How to earn three stars in Mixmatics
Filling an order in Mixmatics earns one star. Filling it well earns the other two. Every run is measured on four numbers (waste, energy, cycles and actions) and lower is better on all of them. This guide explains exactly what each one counts and how to bring it down.
The star rules
- One star: every order on the board is filled.
- Two stars: the run also meets the puzzle's efficiency target.
- Three stars: the run meets the puzzle's toughest target, and you did not use a hint.
Hints are free, but taking one caps that run at two stars. If you are chasing three, try a few more runs before reaching for help.
How the targets are set
Every campaign puzzle was generated together with a verified solution, and the star targets come from that solution's own run. In practice that means:
- Three stars asks you to match the reference solution on waste, energy and cycles, with one spare action. You do not have to find the same solution, only one at least as efficient.
- Two stars is more forgiving: one extra unit of waste and a few extra cycles, with no limit on energy or actions.
So three stars is always achievable, and the targets tell you something useful: on most puzzles the reference solution wastes nothing at all.
Waste
Waste counts every unit of liquid that did not end up in an order. That includes:
- units spilled from an open pipe end,
- units removed by a filter,
- units delivered to an order that did not want them,
- and, often forgotten, units still sitting on the board when the run ends, in pipes, mixers or chambers.
Liquid still waiting inside a source that never left it does not count. So the cleanest factories let sources release only what the orders need, and leave nothing in transit at the end.
To cut waste: close every open pipe end, make sure no unit can reach the wrong order, and check that the factory stops with empty pipes. In every campaign puzzle except the filter puzzles, three stars needs zero waste. Filter puzzles allow exactly the off-colour units the filter must remove.
Energy
Only mixers and chambers use energy, and only while they are working on a batch. Each working tick costs that machine's energy rate, usually one unit.
To cut energy: avoid running a machine more often than the orders require. Every unnecessary batch costs energy and also creates liquid that becomes waste. Puzzles without mixers or chambers need zero energy for three stars. On puzzles with them, the target is simply the energy needed to make what the orders ask for, so if you are over, something is being mixed or treated that did not need to be.
Cycles
Cycles is the number of ticks the factory ran before every order was complete. Each unit moves one cell per tick, so cycles is mostly a measure of distance and congestion.
To cut cycles:
- Shorten the routes. Every extra pipe on the path adds a tick for every unit.
- Keep flows parallel. Two sources feeding a mixer along equal-length paths arrive together and keep the mixer busy.
- Avoid unnecessary waiting. A valve delay that is longer than needed adds ticks to the whole run.
Actions
Actions counts how many changes it took to build your final factory: each placement, rotation, move, removal and valve setting. Crucially, undo takes an action back off the count, and reset clears it. Pressing Run is not an action, and only your last run is scored.
To cut actions: once you have a working design, reset the board and build it again cleanly, placing each piece once in its final rotation. It is the easiest of the four numbers to fix, and it is where most near-misses on three stars come from.
A routine for three stars
- Solve it first. Get one star with any design. Use Pause and Step to see where units go.
- Read the result. Which of the four numbers missed the target?
- Fix waste first, then energy, then cycles. Each fix tends to help the next.
- Rebuild for actions. Reset and place the final design in as few moves as possible, then run it.
- Leave the hint alone if three stars is the goal.
Daily and weekly rankings use the same numbers
The Daily Challenge and Weekly Tournament rank players by the same four numbers, in order: least waste first, then least energy, then fewest cycles, then fewest actions. Ties go to whoever finished first. Runs that used a hint can still complete the puzzle, but they do not go on the leaderboard. The habits that earn three stars in the campaign are exactly the ones that climb the daily board.