Homeworlds is a deep game with a steep learning curve. This guide introduces some of the most important strategies and concepts for playing effectively.

Common mistakes

In a game as complex as Homeworlds, even seasoned players make mistakes. Here are some of the concepts new players find most difficult to grok:

• Can't move there: Beware of thinking two systems are connected when they aren't.
• Can't do that: Your ships can't use the power of another player's ship even if it's in the same system. You can only use your own ships, the star itself, or power gained by a Sacrifice.
• Can't build that: You can't construct a ship if you don't already control a ship of that color in the same star system.
• Can't capture yet: The one-two punch nature of attacks in this game is confusing at first. You must have the drop on the other player — you cannot move in and attack all at once. When you move a ship into my system, I get a turn to respond before you get to attack me. Then, during my turn, I can (potentially) Capture your ship, as if it were a gift being delivered right to my doorstep.

It's all about the economy

While Homeworlds may seem like a war game, like most wars, it's all about the financing. So keep a close eye on the Bank! Here are some tips on banking wisely:

Don't Take the Last Serving

When possible, avoid being the player who has to take the last available Small or Medium piece of any given color. (You'd rather be the one who gets to Build the first ship of the next size.)

Smart Shopping

Wait for bargains, and snap them up when they're available. It's a good time to go shopping when there are three of a size available in the Bank, but the best time is when there are two, since the other player will be opening up availability of the next size if they copy your action. Other good opportunities to look for are times when you might be able to Sacrifice a Medium Green to Build a couple of Larges, and times when you can leave the next size open because you know your opponent can't safely Build the next size themselves.

Don't Get Frozen Out of Any Color

Maintain control of at least one ship of each color (and seek to freeze out your enemy by monopolizing a color they lack). It's easy to get frozen out of a color early in the game, when most of the pieces in play are Smalls. If the only piece you have available to Trade for a new color is a Small, and the other player grabs the last Small of that color, you won't be able to get into that economy until you have a Medium available to Trade... and that could take a while. And by then, all the Mediums might be gone and they'll be Building Large ships while you're still struggling to catch up.

Choosing your Homeworld

But what setup is best? Most Starship Captains agree that you need to start with Blue and Green along with either Red or Yellow. Beyond that, opinions vary. Some players like to start with Yellow, so they can move immediately, but others prefer starting off with a Red ship. Many like building a "Planetary Defense System" which means including Red as one of the two colors that form the Homeworld itself. As for the size pairings, here are the three possibilities:

• Banker (Small-Medium star): This setup gives you an edge when using the Investment strategy, since it moves first to Large systems.
• Fortress (Medium-Large star): This setup makes your Homeworld harder to invade as the game progresses, since the supply of Smalls needed for bordering star systems dwindles quickly.
• Goldilocks (Small-Large star): The stars you can go to from here are "just right" because they're not too big and not too small.

Beware the small universe

If the second player chooses the same two sizes of pieces for their Homeworld as the first player did, the star map will be far more compact than with non-matching Homeworlds. This shrunken universe makes the game very claustrophobic. Choosing a "Gemini Star" (Large-Large, Medium-Medium, or Small-Small) also shrinks the universe. These setups aren't illegal, but they create tricky situations, so be careful.

Avoid getting Bluebirded

Imagine you have exactly two ships at your Homeworld, and they're both the same color. Let's say they're Blue. If your opponent has a Large Yellow, and two Blue ships at near and far positions, they can knock you out in one turn. Don't let this happen to you! (The name refers to a coffeeshop in Amsterdam called the Bluebird, where a particularly memorable game ended this way, back in the earliest days of the game's history.) There are two ways a Bluebird can happen, and one is easier to see coming than the other. Either way, you are vulnerable if you have exactly two ships at your Homeworld and they're both the same color.

• The Easy Bluebird: Your enemy Sacrifices a Medium Yellow to simultaneously move two ships of your color, from systems one jump away, into your Homeworld.
• The Tricky Bluebird: Your enemy Sacrifices a Large Yellow to move in two ships of your color, one from a nearby star and one from two jumps away.
• The Sitting Duck: This is like a Bluebird but even more vulnerable. If you have three ships of the same color (or two ships plus a star of the same color) and no other ships at your Homeworld, all your enemy needs do is to drive one ship of that color into your system and KA-BOOM it's game over.

Don't rush

Tempo is tricky in this game. Sometimes fortune favors the patient, not the bold. For various reasons (such as how all Bank quantities are in odd numbers), the player who acts first can sometimes get the short end of the stick. If it's a bad time to go shopping, consider stalling instead, moving ships around rather than constructing new ones.

Make investments

When the only ship at a basic star goes away, the star-piece is immediately returned to the Bank. If the ship that just departed was Green, and was Sacrificed, it may be possible to instantly change the star it was taken from into a ship. Parking Green ships at stars you'd like to change into ships later is called Investing. The best use of this strategy is to park Greens at Large stars while Mediums and Smalls of that color are available, then wait until the Bank is empty to "cash in." You just need to hope that your enemy doesn't move any other ships into your Investment system before you can Sacrifice the solitary Green ship you have at that system to turn its star into a ship.

Play keep-away

If you can't Build a desirable piece as a ship, try turning it into a star. Even if the ship you Discover it with isn't Green, you might be able to turn the system into an Investment opportunity later on. More importantly, you are preventing your enemy from getting to Build a ship with that piece.

