Fleet planning

Mine a Planet Fleet Planner

A fleet decision made after timing one complete drone cycle beats one made from a tier-list screenshot. This planner walks the diagnosis: find the phase that costs the most, buy the track that fixes it, and prove the change with a re-test.

Quick answer: the planning loop

Watch → match → re-test. Watch one full cycle and name the dominant phase: drones chipping ore (mining), flying home (speed), or waiting on space (cargo). Match the phase to its upgrade track — Speed, Cargo, Mining Power, Luck — buy the cheapest fix, then re-time the same cycle. Keep the purchase only if cash per minute rose; a fleet decision you cannot reproduce is a gamble, not a plan.

Diagnosis table

Symptom → role → purchase

The four tracks and the cycle phase each one owns, per the official description's upgrade categories.

What you observe	Fleet role	Track to buy	Why it pays
Ore takes visibly long to break; drones look idle mid-cycle	Mining-first	Mining Power	Shortens the longest phase, so every later cargo and speed gain compounds.
Drones return with half loads while ore stands untouched	Cargo-first	Cargo	The same trip earns more — pure load-value growth at the same cycle rate.
Travel time rivals or beats mining time	Speed-first	Speed	More cycles per hour; the cheapest gain while travel dominates.
You are rolling for drones more often than farming	Luck-first	Luck	Improves roll outcomes — a recruitment investment, not an income one.

Worked decision

One fleet, diagnosed

Say a timed cycle runs 40 seconds and the return flight alone takes 18 — travel owns 45 percent of the loop. Speed is the matched track. If the next speed level cuts the cycle to 34 seconds, cycles per hour rise from 90 to about 106 (a 17 percent income lift at the same load value), which almost certainly beats the mining-power alternative that round.

The numbers in that example are illustration, not game data — the method is the content. Run it with your own seconds in the income calculator and let the ratio pick the track.

Mistakes

Three ways fleets stall

• Buying evenly. Spreading cash across all four tracks upgrades nothing enough to change the ratio — overbuy one limiter at a time.
• Stacking drones into a full cargo. Extra drones fill capacity faster; if cargo is the limiter, more drones just idle sooner.
• Replacing a working drone on vibes. Without public per-drone stats, a swap is only justified by a two-cycle timing test that comes back faster.

Re-test protocol

The sixty-second check

1. Baseline

Time two complete cycles before the change; average them.

2. One change

One purchase or one drone swap — never two variables in the same test.

3. Verdict

Re-time two cycles. Higher cash per minute keeps the change; otherwise roll it back and try the next track.

FAQ

Fleet-planning questions

What does a fleet planner do in Mine a Planet?

It turns one observation — which phase of your mining cycle wastes the most time — into the next purchase. Three phases (mining, travel, cargo fill) and four upgrade tracks mean most fleets have one clearly dominant bottleneck at any moment.

How do I find my bottleneck?

Watch one full cycle and note where time goes: ore-breaking, return flights, or idle drones waiting on cargo space. If you cannot tell by eye, time the cycle, then time just the return trip — the largest share is the bottleneck.

Should I add drones or upgrade them?

Drone count multiplies everything, so a Drone Pack reward early is strong — but each drone also fills cargo, so a fleet at cargo capacity gains nothing from more drones until cargo rises. Fix the limiter first, then grow the fleet.

How often should I re-plan?

After every purchase, every planet evolution, and every boost-tag change. A plan that survived last week's balance can be quietly wrong this week; the two-cycle timing test takes a minute to rerun.

What if two phases look equal?

Buy whichever track is cheaper at your current price curve, then re-run the test — after a few levels the diagonal purchase will dominate anyway. Equal-looking phases usually mean the fleet is balanced and drone count or ore tier is the real limiter.