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# System prepended metadata

title: Artifact Reticulator

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# Artifact Reticulator

## About
The artifact reticulator is a machine found in artlab you can use to break down researched artifacts for spendable points. Points can be used to manipulate existing artifacts, create new artifact technologies, or upgrade capabilities of existing items

It works under the idea that when artifacts are subjected to certain breakdown frequencies, they will be destroyed into pieces, with select few pieces containing anomalous properties. These pieces are the ones that contribute towards spendable points

## Goals

- Create an addition or alternate option for the churn and burn style of artlab rounds, which usually consist of of either selling everything bad, and leaving good ones in medbay or elsewhere
- Create a new option for artlab to assist the station, either by artlab offering their services, or people coming to artlab to ask for something
- Create an alternate use case for less effective or negative artifacts that don't help the station at all
- Create something that traitors can still use
- Create a new, significant machine for artlab that will be considered a major part of the role and a new station system

## Non-goals
- Take away the sell-for-credit option of artifacts
- Create a powergame tool

## How it works
There are three uses
    - Breaking down artifacts
    - Creating new things
    - Upgrading existing things
    
### Option 1 (breaking down artifacts):
The artifact reticulator can be loaded with up to one artifact. If this artifact is activated and labeled with a form, you can choose to break it down into a "shard". If the artifact is incorrectly identified, it will instead be destroyed. 

There are different shard types depending on what you break down:
- Essence shard (roughly 1/3 of the artifacts, includes general ones like instrument or lamp
- Power shard (roughly 1/3 of the artifacts, includes power ones like bombs or generator)
- Space-time shard (roughly 1/3rd of the artifacts, includes anomalous/spatious themed ones like bag of holding and container)
- Omnishard (from art keys)

### Option 2 (creating new things):
The following are what you can create (using the shards):
Artifact related -
- Artifact resonator - When used on an artifact, tells you if its origin is disguised, and gives you three options for what might activate the artifact, with 1 being the correct option
- Artifact resonator 2 - Rerolls stats of an activated artifact
- Artifact resonator 3 - Rerolls faults of an activated artifact
- Create a previously reticulated artifact
- Combine artifacts - ex. you could make a plant waterer that heals you when you touch it, or a prison art that injects you before being put in the prison

Miscellaneous creatables (MAYBE) - 
- Duplicate an item
- Duplicate all chemicals in a reagent holder

### Option 3 (upgrading existing things)
The following are what you can upgrade/modify:
- Imbue an item with ambient light 
- Perfect the quality of a gem 
- Break an item into the materials used to make it (reverse ruck-kit)
- Combine two materials with additive rather than interpolated properties (or maybe just a flat increase of one material's properties)
- Increase storage slots of an existing storage item by 1 
- Increase capacity of a reagent holder by 10% 
- Increase cell capacity of a power cell by 10% 
- Increase attack force of a melee weapon by 25% 
- Increase mining power of a mining tool by 10% 
- Increase armor of a clothing item by 15%

For these, consecutive upgrades on the same item are multiplicative (ex. increasing capacity will be base * 1.1^n), but require increased amounts of resources
