History VideoGame / VGAPlanets

Eventually Wisseman drifted away from updating the game, and officially granted permission for an upgrade to be produced by other hands, leading to '''[[https://planets.nu/ Planets Nu]]''', which is still in active development and based around a single hosting website instead of the original e-mail model. It is [[https://planetscentral.com/ possible]] to play the original version, but almost all activity in the game nowadays is centered around the Nu website. While you buy a yearly subscription instead of some software, the Nu version is still shareware, with the same technological handicap imposed on free players. Conversely, Nu games explicitly establish victory conditions that end the game, generally pegged at "capture and hold 200 planets for five turns." The Nu people are also moving the game's aesthetics away from the direct homages of the original version, including redoing all the ship graphics to be 3D and [[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope less overt copies]] of those appearing in the various franchises.

** ''Franchise/StarTrek:'' The Solar Federation, the Fascists, the Birdmen, the Lizards, the Crystals, the Cyborg and the Privateers.

* SpiritualSuccessor: In many ways the game is ''TabletopGame/{{Diplomacy}}'' IN SPACE!

* AllPlanetsAreEarthLike: Averted to a degree, planets don't have a climate per se, but do have an individual temperature ranging from 0 to 100 degrees; most factions do better the closer the temperature is to 50.

* AsteroidMiners: The Nu version of the game includes "debris fields" in some games which can, with some difficulty, be mined.

* HopelessWar: It's easy to get bogged down in one of these, where you've lost, but the opponent beating on you still has to slog around and wipe out every last one of your planets before you're officially booted from the game. Oftentimes players will simply quit/officially resign instead of suffering through this. Some Nu games set a "fight or fail" lower planet limit to at least cut back on the pain.

* PlanetDestroyer: In some Nu games, the Empire's Gorbie ships (the Death Star expy) can inflict the required EarthShatteringKaboom.

* SpaceFighter: Honoring their source material, the Star Wars/Battlestar Galactica factions specialize in producing swarms of these loaded on board carriers, while the Star Trek-based factions concentrate more on torpedo-slingers. (Though neither side of this divide is forbidden from using the other attack form in their fleets.)

See also ''[[VideoGame/{{Stars}} Stars!]]'', a similar game.

* {{Expy}}: As noted, every race is openly patterned after an existing pop-culture space empire or faction.

* ALoadOfBull: Bovinoid natives are essentially space minotaurs.

* TheSpymaster: A successful Bird/Romulan player pretty much has to be one of these; the faction is able to snoop info about enemy planets unavailable to other players.

* WingedHumanoid: In Nu at least, the Birds are depicted as looking like this, rather than being Vulcan offshoots. Also Avian natives.

Eventually Wisseman drifted away from updating the game, and officially granted permission for an upgrade to be produced by other hands, leading to '''[[https://planets.nu/ Planets Nu]]''', which is still in active development and based around a single hosting website instead of the original e-mail model. It is [[https://planetscentral.com/ possible]] to play the original version, but almost all activity in the game nowadays is centered around the Nu website. While you buy a yearly subscription instead of some software, the Nu version is still shareware, with the same technological imposed on free players. Conversely, Nu games explicitly establish victory conditions that end the game, generally pegged at "capture and hold 200 planets for five turns." The Nu people are also moving the game's aesthetics away from the direct homages of the original version, including redoing all the ship graphics to be [[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope less overt copies]] of those appearing in the various franchises.

* SpaceMines: Depositing fields of these is a major part of the game. The Crystal race, based on Star Trek's Tholians, in particular lays "web mines" which suck fuel from affected ships along with dealing damage.

VGAP was originally a play-by-email game, with each player coding in the actions of his spaceships, planets and starbases, and producing a file to send the host, who would compile all the resulting interactions and produce a collection of files, one each to be mailed back to each player.

Eventually Wisseman drifted away from updating the game, and officially granted permission for an upgrade to be produced by other hands, leading to '''[[https://planets.nu/ Planets Nu]]''', which is still in active development and based around a single hosting website instead of the original e-mail model. While it is [[https://planetscentral.com/ possible]] to play the original version, almost all activity in the game nowadays is centered around the Nu website. The Nu version is still technically shareware, in that you can play for free, but you suffer a heavy technological penalty when it comes to building ships away from your homeworld. And Nu games explicitly establish victory conditions that end the game, generally pegged at "capture and hold 200 planets for five turns." The Nu people are also moving the game's aesthetics away from the direct homages of the original version, including redoing all the ship graphics to be [[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope less overt copies]] of those appearing in the various franchises.

* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: There can only be (roughly) 500 ships in a game; encourages the players to attack each other, and cuts down on processing and logistic snarls- even with that limit, doing up a turn when you have 100+ ships and planets can take a long time.

Eventually Wisseman drifted away from updating the game, and officially granted permission for an upgrade to be produced by other hands, leading to '''[[https://planets.nu/ Planets Nu]]''', which is still in active development and based around a single hosting website instead of the original e-mail model. While it is [[https://planetscentral.com/ possible]] to play the original version, almost all activity in the game nowadays is centered around the Nu website. The Nu version is still technically shareware, in that you can play for free, but you suffer a heavy technological penalty when it comes to building ships away from your homeworld. And Nu games explicitly establish victory conditions that end the game, generally pegged at "capture and hold 200 planets for five turns." The Nu people are also moving the game's aesthetics away from the direct homages of the original version, including redoing all the ship graphics to be less overt copies of those appearing in the various franchises.

* AllPlanetsAreEarthLike: Averted to a degree, planets don't have a climate per se, but do have an individual temperature ranging from 0 to 100 degrees; most species do better the closer the temperature is to 50.

* ShoutOut: As noted, the basis of the whole game. Along with the "big 3" franchises, the original in-game graphic for the Neutronic Refinery Ship is a homage to ''Series/BabylonFive,'' while Amorphous natives are [[SandWorm Sandworms]] from ''Literature/{{Dune}}''.

* TheSpymaster: A successful Bird/Romulan player pretty much has to be one of these.

* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: Averted with the Nu version, two players can formally ally and win an official joint victory.

Eventually Wisseman drifted away from updating the game, and officially granted permission for an upgrade to be produced by other hands, leading to '''[[https://planets.nu/ Planets Nu]]''', which is still in active development and based around a single hosting website instead of the original e-mail model. While it is [[https://planetscentral.com/ possible]] to play the original version, almost all activity in the game nowadays is centered around the Nu website. The Nu version is still technically shareware, in that you can play for free, but you suffer a heavy technological penalty when it comes to building ships away from your homeworld. And Nu games explicitly establish victory conditions that end the game, generally pegged at "capture and hold 200 planets for five turns."

Also be aware the game has a fairly steep learning curve, and individual matches can easily run for a year or more. The Nu site offers Beginner's games with simplified rules, and games where you play in a team alongside a more experienced player who shows you the ropes.

* BoardingParty: You can capture enemy ships if you kill the crew before physically destroying the vessel. Capturing robbed ships by this method is the Priveteer's main way of attacking.

* LostTechnology: Another option in Nu, with a small collection of artifacts which can crop up on planets and grant extra unknown powers to the ship that is hauling them.

* SubspaceOrHyperspace: A handful of small ships are able to use this to jump across the Cluster; one such Rebel ship is of course modeled after the Millennium Falcon while the Empire's version is Boba Fett's ship.

* PerpetualPoverty: Some factions have to scrounge much harder for Megacredits to fund their construction efforts.

* SpaceStation: You construct these in orbit around planets, and use the facilities to build, stock and repair your ships.

* TractorBeam: Any ship with two or more engines can generate one of these and tow another ship around; there are a variety of uses for this function for all players, and for the Privateers and Crystals, it's how they capture enemy ships which have been drained of their fuel.

* SpiritualSuccessor: In many ways the game is ''TabletopGame/Diplomacy'' IN SPACE!

Also be aware the game has a fairly steep learning curve. The Nu site offers Beginner's games with simplified rules, and games where you play in a team alongside a more experienced player who shows you the ropes.

* AntiAir: Planets can construct defense posts that attack incoming ships, and even launch a few fighters of their own, but they tend to get overwhelmed quickly by even mid-range ships.

* TheDreaded: With their giant self-repairing ships, Firecloud transport-networks and native-conversion abilities, the Cyborg tend to get singled out as an example of this. (Again, appropriate considering the original Borgs' reputation.)

* ResourcesManagementGameplay: Mineral supplies are not unlimited, and shortages are eventually inevitable, especially fuel. If a game goes on long enough, you will need to build ships that can convert Supplies to minerals.

