Artifacts and Tidbits

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.

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

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.

There are two kinds of rewards you can gain from artifacts:

1. One time resource boost - Food, Production, Energy, Science and Culture.
   
2. 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 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

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

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

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

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 city

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 attacks

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 cities

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

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 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.

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.