{"schemaVersion":1,"record":{"key":"mechanic/rpg-grind--archaeology-surveys","type":"mechanic","id":"rpg-grind--archaeology-surveys","lang":"en","title":"Archaeology and excavation","summary":"Finding traces, locating sites and excavating yield materials or historical collection pieces.","updatedAt":"2026-10-22","status":"active","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/rpg-grind--archaeology-surveys/","jsonUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/rpg-grind--archaeology-surveys.json","markdownUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/rpg-grind--archaeology-surveys.md","aliases":[],"tags":["RPG grinding","Exploration and discovery"],"sourceIds":["source-80f8f0a3ff41788f"],"sources":[{"id":"source-80f8f0a3ff41788f","title":"No Man’s Sky","url":"https://www.nomanssky.com/visions-update/","verifiedAt":null}],"sections":[{"id":"principle","title":"How it works","body":"Finding traces, locating sites and excavating yield materials or historical collection pieces."},{"id":"variants","title":"Variants","body":"### Variants\n\n<a id=\"archaeology-surveys-options\"></a>\n\n- Survey sites and narrow the search area. <a id=\"archaeology-surveys-option-1\"></a>\n- Excavate carefully to preserve an item. <a id=\"archaeology-surveys-option-2\"></a>\n- Restore finds from several excavations. <a id=\"archaeology-surveys-option-3\"></a>"},{"id":"example","title":"Design example","body":"An archaeologist surveys ruins with a device and chooses a dig site by signal strength."},{"id":"context","title":"Context and limits","body":"A systematic RPG grind reference: 110 mechanics and 330 variants in 18 sections. Four layers answer different questions: what the player repeats, what develops, how rewards arrive and what constrains the loop. It covers single-player RPGs, ARPGs, MMORPGs and adjacent management and accumulation systems. Every mechanic has an explanation, variants and a hypothetical example; coverage, combinations and verified game observations follow the catalog."}],"relations":[],"placements":[{"catalogId":"rpg-grind","id":"archaeology-surveys","title":"RPG grinding","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/rpg-grind/#archaeology-surveys","categoryIds":["exploration-loops"]}],"supersededBy":[],"attributes":{"preview":{"updatedAt":"2026-10-22","title":"Archaeology and excavation","description":"Finding traces, locating sites and excavating yield materials or historical collection pieces.","image":{"src":"images/mechanics/rpg-nms-visions-19.webp","width":1440,"height":810,"game":"No Man’s Sky","sourceUrl":"https://www.nomanssky.com/visions-update/","originalUrl":"https://www.nomanssky.com/media/legacy/uploads/2018/11/visions-archeology-3.jpg","credit":"Hello Games; official Visions update screenshot","rights":"Game imagery © its respective rights holders. Official game guide or publisher-distributed screenshot; all rights reserved. Excluded from MIT and CC BY 4.0.","caption":"An excavated skeleton in No Man’s Sky","alt":"An excavated skeleton in No Man’s Sky","markers":[{"x":46,"y":63,"label":"Buried bones have been exposed through excavation"}]},"tips":["Connect the search clue, excavation and the history of the discovery."],"examples":[{"title":"No Man’s Sky","url":"https://www.nomanssky.com/visions-update/"}]}},"endsAt":null,"provenance":"Original editorial RPG grind taxonomy authored for gamemechanics.pro on 2026-10-20 and expanded to cover activities, progression goals, reward rules and constraints. All original thirty family/branch/variant identities are preserved. Official developer and publisher sources support only the specifically described released-game observations; design variants and scenarios are hypothetical.","license":"CC-BY-4.0","codeLicense":"MIT","attribution":"gamemechanics.pro contributors","catalogKey":"catalog/rpg-grind"}}