These Tips & Tricks Will Make IXION Easier! | IXION | Tutorial/Guide

IXION combines city building, survival elements and exploration, into a thrilling space opera as you explore the stars. Propelled onwards through a perilous journey, you are the Administrator of the Tiqqun space station, charged with finding a new home for humanity.
Keeping the station sound and flying will require a deft hand and strategic thinking, as you are constantly pulled between maintaining hull integrity, bringing in new resources and managing power consumption.
What choices will you make when confronted with impending disaster? What will you discover out there in the dark?
Thank you to Kasedo Games & Bulwark Studios for sponsoring this first video of this series.
Check out Ixion on Steam:
store.steampowered.com/app/11...
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#Ixion #StayEffective #LetsPlay

[@aznfattass]

The best thing about this game, is that even in the deepest and furthest ends of space, finding a random dog and making him your crew member to get +1 permanent happiness made me extremely happy

[@Bitt3rh0lz]

Bit of a spoiler but yeah, i agree, theres so many good events like that. Bad ones too. If you actually take the time to read the situation logs and apply some basic logic to things, youre gonna notice things that are relatively obvious traps. *cough* sending your crew to investigate an object that just consumed your probe may not be the best of choices.... *cough*

[@cheesefighter3332]

+1 dog, made me smile each time I opened the menu

[@MidnightshadeProductions]

Im heading for chapter 3 now because i keep repeating the first 3 from the start so i can build completely new layouts that fits perfectly in the grid

[@ladaleenglish6756]

@@Bitt3rh0lz i reloaded just so i could see what happened lol i got most of them right though .

[@solouno2280]

better than the space canibalism game already, when such dog yes or yes becames your thanksgiving dinner

[@zhangyuguan6112]

In my opinion the true way of salvation is a bit counter intuitive, you actually NEED all that useless non-workers to generate enough waste to achieve self-sufficiency. Rush those recycle tech and defrost as much pods ASAP after that. Then you will have free water (which means free food) , free alloys, free polymers, free everything. I will admit its a risky way of doing things and you'll need quite a few techs to pull this off, I suggest making your third district a dedicated population district full of houses where you concentrate all the non-workers and do the defrosting. Police station + propaganda + limit food + waste recycle to make things easier.

[@thet00nl1nk3]

Well said, you're making it look pretty easy and not so stressful.

[@TPixelAdventures]

Considering how Nilaus makes Factorio look easy, the fact that he's got some frustrations with Ixion should tell us that it's a very challenging game xD

[@kzar99]

Something worth mentioning (especially after you have 3+ cargo ships with some upgrades for extra cargo). Do not assign all 3 of them on the same dock. You can easily flood the dock with goods and you will have issues (no room to load goods for a colony or not emptying the dock too fast). Spread your cargo freighters in different docks and have warehouses relating to imported goods nearby for easy access and faster unloading times. Another tip: cargo in docks does not count towards warehouse capacity and does not go away after a jump. That means that you can stock a small warehouse with 100 iron and have a dock with another 300 iron before jumping into a new sector (basic capacity with no upgrades). This will give you a nice boost at the start of the new sector while locating new sources for mining. Just dont flood all your docks this way. Final tip: you cannot stick to a layout per sector throughout the game. Keep in mind that you will need to demolish and re-build part of a sector many times as you progress and as you unlock new stuff. This is NOT a build-and-forget game

[@ingiford175]

2 Things I think that would make the game move from good to excellent; one I would use, one that would quiet the grumpy people: 1) a Story mode, that removes many penalties (I would not use but might get rid of many complaints) 2) an offline zone designer so you can try different spacing without having to wait the extended time tearing down and rebuilding to move things one tile, this option limited to buildings that you have opened in your various playthroughs.

[@Nilaus]

100% agree with both. I am making designs in Google Sheets and I would much rather do it in game.

[@FreakyFerret]

You have a free designed in game. When you open a new sector, clear out the resources. Then pause the game and lay down buildings and roads. You can instantly delete any building that hasn't started building. And since the game is paused, that's all of them in the sector. You can try out countless layouts this way. When done, unpause the game and pause/unpause individual buildings as you want them actually built.

[@AdamSaxton]

I also think some of the problems that make this "hard" is that people try to rush to fast and ignore trying to balance everything.

[@Nilaus]

yes, I completely agree. The game encourages you to move on with the -1 Stability, but you shouldn't freak out and instead take the time at the end of a zone to prepare and improve

[@ingiford175]

I have re done the prolog and chapter 1 a few times trying to build them so that they fit more, I dont open up the second sector until I am near the end of chapter 1, and then work on getting that up and running, and get hundreds of resources before pushing to the next chapter (including a 100-150 ice which is not needed yet)

[@doggo2836]

@@Nilaus but staying too long in the system get -1 like whaat it doesn't make any sense😂😂

[@FreakyFerret]

@@doggo2836 That -1 goes away when you leave the system.

[@lolroflroflcakes]

@@doggo2836 It’s explained in the game, just pay attention it does make sense.

[@Bags..]

Glad to see i'm not the only one who believed that the vast majority of negative reviews came from people not really understanding how the game worked.

[@AdamSaxton]

Ixion has really sucked me in. I don't normally get into these types of games, but have loved the story and the game play. Yes there is some tuning that needs to happen and i'm sure it will, but it's solid fun.

[@OutlawRobot]

exactly what happened with me, Thanks to Nilaus Too for this Video. Thanks Man ;X

[@TheFuzzician]

The only real flaws of ixion are A: weak tutorial. It doesn't explain nearly enough. Stuff like sector management are not immediately clear. B: events/requests are done badly. Flat bonuses or penalties are meaningless when you gain or lose trust every cycle. It should have been bonuses/penalties to productivity, happiness, or a small permanent change to trust (that happens every cycle)

[@Animaniac-vd5st]

As someone who played 2k h in Factorio/Dyson/Satisfactory i have to say that i love the relaxed "just build and you will progress somehow" approach in those games (Factorio in peaceful because i don't care about fighting) Don't shy away from complexity (finished basically every mod in F. except Pyanodon - 250h in so far), but don't like the strict need for perfection. Maybe Ixion (in its current state) is not for me.

