Antimatter

Antimatter within TE3000 was announced on 29th March 2023 in this group notice

"I have been hearing reports of people encountering something new upon purchasing ships. My own science advisors have been hearing whispers about this for some time, and I'm excited (if a bit ambivalent) about what it can mean for the future of our sector of the galaxy. At any rate, I wish you all the best of luck in exploring this new development."

Antimatter may be discovered on ship purchases. The amount discovered is related to the number of completed expeditions and any artefact multipliers in effect.

The first requirement is to purchase an antimatter-capable engine. This offer shows up soon after starting to collect antimatter.

Antimatter status is shown as extra pages in the Accts tab of the HUD.

Periodically an offer to undertake an antimatter mission will appear. The expedition will have a fixed cost (possibly related to the SPF multiplier) as a percentage of the credit balance. Missions may either be attempted at the next level to the current artefact or lower levels if there is not enough antimatter collected.

The duration of the mission will be three months plus (2 * expedition level) months. A notification message will appear on the hud on the turn before the expedition returns.

When the expedition returns the properties of the artefact can be reviewed (some will be positive, some negative) and a decision taken whether to install the artefact or not. If it is declined 50% of the antimatter spent is returned.

While an artefact is installed an opportunity to remove it early will be offered at every multiple of 100 months remaining.

The lifetime of an artefact appears to be 350 months plus (level * 150) months.

It is not clear yet whether artefacts are predetermined or their properties are dynamically assigned following some algorithm intended to balance the positives and negatives. The latter seems likely.

Antimatter used at each level

1	100
2	200
3	400
4	2000
5	10000
6	50000
7	250000

Increase to antimatter found afterwards

1	10
2	20
3	?
4	?
5	150
6	300
7	?

Positive and negative attributes observed so far are shown in the table below

Artefact Attributes

Disasters	D1	Positive	Immune to Piracy
	D2	Positive	Immune to Corruption
	D3	Positive	Immune to Disease
Ships	S1	Positive	2 free ships
	S2	Positive	Buy 2 ships at once
	S3	Positive	Buy 1 ship get 1 free
	S4	Positive	Sell for 50% more
	S5	Negative	Buy/sell once a year
	S6	Positive	Sell for 100% more
	S7	Positive	Gain 1 paying fleet tax
	S8	Negative	Not allowed to sell ships
Efficiency	E1	Positive	Efficiency +20%
	E2	Negative	Efficiency -20%
	E3	Negative	Efficiency -50%
Title	T1	Negative	Title reversed
	T2	Negative	No title
	T3	Negative	Title expires frequently
Anti-matter	A1	Positive	Find 2x
	A2	Positive	Plus 50% antimatter
	A3	Negative	Never find antimatter
Artefact	F1	Positive	Lifetime + 20%
Red Tape	R1	Positive	Gain 1 at census
	R2	Positive	Gain 1 when paying dues
	R3	Negative	Lose 1 at census
Unity	U1	Positive	Gain 1 ship on disunity
	U2	Negative	Lose 1 ship on disunity
Commission	C1	Negative	Can't refund commission
Events	V1	Positive	Risk/reward wins
	V2	Negative	No credit windfalls
	V3	Negative	Lose 1% of credits every 3 years
Sabotage	B1	Negative	Must sabotage

While it is suspected that artefacts properties are generated by algorithm each time and therefore infinitely variable those recorded so far are shown below to aid in confirming or disproving the theory.

Observed artefacts

Level	Positive 1	Positive 2	Positive 3	Negative 1	Negative 2
1	E1: Fleet efficiency +20%
2	D1: Immune to Piracy	A2: +50% antimatter		B1: Must sabotage
2	D2: Immune to Corruption			S5: Buy/Sell once a year.	V2: No credit windfalls
2	R1: Gain 1 red tape / census			E2: Fleet effeciency -20%
2	S2: Buy 2 ships at once			T1: Title reversed
5	S6: Sell ships for 100% more			C1: Can't refund commission	U2: Lose 1 ship on disunity
5	S3: Buy 1 ship get 1 free	S2: Buy 2 ships at once	U1: Gain 1 ship on disunity	A3: Never find antimatter
6	D1: Immune to Piracy	R1: Gain 1 red tape each census		C1: Can't refund commission
6	S4: Sell ship+50%	E1: Fleet efficiency +20%	V1: Risk/Reward wins	S5: Buy/Sell once a year.	U2: Lose 1 ship on disunity
6	D3: Immune to Disease	S7: Gain 1 ship paying fleet tax		C1: Can't refund commission
6	R2: 1 red tape on paying dues	U1: 1 ship on disunity	F1: Artefact lifetime+20%	S5: Buy/Sell once a year.
6	S4: Sell for 50% more	D1: Immune to piracy	A1: Find 2x antimatter	V3: Lose 1% credits every 3 years	R3: Lose 1 red tape each census