There are 7 different resource levels and they impact 2 areas of the game, production and research. No planet can have a non-standard setting for both production and research, if a planet has a non-standard setting in one it will have a standard setting in the other.
Normal[edit]
There is no descriptor for this, but it has average mineral resources and no bonuses to research. About ninety percent of the planets in a given galaxy will fall under this category.
Ultra Poor[edit]
This is the worst possible resource level. There are very few minerals available for production and construction of everything is at a drastically lower than normal rate. The production on these planets is 1/3 of what it would be in a normal mineral environment.
Don't plan to build much of anything here. You will be doing well if you can max their factory levels and if you can afford to put a few missile bases and a planetary shield on the planet. It takes many dozens of turns to get anything useful out of this sort of planet as a player.
Poor[edit]
Second to worst possible resource level. Production here is cut by 1/2 compared to normal. This is 50% better than Ultra Poor and 50% worse than normal.
Rich[edit]
This is the second best resource level in terms of production. It constructs things at a rate double that of normal resource levels.
Ultra Rich[edit]
This is the very best resource level in terms of production. Things can be constructed at triple the normal rate on this world and it is 50% better than Rich.
Artifacts[edit]
This is the second best research conditions. The Orions inhabited this world at one time and left small bits of technology present on the world during their hasty exodus from the galaxy. What this means to players is that they will research here at twice the normal rate AND the first civilization to scout the planet will find the technology, recover it, study it, and instantly gain a useful piece of technology without having to research it.
You want to be the first person to put a ship over these planets if at all possible and doing exactly that is a very good reason to scout all the planets you can as fast as you can at the start of the game.
Orion[edit]
This resource level will only ever be present on one system in a galaxy, the Orion system. This is the former home world of the Orion civilization and the first person to scout this planet gain multiple very high level techs for free and research on this planet occurs at four times the normal rate.
The most powerful weapon in the game is only available through scouting this system. The Orion civilization thought it would be best that whoever can defeat their guardian be the ruler of the galaxy and the benefits you get from discovering and owning this planet pretty much allow for that. Many games can be saved from sure loss if the player can manage to beat the Guardian and get the free techs, even if they can't hold the planet.
Note: Unlike in Orion 2, the techs one gets from this planet, other than the ultimate weapon, can all be researched through other means. They will be randomly generated based on what you don't already have researched.