I like that we are having this discussion of what do Artifacts really bring to the table.
I think there's a few things:
- Flavor. It's not always true (looking at you
Genitronic Replicator for example.). But these is something about earning an artifact that has a flavor appeal, and that was one of the disappointments in 2E for me.
- Cost #1: Seed slot. In a world where the seed phase has so many possible things, it's easy to forget the basic tension that artifacts ha as a cost. You had to choose between advancing your game plan, or slowing the opponent. I could see an alternate world where artifacts had a variable cost of more then 1 seed card, really increasing that tension.
- Another big up and downside in one was that you were able to disguise your self seeds
- adding risk. When I seed Defend Homeward, I get a guaranteed personnel. Cool. When I seed Betazoid Gift Box, I get to "download" any 3 cards to hand, but there's an added tension because my opponent could not just steal the mission, but the artifact. That adds more decision points for both players. DO you rush to try and get the artifact before you are prepared? Do you put your strongest dilemmas there to block access to the artifact, or weaker ones so you can steal it?
For good and bad, this no longer really exists with most missions being unsealable by rule. I won't claim that I want mission stealing to come back, but I do think it's worth highlighting that there was some modicum of depth lost when this was basically removed from the game.
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Now, from a design standpoint, I would want acquiring and using an artifact to be a moment that the game has a clear before and after point.
Not even just from a win more standpoint - Ensign Q has a good point there.
But something that changes the basic rule structure of the game. Persistence of Memory is the one that comes to mind.
Imagine something that when acquired changes the span of every mission to 5, or adds a staffing requirement to all ships, etc.
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I don't know that artifacts have a great place in the current game. And in many ways the game is at the best it's been in a long time. But I'm not sure that there's not something that was lost in that original gameplay loop.