[@Nilaus]

It is definitely different. It is much more like Oxygen Not Included and Frostpunk than the games you mentioned.

[@Dawnseeker_Ch]

I listened to the whole video before starting to respond, but while I greatly appreciate the effort to help others to succeed at the game like you are because you are clearly having fun with it (and i've enjoyed watching you enjoy it), there was a kind of response underlying your message I would want to push against. Some of us like logistic games but aren't as good at them or have other factors on what makes something 'fun' for us. The challenge is a good thing, it can push us forward instead of getting complacent. Some mechanics are absolutely a part of good game design that have the intended effects that you were outlining, so that's not in dispute. The problem is that some of these do not feel fun to others. I have not gotten the game yet and do not yet intend to unless more options are available to customize for our fun. The game can stay the way it is as a 'normal' or perhaps 'intended' difficulty, but if this game has or gets options that can customize the difficulty, more people who want to get into the game but dislike x y or z will be able to share in the love for the game. I for instance, still play Factorio with biters on peaceful, and sometimes with cliffs off too. I play it in downtime while I work, or just enjoy watching it run. I fail when I play with biters, even when i add in air filtration mod options. Is it a failing on my part as a player? No. Why am i still able to play and enjoy it? Because the game devs included the options to customize your experience the way you want. Underlying your video was essentially a message of "get good." I understand this is arguably the correct answer, but it can also be exclusionary, putting blame on the players who want to get involved and invested, which can turn people away. It turned me away. I know you want this game to succeed, and if it wants a lot of players/sales, sometimes that means making the game more accessible. If it's only focused on satiating players who want peak optimization and so on, then it has already succeeded and the reviews don't matter.

[@Nilaus]

I agree that a difficulty setting would be a great addition. Some people may want a casual experience while other people want a challenge. In the current state the game is hard (as intended) and you need to understand the mechanics and play well to succeed. I enjoy and appreciate this experience. A 'Story mode' difficulty would not devalue my experience, I just wouldn't play it

[@Dawnseeker_Ch]

@@Nilaus First, thanks for replying, i know my post was large. Second i agree with what you are saying. Some people really thrive on that challenge and I wouldn't want to deprive others of that chance. I guess if I had to summarize my point more concisely, it would be "if they are concerned about having more players, they need the difficulty settings choices. If they aren't, then good for them and hopefully they planned around the more limited playerbase that they designed the game around." I love the concept, but I hate mechanics that drain resources at a constant rate or reduce the created safety net (the hull as i mentioned in a prior comment being one example), so while I may not jump on the game yet, I hope no one else who would or should enjoy it for what it is misses out.

[@akosszegedi3482]

Good summary. An important tech I feel is worth mentioning is the mess hall upgrades, as fully upgraded 1 food can be used to serve twice as many people, which I found crucial when hitting larger populations towards the end game, and failed at first, because I didn't even know the tech existed!

[@solarchos4352]

Don't forget about the Piranesi's hacking.

[@Caledorn]

100% agree with you, Nilaus. Ixion is one of the best games in years, and the difficulty is a large part of why. Thank you for making this video!

[@michaelruther3275]

YOOOOO ITS YOU! LOVE THE PATHFINDER SERIES

[@1over137]

How you progress in the first few systems (old/new sol) is important. If you go too quickly you will not have time to collect everything, if you go too slowly you can become hard locked or incapable of completing the start of the next chapter. I find it's better to wait until the game pushes you forward rather than go willingly :)

[@henryhamilton4087]

Also by the way about the EVA Airlocks, make sure you finish all Solar Panel sets by at the most chapter 3, maybe 4? Because the hull damage you get from pausing hull repair combined with irrepairable hull on the late chapters can pretty easily kill your station in the time it takes to fit the new Solar Panels especially if you don't keep your hull topped off.

[@Nilaus]

You can pause the construction of solar panels and the repair starts up. It is a bit micro intensive, but it can work

[@alejandrotuazon4831]

I DID NOT KNOW THIS!!!@@Nilaus

[@stevenwojtysiak6392]

My one gripe concerning the game is the choices that have to be made. On my first playthrough, I tried not using the save and reload to check out all choices and just lived with whatever choice I made. Many choices have consequences that make the game super hard and there is no logical way to figure out the correct choice beforehand. Once I restarted and found a webpage that tells me the outcomes in advance, the game becomes relatively easy. For instance, wrong choices in chapter one can make it so there isn't enough science points to get both the Cryo tech and steel mills before chapter two, and not having both those techs means it is very close to impossible to deal with the increased hull damage. My solution would be having each encounter resulting in the same amount of science points, no matter the choice and only changing the hard rewards. Otherwise, I'm loving the gameplay and the story. I'd totally buy the game again, as is.

[@ingiford175]

Very much so

[@Terminator85BS]

While it can be frustrating, I personally feel like it adds to the setting. I completed my playthrough with just taking the results, lost PLENTY of science ships and got a few permanent debuffs, but still managed to pull through just barely - which is exactly the most exciting part of this game for me. Space is a rough place, lots of stuff goes wrong in an instant, and you as the administrator have to work HARD to keep things from falling apart every moment. My biggest issues with the game are: being able to soft lock the game - i jumped into a certain system and realised i needed TONS of a certain material suddenly, and by the time i realised, there was just not enough of it left in the system to progress the story, so i had to reload an hour old save from the last system. not too crazy but... i wish the resources were more plentyful in a case like this, it would still have been difficult to ramp up my industry to progress but at least doable. and secondly the accidents are just annoying. if you're on happy+optimal, nobody ever dies, but i felt like i couldn't go 2 minutes without "an accident has occured" voicelines, it's just SO annoying. Now on my second playthrough i'm using the (probably unintended?) fact that if you NEVER overwork anything in the first place, accidents litteraly NEVER happen - the game seems to have a trigger, once you had ONE accident, they happen randomly all the time, but if you don't overwork at ALL, they never happen and the game becomes SO chill.

