Players upload their turn (TRN) files to the host BBS or Email account. The host runs the actual calculations involved, and produces a result (RST) files that are sent back to the players. The players run the local program to view their situation and set up their orders for the next turn.
Players then run an UNPACK program that decodes and expands the game result file (RST) into several data files. Then the main program PLANETS/WINPLAN is run to play the game. When you are playing the game you can order your starships around, build new starships, receive messages and do many other fascinating activities.
When a player has completed their game turn they run MAKETURN that packs the new data into a TRN file that is sent back to the host computer. After the TRN files from all the players are gathered into one directory by the person hosting the game the program HOST is ran to decode all the TRN files at once. New RST files are generate by the HOST program. These new RST files are then sent back to all the players.