What Are Artifacts
Artifacts are the new gameplay element introduced in Rising Tide expansion. A player is suggested to collect them for powerful rewards.
There are three groups of Artifacts - namely Old Earth Relics, Alien Artifacts and Progenitor Artifacts. They work the same, but different in minor details.
Where To Find Artifacts
Old Earth Relics are gained from:
Resource Pods
Derelict Settlements, both land and ocean
Wrecked Colony Landers
Some quests award you with one
Alien Artifacts are gained from:
Pillaging Alien Nests
Excavating Alien Skeletons, both land and ocean
From something called Sounding Bell, whatever it is
Progenitor Artifacts are found from:
Progenitor Ruins
What Are The Chances Of Gaining An Artifact?
Chance to gain an artifact is not constant. Everytime you are eligible to receive an artifact but fail the roll, your chances are temporarily increased, until you find the artifact, after which chance is reset to base.
Chance to get an Old Earth Relic is 20% base and 10% increment
Chance to get an Alien Artifact is 38% base and 7% increment
Chance to get a Progenitor Artifact is 55% base and 3% increment
Example: you dug out a derelict settlement, your chances for artifact are 20%. You failed. Then you found a Pod, your chances to get an artifact are 20+10 = 30% due to aforementioned failure. Let's say you failed again and found another Pod. Your chances to gain artifact are up to 40%. You were lucky and gained an artifact, so your chances are back to 20%.
Those acquision rates are local to artifact types, so, e.g., failing a roll on Old Earth Relic doesn't increase your chance on Progenitor Artifact.
Artifact Rewards
There are two kinds of rewards you can gain from artifacts:
One time resource boost - Food, Production, Energy, Science and Culture.
If you combine three artifacts you could unlock a unique feature - a building, a wonder or a perk.
The first one is pretty trivial and won't be discussed much. It is the second that is highly prized.
Special rewards:
Old Earth Relics could provide you with unique building you can't get otherwise
Alien Artifacts could reward you with unit-improving perks
Progenitor Ruins grant you acess to unique wonders
Mixing different types of artifacts unlock generic perks
How it works:
Combining three artifacts of a single type will result in a type-specific reward.
Combining artifacts of different types will result in either a reward specific for the Artifact used or a mixed one.
IMPORTANT
The reward is not completely random. Each artifact has a preferred reward (see guide sections below). Using an artifact with a given preferred reward is required to get that reward, but at the same time there is no guarantee that a random combo of this artifact with two others will give you a desired reward. If you have an artifact that has a preferred reward you want, but none of the combinations of artifacts in your possession unlocks it, then your best bet to find more artifacts. Sometimes this artifact juggling gets tedious.
Switching the order of artifacts in the combiner and other kinds of reshuffle don't change the reward - for a given trio of artifacts the reward is determined and constant.
One player can only get the same reward once. When combining 3 artifacts while having already acquired their preferred rewards, another eligible reward will be chosen instead. According to wikia, it is even possible to get reward of other category that way, but that's highly unlikely in the normal playthrough.
Multiple players can receive the same reward, but since there are only 24 artifacts of each kind, it is pretty much possible to not get the one you want in a given game.
Artifact wonders are said to be national, so multiple players can build them.
Artifact Quality
Artifact quality doesn't impact your chances to get a special reward you want, but only an amount of resources you gain from breaking an artifact.