[@stevenwojtysiak6392]

@@Terminator85BS It's true that it adds to the setting, and there is always a choice for those that are super risk averse. And it even may be like you said, that winning is possible while making all the wrong choices (maybe with perfect play in all other things, but only just), but I would prefer these choices not be what makes or breaks a game and gameplay be what is most relevant. Using a guide just for choice outcomes makes the gameplay seem fair and enjoyable even with the accidents that happen so often. What I'd like to see is someone try beating the game without ever getting a "You've been here too long" penalty.

[@AgnonMan]

Emma Klain : "As is often the case with tools produced by my department, I think you’ll find that once you start using the DLS, you'll never be able to do without it." XD

[@henryhamilton4087]

Honestly, the most egregious balancing imo is the stability penalty from storing too many cryopods, since this scales with the amount of cryopods you have. I can get behind the other stability penalties with the DES penalties and other penalties from policies, but why is everyone getting super angry with a -6 penalty (!!!!!!) just because i have 1000 cryopods on storage, which are in the process of being opened? So people are more angry that I'm rescuing people than they are from getting Earth blown up? Reason I'm the most on the fence about the cryopod penalty is because the game throws you a F**K TON of cryopods on one of the chapters, the game almost wants you to fail because of storing too many cryopods on storage at that chapter during your first playthrough.

[@Nilaus]

maybe when you hit -1 Stability from 250 Popsickles then you should have paused the collection instead of going all the way to 1000

[@fbbshnik]

@@Nilaus yeah but of course. We're the LAST 500 humans in the whole universe, we don't have time or resources to reproduce naturally, why not just leave these 1000 cryopods FOREVER BEHIND, amirite?! Totally logical.

[@VenomGamingCenter]

@@Nilaus Nice way to miss the point they were making and continue with your "git gud" rhetoric

[@ShadowDragon34]

I am still on the fence with this title. The concept is very strong, and I love this style of game. My problem is I dont want to feel rushed playing each chapter. If I have enough stuff coming in to maintain everything. I dont want to feel like I have to move on to the next chapter too quickly. I want to be able to mine out everything in the sector/chapter if I so choose before I move on. I have no problem with having some priority actions. ie: doing something in X amount of cycles. I also have no issue with needing to keep the work force at optimal either. I think this game would benefit with a difficulty slider as others have mentioned. I am watching this game with high interest. Top notch video as always Nilaus.

[@graysonlangworthy3578]

You can still somewhat do that, especially in the first chapter where iron is super common so you can keep up with the upkeep on the Tiqquns hull

[@TheFuzzician]

You absolutely do not need to rush. The penalty is not that bad for staying. You should establish a decent industry before jumping ahead.

[@larshyer3367]

I particularly like this game because of the challenging game play. You're in space, the most inhospitable environment besides the deep, deep ocean. Most gamers are used to having their hand held in a casual game. This is an old school game with deep atmosphere and great music. Don't make it too easy just because some people don't understand the complex nature of the simulations. I really like this in games and will play again and again to try to optimaze and see what other choices in events will yield.

[@b.delacroix7592]

While I take your meaning and am not one of those saying the game is bad, if we go the "realism" route. Space is also filled with hydrogen and the minerals in just a few asteroids should supply the entire earth for hundreds if not thousands of years. Yet in the game, hydrogen is rare and so are the minerals. For game purposes, of course, which is fine.

[@larshyer3367]

@@b.delacroix7592 The real apeal of the game is the fantasy SciFi elements. It so reminds me of Empire at War but we just have an entire universe far, far away ;)

[@beny8812]

I was really hyped for this game when you first tried it out. I loved the idea and the basic mechanics of the game. After I bought IXION on release day and launched it to find no difficulty setting. I didn't think much of it until losing on three separate saves by chapter three. I do definitely agree that most parts of the games should stay as they are but also include a more relaxed mode. I've been watching your content for awhile now but I still don't live with efficiency. If there was a more lax mode the players that want to play the game would be able to play and enjoy what they're doing.

[@Nilaus]

I agree. A difficulty setting would be beneficial. Oxygen Not Included did it perfectly: Survival vs. No Stress. They even say that Survival is the intended and that "one mistake may cost you the colony". So the player can choose if they primarily want the story or they want the challenge AND the story

[@beny8812]

@@Nilaus I couldn't say it any better :).

[@xtradi]

There is cheat mode by modifying save file. You can turn off hull damage there

[@xtradi]

There is cheat mode by modifying save file. You can turn off hull damage there

[@OldGamerScott]

@@Nilaus I think another thing that can be frustrating is that you don't always know when you've made a choice that has doomed the run. I was nearing the end of Chapter 1 and had a very smooth running ship (all the popsicles were warmed up and no sectors were over worked) But I did all the research-granting quests before finding the black box and had to wait 50+ cycles to generate the needed science to research it. So the lesson there is (I guess) keep 45 science in reserve, just in case?

[@igorb8255]

one more thing for DLS policies -intense hour give -1 to stability, but make you need 25% less workers. which make being on optiomal everywhere so easy

[@Pugilation]

Thanks for this, grabbed this after your first episode and really enjoying it!

[@Mystico1600]

This video is really appreciated. I have a friend who held off on buying it because of all the reviews.

