Difference between revisions of "Artifact Research"
Studenterhue (talk | contribs) (→Artifact Analysis Forms: Note that you get a PDA message about how well the artifact was analyzed. This was originally introduced when PR #3896 was merged, but it telling you what you got wrong is from commit 8ab3d73) |
Studenterhue (talk | contribs) (→Bulky Artifacts: Reference recycler drones somehow. These were added later, from when PR #21525 was merged) |
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'''Artifact Research''' is a branch of Research concerned with the identification and testing of '''artifacts''', large or handheld items of non-Nanotrasen origin whose function is unknown. Every artifact (or "art") has a certain "flavor" or origin, and many different types artifacts exist, some harmless (anyone want to hear what a Martian flute sounds like?), some dangerous (OH FUCK IT'S A BLACK HOLE BOMB). Whatever the type, the main goal is to figure out how to activate them; this can be done via specialized machines controlled through [[DWAINE]] as well as...more ''manual'' methods. Beyond just simple curiosity, there are good rewards for those who thoroughly document artifacts. | '''Artifact Research''' is a branch of Research concerned with the identification and testing of '''artifacts''', large or handheld items of non-Nanotrasen origin whose function is unknown. Every artifact (or "art") has a certain "flavor" or origin, and many different types artifacts exist, some harmless (anyone want to hear what a Martian flute sounds like?), some dangerous (OH FUCK IT'S A BLACK HOLE BOMB). Whatever the type, the main goal is to figure out how to activate them; this can be done via specialized machines controlled through [[DWAINE]] as well as...more ''manual'' methods. Beyond just simple curiosity, there are good rewards for those who thoroughly document artifacts in analysis forms. | ||
==Obtaining Artifacts== | ==Obtaining Artifacts== | ||
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==Flavors of Artifacts== | ==Flavors of Artifacts== | ||
Artifacts come in different styles, called "origins". Some people also call them "families" or "flavors". They do more than just affect how they look and what kind of names they have. Certain artifacts function differently depending on their origin. For example, [[Artifact Research#Injector|artifact injectors]] of [[#Martian|Martian origin]] may administer medicine (or mild poisons or weird organic stuff), while [[#Eldritch|Eldritch]] ones give you nasty poisons. Some types of artifacts only appear with certain origins. For example, [[Artifact Research#Cyborg Converter|artifact cyborg converters]] are always have a [[#Silicon|Silicon origin]], while [[Artifact Research#Lamp|artifact lamps]] can either come from [[#Martian|Martians]], [[#Wizard|Wizards]], or [[#Precursor|Precursors]]. | |||
When you stick an [[Artifact Research#Artifact Analysis Forms|analysis form]] on artifact and fill out the "Artifact Origin" field, it changes the artifact's name. If its origin has been properly identified, its name will be its "real name", which is based naming scheme of its artifact family. For example, if you properly identify a "regal sculpture" artifact as a [[#Wizard|Wizard]] artifact, it might take on the name "sapphire jewel of majesty". If the origin on the artifact form is incorrect, however, the artifact will instead have a naming convention from an entirely different family. Sometimes, an artifact's true origin won't match what it looks like, so you may need to do some additional testing to identify it. | |||
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: left" | {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: left" | ||
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!scope = "col" style="width: 5%" | Image | !scope = "col" style="width: 5%" | Image | ||
!scope = "col" style="width: 55%" | Description | !scope = "col" style="width: 55%" | Description | ||
!scope = "col" style="width: 15%" | | !scope = "col" style="width: 15%" | Un-analyzed Name Examples | ||
!scope = "col" style="width: 15%" | | !scope = "col" style="width: 15%" | Analyzed Name Examples | ||
|- id="Eldritch" | |- id="Eldritch" | ||
! Eldritch | ! Eldritch | ||
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==Artifact Interaction== | ==Artifact Interaction== | ||
===Stimuli=== | |||
To figure out what an artifact does, you need to activate it, and to activate it, you need to subject it to a certain stimulus at a certain level. If you give it the correct stimulus, but not enough to activate it, the artifact will give you a hint to guide you on the right tracks. You'll get something along the lines "''The quirky contraption makes a faint noise.''" | |||
Higher isn't always better; some artifacts will require a ''lower'' amount of a certain stimulus, such as radiation, and won't activate if too much is used. In fact, it is possible to ''damage'' an artifact due to too much stimulus. In addition to potentially destroying the artifact if too much damage is done, it can also cause them to develop faults and malfunctions, which are almost always a bad thing. | |||
There are various devices in the laboratory that deliver a specific stimulus in a controlled manner. You can substitute them for certain devices, but these do not give as much control as the dedicated machinery. This is worth noting because, again, a certain ''amount'', not just the presence, of a stimulus is needed to activate an artifact. ''ALL'' artifacts can be activated within artlab; external devices are not required, but having them tends to greatly reduce the tedium involved. | |||
Artifacts will glow, shimmer and generally look turned on when ''activated''. If the artifact produces a temporary effect like a Forcewall or Darkness upon being activated for the first time, in most cases it will only need a simple touch to activate again depending on the effect. | How do you know if you've subjected an artifact to sufficient stimulus to activate it? Artifacts will glow, shimmer and generally look turned on when ''activated''. If the artifact produces a temporary effect like a Forcewall or Darkness upon being activated for the first time, in most cases it will only need a simple touch to activate again depending on the effect. | ||
{| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||
!scope = "col" style="width: 10%" | Stimulus | !scope = "col" style="width: 10%" | Stimulus | ||
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! Language | ! Language | ||
| None. | | None. | ||
| Speak a five-letter English word with a certain number and arrangement of vowels (y is excluded) near the artifact. It can pick from over 2300 possible words, but you do not need to guess the word, just match where the vowels are. For example, if the target word is "apple", "alpha" will do.<br><br>If you guess wrong, it'll give you hints, | | Speak a five-letter English word with a certain number and arrangement of vowels (y is excluded) near the artifact. It can pick from over 2300 possible words, but you do not need to guess the word, just match where the vowels are. For example, if the target word is "apple", "alpha" will do.<br><br>If you guess wrong, it'll give you hints, a la Mastermind or Wordle, in the form of chimes: | ||
*"Grumpy" - Your guess has too many vowels. | |||
*"Dull" - Your guess is not a real word. | |||
*"Low" - There's a vowel in the wrong position. A "series" of them indicates multiple vowels in the wrong spots. | |||
*"High" - A vowel is in the right position. A "series" means multiple vowels are in the right places. If you get nothing but high chimes but still don't activate the artifact, your guess has too few vowels. | |||
Due to the way it interprets text, speaking a long list of five-letter words to brute-force it does not work. | |||
|} | |} | ||
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! Darkness | ! Darkness | ||
| A cloak of absolute darkness will envelop the artifact and area around it, preventing any actions short of walking around in it until it powers down. Having Thermals or Mesons can make it easier to navigate. | | A cloak of absolute darkness will envelop the artifact and area around it, preventing any actions short of walking around in it until it powers down. Having Thermals or Mesons can make it easier to navigate. | ||
|- id="Healer" | |- id="Single Target Healer" | ||
! Healer | ! Single Target Healer | ||
| One of the few benign artifacts you'll come across. Touching it will heal an equal amount of {{BRUTE}} and {{BURN}}, between 5 to 75. Most only heal the person who touches it, but occasionally you might stumble upon one that heals everyone within a certain radius. | | One of the few benign artifacts you'll come across. Touching it will heal an equal amount of {{BRUTE}} and {{BURN}}, between 5 to 75. Most only heal the person who touches it, but occasionally you might stumble upon one that heals everyone within a certain radius. | ||
|- id="Aura" | |- id="Healing/Damaging Aura" | ||
! Aura | ! Healing/Damaging Aura | ||
| Periodically, these artifacts will have a certain effect on an area around them. These can either heal all people nearby for a small amount or damage everyone nearby for a small amount. | | Periodically, these artifacts will have a certain effect on an area around them. These can either heal all people nearby for a small amount or damage everyone nearby for a small amount. | ||
|- id="Plant | |- id="Plant Waterer" | ||
! Plant | ! Plant Waterer | ||
| Easily identifiable by the bright rays it beams to nearby [[Guide to Botany#Hydroponics Tray|hydroponics trays]]. Automatically waters plant trays within a certain radius (indicated by a blue ray) and drains any excess water (shown with a red ray), i.e. this will not overfill plant trays. It may also have some additional effects, listed below. They can appear in any number of combinations (e.g. you can have one that kills weeds and accelerates plant growth but doesn't do the other things), and if you're really lucky, you'll get one that does all 4. | | Easily identifiable by the bright rays it beams to nearby [[Guide to Botany#Hydroponics Tray|hydroponics trays]]. Automatically waters plant trays within a certain radius (indicated by a blue ray) and drains any excess water (shown with a red ray), i.e. this will not overfill plant trays. It may also have some additional effects, listed below. They can appear in any number of combinations (e.g. you can have one that kills weeds and accelerates plant growth but doesn't do the other things), and if you're really lucky, you'll get one that does all 4. | ||
*Speeds up plant growth by 1, which is heralded by a green ray of light. | *Speeds up plant growth by 1, which is heralded by a green ray of light. | ||
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! Prison | ! Prison | ||
