My major gripe about (passive) artifacts is the micromanagement that they require.

I currently have about 10 passive artifacts that I rotate in depending on the action that I'm taking (hiring mercs, conquering a territory with resource/army/money or no bonus, selling ore, drafting armies, etc). It's mostly annoying. I know I could just ignore it and get less progress but let's face it, no one who invests time in idle games doesn't want to min/max.

A better option would be for every passive to always apply (or at least the top version of each passive so they don't stack). Leave the 3 slots specifically for active artifacts. This will also solve the problem of how terrible active artifacts are in comparison.

If Fizzer needs to lower the benefits of passives in order to balance progression rates then fine. But rotating passive artifacts in and out is the least enjoyable part of the game right now. Something should be done about it.

interesting, i choose my passive artifacts based on which level i'm on. right now the one that increases ore and the other that decrease smelter required are my favorites (aside from the army size one), so any others i get i'm just collecting and then merging to upgrade (whatever it's called in this game). but if i end up merging one of my main 3 i need to have a backup to plug in....and pretty soon i'll need more than one backup since the merging takes longer each time.

I run mine and bonus money boost permanently. Then need to rotate through these in the last slot:
Army cache boost
Resource cache boost
Hospital boost
Mercenary discount
Idle time

A better option would be for every passive to always apply (or at least the top version of each passive so they don't stack). Leave the 3 slots specifically for active artifacts. This will also solve the problem of how terrible active artifacts are in comparison.

+1 I think this is a good suggestion. Or have 'passive' and 'active' slots for artifacts in some manner

I think it should rather opposite way and (like it is with active artifacts) putting passive artifact should prevent removing it for 24 hours.

Passives are too good to be able to use them all the time. In my opinion we should be able to use actives from artifacts menu, without putting them in slot. Because 24h cd, meh...

About using passives, I got one rare thing that I have permanent use of - Double Craft (uncommon, 3% chance) that's a real deal!
When I go idling I put efficient smelters (2% less ingredients, it really helps to save ton of ores) and bonus money from bonuses (10%, wow).
I don't have too many good artifacts, other I use are hospital boost, hospital discount, merc discount, army camp discount, tech discount, ore/item/allot sell values (don't use these three before finishing all techs unlock).

I think it should rather opposite way and (like it is with active artifacts) putting passive artifact should prevent removing it for 24 hours.

That's crazy talk.

So a 2% poor/4% common draft bonus usable once every 24h?

A 4% common money cache bonus ... usable once every 24h?

A 1% poor hospital saving increase ... usable once every 24h?

That would make passives pretty much useless, providing such minimal bonuses so infrequently.

Not sure how this would manifest for 'army camp boost' ... maybe timed for a few mins usable once every 24h? Like a supercharged army camp instead of a constant passive.

Seems like a terrible idea. Do you really think that Passives are OP?

So a 2% poor/4% common draft bonus usable once every 24h
...

No. You put artifcat in the slot and then just can't remove it before 24hours. It works all that time. So every draft during this time is bigger.
But that way you had to plan ahead and choose what gives you bigger gain.
Currently all passive artifacts are in effect all the time. You just need to click and rotate them before doing something.
But there is no startagy needed, all you need is to click and rotate before doing something.

No. You put artifcat in the slot and then just can't remove it before 24hours. It works all that time. So every draft during this time is bigger.

I dont think it should be this hard to change artifacts.

But for those who are complaining about it requiring some micromanagement, yes it does. That is the cost of more efficiency, if you dont want to micromanage your level will just take a couple days longer.

Personally I have upgraded most of my artifacts, so that I get the most boost without having to change them around, since I would rather not micromanage them all the time.