[@MrMartechi]

For me the question always is: Why not make the experience customizable? Have a recommended difficulty for players to experience the game as intended, and then an options menu to let people decide if they'd like to tailor their experience. I completely get that this game has an intended difficulty, and there's nothing wrong with that. I just don't understand why you'd want to force players through it rather than giving them the option

[@olusegunmaximus2241]

Possibly the best space builder game I have played ever!!!! It's so mentally tasking. I love it so much!!!! Spent 20 hrs so far and I'm in chapter 4.

[@RussellBushes619]

Long time viewer, first time comment. Wanted to say love all your vidz and your channel has become quiet addictive to watch, I check multiple times a day just to look for new vidz or re-watch past ones. I purchase many games off Steam purely off watching your gameplay. Wanted to applaud your comment in the beginning about poor reviews on Steam for games people do not understand properly, I see it far too often and does make it harder to know if a game is genuinely good but damaged by poor reviews or bad. Keep up the amazing work and look forward to watching you for a very long time to come.

[@Tegridyy]

Love this game so far. Haven't gotten passed chapter 2 yet, but planning on getting though it soon. Thanks for the video!

[@benziko1460]

Thanks for making this! I left a review on steam; kinda shocking how low the reviews were compared to how amazing this game has been for me.

[@michaelhanson5773]

The other things that hurt developers are when they release a game that has bugs or issues with accidents, then try to patch it which results in the game no longer being playable to many people, resulting in them to roll back a patch just to fix it again later. Things like that just hurt them as well and usually show that the developers may have been more interested in getting it out than doing testing and making sure it is good before releasing. I personally bought this the day it came out, just to not be able to play it due to the bad patch so i got a refund. I now will wait a while before buying it again so i can see if this game and devs are worth it and how they handle this game.

[@Ferenc-Racz]

After DSP this is the second game series why i come for your chanel. Thank you for your gameplays. :)

[@Bandanko]

accident prone crew, snowballing into sectors not working... that's my biggest issue. but i am sure that is my problem

[@simonebaraldi9440]

also, moving resources to other sectors is annoying, moving the iron and steel mill from sector 1 to 2 was such bullshit

[@Nilaus]

As I mention: Stay in Optimal work conditions and you will have few and not very severe accidents. After an accident occurs and the building comes back online, make sure you check if you are still maintaining Optimal conditions as you may now have people in the hospital

[@Nilaus]

if you dont want to move resources make a dock (dedicated to Iron) in the same sector as your plants. I prefer to have highly specialised sectors and because of that I need to move. It is a trade off (as it should be)

[@simonebaraldi9440]

i did the first steel mill in sector 1, because you need alloy. then, after opening sector 2, i moved there

[@Bandanko]

@@Nilaus i had noticed that even 30 seconds of "extra hours" was bad news. The balance of slowing moving resources vs hull integrity vs rioting vs resources - stay efficient and thanks for the content :)

[@PrecookedEagle]

Great video and I agree, it's an amazing game and I have been loving it so far. I do think that the concerns people are raising are valid, the game is clearly not doing enough to teach people how to play it, the game's difficulty is fine as it is but I think a lot of players are making mistakes that have very severe consequences or might even soft-lock them. The thing you say at the start of keeping ahead of things is very hard to do, especially considering how many new things the game throws at you each chapter, it never stops and can get overwhelming really fast. I think the biggest issue is the game not teaching you well enough, if players knew how to play better from the start then you wouldn't need to make this video. A punishing game is fine, but if it "feels" unfair then a lot of people won't like it, even though you can stay ahead of these issues. The game lends itself well to multiple playthroughs so I don't understand why they don't just have a "beginner/story" "normal" and "hard" difficulty setting so people can enjoy the game in different ways. It feels like they made a decision to have a hard game because that's how they like to play games instead of thinking about what their customers might want.

[@Beregorn88]

The other problem is that there is almost no room for error: either you flawlessly execute the optimal strategy or you die. The working condition are the perfect example, not even a minute into extra hour and people are already dieing. There are no degrees of success, either all went perfectly or you loose.

[@Herbertti3]

36 hours in and finished the game. Gonna make new run soon with the experience and shoot for different ending. I think zoomers are hitting max speed, clicking things and wondering why their screens are full of warnings.

[@n0cturnal3D]

Ixion is a fantastic game and I've been waiting for the release since the first demo, however the reviews are because the demos never showed how randomly difficult the game would get right after the tutorial was done and no where did it say the game was meant to be really hard, only a quick discord announcement after bad reviews started coming in cause the devs werent clear. No difficult sliders etc. It's a rough launch and then devs have tried to cover it up slightly. Great game, but the release was a little weird.

[@sergeysvyatov600]

Thank for tips and tricks! Very, very useful information💥

[@georgec6405]

Tip. If you want to enjoy the story which has been fantastic I would say play on custom settings and go super easy mode. Then replay on harder settings later. That’s how I’ve been enjoying it so far.

[@qwertyfreak0]

I got through the game on the first run, i will admit I did savescum on a few of the choices in game, however I don’t really know what people are complaining about, take your time and plan things out carefully, utilize everything to your advantage. I think the balancing is amazing as it is, you always feel like you’re right on the line of failure and maybe it’s just me but that made it very engaging and enjoyable.

[@vercitorix1]

Thanks for this video! Lots of useful information!

[@badejong]

Thank you for this video. I love the game. I found it hard at first but if you get the hang of it then it gets better.

[@mrmajkl2]

Excellent guide! Thank you

[@DaveyKanabus]

I lost once in chapter 1 due to my hull going to zero when I was running low on Alloys. I was immediately like "oh okay this is that type of game. The void is unforgiving." -- immediately changed my playstyle to hyper focus on efficient and specialized industries, planning for future contingencies. Never had a problem again. My work conditions are harsh so I do have a lot of accidents, but nobody runs out of food, the trust is marginally positive, and the hull stays in tact. If I can help it my Alloys never go below 700. There is still room to optimize my playstyle but mindset does have everything to do with it; make sure you have what you need before you need it. Nobody is coming to save you. The difficulty is really part of the experience.

