• "If I did nothing this turn, what would my opponent's best move be?"
• "If I make this move that I am considering, what will my opponent's best move be?"

Your first two turns

On your first turn, you select three pieces. These will be the two stars of your homeworld and your first ship. If you're nervous about making a good choice here, here's what I recommend for beginners:

• For your first star, pick a blue piece of any size.
• For your second star, pick a red piece that's a different size from your blue star.
  • If you are moving second, make sure one of your stars is the same size as your one of opponent's stars.
• For your ship, pick a large green piece.

On your second turn, build a small green ship.

Congratulations! Your first two turns were about as good as what any expert would do!

Early game basics

For beginners, destroying the enemy homeworld seems like a distant objective. It can be hard to know what a "good" turn looks like in the early game. Here are some shorter-term objectives

In Homeworlds, it's easy to charge ahead with your own plans while ignoring what your opponent is up to until it's too late. You must block their plans or they will overwhelm you quickly. Before you can interfere with their plans, you must know what those plans are. Your opponent's most recent turn is often a clue to what they are planning.

Before you start thinking about what you want to do next, identify what objective(s) your opponent was trying to accomplish with their previous turn.

• Was it a "victory?" Did they just get what they wanted?
  • Now that they have what they wanted, do you have some breathing room to advance your own plan?
  • Or do you need to defend against them exploiting a new advantage?
• Or was it a "setup?" Is it just one step toward something that they want?
  • If it is a setup, can you spoil it?
  • Or can you get a head start on reacting to their plan's success?
  • Or is it safe to work on a plan of your own while they build toward their goal?
• Or was it a retreat? Were they just reacting to your last threat?
  • If so, can you create another threat to keep them off balance?

Moves can be multi-purpose. Even after you see one purpose to your opponent's move, check for others.

Often, the most important pieces are the ones that aren't yet in play. Every strategy guide will warn you about building the last medium or small piece.

• If you build the last small of some color, your opponent will probably get to build a medium.
• If you build the last medium of some color, your opponent will probably get to build a large.

It's usually bad if your opponent gets to build a bigger ship than you do if you won't be able to safely build that larger size as well. Some new players are too afraid of taking the "last serving." Look ahead another turn or two. Figure out what will happen if you and your opponent both keep trying to build that same color. In particular, figure out

• Who would run out of room first due to overpopulation?
• Who would end up with the bigger ships?

If your opponent will run out of room first and you end up with bigger ships, then continuing to build that color is probably a good idea, even if involves opening up a larger ship to them in the short term. Don't be afraid to take a step down that path.

It's not only building that can open up choices for your opponent. Here are other things to watch out for that may let your opponent get bigger ships than you.

Between beginners, almost all homeworlds games are lost because of a major blunder. If you want to be really careful, I suggest reading this whole checklist before you finalize your turn. Every time. The first time you don't check for all of these things may be the moment when you get surprised.

• Identify every catastrophe your opponent could possibly cause.
  • Yellow sacrifices provide extreme mobility, which often catches people off-guard. Make sure you look at all the ways your opponent could sacrifice a yellow and move same-colored ships at your systems.
  • If they could cause a catastrophe where you lose more or bigger ships than them, then you probably need move ships out of the target system.
• What if your opponent attempted an all-in homeworld attack right now?
  • If they were to start moving their ships into your home as quickly as possible, what would happen?
  • Could you attack the ships as quickly as they arrived?
  • Could there be a catastrophe that you wouldn't have time to prevent?
  • If their attack would just barely fail, what more do they need to make it succeed?
  • If your opponent is close to having a victory plan in place, figure out what you can do this turn to defend, such as getting a bigger red ship (to capture invaders faster) or moving a ship out of your home (if it is close to being overpopulated).
• What if you were to attempt an all-in homeworld attack right now?
  • What more do you need to make it succeed?