Building comparison
head to head
BanishedvsIXION
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
Banished
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Harsh village-builder; balance population, food, and winter.
IXION
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Grim space colony sim about keeping a generation-ship station from collapsing.
Banished leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); IXION leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
BanishedIXION
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 0
Banished leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Banished
no mechanical layer
IXION
Pause-friendly station management
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Banished
no opponent
IXION
Events follow story scripts
Variance3 vs 3
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Banished
weather, disease events
IXION
System events and exploration outcomes vary
Optimization9 vs 9
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Banished
population ratios and food planning
IXION
Hull sectors, power, and population logistics dominate
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.