Artifacts: The Good, The Bad, and The Broken

[Vanhal]

Monastic society actually was arguably better,

I did not know that actually, i barely even played catholics.

made a newly crowned ruler a literal god on earth.

On the other hand, it would be nice for vassals to not start civil war every time at succession.

 

[x4077]

But the big problem wasn't individual artifacts, it was that they stacked. So that within a few generations every player had accumulated a zillion random bonuses that made a newly crowned ruler a literal god on earth.

I agree with the fact that modifiers stack linearly and have repeatedly said that this should be changed throughout the game to limit the ridiculous levels that stats are reaching. Either change the stacking of the modifiers or change the ranges for the bonuses to be non-linear so that better/worse stat you get the more it takes to get to the next increment.

 

[Nevars]

I agree with the fact that modifiers stack linearly and have repeatedly said that this should be changed throughout the game to limit the ridiculous levels that stats are reaching. Either change the stacking of the modifiers or change the ranges for the bonuses to be non-linear so that better/worse stat you get the more it takes to get to the next increment.

I think the upcoming artifact in ck3 already solve the problem of stacking untold amount of passive modifier with the fact that all artifacts will need to be equiped to get their bonus at all, unlike in ck2 that a lot of artifact passively increase your stats by simply existing in your vault.

So the amount of stacking passive bonus will be limited to simply amount of artifact slot that you can equip instead of uncapped bonus.

They will also have maintainance cost though I wouldn't get my hope up for the cost to be anything other than a bit of annoyance.

Also iirc dev said that artifact will usually only boost your prestige or something similar, not outright boost your stats.

We will have to see, let's hope it's better than in ck2.

 

[Torredebelem]

I agree with the fact that modifiers stack linearly and have repeatedly said that this should be changed throughout the game to limit the ridiculous levels that stats are reaching. Either change the stacking of the modifiers or change the ranges for the bonuses to be non-linear so that better/worse stat you get the more it takes to get to the next increment.

Regarding bonuses I think they should not stack. Only the the best bonus from all owned artifacts should affect the character. I feel this is elegant in terms of design and would solve the problem of stackable modifiers to all sort of things.

 

[x4077]

I think the upcoming artifact in ck3 already solve the problem of stacking untold amount of passive modifier with the fact that all artifacts will need to be equiped to get their bonus at all, unlike in ck2 that a lot of artifact passively increase your stats by simply existing in your vault.

This maybe true for the stacking bonuses coming from artifacts, but doesn't change the additive stacking of existing modifiers via perks/lifestyle bonuses/legacies/event modifiers.

So the amount of stacking passive bonus will be limited to simply amount of artifact slot that you can equip instead of uncapped bonus.

I would love to see something similar applied for other modifiers as well, such as only the top three modifiers to a stat apply. That would tend to limit the high and low ends of the stat distribution for all characters.

They will also have maintainance cost though I wouldn't get my hope up for the cost to be anything other than a bit of annoyance.

This is true as well, since gold tends to become plentiful as you move further into the game. Technically artifacts in CK2 had a maintenance cost as well, as there was a random chance of the 'pay massive chunk of gold or this artifact gets destroyed' event occurring on succession when an artifact was involved, but for the most part it was exactly as you described it above - an annoyance.

Also iirc dev said that artifact will usually only boost your prestige or something similar, not outright boost your stats.

For me that would mean that artifacts would be pretty much useless, as it is already too easy to get prestige in the game. If the game had more sinks to spend prestige/piety/etc then maybe I would feel differently. Hopefully they will find other ways to make the artifacts useful but not overpowering. Limited lifespan ( either through wear of the item or diminished impact over time ) would be another way.

 

[Torredebelem]

This maybe true for the stacking bonuses coming from artifacts, but doesn't change the additive stacking of existing modifiers via perks/lifestyle bonuses/legacies/event modifiers.

This is another aspect of the can of worms that is game balance in CK3 which artifacts compound.

One needs to go at the very least through all the perks, lifestyle bonuses, technologies and legacies reducing the bonuses each one gives - or totally changing them in some cases, for instance in the bonus to minimum demesne size - in order to have a balanced experience across the whole game timeline.