[@Rezinstance]

I'm having the opposite problem others seem to be having, as I loved how hard the game was at first, it took a few dozen retries, but I managed to find an excellent layout that works for me (still improvements to be made but the bones are good) for the first 2 systems. However, after I found a layout and progress timeline that works so well for me, I am now swimming in resources, to the point I cannot spend them fast enough and scramble to have enough storage to ferry them off the space docks so the transports can redock and unload. I love the challenege this game threw at me initially, I just hope I haven't bypassed that perceived difficulty so early that the rest of the game becomes a boring slog. Given how similiar this game is to Frostpunk in difficulty and logistics, I doubt that will be the case. This is the main line from my Steam review of Frostpunk and I feel it really applies to Ixion as well: "This game hates me, and I love it."

[@Nilaus]

If you staying longer in each zone than needed to collect materials and improve your ship then you will be ahead of the curve and the game becomes easier. I think people are rushing to the next zone and therefore are unprepared for the new challenges they face. A good stockpile is a minimum before jumping

[@Rezinstance]

@@Nilaus Yeah, my point is I might be staying too long, as collecting 98% of materials might actually be a detriment in short and long run. I had 4/6 sectors opened, 2 of which were completely decked out and the other 2 were almost done, before I even left the Sol system. I may make some additional restrictions for myself, like I did for Frostpunk (forced myself for zero preventable deaths every single run/achievement hunt). Thanks for your videos on this game, Nil. One of your comments on the first video in your Ixion series (after having watched the video in full, which definitely was interesting) was what sold me on the game, I've had a blast so far.

[@ronniebots9225]

@@Nilaus abslutely. i stayed way to long in chapter 1 mining everything i could. unlocked 3 extra zones. 1 for industry, 1 for space (4 docks, 3 EVA, 1 probe launcher) 1 for food and 1 for all the non workers. ive whent into chapter 2 with 1 science ship, 2 miners and 9 transport vessels. The tech for the science labs to get 3 science every 5 cycles is insane. And with a monument in every sector you easely offset the trust issues people have for staying in the sector to long. Also very helpfull. is that storage dont need to be powered. Ive whent into chapter 2 with 1200 Fe. but i did the storage buildings in sector 6 (my industry sector) and just powered them down. All transport vessels unload in sector 1 (space sector) to 1 Fe storage building. Eventough the storage buildings in sector 6 are unpowered, they still transport the Fe from sector 1 to 6. that way the game becomes way to easy and i whent into sector 2 loaded with ice, Fe, Si and H. Only thing iam low on is C and composite from scanning so much in sector 1 to farm it empty.

[@Qwertyuiop4409]

You can get self sufficient very fast. Dont need to mine at all, just search for population.

[@HenrikEbert]

Oh brotha, you telling the story of my run. I stayed in the green system so long I had several thousand of each resource. I built everything I wanted to build and then just blasted through the rest.

[@bothorsen4292]

There are two things that really got me when I played this game. The first is that I spent an absurd amount moving resources between sectors. I don't know if I did something wrong here or not, but it did seem to take a lot of time to make sure that I had a place to store all the stuff I was mining and processing. The second was that my ships kept dying in the later chapters and at that point I was a bit fed up with all the resource moving anyway, so I didn't start researching how to fix this or work around it. My impression of the game is that it is fantastic in the beginning, but started to get less fun the more I got into it. Maybe I should give it a go again :)

[@apgamer4053]

5:52 another thing to mention here is and i dont know if this is an intended mechanic but if you never EVER enter an overworked state you will NEVER have accidents the moment you do and get your first accidents you can get more even if you are in optimal conditions

[@stoneyd63]

I love the challenge of managing so many things at once. My only gripe is with some of the events. The game has some harsh penalties for some of the event outcomes where it did not portray any risk in the choice.

[@AaronRussell]

This is a great video. It helped me so much.

[@OasiceOnTheFly]

Very good tutorial, thank you !

[@ASolitaryHowl]

Very helpful, thank you for this!!

[@sporegnosis]

IXION is a Masterpiece!

[@joeshabado1431]

Spot on. This game isn't overly hard. It's just hard enough given you are the last 200 people left in a tin can. It's fairly realistic that way.

[@TheMeatballMan420]

I love difficulty, I played all the souls likes, and a lot of sandbox games, I like to be challenged. I knew ixion was special when I found it, just needed some info to help me get started. Thanks for the help

[@thomnath1]

Great video thanks!!

[@nielsdanielbuch9022]

Love this game, its very satisfying to get a really pretty optimized specialized Sector going. I'm especially proud of my food sector

[@Eilendiath]

Finished Ixion on my second run, I leaved a positive review on Steam, this game was awesome IF you like survival and logistic game

[@simonlodge-ru6xz]

LOVED the game , Biggest problem people are having IMHO is the learning curve, and that you are not hand held an pointed at the technologies you need that help you get stable. Important Technologies are held behind prerequisites meaning you have to scan the tech tree and plan ahead. You can use. Recycling to become completely stable and positive on production and food without any mining and this is greatly aided by the Area specialty bonuses, which is the other mechanic that is not immediately obvious. .@ Nilaus Never build more that 2 Iron Smelters, second one was turned off most of the time (only used it to stockpile for future building). Replaced it with a 3rd recycling at the end of CH 3

[@Nilaus]

That is the part I like about games. Finding synergies and designs that work really well. Games like Oxygen Not Included and Frostpunk have the same difficulty and limited guidance/help

[@b.delacroix7592]

@@Nilaus Its weird you keep lumping ONI with this game and frostpunk. I don't find ONI punishing in the least.

