Possible to dig the sites for some rare artefacts?

[Suckor]

Hey there!

For one of the achievements I "only" have to find more 6 artefacts. But as this are;
- skeletal hand
- prehistoric Scapula
- prehistoric tibia
- bone flute
- ancient sword
- golden relic

...I struggle to find them.
So, is there ANY possibilty to find them with a good chance?
Because ofc I looked into the wiki, where these artifacts can be found ( https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Artifacts ) ...but still, after digging around for ages I can't seem to find one of them.

So, my question is: is it possible to dig them out while there aren't any worms at the spot?
So e.g. I tried digging the whole Railroad area for the Tibia.

Or may fishing with the Treasue Hunter tackle be the better way? (At least, to get the Ancient Sword and Bone Flute.)

[Oh, and I don't wanna use mods or so, get them in a "normal legal" way ;) ]

[Eneicia]

I think that digging where there are no worms is only good for clay, winter root, and snow yam.

Fishing is a great way to get the Sword and Flute, you will get a LOT of artifacts you have, I just sell them.

Winter is a great time for digging, you can see so many more worms than normal because they stand out much better.

[dalgo]

I've frequently found the golden relic in the desert.

[Suckor]

Originally posted by Eneicia:

I think that digging where there are no worms is only good for clay, winter root, and snow yam.

Winter is a great time for digging, you can see so many more worms than normal because they stand out much better.

Jeah, that was my impression too...got like 30 winter roots / snow yam and pretty much clay through digging in winter. (But I didn't find that many worms in winter...even with a "very lucky day" and an equipped rabbits toe.)

But well, then fishing it is... ^^

@dalgo: it has a 8% chance to dig it out - and still after around 20x times in the dessert I haven't found it :/

[Magistrella]

Originally posted by Suckor:

@dalgo: it has a 8% chance to dig it out - and still after around 20x times in the dessert I haven't found it :/

@20 tries with 8% chance you barely lost 3 50:50 chances. It's just rng and the 8% for the plate is probably the best you'll get. At least it's way higher then fishing for it.

If everything fails you can install the "artifacts in geodes" mod that adds all artifacts to omni-geodes.

I was sick of bad rng in year 5 and over 120 hours when i first played SDV and got the last 3 artifacts i needed this way myself.

No need to grind when it's just bad rng on that save as i had the artifacts on another farm but missed some i got with ease on the other *shrug*

For the main question without mods: You can fish or dig them up off worms. Some are really bad to get, like the flute with less then 1% chance to be dug up.

The rest, sadly, is just pure luck, so: GL getting what you miss x.x

[Zorlock Darksoul]

It might help to take the Tracker profession at Foraging lvl 10. In addition to revealing forageable items, it shows the locations of artifact spots. It saves time when checking for those rare artifacts that only show up in one area. If you've already hit Foraging lvl 10 and don't have Tracker, remember you can switch professions using the statue in the sewers. I did this in my last playthrough and finally got all the artifacts. It took some time (end of year 3, as I recall), but it definitely helped having Tracker.

[Suckor]

As said before, I don't want to use any mods - I'm trying to "maximise" my luck with normal strategies ^^" (Btw., do you know if the rabbit fot increases the chances of finding the artefacts?)
Also some artefacts like the golden relict can only be found in the dessert, therefore I have to look there :S

Originally posted by Zorlock Darksoul:

It might help to take the Tracker profession at Foraging lvl 10. In addition to revealing forageable items, it shows the locations of artifact spots. It saves time when checking for those rare artifacts that only show up in one area. If you've already hit Foraging lvl 10 and don't have Tracker, remember you can switch professions using the statue in the sewers. I did this in my last playthrough and finally got all the artifacts. It took some time (end of year 3, as I recall), but it definitely helped having Tracker.

Got every skill at level 10 and didn't get tracker - but yeah, reskilling might be a pretty good idea, thanks for the advice! (And atm I can spare the 10k gold...got my cellar maxed out with kegs and starfruit wine, and as the first ones will get iridium quality, I will get a sh*tton of gold...)
The tracking ability just saves (a lot of) time, right? Would be my assumption from watching that video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4rapMT7qD0
Tracker works for the current "area", right? So e.g. if I am in the forrest, it will show any worms in this area, but ofc not in other nearby areas (like the city or my farm).

[josseriot]

Use fishing on the artifacts that can be found via fishing (sword and flute) for sure. Far easier than running around hoping for a dig site, plus you get fish you can sell or use, and other treasure/materials.

All the others are just luck. Sorry. I'm running around my 6th playthrough trying to find the Chipped Amphora which is the only one I'm missing in this playthrough, and it stinks. In past playthroughs where I was down to one impossible-to-find piece, I just gave up Hundreds of hours of playing and I still haven't gotten this achievement (and the Stardrop achievement that is dependent on it). There always seems to be one or two that just eludes me in any given playthrough and it's not always the same one. Absolutely maddening.

AFAIK, installing mods will prevent you from earning Steam achievements so don't do that if you are trying to get the achievement.

[Zorlock Darksoul]

Originally posted by Suckor:

Tracker works for the current "area", right? So e.g. if I am in the forrest, it will show any worms in this area, but ofc not in other nearby areas (like the city or my farm).

Correct. The arrows will appear on the edge of the screen, pointing toward any forageables in that area only. If you go to a different area, new arrows will appear, and the ones from the previous screen vanish.

[Suckor]

Alright, did the reskill (also reskilled fisher for higher chances of treasures). Let's hope that I will get those pesky artefacts fast...can't wait to reskill to Botanist, hate the "income loss" through normal/silber/gold items ^^"
(And overall tracker doesn't seem that helpfull to me, compared to Botanist.)

Originally posted by josseriot:

In past playthroughs where I was down to one impossible-to-find piece, I just gave up Hundreds of hours of playing and I still haven't gotten this achievement (and the Stardrop achievement that is dependent on it).

That's one of the few achievements I'm chasing after too ^^"

[Suckor]

_o_m_g_

...seems like opening this thread helped, found that damn skeleton hand :D
Your comments seemed to bring me luck ^^

Oh, and I got one question: is it wise to go into the desert every day? The last 2 days there weren't any worms or foragable items...is it better to wait e.g. a week and then visit the desert? Do foragable items and worms spawn after a time?

[Psylisa]

Originally posted by Suckor:

_o_m_g_

...seems like opening this thread helped, found that damn skeleton hand :D
Your comments seemed to bring me luck ^^

Oh, and I got one question: is it wise to go into the desert every day? The last 2 days there weren't any worms or foragable items...is it better to wait e.g. a week and then visit the desert? Do foragable items and worms spawn after a time?

You can always go to the desert, check for worms, then reset the day. Many people end up doing this, since some of the artifacts can only be found there.

[Zorlock Darksoul]

Originally posted by Suckor:

_o_m_g_

...seems like opening this thread helped, found that damn skeleton hand :D
Your comments seemed to bring me luck ^^

Oh, and I got one question: is it wise to go into the desert every day? The last 2 days there weren't any worms or foragable items...is it better to wait e.g. a week and then visit the desert? Do foragable items and worms spawn after a time?

Artifact spots have a chance to spawn every day, and if you don't dig up a particular spot on that day, it may remain the next day. So, you don't have to go every day; if you go every other day, you'll likely get the ones from the previous day, too.

[Suckor]

Perfect, then I'll go every second day and hope for the artefact, thanks! :)