Complete Beginner’s Guide to Planetary Industry

Complete Beginner's Guide to Planetary Industry

Planetary Industry (commonly referred to as PI) is one of the most accessible and rewarding industrial careers in EVE Online. Unlike mining or manufacturing, which require active gameplay, Planetary Industry allows you to build automated production colonies on planets that continue extracting and processing resources while you are offline. Once established, these colonies generate a steady stream of materials that can be sold for profit or used in your own manufacturing operations.

For new industrialists, PI is one of the best ways to create a reliable source of passive income. While it requires some initial planning and occasional maintenance, it demands far less active playtime than many other industrial activities. Whether you log in every day or only a few times a week, Planetary Industry can become an important part of your industrial portfolio and a valuable stepping stone towards larger production chains.

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What Is Planetary Industry?

Planetary Industry allows players to establish colonies on planets throughout New Eden.

Each colony extracts raw resources from the planet's surface and processes them through a series of industrial facilities.

Unlike manufacturing, which uses blueprints and production jobs, PI is a continuous production system.

Once a colony is operational it continues producing resources until:

• The extractor program finishes.
• Storage becomes full.
• You stop or modify production.

Because of this, PI is often described as passive income, although colonies still require periodic management.

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Why Is Planetary Industry Important?

Planetary materials are used in almost every area of advanced industry.

They are essential for manufacturing:

• Fuel Blocks
• Upwell Structures
• Structure Service Modules
• Capital Ship Components
• Tech II Components
• Sovereignty Structures
• Industrial Equipment
• Robotics
• Consumer Products
• Mechanical Parts
• Guidance Systems
• Hundreds of other manufactured goods

Without Planetary Industry, much of New Eden's industrial infrastructure could not be built or maintained.

This constant demand means there is almost always a market for PI products.

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How Planetary Industry Works

Planetary Industry follows a straightforward production chain.

Planet Resources

↓

Extraction

↓

Basic Processing

↓

Advanced Processing

↓

Storage

↓

Launch or Export

↓

Market or Manufacturing

Every colony follows this basic workflow, although more advanced colonies become significantly more complex.

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Understanding PI Product Tiers

Planetary Industry products are organised into several production tiers.

Understanding these tiers is essential because they determine how much processing is required before a product can be sold or used.

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P0 – Raw Resources

These are the resources extracted directly from planets.

Examples include:

• Base Metals
• Noble Metals
• Aqueous Liquids
• Ionic Solutions
• Micro Organisms
• Felsic Magma

P0 materials cannot be sold efficiently in large quantities and are normally processed immediately.

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P1 – Basic Commodities

Produced from raw resources inside Basic Industry Facilities.

Examples include:

• Reactive Metals
• Water
• Oxygen
• Precious Metals
• Silicon
• Industrial Fibres

P1 products are widely traded and often serve as the foundation for more advanced manufacturing.

Many beginner colonies simply extract P0 resources and convert them into P1.

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P2 – Refined Commodities

Produced by combining two P1 materials inside Advanced Industry Facilities.

Examples include:

• Mechanical Parts
• Coolant
• Consumer Electronics
• Construction Blocks
• Fertiliser
• Polytextiles

P2 products generally command higher market prices because additional processing has already been completed.

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P3 – Specialised Commodities

Created by combining multiple P2 products.

Examples include:

• Robotics
• Guidance Systems
• Smartfab Units
• Miniature Electronics

These products are heavily used in advanced manufacturing.

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P4 – Advanced Commodities

The highest tier of PI production.

Examples include:

• Broadcast Nodes
• Self-Harmonising Power Cores
• Nano-Factories
• Organic Mortar Applicators

These require significant infrastructure and logistics and are usually produced on dedicated factory planets.

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Planet Types

Each planet contains different raw resources.

The available planet types include:

• Barren
• Temperate
• Lava
• Storm
• Gas
• Oceanic
• Plasma
• Ice

Each planet type produces different P0 resources, meaning no single planet can produce every PI product.

As a result, advanced production chains often require multiple colonies working together.

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Setting Up Your First Colony

Creating your first colony is straightforward.

Step 1 – Choose a Planet

Open the Planetary Industry interface and survey nearby planets.

Look for planets with:

• Strong resource concentrations.
• Convenient location.
• Easy logistics.

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Step 2 – Deploy a Command Center

Every colony begins with a Command Center.

The Command Center acts as the foundation of your colony and determines how much infrastructure can be deployed.

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Step 3 – Build an Extractor Control Unit (ECU)

The ECU extracts raw materials from the planet.

Extractor Heads are positioned over resource hotspots.

The richer the hotspot, the greater the extraction rate.

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Step 4 – Build Storage

Storage Facilities or Launchpads temporarily hold materials while they move through your production chain.

