Adjust Faculty of Archaeostudies, especially for Remnants Origin

[Psilent Knight]

I have always really loved the Remnants origin from a flavor perspective, and was really excited when I learned about the new Archeostudies focus being added to make the origin even more interesting!

But the balance numbers-wise has just ended up a fair bit off, which is really disappointing since adding something new like this should make it feel like a stronger origin not weaker. You shouldn't be incentivized to tear down your starting Faculty of Archeostudies because of it's enormous upkeep and the Archeo-Engineer job being worth only half a normal researcher for the most important technologies (Engineering and Physics). The trickle of artifacts is nice, but doesn't make up for the huge increase on artifact use costs, which makes clearing blockers way more expensive overall.

There seem to be a few possible solutions, but reducing the upkeep on the Archeostudies building from -20 to -10 seems like the simplest place to start. It's a pretty big outlier in terms of energy upkeep compared to other buildings, and it doesn't make much sense that it should require more upkeep than an entire System-Capital Complex or Imperial Palace which are only -10 energy.

Other possible changes that would go a long way to making Remnants feel at least as good as it was before (and hopefully a tiny bit closer to some of the other newer origins that are both fun and strong like Teachers of the Shroud, Overtuned, Imperial Fiefdom, Progenitor Hive, etc.):

• Increase the research output of Arachaeo-Engineers (from 2/2/5 to 3/3/5 at least)
• Increase the artifact output of Archaeo-Engineers on relic worlds (from 0.3 to 0.6, maybe even 1 considering the huge increase in Artifact use cost)
• Increase the artifacts gained from clearing Ruined Arcologies, or decrease the cost to clear them.
• Increase the size of the Remnants Homeworld from 22 to 25 (other origins had their Homeworld size increased from 16-18 to 18-21 a few patches back, but not Remnants, and other origins like Life Seeded and Ocean Paradise were made even bigger at size 30.)
  

Not all of those changes necessarily need done together, but even if all of those changes went through, I think Remnants still wouldn't be as strong of a start as the current top tier Origin picks. There's not much risk of any combination of these changes making Remnants feel overpowered, and for other empires getting the Faculty of Archeostudies, it would definitely make the building feel a bit more appealing to build, but it wouldn't really make that huge of a difference overall by the time they get one since it's limited to one per empire and they'll have plenty of other researchers and possibly dig sites for artifacts by then. This kind of balance tuning really only makes a huge impact when it's there from the very beginning due to how snowballing works, especially since it's replacing a starting Research Lab for Remnants. But right now combined with the Artifact use cost changes it has made a pretty big impact, so I hope the numbers will be adjusted a bit to make Remnants feel even more exciting compared to where it was before rather than feeling stealth nerfed.

 

[BamBamtheDestroyer]

Ahem..

One thing that people seem to be forgetting was that the sale of minor relics was OP for FOREVER.. and grossly so. If I chose to hold on to my minor artifacts or use them for edicts or decisions rather than sell them, I would be severely disadvantaged. This is a well deserved nerf-bat hit. Now, all they need to do is patch that OP Crime Lord deal (+10 stability for selling out to criminals? Please) and most of the blatantly busted mechanics will be patched out.

The upkeep of the archeostudies facility is to offset the gains of selling minor artifacts. You can still sell, but you aren't going to float your early-game economy with them like some used to. That said, if my empire gets big, minor artifacts are in a weird middle ground: I don't generate enough to outfit my ships-in a competitive war, I will run out. I will run out and run out quickly. However, if I don't use them for ships, I make too much to simply use for their edicts and structures. But all things considered I view the update to minor artifacts very favorably. The archeostructures are wonderful.

That said.. the Remnants origin is one of my favorites and the energy upkeep is a bit heavy hitting at the beginning. The free-ish techs from blockers are very strong early game, and the easy ecumenopolis is very strong late game. I do not think planet size will help that much- Life Seeded is size 30 and I still view it as one of the most challenging origins. If Life Seeded were size 40 I would still view it as one of the most challenging origins. Strength in Stellaris is from early game snowballing and planet size is a mid to late game problem. Best change to early game would be to reduce that upkeep. If it were, say, 15 energy but only for Remnants origin, the change would be substantial. Five energy is no joke at game start. Another power boost would be to get the archeotech ascension perk for free, similar to how Teachers of the Shroud get Mind over Matter for free. That would be useful, but not OP.

 

[Psilent Knight]

The sale of minor relics was very useful, but I don't think it has ever really been considered OP by the community compared to the many more powerful mechanics and advantages provided to other origins. I actually agree that it should be preferable to use minor artifacts for things besides just selling them most of the time, but I feel that would be better served by adjusting the cost and benefit of the other uses/decisions/edicts for relics to be more profitable. That's why I didn't suggest reverting the change to the Sell Minor Artifacts decision itself, but rather increase the amount of artifacts provided by the Archaeostudies building and clearing Ruined Arcologies so that the Remnants origins early game isn't as nerfed but other uses of artifacts are still encouraged.

I do like the idea of getting the Archeotech ascension perk for free similar to Teachers of the Shroud, as many later Archaeotechs pretty much require it to be effective.