Questions about some mechanics

[Rose]

Greetings,
I have some questions about mechanics of few artifacts and about black holes.
First thing I would love to know is:
If I have "some" artifacts in my cargo bay or either I use at this moment artifact, is there a better chance to get different artifact as it is working with micromodules store on rangers center? Same story is about completing missions or liberating systems. I experienced getting second copy of the same artifact with different cost and weight. Rarely, but it happens.
Secondly:
How exactly works Transfactorial Beacon? I mean I want to know since how many energy points I need to have in order to summon other dominators' classes than Kelleroids.
Third one is:
Blast Wave Localizer gives player a better drop from destroyed ship, right? Is it working the same way in black holes? I mean, I understand the loot is dependent on how many opponents we destroy in black holes. But is this artefact affects hyperspace too?
Fourth:
What does mean "Luck" in difficulty level. I mean, my accuse is the probability of being attacked by Keller the system I am already, but not exactly sure about it.
Fifth and probably last one (maybe I will ask some more in near future ;) ):
Artifactor enables player to use more artifacts and upgrades some other "weaker" artifacts (I understand, that word "weaker" is not exactly accurate one). How does that work exactly?
I hope, I'll see some answers to those questions. I know that Russian community knows this game way better than people who don't really talk this language and have trouble to read Russian community. ;)
Sincerely,
Rose

[ZumZoom]

Hello.
Not a big expert on hardcore game mechanics, also they have changed a little with later patches, but I'll try to answer to best of my knowledge.
1. I know that the artifacts are not random - they are "equipped" by the enemy ships, and you get the loot from the last ship that you destroy in black hole battle, so you can save/load to see which ship has which artifact, also you can see it right away if you have Scanner cache (if I'm not mistaken) equipped - not sure about that artifacts name in english.
2. Never used Transfactor beacon tactics, but I played with it some and can say that it definitely calls others if it has 1000 charge.
3. Localizer doesn't work in black holes.
4. Luck changes the chances of getiing the diseases, critical failures of some equipment, other than that I'm not sure.
5. Never used much of Artifactor, but from what I remember it allows some artifacts to work while they are in cargo and not equipped, but to a limited effect - I think it's Scanner cache, also the one that increases radar strength, and Probability analizer.

[Abaduaber]

1. Black hole artifacts. Firstly I'll explain how black holes generated drop-artifacts before release of one patch. It was 2-3 years ago I think when it was patched. So, there was a time, when black hole artifact drop was generated with a rule: you can't get artifact if you already have the same one in your cargo bay. So, basically that's was a ticket to generate any artifact you want, if you already have all of them in your cargo bay. Just remove one you need and you'll get it from black hole with almost 100% probability. And now, after the patch, it's not working anymore, but rules has been fixed just slightly. I don't know exact mechanics that is used nowadays to generate black hole artifacts, but it still tracks artifacts you have in your cargo bay + artifacts already equipped on your ship.
2. The more it has - generally the better, but I don't know exact amout so far. I belive people will answer in time :)
3. No, BWL has not any effect in black holes at all. Loot in black holes always determinated by the last enemy you kill. Actually loot it generated when you start the black hole, so it's only depends on which enemy ships dies last. You can fly into black hole with scanner cache and probability analyzer artifacts equipped (idk how they translated into English, but hope you'll got the point) and you'll see icons of all enemy ships and artifact it will drop if died last, if it has any.
4. Well, it's a hard question. In short: length of stimulators (on medical centres), amount of "battle software" which is given by warbases, experience by completing quests, prices of fuel and some dominators loot, probes, micromodules, chances to get some illness, max boss HP (blazer, terron etc) and many more things.
5. Basically it enables all 4 slots for artifacts if your ship has 3 or less. And takes repair droid slot as well. But most useful feature it has is that it enables extended features of some artifacts right from the cargo bay: bioworld, prob. analyzer, scanner cache and maybe something else. So, for example, with equipped artifactor prob. analyzer and scanner cache will show you drop in black holes and value of things that unhabitated planets has, even if those two artifacts is not equipped in artifact slots.

[Rose]

Originally posted by ZumZoom:

Hello.
2. Never used Transfactor beacon tactics, but I played with it some and can say that it definitely calls others if it has 1000 charge.

Purely was asking about it because I'm attempting to get achievment with completing in less than 7 in game years. It seems possible considering having submodem on pirate bases and simple fight (on 50% dificulty) vs. Keller. I'm not actually joking, I managed to destroy Keller in June 3300 with just one missile launcher. ^^ It's that simple on that dificulty.

About every other answer, thank you so much for both of you. ^^

[ZumZoom]

Originally posted by Rose:

Purely was asking about it because I'm attempting to get achievment with completing in less than 7 in game years. It seems possible considering having submodem on pirate bases and simple fight (on 50% dificulty) vs. Keller. I'm not actually joking, I managed to destroy Keller in June 3300 with just one missile launcher. ^^ It's that simple on that dificulty.

About every other answer, thank you so much for both of you. ^^

You're welcome!
When did you destroy Keller so early (which version of the game)? He was changed recently, I think.
As for that achievement - I tried getting it in my last playthrough and failed.
All because the only two ways of destroying Keller is either getting the Science base program ready, OR be a Baron who chose to take control of pirate clan (not kill the general in the end), and thus you can choose an option when talking to defeated Keller - something along the lines of "I speak for a major power in the galaxy". I destroyed the pirates, so I had to wait several years for the science program.

