Basic Trope: A planet produces and exports a certain commodity/service.
- Straight: The Planet Of Hats makes and sells hats on the interstellar market.
- Exaggerated: The Toaster Planet's sole industry and export are Toasters. Its entire purpose and mission is to do this.
- Downplayed: A planet is well known for its technology exports, but it also produces many other commodities and services.
- Justified:
- A mining planet was purposely set up by its sponsors. That way, the planet would be dependent their homeworld, and unable to revolt as a result.
- A farming planet lacks any metals, and thus cannot develop any mechanical industry. The rich soil and fertile environment make for good farmland.
- A planet produces many different goods and services, but only one or two are profitable to export.
- Inverted: All services and products are produced only on one planet.
- Subverted: Planets are not specialized, and there is little incentive to do so...
- Double Subverted: ... but then the Interstellar Market changes, causing planets to specialize their exports to avoid economic recession.
- Parodied: A planet is known for its casinos, bringing in gamblers. Its largest export are indentured servants who have amassed large debts.
- Zig Zagged: The mining planet starts off as one, but once the mines run out, its inhabitants have to refocus their economy on a new commodity/service.
- Averted: Planets are not noted for a single export.
- Enforced: The writer wants a space opera with an allegory to dependence on a certain resource. As such, the author decides to use a planet whose export is that resource, to show its influence and impact.
- Lampshaded: A character notes "You know, a planet that only builds machines and does not grow any food is probably not going to last very long."
- Invoked: The Evil Overlord has set up his galactic empire this way. It allows him to efficiently to control worlds and maintain his war fleets.
- Exploited: An executive uses the fact that the Planet of Toasters needs food exports. So he manipulates the economy to increase food prices, which would help in his quest to expand his agenda.
- Defied: The hero wants to avoid disaster, and thus to work so the various planets are not so economically specialized.
- Discussed: The Trade Captain replied, "No, the Planet of Hats does not only make hats. An economy that focuses on one commodity is bound to fail."
- Conversed: "Why is it in all these space operas that all planets are so specialized?"
- Deconstructed: All planets produce only a single specialized resource. Since it is unfeasible to travel halfway across the galaxy to obtain every necessary commodity, galactic economy and civilization swiftly collapses.
- Reconstructed: Until somebody develops Casual Interstellar Travel so swift and cheap, it becomes more advantageous to devote your planet to produce a resource it is optimized for, leading to a galactic renaissance.
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