The Portable Host (PHost) is a host program (game server) for VGA Planets 3.x (this links to the site that used to be www.vgaplanets.com). VGA Planets is a play-by-email space-combat game for the IBM PC, written in the early 1990's by Tim Wisseman. Client programs to play VGA Planets 3.x are available for MS-DOS, Windows, and now also for other operating systems.

PHost is intended to be a replacement for the HOST 3.2 program supplied with VGA Planets. The PHost program was designed to emulate the original HOST program in as many ways as possible yet it offers many new features that enhance both hosting and game-play. All versions of PHost are intended for version 3.x of VGA Planets, and do not work with Planets 4 (which is currently in beta stage).

PHost's enhancements can be grouped into the following broad categories:

  • Gameplay Enhancements. From a player's point of view, PHost adds many things that make playing easier or more fun. These include formalized alliances between players, wormholes, a wrap-around universe, multiple races in the same game, multi-language support, planets that fire torpedoes, extended missions that replace special friendly codes, a crew experience system, and many more.
  • Hosting Enhancements. From a host's point of view, PHost provides many enhancements in the areas of game setup and operation. For example, there are more than twice as many configuration options as in the original HOST program, many of them separately configurable for each player. The set of special ship functions (such as cloaking, hyperwarping, chunneling, etc.) can be assigned independently to any ship in the game and/or restricted to certain players. Highly customized games or games which implement a specific scenario are well-suited to hosting with PHost. Other enhancements include extremely thorough cheat checking, built-in turn file checking, and let's not forget speed! PHost runs much faster than HOST, especially on older machines and machines without numeric coprocessors.
  • Documentation Enhancements. For players that like to leave nothing to chance, PHost provides a complete list of formulas describing all important aspects of operation. You can predict exactly how much fuel your ships will use, whether or not your hyperjump will land on that planet, how many natives will be on your planet next turn, and more. A complete mission ordering is provided to answer all your questions about what happens when. A full description of the order of battle gives you the tools for precise combat planning.
  • Portability to Other Platforms. PHost has been ported to many hardware/software combinations other than the PC running DOS. You can place one of these PHost ports on an Internet-connected server machine and use it to automate the hosting process. Many VGA Planets games today are being hosted on non-DOS systems and offer many benefits for players, such as immediate turn file checking, automatic re-send of RST files, and so on. Hosting is easier, too, as the entire hosting process can be automated and turns can run unattended. The non-DOS distributions of PHost enable these automated games on Unix-ish systems. The hardware/software platforms supported by PHost are listed below.
  • Developer Support. PHost provides many features for developers of add-on programs, both on the hosting side and the player side. Auxiliary data files present the information in the player messages in a binary format, freeing the programmer from having to parse text messages. The Fine-Grain Hosting Control implementation allows a high degree of control over the interaction between the add-on program and PHost's internal operation. PHost has spawned a separate project, the PHost Development Kit (PDK), which is distributed in source-code form these days.
  • New Features. The original HOST program does not get many updates these days. That's why it's now PHost which is trying out new ideas, especially in the 4.x line. Those features include new missions, new ship functions, and a system of crew experience.

What PHost is not: PHost does not contain everything you could need to play VGA Planets. You may need some or all of the following components, too.

  • PHost is not an autohost system. It processes turn files and produces result files, but it has no built-in transport mechanism. It cannot poll a POP3 account for turns and mail out results. You need a separate autohost program for that, roll your own, or transfer files manually.
  • PHost is not a client program. You need a client program to actually play; PHost does just the host-side part of the game. It is a boring console-mode application.
  • PHost is not a Master program. It cannot create new game universes. You need a separate Master program to make new games. See Setting up new games for some more information.
  • PHost is not not a Computer Player (AI). It cannot provide opponents for you to play against. You need an external computer player program for that.
  • PHost is not a referee. It cannot declare a game winner and end the game. PHost can only compute the standard VGA Planets score. To actually declare a winner, you have to use a third-party referee or scoring program. Many games also simply check victory conditions manually.
  • PHost does not contain a ship list or starchart (i.e. the game universe definition). You can use the definition supplied with VGA Planets, or one of the many redesigns, such as PList.