One-Product Planet

Data: Fascinating. Your society is dedicated exclusively to the production of a single product.
Picard: A product for which you have no use for, but which the Ornarans can't live without.
Langor: One of the little ironies of life, Captain.

— Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Symbiosis"

In the Standard Sci Fi Setting, trade is common between star systems. Sometimes a planet becomes so specialized that it focuses on a certain commodity or service. Maybe it's building laser weapons or training doctors. Maybe its building luxury starships or sexbots. Whatever it is, the world trades this resource with other planets, becoming renowned for its expertise in the commodity it exports.

This trope isn't about a single Planetville; It focuses on the "big picture" on how individual worlds interact with each other. Subtrope of Planet of Hats, though any location (a big asteroid, small moon, space colony) can serve as this (and indeed, small, otherwise barren locations make more sense for this than the entire society of an Earthlike planet). Compare/Contrast Single-Biome Planet.

Most SF tales assume Casual Interstellar Travel; it's possible for Slower Than Light ships to transport commodities, but the items being traded would have to be of extreme value to justify the high cost and long wait. It also often crops up if the setting is confined to a single solar system, which is slightly easier to justify as it only requires somewhat Casual Interplanetary Travel.

Well-done versions of the trope will explain that a planet is widely known for its major export, while its other industries are neither profitable nor popular; or, perhaps, the other areas of society are chugging along just fine, but happen to be disdained and ignored by the segment of the population that goes into space and interacts with offworlders. It could also be used for comedic effect, by exaggerating it to the point of absurdity (a Planet of Toasters).

Economics aside, a planet has other values: political, cultural, religious, and a military culture. The importance of the export directly influences the importance of the planet. For example, the Planet of Phlebotinum (the galaxy's only source of the Phlebotinum that powers warp fusion drives on starships) would have a lot of power and economic clout, so expect an armada protecting it. The Library and Data Planet would have political influence, as knowledge is power, but it lacks economic influence and maybe warrants a fleet of space corvettes to safeguard its information holdings. Meanwhile, the Farming Planet would have economic clout due to its role in supplying food to the capital, but lack political influence. The amount of protection a planet needs depends on how much influence they have with their neighbors and with the ruling elite.

May correlate with Multipurpose Monocultured Crop, if the One Product is farmed instead of manufactured.

Planet Types

Main Locations

Capital

Political center of an interplanetary or interstellar government, it hosts the legislative and administrative buildings and a coterie of bureaucrats, politicians, lobbyists and diplomats. As such, the characters are always holding discreet side meetings and negotiations and the halls of power are filled with intrigue (and possibly backstabbing). The gleaming towers are the apex of culture and power, but they also harbor the rot of decadence and corruption. This world is highly valued, so expect it to be well protected...unless no ships are available due to being pulled away for a far-flung space battle. Capitals of various space Empires tend to be highly urbanized and thus depend on imported food and other resources, a weakness that beseiging enemies may exploit.

Exotic

Offers scientific curiosities and unusual matter (monopoles, antimatter, mini black holes), or a site of strange astronomical happenings (such as wormholes or black holes). If extra-terrestrial life is rare, then worlds with alien biospheres would be of interest. Scientists and MegaCorp firms would love samples of strange matter, or get a chance to observe such strange phenomenon.

Factory

Center of industrial mass production. Presented as industrial nightmare-scapes, with polluted skies and large crowded, grimy cities for workers. Its products can include mining raw resources, refining or heavy industries, but whatever they manufacture, but it's often intermediate goods like metal for spaceship hulls rather than high-tech gear. Focused more on production/engineering rather than research, as the scientists can't live and work on such a sooty, grimy planet. Often ruled by tyrants or a MegaCorp corporatocracy.

Farms

Grows crops and raises animals on an industrial scale. This is no idyllic Arcadia; expect fields or greenhouses as far as the eye can see, tended to by huge machinery and robots. There are typically two types:

1. Worlds that only produce foodstuffs to feed planets and places that can't produce enough subsistence, such as urbanized worlds or space stations. They are valued as food producers, especially if the importer is totally dependent on them, but in a big system, the rulers may have multiple options for agricultural planets. If a system is dependent on one agricultural planet, it can become an Achilles' Heel, liable to be attacked or destroyed by enemies or La Résistance. Often rural , but industrial-scale built-up regions of hydroponic bays and protein vats are used in some works. Can be large tracts of cultivated land, or water farms for aquaculture on oceanic worlds.
2. Planets which harvest an important crop that has unique attributes that are important to a society. Such flora or fauna could be used for medicinal uses, especially if it's a drug or it may interest the military if it can be used as a bioweapon. Then it would be more profitable than a world that exports meat or soy. Such farms tend to be a dangerous Hungry Jungle or death world. They may be a Pastoral Science Fiction planet with a beautiful Arcadia; in this case, the peaceful rural inhabitants may be against the rapacious harvest of their flora and fauna by The Empire, so it plants the seeds of La Résistance...