[@simonlodge-ru6xz]

@@Nilaus Yep ONI is probably my favorite Game, I go back to it every month (Though I only play on the hardest settings or its too easy. Though when i first played (on easy) I died a few times before I figured out the mechanics. But it was the challenge and failing that made me learn, and made me play with designs.... Am playing IXION again, and it seems if you never have an accident (IE always keep optimal conditions) looks like will never have one. But as soon as you do have an accident the will happen periodically, but wont be fatal if you are in Optimal conditions and the more overworked the more dangerous the accidents will be.

[@Bedsize]

Thanks a lot Nilaus, gonna restart the game and use your tips, since my last game crashed and burned! :)

[@Jon-ey4el]

Glad I saw this video. It pushed me over the edge to buy the game and it's great.

[@MusicaX79]

People wanted Frostpunk in space, they got grind simulator the game. As a video game developer "hard" is not a game mode it's a feature. Dark souls is "hard" but the combat when fully explored is rewarding. IXION is not rewarding it's just a grind.

[@The-Autistic-Gamer]

Sometimes when deciding whether or not to get a game, it are the bad reviews that sell me on getting it. Often the things I see people complain about (specifically some mechanics that ether make the game too hard/easy for them) I like and gravitate towards (and those games end up being my favorite, than years later, the game then makes an “underrated list” and gets flooded with positive reviews)

[@chrishouseinc]

I think I found a cheese on my latest replay in the prologue before your first jump where I was able to do the secret probe thing and still have enough to overproduce food to the point of filling 2 boxes with food to start ch 1 with. Super helpful boost to early expansion through ch 1 until you start thawing cryo pods.

[@zangetsu2k8]

I watched your stream yesterday, you should look at the water treatment center, it should help you with your waster/ice issue. maybe even replace the ice completely if you can produce enough waste.

[@SlashDotMatrix]

honestly I ended up ahead of the curve - ensuring surpluss food but also ensuring that all resources are circulating which is needed. Sec1 - Housing, training and Cryo, Sec 2 - Industrial - Steel, Carbon and Chip manufacturing etc. Sect 3 - bread bowl and water. Hopefully if I can get sect 4 open, I can move all space requirements to this location for main logistics

[@Jay_Dee420]

100% agree with what you say. I do think a difficulty setting would help the players who feel the fun is quickly removed by the pressure of extreme micro management coupled with a punishing learning curve. Personally I think the game would be way to short if made any easier, but maybe that's just me, obviously the game design is focused on a very fine line between success and failure which makes it all the more challenging. I'm currently on my 5th restart which I'm happy to do after learning so much from my previous attempts, now my main focus is on managing my people first always keeping every sector at optimal working conditions then everything else seems to fall into place. I'm ready for my 3rd jump and have not had a single accident or breakdown. My only advise would be to save often especially before interacting with POI's and don't be afraid to reload to correct a mistake.

[@commandertaco1762]

I really hit my stride once I was able to unlock the 6 sectors, just being able to dump people in slums and shuffle buildings around helped so much, when I left the etemenenki, I had 5k alloy, 3k polymer, 5k food, 2k hydrogen, 2k ice. The strategic reserve was ready for anything the enemy threw at me. It felt so bad ass to be like: "UNLOCK THE STRATEGIC RESERVE" while juking out the ship

[@SpitefulPenguinGaming]

IXION is actually balanced rather weirdly. Not saying bad, but weirdly for sure. Difficulty peak is at about chapter 3, but once you got some certain researches, like waste treatment center, the station becomes basically self-sufficient. I rarely had to mine anything below chapter 3 because I had everything I need already. 3.5k pops all nice and happy, fed and not overworked. In the late half the game becomes, well, not easy, you still have to monitor and intervene, but there are many things that are present, but you don't need them. Like there are whole two other systems with their POIs, but it doesn't really matter because events are very much the same with only several exceptions. Same with tech - never used nuclear power, or mushroom walls, or algae farms. Having a prologue this breathtaking and lategame/ending this unbalanced is rather disappointing.

[@ronniebots9225]

if you stay in previous sector for longer than intended and farm it empty and unlock the 3 science per 5 cycles and later 5 science per 5 cycles, you can create a populattion disctrict that produces waist from residential buildings and you can sort that into alloy and be selfsuffecient in alloy before you leave sector 2, this is achieved by the free science over time and get tech not intended for chapter 1 or 2

[@Terminator85BS]

@@ronniebots9225 you can literally stay in prologue forever and just let science tick up lmao. it definitely breaks the game and personally i am glad i jumped early every time as it lead to very close calls often, which was fun to manage. but on my second run i am taking my sweet time, and yeah my goal is to make it self sufficient asap. just a very different style of play and definitely not the intended one, but i love this game and just wanna explore it more.

[@ronniebots9225]

@@Terminator85BS yeah. i ended the game with almost 8k Fe in storage because my 5 recyceling centers produced everything i needed. Also iam full of C and Si to because i had to switch my recyceling centers to compound and electronics to keep processing waste. And still i produce more waste than 5 recyceling centers and 1 water treatment plant can process. I even used mushroom walls to try and offset the waste production/processing. Sure ive had a bunch of restarts to, but once you discover the waste from residential buildings, waste storage from DLS and the recyceling plants synergy, the games becomes to easy. Also the fact you can easely offset the penalty from staying to long as its only a -1 stability. If that -1 would become -2, -3 etc the longer you stay, you are actualy forced to jump. Also fun fact is that you can setup plenty of storage buildings underpowered in a different sector then the materials are produced/gathered. They will transport the goods to unpowered storage buildings. You can just power 1 on if you need the materials. Sure more micromanagement, but it makes the game even more easy since you dont need manpower or power to store a shit-ton of items.

