By the time you reach the fourth chapter in Ixion, you'll have survived shortages, electromagnetic storms, and countless other hazards. To find the coordinates of Remus, however, you'll need to risk an encounter with the Piranesi, a warship that destroyed a station several times the size of the Tiqqun.
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Once the battle begins, the Piranesi won't stop attacking until it's completely disabled. To survive, you'll need to have several technologies ready and contingency plans for when the ship tries to corner you. Read on to learn all you need to know about defeating the Black Market Society's dreadnought.
This guide contains spoilers.
How To Prepare For The Battle With The Piranesi
In Chapter Three, you'll learn of the Piranesi's existence and search the wreckage of the Etemenanki, an advanced station that dwarfs the Tiqqun and the Protagoras in scale. Throughout the chapter, your Science Ships will unlock a technology simply called "The Piranesi" and several associated upgrades.
Two of these upgrades, Hacking Threat Analysis and Drone Threat Analysis, are automatically collected as you search the Etemenanki's ruins. The third, Missile Threat Analysis, may not be available based on your decisions. When you find an unexploded missile from the Piranesi, defuse it before returning it to the Tiqqun for study to unlock Missile Threat Analysis.
If you attempt to bring the missile home without defusing it, it will detonate on the way, destroying your Science Ship and killing the crew. You also won't get the upgrade.
While you're finishing Chapter Three, you'll be required to have four Sectors active, each with enough battery power to last five cycles. This is critical for evading the warship's attacks, so upgrading your batteries is a good idea before starting Chapter Four.
Lastly, it's a good idea to stockpile Polymers as much as you can at the end of Chapter Three and the beginning of Chapter Four.
How To Start The Battle Against The Piranesi
You can send a Science Ship to investigate the dormant Piranesi as soon as Chapter Four begins, but it's strongly recommended that you conduct a full survey of the system first. In particular, you need to be sure that you've located every planet that the Tiqqun can orbit.
Once your position is secure in the system, send your lowest-level Science Ship to the Piranesi. It won't be coming back. Once the team completes their first objective, you'll need to move the Tiqqun to the Piranesi to begin the coordinate data transfer. This awakens the ship, starting the battle.
Immediately move the Tiqqun anywhere else once the Piranesi becomes active. The warship is surrounded by a drone swarm that can quickly destroy your hull.
The Science Ship will receive an event, letting you choose whether they attempt to escape or sabotage the Piranesi from inside. In either event, the Science Ship and its crew are destroyed; sabotaging the Piranesi doesn't seem to have any noticeable effects. If you have the Automated Ship Repatriation upgrade for Science Ships, you can recover the ship before the Tiqqun leaves, but the crew is doomed no matter what.
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How To Survive The Piranesi's Attacks
The Piranesi has three main methods of attacking the Tiqqun, which it uses in a loose rotation:
Missiles
Missiles slowly track the Tiqqun and will change course to follow the station. When they hit, they cause several fires and accidents to break out in all active sectors, usually with heavy casualties
If you got the Missile Threat Analysis technology in the previous chapter, you can construct missile countermeasures in any active Probe Launcher. These cost ten Polymers to construct and can be launched from the system map. A countermeasure will track and destroy any missile currently locked onto the Tiqqun.
If you didn't successfully retrieve the missile in Chapter Three, you'll gain the ability to research Missile Threat Analysis shortly after the Tiqqun is first hit by one of the Piranesi's missiles.
Drone Swarms
Drone Swarms are circular areas that destroy ships and heavily damage the Tiqqun. When the Piranesi launches one, it moves toward whichever planet the Tiqqun is currently orbiting. Once it arrives, the swarm remains in orbit over that planet for the remainder of the battle, effectively removing that planet as a safe destination.
Once you've researched the Drone Threat Analysis upgrade, you can build a Drone Jammer on the exterior of the Tiqqun. This reduces the rate at which the drones damage the Tiqqun's hull, but does not prevent damage entirely.
If the Piranesi launches a Drone Swarm while the Tiqqun is moving, it will target your destination. This means you'll need to move again as soon as possible!
Hacking
Periodically, the Piranesi will initiate a cyberattack against the Tiqqun, cutting the power to the station's Mess Halls. They can be manually turned back on, but if you don't notice the attack starvation will quickly overtake your crew.
If you have the Hacking Threat Analysis upgrade researched, Edden will notify you whenever the Piranesi carries out a cyberattack. You still have to reactivate the Mess Halls, but there's no risk of missing an attack.
How To Stop The Piranesi
Shortly after the Piranesi fires its second missile, you'll receive a message from your Tech Lab's staff. They have a risky plan to stop the Piranesi by causing the system's pulsar to activate. To begin the mission chain, send a Science Ship to the system's center.
Studying the pulsar takes ten cycles. During that time, deflect the Piranesi's attacks as best you can and keep moving throughout the system. Don't forget to watch your hull integrity and crew morale - the Piranesi's presence gives the entire station two less Stability, so small disruptions to food, power, or medicine can escalate quickly.
Once the Science Ship finishes their objective, you'll get two new upgrades to your Piranesi research. Research the Faraday Cage first, since it takes a long time to build, then research the Icarus-3 Probe.
Once you've researched the Faraday Cage, you can construct it around the Tiqqun's hull from the exterior view. It costs a massive 480 Polymers. Switch your Waste Treatment Facilities to Polymer production and do your best to get the cage built as quickly as you can.
If you fire a missile countermeasure, pause Faraday Cage constructionbriefly to ensure that your Probe Launchers are stocked with enough Polymers to build a new one - you don't want to be caught defenseless!
While the Faraday Cage is under construction, instruct the science team at the pulsar to build the Icaraus-3 Probe, which will induce the detonation. The idea here is to have the Probe ready for activation as soon as the Faraday Cage is operational.
When the Icarus-3 Probe is activated, the Science Ship orbiting the pulsar will be destroyed. If you have the Emergency Cryopods upgrade, the crew can be retrieved by a cargo ship afterward and awakened at a Cryonics Center. Otherwise, they'll be killed in the blast.
The pulsar blast will disable the Piranesi, allowing you to dock with it and retrieve the Remus coordinates. You'll also be able to finish up the system's colonization test without further attacks before moving on to the final chapter.
Next: Ixion: Best Upgrades To Research