Such worlds are usually peaceful, but they may be run by a MegaCorp which crushes all dissent. They can become unstable if the political situation changes. The local folk are religiously devout, originally settling such worlds to seek ascetic lives. The home of many a young adventurer and military / mercenary recruit - life on a farm world lacks excitement, and encourages wanderlust. Commonly metal poor, justifying why they don't have much industry.

Forbidden

Location that is so dangerous due to toxic fumes, unstable atmosphere or predatory aliens that no one visits, except when Space Marines escort in a research team to get samples or for a single Bleak Border Base. Could be a Lost Colony destroyed by plague, virus or infested by alien locusts. Whatever the reason, the planet is no longer of any value, covered in Abandoned Area ruins or wasteland. Only profit-seeking adventurers and the Venturous Smuggler would willingly travel to these risky worlds.

Even though it's officially forbidden, The Empire or a MegaCorp may have a Black Site here to do off-the-books research or test the use of exotic, dangerous resources.

Gates

Point or area where a wormhole/stargate/minimum hyperlimit exist that facilitates FTL transport. Vital for rapid transport (unless you want to slog for centuries across space in a Generation Ship), and in the cases of a Portal Network, a chokepoint.

Military

Exports well-trained Mercenaries, coming in two varieties:

1. Super Soldiers who are upgraded with more strength and abilities. They live in a spartan, strict military culture and a harsh environment to toughen them up and hone their skills.
2. Cannon Fodder, lower-skilled, poorly-trained soldiers hired out for reserve duty, filling out dangerous front-line units and garrison forces for that Bleak Border Base where no other units want to serve at. This planet has nothing else to sell other than its unemployed, low-skilled labor.

Along with these, various settings have specialized forces: armour warfare, Special Ops, sapping, urban warfare, etc. Life on these worlds tend to be tough, and often produces prideful fighters. Could be ruled under the military or an authoritarian society. In fiction, there are plenty of Libertarian cultures that don't mind setting up such worlds, as long as they are profitable.

Mines

Harvests natural resources, often rare metals, minerals, or gases needed for industry. Like the Factory Planet, it is gritty and polluted, with huge tailing ponds and rivers choked with filthy waste.

The influence of a mining world is dependent on what it gathers. A world mining tin isn't going to be much value. However, a planet collecting Helium-3 (which can be used for fusion reactors) or a rare isotope is going to be richer and better protected. Such places can range from terrestrial planets to asteroids to gas giants.

As business concerns, they're run by whoever owns the mines. Governance varies, according to the importance and value of the resource. If the planet produces a low-value resource, life tends to be hard and gritty and the people will be poor, except for the higher-skilled machine operators and technologists. These planets are another good source for military recruits - many people sign up for off-world service to escape the harsh, polluted environment or receive better pay. If the planet produces a rare, valuable resource, MegaCorp firms, governments and military organizations will have a vested interest in law and order to ensure good productivity, so there will be better governance and life will be better for workers, as they can get better pay.

New World

Planet that is newly discovered and up for grabs. Expect new settlers or folks fighting over the planet. If The Empire hasn't established a Bleak Border Base and a garrison, there may be factions of La Résistance and a Wild West lawlessness. Such worlds may have future potential as exporters, but when newly discovered, they have little to export and much to import, due to a lack of infrastructure. If settled, frontier towns are likely. Local government is minimal at best, and may be a mix of local tyrants and warlords with a few administrators and law enforcement officers. Because of the lack of infrastructure, these new colonies tend to be easily conquered and unstable.

Penal

Dumping grounds for "discontents, dissidents and troublemakers". Expect these worlds to be unpleasant at the least, and at worst, harsh and forbidding. Can range from razor-wire-fenced work camps to large fenced-in communities of prisoners around a factory or mine. In some cases, prisoners are just dropped into the lawless wastelands, with no fences; in this case, the harsh planet is the prison. If these worlds export anything, it's products of slave labor or raw resources. If governed, it would be by the prison administration (authoritarian and harsh by necessity). There will be a spaceport for prison transport spaceships and supply drops. There will be a fortified garrison to protect the guard quarters, and warden's residence and other infrastructure from a prison uprising.

Pleasure

Places for tourists to visit and relax, often paradise worlds or something akin to Las Vegas or a brothel in space. Mostly, it is a place for the protagonists to relax, especially if there's beaches. Not likely to be a major target, unless it's a strategic location or attacked for symbolic reasons.