[@novoca1n3]

I love that it's difficult! Great video. Cheers

[@Asankeket]

I agree with most of this, but I just know the time constraint will kill my enjoyment completely. It's not just the stability hit for taking too long, but limited resources combined with a constant expenditure due to hull repair. I can build efficient industry, but I really, really hate to be hurried with pretty much anything. Basically, to be hurried means I find a game stressful rather than enjoyable. I bought the game somewhat prematurely, but now I find a difficulty setting that makes it possible to take your time would push Ixion from "maybe when I'm in the mood to deal with this" (which might be never) into the category "I absolutely must play".

[@manelmv97]

uou just a genious and get involved so deeply on games you love

[@SerayaShadowharper]

Very well said, I'm really glad you've taken to this game and helping share solid knowledge of how it works.

[@martyncardno2172]

This game is Fire. Half way through. Love it. Does not deserve the bad press. Only balancing issue I see is players bot balancing the Tiqqun.

[@neilclarkwork]

Another tip. Save often. Save scum if you want to. Have many save slots. Don’t just save over your latest one.

[@marshallc6215]

Both sets of opinions are fully justified imo. Your opinion as someone who makes a full time job out of factory games and min/maxing them for entertainment purposes is totally allowed to love a hard-as-nails game. On the other hand, other people who aren't that and aren't experts (and don't necessarily want to be) are totally allowed to not like that the game has one speed: hard. Gamemaker's toolkit did a couple good videos on this debate that are worth checking out. The one that comes to mind first is "who gets to be awesome" pointing at "easy" games like arkham knight and "hard" games like dark souls.

[@Nilaus]

They chose to have only 1 difficulty: Hard. They could (and probably should) have made a "Story mode" difficulty for people who want to experience the awesome story. Or if they wanted it to by punishing then communicated it better. Having a very easy Demo has been setting the wrong expectations for many

[@actuallyharuto2382]

it has the coolest tutorial ending scene ive ever seen after frostpunk fuckin cool as fuck

[@stormquiver]

game is challenging. absolutely worth playing!

[@yaki_ebiko]

I think the mining efficiency under the mining ship is also very underrated, 10%(30%max but by the time you researched that you are probably fully running on waste to resource) more mining output is very good especially the silicon

[@elfomarcio]

I love it that when nilaus goes “git gud”, he then proceeds to help you to “git gud”. Watch and learn Gamers™️

[@JetFxR_USAF]

So positive review because it "deserves" it. not because they find it enjoyable or not...got it.

[@ObscuriaDragunAed]

Ya know, I hear everyone comparing this to Frostpunk, sure, there is that parallel, but, personally, I'm reminded of a more stark and serious version of classic Startopia than I am Frostpunk. A lot of the same sort of challenges are in both games, the main differences are there's not an RTS element with Ixion and the space station moves, but, inventory management/space management/time management are very similar, even the mechanics surrounding opening the other bays reminds me of it. The biggest difference is that OG Startopia's main mode was broken into missions and not a sandboxy continuous journey. It's tough as nails, but, not as bad as some games in the genre I've played... Hell, Startopia itself had more difficulty in it... granted that's also because of the jank factor that makes that game endearing, still, the comparison in my mind stands.

[@Bjornerable]

Well said. Self reinforcing feedback loops means you can end up in a terrible place, but picking up on the cues to mitigate the downward spiral wasn’t to hard. I’ve survived so far 😊. The only unbalanced thing I found so far is the balance between your voice and the game sound in this video. I found it hard to hear you at times.

[@Yggdrasil42]

I love the soundtrack!

[@ingiford175]

One thing I have yet to check, if you leave the system when you have a 'been to long in system' does that go away when you enter the next system or does it stay forever and get larger for each system you stay to long in?

[@Nilaus]

it goes away when you leave the star system, but comes back in the new system. I don't think it gets worse than -1 so basically incorporate it into your strategy

[@IILordTexII]

I didn't realize there were so many efficiencies in the tech tree aside from the building unlocks. Time for a third restart!

[@AriManPad8gi]

OMG, like you know, if you treat your workers right, they'll reward you. just like IRL ;) LOL. anyway, this is awesome you're doing this, TY TY

[@duabau]

I agree this game doesn't desrve the negative reviews. I posted my positive review for the game.

[@Dagonius.]

I love this game. It's different. And hard! One has to think ahead. And it doesn't work all the time. One thing about strikes that I find annoying is that (I know it's random) the people can seem quite self-destructive. Complaining about food and Hull damage and then choosing the exact buildings which support these issues. But that's just how space people do when earth is gone...

[@rremnar]

Questioning why some people find the game hard, is like questioning why some people find trigonometry hard. Either you get it or you don't, and thus need that extra help to see things from a different point of view. If you have experience in such games like this, then of course it's going to be easy for you; but what if you never played such a game before? It's fine if such a game is targeted towards an experienced audiance, as long as the devs state that in big letters on their store page. Otherwise, the game needs to be made for the average every day joe, who has no clue on how these games are played. That is what an in game, hands on, tutorial is for. If you have to watch a KZbin video on how to play a game, the game already gets demerits for that.

[@StellarisIgnis]

I have yet to get to chapter 3 and already had 15 hours in this week even with work. I know rookie numbers but there are other games to play too! Anyways I have restarted 3 times now and failed 2 of those times xD. I am loving this game so far. It is challenging but I am learning the ins and outs of it just like DSP, Satisfactory, and Factorio. I think by the time I hit chapter 3 in my current playthrough I will have a much better grasp and understanding of the game. I also have not used DLS or upgraded any research yet as I have played so that probably made it even more difficult for myself. (I assumed I had to unlock every tech in all of the rings before you could upgrade so I never bothered to even check xD. I blame another streamer that put that idea in my head.)

[@tri99er_]

This is definitely an awesome and very thought-out sim game. Even without a story it would be magnificent, but it also has a sci-fi book level of story. I'm honestly surprised to see it review bombed.