| Not as bad as it sounds, the artifact will drag you into it and lock itself for a minute or two before spitting you out again. Handy for trapping people or jumping into for protection. These are one of the few artifact types that don't require activation, and will only do the "lit up" animation when someone is inside of it. | | Not as bad as it sounds, the artifact will drag you into it and lock itself for a minute or two before spitting you out again. Handy for trapping people or jumping into for protection. These are one of the few artifact types that don't require activation, and will only do the "lit up" animation when someone is inside of it. | ||
|- id=" | |- id="Cyborg Converter" | ||
! | ! Cyborg Converter | ||
| When touched, it paralyzes you and slowly converts your arms and legs into light cyborg limbs, before finishing off the process by fully making you into a [[Cyborg]] with light parts, gibbing your fleshy old body in the process and leaving behind whatever you had on it. If you already had cyborg limbs, the process goes faster. Thankfully, it is possible for another person to pull you away and stop the process, but there is also a 15% chance the artifact spawns as a subvariant that pulls you into itself precisely to make that impossible. <br><br>You can always tell these apart from other large artifacts from their inspect message. ONLY Borgers will have a "Vaguely Foreboding" tag when inspected, so be careful not to touch them when testing and trying to activate them! <br><br>If a Cyborg touches it, they'll receive a mysterious message declaring something like '''UPGRADE COMPLETE'''. | | When touched, it paralyzes you and slowly converts your arms and legs into light cyborg limbs, before finishing off the process by fully making you into a [[Cyborg]] with light parts, gibbing your fleshy old body in the process and leaving behind whatever you had on it. If you already had cyborg limbs, the process goes faster. Thankfully, it is possible for another person to pull you away and stop the process, but there is also a 15% chance the artifact spawns as a subvariant that pulls you into itself precisely to make that impossible. <br><br>You can always tell these apart from other large artifacts from their inspect message. ONLY Borgers will have a "Vaguely Foreboding" tag when inspected, so be careful not to touch them when testing and trying to activate them! <br><br>If a Cyborg touches it, they'll receive a mysterious message declaring something like '''UPGRADE COMPLETE'''. | ||
* Note to Cyborgs: forcing people to touch a Converter artifact against their will or deceiving people about its true nature is considered harming a human! Don't do this unless your laws allow it! | * Note to Cyborgs: forcing people to touch a Converter artifact against their will or deceiving people about its true nature is considered harming a human! Don't do this unless your laws allow it! | ||
|- id=" | |- id="Mutator" | ||
! | ! Mutator | ||
| This silly artifact will give you a certain [[Guide_to_genetics#Mutations|mutation]] when you touch it. Sometimes this is bad, other times it's beneficial! Usually they only last for a limited time either way. This is indicated by the "Eerie Light" message upon activation. | | This silly artifact will give you a certain [[Guide_to_genetics#Mutations|mutation]] when you touch it. Sometimes this is bad, other times it's beneficial! Usually they only last for a limited time either way. This is indicated by the "Eerie Light" message upon activation. | ||
|- id="Injector" | |- id="Injector" | ||
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|- id="Container" | |- id="Container" | ||
! Container | ! Container | ||
| When activated and touched, this artifact will vanish and leave its contents behind, | | When activated and touched, this artifact will vanish and leave its contents behind. You may encounter live baby space bees (that is, larva), a [[Robots#GuardBuddy|GuardBuddy]]-like bee (alongside a bee costume), a weird "bomb" that gives people owl costumes, a mysterious "light grenade", an [[Artifact Research#Activator|activator key]], some [[Artifact Research#Large Power Cell|large artifact power cells]], or an [[Artifact Research#Talisman|artifact talisman]]. | ||
|- id="Recaller" | |- id="Recaller" | ||
! Recaller | ! Recaller | ||
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|- id="Turret" | |- id="Turret" | ||
! Turret | ! Turret | ||
| When these artifacts are activated they reveal an array of GUNS. The artifact will automatically 'turn' and shoot nearby people/monkeys. They deactivate after a while if there is nothing to shoot. If destroyed, they drop an [[#Gun|artifact gun]] with a single mode (it never has multiple modes) that fires the same kind of projectile the turret did. Be warned, these can and will shoot you soon after you turn it on for the first time, so run away and come back after a while, the artifact will probably have turned off. | | When these artifacts are activated they reveal an array of GUNS. The artifact will automatically 'turn' and shoot nearby people/monkeys. They deactivate after a while if there is nothing to shoot. If destroyed, they drop an [[#Energy Gun|artifact gun]] with a single mode (it never has multiple modes) that fires the same kind of projectile the turret did. Be warned, these can and will shoot you soon after you turn it on for the first time, so run away and come back after a while, the artifact will probably have turned off. | ||
|- id="Wishgranter" | |- id="Wishgranter" | ||
! Wishgranter | ! Wishgranter | ||
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*Cyborg/Synth: Changes internal organs into robotic or plant/synthetic versions. These artifacts can target 1-3 of the following groups of organs: arms and legs; eyes; stomach, butt, and intestines; pancreas, liver, and spleen; lungs and heart; and appendix and kidneys. (Notice that brains and tails are excluded.) That means you might see one that only changes legs and arms or just your heart and lungs, for example. If the artifact specifically gives [[Roboticist#Cyberkidney|cyberkidneys]], they have random metabolism modifiers. Certain organs will always be replaced with certain augmentations, and you can use it as many times as you'd like. | *Cyborg/Synth: Changes internal organs into robotic or plant/synthetic versions. These artifacts can target 1-3 of the following groups of organs: arms and legs; eyes; stomach, butt, and intestines; pancreas, liver, and spleen; lungs and heart; and appendix and kidneys. (Notice that brains and tails are excluded.) That means you might see one that only changes legs and arms or just your heart and lungs, for example. If the artifact specifically gives [[Roboticist#Cyberkidney|cyberkidneys]], they have random metabolism modifiers. Certain organs will always be replaced with certain augmentations, and you can use it as many times as you'd like. | ||
*Artifact Limbs: Gives you arms and/or legs with special abilities, detailed in their own sections on the [[Roboticist]] page. | *Artifact Limbs: Gives you arms and/or legs with special abilities, detailed in their own sections on the [[Roboticist]] page. | ||
|- id="Generator" | |- id="Power Generator" | ||
! Generator | ! Power Generator | ||
| Click on it while it's over a wire (insulated gloves recommended) to connect it the station power grid, and it'll generate anywhere from 500 kW to 500 MW of electricity. Warning: This type of artifact can burst into flames/rumble, similarly to the [[Thermoelectric Generator]]. Placing directly on the grid can result in severe collateral damage. Should you wish to remove it, simply click on it again to disconnect it. | | Click on it while it's over a wire (insulated gloves recommended) to connect it the station power grid, and it'll generate anywhere from 500 kW to 500 MW of electricity. Warning: This type of artifact can burst into flames/rumble, similarly to the [[Thermoelectric Generator]]. Placing directly on the grid can result in severe collateral damage. Should you wish to remove it, simply click on it again to disconnect it. | ||
|- id=" | |- id="Gas Radiator" | ||
! | ! Gas Radiator | ||
| Constantly pumps out a fair amount of one random gas, depending on the artifact family, at a random temperature, usually never beyond 0 to 620 Kelvin. These usually tend to emit [[Gas#Oxygen|oxygen]] or [[Gas#Nitrogen|nitrogen]], but they can emit any of the [[Gas|gases]] in the game, including [[Gas#Plasma|plasma]] or even [[Gas#Fart|farts]]. Can be useful for repressurizing areas. | | Constantly pumps out a fair amount of one random gas, depending on the artifact family, at a random temperature, usually never beyond 0 to 620 Kelvin. These usually tend to emit [[Gas#Oxygen|oxygen]] or [[Gas#Nitrogen|nitrogen]], but they can emit any of the [[Gas|gases]] in the game, including [[Gas#Plasma|plasma]] or even [[Gas#Fart|farts]]. Can be useful for repressurizing areas. | ||
|- id=" | |- id="Cloner" | ||
! | ! Cloner | ||
| Hold your horses, it's unrelated to the [[Medical Doctor#The Cloner|Medical cloner]] (or its [[Syndicate Objects#Mindhack Cloning Module|Syndicate version]]). When activated, if you touch this rare artifact, it'll create a copy of you (sans items) inside itself, and from there, one of the following happens: | | Hold your horses, it's unrelated to the [[Medical Doctor#The Cloner|Medical cloner]] (or its [[Syndicate Objects#Mindhack Cloning Module|Syndicate version]]). When activated, if you touch this rare artifact, it'll create a copy of you (sans items) inside itself, and from there, one of the following happens: | ||
*A short time afterwards (specifically within the span of 5 seconds to 2 minutes), the clone pops out and starts attacking everyone in the vicinity, including you. | *A short time afterwards (specifically within the span of 5 seconds to 2 minutes), the clone pops out and starts attacking everyone in the vicinity, including you. | ||
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| When activated warps around a set number of times, also teleporting anyone nearby to its destination. | | When activated warps around a set number of times, also teleporting anyone nearby to its destination. | ||
* A subtype exists, that will warp to very remote locations. Enjoy the hunt. | * A subtype exists, that will warp to very remote locations. Enjoy the hunt. | ||
|- id=" | |- id="Emote Forcer Field" | ||
! | ! Emote Forcer Field | ||
| Anyone in range, every few seconds will do a selected (random) emote, with randomized range (and naturally precursors get max 30 range). | | Anyone in range, every few seconds will do a selected (random) emote, with randomized range (and naturally precursors get max 30 range). | ||
|- id="Heat Surge" | |- id="Heat Surge" | ||
! Heat Surge | ! Heat Surge | ||
| | | Fills most of the room with colorful fire when activated. The color of the fire depends on the [[Artifact Research#Flavors of Artifacts|artifact family]]. [[Artifact Research#Silicon|Silicon]] heat surge artifacts can send out black, red, or white flames. [[Artifact Research#Eldritch|Eldritch]] ones have purple, red, or dark red flames, while [[Artifact Research#Precursor|precursor]] ones can shoot out green, blue, or red fire. | ||
|- id="Psycho-Stimulator Field" | |- id="Psycho-Stimulator Field" | ||
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*Fake flock walls, floors, buildings, and flock themselves. | *Fake flock walls, floors, buildings, and flock themselves. | ||