* ShoutOut: As noted, the basis of the whole game. Along with the "big 3" franchises, the in-game graphic for the Neutronic Refinery Ship is a homage to ''Series/BabylonFive,'' while Amorphous natives are [[SandWorm Sandworms]] from ''Literature/{{Dune}}''.

* StandardStarshipScuffle: How ships battle, coming at each other one-on-one in assigned numerical order no matter how many ships from any hostile parties simultaneously arrive at Point X. The two combatants approach nose to nose with no player input as they blast away with whatever lasers, torpedoes and/or fighters they have until one is destroyed or captured. (Though it's possible for a battle to time out with no winner.) Figuring out what order to arrange your ships for these fights is vital to success; all versions of the game have included a battle-simulator so you can test this in advance.

* TakingYouWithMe: The Fascists/Klingons do this with their kamikaze "Glory Devices".
* {{Terraform}}: Along with the aforementioned Crystals, a couple of other races have ships in their arsenal which either raise or lower the temperature of planets in the direction of 50 degrees.

* TheEmpire: The Evil Empire faction is a mashup between the Galactic Empire in Star Wars and [[UsefulNotes/HistoryOfTheUSSR communist Russia]].

* HopelessWar: It's possible to get bogged down in one of these, where you've lost, but the opponent beating on you still has to slog around and wipe out every last one of your planets before you're officially booted from the game. Oftentimes players will simply quit/officially resign instead of suffering through this. Some Nu games set a "fight or fail" lower planet limit to at least cut back on the pain.

* PlanetDestroyer: In some Nu games, the Empire's Gorbie ships (the Death Star expy) can in fact destroy entire planets.

* PortalNetwork: Doesn't exist at the start of the game, but the Cyborg/Borg player can essentially create one with their Firecloud ships.

Eventually Wisseman drifted away from updating the game, and officially granted permission for an upgrade to be produced by other hands, leading to '''[[https://planets.nu/ Planets Nu]]''', which is still in active development and based around a single hosting website instead of the original e-mail model. While it is theoretically possible to play the original version, almost all activity in the game nowadays is centered around this website. The Nu version is still technically shareware, in that you can play for free, but you suffer a heavy technological penalty when it comes to building ships away from your homeworld. And Nu games explicitly establish victory conditions that end the game, generally pegged at "capture and hold 200 planets for five turns."

* AssimilationPlot: The Cyborg auto-convert natives to more Cyborg. (Though they can't use this power on other player's populations.)

* CurbStompBattle: The various factions' top of the line warships are ''not'' equal, and an unprepared player will quickly find himself suffering a string of these. The Cyborg in particular tend to start bulldozing opponents if allowed to get up to full strength.

* ShoutOut: As noted, the basis of the whole game. Along with the "big 3" franchises, the in-game graphic for the Neutronic Refinery Ship is a homage to ''Series/BabylonFive.''

* SubspaceOrHyperspace: A handful of small ships are able to use this to jump across the Cluster; one such Rebel ship is of course modeled after the Millennium Falcon.

* {{Terraform}}: A few races have ships in their arsenal which can raise or lower the temperature of planets.

* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: Building ships and starbases requires varying combinations of three types of minerals and "Megacredits". A fourth substance must be mined for ships to be fueled, and factory-produced Supplies (along with more Megacredits) are used in planetary construction and ship repair.

'''VGA Planets''' is a [[FourX 4X]] ShareWare computer game originally created in 1992 by Tim Wisseman, in which up to 11 human players each take charge of a nascent space-faring empire [[{{Expy}} modeled directly]] after a race or faction which has appeared in three successful pop culture franchises over the last few decades, namely Franchise/StarWars, Franchise/StarTrek and Franchise/BattlestarGalactica. So yeah, you can for example play a race of "Klingons" who team up with "Cylons" to fight "The Galactic Empire". Each of these empires come with special extra abilities based on those of their inspiration, and uses them in an attempt to expand their control and take over "The Echo Cluster", which is a (somewhat) randomly-generated 2D star-map with (normally) 500 planets, some seeded with native races who (mostly) offer perks to their colonizers. There is no official winning goal, with the players establishing beforehand among themselves how many conquered planets/obliterated opponents equals victory for the empire in question.

* RealTimeWithPause: Everyone is given X amount of time to submit orders to their forces, then can only sit and watch as the results get spewed out.
* SubspaceOrHyperspace: A handful of small ships are able to use this to jump across the Cluster; one such Rebel ship is of course modeled after the Millennium Falcon.
* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: Averted with the Nu version, two players can formally ally and win an official joint victory.

