this would be a very strong extreamly rare artifact designed to mess up those who decide to farm weaker players. this would only be useable on those who hack you 5 times or when the formula (5 < enemyA hacksB - playerB hacksA) is true.

the effects could be wipe out shilds +25% of hull; 1 hour lost research; disable hack and alerts for for 24 hours;wipe out scan and cause truce for 12 hours

cost 50% of cridits, 100 energy(scaleable) 100 mineral points and 100 artifact points

cost could be higher but you get the point.

if it's an extremely rare artifact then the odds are that only the very high level players would get it, and in that case, it would be totally useless for as a preventative measure to keep lower levels from getting farmed by higher levels.

and if lower levels had such an artifact then they'd always use them and no one would want to attack anyone for fear of triggering the trap/artifact.

+1

its just hacking. im not sure about the exact effects, but i would like to see an artifact that deploys when the same person disables or hacks you 4+ times in a row. like the disable 4 times in a row could mean no shield recharge for 24 hours and the 4 hack could mean no cloak and/or 50% reduced scan for 24 hours. I believe the counter is normally set at four, but if it is less, then switch it to that.

good points all

maybe just rare but its cost to the used would need to be high enought/weighted to deture the use by higher levels and that lower levels would use only as a last resort.

I agree with kalos.
Funny thing is it's really the high players that need the safety from low the high can't take much from a low but a low can take a lot from a high. Should be pointed out if a high player that can knock you around hits one of these and they are rare have fun for he will not leave you alone for a long time.