*Pretty colors, your screen turns rainbow and slowly fades into different colors. | *Pretty colors, your screen turns rainbow and slowly fades into different colors. | ||
|- id="Drone" | |||
! Drone | |||
| When activated, the artifact becomes an autonomous NPC robot focused on a particular task. It may try to replace floors with something more industrial/mechanical-looking, place certain types of walls on empty floors, smash walls, attack people, pick up items and convert them into something radioactive, deadly, or silly (or if you're really lucky, another artifact), or simply wander around. | |||
|} | |} | ||
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! Artifact Type | ! Artifact Type | ||
! Description | ! Description | ||
|- id=" | |- id="Teleportation Wand" | ||
! | ! Teleportation Wand | ||
| Click the floor, any floor. VOOM! You are there. | | Click the floor, any floor. VOOM! You are there. However, if you happen to be have [[Engineering Objects#Magnetic Boots|magnetic boots]] active, your legs stay where you were...severed from your body. As a result of losing your legs, you suffer 15-45 {{BRUTE}} and 10 [[Doctoring#Bleeding|BLEEDING]]. | ||
|- id="Melee" | |- id="Melee" | ||
! Melee | ! Melee | ||
| Well yes, you could technically whack someone with ''any'' kind of handheld artifact, but these specific ones inflict a random amount of a certain damage type. Additionally, they can also inflict stuns similar in fashion to security batons. You cannot get any one-shot-kills with these, but you can get something better than what you'd normally find on the station/ship...or you may be better off with your fists. You'll know if you have one of these if it makes a bizarre sound when you hit someone with it. Generally, test these on NPC's rather than yourself. | | Well yes, you could technically whack someone with ''any'' kind of handheld artifact, but these specific ones inflict a random amount of a certain damage type. Additionally, they can also inflict stuns similar in fashion to security batons. You cannot get any one-shot-kills with these, but you can get something better than what you'd normally find on the station/ship...or you may be better off with your fists. You'll know if you have one of these if it makes a bizarre sound when you hit someone with it. Generally, test these on NPC's rather than yourself. | ||
|- id="Gun" | |- id="Energy Gun" | ||
! Gun | ! Energy Gun | ||
| Like the Melee artifact, but ranged. It picks a random damage type, damage amount and number of bullets fired in one burst. Rarely, it may come with an extra fire mode, with its own randomization, or even a third, which can you toggle by clicking on the thing while it's in your hand (Hotkey: {{Key|C}} for Goon WASD, {{Key|Z}} for /tg/-style WASD). Depending on how the RNG rolls, these can be ''amazingly'' deadly. Note that gun artifacts deteriorate with use, often causing more and more side effects. These can range from self detonation, to injections of toxins, random teleports, or rarely, self-gibs. Careful not to spam too much!<br><br>Additionally, all | | Like the Melee artifact, but ranged. It picks a random damage type, damage amount and number of bullets fired in one burst. Rarely, it may come with an extra fire mode, with its own randomization, or even a third, which can you toggle by clicking on the thing while it's in your hand (Hotkey: {{Key|C}} for Goon WASD, {{Key|Z}} for /tg/-style WASD). Depending on how the RNG rolls, these can be ''amazingly'' deadly. Note that gun artifacts deteriorate with use, often causing more and more side effects. These can range from self detonation, to injections of toxins, random teleports, or rarely, self-gibs. Careful not to spam too much!<br><br>Additionally, all energy gun artifacts contain their own unique [[#Small Power Cell|artifact small power cell]], which also has unique properties. | ||
|- id=" | |- id="Forcefield Wand" | ||
! | ! Forcefield Wand | ||
| Like the bigger artifact, but it only makes a wall in one direction. | | Like the bigger artifact, but it only makes a wall in one direction. (More like a forcewall wand at that point, no?) | ||
|- id=" | |- id="Beaker" | ||
! | ! Beaker | ||
| | | "Artbeakers" are technically watering cans, but they are usually not used as such. A Scientist's best friend, these things have ''obscene'' reagent limits and come pre-loaded with massive amounts of obscure chems (usually Saltpetre, which means happy days for any Scientist or Botanist). These can fit into any machine that a regular beaker can, and don't need to be activated before they can be used. Note that these do '''not''' have the "has a handle" message when examined, so you'll have to pay attention to whether it looks like it can be picked up or not. | ||
|- id="Pitcher" | |- id="Pitcher" | ||
! Pitcher | ! Pitcher | ||
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Artifact pitchers have a 15% chance to spawn as inert, which means that chemical reactions can't take place inside them at all, similar to a [[Foods_and_Drinks#Cocktail_Shaker|cocktail shaker]] (except you can't shake it to mix things together, naturally). There's no indication of whether or not a pitcher has this property, so the only way to figure it out is to test it. This property does ''not'' appear on artifact beakers -- only artifact pitchers. | Artifact pitchers have a 15% chance to spawn as inert, which means that chemical reactions can't take place inside them at all, similar to a [[Foods_and_Drinks#Cocktail_Shaker|cocktail shaker]] (except you can't shake it to mix things together, naturally). There's no indication of whether or not a pitcher has this property, so the only way to figure it out is to test it. This property does ''not'' appear on artifact beakers -- only artifact pitchers. | ||
|- id=" | |- id="Elemental Wand" | ||
! | ! Elemental Wand | ||
| Casts a powerful magical attack. There is a lightning variant that zaps people, an ice variant that creates ice trails and freezes people into ice cubes, a fire variant that throws columns of flame, a sonic variant that stuns everyone within a certain radius, and a variant that randomly does one of the four. Has a cooldown between each use. These can be very deadly even to the user, so be careful with them! | | Casts a powerful magical attack. There is a lightning variant that zaps people, an ice variant that creates ice trails and freezes people into ice cubes, a fire variant that throws columns of flame, a sonic variant that stuns everyone within a certain radius, and a variant that randomly does one of the four. Has a cooldown between each use. These can be very deadly even to the user, so be careful with them! | ||
|- id="Instrument" | |- id="Instrument" | ||
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*If it has more than 6 slots, you can wear it on your back. | *If it has more than 6 slots, you can wear it on your back. | ||
*The size of the bag-of-holding itself varies depending on how many slots it has. If it has 5 slots or less, it will be small-sized. If it has 6 to 8 slots, it'll be normal-sized, like a [[General Objects#Box|box]], and if it has more than 8 or can carry bulky items, it will very likely (90% chance) be classified as bulky, like a [[Clothing#Backpack|backpack]]. | *The size of the bag-of-holding itself varies depending on how many slots it has. If it has 5 slots or less, it will be small-sized. If it has 6 to 8 slots, it'll be normal-sized, like a [[General Objects#Box|box]], and if it has more than 8 or can carry bulky items, it will very likely (90% chance) be classified as bulky, like a [[Clothing#Backpack|backpack]]. | ||
*Adding and removing items is pretty involved, because it has no HUD (you cannot grasp its true form. | *Adding and removing items is pretty involved, because it has no HUD (you cannot grasp its true form). It either stores items in a random order; in a queue/first-in-first-out (FIFO) order, so taking an item out removes the first item inserted; or in a stack/last-in-first-out (LIFO) order, meaning taking an item out removes the item most recently inserted. | ||
'''Martian''' | '''Martian''' | ||
*Can be worn on your back or belt. | *Can be worn on your back or belt. | ||
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! Artifact Type | ! Artifact Type | ||
! Description | ! Description | ||
|- id="Cell" | |- id="Large Power Cell" | ||
! Cell | ! Large Power Cell | ||
| The ultimate (large) power cell. Has an absurdly wide range of charge limits and can charge on its own without need of a [[General Objects#Cell Charger|cell charger]]. When activated, they usually are low on charge. When deactivated, they lose all their charge, and their capacity drops to zero. In any case, they're "large" power cells, so while they won't fit into [[Murder#Energy Weapon|energy weapons]], they can be inserted into [[Cyborg#Charging stations|cyborg docks]], put into a cell charger, etc., regardless of it's activated or not.<br><Br>Occasionally, it may make concerning noises and leak certain [[chemicals]], with higher capacity cells being more likely to leak. Most cells spill onto the floor, but, rarely, it is possible to get a cell that discharges into the air as a tiny [[Chemicals#Smoke Powder|smoke powder]] cloud. Martian cells tend to release organic-themed substances, Wizard cells very flashy and showy chems, Silicon cells fuels and machine-related liquids, and Precursor literally any possible chem in the game, barring a handful of exceptions. | | The ultimate (large) power cell. Uniquely, they can spawn in [[#Container|container artifacts]], in addition to appearing by themselves. Has an absurdly wide range of charge limits and can charge on its own without need of a [[General Objects#Cell Charger|cell charger]]. When activated, they usually are low on charge. When deactivated, they lose all their charge, and their capacity drops to zero. In any case, they're "large" power cells, so while they won't fit into [[Murder#Energy Weapon|energy weapons]], they can be inserted into [[Cyborg#Charging stations|cyborg docks]], put into a cell charger, etc., regardless of it's activated or not.<br><Br>Occasionally, it may make concerning noises and leak certain [[chemicals]], with higher capacity cells being more likely to leak. Most cells spill onto the floor, but, rarely, it is possible to get a cell that discharges into the air as a tiny [[Chemicals#Smoke Powder|smoke powder]] cloud. Martian cells tend to release organic-themed substances, Wizard cells very flashy and showy chems, Silicon cells fuels and machine-related liquids, and Precursor literally any possible chem in the game, barring a handful of exceptions. | ||
|- id="Small Power Cell" | |||
! Small Power Cell | |||
| Barring [[admin]] spawn, these do not appear on their own. Instead, they appear inside [[#Energy Gun|energy gun artifacts]]. You extract the cell by swapping the gun's battery with a different cell or by destroying the gun, through wear and tear or certain stimuli. Oftentimes these are considerably better than their on-station equivalents, with the added bonus of being self-charging. These powercells are not the same as the artifact cells which can be found outside of artifacts and can only be used for battery-powered tools, rather than cyborgs and APCs. | |||
