The bigger gains, however, are usually made with artifacts and relics. The intrusion may make someone irritated, but some races may be willing to turn the other cheek depending on your relationship with them. This means it is entirely possible for a player to have a survey ship swoop in and just scavenge those free resources that would otherwise belong to another civilization.

Even when another civilization expands its borders, they don’t always send their survey ships out to look at them. But even in later parts of the game, it is still possible to find anomalies. These anomalies can be found all over the map, and at the beginning of the game, especially these small troves of free resources can go a long way in propelling the player’s civilization forward. But regardless of what is found, it doesn’t change the fact that these are essentially free resources. They usually yield a small amount of credits, can give a ship a weapon, or even contribute a little toward completing research.

This doesn’t even just apply to precursor artifacts either, but even common anomalies like capsules can give the civilization a bit of a boost. It may not be quickly apparent, but finding artifacts and anomalies can be extremely useful for any civilization.

Civ 3 free