Science

Known for its research and development, and its state-of-the-art technology. The natives value logic and ruled by technocrats. Home to a lot of cool gadgets, new technology, and various scientists (mad or otherwise). It may be run by a MegaCorp, a government or the military.

Service

Instead of production, these worlds focus on training and providing professionals. Common in SF are:

1. Medical: Devoted to healing others in body and mind. Includes Doctors and Psychologists.
2. Education: Known for their universities and training centers.
3. Financial: People who work with money, including loaning, banking, trading, escrow agencies, etc. Often ruled by Merchant Princes.
4. Military Support: The supreme headquarters of the armed forces, academy for the fleet's officers, and boot camp for the army's troopers.

Other services can include lawyers, intelligence agents, engineers, beauticians, etc. May also produce items of great importance to these services, such as instruments if the planet is known for its musicians.

Shipyards

Places to build spacecraft. Since ships are vital to an interstellar empire, the yards are vital industries and military assets. Often military/government operated.

Underworlds

Planet notable for its black market products and services. With enough money, one can hire thieves, smugglers, and assassins. Otherwise, one can purchase slaves, illegal technology, and other contraband. The items provided by an Underworld need not be illegal, but merely taboo. Such locations are commonly seedy and ruled by those in the shadows.

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Unique Locations

Big Dumb Object

Artifact of Precursors, often a massive construct such as a Dyson Sphere or ringworld. Or recently made by a highly advanced civilization. Can be visited by intrepid explorers and researchers to produce Lost Technology. There is a disturbing trend for BDO's to be abandoned, acting as prisons for alien viruses, which are accidentally released by said explorers.

Library

Structure that houses a huge database of the knowledge of an entire civilization. Many researchers visit here to learn from the accumulated knowledge. Often left behind by Precursors, though such projects are undertaken by more recent societies as a prestigious project. Expect it to be very quiet and vast, and attracts seekers of truth.

Phlebotinum Monopoly

When there's only one source of Immortality Drugs, Dilithium Crystals or Spice, and everybody needs it. Whoever controls this world can control the galaxy. Anticipate this world to warrant fleets or warships and armies to protect it, and many fights over it.

Superweapon

Where a Superweapon is housed. Whoever controls the superweapon can decide the fate of the galaxy. In Space Opera, this is the site of a climactic battle.

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Statuses

In addition to the above types, there are several attributes that can affect the value of a world. Some may overlap or change over time, depending on the current situation.

Alien

Worlds or stations inhabited by Intelligent Extra-terrestrials. An important term for emerging space societies or where life is rare. Trade and travel depends on the temperament on the aliens.

Blockaded

Prohibited from trade, frequently with an enemy fleet enforcing the embargo. Smugglers and rebels would try to get pass the blockade for various reasons. Such embargoes continue until the political situation changes.

Commerce

Trade hub, either acting as a key location on Hyperspace Lanes or housing the headquarters of one or more major corporations. Mercenaries and private security forces will maintain order. The destination of many Intrepid Merchants, but possibly plagued by piracy.

Cultural Hub

Major center of arts and learning, valued for its impact on society. Often focused on entertainment or academics, these tend to be ruled by open and free societies. The destination and home of artists, musicians, students, writers, and and other creative folks. Tourists are also common, which also means Street Performers are near.

Developing

Technology or infrastructure is lagging. Part of the Interstellar culture and trade, but often less advanced than the major powers. Except these planets to be impoverished, often new colonies or exploited conquests. Between the major powers, the Developing worlds would be caught between political struggles.

Dying

Has seen better days, and is now waning. They may have been over exploited and depleted of primary resources or undergoing a natural calamity. To escape their fate, refugees will flee to the stars. These planets tend to collect garbage, both physical artifacts and the seedier elements of society. If anything of worth remains, it's related to the planet's primary export.

Habitable

Can support human life, or whatever species the protagonists are. Can range from Edens to barely habitable Death Worlds. In a setting were most planets are dead or uninhabitable (say Real Life), a planet with a breathable atmosphere is better than nothing.

Homeworld

Were a species originated from. A lot of historical and religious importance, because of its mystique of being where a species is born. The dominant species of an Empire will have their homeworld as a Primary Capital, although there are exceptions. The destruction of a Homeworld is often a major mistake for space tyrants: it not only crosses the line, but ensures that a native of that world would eventually destroy said tyrant.

Historical

Location of past importance, such as a battle or discovery. Often archaeological sites or monuments are located here. Because of this status, these places are seen as important symbols. For example: a dead moon may have little or no value, but military commanders may make choose to fight there since it was the site of a previous victory.

Holy Center

Place of major importance to a religion, with many places of worship and pilgrims. If the religion is benign, attacking this center is a sign that you're an evil jackass. More fanatical sects would protect these centers. May be governed by a Theocracy, though it depends on the faith.

