Before I invest the time in these things I thought I would ask a few questions. Based on reading Steve's post about them and so other ones I hit with the search I see I can use them to give me population to work things in places I can't otherwise get the population to. This is what I would like for Venus in my game (see AAR if you are curious). I would like to build 5xOrbital Habitates + (engines and fuel to make from eath to venus in 3-6 months). This should allow for some development of the planet. I understand from reading and looking in game that you build the orbital habitates with planetary industry but what about the overall rest of the "colony"? Do you design something "Asmiov Class Orbital Colony" [Oribatal Habx5, Commercial Enginex10, Fuelx50,000, Bridge, Engineering space, crew quarters] and then build the whole thing via planetary industry or does your shipyards come into play somehow?
This is a long way down the road but with 5-6 of them around Venus I would have a good chance to start terraforming and get mines/construction capacity there.