The more I play BNW the less I like the current way artifacts are handled. Basically, a flat +2 tourism is not only boring, it's unrealistic and it also makes it so that there is very little incentive to build archaeologists (which are really expensive) unless you're going for a cultural victory. Right now, I basically build just enough inside my borders for the sites that are workable by a city to create landmarks. If I have extra hammers and don't care, I might also build a few to get a few artifacts, but I almost never go out of my way to find sites to dig anymore - the payoff isn't there.
I suggest the following changes - feel free to comment, of course
1) Make the artifact's stats variable. Not everyone will want to go pay money to see a pottery shard from the middle of nowhere, but everyone wants to see King Tut's headdress. The point is, artifacts are not all the same, and some are worth a lot more than others. It's not only more realistic for digs to come up with variable values, it's also more fun. Balance of course is an issue, but that shouldn't be too hard to work out.
2) Attach some other attributes to some dig results. Instead of always giving some tourism, some digs maybe can give faith, others culture, maybe others science. It doesn't have to be a big boost. Maybe to balance out the variable tourism, some artifacts can give you +3 faith and +1 tourism, or something. The point is, we all recognize that different artifacts have different values/attributes in real life, so it's really silly for them all be exactly the same.
3) Make foreign/faraway artifacts worth more. This goes along with the problem a lot of people have with trading art/artifacts - it's a straight up trade and it's a bit silly. I guess right now there's a bit of this "worth more" worked into the tourism bonuses, but generally speaking the artifacts should reflect some sort of foreign/exotic premium. If you want me to send my archaeologist all the way around the world to dig, then it better be worth my time (instead of just digging right outside my borders for what is basically exactly the same thing).
4) Maybe have digs that will come up empty - yup, that's right. Not all digs will work out, surprise surprise. In those cases, have the archaeologist stay in the game instead of disappear, and he can go dig somewhere else. Archaeology is a lot of guesswork and takes some luck. It will, again, make this part of the game a bit more meaningful and interesting.
5) When digging up foreign artifact belonging to another civ, have the option to give it to them for diplo bonuses. Kinda like how you return a worker. It's only fair.
6) This might be too much coding change, but maybe have the ability to organize exhibitions beyond the current tourism bonus system. I mean, if I have 8 artifacts that are all warfare related, right now if the era/civ don't work out I might not get many bonsues at all, when in real life such a collection may be worth a lot as a group for an exhibition. I don't know if this is possible, but it's an idea.
Basically - I hope to see artifacts/digs expanded in a way so that even when you're going to science/diplo/military victory you might still see very good reasons to go digging. Right now I find myself pretty happy with +100 to 200 tourism per turn - enough to keep myself up with the others, and no more, because the investment of hammers is very high (just when I need to ramp up and build all kinds of stuff - factories, units, planes, research labs, not to mention museums). If they can make the artifacts worth more to people pursuing other types of victories then it might be more interesting as a game mechanic.
I suggest the following changes - feel free to comment, of course
1) Make the artifact's stats variable. Not everyone will want to go pay money to see a pottery shard from the middle of nowhere, but everyone wants to see King Tut's headdress. The point is, artifacts are not all the same, and some are worth a lot more than others. It's not only more realistic for digs to come up with variable values, it's also more fun. Balance of course is an issue, but that shouldn't be too hard to work out.
2) Attach some other attributes to some dig results. Instead of always giving some tourism, some digs maybe can give faith, others culture, maybe others science. It doesn't have to be a big boost. Maybe to balance out the variable tourism, some artifacts can give you +3 faith and +1 tourism, or something. The point is, we all recognize that different artifacts have different values/attributes in real life, so it's really silly for them all be exactly the same.
3) Make foreign/faraway artifacts worth more. This goes along with the problem a lot of people have with trading art/artifacts - it's a straight up trade and it's a bit silly. I guess right now there's a bit of this "worth more" worked into the tourism bonuses, but generally speaking the artifacts should reflect some sort of foreign/exotic premium. If you want me to send my archaeologist all the way around the world to dig, then it better be worth my time (instead of just digging right outside my borders for what is basically exactly the same thing).
4) Maybe have digs that will come up empty - yup, that's right. Not all digs will work out, surprise surprise. In those cases, have the archaeologist stay in the game instead of disappear, and he can go dig somewhere else. Archaeology is a lot of guesswork and takes some luck. It will, again, make this part of the game a bit more meaningful and interesting.
5) When digging up foreign artifact belonging to another civ, have the option to give it to them for diplo bonuses. Kinda like how you return a worker. It's only fair.
6) This might be too much coding change, but maybe have the ability to organize exhibitions beyond the current tourism bonus system. I mean, if I have 8 artifacts that are all warfare related, right now if the era/civ don't work out I might not get many bonsues at all, when in real life such a collection may be worth a lot as a group for an exhibition. I don't know if this is possible, but it's an idea.
Basically - I hope to see artifacts/digs expanded in a way so that even when you're going to science/diplo/military victory you might still see very good reasons to go digging. Right now I find myself pretty happy with +100 to 200 tourism per turn - enough to keep myself up with the others, and no more, because the investment of hammers is very high (just when I need to ramp up and build all kinds of stuff - factories, units, planes, research labs, not to mention museums). If they can make the artifacts worth more to people pursuing other types of victories then it might be more interesting as a game mechanic.
