Experimental alchemy
Experimental Alchemy
Standard alchemy potions can be created by a skilled alchemist using the mix command, with a container of potion base (usually water or a toxin of some kind) and whatever herbs are required as part of that potion's recipe.
However these standard potions tend to be fairly weak, and the standard preparation can be quite wasteful in terms of the herbal ingredients, so alchemists can also choose to vary the process, experimenting to create stronger potions, waste less ingredients, use alternative herbs when the standard ingredients are expensive or difficult to source, or to try and develop alternative potions with differing effects.
Experimental alchemy is more involved than the standard mixing, and also requires a set of tools, though an alchemist can get away with a partial set of tools if they need to. There are four main elements to experimental alchemy.
Creation of Herbal Solutions
Alchemists can create herbal solutions, taking a container of water and infusing it with a specific herb to create a liquid which can be used in place of the original herb when preparing the actual potions. This is done with the following syntax;
alchemy <method> <herb> into <container>
The container must contain only pure unmixed water. The herb can either be a herb collected by a herbalist, or with the 'gather' command. You can also use herbs which have been preserved into a herbal cansister set (This is also done with the alchemy command - 'alchemy preserve <herb> into <set>' - And creating herbal solutions is the only use for alchemically preserved herbs).
The method can be one of soak, heat, boil, chill or stir, and different methods require different tools, for example to use the stir method you will need an alchemical stirrer, while the heat and boil methods require an alchemical burner, though the heat option can also be done with less intense heat sources, such as a stove top or campfire. Just try one of the other methods to find out what tools are required.
Your choice of method determines how efficient the process will be; Each herb has a different ideal method, but you may need to try several of them before you find that ideal. With the best possible method, you will be able to make several units of solution from a single piece of herb (Assuming you have enough water), which will later mean creating a much larger amount of potion from that single herb.
Discovery of Substitute Solutions
Some herbs can be easier to get hold of than others, and you may find you have a glut of some herbs but cannot obtain the one you actually need to brew a particular potion. This is where Subtitute Solutions come in; You can experiment by mixing other herbal solutions and toxins to try and find a synthetic equivalent for a solution or toxin with the following command;
alchemy mix <method> <container>
The method is a choice between gently, vigorously and shaking - Each synthetic solution requires a specific method to create, and if you use the wrong method the mixture will simply not bond. You would need to try all three on a mixture to be sure that it is not the correct formulation for creating a substitute solution.
The container should hold three different liquids, which must be of equal volume. Although you can attempt to mix any liquids with this command, only alchemical solutions and toxins are valid ingredients for substitute solutions so using random drinks and other liquids is unlikely to yield results.
Each potential synthetic solution or toxin has a specific set of three ingredients and a specific method required, you would need to keep trying different combinations and methods to discover these recipes.
Potion Preparation & Potency
Potions prepared with herbal solutions need to be prepared using the alchemy command rather than the mix command used for standard recipe potions, however as mentioned before the use of herbal solutions allows for a larger volume of potion than the traditional methods, and can also result in stronger, more potent potions. To do this you can use the following command;
alchemy prepare <potion> in <container>
The potion must be one that you have learned to create via the Alchemy skill group, and the container must hold the ingredients for the selected potion. If you're not sure what ingredients you need, you can use the command;
alchemy ingredients <potion>
Standard strength potions can be created by using equal volumes of each ingredient - so if you were making a potion which was prepared using meskus, irriku and water, you could put two units of meskus solution, two units of irriku solution and two units of water into the container, and you'll end up with six units of standard strength potion.
However, you can significantly increase the strength of a potion by varying the ratio of the ingredients - In all cases equal amounts is not the ideal formulation. For example you may find that 1.5 units of meskus solution, 2 units of irriku and 2.5 units of water could result in a much stronger potion. However, beware, if you vary the ratios in the wrong direction, or beyond the ideal ratios, the end potion might be weaker than a standard potion. You will need to experiment to find the ideal formulation for each different potion type.
