I think this has been brought up before, but I don't recall if it's ever been suggested as a direct artifact. call it an "Invasion Probe", and it tells you your odds of a sucessful landing. Either the exact %, or if you'd prefer to keep some ambiguity it could use the following scale.

10% (the minimum I think) - 20%: Poor
21% - 35%: Chancy
36% - 50%: Fair
51% - 65%: Good
66% - 80%: Excellent
81% - 90%: Git 'er Done!

... i think i would be worried if i saw a readout on my ships computer screen that said 'git er done'... but i do like the idea. alot more useful than TRAP probes...

Only drawback as I see it---
If you use it BEFORE you nerf the att/def of the planet it won't give you an accurate calculation. If you use it AFTER you run the risk of (1) running out the time on Mutagenic Cartridges, and (2) letting the owner know you want his planet and thereby giving him the chance to flux it.

true. but thats what this game is about. acting quickly. i dont get alerts on whats happening until 5-10 minutes after its happened. i'll kill a boss npc, and then a few minutes later an alert comes up and i have to do a double take. ive had planets stolen from me and the alert that its under attack came after it had already been fluxed.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea.... Just pointing out some things so it can be discussed and developed a little.

yeah, i understand. and it may react quicker with different browsers... honestly i wouldnt mind this being a second option drop on stryll trappers. i always trash my trap probes.

Send them to me. I will pay you for them.

They are not sendable.

I used a bunch of those during my personal war with All Are Welcome/The Corsairs, but now that it is over, I imagine I'll start scrapping them too lol.

Well, you wouldn't use it after you use a Mutagenic Cartridge, because at that point you might as well just go for it, so just use the Invasion calculator to see if you want to use a Mutagenic Cartridge or not.

I like the idea but see a problem - an enterprising person, and there are plenty here, could figure out the formula used for determining your chance, if they had a range to work on. Scan, up your attack, scan, up your attack, scan... Then do the same by taking down some buildings on the world. I would bet within a week of this artifact being available we'd have the formula for invasion on the wiki.

Good point, didn't think about that.

Yeah, a person could reverse-engineer the formula that way. It wouldn't necessarily be a hugely game-balancing thing. You'd have some more enterprising people using it to pre-calc what their odds are without needing to use the artifact, but I think the majority of players would be satisfied with using the tool.

+1

Terrific idea.

I like this; might as well know your odds.