|- id="Talisman" | |||
! Talisman | |||
| Besides appearing on their own, they can sometimes appear in [[#Container|container artifacts]]. These give you a single minor passive buff, so long as you keep it in your inventory (e.g. in your hands, in your pockets, in your backpack, etc.) In addition, the talisman bathes your body with a purple glimmer every 15 to 30 seconds, signalling to those nearby that strange magic is aiding you. However, EMPs can disable these buffs entirely, and talismans often develop faults and malfunction. | |||
Each talisman grants one of six possible buffs, all passive, each with an equal chance of occuring. The game never directly tells you what kind of talisman it is, but if you click on it while it's in your active hand (Hotkey: {{Key|C}} for Goon WASD, {{Key|Z}} for /tg/-style WASD), it'll give you a hint about what it does. | |||
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible | |||
! Buff Type | |||
! Hint | |||
! class="unsortable" | Effect | |||
|- | |||
| Swiftness | |||
| "You feel drafts of air..." | |||
| Your movement speed is 5 to 15% faster | |||
|- | |||
| Fortune | |||
| "You feel lucky somehow." | |||
| Every 1 to 5 minutes, you receive 100 to 500 credits, paid in cash. | |||
|- | |||
| Spacefaring | |||
| "[artifact name] feels ice cold." | |||
| You get 25% to 75% cold protection. | |||
|- | |||
| Elements | |||
| "[artifact name] feels warm and cold in different spots." | |||
| You get 1-25% cold protection and 1-25% heat protection. There's a 1% chance the hint text will add something silly: "Sort of like that honk-pocket you once had..." | |||
|- | |||
| Strength | |||
| "Holding [artifact name] makes you feel strong." | |||
| Your maximum health is increased by 20 to 50 HP. | |||
|- | |||
| Protection | |||
| "You feel safe holding [artifact name]." | |||
| You get one of the following, each one equally likely: (1) 1-10% {{BRUTE}} protection, (2) 1-10% {{BURN}} protection, (3) 1-10% {{TOX}} protection, or (4) 1-6% {{BRUTE}}, 1-6% {{BURN}}, ''and'' 1-6% {{TOX}} protection. Essentially, it might specialize in one damage type or dabble in all three.<br><br>{{BRUTE}}/{{BURN}}/{{TOX}} protection is a percentage shaved off the original damage, e.g. with 5% {{BRUTE}} protection, a 10 {{BRUTE}} attack does 9.5 {{BRUTE}}. This is calculated after [[Traits#Athletic|Athletic's]] {{BRUTE}} increase and before ones related to species (e.g. you have [[Traits#Roach|Roach]]). | |||
|} | |||
|} | |} | ||
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For some artifacts, a good way of telling what they do can be ascertained simply by examining them! These artifacts will have special text on the line after the generic "You have no idea what this thing is!". These lines only appear if you have [[Traits#Scientist Training|Scientist Training]]. | For some artifacts, a good way of telling what they do can be ascertained simply by examining them! These artifacts will have special text on the line after the generic "You have no idea what this thing is!". These lines only appear if you have [[Traits#Scientist Training|Scientist Training]]. | ||
* ''"It is covered in | * ''"It is covered in very conspicuous markings."'' Can be either a bomb, a turret, a gravity manipulator, a [[#Gas Radiator|gas radiator]], or a [[#Heat Surge|heat surge]] artifact. | ||
* ''"It looks vaguely foreboding."'' Steer clear of artifacts with this label: only | * ''"It looks vaguely foreboding."'' Steer clear of artifacts with this label: only [[#Cyborg Converter|cyborg converters]] have this examine text! | ||
* ''"It appears to have a handle you can hold it by."'' Most handheld artifacts have this examine text. If you find one that doesn't, it's either an instrument, a beaker, or an activator. | * ''"It appears to have a handle you can hold it by."'' Most handheld artifacts have this examine text. If you find one that doesn't, it's either an instrument, a beaker, or an activator. | ||
* ''"It looks like it's supposed to be inserted into something."'' Ditto for tiny artifacts. If you find a handheld with this text, then it's definitely an activator, lucky you! | * ''"It looks like it's supposed to be inserted into something."'' Ditto for tiny artifacts. If you find a handheld with this text, then it's definitely an activator, lucky you! | ||
* ''"It is sparking."'' Similar to borging artifacts, only electrical generators have this examine text. | * ''"It is sparking."'' Similar to borging artifacts, only electrical generators have this examine text. | ||
* ''"It seems magical somehow."''' This means it's a [[Artifact Research#Talisman|talisman artifact]]. | |||
==Artifact Analysis Forms== | ==Artifact Analysis Forms== | ||
After activating an artifact, it's a good idea to document your research using artifact analysis forms. Despite their appearance, | [[File:ArtifactAnalysisForm.png|64px]] [[File:ArtifactAnalysisFormTrayV2.png|64px]] | ||
After activating an artifact, it's a good idea to document your research using artifact analysis forms. This is technically optional, but if you complete the form correctly, apply it to the artifact, and get the [[Quartermaster]](s) to sell the analyzed artifact, you can potentially get more artifacts to play with, as well as earn a decent payout for the crew shipping budget. Plus, it's a productive way to get rid of artifacts you don't want. | |||
===Applying and Completing the Form=== | |||
To start your analysis, you need to get an [[Science Objects#Artifact Analysis Form|artifact analysis forms]] from, naturally, an [[Science Objects#Artifact Analysis Form Tray|artifact analysis form tray]]. These trays appear in the [[Artifact Lab]], of course, but you can also make them at [[Making and Breaking#Science Fabricator|science fabs]]. Despite their appearance, the forms are actually more like sticky notes or stickers than paper. First, you click on the tray to take one out. Then, you click on the form with a pen or similar writing utensil to fill it out. Afterwards, you click on the artifact to stick the form onto it. (The reverse, sticking it on and then writing on it, also works.) Since they can't pick stuff up, [[Cyborg#Science|science borgs]] use a form dispenser in lieu of a tray. | |||
If you ever need to remove an artifact analysis form from an artifact, you can click on it with a snipping or cutting tool (e.g. a [[Foods and Drinks#Plastic Knife|plastic knife]], [[General Objects#Scissors|scissors]]) while on {{Help}} intent or pour [[Chemicals#Acetone|acetone]] on it (though this destroys the form). If it's on something that is ''not'' an artifact, you can also just click on it with an empty hand while on {{Help}} intent. | |||
When completing an artifact analysis form, you will see the following five fields. You need to complete Artifact Origin, Artifact Type, and Artifact Trigger (If Applicable); the others are optional. The three required fields are multiple choice. You can double-click choices to cross them out. You can click on them again to uncross them. | |||
*'''Artifact Origin:''' Select what [[Artifact Research#Flavors of Artifacts|"family" or "flavor" of artifact]] it is, e.g. [[Artifact Research#Wizard|Wizard]], [[Artifact Research#Martian|Martian]]. (It's not about whether you found it in the [[Adventure Zone]] or whatever.) Picking different options changes the name of the artifact. | |||
*'''Artifact Type:''' Select the artifact's function, e.g. [[Artifact Research#Turret|turret]], [[Artifact Research#Pitcher|pitcher]]. See [[Artifact Research#Possible Effects|here]] for possible types. The options with blue backgrounds refer to [[Artifact Research#Tiny Artifacts|tiny-size artifacts]]. Those with yellow/green backgrounds are for [[Artifact Research#Hand-held Artifacts|hand-held artifacts]] and the red ones are for [[Artifact Research#Bulky Artifact|bulky artifacts]]. | |||
*'''Artifact Trigger (If Applicable):''' Select what [[Artifact Research#Stimuli|stimulus]] (e.g. electricity, carbon touch) activated the artifact, rather than which ones you tried. If the artifact activated itself automatically, without needing a trigger, it's okay to not pick any option. | |||
*'''Artifact Faults:''' Sometimes, artifacts break and fail in strange and unusual ways. You can describe them here, if you wish. Otherwise, you can just leave this blank, as it's optional. | |||
*'''Additional Information:''' The game never checks this field, so put whatever you'd like or just ignore it. If you'd like, you can roleplay an archaeologist by putting down where you found it, what it looks like, etc. | |||
When you apply an artifact analysis form on an artifact (or write on one that's already on an artifact), it gets a new name, based on what you origin you select, and receives an extra label in [ ], based on what you put for artifact type. These changes occur '''even if the form is incorrect'''. If you conclude that your "gooey clump" is a Wizard instrument, when it's actually a Martian injector, the game will take you at your word and happily relabel it "pearl oath of plenty [Instrument]". This is not an error-checking mechanism, so if you're not sure you got it right, have someone else look at your work. | |||
===Selling Artifacts=== | |||
After completing the form and sticking it onto the artifact (or vice versa), you can send the artifact over to the [[Cargo Bay]], so that the [[Quartermaster]](s) can sell it to the market. You can lug it there yourself, but there's usually a [[Guide to Mining#Cargo Transporter|cargo transporter]] somewhere in lab, expressly so that you can teleport artifacts straight to Cargo. Cargo then gets a nice little payout and possibly even another artifact for you to analyze, depending on how rare the artifact was and whether you filled out the origin, type, and trigger fields correctly (what you put for faults and additional details does not matter). The percentage of correctly-analyzed artifacts also goes into [[Station Grade]]. | |||
You (and other research personnel) also get a PDA message telling you if your analysis form was correct or incorrect. If you forgot to fill out one of the required questions or answered one incorrectly, the message also states what you got wrong (e.g. "Analysis was incorrect. Misidentified traits: trigger"), though it does not state what you should have put. | |||
==Alien Invasion== | ==Alien Invasion== | ||
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'''The Rare Chemical Connoisseur''' | '''The Rare Chemical Connoisseur''' | ||
Some of the chemicals in [[Artifact Research#Pitcher | pitchers]] and [[Artifact Research# | Some of the chemicals in [[Artifact Research#Pitcher | pitchers]] and [[Artifact Research#Beaker|beakers]] are rare (or otherwise unobtainable!) and extremely powerful. You can go on a rampage while hopped up on [[Chemicals#Booster Enzyme | booster enzyme]] and [[Chemicals#Energy Drink | energy drink]], poison the captain with [[Painbow fluid | painbow fluid]] and [[Loose screws | loose screws]], and/or leave pills of [[Argine | argine]] all over maintenance. You can also harvest these types of chemicals from [[Artifact Research#Injector | injectors]] and [[Artifact Research#Bomb | chemical bombs]], but the process is a bit more difficult (and usually involves monkeys). | ||
