Homeworlds FAQ 
FAQ for Homeworlds
Info taken from FAQs in file area and various forum threads, consolidated into a Wiki page so that people can more easily find all the info in one place and update it.
List of game FAQs
Number of nests needed of each color
Originally Homeworlds was for 3-6 players and used 5 nests of each color. This is the version published in Playing With Pyramids.
Later the 2-player version Binary Homeworlds specified 3 nests of each color since 5 was found to be looser and slower and less pleasing. Then Andy Looney suggested 4 nests for 3 players. This led to saying n+1 nests for n players.
Conveniently for new players purchasing their own sets, this means n+1 Treehouse sets are good for n players.
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/141940/what-do-you-mean-by-a-standard-4-color-icehouse-se
How to do an action
To do an action (regardless of which of the 4 types of action), you need that color ability at a system. You can have it in one of 3 ways:
1. The system has a star of that color.
2. You have a ship of that color at the system.
3. You have sacrificed a ship of that color anywhere in the galaxy.
Building a ship requires a ship of the same color at the star
E.g. to build a red ship at a star, you must have a red ship already at that star.
Sacrificing a green ship which is the only ship at a star
If a star has no ships, it immediately returns to the pool. So if you sacrifice a green ship, the star's pyramid enters the pool and might affect your build possibilities.
The blue action makes ships trade color, not size
There is no way to directly "upgrade" a ship to a larger one. The blue action lets you change a ship to a different colored ship from the pool with the same size.
Yellow sacrifice points can make a single ship move several times
Yellow sacrifice points can make a single ship move several times, or make several ships each move once, or a combination (in the case of a Y3).
How attacks work
You don't need a red ship in the system! You need the red ability (either because you have a red ship at that same system, or because the system has a red star, or because you sacrificed a red ship). And you need some ship that's no smaller than the target ship you are capturing. If you have a red action at the star (for whatever reason) and you have a ship at least as big as the target ship at the star, then you can take control of the target ship.
Actions from a sacrifice are all optional
You don't have to use all actions gained from a sacrifice. Of course normally you prefer not to waste them.
Various multiplayer versions
- Good/Evil (the original version, published in Playing With Pyramids): Players have secret Good and Evil roles. An Evil player wins by eliminating any other player. Surviving Good players win by eliminating all Evil players.
- "Win by eliminating all other players": self-explanatory. :)
- "Sinister" variant: win by eliminating the player on your left. If that player gets eliminated by another player, then whoever was on their left becomes your new target to eliminate. (Andy Looney proposed this variant in September 2005: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/85427/sinister-homeworlds)
An eliminated player's ships remain in play
An eliminated player's ships remain at their locations; they do not return to the pool. They could be captured, or contribute to a catastrophe.
Basic strategy
Some wiki pages exist with useful strategy notes:
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