Worn artifacts provide only 75% of normal resource reward
Battered artifacts provide 100% of normal resource reward
Pristine artifacts provide 200% of normal resource reward
Old Earth Relics
Name: Butiller Co. Family Drone
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Drone Command
Name: Clean Air Generator
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Drone Command
Name: Collapsing Family Library
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Xenomass Bath House
Name: Drone Hive Mind
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Drone Command
Name: High-Mass Friction Welder
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Warp Spire
Name: Hull Repair Suit
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Frontier Stadium
Name: Impossible Drive
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Pan-Spectral Observatory
Name: Isotopic Decay Three
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Old Voice Archives
Name: Jowler Ball Field Set
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Frontier Stadium
Name: MedalMark Media Cube
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Old Voice Archives
Name: Near-Lightspeed Accelerator
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Warp Spire
Name: Personal Meditation Helmet
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Old Voice Archives
Name: Phantom Medical Remote Operating Theatre
Resources: 20% and 80%
Preferred Reward:
Xenomass Bath House
Name: Plasma Turbine Engine
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Pan-Spectral Observatory
Name: Polypeptor Organic Antifreeze
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Warp Spire
Name: Population Estimation Computer
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Xenomass Bath House
Name: Interactive Family Tree
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Frontier Stadium
Name: Senior Caffeine
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Drone Command
Name: Silver-Pont Navigational Gyroscope
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Pan-Spectral Observatory
Name: Speech Compression Computer
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Xenomass Bath House
Name: Strings of Cremona
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Old Voice Archives
Name: Suspended Animation Chamber
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Warp Spire
Name: Thoughtful Chess Set
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Frontier Stadium
Name: Volumetric Component Printer
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Pan-Spectral Observatory
Alien Biology Artifacts
Name: Acidic Crystals
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Vapor Shield
Name: Breeze Weed
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Sky Chitin
Name: Carbon Hail
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Sky Chitin
Name: Carnivorous Hive Eels
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Tidal Navigation
Name: Cloud Coral
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Sky Chitin
Name: Cocoon Flies
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Projected Chassis Construction
Name: Crystal Shrimp Adult
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Tidal Navigation
Name: Crystal Shrimp Pupa
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Projected Chassis Construction
Name: Electric Brain Moss
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Projected Chassis Construction
Name: Flexible Keratin Tusk
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Vapor Shield
Name: Floating Canopy Worms
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Projected Chassis Construction
Name: Giant Pheromone Sack
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Zygotic Engineering
Name: Carbon Hail
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Tidal Navigation
Name: Jelly-Stalk Ring
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Vapor Shield
Name: Lattus Ore
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Sky Chitin
Name: Macroelectrons
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Sky Chitin
Name: Mobius Horn
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Counter Battery Fire
Name: Noose Vertebrae
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Zygotic Engineering
Name: Pressurized Magma Sample
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Counter Battery Fire
Name: Ross Weed
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Zygotic Engineering
Name: Seismic Sounding Fork
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Counter Battery Fire
Name: Soap Seed
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Vapor Shield
Name: Tungsten Bubbles
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Tidal Navigation
Name: Zero-Point Soil
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward: Counter Battery Fire
Progenitor Artifacts
Name: Atomic Tesselator
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Tesselation Foundry
Name: Auratic Magnet
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Temporal Calculus
Name: Bright Matter
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Relativistic Data Bank
Name: Causal Looking Glass
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Temporal Calculus
Name: Decoherence Chamber
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Quantum Politics
Name: Deviation Fork
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Temporal Calculus
Name: Dimension Oven
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Dimension Folding Complex
Name: Fixed Position Locator
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Relativistic Data Bank
Name: Fundamental Object
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Quantum Politics
Name: Geon Spores
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Tesselation Foundry
Name: Jelly Space
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Dimension Folding Complex
Name: Models Of Entropy
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Temporal Calculus
Name: M-Theory Capsule
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Machine Assisted Free Will
Name: Plains of Dimensional Influence
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Dimension Folding Complex
Name: Single Pass Geometry
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Tesselation Foundry
Name: Sporadic Listener
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Machine Assisted Free Will
Name: String Weaver
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Relativistic Data Bank
Name: Superposition
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Quantum Politics
Name: Superposition Containment Device
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Quantum Politics
Name: Temporal Injector
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Relativistic Data Bank
Name: Tesselation Vault
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Tesselation Foundry
Name: The Folder
Resources: 80% and 20%
Preferred Reward:
Dimension Folding Complex
Name: Void Spectre
Resources: 100%
Preferred Reward:
Machine Assisted Free Will
Reward Description
Old Earth artifacts reward you with buildings
Warp Spire: +50% yields from internal trade routes
Drone Command: +2 worked tiles above Population limit
Old Voice Archives: +10% yields while at war
Pan-Spectral Observatory: +100% Production for orbital units and +2 orbital coverage
Frontier Stadium: +10 City Defense and a free promotion for Military Units
Xenomass Bathhouse: +2 Culture and units heal 100% hp after one turn in cityAlien Biology artifacts reward you with unit promotions
Zygotic Engineering: +100% outpost speed growth
Sky Chitin: +50% Strength and +3 operating range to air units
Counter Battery Fire: siege units lower enemy's Defense by 20% until the end of your turn
Vapor Shield: all units gain +100% Defense when embarked
Projected Chassis Construction: +2 movement points to workers
Tidal Navigation: naval units gain +100% Defense against ranged attacksProgenitor artifacts reward you with wonders
Tesselation Foundry: +30% Production when building military units, in every city.
