As another post because the previous already got long:

If I may add, one question that I have mulled over is the design goals of having artifacts in the game. Thematically they are great. Apart from that I am not sure what they are there to do. Are they simply another form of advancement (which is fine - it is the very nature of idle games having different, interesting ways to optimize runs) or are they supposed to add another dimension to the game? If so what are they adding?

All my comparison of advancements and artifacts would still be an issue for me, even if advancements and artifacts would achieve completely different things. If all artifact effects would be clearly distinct from advancement effects, you might not directly see the link between the two, but I would say it would be a lack in game design if one was significantly more important than the other.

What Jz said might be the best solution for this problem that is not the problem at all.

Rather than nerve the passive artifacts (which is what Fizzer wants and everyone seems to suggest), why not buff the active artifacts so they are not completely useless?

You are correct "Territory Money Boost" Artifact does nothing when you place it in one of the three slots. It say 100% bonus but it does not increase the stats for Monies from Territory. I submitted a ticket to Fizzer, he claims it working but will not provide the math or evidence. I have all level of stats the game provides. So Warzone programmers seem to be lazy or incompentent.

Just un-equip it and keep an eye on your money income, and it will change. Just not by 100% because Money income was two sources: territories that tend to only give small amounts per territory (like 0.1 W/s) and bonuses that make up most of your money income.

So, if you have - say - 5k money income from bonuses and 0.5k from territories, a Territory Money Boost with 100% will grant you 0.5k more (100% of 0.5k) resulting in an overall income of 6k instead of 5.5k.

Furthermore, if you have the "Taxes on the Rich" tech (or other factors that also increase income) already unlocked, the increment will seem even more minor, but you will still get more money. Same numbers as before, without the artifact you will get 5,65k (5k + 0.5k + 0.3*0.5k), with artifact you get 6,15k (5k + 0.5k + 0.3*0.5k + 1*0.5k).

That seems to work for me so far.

Edit: And that is not really the point of this thread.

Edited 2/20/2021 17:24:17

Still waiting for Fizzer post about all those big posts ideas and thoughts :p

I'm not sure what Fizzer is doing at this moment.

He could be doing a lot of things:

Work on the clan update

Work on idle update

Kill artifacts and ruin idle

Kill artifacts and somehow not ruin idle

Fix bugs

Make a surprise update

Do other things

if artifacts are changed or nerfed from how they are now I'm 100% out. the game is a grind as is but enjoy fiddling with artifacts and changing them as needed when I want.
to make maps last more than a week is pretty rediculous as is. anything that slows them more is simply not worth my time tbh. lot of other idle games out there :)

For sake of argument, group artifacts into active(the 16h ones), passive(e.g., army camps, bonus money), and situational(e.g., draft boost, tech discount). The actives are grossly underpowered (you could probably x10 their effects with no balance issues), the passives are fine, and the situationals are what needs work. As a lot of people have said, consider different slot types, because they have different needs

Here's a sketch: As a baseline, each player gets one active slot, one passive slot, and one situational slot. Then have AP upgrades(probably in Phase 1, maybe Phase 2), that give you up to 3 active, 3 passive, and maybe half a dozen situational. The situationals will always trigger when appropriate, which gives the player the same benefit as swapping does now, but they're locked in when you switch (probably for the same period of time that actives lock in for). Players will only rarely want to change their passives, and that'll get rid of the need for active swapping, without reducing the effects that players are used to.

It's more complex, and might be tougher to explain. But for how artifacts work now, I think it might be the right call.

(Alternately, just get rid of slots entirely, and let us use our best one of each, all the time. Maybe cut their power levels for that option, though.)