Lost

Location is no longer accessible or has disappeared. This could be due to a variety of reasons: The local Gate has been destroyed, the wormhole that connected the location is now unstable, or something happened to the settlers. In either case, no one knows were it is and may become myth. Explorers may find these places again.

Neutral

Location that akes no sides in a conflict, either forbidding sides from entering with force or acting as a third-party mediator. Generally worlds or stations that have little interest in fighting, but plenty of services to offer (shipyards, underworlds, pleasure planets, etc.). Often well prepared to make sure they maintain their neutrality.

Primitive

Little or no high technology or advancements. Any inhabitants are either aliens developing civilization or the remnants of a failed colony, often savage. Expect wilderness and perhaps alien ruins. Any interest to these worlds are either for Science or Strategic. Travel to such worlds may be restricted, as to avoid exploitation or culture shock.

Quarantined

Travel to and from location restricted due to a medical emergency. A temporary measure until a cure can be found for the ailment, if at all. Except for medical craft and warships, no sane being would risk going lest they too fall victim. If the plague is left unchecked, the quarantined world may become permanently Forbidden. If it gets really bad, the planet may be sterilized.

Strategic

Location makes this world a vital military target. Expect military fleets and fortresses here. With changes in warfare, space travel, and the political environment, a location could cease being a military prize.

Unstable

The local political situation is bad, and society is barely holding together. Order can fall apart at a moment's notice. Merchants and travelers will avoid going there if they can help it. It results in less trade, and could lose its status as a trade or culture hub. If it's really bad, it may become a War zone or worse.

War

Location is the center of an armed conflict, with military ships and troops fighting each other. Mercenaries and arms dealers would be attracted to this place. Lost of life and destruction of infrastructure will negatively impact its value. Refugees from this world would be common. If this status lasts long enough, a planet may become Dying as well.

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Examples

Anime & Manga

• Crest of the Stars: Interstellar travel relies heavily on Gates. During Jinto's and Lafiel's adventures, they visit a Factory asteroid (producing Antimatter) and a Strategic planet, help enforce a planetary Blockade, and later come across a rather civilized Penal world.
• Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: ZAFT's colonies were arranged in this manner, with one group focusing on Farming, another on Information Science, another on Chemistry, and so on.

Comic Books

• Astro City: The world of the Quiqui-a trades their grain Jhef with other planets.
• Marvel Comics:
  • Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon is from Halfworld, which was founded as a medical/psychological patient dumping ground. To ensure the patients' security and comfort without requiring anyone to actually have to treat them, the creators uplifted some typical cute and cuddly animals to sentience to act as their orderlies (though the animals weren't told their purpose), Rocket being one of them.
  • Marvel NOW!: Wolverine, Loki and possibly others seem to keep bumping into Planet Sin, a gigantic space casino.

Fan Works

• The Violet Demon: Fornax's economy and culture revolve almost completely around capturing, training, and selling slaves to the rest of the galaxy. The narration notes that they still have other services, as they still need a domestic economy to provide things like food, clothing, welfare, and maintenance, but even these are run primarily around the availability of enslaved labor.

Films — Live-Action

• Avatar: An example of interstellar commerce with STL craft. Pandora is mostly valued for its Phlebotinum Monopoly, although it has an Exotic Alien society and ecosystem.
• Star Wars, as with any good space opera,, provides plenty of examples.
  • Coruscant is a Capital, Bespin and Kessel are Mines, Endor houses a Superweapon, the Death Stars and Starkiller Base are Superweapons, Geonosis is a Factory world, Tatooine is a minor Underworld, and Yavin and Hoth were strategic locations. Naboo was Blockaded for a while.
  • Numerous worlds, such as Naboo, Geonosis or Kamino, were Homeworlds for various alien species.
  • Aargau, first appearing in Marvel Comics' Star Wars series but referenced in other media with inexplicable frequency, is a banking planet — in fact, the entire planet is owned by bank.
• Spoofed in Stingray Sam with Durango, a Planet of Rocket Builders which after an economic slump turns into a Planet of Criminals and then a Planet of Prison Factories (in which they build rockets).
• Fiorina from Alien³ only has a closed down prison inhabited by a few prisoners who won't leave. Aliens implied that planets with breathable atmospheres were rare due to the effort they went to terraform Acheron.