* RegimeChange: In the Nu version, if someone misses submitting three turns in a row, they get dumped, and the slot in the game is publicly advertised as being available to be taken over by a new player.

* SpacePirates: The Privateer faction, based on the Orions of Star Trek, can steal fuel from enemy ships and then seize their helpless victims as war-prizes.

* DifficultyLevels: Some races are definitely easier to play than others. The Federation and The Colonies are both considered a good starter faction.

** Franchise/StarWars: The Empire and The Rebels
** Franchise/BattlestarGalactica: The Colonies and the Robots
** Franchise/StarTrek: The Solar Federation, the Fascists, the Birdmen, the Lizards, the Crystals, the Cyborg and the Privateers.

* HopelessWar: It's possible to get bogged down in one of these, where you've lost, but the opponent beating on you still has to slog around and wipe out every last one of your planets before you're officially booted from the game. Oftentimes players will simply quit/officially resign instead of suffering through this. Some Nu games set a "fight or fail" lower planet limit to prevent this.

* PortalNetwork: Doesn't exist at the start of the game, but the Cyborg/Borg character can essentially create one with their Firecloud ships.

* StandardStarshipScuffle: How ships battle, coming at each other one-on-one in assigned numerical order no matter how many ships from any hostile parties simultaneously arrive at Point X. The two combatants approach nose to nose with no player input as they blast away with whatever lasers, torpedoes and/or fighters they have until one is destroyed or captured. Figuring out what order to arrange your ships for these fights is vital to success; all versions of the game have included a battle-simulator so you can test this in advance.

* DifficultyLevels: Some races are definitely easier to play than others. The Federation in particular is considered a good starter faction.

* FirstContact: You normally start with a single homeworld, starbase and space freighter, and once you start poking around with your expanding fleets of ships, sooner or later this happens with whoever happens to be your neighbor(s) this time around. You can decide to attack immediately, or try negotiating.

* HopelessWar: It's possible to get bogged down in one of these, where you've lost, but the opponent beating on you still has to slog around and wipe out every last one of your planets before you're officially booted from the game. Oftentimes players will simply quit/officially resign instead of suffering through this.

* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: Building ships and starbases requires varying combinations of three types of minerals and "Megacredits". A fourth substance must be mined for ships to be fueled, and Supplies (along with more Megacredits) are used in planetary construction and ship repair.

* AllThereInTheManual: The Nu site has a backstory/training sequence if you want to plow through it, but it's not necessary to play the game: There are 10 or so enemies out there. Beat them!

Eventually Wisseman drifted away from updating the game, and officially granted permission for an upgrade to be produced by other hands, leading to '''[[https://planets.nu/ Planets Nu]]''', which is still in active development and based around a single hosting website instead of the original e-mail model. While it is theoretically possible to play the original version, almost all activity in the game nowadays is centered around this website. The Nu version is still technically shareware, in that you can play for free, but you suffer a heavy technological penalty when it comes to building ships away from your homeworld.

* RageQuit: A common problem in the game; there's always a long list of games on the Nu website looking for replacement players. (See directly below)

* ShoutOut: As noted, the whole basis of the game.

* TheEmpire: The Evil Empire faction is a mashup between the Galactic Empire in Star Wars and [[/UsefulNotes/HistoryOfTheUSSR communist Russia]].

* HealingFactor: Cyborg ships are able to repair themselves, while everyone else has to fly/get towed to a starbase.

* SpaceFighter: Honoring their source material, the Star Wars/Battlestar Galactica factions specialize in producing swarms of these loaded on board carriers, while the Star Trek-based factions concentrate more on torpedo-slingers. (Though neither side of this divide is forbidden from using the other attack form.)

* StealthInSpace: Some races can build ships that possess this ability. The Birds/Romulans and Priveteers/Orions in particular have this as their main schtick.

* {{Terraform}}: A few races have ships in their arsenal which can raise and lower the temperature of planets.

* ZergRush: Throwing a swarm of small cheap ships at a more powerful opponent is an option, although as noted they still attack one at a time.