Variant Potions
Possibly one of the most exciting results of experimental alchemy would be to discover a variant potion - These are non-standard potions which have different effects to the traditionally taught alchemy recipes - Some of these may be more or less useful than the originals, but in all cases the effects will be unique and different. For example a standard potion which heals the person who drinks it might have a variant version which poisons the drinker, or one that causes their blood to clot faster. Some variant potions can have a less direct link to the original potion and could do something totally different and unexpected.
Creating a variant potion uses the same commands as preparing a standard potion with the 'alchemy prepare' command, however to make a variant you can replace one of the ingredients with a different solution or toxin. If you identified the correct ingredient to replace, and the correct one to replace it with, the variant potion will be created instead of the standard potion. If you get it wrong, the ingredients will fail to bond.
Alchemical Tomes
All of the above can be a lot to get your head around, and you will probably need some help keeping track of your results; This is where alchemical tomes come in. After you have created a herbal solution, substitute solution, prepared potion or variant potion, you will have a memory of the actions you took and the results, which you can record into an alchemical tome with the following command;
alchemy record into <tome>
If you don't have a tome yet, you should use a blank book from an industrial library, which will be transformed into an alchemical tome when you record your first result into it. Alchemical tomes are specific to one person and cannot be updated by others, though you can let other people read yours if you want to help them catch up to your discoveries.
Note that if you lose your alchemical tome all your records will be lost with it - They are not stored directly against your character. In extreme cases the Administration can restore a copy of an old/lost alchemical tome over a new one, but please try to keep your tome safe.
Once you have an alchemical tome with records of your discovery, you can read it just like a normal book to check and remind yourself of formulae and ideal methodologies when doing more mundane alchemy such as mass producing solutions or potions.
You can also take your tome to an alchemy master and ask them to review the tome for you with the following command;
alchemy review <tome> with <master>
If you do this, they will highlight any entries you are missing, or entries they think you can improve (For example if you have an entry for creating meyka solution, but it only creates a single unit of the solution, the master can suggest experimenting further to find a better method).
The 'master' you target with this command can be one of a few different NPCs; If you are in the Alchemist's guild all of their guild tutors will review your tomes. If you are not, but your guild has hired an Alchemy tutor through the guild contracts system, that tutor will review your tome for you. If you don't have access to an NPC tutor who teaches alchemy at all, some more advanced cities have the ability to temporarily hire research alchemist NPCs, and you can also ask these to review your tome if you are a citizen of the city which hired them.
Each time you request a review, you will only be given a single recommendation, which may include hints such as potential ingredients for a solution subtitute, or identifying a standard potion which you could find a variant of if you experiment further. The chosen recommendation will be random and will change each time you ask for one. The master will not give you recommendations relating to alchemy abilities you have not yet unlocked.
Please note that especially if you are close to completing your tome, asking for too many reviews may make it extremely easy to determine the remaining items you need to unlock and how to unlock them. Although this is allowed if it is your preferred playstyle, if you want to enjoy the experimentation side it is best to limit the reviews and use them mainly to identify if there is an item you haven't yet discovered, so that you know you are not wasting your time trying to find a variant that doesn't exist for example.
It's also worth noting that new herbs, substitute solutions and variant potions may be added over time. It would be possible for you to try a combination of ingredients one week and it not work, and then the following week a new substitute solution be added that requires that combination you already tried and didn't work. While this could be frustrating, it is an unfortunate cost of new content being added frequently, and tome reviews are a way to flag when you may need to go back and re-try previously dismissed combinations.
Other Tools
As an alchemist you will have access to more options for moving liquids around than other players, which you can utilise to make sure you have the right liquids in the right volumes in the right places. The two main tools you can obtain for this are the alchemical dropper and alchemical syphon, and in addition to these tools you will find 'potioncheck layers <container>' to be very useful when carrying out alchemical works.
You can also read 'help herbal lore' for some information about obtaining herbs which might be useful for an alchemist.