Literature

• Childe Cycle by Gordon R. Dickson: The interstellar economy depends on specialized services, almost to the point of Crippling Overspecialization. Dorsai and the Friendlies provide Military, Ste. Marie focuses on Farming, the Exotics on Health Services, Coby on Mining, Newton and Venus on Science, Ceta on Commercial Services, Cassdia on providing Technical Services as well as mercs. Zombri, otherwise an uninhabited world, is a Strategic location.
• "The Didactics of Mystique": Parodied. Interstellar civilization is falling apart because each world offers only one profession, and there are far less inhabited worlds than needed professions.
• CoDominium: Alderson Points serve as Gates. During the CoDO era, most worlds were used as Mines, Drug Farms, and Penal Colonies. Many industrialized worlds hired out Military forces as mercs. Latter, more examples, such as Pleasure and Alien worlds begin to appear.
• ConSentiency: With the development of Jumpdoors (acting as Gates), traveling between the stars is so causal there a planet devoted to a single service: Beautician worlds, Honeymoon Worlds, even Gynecologist Worlds. Dosadi is part Penal and part Science World, where every inhabitant is part of a massive experiment.
• Cordwainer Smith: In his Instrumentality milieu, Norstrilia is a Farm World with a Phlebotinum Monopoly, making it extremely rich and envied. Viola Siderea is an Underworld, a planet of thieves. Shayol serves as a Penal world of the Body Horror kind.
• Dirigent Mercenary Corps: Dirigent has its entire economy organized around supplying two things: Professional soldiers-for-hire, and weapons.
• Dune: The eponymous planet is a Phlebotinum Monopoly, with Giedi Prime a Factory world, Ix and Richese are Science worlds, Tleilax is a Biological Science world, Caladan is noted for Farming and Fishing, Kaitain is the Capital, Salusa Secundus is ostensibly a Penal colony but also a Military world. Tupile is a Service world, providing protection for exiled families. Both Ix and Tleilax cross over with Underworld in that much of their science borders on the illegal and probably would have led to them being sanctioned if not for their products being that useful. Ginaz is a Military world, training swordmasters for the various Houses. Swordmasters of Ginaz were instrumental during the Butlerian Jihad.
• Empire Star: Comet Jo's homeworld exists only to produce a plant called plyasil. Everyone living on the planet is either involved in plyasil production or in supporting the people who produce the plyasil.
• Foundation Series:
  • When the series begins, Trantor is a City Planet and the political capital of the entire Galactic Empire. However, as the empire decays into nothing, Trantor is Sacked (see "The Mule" and "Trantor Falls" for details). To recover from their loss of wealth and infrastructure, the citizens of Trantor transform their world into a farming planet and export their crops and their incredible reserves of scrap metal. However, "Search by the Foundation" reveals that a small group of these citizens are actually the Second Foundation, who is secretly controlling the Foundation from behind the scenes.
  • Terminus is initially established to produce an Encyclopedia, so their "one product" would be science. However, Seldon planned the location and timing to ensure that after only a few decades, the Foundation would be producing a Scam Religion to spread their science to the neighboring nations. This turns them into a Holy City as well. They gradually transition from a fake religion that has suborned the political organization of their neighbors to a trader culture with Terminus as a real political capital in charge of their neighbors.
  • When Kalgan is introduced in "The Mule", it is as a "producer of pleasure" and "seller of leisure". However, as the Mule begins his interstellar campaign of conquest, it becomes his headquarters and political capital. The Mule's Villainous Legacy means Kalgan remains military-focused until "Search by the Foundation", when the Foundation is forced to conquer them.
• Gaunt's Ghosts: The forest planet Tanith was, when it still existed, a major exporter of high-quality wood.
• Hammer's Slammers: Several Farms and Mining Worlds were apparently set up this way so new colonies couldn't become economically independent. Occasionally, the protagonists end up fighting in Big Dumb Objects or against Aliens.
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, to the point that some planets now have commodities growing naturally on them such as a swamp planet with mattresses that get slaughtered and dried to be slept on. Another planet has tools that grow on trees.
• The Hunger Games: Districts in the series function like this. Each has one and only one job to do (such as District 12: coal mining, or District 11: agriculture), all of which support the Capitol.
• A Planet Called Treason: Variant of this trope on a planetary level, where each Region on the planet are Service providers, specializing in different areas: Biology, Theology, Genetic Engineering, and Acting, to name a few.
• Honor Harrington:
  • The Manticore System serves as a Gate, housing the Manticore Wormhole Junction which provides Manticore with a lot of economic clout.
  • Montana's only significant export is stated to be beef, and it is frequently suggested that Montanan beef would command top prices on developed planets in the League or SKM. That said, one wonders how many cows it takes to fill a five million ton freighter...
  • During the war with Haven Trevor's Star serves as Strategic since its holds a Junction Terminus that would allow Haven access to the Manitcore system. It's also becoming the Capital World of the burgeoning Star Empire of Manticore.
  • Beowulf in Sigma Draconis is a Science World, noted for being the galaxy wide leader in (ethical) biomedical and genetic research. Given recent developments in the series, it may also become Strategic as well since it also hosts the one end of the Manticore Wormhole.
• Retief has the CDT sent on various Alien/Developing worlds, often trying negotiate with the natives. Such worlds are often caught between the cold war of the CDT and the Groaci, who vie for political influence.
• Star Guard by Andre Norton: Earth, a poor backwater latecomer to a galactic civilization, exports soldiers for combat on primitive or more advanced worlds (the military units are referred to as "Archs" and "Mechs" respectively).
• Star Surgeon: Each species has a specialty, and Earth's is medicine; this sets up a story in which the hero is a nonterrestrial doctor who faces prejudice in his attempt to succeed in the Terran-monopolized interstellar medical system.
• Star Wars Legends: In the Jedi Academy Trilogy, Carida is dedicated to the single and solitary purpose of training soldiers and officers for the Imperial army. Its extensive military academy is its sole settlement of note, and the rest of the planet is dedicated to training facilities and wilderness areas for hostile climate exercises.
• To the Stars: Invoked. A Big Brother-like Earth lords it over interstellar colonies set up to be totally dependent upon each other. Since each colony requires numerous goods (which they are never allowed to stockpile) each made only on one of the other colonies, it would be impossible for a revolt to succeed unless every colony did so at once. Which they do. Not only are the planets set up this way, but their cultures are also custom-designed to reinforce this setup.
• Vorkosigan Saga: Komarr serves as both Gate and Strategic for Barrayar since it contains the wormhole route that is the only connection that Barrayar has to the rest of the galaxy. The Hegen Hub is a more general Gate. Beta Colony is Science (of almost all varieties), Jackson's Whole is Underworld Service and Earth is Cultural Capital.

