🏺 Artifacts

Artifacts are modeled mostly as resources. This is useful for modding because they can reuse the normal commodity infrastructure: icons, meshes, carry behavior, storage/pile logic, objective checks, and treasure hunter rewards.

The current database contains several artifact-like groups:

• named generic artifacts such as Artifact 1 Witchwood Harp
• campaign-specific artifacts such as tutorial or final-map artifacts
• combat-boost artifacts with an additional CombatBoostArtifact component
• objective-facing artifact entries used by objective logic

Main Files

File	Role
game-gdb/core/gdb/resources.gd.xml	Main artifact resource definitions and combat-boost artifacts
game-gdb/core/gdb/treasurehunterrecipes.gd.xml	Treasure hunter reward categories and target resource lists
game-gdb/core/gdb/objectives.gd.xml	Generic artifact-related objective definitions
game-gdb/core/gdb/campaign map *.gd.xml	Campaign-specific artifacts, objectives, and treasure locations
game-gdb/dlc1/gdb/*.gd.xml	DLC map, shrine, and objective data that may reference similar systems

Resource Model

Most artifacts use ResourceDescription.

Important fields:

Field	Meaning
ResourceCategory	Usually points to the Artifacts resource category for normal artifact rewards.
Name / NamePlural	Localization keys, not final translated text.
Description	Localization key for the resource description.
Icon	UI icon path.
Mesh / PileMesh	Visual representation for carried or piled resources.
CarryType	How a unit carries the artifact.
CarryAttachmentLocator	Locator used for the carried visual attachment.
WealthValue / StealValue	Value-like fields used by some valuable resources.
TreasureHunterAudioDiscoverEvent	Audio/event category for treasure discovery.
TreasureHunterNotificationTier	Notification tier used when found by treasure hunters.

Combat-Boost Artifacts

Combat-boost artifacts add a CombatBoostArtifact component.

Important fields:

Field	Meaning
Boost	Combat boost value.
Weight	Likely selection/weighting value for reward logic.

Some map-specific objectives also check combat boost totals, so combat-boost artifacts are not just visual loot. They can affect scenario balance.

Treasure Hunter Link

Artifacts are commonly connected to treasure hunting through TreasureHunterRecipe entities. The recipe does not produce a fixed output like normal production. Instead, it lists target resources:

Treasure Hunter building
-> AspectTreasureHunter
-> treasure hunter recipe category
-> TargetResources
-> artifact or valuable resource

The generated catalog expands this into:

• generated/catalog/systems/artifacts.md
• generated/catalog/systems/treasure-hunter-recipes.md
• generated/catalog/systems/treasure-hunter-targets.md
• generated/catalog/systems/artifact-treasure-shrine-graph.md

These generated files are local and ignored by Git.

Modding Notes

Safer first edits:

• change display localization keys only when you also know how localization is resolved
• adjust icon or mesh paths only if the replacement asset exists
• inspect combat boost values for balance research without editing them yet
• trace treasure hunter target lists before changing any reward category

Riskier edits:

• delete artifacts referenced by objectives or treasure hunter recipes
• change artifact GUIDs
• move an artifact into another resource category without checking storage and UI behavior
• change combat boost values without checking objectives and difficulty settings
• add a new artifact without adding all required UI, mesh, carry, pile, and reward references

Good First Trace

Start with Artifact 1 Witchwood Harp:

1. Find it in game-gdb/core/gdb/resources.gd.xml.
2. Note its ResourceCategory, icon, carry type, and GUID.
3. Search for the GUID in game-gdb/core/gdb/treasurehunterrecipes.gd.xml.
4. Check whether objectives or notifications refer to the same artifact.
5. Regenerate the catalog and inspect generated/catalog/systems/treasure-hunter-targets.md.