'Hidden antiquities' ?

Barcelonic

Chieftain
Joined
Jul 19, 2011
Messages
67
Anyone noticed where it tells you how many antiquity sites are left to find, it also tells you how many hidden ones remain?

What are the hidden ones all about and how can I find them?

Thanks :)
 
Complete the exploration policy tree to reveal them, aside from that they're functionally identical to standard antiquity sites (though I think they take longer to excavate)
 
The hidden antiquities can only be seen by players who completed the "Exploration" (or whatever it's called in English, I'm translating from the French version here) policy tree.
 
You can find how many archaeologist sites are available from the bottom of the Culture views. Hidden one show up with a light blue colouration on the resource icon for it - turn on Resources display on the main map. I did not noticed if they need more time to excavate, but it might be 1 more turn.

Interestingly, while the normal sites relate to history in the game, the hidden ones seem to have been created independent of history. So I found some Almaty beads in one in the middle of my civ, while Almaty is on the other side of the world. And next to Genoa, I found a Razed city, created by Venice and destroyed by Genoa, which results in a Genoese (or Venetian) pottery artefact.
 
Chris, actually the normal sites have similar oddities as well. I had medieval crossbow bolts from a battle between me and Hong Kong (whom I hadn't even met, they weren't anywhere near the site!)
 
Chris, actually the normal sites have similar oddities as well. I had medieval crossbow bolts from a battle between me and Hong Kong (whom I hadn't even met, they weren't anywhere near the site!)

those are fake artifacts archeologists create by themselves :)
like cardiff giant or piltdown man
 
those are fake artifacts archeologists create by themselves :)
like cardiff giant or piltdown man

Hehe, a fun and plausible theory.

I can only imagine that archaeologist's reaction when my nation found out that there actually was a place called Hong Kong!
 
Complete the exploration policy tree to reveal them, aside from that they're functionally identical to standard antiquity sites (though I think they take longer to excavate)


they don't take longer, per say ... I think what matters is if they have a previous tile improvement or swamp or something that needs to get cleared first. I have this with normal & hidden tiles.

Or maybe its just random ? at least that's what I observed. Often hard to tell if something is underneath it.
 
Interestingly, while the normal sites relate to history in the game, the hidden ones seem to have been created independent of history. So I found some Almaty beads in one in the middle of my civ, while Almaty is on the other side of the world. And next to Genoa, I found a Razed city, created by Venice and destroyed by Genoa, which results in a Genoese (or Venetian) pottery artefact.

Hm, that's not been my experience. I've dug several hidden antiquity sites: one was where I razed Heliopolis to the ground. Another was the site of a battle, both gave me the appropriate Egypt artifacts (the first actually let me choose between my civ or Egypt for the artifact). That's probably similar to what you found at that Genoese city.
 
they don't take longer, per say ... I think what matters is if they have a previous tile improvement or swamp or something that needs to get cleared first. I have this with normal & hidden tiles.

Or maybe its just random ? at least that's what I observed. Often hard to tell if something is underneath it.
Yeah, they have to remove any tile improvements before they can set up the dig site. Just hope you didn't put down anything important there. :D
 
Yeah, they have to remove any tile improvements before they can set up the dig site. Just hope you didn't put down anything important there. :D

Yeah... last time I got a Holy Site above some Barbarian Coins... (I did remove the Holy Site, felt quite fun when I picked up only some coins haha)
 
Interestingly, while the normal sites relate to history in the game, the hidden ones seem to have been created independent of history. So I found some Almaty beads in one in the middle of my civ, while Almaty is on the other side of the world. And next to Genoa, I found a Razed city, created by Venice and destroyed by Genoa, which results in a Genoese (or Venetian) pottery artefact.

Given this, I'd really like them to be special artifacts representing historic artifacts in the game.
 
Interestingly, while the normal sites relate to history in the game, the hidden ones seem to have been created independent of history. So I found some Almaty beads in one in the middle of my civ, while Almaty is on the other side of the world. And next to Genoa, I found a Razed city, created by Venice and destroyed by Genoa, which results in a Genoese (or Venetian) pottery artefact.

I'm not saying it was aliens, but....

Firaxis probably thought it would be funny to have artifacts that were either inexplicable or likely hoaxes.
 
The reason the hidden ones seem a bit random is because they are designed to help you meet theming requirements in your culture buildings and Wonders. Otherwise the artifacts tend to be all from the barbarian/ancient ruins era and from the local civs.
 
I got artefact from tiny island ice on south pole.

It was battle from venice and CS. which I never go to south pole before.

is it Alien artefact? prove there are civilisation beyond the earth...
 
did not know that lol, thanks :)

one other thing though... I've run out of places to put artefacts and I still have sites & archeologists - what do I do?

it seems there are only so many buildings for 'art' pieces, which is where artefacts go

should I be avoiding archaeology for the most part if I am focusing on great people? Or is there a way I can get rid of artefacts I have already without trading it (just discard it I mean)?
Or even a way to move my archaeologist away and choose no reward if it says no room for artefacts ?

any ideas on this please guys...

thanks again everyone :)
 
Get more room. If you've got museums everywhere and all wonders built, then either get more cities or just stop archaeology and deal with it. Or take landmarks instead, if the place is decent.
 
Chris, actually the normal sites have similar oddities as well. I had medieval crossbow bolts from a battle between me and Hong Kong (whom I hadn't even met, they weren't anywhere near the site!)
Yeah, I had a normal site saying it was from a razed city formed by Ur (!?) except Ur was sitting in a different continent on the other side of the earth, and there had never been any city in that spot.

On the topic of the hidden sites, I thoroughly disappointed by the fact that you will receive a diplomatic penalty from digging them in foreign lands even though the land owner hasn't got the ability to see the hidden sites! This basically renders this ability useless, because what it gives you is ability to see a lot of sites, most of which you can't excavate. Duh. :rolleyes:
 
If you run out of slots for Artifacts and can't build more museums, just park as many units as you can on them to keep your rivals from getting them.

Here is a good order of operations for dealing with Artifacts:
1) park units on as many as you can
2) turn the ones in your territory into Landmarks
3) try to take at least one each from your rivals' territories. More if you don't mind ticking them off
4) try to clear our the area around your biggest rival first
5) if you have the Louvre, the hidden ones are the same priority as the regular ones, but if not, save the hidden ones for last.
 
I got a landmark on the north pole - I had to many digs going simultaneously and ran out of room.

Oh well.. nothing beats having a 'pointy thing' at the 'north pole' ;-)
 
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