Live-Action TV

• Andromeda has several prison planets and a planetary system that accepts garbage from other systems.
• Babylon 5: There is a brief mention of a Disneyplanet, and the Centauri Republic colony world of Ragesh 3 is identified in discussions as an agricultural colony.
• Battlestar Galactica (2003):
  • The Twelve Colonies of Kobol are set up as such. Aerilon is the breadbasket of the colonies. Caprica is the capital and cultural Center. Gemenon is a holy center. Libran is known for its lawyers. Picon has strategic value (the Fleet HQ is located here), and a cultural center since it's used as a substitute for Caprica in entertainment. Scorpia has shipyards, and Tauron is another farm center. Following the fall of the colonies, the rag-tag fleet's economy is set up like this. Justified, in that only certain surviving ships were equipped for certain functions.
• Doctor Who has featured many such examples. "Silence in the Library" takes place on a library planet. Satellite 5 is a Service station providing news and a Capital for the true rulers of the Human Empire. Billions of years in the future, Earth is a cultural and historical center.
• An early episode of Farscape deconstructs this trope: Sykar was forcibly remade into a farm world by the Peacekeepers; most native plantlife was almost completely destroyed to make way for vast fields of Tannot root, and every single inhabitant of the planet were reduced to farm-labourers, planting, tending and harvesting the crops. Thanks to the high demand for Tannot root, the farms themselves are steadily being worn out through overharvesting and reduced to barren wastes; the one seen in the episode is said to be the last fertile region of the planet. For good measure, the only thing stopping the Sykarans from noticing any of this is the fact that their food is made entirely of mind-control drugs, and they all believe that every day is the last day before a weekend.
• Game of Thrones: According to Tywin, each of the houses of the Westerlands contributes a unique skill or service to further the whole of the region. House Clegane provides fierce knights and warriors, particularly Ser Gregor the Mountain and Sandor the Hound. House Payne provides loyal servants. Finally, House Lefford guards the main mountain pass into the Westerlands, though Tywin muses that because of the Starks' incursions into the region, "perhaps [we] need a new gatekeeper."
• Stargate SG-1: Most worlds are valued as Mines for rare materials, although Libraries, Big Dumb Objects, Farm worlds, Forbidden worlds, and Superweapons make appearances.
• The Orville: Moclus is a heavily-industrialized planet and their sole export is weapons. They are able to leverage the importance of their arms industry to kowtow the Planetary Union into accepting their inhumane culture.
• Star Trek:
  • Earth serves as the Federation capital, though oddly enough is unprotected in many movies. Mars is best known for the Utopia Planitia Shipyards, though it has a Terraforming industry as well. Risa is a Pleasure Planet, Rura Pente is a penal world, and there are various Unobtainium mines, Big Dumb Objects, Forbidden locations, and Exotic places. Memory Alpha is a Library world for the Federation, though we only saw it during construction.
  • The "single resource mining planets" might be justified. Since replicator technology can accommodate most of the Federation's needs, there are only a few resources (like Dilithium Crystals) that they need to bother looking for on other worlds.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation shows us the trope in action. In the episode "Symbiosis", one of the two planets of the week produces nothing but a narcotic which the other planet believes is a cure to a virulent plague (whose symptoms just happen to look exactly like withdrawal). Deconstructed — the providing planet used to have a broader commercial base (it was the poorer and less developed of the pair, but still a full civilization), but the profits of the drug were tempting enough that gradually other industries fell out of use over the generations until both sides were effectively addicted — the buying planet literally, and the selling planet by being dependent on selling the narcotic to keep society running. The system is on the brink of collapse, as their technology has regressed to the point that they can't maintain their spaceships (and the Enterprise declines to enable them by fixing them).