Squonking

There are times when you might wish to Sacrifice a piece wastefully, specifically to interfere with your opponent's access to the Bank. We call this Squonking (a combination of squandering and blocking). For example, you might want to Sacrifice a Small Yellow when moving a ship away from a Yellow system, not because you need the movement ability — you don't — but because the return of the Small Yellow to the Bank will block your opponent from Building a larger Yellow piece.

The hyperspace bypass

When the first half of someone's Homeworld is destroyed, the whole star map changes. New connections become possible, and travel times to and from that Homeworld become shorter. It's like when a planet needs to be destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass... travel becomes easier after the obstruction is removed. So whenever a new bypass is created, take a good look at how the stellar topography has changed, and consider all the new possibilities.

The factory

A Large Green ship, along with another Green ship in the same system, sets up a powerful maneuver called the Factory. When you get to the point when only Large Greens (or none) remain in the Bank, you can Sacrifice your Large Green for three Build actions. Then, as one of those actions, you can re-build the Large Green in the same system you took it from. You now have two more Build actions without having lost your original Large Green. You can do this over and over again!

Using green to teleport

This trick is very useful if you get frozen out of Yellow. You can "teleport" a Small Green ship into any other system where you have another Green ship. Just Sacrifice the ship to get a Build action, then re-build that ship in a different star system that is occupied by one of your Green ships. If the Bank is low on Green, you can also teleport Medium or even Large ships, and get extra Build actions in the process!

Create happy systems

When you have a system containing exactly four pieces, one of each color (including the star), we call it a Happy System. This is ideal because it's the most difficult to blow up and it gives you all the options. So, while it's great to have a Factory, doing so requires having two Greens in the same system, and that's more dangerous.

Terraforming

When you Sacrifice a Yellow for movement, the piece immediately goes into the Bank, which means you can instantly take it out again and place it back onto the field as a star, while moving one of your ships into orbit alongside it. We call this Terraforming, and it's a very useful technique for a couple of different reasons. First, it allows you to maintain control of the Yellow piece you're Sacrificing, so that your opponent can't immediately Build it as a ship themselves, which is particularly important if the Yellow ship you are Sacrificing is a Large and the Bank is empty. Second, Terraforming allows you to transform one of your Yellow ships into a star, which can be crucial when all pieces of that size are gone from the Bank and you need to get to a star of that size.

Beware the incomplete battle plan

One of the easiest ways to lose this game is to mount an attack that fails to annihilate your opponent, but leaves your own empire vulnerable. This most often happens when you knock out half of a player's Homeworld, leaving you with fewer ships and your opponent with a better-connected Homeworld than before. Plan for total victory!

The doomsday machine

With a particular fleet of nine ships, scattered across the galaxy in specific positions, you can vaporize your enemy's Homeworld in exactly two turns. We call this setup a Doomsday Machine:

• 2 Large Yellow ships, for two triple-jump moves
• 3 ships of one of the colors of the target system, all located at systems one jump away
• 3 ships of the target system's other color, located at stars that will be within one jump after the first half of the target Homeworld is destroyed
• 1 extra ship, to protect your own Homeworld

The demolition fleet

This is a tricky maneuver, requiring just the right conditions, but it's devastating if done correctly. It's only possible if your opponent has just one Large ship at their Homeworld, along with at least one other ship of that color. (Note: if the only ships they control at home are those two, it's a Bluebird situation.) You will need two ships of the same color as your opponent's Large, accompanied by a Large ship of a different color. We will call these three ships your "Demolition Fleet." You will also need a Large Yellow you can Sacrifice, and some kind of access to Red. Position the ships in your Demolition Fleet at stars one jump away from your enemy's Homeworld. Spread your fleet out between multiple stars if you can, to make it more difficult to notice what you're setting up. Assuming they don't see the threat in time, you can move all three of your Demolition Fleet ships into your enemy's Homeworld at once, and call Catastrophe. They will be left with no ships big enough to challenge your Large, and as long as you don't run out of attack power, you should be able to Capture all enemy ships at their Homeworld on subsequent turns — including any other Large ships they might try to return home after the damage is done.

Obey the primary directive

The Starship Captain's Primary Directive is to defend the Homeworld. Here are four practical tips for accomplishing this:

Maintain a strong home defense

Keep a Large ship at the Homeworld at ALL times. Tempting though it can be to use that big powerful ship elsewhere, you should always protect your Homeworld with a Large ship, unless you are about to win or are absolutely certain you will get a Large back at home before being invaded.

Don't be the one without a gun

As soon as your enemy gets a weapon (i.e., a Red ship), you should get one, too. You may not need a weapon until your enemy has one, but as soon as they do, you need to arm yourself immediately. (This is particularly true if you don't have a Planetary Defense System, i.e., a Homeworld setup that includes a Red star.)

Create a happy homeworld

Diversify and minimize your local defense fleet, i.e., the ships at your Homeworld. To reduce the threat of Catastrophe, avoid having more than one piece of each color at your Homeworld, either as a ship or part of the star system. In particular, never let ALL your home ships be of a single color if there's ANY chance of being invaded.

Lock down your achilles color

If your star is half-destroyed, monopolize the remaining color of your Homeworld. After half of your Homeworld has been blown up, your enemy needs just three ships of your remaining color to finish you off. Take those pieces out of circulation any way you can!

External links

• With permission from Looney Labs, this article contains material adapted from their rules published in Pyramid Quartet (2020).
• Babamots' Homeworlds strategy guide
• Babamots' Homeworlds tactics guide
• Homeworlds strategy on Icehouse Games Wiki