Military capacity improvements and Military efficiency improvements

PLANETARY DEFENSE
Build Military DEA’s, Military capacity improvements, Military efficiency improvements and Planetary Defences (ie Planetary Shields and Bases).

MORALE
Build Government, Recreation, and Military capacity improvements (not efficiency improvements).

Note that regional capacity improvements increase the output of DEA’s but also increase the amount of population required to run them. This Emphasis is therefore best used on more Developed worlds that have higher populations (eg PRIMARY). Also it is not useful until the relevant capacity increasing techs have been researched.

INFRASTRUCURE
Infrastructure in the DPs increases the emphasis to build the four infrastructure techs: Sanitation, Transportation, Power, and Communication. Infrastructure on a planet increases the population limit and/or the tax base of a region. Unforturately, this is only a guess from information found in the tables.

TRADE
Build Space Port DEA’s, Space Port capacity improvements and Space Port efficiency improvements

TERRAFORMING
Prioritise terraforming of the planet.

DISCLAIMER: THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS COMPILED FROM RESEACH AND POSTING DONE BY POSTERS IN THE OLD DEVELOPMENT PLANS EXPLAINED THREAD (MAINLY PRAGMATIC, KRALLUS AND NOW CAN_ttal[). IT HAS LESS CONCLUSIVENESS THAN THE SECTION ABOVE (LESS TESTING) BUT IS PARTIALLY BASED ON DATA FROM THE SPREADSHEETS, AND SHOULD BE MORE OR LESS TRUE. THE MOST UNCERTAIN (TO ME AT LEAST) CATEGORY IS INFRASTRUCTURE.

Development Plan Selection advice
What follows is my opinion.
Classification 1 is useful for generally prioritising what may be essential for a planet at its current state of development and population level. For example, RECREATION, MILITARY AND PLANETARY DEFENSE selections are useful for new colonies to minimise unrest before piracy is under control.

Similiarly, emphasising DEA plans with low population and/or AU costs (eg MINE / RECREATION / RESEARCH) is useful on newer colonies which are still establishing themselves (eg. NEW / SECONDARY). Mines are particularly useful here, because they not only cost little and require low population, they also generate money to kick start the fledgling economy. Emphasising DEA plans with high population requirements and or AU costs (Eg MANUFACTURING) is useful on more developed, populous worlds (eg PRIMARY / CORE)

Classification 2 is useful for generally prioritising what may be most applicable to the underlying properties of a planet. One example of basic priorities might be

MINERAL RICH – MINE
HIGH BIO DIVERSITY – FARM
LARGE – MANUFACTURE
SMALL – RESEARCH
MINERAL POOR – MANUFACTURE
LOW BIODIVERSITY – RESEARCH

This will result in more mines and farms where they are suited, more industry in (very) large worlds and those with able to support a decent amount of population per region, and more research in (very) small worlds and those with low population limits per region. This is a sensible basic strategy.

All Planets is useful for generally emphasising particular policies throughout your empire. This is often used to emphasise a strength (eg Manufacturing for Cybernetiks), reduce the effect of a weakness (farming for poor biohavesting races), or enforce general policies that will be useful in most circumstances (building at least some Government DEAs’ in all systems, reduce unrest globally, build regional infrastructure globally etc).

DEA (Dominant Economic Activity) Summary Guide
Note that base costs will be modified by HFOG (Heavy foot of Government), hence in practice they may cost more than the base costs indicated below.

MINING
Population Requirement: 0.33 (Low)
Base Cost: 50 PP (Low)
Mining DEA’s generate minerals for Industry, and AU’s (money – see Economics 101). They are useful on new colonies because of their low cost and population requirement, and the fact they generate early Planetary income. Silicoids and Cybertnetiks (who use ½ food, ½ minerals), eat minerals as food.

RESEARCH
Population Requirement: 0.33 (Low)
Base Cost: 150 PP (High)
Research DEA’s generate research (in conjunction with funding levels). They have low population requirements but a high cost base, meaning they are suited to low population worlds with at least some established industry and economy, since planetary income will be required to build and fund research efforts.

BIOHARVEST
Population Requirement: 0.67 (Moderate)
Base Cost: 50 PP (Low)
Bioharvest DEA’S generate food and AU’s (money – see Economics 101). For most races food is essential to population growth. One food is consumed by each population point per turn (apart from Silicoids and Cybernetiks – see above). Below this population growth will be lowered. Below 1 food per 2 population, starvation will begin (negative population growth). Food can also be consumed by industry.

RECREATION
Population Requirement: 0.67 (Moderate)
Base Cost: 50 PP (Low)
Recreation DEA’s lower unrest and (post code patch) will generate AU’s. Their low cost makes them useful on new colonies to combat the initial unrest effects of piracy (those miners need entertainment or they make trouble!). They are supposed to have an outreach effect, which means they can also lower unrest in nearby worlds.

MILITARY
Population Requirement: 0.67 (Moderate)
Base Cost: 100 PP (Medium)
Military DEA’s lower unrest, much like Recreation DEA’s and also increase the stacking limit of military buildings and orbitals on the planet. They are supposed to have an outreach effect, which means they can also lower unrest in nearby worlds. With a higher cost base (and no income production) Military DEA’s would be reasonably be expected to have a greater impact on unrest than Recreation DEA’s. Practically, however this is largely dependent on Government modifiers and racial preferences.

GOVERNMENT
Population Requirement: 1.00 (High)
Base Cost: 100 PP (Medium)
Government DEA’s lower unrest, increase the efficiency of other DEA’s, increase the efficiency of taxation, form System and Imperial seats of Government, and make it more difficult to capture planets in Ground Combat (the planet is captured when the last government DEA is Captured). They are supposed to have an outreach effect, which means they can also affect nearby worlds. Government DEA’s are most useful in developed worlds because of their high population requirements.

INDUSTRY
Population Requirement: 1.00 (High)
Base Cost: 150PP (High)
Industry DEA’s generate production points (in conjunction with funding levels). They have high population requirements and a high cost base, meaning they are suited to high population, highly developed worlds. To function at high output levels they need both a high capacity and significant funding. Hence a primary industrial world will need both a source of income and a high population. Industry generates income itself by consuming minerals and food (see Economics 101).

SPACEPORT
Population Requirement: 0.33 (Low)
Regional Population Pre-Requisite: 2.0 (Very High)
Base Cost: 150 AU

Spaceports generate trade income. They require a low population to run but have prerequisite regional population levels needed to be able to build the DEA and upgrade its capacity. They are therefore suited to high population, highly developed worlds.