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BYOND Username: MrMagolor
I was thinking about artifact research and how it has no real point besides the artifacts themselves. Well, I realized a way that you can send "artifact reports" to NT, in exchange for... something or other idk
It would work like "The Return of the Obra Dinn". You would load an artifact into some special machine. Then you would need to select its function, as well as what stimulus activates it, if applicable. The report would be filed in Nanotrasen Databases and the artifact might also be sent to a museum. The rarer the artifact, the better the reward (because if you are teleporting it to NT, you're denying yourself the ability to use it).
Possible rewards:
Science budget money: if the sent artifact has a barcode on it with account tracking, the barcode-holder gets half as with cargo money.
An R&D system to create items from observed artifact properties (would be too much a hassle to code)
Doodads: like arcade prizes, only more useful
On a related note, it would be nice if you could buy extra artifacts like pathology can buy new samples. They would be very expensive (more than vurdalak), so the reward would probably need to be science budget.
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BYOND Username: Sovexe
I like ideas that add depth to artifact lab
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BYOND Username: Recusor
It might be fun to reward accuracy. If you submit an inaccurate report you could get word that X people were hurt or killed and as such budget is deducted, as an idea.
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BYOND Username: Wisecrack34
Character Name: Ereven Nailo
Like in Payday, the people killed by the artifact is taken off as payment to their families in order to fend off lawsuits. Why would NT give so little money to a victim's family? This is a question that nobody would ever need to ask out loud.
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BYOND Username: AwkwardDryad
I *love* this idea 
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BYOND Username: Aft2001
This is actually pretty interesting. I like it!
Perhaps it should also be possible to buy artifacts from 'Trasen for relatively cheap, but if you activate, identify, and return it, then you can make a profit!
But at the very least, I'd very much so like to see the ability to stuff an artifact into a big wooden crate, slap a printout describing its properties onto said crate, then either teleporting it off-station or giving it to Cargo to ship.
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BYOND Username: CyberTripping
Character Name: Casey Batts
selling an armed timebomb to nanotrasen for fun and profit
this is good and actually gives nonantag artifact scientists something to do beyond "find a good healing artifact, mail cells and seeds to appropriate departments"
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BYOND Username: Recusor
03-28-2019, 04:46 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-28-2019, 04:47 AM by Recusor. Edited 1 time in total.)
To the point of buying, identifying and selling back, it would be neat if the process had risk gradients for purchasing perhaps that could effect the reward payout. That might make it too easy to find and KEEP awesome artifacts.. but would that really be a problem?
It might be worth mentioning that I know some people that were active with the Map making discord channel had some really interesting artifact interactions that they were playing with. Not sure their own thoughts on implementation so thats all I will say about it.
Maybe we could look into more risky artifact procedures. one that happens to release 1000u of liquid or gaseous plasma? Now you pretty much NEED to use the reinforced testing chamber for these guys. Might take away from using the dedicated equipment in the Art lab, but worth the hassle for the payout? Maybe artifacts could have one or more BAD interactions that are dangerous, and one positive one?
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Certain artifacts can already be quite dangerous when activated; there are a few that spew out hot or cold air, for example, and the hot ones can definitely get warm enough to start the whole "burning your lungs" thing.
The main problem I see arising from this is that you'd also have to provide a list of every possible type of artifact to choose from if you wanted to have a report based on accuracy of the identification. Not a huge issue since the wiki has a list, but a little strange.
Maybe some other ideas could be artifact identification? If you can manage to activate and correctly identify an artifact, there should be a way to convert it from "weird looking thing! You have no idea what this thing is!" to a more representative name and description, possibly with a better explanation of what it is, like "Precursor artifact (Prison) - Containment time 134 seconds" or "Martian artifact (watering can) - Capacity 1940 units"
You can kind of get there already with a label maker, though, too...
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BYOND Username: Camnui
Honestly just a more consistent way to get artifacts in general would be nice, being able to sell activated and identified ones back to NT for a profit would just be a bonus.
You start with two, and then you're at the mercy of mining/cargo/and sometimes telecsci as to if you even get anymore. Unless you're trying to go on a crazy expedition or something.
Maybe a computer like the cargo barcode computer that spits out labels that say 'this is X-Y-Z' with the type, the effect/use, and any tertiary traits being left up to the player to describe.
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Finally, something useful to do with noisemaker artifacts (other than hiding them near a department you hate that round).
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BYOND Username: MrMagolor
(03-28-2019, 03:38 AM)aft2001 Wrote: This is actually pretty interesting. I like it!
Perhaps it should also be possible to buy artifacts from 'Trasen for relatively cheap, but if you activate, identify, and return it, then you can make a profit!
But at the very least, I'd very much so like to see the ability to stuff an artifact into a big wooden crate, slap a printout describing its properties onto said crate, then either teleporting it off-station or giving it to Cargo to ship.
For some reason that reminds me of IVAN, where if you try to sell an armed grenade, the shopkeeper says it's armed and won't buy it
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BYOND Username: The Grim Sleeper
I'd like to raise another bonus to 'Selling ID-ed artifacts': it gets the stupid tile-sized artifacts out of the Artifact lab.
(03-28-2019, 10:10 AM)Zamujasa Wrote: The main problem I see arising from this is that you'd also have to provide a list of every possible type of artifact to choose from if you wanted to have a report based on accuracy of the identification. Not a huge issue since the wiki has a list, but a little strange. In my experience, the wiki list is far from accurate. This listing would greatly improve the wiki, and I think that that is a good thing.
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BYOND Username: MrMagolor
(04-06-2019, 01:58 AM)The Grim Sleeper Wrote: I'd like to raise another bonus to 'Selling ID-ed artifacts': it gets the stupid tile-sized artifacts out of the Artifact lab.
(03-28-2019, 10:10 AM)Zamujasa Wrote: The main problem I see arising from this is that you'd also have to provide a list of every possible type of artifact to choose from if you wanted to have a report based on accuracy of the identification. Not a huge issue since the wiki has a list, but a little strange. In my experience, the wiki list is far from accurate. This listing would greatly improve the wiki, and I think that that is a good thing.
I'm just thinking a general definition, like: "Power generator - activated by heat"
The origin wouldn't be necessary, since it's incredibly obvious from a glance anyways.
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