Ok, Im a MOO3 rook, just got the game the other day. My question is this.... What planets are best for industry and what is the best way to maximize a planet for great shipbuilding capabilities?

Big planets are best for industry & shipbuilding. I usually try to have at least 1 industry planet per system. I only use planets of size 8 or larger, fill everything up with industry, apart from 2-4 DEAs which I make into government/recreation.

Yeah - DaEezT is right

To help this do what I do

I set up a DEV plan for large planets to go 100% manufacture (ie. all prim, sec, terti plans are manufacture) This should pack your planet with enough industry to build a small warfleet or a few tictacs :)