Tabletop Games

• Fading Suns: Uses the trope, with many different examples. For instance "Urth" is the Holy center of the Urth Orthodox church while the Imperial Capital of Byzantium Secundus is a Gate nexus.
• Star Realms: Several bases are named for their primary function or purpose. For example, Brain World houses one of the Machine Cult's supercomputers. Barter World is an outpost for trading.
• Warhammer 40,000: Many worlds are known for what they produce to feed to the Imperium's war machine, with Forge worlds producing complex technology from materials supplied by Mines, Agriworlds producing food for Hive worlds, Hive, Knight, Feral and Death worlds providing different kinds of Military forces, Holy Terra being both a holy Capital of the Imperium and the human Homeworld, and Cadia being a Strategic world. Needless to say, most worlds serve as settings for War at one point or another.
  • Hive worlds produce a lot of different products, although they're best known as a source of Cannon Fodder for the Imperial Guard.
  • Numerous Shrine Worlds besides Terra serve as Religious Centers.
  • Feudal and Feral Worlds are Primitive, being former colony worlds which regressed to either agricultural or stone-age levels.
  • Numerous Lost human colonies exist, most dating back to the Dark Age of Technology, which are found and incorporated into the Imperium from time to time.
  • Numerous planets on the Imperium's frontier, where the Imperial law isn't fully settled in, act as New worlds.
  • Various worlds are Quarantined by the Imperium for a number of reasons, ranging from Chaos or Necron outbreaks to matters of Imperial security.
  • Many worlds are under the control of aliens, chiefly Eldar, Tau, Necrons or Orks.
  • T'au serves as both the Capital of the Tau Empire and the Homeworld of the Tau species. Also within the Tau empire are Pech and Vespid, the Homeworlds of the Kroot and Vespid species.
  • Now that being said, the vast majority of planets in the Imperium are classified as Civilized Worlds. Which mean that they are or are mostly self-sufficent and produce at least some goods of various types for export. But they don't get as much attention as fighting to protect a strip mall in the war torn future isn't nearly as compelling.
• Zig-zagged in Traveller, planets have trade codes similar to the categories listed above, but most export more than one product.
• Zig-zagged as well in BattleTech. Many of the various planets in the setting are known for producing and trading a number of goods. It is not uncommon for a planet to export food, raw materials, and consumer goods, for instance, while importing alternative versions of the same to give the populace some variety. At the same time, however, some planets are singularly focused on one product or group of products to a point that is almost comical. For instance, no one goes to Hesperus II to buy foodstuffs, because every single industry on the planet is tied to either supporting the giant Defiance Industries BattleMech factory on the planet or protecting that factory from invading armies. Exaggerated in some fanworks, where even the aforementioned factory, a diverse manufacturer of war materiel, is stereotyped as producing nothing but Zeuses and Atlases.

