Homeworld

A homeworld is the first colony of a major civilization in its starting system. Homeworlds and their surroundings have special treatment during galaxy generation.

Homeworld
The homeworld starts with a capitol, a star base, marine barracks, and a population of six.

Balanced start
When the "balanced start" option is selected, the homeworld has always at least one moon, and the home system has always only one other planet. This option is referred to as "spawnEarlyGamePlanets" in the game's source code, as it has another effect.

using (List.Enumerator enumerator = this.localNeighbourhoods.GetEnumerator) {       while (enumerator.MoveNext) {         Neighbourhood current = enumerator.Current; Planet planet = SolarSystemGenerator.SpawnCivHomeworld((Civilization) current.localCiv, galaxyMap.GetSolarSystem(current.homeStar), gameRandom3.Next); this.populatedPlanets.Add(planet); current.localCiv.CreateStartingColony(planet, gameRandom3.Next, startPoint); if (spawnEarlyGamePlanets || useTutorialData) {           SolarSystemGenerator.MustHaveOneSatelliteSystem(gameRandom3.Next, planet); SolarSystemGenerator.SpawnSecondaryPlanet(current.localCiv.race, galaxyMap.GetSolarSystem(current.homeStar), galacticAge, gameRandom3.Next, useTutorialData, planet.orbitIndex); }       }      }

The nature of the secondary planet depends on the chosen race, however all unmodded races have the same alternative: secondaryPlanetBiomeChances: - biome: biome_gas_giant chance: 1 - biome: biome_asteroid_field chance: 1 In addition, other properties exist. Just like for early game planets, secondary planets can have size and richness chances, for example: secondaryPlanetRichnessChances: - richness: planetmineralrichness_abundant chance: 0.5 - richness: planetmineralrichness_rich chance: 0.3 - richness: planetmineralrichness_ultra_rich chance: 0.2 secondaryPlanetSizeChances: - size: planetsize_medium chance: 0.5 - size: planetsize_large chance: 0.4 - size: planetsize_huge chance: 0.1 Though size is irrelevant to gas giants and asteroid belts, as such traits are overridden, richness can be important if it is later turned into a colonizable planet by a space factory.

Early game planets
In a balanced start, the systems surrounding the starting system will include one or more "early game planet". The number of early game planets is determined by galaxy size and shape, though it is one in all cases for the unmodded game. Each neighboring system can only have one early game planet, so the early game planet count remains limited by the number of connections between the home system and its neighbors. Also note that a direct connection between a home system and another does not necessarily mean that this other system is considered a neighbor!

While the early game planet count is determined by the galaxy type, the nature of the early game planets is determined by the chosen civilization. In the unmodded game, all races have the same early game planet types: earlyGamePlanetBiomeChances: - biome: biome_arid chance: 0.5 - biome: biome_swamp chance: 0.5 earlyGamePlanetSizeChances: - size: planetsize_medium chance: 0.5 - size: planetsize_large chance: 0.5 earlyGamePlanetRichnessChances: - richness: planetmineralrichness_abundant chance: 1 This is a guarantee to find a colonizable world with abundant resources nearby.