I don't understand what I'm supposed to be doing.
Your spaceship, the Helix Ark, controls itself. When it kills something in combat, you get an upgrade you can place somewhere on the field. The placement of most upgrades does not seem to matter with the exception of the Meteorite Cluster. Meteorite Cluster can only be placed on the path of the Helix Ark. It has a change to damage your hull, but it's a good upgrade. Your ship will heal equal to half its cycle when it reaches its homeworld, so you might want to plant your Meteorite Cluster placement around your ships health relative to its distance from the homeworld. If you survive 50 cycles, you reach the destination planet and win.