'''The Artifact Assassin''' <!-- This should have a better name, probably. Currently it sounds like they assassinate artifacts??? alliteration hard --> | '''The Artifact Assassin''' <!-- This should have a better name, probably. Currently it sounds like they assassinate artifacts??? alliteration hard --> | ||
Many of the handheld artifacts make for fearsome combat tools. The simplest are [[Artifact Research#Melee | melee weapons]] and [[Artifact Research#Gun | guns]], as they kill people dead (or just disable them to stop them fighting back). Additionally, [[Artifact Research# | Many of the handheld artifacts make for fearsome combat tools. The simplest are [[Artifact Research#Melee | melee weapons]] and [[Artifact Research#Energy Gun|guns]], as they kill people dead (or just disable them to stop them fighting back). Additionally, [[Artifact Research#Elemental Wand|elemental wands]] can cause an AoE ruckus from a distance, and [[Artifact Research#Teleportation Wand|telewands]] can get you anywhere you need to be. With a few strong handheld artifacts, you can be zipping across the station causing havoc. | ||
'''The Science School Dropout''' | '''The Science School Dropout''' | ||
Artifact is [[Artifact Research#Bomb | catastrophically overloading]]? It's probably fine, you should hide it in maintenance. Found a [[Artifact Research# | Artifact is [[Artifact Research#Bomb | catastrophically overloading]]? It's probably fine, you should hide it in maintenance. Found a [[Artifact Research#Cyborg Converter | borger]]? Just leave it in the halls, it's useful for people who want to become [[Cyborg | cyborgs]]! Activated an [[Artifact Research#Injector | injector]]? Those chemicals are probably good for you- label it "Healer" and stick it at the entrance to medbay. If done well, it'll be impossible to tell you're a traitor at all, as most people will view science as a safety hazard by default. Remember- if [[Security Officer | security]] executes you for gross incompetence, you've already won. | ||
---- | ---- | ||
{{Department Guides}} | {{Department Guides}} |
Latest revision as of 07:37, 5 December 2024
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Artifact Research is a branch of Research concerned with the identification and testing of artifacts, large or handheld items of non-Nanotrasen origin whose function is unknown. Every artifact (or "art") has a certain "flavor" or origin, and many different types artifacts exist, some harmless (anyone want to hear what a Martian flute sounds like?), some dangerous (OH FUCK IT'S A BLACK HOLE BOMB). Whatever the type, the main goal is to figure out how to activate them; this can be done via specialized machines controlled through DWAINE as well as...more manual methods. Beyond just simple curiosity, there are good rewards for those who thoroughly document artifacts in analysis forms.
Obtaining Artifacts
Where do you get these artifacts? Usually, you find them without having to leave the station/ship (or at least, without you having to).
- The Artifact Research Lab - The most obvious artifact source. You start with two artifacts in the lab, and you might as well analyze them first.
- Cargo
- Vurdalak sells completely random artifacts, but they can be rather costly, so don't bug the quartermasters about them unless the budget is doing well; still, if it's reasonably far into the round, they're usually happy to buy out the stock.
- Gragg sells a singular handheld artifact for a relatively high price.
- If you sell enough artifacts, the quartermasters will start receiving shipments of random artifacts. You'll get a PDA alert when this happens; head down to the Cargo Bay to collect them, or radio the QMs to send the shipment to your lab via cargo transporter.
- Mining - Miners sometimes uncover artifacts while mining, but they have a habit of just leaving them, especially if no one expresses any interest in them. Try asking them over the General (145.9) radio channel (Miners don't have access to the research channel) or knocking on their door every now and again to check if they've found anything new.
- Random Events - Sometimes artifacts just randomly poof into existence. Blowouts often spawn plenty of artifacts, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-style.
- Elsewhere on the Station/Ship - Many maps have one or two artifacts squirreled away in some obscure corner of the station/ship, just sitting there waiting to be found. Ask other scientists, fellow crew, or the AI for help finding them.
You can also discover artifacts while exploring while the Debris Field, possibly the best and most reliable source of artifacts. A large number spawn scattered around the Z-level, though it can be perilous to reach them. Now if only there was a way to bring them directly to you...
Beyond that, many artifacts are hidden away in the Mining Level, the Trench and Adventure Zones, waiting for some enterprising explorer(s) to find them. Perhaps it's time to start an expedition?
Flavors of Artifacts
Artifacts come in different styles, called "origins". Some people also call them "families" or "flavors". They do more than just affect how they look and what kind of names they have. Certain artifacts function differently depending on their origin. For example, artifact injectors of Martian origin may administer medicine (or mild poisons or weird organic stuff), while Eldritch ones give you nasty poisons. Some types of artifacts only appear with certain origins. For example, artifact cyborg converters are always have a Silicon origin, while artifact lamps can either come from Martians, Wizards, or Precursors.
When you stick an analysis form on artifact and fill out the "Artifact Origin" field, it changes the artifact's name. If its origin has been properly identified, its name will be its "real name", which is based naming scheme of its artifact family. For example, if you properly identify a "regal sculpture" artifact as a Wizard artifact, it might take on the name "sapphire jewel of majesty". If the origin on the artifact form is incorrect, however, the artifact will instead have a naming convention from an entirely different family. Sometimes, an artifact's true origin won't match what it looks like, so you may need to do some additional testing to identify it.
Running gptio
Discovering an artifact's effects takes more than repeatedly poking it (although this helps in a fashion). Using the DWAINE terminal, you can advance the station's knowledge of artifacts and their properties and make your analysis more precise. To do this, you must:
- Insert your card into the terminal, and type term_login
- Type cd /mnt/artlab to move to the default location of the artifact research tape.
- Decide which test to run, pop the artifact in the corresponding machine, adjust the variables as you see fit, and activate the machine (using the commands below).
- Troubleshooting: If you can't get this to work, it's likely your terminal isn't connected to the research mainframe. In this case, type term_ping, find the 8-character net ID labelled PNET_MAINFRAME and run the command connect mainframe_id
- If even this doesn't work, it's likely there's a problem with the mainframe itself, the databank that runs gptio, or the wiring that connects it all. Contact your system administrator and hope it's a simple as turning power back on in the Computer Core.
Important commands
After logging into your terminal and running the artlab directory, you're now ready to use gptio commands. There are two variations of the commands: standard and shorthand. Many of the shorthand commands provide the same action as the standard gptio commands, but are much quicker and intuitive to use. Either can be used at any time while in the directory.
Standard gptio commands
- gptio list
- Lists the currently connected devices and their IDs.
- gptio activate device-id
- Activates a device. This can be anything from shooting an object across the room to irradiating whatever is in the x-ray scanner. Note: Some devices, like the electrical tester, don't like being activated without something loaded.
- gptio deactivate device-id
- Some devices don't automatically deactivate after a short amount of time. You'll need to use this command to make them safe to touch.
- gptio sense device-id
- Instruct the device to take readings about its state and the state of whatever object is inserted into it.
- gptio read device-id
- Retrieve the data generated by gptio sense or the most recent artifact an action has been performed on.
- gptio info device-id
- Show the status of a device, including if it's active, if it's an "enactor" and/or a "sensor" and maybe most importantly what variables it has to mess with.
- gptio peek device-id variable-name
- Read the value of a variable. Note that most if not all variables can be read on the device itself.
- gptio poke device-id variable-name value
- Change the value of a variable.
Shorthand commands
- act device-id
- Turns on the device specified.
- deact device-id
- Shuts off the device specified.
- read device-id
- Displays data from a "sense" command or the most recent artifact the machine has acted on.
- info device-id
- Shows the status and configurable variables of the device.
- xray value
- If no value is given, will display the x-ray's radstrength. If one is given, will set radstrength.
- temp value
- If no value is given, will display the heater's temptarget. If one is given, will set temptarget.
- elec value(voltage) value(wattage)
- If no values are given, will display the elecbox's current voltage and wattage. If one is given, will set voltage; if 2 are given, will set both.
- pitcher value
- If no value is given, will display the pitcher's power. if one is given, will set power.
- stand value
- If no value is given, will display the impact pad's stand status. If one is given, will set or withdraw the stand.
Working Artlab
The Devices
The artifact lab comes with five devices: Pitcher, impact pad, electric box, heater and x-ray scanner.
The Pitcher (device ID: pitcher)
- The pitcher is not for shooting artifacts, though that's fun too. You insert something for the pitcher to fire (say, a fire extinguisher), and the pitcher fires it at the artifacts on the impact pad.
- The pitcher has one variable, POWER, which goes from 0 to 100. Simple enough.
The Impact Pad (device ID: impactpad)
- The impact pad is for putting artifacts on. Fire an item at the artifact and then read the sensor data.
- You can also just throw something at the artifact while it's on the pad instead of using the pitcher, and the impact pad will still return a reading.
- The pad has one variable, STAND, which is binary (0 or 1). Setting it to 1 extends a stand for putting handheld artifacts on.
- Two datapoints will be reported: Vibration amplitude and vibration frequency.
The Electric Box (device ID: elecbox)
- The electric box will run an electrical current through the artifact.