'''VGA Planets''' is a [[FourX 4X]] computer game originally created in 1992 as a ShareWare vehicle by Tim Wisseman, in which up to 11 human players each take charge of a nascent space-faring empire modeled directly after a race or faction which has appeared in various successful pop culture franchises over the last few decades, namely Franchise/StarWars, Franchise/StarTrek and Franchise/BattlestarGalactica. Each player gains special extra abilities based on their selected empire, and attempts to expand their control and take over "The Echo Cluster", which is a (somewhat) randomly-generated 2D star-map with (normally) 500 planets, some seeded with native races who (mostly) offer perks to their colonizers. There is no official winning goal, with the players establishing beforehand among themselves how many conquered planets/obliterated opponents equals victory for the empire in question.

Eventually Wisseman drifted away from updating the game, and officially granted permission for an upgrade to produced by others, leading to '''[[https://planets.nu/ Planets Nu]]''', which is still in active development and based around a single hosting website instead of the original e-mail model. While it is still possible to play the original version, most activity in the game nowadays is centered around this website. The Nu version is still technically shareware, in that you can play for free, but you suffer a heavy technological penalty when it comes to building ships away from your homeworld.

* AllThereInTheManual: The Nu site has a backstory/training run if you want to plow through it, but it's not necessary to play the game: There are enemies out there. Beat them!

* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: There can only be (roughly) 500 ships in a game; encourages the players to attack each other, and cuts down on processing and logistic snarls- even with that limit, doing up a turn when you have 100 ships and planets can take a long time.

* BoardingParty: You can capture enemy ships if you kill the crew before physically destroying the vessel. Capturing drained ships by this method is the Priveteer's main way of attacking.

* CurbStompBattle: The various factions' top of the line warships are ''not'' equal, and an unprepared player will quickly find himself suffering a string of these.

* TheEmpire: The Evil Empire faction is a mashup between the Empire in Star Wars and communist Russia.

* FirstContact: You start with a single homeworld, starbase and space freighter, and once you start poking around with your expanding fleets of ships, sooner or later this happens with whoever happens to be your neighbor(s) this time around. You can decide to attack immediately, or try negotiating.
* FishPeople: Amphibian natives, though it doesn't have any effect on gameplay.

* LizardFolk: The Lizards/Gorn from Star Trek, who gain a ground-attack advantage due to their strength.

* PlanetDestroyer: In some Nu games, the most powerful Empire ship (the Death Star expy) can in fact destroy entire planets.

* SiliconBasedLife: The Crystals are these. They are the only race more comfortable on hot planets.

* StandardStarshipScuffle: How ships battle, coming at each other one-on-one in assigned numerical order no matter how many ships from any hostile parties simultaneously arrive at Point X. The two combatants approach nose to nose with no player input as they blast away with whatever lasers, torpedoes and/or fighters they have until one is destroyed or captured. Figuring out what order to arrange your ships for these fights is vital to success.

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: It's real easy for players to keep pounding on each other when they should be working together against bigger mutual threats.
* WingedHumanoid: In Nu at least, the Birds are depicted as looking like this, rather than being Vulcan offshoots.

* Anti-Air: Planets can construct defense posts that attack incoming ships, and even launch a few fighters of their own, but they tend to get overwhelmed quickly by even mid-range ships.

* SpaceFighters: Some factions specialize in (eventually) producing swarms of these, mostly those modeled after Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica.

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: It's real easy for players to keep pounding on each other when they should be working together against bigger mutual threats.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: An option in games, but word does tend to get around if you do it constantly, both in game and out in the general community.

* FasterThanLightTravel: Engines are installed as being warp 1-10 during a ship's initial construction. Higher speeds can be specified for a particular ship at the cost of much higher fuel consumption.

* FirstContact: You start with a single homeworld and starbase, and once you start poking around with your expanding fleets of ships, sooner or later this happens. You can decide to attack immediately, or try negotiating.
* FogOfWar: An option in Nu, where you only see the stars near your colonies and ships, not the entire map.

* HopelessWar: It's possible to get bogged down in one of these, where you've lost, but the guy beating on you still has to slog around and wipe out every last one of your planets before you're officially booted from the game. Oftentimes players will simply quit instead of suffering through this.

* LostTechnology: Another option in Nu, with a small collection of artifacts which can crop up on planets and grant extra powers to the ship that is hauling them.
* MileLongShip: The biggest Cyborg and Empire ships are examples of this.

* StandardSciFiFleet: To a degree. While the warships are all (very) different, everyone uses pretty much the same freighters and mineral-processing ships.

* {{Terraform}}: Some races have ships in their arsenal which can raise and lower the temperature of planets.