Overview
Artifact System
Tensura: Ancient Artifacts is a progression-based artifact system that gives players special equipment pieces that grow stronger as they progress.
Artifacts are tied to EP, refinement, and unique effects. As an artifact reaches certain EP amounts, it unlocks new effects based on its grade.
The long-term goal of the system is to add a special artifact for every Unique Skill, giving each skill its own meaningful build path.
How Artifacts Work
Core Mechanics
Each artifact has a grade, an equipment slot, EP thresholds, and one or more effects.
When an artifact reaches the required EP amount, the effect attached to that EP threshold becomes active.
Higher-grade artifacts are simpler and usually unlock fewer effects. Grade 1 artifacts have the most progression and can unlock up to three effects.
Artifact Grades
Artifact Progression
Artifacts are split into three grades. Each grade controls the artifact’s starting EP, effect unlocks, and refinement limit.
Grade 3 Artifacts
- Start at 52,000 EP
- Unlock their effect at 52,000 EP
- Can reach up to 10 refinements
Grade 2 Artifacts
- Start at 52,000 EP
- Unlock their first effect at 52,000 EP
- Unlock their second effect at 225,000 EP
- Can reach up to 5 refinements
Grade 1 Artifacts
- Start at 225,000 EP
- Unlock their first effect at 225,000 EP
- Unlock their second effect at 1,000,000 EP
- Unlock their third effect at 5,000,000 EP
- Some final effects also require the correct Unique Skill or condition
- Can reach up to 3 refinements
Grade Comparison
| Grade | Starting EP | Effect Unlocks | Max Refinements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 52,000 EP | 52,000 EP | 10 |
| Grade 2 | 52,000 EP | 52,000 EP / 225,000 EP | 5 |
| Grade 1 | 225,000 EP | 225,000 EP / 1,000,000 EP / 5,000,000 EP | 3 |
Refinement
Artifact Upgrading
Artifacts are refined through anvils by combining two of the same artifact.
The main artifact must be evolved far enough before it can be refined.
- Grade 3 artifacts can be refined after reaching 52,000 EP
- Grade 2 artifacts can be refined after reaching 225,000 EP
- Grade 1 artifacts can be refined after reaching 5,000,000 EP
Refinement increases the strength of artifact effects. In the current setup, each refinement upgrade is placed into one valid effect at random.
Some effects have their own refinement caps. When an effect reaches its cap, future refinements are placed into other valid effects instead.
Obtaining Artifacts
Artifact Drops
Ancient Artifacts are currently connected to loot from the Artifacts mod.
In the current configuration, Ancient Artifacts can appear from Artifacts mod loot at a lower rate than normal artifact loot.
More Tensura-specific ways to find Ancient Artifacts are planned for the future.
Configuration
Server Settings
Ancient Artifacts uses configuration files to control artifact progression, refinement behavior, effect values, and loot sources.
Main Configuration
The main configuration controls the active loot changes, general artifact settings, and grade progression values.
- loot_changes: Controls which loot sources Ancient Artifacts are added to. The current setup uses artifacts:artifacts.
- random_refinement_upgrades: Controls how refinement upgrades are assigned. The current default setup has this enabled, so refinement upgrades are randomly placed into a valid artifact effect.
- max_grade_1_artifacts: Controls how many Grade 1 artifacts a player can have active at once. The current value is -1, meaning there is no limit.
Grade Configuration
Each artifact grade has its own progression settings.
- EPGain: Controls how much EP the artifact gains from eligible EP gain.
- MaxRefinement: Controls the maximum refinement level for that grade.
- StartingEp: Controls the EP amount the artifact starts at.
- EffectUnlockEp: Controls the EP thresholds where that grade unlocks its effects.
Loot Configuration
Loot configuration controls which loot source is changed, the chance of an Ancient Artifact drop, and the weighted artifact pool.
- loot_id: The loot source being modified.
- chance: The chance for the loot source to roll an Ancient Artifact drop.
- itemWeights: The list of possible artifact drops and their relative weights.
The current loot configuration uses a 0.05 chance, which equals a 5% Ancient Artifact drop/loot chance.
All Ancient Artifacts loot configs are stored in config/ancient_artifact/loot/.
When a loot table is added to the config, the mod creates a basic setup for that loot table the next time the game launches.
The generated setup matches the default artifacts:artifacts loot setup and can be adjusted afterward.
Effect Configuration
Artifact effects have their own configuration files. These files control the base strength of an effect, how much it improves from refinement, and whether the effect has its own refinement cap.
- baseValue: The starting value of the effect.
- valuePerRefinement: How much the effect changes per refinement.
- maxRefinement: The maximum amount of refinement boosts that effect can receive. A value of -1 means the effect does not have its own separate cap.
Some effects use custom configuration fields instead of the basic base value and refinement value setup. These are used for effects with special behavior, such as stacking over time or activating under certain conditions.
Future Goal
Long-Term Direction
Ancient Artifacts is built to expand over time.
The long-term goal is to create a special artifact for every Unique Skill, allowing each Unique Skill to have its own artifact progression and build identity.
This gives players more ways to build around the skills they choose and makes artifacts a meaningful part of long-term Tensura progression.
Current Artifacts
Artifact List
These are the Ancient Artifacts currently available in the system.