VGA Planets is a multi-player, space strategy war game originally released in 1992. The game simulates combat in space between galactic scale empires. It follows the 4X game (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit & eXterminate) model: The players start with a homeworld, and have to build spaceships, explore the galaxy, colonize planets, mine minerals, build up their industry. The game is set in the "Echo Cluster" where 11 different races fight for control. It was one of the first indie games to become commercially successful. It was notable for being played via email, without a central server: each game of up to 11 players is handled independently, with the players sending their orders for each turn to the computer which manages that game. A hosted web version is now available.