Planetarion

Planetarion is a web browser-based multiplayer game based on a futuristic war in space. Each player controls one "planet", each of which is grouped within a "galaxy", which in turn is then grouped by "cluster". The game operates in real-time on an hourly 'tick' basis, and the objective is simple - to have the highest score, which is determined by the size of the player's fleet and the number of asteroids ('roids) they have. Players aid each other in alliances, early examples of which include Concordium, VtS (commonly known as Legion), Fury, IPC and F-crew (the oldest surviving alliance).

Players attack planets, a strategic task (each unit has several stats), in order to steal resource producing "asteroids", of which there are three types: Metal, Crystal and Eonium. These resources are used to construct items and ships, as well as fund Covert Operations. A Research aspect is included in the game, although research has no resource cost.

The game is divided into rounds, and after each round, the game is completely reset. Most rounds last about two months. The game was originally free, but starting from round 9 free accounts had limited features. This transition resulted in large numbers of experienced players leaving the game, undermining the community to a significant extent. As of January 2006, Planetarion is in its 16th round, which is once more totally free.

Planetarion was one of the most popular browser-based games in the first few years of its life, with about 170,000 planets at its peak, but most likely never exceeded 70,000 individual users as many players cheated with multiple planets (multies).

Players can choose from four races in the game of Planetarion - each with its own advantages and disadvantages. A major factor in the ship stats is 'initiative'- ships with lower initiative fire first.


 * Terran: Large and powerful ships. Average initiative.
 * Cathaar: Fast-acting ships, but they do not kill opponents (they merely freeze them). Low initiative.
 * Xandathrii: Very good initiative, cheap ships.
 * Zikonian: Zikonian players can steal their opponents' ships and use them in future combat.

Many players considered round 13 to be unbalanced - one race (Zikonian) was far too powerful, whilst another (Cathaar) was too weak. However, it still had a healthy number of players.