- It has two variables, AMPERAGE (1-50) and VOLTAGE (1-100). Remember, Wattage = Current * Voltage, so "Selected current" will just be Wattage/Voltage.
- It returns three datapoints: Returned current, circuit capacity and interference.
The Heater (device ID: heater)
- The heater will heat the artifact, or cool it.
- It has one variable, TEMPTARGET (accepts 200-400 in Kelvin), which the actual temperature will slowly reach.
- The sensors will report current temperature, artifact temperature and whether the artifact responds to temperature at all.
The X-ray Scanner (device ID: xray)
- The X-ray scanner will scan the artifact.
- It has one setting, RADSTRENGTH, which goes from 1 to 10 (multiples of 10%).
- You'll get a load of data back: Object density, structural consistency, structural integrity, special features of object and like the heater, whether it responds to radiation.
The dirty secret of Artlab is that each specific artifact always gives the same sensor data. So you can potentially know what a certain artifact does after analyzing it in the lab, but you'll still need to figure out how to activate it.
Analyzing sensor data
Vibration Amplitude and Vibration Frequency (Force)
- Something that has low returns for these categories is something that absorbs physical shock well - if its high, its probably made of something that reverberates a lot when struck, such as metal.
- These readings are based off of the artifact's origin. Infrequently, artifacts will disguise their appearance as being from a different origin, and this can help you detect what it really is.
Test Voltage, Load Impedance, Circuit Capacity and Interference (Electricity)
- Test Voltage is just the voltage you have the electrobox set to.
- Load Impedance is how much of the electricity put into the artifact was returned to the electrobox. If you're getting back 100% of what you put in or close to it, you've likely got something that involves electrical charge on your hands.
- Circuit Capacity is how much electrical charge the artifact seems to be able to hold. Anything with this most likely has some kind of internal charge it draws on to power itself. The higher this is, the longer the artifact can do its thing without having to stop and recharge. However, sometimes artifacts can contain internal power cells which hold the charge - if this is the case, the artifact may return a very low value since the artifact itself is useless without its battery.
- Interference is how much the electrical charge is being disrupted when ran through the artifact. Something with a lot of this is probably some really goddamn weird thing. It's normal for any kind of artifact to have a little of this though.
- Other things can affect these readouts - certain artifact origins can skew the results a little, and if an artifact is faulty it can disrupt the capacity and interference readouts. The best way to figure this out is to take multiple readings and compare them - if your readings are all the same there's likely nothing wrong with it, but if they're inconsistent you might want to be cautious.
Current temperature, Artifact Temperature, Response to Heat (Heat)
- It only checks to see if the artifact responds above or below certain temperatures. This is useful to basically tell you this artifact will activate if you raise/lower the temperature some more
- The heater pad also has a details readout, which will give information on the artifacts features specifically to heat.
Density, Structural Consistency, Structural Integrity, Response to Radiation and Special Features (Radiation)
- Density is how dense the artifact's mass is. Readings above 10 mean the artifact is more likely to be something weird or something that can fuck with physical forces. Low density means the artifact is likely built to contain something else or is otherwise hollow/cavity-filled.
- Structural Consistency means how much of the artifact's internal structure is solid or similar. The higher this is, the less likely the artifact is to be something useful. Readings will always generally be fairly high though, but ones at or close to 100% are probably worthless. Remember - machines and biological things have lot of complex parts inside so they're not solid!
- Structural Integrity is how "solid" the artifact is in terms of construction, is it very damage-resistant and well put together or is it something you could probably crush like a soda can? Very low readings can also indicate the artifact may have something wrong with it, such as it is damaged/malfunctioning/dangerous or what have you.
- Response to Radiation is how much the artifact responds to being irradiated. You'll have to play around with the radiation strength setting on the equipment to get an accurate picture of what's going on here - the artifact's origin can muck with this reading sometimes. The stronger the response, the more likely it is the artifact is activated via radiation - you just need to find out the right amount to use.
- Special Features details anything that is paticularly unusual about the artifact's shape - these are mostly a hint towards what the artifact does.
...But I just wanted to know how do I get the artifact out of the damn device??
Click-dragging from the machine onto the floor will remove an artifact that's inside of it. Additionally, right clicking the machine will show the "Eject" verb.
Artifact Interaction
Stimuli
To figure out what an artifact does, you need to activate it, and to activate it, you need to subject it to a certain stimulus at a certain level. If you give it the correct stimulus, but not enough to activate it, the artifact will give you a hint to guide you on the right tracks. You'll get something along the lines "The quirky contraption makes a faint noise."
Higher isn't always better; some artifacts will require a lower amount of a certain stimulus, such as radiation, and won't activate if too much is used. In fact, it is possible to damage an artifact due to too much stimulus. In addition to potentially destroying the artifact if too much damage is done, it can also cause them to develop faults and malfunctions, which are almost always a bad thing.
There are various devices in the laboratory that deliver a specific stimulus in a controlled manner. You can substitute them for certain devices, but these do not give as much control as the dedicated machinery. This is worth noting because, again, a certain amount, not just the presence, of a stimulus is needed to activate an artifact. ALL artifacts can be activated within artlab; external devices are not required, but having them tends to greatly reduce the tedium involved.
How do you know if you've subjected an artifact to sufficient stimulus to activate it? Artifacts will glow, shimmer and generally look turned on when activated. If the artifact produces a temporary effect like a Forcewall or Darkness upon being activated for the first time, in most cases it will only need a simple touch to activate again depending on the effect.
Stimulus | Device-Based Methods | Other Methods |
---|---|---|
Carbon Touch | None. | Having the artifact be touched by any carbon-based life form. You use other people or monkeys as test dummies by grabbing them with Grab intent and clicking the artifact. Blobs also cause this stimulus- try politely asking a blob for help if you can't figure out how to touch something with your hand. |
Silicon Touch | None. | Having the artifact be touched by a cyborg, or a cyborg arm. You can find arms in robotics, or in the guardbuddy room, which is usually close to or within the science department. If you have a robot arm attached, you can touch the artifact using that too! |
Force | Shooting objects at the artifact via the pitcher. | Hitting the artifact with just about anything that deals BRUTE will cause this stimulus, and throwing such objects will have a similar effect. Kinetic bullets and explosions also work, though take care not to miss and/or lose a limb. |
Heat | Using the heater to expose the artifact to specific temperatures. | Burning the artifact with (in order of increasing intensity) an igniter, a lighter, a flare gun, a pod-based plasma cutter, or a welder will produce a hot stimulus. Explosions or fires also cause hot stimuli. |
Electricity | Electrifying the artifact with the electrobox. | Zapping the artifact with (in order of increasing intensity) an igniter, a multitool, a fly swatter, a stun baton (same level as fly swatter), or a defibrillator. EMPs also produce an electrical stimulus, at lower level than igniters. |
Radiation | Scanning the artifact with the X-Ray. | Certain chemicals (see below). EMPs also cause a small amount of radiation stimulus. |
Data | None. | Smacking the artifact with a Thinktape (found in the artifact lab, and elsewhere) or a console circuit board. |
Language | None. | Speak a five-letter English word with a certain number and arrangement of vowels (y is excluded) near the artifact. It can pick from over 2300 possible words, but you do not need to guess the word, just match where the vowels are. For example, if the target word is "apple", "alpha" will do. If you guess wrong, it'll give you hints, a la Mastermind or Wordle, in the form of chimes:
Due to the way it interprets text, speaking a long list of five-letter words to brute-force it does not work. |
Chemical Stimuli
While not a stimulus type themselves, chemicals can produce a wide variety of stimuli. Radioactive chemicals produce a radiation stimulus, hot chemicals produce a hot stimulus, and cold chemicals produce a cold stimulus. Some chemicals even produce a random stimulus!
As a rule of thumb, the more of a chemical you use, the stronger a stimulus you'll get.
Possible Effects
So, what happens when you actually activate an artifact? That's the fun of it, it's entirely random. Aside from the artifact's size, you'll have no way of knowing just what it will do until you activate it. What we can tell you is what the potential abilities of the artifacts are:
Bulky Artifacts
Artifact | Image |
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Eldritch | |
Wizard | |
Martian | |
Precursor | |
Silicon |
These are giant-looking things that you can't pick up, only drag around. Note that pulling or pushing them doesn't count as a TOUCH stimulus, you must click it with an active hand for that. This lets you drag it around safely. You can also force someone to touch artifacts by putting them in an aggressive or higher grab (click on them with Grab intent, click on the grab to upgrade it) and then clicking on the artifact, triggering its effects. Obviously, don't wordlessly grab random people and force them to touch artifacts (especially if it's one of the harmful ones), or similar, unless you're an Antagonist.
Artifact Type | Description |
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Forcefield Generator | The artifact will produce a shiny forcefield of varying size and duration. Until it powers down after a random amount of time, nothing short of teleportation will break through its stubborn walls. |
Lamp | Emits a bright, permanent light. Harmless. |
Darkness | A cloak of absolute darkness will envelop the artifact and area around it, preventing any actions short of walking around in it until it powers down. Having Thermals or Mesons can make it easier to navigate. |
Single Target Healer | One of the few benign artifacts you'll come across. Touching it will heal an equal amount of BRUTE and BURN, between 5 to 75. Most only heal the person who touches it, but occasionally you might stumble upon one that heals everyone within a certain radius. |
Healing/Damaging Aura | Periodically, these artifacts will have a certain effect on an area around them. These can either heal all people nearby for a small amount or damage everyone nearby for a small amount. |
Plant Waterer | Easily identifiable by the bright rays it beams to nearby hydroponics trays. Automatically waters plant trays within a certain radius (indicated by a blue ray) and drains any excess water (shown with a red ray), i.e. this will not overfill plant trays. It may also have some additional effects, listed below. They can appear in any number of combinations (e.g. you can have one that kills weeds and accelerates plant growth but doesn't do the other things), and if you're really lucky, you'll get one that does all 4.