Dimension Folding Complex: -50% Unhealth from Population in all cities
Machine-Assisted Free Will: -15% Science cost of leaf technologies
Temporal Calculus: all units gain +2 sight range
Quantum Politics: -15% Culture cost of virtues
Relativistic Data Bank: -1 intrigue per turn in all citiesMixed rewards are mostly general perks
Tesseract Targeting: allow cities to bombard through terrain obstacles
Soul Discerning Training: +25% covert operation speed
Xenoanthropology: artifacts are discovered 20% more often
Slumber-Slaughter Extract: +50% worker build speed
Ground-Penetrating LIDAR: +100% expedition speed
Statecraft: +2 Diplomatic Capital from agreements
Which Rewards Are Best?
Out of Old Earth Relics, Warp Spire and Drone Command are generally considered to be the best ones. Personally, I'm also pretty fond of Frontier Stadium, because of free promotion. Others are pretty generic in comparison.
Out of Progenitor Artifacts:
Machine-Assisted Free Will and Quantum Politics are nerfed legends. Still very, very strong, overshadowing most of wonders unlocked from technology.
Tesselation Foundry and Dimension Folding Complex are borderline overpowered, but because they didn't even stood close to pre-patch MAFW and Quantum Politics, they basically weren't nerfed.
Temporal Calculus and Relativistic Data Bank are pretty generic. They are still technically better than some of the wonders unlocked from technology, but not really amazing. Temporal Calculus is good for end-game gunships and artillery, since their range of 3 will exceed their sight radius of 2. Also helps for exploration, but only if you manage to get it really early. Relativistic Data Bank case is different - it's technically outright overpowered, but the AI would never press you hard with spies (at least I've never seen it happen). Probably decent for multiplayer.
Out of Alien Biology Artifacts, Zygotic Engineering is the most universally good one. Tidal Navigation is good if you focus on naval combat, and Counter Battery Fire is good if you focus on land combat. Other perks are expendable.
Mixed perks have the unversally overpowered Slumber-Slaughter Extract, very good niche perk for spies Soul Discerner Training and other stuff that is somewhat in-between of "so-so" and "good, but small window of opportunity".
Artifact Searching Strategy
Artifact system is essentially a race. There are 71 unique artifacts total, and given how mixing them works, like that each reward only has 4 artifacts on average that has it as preferred one, and that having an artifact with preferred reward you want doesn't actually guarantee you getting it anytime soon, the only obvious approach would be just to try to find as many artifacts as possible.
Ofcourse, you should priotirize the progenitor ruins. Don't waste your explorer's time digging out derelic settlements in the beginning of the game - you will get plenty of Old Earth Relic artifacts from Pods.
Another tricky moment is that you could think that creating a ton of explorers is the best approach. It's not - explorers are not really the best at exploring, because they got only 2 movement points per turn. Explorers are valueable for their expeditions mostly, but any unit could pick a Pod. This is especially true on atlantean worlds - patrol boats are cheap and got 4 movement points. On land maps Combat Rovers could replace explorers somewhat, but will become a strong assault force later in the game.
Choosing coastal scanner on atlantean map would reveal a few Pods at the beginning and generally make exploration easier.
Since Alien rewards are pretty sub-par compared to Progenitor and Old Earth ones, it is generally adviced not to touch aliens at all. Attacking an alien even once would make it harder for your explorers to approach expedition sites, slowing your search down.
+3 expedition modules from Prosperity virtue is a must.
The best artifact mixing strategy is to take one artifact with reward you want and two other you really don't, and see if you get the one you want. If not, replace some of the latter. It's better to stockpile artifacts rather than to waste them too early.
Conclusion And Stuff
History:
v1.0 - guide released. Current patch - the one that introduced Spoils of War (SoW patch).
Credits:
1) A guide to how artifacts work from Civfanatics[forums.civfanatics.com]
2) Civilization.wikia.com article on Artifacts[civilization.wikia.com]
Data from:
1) Game folder\assets\DLC\expansion1\Gameplay\Lua\Artifacts.lua
2) Game folder\assets\DLC\expansion1\Gameplay\XML\Artifacts\
Disclaimer:
I don't own any of images, Fair Use assumed.
Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=548597866
More Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth guilds
- All Guilds
- How to win on Apollo in 50 turns or less
- How to boost your FPS and remove input lag (Beyond 60FPS)
- Rising Tide Achievement Guide
- Wonders in the Techtree
- Beyond Earth Achievement Guide
- Civilization: Beyond Earth
- Civilization: Beyond Earth
- Become the Neighborhood Bully
- Two simple tweaks