Alien Ruins
Artifacts is the term given to a series of relics left behind by extraterrestrials in Barotrauma. They are frequent targets of salvage missions in Quest Mode, and are potential sources of rare raw materials. Both the origin of these artifacts and their purpose is unknown.
Each artifact tends to have dangerous effects on their environment; for lack of understanding, they are impossible to prevent and can only be worked around. It is unknown how much of it comes from their intended function, normal side-effect of their working, or degradation sustained due to a lack of upkeep.
Three sorts of artifacts have currently been recovered from Europa, distinct in appearance, composition and effect: Faraday, Skyholder and Thermal.
Faraday Artifact
| Faraday Artifact | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Statistics | ||||||||
| Ammunition | N/A | |||||||
| Crafting | ||||||||
| Constructible? | No | |||||||
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Faraday artifacts have no special effect on their surroundings, making them the safest known artifacts.
Skyholder Artifact
| Skyholder Artifact | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||
| Statistics | ||||||||
| Ammunition | N/A | |||||||
| Crafting | ||||||||
| Constructible? | No | |||||||
| ||||||||
The Skyholder artifact takes on the shape of an Egyptian sarcophagus, with a yellow pattern on it depicting a many-eyed cephalopod raising up two arms.
Skyholder artifacts somehow empty the area they're in of breathable air; for this reason it is recommended to use a Diving Mask or even a Diving Suit when moving them around, and to store them in unfrequented parts of the submarine.
Thermal Artifact
| Thermal Artifact | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||
| Statistics | ||||||||
| Ammunition | N/A | |||||||
| Crafting | ||||||||
| Constructible? | No | |||||||
| ||||||||
The Thermal artifact takes the form of a hand with only four fingers on it. Upon it is a red pattern showing a circle with a horizontal line going through its center, along with vertical lines going from the top of the circle to the aforementioned line.
Thermal artifacts are extremely dangerous as they can constantly generate fires in their surrounding areas. Caution is to be taken so that they don't set installations ablaze, and crew members interacting with it will need to be treated for burns. They are sometime stored in ballasts.
Trivia
- Every generated level in Barotrauma contains an artifact somewhere. This implies their creators must have been incredibly prevalent in this section of Europa.
- Molochs are sometimes found instead of an artifact at the end of salvage missions in Quest Mode, as they emit the same kind of infrasonic signals. Killing the misleading creature will still be considered a success.