[@xplayman]

I read the reviews after I wrote my glowing review and I am shocked by the response. I think a lot of players saw a space game and set their expectations for something that wasn’t the game. Happens a lot with games themed in space. This plays a lot more like a harder Anno, Frostpunk, or Banished themed in space.

[@oditeomnes]

This seems to be very much like Frostpunk. If you have a problem, it can escalate into several problems quickly and then you are hindered from fixing, because you are already screwed. I think I will give this game a try, it is even on sale now.

[@steampunkskunk3638]

Such a flood of good games right now. I'm close to beating an island in captain of industry, I have against the storm installed waiting for me, and Ixion and dwarf fortress just dropped. It's more than I have time to play

[@tempy2440]

Another major tip i'm realising people haven't actually read what the leaf technologies for each branch do.

[@michaelbrown-pq6vu]

Love this game minus one gripe. Putting in extra time to set everything up, ensuring im always operating in optimum conditions, yet i will ALWAYS have multiple accidents every 2-3 cycles. Thats even after reducing workers needed in the workforce at a cost of -1 stability per section. By the time i reached the 3rd system, i was running out of workers and was having to shut down facilities to try prevent overwork status. My next 2 games were slightly better and they had more cases of overworked than the 1st, but the rgn isnt up to scratch and i found myself being punished more for planning ahead and taking my time than rushing.

[@Savkaev]

Tell me if I'm missing something, but you get human popsicles from abandoned facilities and when they were stored after your jump into the future, right? And there was kind of conflict between space programs of your company and UN space company. So some of defrosted human may be the enemy.

[@MrMe917]

A note regarding the EVA efficiency for hull repairing I have no clue if I'm right or wrong, but during my last game I had the hunch that the efficiency decreases both the amount repaired and the alloy consumed by the same percentage It's described as "the higher the hull integrity the longer it will take for the EVA airlocks to identify new breaches to repair, lowering their efficiency"; I took it as "we don't know where to repair, so we aren't" I verified this by looking at the alloy consumption; while your airlock is consuming 2.5 at 63% efficiency (12:14), mine was consuming 4 at 100% (should be 3.96, but rounding etc), so either I did something to mess up the number or it actually works like this (I think I had 2 airlocks active at the moment), which would mean there's no need to juggle it on and off unless you absolutely need alloys and now. As an aside, the first time your hull breaks down you have (I think) 40 cycles of invulnerability. If necessary, abuse them. Even though you already said it, the DLS center is insanely good; just building it is +1 stability, enabling propaganda is A FURTHER +1. For a handful of alloy and a processor, go for it as soon as possible. Again, as you said, improved abitation gives extra stability: while cell housing is compact and cheap, investing extra alloy, electronics, and space for domotic housing can give you both a denser (or about the same) population/cell AND a damn +3 to happiness. Then a couple more things I didn't see you mention: Even though it's kind of a late-ish game tech, recycling is busted. DLS center + waste treatment center can generate the 3 basic resources from thin air (including materials to repair your hull). Later, by enabling Nihei protocol (housing generates waste), you can slap all your (previously deadweight) civilians in a sector and have them create enormous amounts of free resources. Sector specialisations are bomb; look up "ixion specialisation" on google for a quick rundown, but if possible try to apply as many of them as you possibly can. I usually have sector 1 for industry, 2 for food, 3 for population/recycling. Logistics matters, both inside and outside: Inside, place your storage accordingly, and try to minimize the trips. Your storages have by default 5 cars. Each one can move one resource (or I think 5 if you're moving them between storages in the different sectors), but even at 5x speed they take time. You don't want to waste it, so think forward. The ships are so. damn. slow. Don't be afraid to move the Tiqqun, the hull durability you sacrifice is nothing compared to the amount of extra resources you'll manage to mine. Beware that at a certain point mining iron from a far away asteroid won't be worth the alloy spent to repair the hull while waiting for the cargo ships to take the trip. You can manually ignore asteroids if the need were to arise. Also get better engines through research. Don't be afraid to reorganize. Do it bit by bit, but if you realise your floor plan is crap, rip it up and do it from scratch. I usually have a strip just wide enough to hold a storage in the center, connecting the previous and next sector (the canteen can fit sideways at one end or the other) and everything else on one side or the other. On each side you can fit 4 3x3 buildings (battery/basic housing), 3 insect farms, a large factory (alloy), or a space structure + enough space for a set of batteries. Worked well so far. Also, don't be afraid to restart. I had to do so 3-4 times before getting to chapter 3. Anyway, love the vid, love the serie, love the channel, and most importantly, love the game! Keep up the good work

[@ronniebots9225]

i agree about the hull repair. its not cost effecient to keep it at 100% of current chapter possebility. It would be better if there was a setting to only repair the hull once it drops below a curtain % or micromanage it yourselve and hope you dont forget to turn it back on in time.

[@DaGaBrokenHeart]

What i did is as soon as i opened sector 2 and balanced food and housing, i created 2 "space ports" (sorry, i'm spanish. It's called "dársenas" in Spain) and created 4 cargo ships and 2 miners. Plus the ones from the sector 1. OH BOI i'm salvaging the whole galaxy xD

[@colecook834]

I didn't think it was particularly "hard" challenging yes. But that is what makes it fun

[@DtWolfwood]

Make sure you keep your population sector next to your food sector

[@RavenGhostwisperer]

I can understand the frustration. My frustration: I have a sector specialised in food - plenty around for everyone on the station. However, for some reason the transport is really bad - people are starving. WTF. Trains don't help, only drones started to improve the situation a bit. Well, it seems better to have some food production in every sector.

[@Andrew-jh2bn]

My biggest complaint: near the start I used up my science and couldn't research the black box. Had to edit my save to make progress.

[@Nilaus]

I did the same thing... twice. I loaded an earlier save.

[@b.delacroix7592]

@@Nilaus OOOhhh. Here I thought you were playing perfectly from the get go.