Relic luck?

I can testify that kind of thing is random, skywalkerhogie.

One game, I had not one, not two, not three, but four Perfect (ie 16+) Planets within easy distance of my Home Planet (by easy I mean the beginner Colony Ship could just mosey along and grab them). Some with very useful Artifacts - Chimeric Biomass, Precursor Archive - as well. And they were in systems with other planets with the same or similarly useful goodies - either more Artifacts or heaps of one type of resource.

Next game, there were nought but crap as far as the eye could see.

The other weird thing about this map is there is next to no elerium ... I check the galactic market every turn and only very occasionally 1 x elerium comes up for sale for $1000 credits ... sucks because some of the most awesome ships in the bazaar are beam ships!