# Network: connect the high ground.

> The Hexodic win you build rather than take — and the one tier control leads to.

Network is the Hexodic builder's win: at the end of your turn, 5 or more of your stones stand on tier-2 cells and form one connected group. How it is checked and how it is defended.

Canonical HTML: https://hexodic.com/rules/network
Site index for agents: https://hexodic.com/llms.txt

Network is one of Hexodic's three wins: you win by Network when, at the end of your own turn, 5 or more of your stones stand on tier-2 cells and form one connected group. The Network win rewards building height and holding it, which makes it the natural goal of tier control.

Reviewed 2026-09-15 against the Hexodic rules engine.

## How Network is checked

- The check runs at the end of each turn, for the player who just moved, after captures are resolved.
- Only stones on tier-2 cells count; locked tier-2 cells count too.
- The stones must form one group connected through hex neighbours. Any connected shape counts — a line, a ring segment or a cluster.
- Network is checked before Takeover, so a turn that completes both is a Network win.

## Building and stopping a Network

A Network needs both height and stones, so it is threatened on two fronts. The builder raises cells with Shape and uses [Echo-Lock](/rules/lock) to stop a key cell from being lowered. The defender lowers a cell in the chain, which breaks it, or captures a stone on it — though a stone on tier 2 away from the board edge cannot be encircled by the normal capture check at all. Watching [tier control](/rules/tiers) is how you see a Network coming.

## Related

- [Takeover](/rules/takeover) and [Strangle](/rules/strangle) — the other two wins.
- [Glossary: Network](/glossary#network)
- [Hexodic compared with Hive](/hexodic-vs-hive)
- [All rules](/rules)

[Get the Hexodic app](/download) and go for a Network.

## Where to go next

- [Tiers](https://hexodic.com/rules/tiers) — Height, high ground, and what tier control buys you.
- [Strategy](https://hexodic.com/strategy) — The principles that follow from the rules, not from habit.
- [How it works](https://hexodic.com/how-it-works) — The whole turn, in plain language.

## Questions this page answers

- What is the Network win in Hexodic?
- How many tier-2 stones do you need to win Hexodic?