Evolution budget

Mine a Planet Evolution Planner

Evolution is the biggest purchase in Mine a Planet: it swaps your world for one with rarer ore and more room, and it can leave you temporarily poor. This planner is the budgeting method — read the real cost in game, size the reserve, and prove the payoff.

Quick answer: the budget rule

Evolve when you can pay the cost shown in your evolution menu and still keep roughly 40 percent of it as a fleet buffer. The cost itself has no public table — it scales with progress and only the game shows your number — but the rule does not need one: read the cost, multiply by 1.4, and that is your savings target. The buffer exists because a fresh world changes the cycle: rarer ore often mines slower and fills cargo differently, so the first hours on the new planet are for fixing whatever becomes the new bottleneck.

1. Baseline

Time one full cycle on the current planet and enter it in the income calculator. That cash-per-hour number is what the evolution has to beat.

2. Target

Read the evolution cost in game and add 40 percent for the fleet buffer. Divide the target by your hourly income to get the farming time — that is the honest price of evolving.

3. Payoff test

After evolving, repeat the identical timed cycle. Keep spending on the new bottleneck until cash per minute clears the old baseline — that is the moment evolution has paid for itself.

Worked example

The method with illustration numbers

These figures demonstrate the arithmetic only — the game shows your real cost, and these are not reported game values.

Suppose the calculator says your fleet earns 240,000 cash per hour, and your evolution menu shows a cost of 2,400,000.

• Savings target: 2,400,000 × 1.4 = 3,360,000
• Farming time at current income: 3,360,000 ÷ 240,000 = 14 hours (less with a boost-tag window or offline earnings)
• Buffer on evolution day: 960,000 for cargo and mining fixes on the new world
• Payoff bar: the new planet must clear 240,000 per hour on the same timed-cycle test

Interpretation

Reading the result

If the farming time lands at a few hours, evolve — the loop restarts quickly and rarer ore compounds. If it lands at days, two levers shorten it before you wait: first, hold the evolution during a boost-tag window (the title carried an X2 WEEKEND-style tag at the October 3 check; the October 6 listing update renamed the title to [🌎] Drill a Planet); second, fix the current bottleneck so the hourly number itself rises.

The 40 percent buffer is a planning habit, not a game constant. Players who evolve bufferless often stall on the new planet with ore they cannot break fast enough — the guide's evolution page walks the full before-and-after protocol.

What evolution changes

Rarer ore, bigger worlds

The official description promises two things from evolving: rarer ore and larger worlds. Azurite and Aurum are the ore names the game itself gives as examples — the value tiers beyond them have no public table, which is exactly why the payoff test uses your own before-and-after numbers instead of a promised multiplier. See the ores reference for what is documented about the tier system.

Open questions

What no source specifies

• Evolution costs per stage — read yours in the evolution menu.
• The number of stages or a final planet.
• Ore values and unlock order beyond the two named examples.
• Whether any progress resets on evolution (no source claims it does).

FAQ

Evolution questions

When should I evolve my planet in Mine a Planet?

When the current planet's income can rebuild a working upgrade buffer shortly after paying the evolution cost — the planner's 40% rule keeps you mobile. If the cost exceeds several hours of income at your current rate, farm first.

How much cash should I keep after evolving?

A practical buffer is roughly 40 percent of the evolution cost: the new world changes mining speed and cargo fill, and you will want to fix whatever becomes the new bottleneck without going back to zero income.

Does evolution reset my drones or upgrades?

No checked source documents a reset. Evolution is described as unlocking rarer ore and larger worlds; treat any claim that it wipes progress as a rumor until the game shows otherwise in your own session.

How do I know the new planet pays more?

Run the same timed-cycle test before and after. If load value (cargo × ore value) times cycle rate beats your old cash per minute, the evolution paid; if not, the new ore may need more mining power or cargo first.