There are currently 9 types of planets in EVE, with 8 of them holding resources for Planetary Interaction. Each of those 8 contain 5 different resources and differ in overall planet characteristics. Some types are rarer than others, with the Shattered Planets fewest in number of them all, worthless as far a PI goes (no resources). Resources that only appear on one planet type appear in green

P2 and P3 products that can be produced on a single planet without importing goods are also listed for each planet. Each planet type has exactly one P3 product it can produce without imports. All P4 products take multiple planets, ranging from 2 to 5. If a product can only be produced on one planet type without importing goods it'll be highlighted in green.

Barren planets are archetypical “dead terrestrials”: dry, rocky worlds with a minimal atmosphere and an unremarkable composition. They are commonly etched with flood channels, which are often broad enough to be visible from orbit; most such worlds have accumulated significant quantities of ice over their lifetimes, but cannot retain it on their surface. Generally surface liquid evaporates rapidly, contributing to the thin atmosphere, but occasionally it will seep back into the ground and refreeze, ready for another breakout in future when the local temperature rises.

Resources

• Aqueous Liquids
• Base Metals
• Carbon Compounds
• Micro Organisms
• Noble Metals

Barren planets have three resources with little to no pattern in their distribution, and two with a more consistent pattern. Aqueous Liquids tend to be gathered near the poles in moderate to poor quantity, while Micro Organisms tend to cluster here and there in the “temperate” band (in Earth speak).

Available Single Planet Products

• Biocells
• Mechanical Parts
• Nanites
• Test Cultures
• Water-Cooled CPU
• Transcranial Microcontrollers (P3)

Gas planets are characterized by a deep, opaque upper atmosphere, usually composed primarily of light elements such as hydrogen or helium. Simple chemicals can add a range of hues and shades in the visual spectrum, and the interaction between upwellings and rapidly circulating pressure bands result in a huge variety of visible surface structures. A similar level of diversity can be found beneath the cloud-tops: the inner composition of a given gas planet might belong to any one of a dozen broad groups, with no two planets entirely alike in this regard.

Resources

• Aqueous Liquids
• Base Metals
• Ionic Solutions
• Noble Gas
• Reactive Gas (unique)

Resources on a Gas planet will typically be found in narrow bands running east-west at various latitudes. Base metals are generally in bands around the equator, Aqueous Liquids and Ionic Solutions in mid-latitudes bands, with the Noble Gas near the poles. Reactive Gas will be found in small pockets at all latitudes. Gas planets are normally larger than most other types of planets, so connecting links between structures will generally take more power grid and CPU.

Single Planet Products

• Coolant
• Oxides
• Synthetic Oil
• Water-Cooled CPU
• Condensates (P3)

The majority of icy planets went through a period of being barren terrestrials, before being surfaced with ice over the course of many millennia. The exact process for this varies from case to case, but the end result is both common and visually uniform - a bright, reflective planet scored by countless fractures and crevasses. A few icy planets are hypothesized to have been warmer, liquid-bearing planets in the past that have subsequently frozen, as a result of either stellar cooling or failed terraforming projects.

Resources

• Aqueous Liquids
• Heavy Metals
• Micro Organisms
• Noble Gas
• Planktic Colonies

Ice planets typically have high amounts of Heavy Metals and Aqueous Liquids available. Micro Organisms and Noble Gas are less abundant, with Planktic Colonies being somewhat thin. Aqueous Liquids tends to be found more in the polar regions of Ice planets, Planktic Colonies in the temperate latitudes and Micro Organisms in the equatorial regions. Noble Gas and Heavy Metals are more randomly distributed with Heavy Metals more towards the equator and Noble Gas more towards the poles but with large areas of overlap and intermingling.

Single Planet Products

• Supertensile Plastics
• Test Cultures
• Viral Agent
• Synthetic Synapses (P3)

So-called “lava planets” (properly “magmatic planets”) fall into one of three groups: solar magmatics, which orbit sufficiently close to their star that the surface never cools enough to solidify; gravitational magmatics, which experience gravitational shifts sufficiently strong to regularly and significantly fracture cooling crusts; and magmatoids, which are for largely-unexplained reasons simply incapable of cooling and forming a persistent crust. All three types generally exhibit the same external phenomena - huge red-orange lava fields being a defining feature - but the latter two types are sometimes capable of briefly solidifying for a period measured in years or perhaps decades.

Resources

• Base Metals
• Felsic Magma (unique)
• Heavy Metals
• Non-CS Crystals
• Suspended Plasma

Resources on Lava planets do not appear to follow any pattern trends and are scattered all over. You'd think the planet was all liquidy and floaty and stuff.

• Felsic Magma and Heavy Metals appear to follow the texture of where “lava” is on the planet surface. Inversely, Base Metals and Suspended Plasma seem to congregate where “lava” isn't rendered on the planet.

