Is searching for artifacts cost-effective?

from Sins Forums

I've never seen much discussion about this, but I'm assuming the answer is no.  Unless you already know where one is, there seems to be a very low chance of actually striking it lucky, at a relatively high cost.  There is certainly few resources to spare early on, and they become less valuable (in general) as the game goes along.

 

Does anyone else have any thoughts about this?  Is my reasoning wrong?

5,855 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

For the Advent it is. Two points in divination and with colonize from the progenitor its really cheap and at level 4 colonize(Which I don't recommend maxing) you can get them for free.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

It depends on a few things like:

How big/rich is your empire? the cost of searching for artifacts doesn't scale while the benefit does

How long is the game going to last? if the game is going to last another 30 min you have less time to reap the benefits than if the game is going to last another 10 hours

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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Hmm...

I wondered the same thing, but as described by Mayall, only really bother with the Advent because the same cost in resources you deplete searching a planet can instead be spent on improving or fortifying it. It seems a little unbalanced, actually, I think the other races should simply pay less in the first place so the exploration actually gets done. But to address your question, generally only at worlds you already have a defense over (obvious reasoning: if you do find something, everyone else knows where, and will take it from you otherwise) and if a) it's early-to-mid game, b) for whatever reason you have excess resources that can't be effectively used in key research or ship production. Otherwise, I really don't bother- I get told by the game another faction has one, so I steal it.