do people know about upgrading fossils?

[4spryt]

I found a fossil at a ruin and did a quick google. The reddit said they were only good for selling and the wiki while more descriptive of types seemed to say the same thing; however...

I thought I'd try dropping it in one of those devices across from the tech vendors at the ship platforms (not the old ones, the new ones). It gave a book back that was the same value as the fossil; I didn't notice if it did anything else.

Since I had 2 other bases next to similar buildings I decided to do some quick porting to check prices. On the way I grabbed a couple of other things I'd found at ruins to see if the machine would accept them. The next machine I went to didn't want either of my other items, but it accepted the fossil again; this time the book it gave me back had doubled in value (its color going from purple to orange-ish).

This should really be in the wiki or on the reddit. ...if its not already (maybe i missed it somehow).

EDIT: so i just put it in the third machine and my item that started out worth 600K+ is now worth 2.2mil+. I wish I had some more bases at similar buildings =D

[Psyringe]

Yes. Archives can upgrade artifacts, that was introduced with Origins if I remember correctly.

It's known, but not used very often. Fiddling around with lots of individual artifacts can get tedious quickly. The archive swap is probably useful in the early game, when the difference between a 500k item and a 1m item still matters. But it's a very slow and limited way of making money (and also unrealiable since the new item might be worth less than the old one), and hence not very popular.

[4spryt]

Originally posted by Psyringe:

... But it's a very slow and limited way of making money (and also unrealiable since the new item might be worth less than the old one), and hence not very popular.

I guess I was just lucky that the three bases I built were near those types of trading hubs. It only took me a few minutes to change that first 600k fossil into a 2.2mil fossil.

Couple more questions if I may...

How many times can they be upgraded? Considering your point regarding loss of value, I don't think I will try upgrading my fossil any further since it seems to be close to the limits listed in the wiki (if i am understanding the tables right). But I have an 600k unearthed treasure I might try to boost so wondering how the value risk is defined. Hypothetically if I set up 20 bases near trade hubs with Archives could I upgrade an item 20 times?

Is there a quick way to tell which race or system economy will give me better prices for certain items or do I just have to jump/port to each system to check? So far the best I've found is +5%, it would be nice to find a system with at least +20% or more before selling but having these things in my cargo bay makes me a pirate magnet currently.

Thanks for help.

[Psyringe]

Not sure how much of that I can answer - I haven't done any extensive research on this feature, I just dabbled around a bit to understand how it works, and stopped when I realized that (in its current form) it's inferior to the money-generating strategies that I'm already using. But I'll try. :)

Originally posted by 4spryt:

How many times can they be upgraded?

Not sure. In any case you'll probably reach a value ceiling at around 2.2m. So even if there's no technical limit to the number of times you can upgrade (which I have not tested and do not know), there's a point from where further upgrade attempts don't make sense because the item's value is already close to the maximum.

Originally posted by 4spryt:

Considering your point regarding loss of value, I don't think I will try upgrading my fossil any further since it seems to be close to the limits listed in the wiki (if i am understanding the tables right).

Yes. I mean, you could do it "for science" to test if our understanding of the system is correct. Or to find out if there is perhaps a chance to get mega-valuable items through this system, which could theoretically be possible, we won't know for sure until someone runs extensive tests. But I expect the item to most likely lose value at this point, and you may want to keep that value for yourself. :)

Originally posted by 4spryt:

But I have an 600k unearthed treasure I might try to boost so wondering how the value risk is defined. Hypothetically if I set up 20 bases near trade hubs with Archives could I upgrade an item 20 times?

I'm not aware of anyone who tried that. The main issue is - if you put that much effort into upgrading artifacts, you could alternatively put less effort into other strategies and still make more money.

The risk of losing value _might_ be bigger if an item is already at the higher end of its rarity group. If the game first determines whether the rarity will be upgraded (e.g. item with purple background becomes item with gold background), and _then_ assigns a monetary value in the range of the chosen rarity group, then an item that is already at the max value for its group has nothing to gain unless it gets put into a higher rarity group, which won't always be the case. But this is pure speculation. It would require extensive testing to find out more, but I'm skeptical if it's worth the effort.

The main issue that I have with the artifacts is that their max value is very low compared to other means of making money, and that they take up a lot of inventory space if you want to use them on a bigger scale. I can make much more money by just visiting an ActIndium mine once a day, or by crafting stasis devices or fusion ignitors. And I find those much more manageable. I mean, a stack of 10 stasis devices has a raw value of 156m units. In a single inventory slot. And whenever I need money, I just sell a couple stacks for a billion units. So why would I go through the effort of manually collecting, managing, and upgrading artifacts that can have a max value of 2.5m units per inventory slot _if_ I'm lucky? That's pocket change.

But as I said, in the beginning of the game, when you don't yet have the means to set up an ActIndium farm or go big into crafting, artifact upgrades may be worthwhile. Though personally I'd still prefer to just trade commodities between wealthy systems, which I would expect to yield a bit more money with considerably less hassle. And it can be done with almost no start capital.

Originally posted by 4spryt:

Is there a quick way to tell which race or system economy will give me better prices for certain items or do I just have to jump/port to each system to check? So far the best I've found is +5%, it would be nice to find a system with at least +20% or more before selling but having these things in my cargo bay makes me a pirate magnet currently.

If you have an economy scanner installed on your starship, you can see how strong a system's economy is (in three stages), and you also get percentages for "selling" and "buying". However, these values never correspond to the actual prices that I find on these stations - I'm not sure if they are averages, maxima, or if they only refer to trade commodities and not to other items. I always meant to take a closer look at that, but then again, I'm already making more money than I can reasonably spend, so my incentive for doing so is low. ;)

[4spryt]

Thanks for that in depth answer.

I'll just consider myself lucky for what occurred and move on. I'd much rather be making that 156 mil thing you mentioned. =)

It's really to bad there isn't something more attached to this "archaeology" system. It would be nice if it unlocked lore, titles, or even some sort of decoration for our bases.

[Psyringe]

Originally posted by 4spryt:

I'd much rather be making that 156 mil thing you mentioned. =)

Be aware that this is rather elaborate to set up, and requires some continuous effort to keep going. Active Indium mines practically print money without any effort from the player, after they have been set up. But crafting stasis devices and fusion ignitors _is_ very lucrative if you don't mind the effort. If you're interested, there are probably guides that explain the process. :)

[Sugam]

Did it just for the novelty but seeing its easy to make a 100mill in the first day of playing a new account once you know NMS. I do not think this studio even knows, let alone play; their own game.