Single Planet Products

• Construction Blocks
• Consumer Electronics
• Miniature Electronics
• Transmitter
• Smartfab Units (P3)

Oceanic worlds are a class of terrestrial world covered entirely by liquids, usually in the form of mundane water. While the liquid surface is exceptionally smooth, the ocean floor on most worlds of this type exhibits significant topographic variety. It is this subsurface irregularity which causes the formation of complex weather systems, which would otherwise revert to more uniform patterns.

Resources

• Aqueous Liquids
• Carbon Compounds
• Complex Organisms
• Micro Organisms
• Planktic Colonies

Aqueous Liquids are obviously easy to find on Oceanic planets, likely increasing in intensity where depth is greater. Such focus points in abundance generally match peaks of Complex Organisms, while Micro Organisms are found in shallower water together with Carbon Compounds. Planktic Colonies, found only on Oceanic and Ice planets, float in bands around the temperate zone.

Single Planet Products

• Fertilizer
• Genetically Enhanced Livestock
• Livestock
• Test Cultures
• Viral Agent
• Vaccines (P3)

The aptly-named “plasma planets” have captured the imagination of countless artists and inspired innumerable works, yet the physics behind them are surprisingly mundane by cosmological standards. A rocky terrestrial with the right kind of atmosphere and magnetic field will, when bombarded with solar radiation, generate sprawling plasma storms as specific atmospheric elements are stripped of their electrons. Over time these storms will generally scorch the surface rock black, adding to the visual impact.

Resources

• Base Metals
• Heavy Metals
• Noble Metals
• Non-CS Crystals
• Suspended Plasma

Resource distribution on Plasma planets generally follow the pattern of the whitish plasma “storms” visible on the surface. Base and Heavy Metals tend to be found in the darker spots on the planet, while Noble Metals and Suspended Plasma are found in the actively boiling areas. Non-CS Crystals are found mostly in the polar band, excepting the pole itself.

Single Planet Products

• Construction Blocks
• Consumer Electronics
• Enriched Uranium
• Mechanical Parts
• Transmitter
• Robotics (P3)

Storm worlds are usually considered terrestrial planets, although to a casual eye they may appear more similar to gas planets, given their opaque, high-pressure atmospheres. Geomorphically, however, the distinctions are clear: compared to a gas world, the atmosphere of a storm world is usually considerably shallower, and generally composed primarily of more complex chemicals, while the majority of the planet's mass is a rocky terrestrial ball. Their name is derived from the continent-scale electrical storms that invariably flash through their upper atmospheres.

Resources

• Aqueous Liquids
• Base Metals
• Ionic Solutions
• Noble Gas
• Suspended Plasma

Storm planets tend to have equal amounts of Aqueous Liquids, Base Metals and Suspended Plasma in decent amounts, with Noble Gas running a close 4th and Ionic Solutions as a distant 5th and somewhat sparse. Ionic Solutions tend to be distributed in the middle latitudes, Noble Gas anywhere but the equator and Suspended Plasma tending towards the equatorial regions. Aqueous Liquids and Base Metals will appear on broad swaths across all latitudes in giant swirling patterns.

Single Planet Products

• Coolant
• Rocket Fuel
• Super Conductors
• Synthetic Oil
• Water-Cooled CPU
• Ukomi Super Conductors (P3)

Life-bearing worlds are often referred to as “temperate”, as their mild temperatures are one of their defining features. Planets with existing, stable ecosystems are prime targets for colonization efforts as they are generally easier to make fully habitable; as a result, the majority of highly populated worlds are of this type. Indeed, it is not altogether uncommon for detailed surveys to reveal signs of previous settlements from various stages of New Eden's history.

Resources

• Aqueous Liquids
• Autotrophs (unique)
• Carbon Compounds
• Complex Organisms
• Micro Organisms

The physical appearance of these planets also has a high impact upon the resources available. Temperate planets with large amounts of water coverage will have an increased supply of Aqueous Liquids whilst having a reduced supply of Complex Organisms and Micro Organisms, planets with large amounts of land mass coverage show an increase in the supply of Micro Organism (and occasionally Complex Organisms), and a significantly reduced amount of Aqueous Liquids.

Single Planet Products

• Fertilizer
• Livestock
• Polytextiles
• Test Cultures
• Industrial Explosives (P3)

Shattered worlds were once terrestrial planets, torn asunder by some immense cataclysm. All such worlds in the New Eden cluster are products of the disastrous stellar events that occurred during the “Seyllin Incident”. However, reports continue to circulate of similar planets discovered in the unmapped systems reached exclusively through unstable wormholes. How these met their fate, if indeed they exist at all, is unknown.

Resources

• None

A “good” planet depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If you are trying to make a full P2 product from the resources all on one planet, then you need to select one with an appropriate balance between the resources, enough resources to keep your factories running with few missed cycles, etc. If you are trying to just strip mine for the one resource that is unique to this planet or that your production chain is missing, then you want one with the maximum possible of that particular resource. Another factor is the security status of the system: the lower the security status, generally the higher the abundance of all the resources.