Radius can vary from 4 (i.e. 9x9 area) to 9 (19x19) tiles. |
Prison | Not as bad as it sounds, the artifact will drag you into it and lock itself for a minute or two before spitting you out again. Handy for trapping people or jumping into for protection. These are one of the few artifact types that don't require activation, and will only do the "lit up" animation when someone is inside of it. |
Cyborg Converter | When touched, it paralyzes you and slowly converts your arms and legs into light cyborg limbs, before finishing off the process by fully making you into a Cyborg with light parts, gibbing your fleshy old body in the process and leaving behind whatever you had on it. If you already had cyborg limbs, the process goes faster. Thankfully, it is possible for another person to pull you away and stop the process, but there is also a 15% chance the artifact spawns as a subvariant that pulls you into itself precisely to make that impossible. You can always tell these apart from other large artifacts from their inspect message. ONLY Borgers will have a "Vaguely Foreboding" tag when inspected, so be careful not to touch them when testing and trying to activate them! If a Cyborg touches it, they'll receive a mysterious message declaring something like UPGRADE COMPLETE.
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Mutator | This silly artifact will give you a certain mutation when you touch it. Sometimes this is bad, other times it's beneficial! Usually they only last for a limited time either way. This is indicated by the "Eerie Light" message upon activation. |
Injector | This picks a random cocktail of up to three chemicals and injects anyone who touches it. This is usually never good, though if you're careful and lucky enough you can harvest reagents from it; some very rare reagents can only be found from these. |
Implanter | When touched while active, will implant the being with one of nine available artifact implants:
Eldritch ("mysterious object")
In the case of the beneficial and harmful implants, the list of organs potentially affected includes: appendix, eyes, heart, intestines, liver, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, spleen, and stomach. Silicon ("spiky thing")
Wizard ("fancy stone")
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Gravity | A mildly annoying artifact, this will either pull things towards it or push them away from it. |
Container | When activated and touched, this artifact will vanish and leave its contents behind. You may encounter live baby space bees (that is, larva), a GuardBuddy-like bee (alongside a bee costume), a weird "bomb" that gives people owl costumes, a mysterious "light grenade", an activator key, some large artifact power cells, or an artifact talisman. |
Recaller | Touch the artifact. Now go run off somewhere and wait a couple of minutes, and you'll suddenly be warped back to wherever the artifact is! This one doesn't need to be activated to work. You can tell these artifacts apart on activation as they will give no message when the sound file is played. |
Bomb | If you see a message about an artifact "catastrophically overloading" or "intensifying its own gravity", and it starts vibrating, blaring alarms, and emitting light, GET RID OF IT IMMEDIATELY! This means that in two minutes the artbomb's going to detonate. During this time, you can click on the bomb with an appropriate activator artifact to halt the detonation and deactivate it, but you better be quick. At the end of those two minutes, you'll see messages about it reaching "critical energy levels" or starting to "collapse in on itself", meaning it's just about to detonate, so run.
There are four types with four different payloads.
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Turret | When these artifacts are activated they reveal an array of GUNS. The artifact will automatically 'turn' and shoot nearby people/monkeys. They deactivate after a while if there is nothing to shoot. If destroyed, they drop an artifact gun with a single mode (it never has multiple modes) that fires the same kind of projectile the turret did. Be warned, these can and will shoot you soon after you turn it on for the first time, so run away and come back after a while, the artifact will probably have turned off. |
Wishgranter | Make a wish! When activated, a booming voice will give you a choice of either great wealth or great power. Depending on its mood (which to say, completely randomly), it may do exactly as you intended, bestowing great wads of credits or fabulous genetic powers (or a great power cell if you're a robot). Or it might just pull a literal genie and just kill you in suitably ironic (and irreversible) fashion. |
Surgery | Also known as augmentors. Replaces either your organs or limbs when you click on it, dropping your old one on the ground. Just have a few styptic patches ready. There are two types:
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Power Generator | Click on it while it's over a wire (insulated gloves recommended) to connect it the station power grid, and it'll generate anywhere from 500 kW to 500 MW of electricity. Warning: This type of artifact can burst into flames/rumble, similarly to the Thermoelectric Generator. Placing directly on the grid can result in severe collateral damage. Should you wish to remove it, simply click on it again to disconnect it. |
Gas Radiator | Constantly pumps out a fair amount of one random gas, depending on the artifact family, at a random temperature, usually never beyond 0 to 620 Kelvin. These usually tend to emit oxygen or nitrogen, but they can emit any of the gases in the game, including plasma or even farts. Can be useful for repressurizing areas. |
Cloner | Hold your horses, it's unrelated to the Medical cloner (or its Syndicate version). When activated, if you touch this rare artifact, it'll create a copy of you (sans items) inside itself, and from there, one of the following happens:
The clone shares same AI as the one behind hellmonkeys, and so is quite apt at weapon usage. At the same, they're still a regular human (or human adjacent) and thus are still vulnerable to fire, poison, space, etc. Speaking of humans, you can't use this as a Critter, Cyborg, Ghostdrone, or some such. |
Warper | When activated warps around a set number of times, also teleporting anyone nearby to its destination.
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Emote Forcer Field | Anyone in range, every few seconds will do a selected (random) emote, with randomized range (and naturally precursors get max 30 range). |
Heat Surge | Fills most of the room with colorful fire when activated. The color of the fire depends on the artifact family. Silicon heat surge artifacts can send out black, red, or white flames. Eldritch ones have purple, red, or dark red flames, while precursor ones can shoot out green, blue, or red fire. |
Psycho-Stimulator Field | When activated, people In a nearby radius will get one of the eight hallucinations, depending on the artifact type:
Silicon
Martian
Wizard
Eldritch
Precursor
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Drone | When activated, the artifact becomes an autonomous NPC robot focused on a particular task. It may try to replace floors with something more industrial/mechanical-looking, place certain types of walls on empty floors, smash walls, attack people, pick up items and convert them into something radioactive, deadly, or silly (or if you're really lucky, another artifact), or simply wander around. |
Hand-held Artifacts
Smaller artifacts that you can carry around. These will come with extra messages such as "having a handle to hold it by" to tell you it can be picked up.
Artifact Type | Description |
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Teleportation Wand | Click the floor, any floor. VOOM! You are there. However, if you happen to be have magnetic boots active, your legs stay where you were...severed from your body. As a result of losing your legs, you suffer 15-45 BRUTE and 10 BLEEDING. |
Melee | Well yes, you could technically whack someone with any kind of handheld artifact, but these specific ones inflict a random amount of a certain damage type. Additionally, they can also inflict stuns similar in fashion to security batons. You cannot get any one-shot-kills with these, but you can get something better than what you'd normally find on the station/ship...or you may be better off with your fists. You'll know if you have one of these if it makes a bizarre sound when you hit someone with it. Generally, test these on NPC's rather than yourself. |
Energy Gun | Like the Melee artifact, but ranged. It picks a random damage type, damage amount and number of bullets fired in one burst. Rarely, it may come with an extra fire mode, with its own randomization, or even a third, which can you toggle by clicking on the thing while it's in your hand (Hotkey: C for Goon WASD, Z for /tg/-style WASD). Depending on how the RNG rolls, these can be amazingly deadly. Note that gun artifacts deteriorate with use, often causing more and more side effects. These can range from self detonation, to injections of toxins, random teleports, or rarely, self-gibs. Careful not to spam too much! Additionally, all energy gun artifacts contain their own unique artifact small power cell, which also has unique properties. |
Forcefield Wand | Like the bigger artifact, but it only makes a wall in one direction. (More like a forcewall wand at that point, no?) |
Beaker | "Artbeakers" are technically watering cans, but they are usually not used as such. A Scientist's best friend, these things have obscene reagent limits and come pre-loaded with massive amounts of obscure chems (usually Saltpetre, which means happy days for any Scientist or Botanist). These can fit into any machine that a regular beaker can, and don't need to be activated before they can be used. Note that these do not have the "has a handle" message when examined, so you'll have to pay attention to whether it looks like it can be picked up or not. |
Pitcher | Specifically, a beverage pitcher, meaning you can chug from it and put it into drink dispensers. In addition to the typical base alcohols and mixers you'd get from drink dispensers, these can contain a special selection of wild and crazy chemicals of questionable quality, such as Bombini, moonshine, and hairgrownium. The amount you drink from the pitcher with each sip is random, and, similar to artifact beakers, so is the pitcher's capacity, which is generally between 500 and 2000 units.
Artifact pitchers have a 15% chance to spawn as inert, which means that chemical reactions can't take place inside them at all, similar to a cocktail shaker (except you can't shake it to mix things together, naturally). There's no indication of whether or not a pitcher has this property, so the only way to figure it out is to test it. This property does not appear on artifact beakers -- only artifact pitchers. |
Elemental Wand | Casts a powerful magical attack. There is a lightning variant that zaps people, an ice variant that creates ice trails and freezes people into ice cubes, a fire variant that throws columns of flame, a sonic variant that stuns everyone within a certain radius, and a variant that randomly does one of the four. Has a cooldown between each use. These can be very deadly even to the user, so be careful with them! |
Instrument | Click on it/activate it in-hand to play...something that can probably be called music. |
Activator | Quite possibly the holy grail of artifact research, this can activate and deactivate any artifact of its type (Eldritch, Wizard, Martian, Precursor, Silicon), and sometimes every type. If you obtain this, then throw your hands up in the air you lucky bastard, because you are really goddamned lucky.
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Bag-Of-Holding | Stores items, with different gimmicks depending on its origin. Sometimes can be worn, like a backpack, but is sometimes more like a box.
