Within Dark Forest, there are currently eight artifacts which can be found, and the “Spaceship”, which has been deprecated since the introduction of “Spaceships” (likely due to the confusion that could be caused between the names). You can read more about each of them here:
Page Links (alphabetical):
This planet has one of each artifact displayed, however, in game, a maximum of only 6 artifacts can be on a celestial body at a time.
To find artifacts within a round, you must first conquer and control a “Foundry”. Then, you must maneuver your “Gear” Spaceship to said Foundry. From there, within the information pane you will be able to press a button, labelled “Prospect Artifact”. This will initiate two transactions in succession, one which prospects the artifact, and a second which actually finds the artifact - spawning it onto the foundry. From there, whoever controls the celestial body which an artifact is on, controls the artifact(s) also. This means you may have to defend your artifacts, or withdraw them through a Spacetime Rip, if other players come to thieve! These artifacts create localised goals for players, both encouraging them to be the first to reach high-level foundries to get the rarest artifacts, and to fight with neighbors in attempts to steal the most valuable artifacts - generally artifacts of Legendary or Mythic rarity.
There are currently five rarities of Artifacts which can be found, depending on the Foundry level where it was prospected and a random multiplier.
This image depicts the five rarities of artifacts. Only Planetary Shields are pictured here. Note the difference in colouration!
Page links (clockwise order, from 12 o’clock):
