This is where the "Idle Planet Miner spreadsheet" enters the chat.
Spreadsheets can use VLOOKUP or QUERY to pull ore costs and times from a master table, then rank items. idle planet miner spreadsheet
The game simulates 120 minutes of offline progress. Your spreadsheet can calculate the "rush cost" in Dark Matter to finish an item. If the cost to rush a Lens (10 DM) is less than the value of 2 hours of mining (12 DM worth of ore), the spreadsheet tells you to rush it. This is where the "Idle Planet Miner spreadsheet"