Video Games

• Wing Commander: Privateer put the player in the shoes of a freelance ship owner during a peaceful period of the Terran Confederacy's reign. While the most obvious route to take was killing anything that shot at you, it was entirely possible to make a living solely from trading between the planets, each of which had a specialty. Due to this, each planet would produce certain goods cheaper than elsewhere and purchase some goods for more than other planets.
• EVE Online usually subverts this, there are usually a wide variety of goods available at a given market.
  • while this is true for the stations in the orbits, with the planetary interactions and the general Single-Biome Planet, many players play this straight: get a temperate planet as factory world to make tier 3 or 4 products, while the other planet types often make mine worlds to get the supply for the temperate one.
  • Also about the moons, as you can only have only one POS (Player Owned Station) in their orbit: some are deathstars loaded with weapons, others have factories or science facilites, and others are just there to mine the moon if it holds valuable resources.
• Mostly averted in the X-Universe games, but some sectors specialize in only a few types of goods. Asteroid Belt in Terran Conflict mostly produces different types of minerals from the asteroid mines, for example. Because the X-Universe is a Terminally Dependent Society that relies on the Portal Network, numerous one product planets face societal or biosphere collapse when the jumpgate network shut down ("The Dark") following the apocalyptic Second Terraformer War. In X: Rebirth, DeVries is one such system, being an Earth State mining outpost that relied heavily on tech and food imports; when the network collapsed about 30 years ago, the colony faced mass famine and technological decline, and has only recently started to recover.
• Partial example in the Escape Velocity series, where bulk commodities can be purchased at most worlds. Usually, among the generics (food, metals, equipment, luxuries, medical supplies) one or two will be cheaply available and one or two will be more expensive. However, in Nova, many worlds have a "special" commodity that is generally only traded at two or three worlds (some supplying it, others demanding it), which are either valuable or just interesting flavor.
• In the Myst/Uru franchise, many Ages served a single economic or social function, often quite narrow. For example, the Age of Teledahn was farmed for a type of fungal spore used in D'ni cuisine.
• Knights of the Old Republic features Manaan, an ocean planet that is the Galaxy's sole source of the medical substance called "kolto", the naturally produced precursor to the synthetic bacta from the movies; being the sole producers of such a critically important substance allows the native Selkath to enjoy both considerable wealth and an untouchable neutral status in the galaxy's continuous wars and struggles. The planet's eventual fate also shows the dangers of being a one-product planet — the more effective bacta eventually supplanted kolto as the galaxy's healing juice of choice, and Manaan's economy and status, highly reliant on the kolto monopoly, collapsed. By the time of the prequel trilogy, the Selkath had regressed to barbarism, and kolto and its importance had been almost entirely forgotten.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic features this with Quesh. The one reason the Empire and the Republic are interested in this planet? The Quesh Venom can be refined into useful adrenals. This is also the only reason that the Hutt Cartel is expressing any interest in the planet as well. Also justifies it's status as a one product planet as the Quesh Venom has devastated the environment and it's a horrible pollutant. The can't really have an economy other than Quesh Venom.
• Scrap Mechanic is set on a dedicated agricultural planet, staffed primarily by robots to reduce costs and the need for human presence. One can guess where that eventually went.
• Slime Rancher has your employers take you to the Far, Far Range, an Exotic/Farm variety of the trope that features plenty of slimes that you're meant to catch and feed in order to obtain their plorts, which are stated to be used for so many utilities, resources, and other needs for the human populace. The Far, Far Range does contain many more wonders than just slimes, including crystals, ancient ruins and flora, lemons that can somehow phase through reality, and portals, including one to a desert full of natural glass structures and wells of ancient water, your employers only care about one thing: The plorts. For that reason, plorts are the sole resource you can directly sell for money.
• Starshoot: Space Circus Fever has Tensuns. A tropical planet that, as the name suggests, possesses ten artificial suns that allow tourists to get a perfect tanning all around the clock on the many sandy beaches said world possesses. Another example is Killer Expo, a planet-sized arms fair that features attractions such a war simulator and a missile center, not to mention a store called Torture World where you can get all the instrument you'd need to make your enemies spill the beans.
• The planetary economy system in Stellaris didn't start out this way (what you wanted a planet to produce was entirely up to you), but constant gameplay overhauls and expansions gradually shifted it in this direction. You can still mix and match any world's productive output however you like, but now it is much more efficient to specialize them instead. Almost every resource (energy, minerals, food, alloys, consumer goods, etc.) has special buildings that provide considerable bonuses to the output of the resource they're dedicated to, but all of them are expensive to maintain, so it's generally better to build as many as needed, but as few as possible. Officially classifying a world as an agri-world, a forge world, a fortress world or the like improves their effectiveness even further, especially if you carefully choose which worlds you settle based on their natural deposits. This way you can set up planets entirely dedicated to trade, mining, food production, scientific research, army recruitment, or as near-insurmountable military roadblocks whose ground defenses can halt invasions into your empire for years all on their own.

Visual Novels

• Marco & the Galaxy Dragon has a place called the enslavement planet. Take a wild guess as to what they sell.

Western Animation

• Invader Zim: The Irken Empire from Invader Zim has conquered numerous alien planets to give them a convenient specialization. Some examples: Blorch, the new parking structure planet; Callnowia, the mail order planet, along with Conveyor Belt Planet for shipping; Conventia, the convention hall planet; Foodcourtia, the food court planet; etc. They have so many they don't even really have a plan for new planets until they conquer them and wipe out the lifeforms present, then they just decide on a whim what kind of new planet might be handy or fun.
• In Shadow Raiders the four planets of the Cluster — Fire, Ice, Rock and Bone — each have one resource that the others need, although at the start of the series they've been raiding each other for years instead of trading.
• The G1 Transformers cartoon gave us Monacus the gambling planet, Junkion the landfill planet, and Torkulon, a psychiatric hospital planet (which was implied to be only one of several similar worlds).

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