Eldritch
Martian
Wizard
Do note that storing items may cause "faults". Putting a bag-of-holding inside another bag-of-holding (which requires them to be different sizes) destroys both bags and results in one of the following events, each of equal likelihood: a small explosion (can put a one-tile dent in the hull), a tiny, harmless singularity forming and disappearing, the items inside teleporting everywhere (50-50 chance of either ending up in random locations or in random people's inventories), and you getting stuck in a pocket dimension. Putting an activator key in a bag-of-holding has the same effects, if said key can activate the bag-of-holding's flavor of origin. |
Healing Wand | Heal thy neighbor (and rarely, thyself). When used on someone adjacent to you (i.e. it's melee-range only), it heals them of BRUTE and BURN damage. Amount healed is same for both damage types and is set to between 5 and 15, with a 10% chance to be between 15 and 40. It has a cooldown between uses, set to between 5 to 20 seconds, with a very rare (1%) chance for a one-second cooldown. In addition, it has a different 10% chance to be usable on yourself. In this case, it never has a one-second cooldown or expanded healing range. |
Tiny Artifacts
Similar to handhelds in that they can be picked up, but they'll look pretty small. They come with an extra "It kinda looks like it's supposed to be inserted into something." message when examined.
Artifact Type | Description | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Large Power Cell | The ultimate (large) power cell. Uniquely, they can spawn in container artifacts, in addition to appearing by themselves. Has an absurdly wide range of charge limits and can charge on its own without need of a cell charger. When activated, they usually are low on charge. When deactivated, they lose all their charge, and their capacity drops to zero. In any case, they're "large" power cells, so while they won't fit into energy weapons, they can be inserted into cyborg docks, put into a cell charger, etc., regardless of it's activated or not. Occasionally, it may make concerning noises and leak certain chemicals, with higher capacity cells being more likely to leak. Most cells spill onto the floor, but, rarely, it is possible to get a cell that discharges into the air as a tiny smoke powder cloud. Martian cells tend to release organic-themed substances, Wizard cells very flashy and showy chems, Silicon cells fuels and machine-related liquids, and Precursor literally any possible chem in the game, barring a handful of exceptions. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Small Power Cell | Barring admin spawn, these do not appear on their own. Instead, they appear inside energy gun artifacts. You extract the cell by swapping the gun's battery with a different cell or by destroying the gun, through wear and tear or certain stimuli. Oftentimes these are considerably better than their on-station equivalents, with the added bonus of being self-charging. These powercells are not the same as the artifact cells which can be found outside of artifacts and can only be used for battery-powered tools, rather than cyborgs and APCs. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Talisman | Besides appearing on their own, they can sometimes appear in container artifacts. These give you a single minor passive buff, so long as you keep it in your inventory (e.g. in your hands, in your pockets, in your backpack, etc.) In addition, the talisman bathes your body with a purple glimmer every 15 to 30 seconds, signalling to those nearby that strange magic is aiding you. However, EMPs can disable these buffs entirely, and talismans often develop faults and malfunction.
Each talisman grants one of six possible buffs, all passive, each with an equal chance of occuring. The game never directly tells you what kind of talisman it is, but if you click on it while it's in your active hand (Hotkey: C for Goon WASD, Z for /tg/-style WASD), it'll give you a hint about what it does.
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Examining
For some artifacts, a good way of telling what they do can be ascertained simply by examining them! These artifacts will have special text on the line after the generic "You have no idea what this thing is!". These lines only appear if you have Scientist Training.
- "It is covered in very conspicuous markings." Can be either a bomb, a turret, a gravity manipulator, a gas radiator, or a heat surge artifact.
- "It looks vaguely foreboding." Steer clear of artifacts with this label: only cyborg converters have this examine text!
- "It appears to have a handle you can hold it by." Most handheld artifacts have this examine text. If you find one that doesn't, it's either an instrument, a beaker, or an activator.
- "It looks like it's supposed to be inserted into something." Ditto for tiny artifacts. If you find a handheld with this text, then it's definitely an activator, lucky you!
- "It is sparking." Similar to borging artifacts, only electrical generators have this examine text.
- "It seems magical somehow."' This means it's a talisman artifact.
Artifact Analysis Forms
After activating an artifact, it's a good idea to document your research using artifact analysis forms. This is technically optional, but if you complete the form correctly, apply it to the artifact, and get the Quartermaster(s) to sell the analyzed artifact, you can potentially get more artifacts to play with, as well as earn a decent payout for the crew shipping budget. Plus, it's a productive way to get rid of artifacts you don't want.
Applying and Completing the Form
To start your analysis, you need to get an artifact analysis forms from, naturally, an artifact analysis form tray. These trays appear in the Artifact Lab, of course, but you can also make them at science fabs. Despite their appearance, the forms are actually more like sticky notes or stickers than paper. First, you click on the tray to take one out. Then, you click on the form with a pen or similar writing utensil to fill it out. Afterwards, you click on the artifact to stick the form onto it. (The reverse, sticking it on and then writing on it, also works.) Since they can't pick stuff up, science borgs use a form dispenser in lieu of a tray.
If you ever need to remove an artifact analysis form from an artifact, you can click on it with a snipping or cutting tool (e.g. a plastic knife, scissors) while on Help intent or pour acetone on it (though this destroys the form). If it's on something that is not an artifact, you can also just click on it with an empty hand while on Help intent.
When completing an artifact analysis form, you will see the following five fields. You need to complete Artifact Origin, Artifact Type, and Artifact Trigger (If Applicable); the others are optional. The three required fields are multiple choice. You can double-click choices to cross them out. You can click on them again to uncross them.
- Artifact Origin: Select what "family" or "flavor" of artifact it is, e.g. Wizard, Martian. (It's not about whether you found it in the Adventure Zone or whatever.) Picking different options changes the name of the artifact.
- Artifact Type: Select the artifact's function, e.g. turret, pitcher. See here for possible types. The options with blue backgrounds refer to tiny-size artifacts. Those with yellow/green backgrounds are for hand-held artifacts and the red ones are for bulky artifacts.
- Artifact Trigger (If Applicable): Select what stimulus (e.g. electricity, carbon touch) activated the artifact, rather than which ones you tried. If the artifact activated itself automatically, without needing a trigger, it's okay to not pick any option.
- Artifact Faults: Sometimes, artifacts break and fail in strange and unusual ways. You can describe them here, if you wish. Otherwise, you can just leave this blank, as it's optional.
- Additional Information: The game never checks this field, so put whatever you'd like or just ignore it. If you'd like, you can roleplay an archaeologist by putting down where you found it, what it looks like, etc.
When you apply an artifact analysis form on an artifact (or write on one that's already on an artifact), it gets a new name, based on what you origin you select, and receives an extra label in [ ], based on what you put for artifact type. These changes occur even if the form is incorrect. If you conclude that your "gooey clump" is a Wizard instrument, when it's actually a Martian injector, the game will take you at your word and happily relabel it "pearl oath of plenty [Instrument]". This is not an error-checking mechanism, so if you're not sure you got it right, have someone else look at your work.
Selling Artifacts
After completing the form and sticking it onto the artifact (or vice versa), you can send the artifact over to the Cargo Bay, so that the Quartermaster(s) can sell it to the market. You can lug it there yourself, but there's usually a cargo transporter somewhere in lab, expressly so that you can teleport artifacts straight to Cargo. Cargo then gets a nice little payout and possibly even another artifact for you to analyze, depending on how rare the artifact was and whether you filled out the origin, type, and trigger fields correctly (what you put for faults and additional details does not matter). The percentage of correctly-analyzed artifacts also goes into Station Grade.
You (and other research personnel) also get a PDA message telling you if your analysis form was correct or incorrect. If you forgot to fill out one of the required questions or answered one incorrectly, the message also states what you got wrong (e.g. "Analysis was incorrect. Misidentified traits: trigger"), though it does not state what you should have put.
Alien Invasion
If you're a traitor with a penchant for the weird and are willing to play chicken with the RNG, then you're in for a fun time. Here's some possibilities:
The Rare Chemical Connoisseur
Some of the chemicals in pitchers and beakers are rare (or otherwise unobtainable!) and extremely powerful. You can go on a rampage while hopped up on booster enzyme and energy drink, poison the captain with painbow fluid and loose screws, and/or leave pills of argine all over maintenance. You can also harvest these types of chemicals from injectors and chemical bombs, but the process is a bit more difficult (and usually involves monkeys).
The Artifact Assassin
Many of the handheld artifacts make for fearsome combat tools. The simplest are melee weapons and guns, as they kill people dead (or just disable them to stop them fighting back). Additionally, elemental wands can cause an AoE ruckus from a distance, and telewands can get you anywhere you need to be. With a few strong handheld artifacts, you can be zipping across the station causing havoc.
The Science School Dropout
Artifact is catastrophically overloading? It's probably fine, you should hide it in maintenance. Found a borger? Just leave it in the halls, it's useful for people who want to become cyborgs! Activated an injector? Those chemicals are probably good for you- label it "Healer" and stick it at the entrance to medbay. If done well, it'll be impossible to tell you're a traitor at all, as most people will view science as a safety hazard by default. Remember- if security executes you for gross incompetence, you've already won.
Department Guides | |
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Engineering | Making and Breaking · Construction · Gas · Power Grid · Thermoelectric Generator · Singularity Generator · Geothermal Generator · Catalytic Generator · Nuclear Generator · Mining · Materials and Crafting · Wiring · Hacking · MechComp · Mechanic components and you · Control Unit · Ruckingenur Kit · Reactor Statistics Computer · Cargo Crates |
Medsci | Doctoring · Genetics · Robotics · Telescience · Plasma Research · Artifact Research · Chemistry · Chemicals · ChemiCompiler · Decomposition |
Security | Security Officer · Contraband · Forensics · Space Law |
Service | Foods and Drinks · Botany · Writing · Piano Song Dump · Instruments |
The AI | Artificial Intelligence · AI Laws · Chain of Command · Guide to AI · Humans and Nonhumans · Killing the AI |
Computers | Computers · TermOS · ThinkDOS · Packets |