Welcome to an introduction to Star Ruler 2 and how to ensure you have a good economy base on which to power your almighty war machine.
If you have any other questions do throw them in the comments, I'll answer if I see <3

This guide is up to date to Versioon 2.0.2 of the game.

Step 1: Your first chain
This is the most basic chain:

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=714644891

On its own this chain won't get you much, this chain only gets you $90k for your budget

Step 2: Advancing forwards

Level 2:

Now you have your first T1 resource you can utilise a T2 resource which in turn also leads to you getting a chain such as this

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=714645699

The chain in question at the minimum is getting you a net +$350k. This is almost 4x what the previous chain could get, despite now requiring 3 more planets that loose money.

Level 3:

Pushing on upwards your going to be reaching a level 3 Planet very soon. At this point when you click on it, you'll be looking at starting to reach a more complex web.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=714647700

That chain in question well be as follows:
3 Level 1 planets, + 250k Per
1 Level 2 Planet, + 500k
1 Level 3 Planet, + 500k
5 Water Planets, - 80k Per
8 Food Planets, -80k Per
Total = +725k

As you can see a Level 3 chain is worth just over double a Level 2 chain.

Level 4:

Approaching the top now. Definitly reaching a complex web at this point

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=714656802

The chain is as follows:
5 Level 1 planets, +250k Per
2 Level 2 planets, +500k Per
1 Level 4 planet, + 1025k per
8 Water Planets, - 80k Per
13 Food Planets, -80k Per
Total = +1595k

Step 3, Your Core

This is what your aiming to achieve as fast as possible.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=714660565

The chain is as follows:
9 Level 1 planets, +250k Per
4 Level 2 planets, +500k Per
1 Level 5 planet, + 1625k per
14 Water Planets, - 80k Per
22 Food Planets, -80k Per
Total = +2995k

As you can see by the time you've reached this Core planet level which you should always aim for the very minimum is more than enough to support 3 fleets around Size 1000.

Step 4, Advanced Economy

Moons, moons are one of your best friends. For any of your planets that are Level 1 or high that has a moon you should invest in the moon for 2 reasons. Extra space on the planet and more importantly however 2 more population per moon. The amount you gain per population is dependant upon the level of the planet in question.

Money Resources. These well add a sizable lump to your budget and should be claimed if you can claim them. A single bugdet pressure when utilised by the planet is worth 75k. Your basic T1 money resource has 3 money pressure or an extra 225k if it is utilised alongside its base income of 250k.
Note however that a T1 money resource planet by itself can only use 1 of its pressure by itself without a moon or metropolis. Keep this in mind.

Morphic Material asteroids, when attached to a money resource planet, preferable a T2 planet is worth an extra 150k per Morphic Material attached. You may need to utilise Metropolis's on a planet to keep up with the added pressure however on a developed tile they have a maintence of only 30k and in turn can support 2 and a half morphic materials.
4 Morphic material planets +600k, 2 Metropolis's on developed tiles -60k. Total +540k.

Fulrate Resouce, when exported to a planet it gets 2 Money pressure and 4 extra pressure of its base resource. Attach it to a Money resource planet, as above preferable a T2 one, your getting an extra +450k. This however comes at the cost of the fulrate planet -80k and whatever extra pressure capacity you need to add through Metropolis's. It is however more than worth it.
Fulrate can also be used to provide a nice boost to a dedicated labour world, preferablly the T1 Asteroids or if possible T3 HydroConductors. While at the same time also helping to offset the cost of any factories through the +70k after the cost of the Fulrate resource is accounted for..

Avoid building MegaFarms and HydroGenerators unless you have no other choice, even then try your best to get them on developed tiles, they are huge budget sinks otherwise.

The best option for planets for core planets are as follows:

• Scalable resources with Large planet surface size
  
• Vast Plains
  
• Homeworld.
  
• Scalable resources with Small planet surface size.
  
• T3 Resources with Large planet surface size
  
• Anything else with a Large planet Surface size

Artifacts such as Arcology or Floating continent are extremely valuable. The Arcology artifact adds to a planet 10 max population. This is a huge boost to your planets economy not just in income but also in pressure capacity since both are tied to the population of the planet.

Floating continents add extra Planet Surface Space, all fully developed and can be moved between planets. This is extremely nice for placing some valuable buildings such as Factories or Forges which can then be moved between planets as needed. Only one Floating Continent per planet however.

Name Planet diplomacy card, this adds 2 max population to the planet this is used on. alongside a very small boost to the labour generation of that planet. Using the Enhance Diplomacy Card on any Name planet cards is a must to get them to a Two star level before use. This is because a Planet can only be named once however for every star the max population granted is increased by 1, up to a total of +4.