Without sufficient storage, production can stop when facilities become full.

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Step 5 – Build Basic Industry Facilities

These convert P0 resources into P1 commodities.

For most beginners, this is where the colony ends.

Simple extraction → P1 production is easy to manage and generates consistent income.

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Step 6 – Connect Everything

Every structure must be connected using Links.

Resources move through these links according to Routes that you configure.

Planning efficient routes reduces bottlenecks and improves colony performance.

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Extractor Programs

Extractors do not run forever.

You choose how long each extraction program operates.

Typical program lengths include:

• 1 Day
• 2 Days
• 4 Days
• 7 Days
• 14 Days

Longer programs require less management but produce fewer resources per hour.

Shorter programs produce more resources but require more frequent interaction.

Most players choose a balance based on how often they log in.

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Skills for Planetary Industry

Planetary Industry requires relatively few skills to begin.

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Command Center Upgrades

Increases available power and CPU on each colony.

This allows larger and more efficient colony layouts.

One of the most important PI skills.

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Interplanetary Consolidation

Determines how many planets you can control simultaneously.

More planets = more production.

This is one of the biggest income scaling skills in PI.

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Planetology

Improves the accuracy of resource scanning.

More accurate scans make it easier to position extractor heads over rich deposits.

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Advanced Planetology

Further improves scanning precision.

Useful for optimising high-efficiency colonies.

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Remote Sensing

Allows planets to be surveyed from greater distances.

Convenient but not essential.

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Beginner Colony Types

Most new players start with one of two approaches.

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Extraction Colony

Extract P0 resources.

↓

Process into P1.

↓

Export.

Advantages:

• Simple.
• Low maintenance.
• Excellent learning experience.

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Factory Colony

Import materials.

↓

Process into higher-tier products.

↓

Export.

Factory colonies become more useful later when operating multiple extraction planets.

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Selling PI Products

PI materials can be sold at several stages.

Option 1:

Sell P1 products.

Simple and beginner friendly.

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Option 2:

Process into P2.

Higher value but requires additional infrastructure.

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Option 3:

Produce P3 or P4.

Highest value creation but also the most complex.

Most advanced industrialists eventually specialise in P3 and P4 production.

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Integrating PI into Industry

Planetary Industry becomes much more valuable when combined with other industrial careers.

For example:

Planetary Industry

↓

Mechanical Parts

↓

Fuel Blocks

↓

Structure Fuel

↓

Market Sales

Or:

Planetary Industry

↓

Consumer Electronics

↓

Capital Components

↓

Capital Ships

↓

Market Sales

The more of the production chain you control, the more value you can capture.

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Advantages of Planetary Industry

• Generates passive income.
• Continues producing while offline.
• Low startup costs.
• Minimal active gameplay required.
• Scales extremely well across multiple characters.
• Strong demand for products.
• Supports nearly every industrial profession.

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Disadvantages of Planetary Industry

• Requires regular maintenance.
• Logistics can become complex.
• Initial setup takes planning.
• Income depends on market prices.
• High-tier products require multiple planets.

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Common Beginner Mistakes

Choosing poor resource locations

Always survey resource density before placing extractors.

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Ignoring storage capacity

Full storage stops production.

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Running very long extraction programs

Convenient, but significantly less efficient.

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Producing P4 immediately

Start simple.

Master extraction and P1 production before building complex supply chains.

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Forgetting to restart extractors

Extractor programs do not renew automatically.

No active extractor means no production.

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Is Planetary Industry Worth It?

For almost every industrial player, the answer is yes.

Planetary Industry offers one of the best ratios of time invested to ISK earned in EVE Online. Once a colony is established, maintaining it often takes only a few minutes every day or every few days, yet it can continue generating valuable materials around the clock.

PI is especially valuable for:

• Industrialists building their own manufacturing chains.
• Players with limited playtime.
• Multi-character accounts.
• Corporations producing Fuel Blocks and structures.
• Anyone looking for reliable passive income.

While it will not replace active gameplay such as mining or manufacturing, it complements almost every industrial career by providing a steady stream of valuable resources.

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Final Summary

Planetary Industry is one of the most flexible and scalable industrial careers in EVE Online. By establishing colonies on planets, extracting raw resources, and processing them into increasingly valuable commodities, players can build a dependable source of passive income while supplying critical materials to New Eden's economy.

For beginners, a simple P0-to-P1 extraction colony is the ideal starting point. As your skills, capital, and experience grow, you can expand into multiple colonies, dedicated factory worlds, and fully integrated production chains that support reactions, Fuel Block manufacturing, capital construction, and other advanced industrial activities. Planetary Industry rewards careful planning, efficient logistics, and long-term thinking, making it a cornerstone of successful industrial gameplay.