[Purmurtail]

Greetings, Rose!

Exactly like ZumZoom said but with few remarks:

1. At first, game try to give you most of artifacts you don't have. But as time progress, it's possible to get a copy of the artifact you already have. Even if you carry this artifact with you, both equipped or as cargo.

Nevertheless, in case you got most of artifacts, try to equip Probability Analyzer + Scanner Cache and enter black hole. You can press pause button there (fn+pause on notebook). Try to drop random artifacts while in here, you'll see how enemy loot changes. And of course, you can collect everything you dropped back, nothing bad gonna happen.

2. How the beacon works: you'll need at least 400 energy points to summon other dominators's classes. But if you'll need only Kelleroids, 100 or 800 doesn't matter. The difference starts at 800-1000. I've made a detailed research of this.
If you'll kill Keller, the beacon won't summon Kelleroids anymore.

3. Nothing works in black hole, except hull hp, Junior Droid, Probability Analyzer and Scanner Cache. It's all.

4. Luck affects almost all the small aspects of the game (especially random ones):

- The cost of the submodem at the Pirate base;
- The size of artifacts you can find on planets;
- Duration of stimulators;
- Chances of getting sick;
- The number of points you can get or lose for your behavior (you can see it as message "At a recent session of the Galactic Council, the discussion was centered around ranger accomplishments. The Council decided to encourage the hero.." and etc.);
- The number of programs you'll get as reward at the Military Base;
- The amount of experience you'll get as reward for quests and planetary battles;
- The number of programs you'll get as quest reward;
- The cost of fuel;
- The cost of scraps (those that you can sell for double price at Science base);
- The cost of the probes;
- The cost of micromodules (cash value, not node value);
- The initial level of the player’s node account;
- A behavior of the dominators in the PB (the better the luck, the greater the chance that the dominators will fight among themselves, without touching the player)
- And some starting conditions as hull size and etc.

5. Artifactor adds +3 slots for artifacts and allows you to use basic features of Probability Analyzer, Scanner Cache, Bioworld and Prolonger without equipping them. But in this case, Probability Analyzer won't warn you about future assault of dominators/pirates. And Bioworld won't warn you that your character will get sick soon (if you'll equip Bioworld, you could see it as two yellow lines near portrait, green is ok and red means that char is already sick).

Nevertheless, max number of artifacts's slots is 4, so if you'll equip Artifactor on hull with 4 opened slots, it'll stay 4.

P.S. here's the days you can buy Submodem at pirate base:

24.10.3304, 23.11.3304, 28.11.3304, 05.12.3304, 24.01.3305, 03.02.3305, 27.02.3305, 15.03.3305, 12.06.3305, 18.06.3305, 19.06.3305, 08.08.3305, 08.10.3305, 21.10.3305, 25.10.3305, 26.10.3305, 31.10.3305, 10.12.3305, 29.01.3306, 11.04.3306, 18.04.3306, 23.04.3306, 29.05.3306, 16.07.3306, 28.07.3306, 23.08.3306, 17.09.3306, 22.09.3306, 26.09.3306, 27.12.3306, 04.01.3307, 02.02.3307, 25.02.3307, 06.04.3307, 29.04.3307, 06.05.3307, 05.07.3307, 08.07.3307, 12.08.3307, 22.08.3307, 06.09.3307, 26.11.3307, 23.12.3307, 26.12.3307, 30.12.3307, 29.01.3308, 19.03.3308, 16.04.3308, 16.05.3308, 22.05.3308, 17.07.3308, 10.08.3308, 15.09.3308, 18.09.3308, 25.10.3308, 30.10.3308, 02.11.3308, 24.01.3309, 27.01.3309, 29.03.3309, 06.04.3309, 02.06.3309, 06.06.3309, 12.06.3309, 12.07.3309, 01.08.3309, 06.09.3309, 04.10.3309, 09.11.3309, 15.11.3309, 08.01.3310, 18.02.3310.

Or well.. anytime after the last date : )

[Rose]

Oh my god.
Total respect from me, for THAT detailed information about those proper subjects.
I have another one. Saw somewhere in Russian community of Youtube (that was probably either Dandy or AspectusAcris) about proper dates of appearance some stims in Medical Center. Do you know some exact dates of them? I'm sorry, if I am mistaken, I don't really understand russian language (but I would like to at least being able to read so... Polish language sounds familiar, but the letters are so different :))) ).

[Purmurtail]

It seems those Youtube guys just don't know that they're talking about : )
I asked developer about this:

There is no exact dates for every year. Sequence of stimulators is random. Nevertheless, it's same for all Medical Centres and changes every 13 days. Some stimulators have a reduced chance to appear. You can just save, skip a turn and write down the sequence of stimulators for some time ahead, then load. Any events in the galaxy won't affect this.

[Rose]

Originally posted by Purmurtail:

It seems those Youtube guys just don't know that they're talking about : )
I asked developer about this:

There is no exact dates for every year. Sequence of stimulators is random. Nevertheless, it's same for all Medical Centres and changes every 13 days. Some stimulators have a reduced chance to appear. You can just save, skip a turn and write down the sequence of stimulators for some time ahead, then load. Any events in the galaxy won't affect this.

Oh, I might just misunderstood that. BUT I knew there is sort of algorithm of new stims. ^^
I'll check your videos out. Saw your video beating Keller with industrial lasers. That's sick! :)