Getting Rich thru Alchemy

Okay, here it is. I'm pretty sure that this is correct and up-to-date, but I wasn't able to check it. My computer here is Excel-illiterate.
Anyway, here is what it does ...

•      Below that is a fairly large table.
  
  • The first column is the formula name and the meaning should be readily apparent to anyone who has played Darklands for 300 hours or more. Sooner if your're smarter than me.
    
  • The second column is the Mystic Number, and I believe that the hint book and the Darklands web site agree on these numbers. I have not independently verified them.
    
  • The third number is the cost. This number is developed form formulae taken directly from the Darklands web site. The hint book is incorrect about the formulae components. Note that you can change the numbers in the upper-left corner and these costs will change. That way, anyone with a different charisma than I have can see what their own costs would be.
    
  • The next column is the price. I developed this column by taking each one of the potions to a variety of cities and seeing what I could sell them for. Here again, the hint book is wrong about both the price of the components and the prices of the potions. Another thing the hint book is wrong about (or it may be the manual, I misremember) is the statement that larger cities have smaller prices due to competition. I have found that it varies item by item with some potions being more valuable in large cities, and others being more valuable in small cities, villages, caravans, or mines.
    
  • The next column is "Chance." It represents the probability that you will be successful making potions on any given attempt. Chance will be re-calculated if you change the entry beside "k" in the table above. That way you can see the results of attempting to make more than three batches, in case you want to make money really fast. Chance will also be recalculated if you change any of the other three entries in that table, so you can see how you will do as you progress.
    
  • The next two columns list the probability of success for some of the batch sizes as listed in the column title. These columns are recalculated for Philospher's Stone, Intelligence, and Alchemical Skill, but not for batch size.
  • The next column is titled "Profit." This column uses a statistical concept called "expected value." It just means the profit you can expect to make after failures are taken into account.
    
  • The next column is titled "Buyer." If the entry in this column is a "C," then you can get a better price from caravans and small cities. If the entry is a "K," then you can get a better price in Koln, although large cities are nearly as good.
    
  • The next column is labelled "Rare Materials." It lists the six rarest materials as listed in the manual if they are present in that particular formula.
    

Formula Name		Mystic Number	Cost	Price	Chance			Profit	Buyer	Rare Materials	Rare Materials
					k	4,5	6,7
Noxious Aroma	al-Razi	80	83	105	99	99	99	21	C
	Gerard of Cremona	91	93	147	99	99	99	53	C
	Petrus Bonus	96	114	189	99	99	99	73	C
Eyeburn	Solomon	84	86	131	99	99	99	44	C
	Galen	94	95	182	99	99	99	85	C
	Nicolas Flammel	103	95	226	99	99	99	129	C
Sunburst	Africa	91	167	351	99	99	99	180	K	Manganes
	Raimundus Lullus	99	168	470	99	99	99	297	K	Manganes	White Cinnabar
	Brother Elias	110	145	633	99	99	93	482	K	Manganes
Black Cloud	Orient	98	128	232	99	99	99	102	C
	Rufinus of Genoa	105	160	324	99	99	98	161	C
	Michael Scot	112	90	417	99	99	91	323	C	Naphtha
Stone-tar	Sina	109	121	165	99	99	94	42	C
	Alburtus Magnus	121	109	221	99	99	82	110	C
	Robert de Keten	133	110	297	99	87	70	184	C
Flea Dust	al-Razi	114	111	239	99	99	89	126	C
	Nicolas Flammel	120	130	334	99	99	83	201	C	White Cinnabar
	Richard Anglicus	127	96	430	99	93	76	330	C	White Cinnabar	Orpiment
Thunderbolt	al-Tamimi	130	192	463	99	90	73	266	K	Manganes	Orpiment
	Maimonides	139	213	621	99	81	64	402	K	Manganes
	Arnald of Villanova	152	196	834	99	68	51	630	K	Manganes
Eater-Water	Solomon	137	183	588	99	83	66	399	K	Orpiment
	Alfred of Sareshel	146	322	823	99	74	57	493	K
	Gerard of Cremona	155	222	1060	99	65	48	827	K	Orpiment
Arabian Fire	Geber	160	220	607	99	60	43	381	K	Naphtha	Manganes
	Zadith	165	209	814	99	55	38	597	K	Naphtha
	Hugh	170	193	1093	99	50	33	889	K	Naphtha
Breath of Death	Smaragdinian tablet	189	223	711	81	31	14	353	K	Marsh Vapor	White Cinnabar
	al-Kindi	194	194	995	76	26	9	562	K	Marsh Vapor	White Cinnabar
	Simon Cordo	199	178	1281	71	21	4	732	K	Marsh Vapor	White Cinnabar
Deadly Blade	Hayyan	124	181	343	99	96	79	159	K	White Cinnabar
	Vicent of Beauvis	133	170	460	99	87	70	285	K	White Cinnabar
	Roger of Hereford	142	153	618	99	78	61	459	K	White Cinnabar
Strongedge	al-Majriti	140	200	317	99	80	63	114	K
	John of Rupescissa	148	178	424	99	72	55	242	K
	Petrus Bonus	156	156	570	99	64	47	408	K
Greatpower	ibn Rushd	131	176	281	99	89	72	102	K
	Jildaki	136	159	377	99	84	67	214	K
	Albertus Magnus	142	135	507	99	78	61	367	K
Trueflight	ibn Umail	127	184	255	99	93	76	68	C
	al-Bitruji	135	157	342	99	85	68	182	C
	John Dausten	141	143	458	99	79	62	310	C
Hardarmor	ibn Yazid	151	245	437	99	69	52	188	K	Manganes
	Brother Elias	160	230	585	99	60	43	349	K
	Leonard of Maurperg	167	212	786	99	53	36	566	K
Truesight	Arfa Ras	105	168	266	99	99	98	95	K
	Rusinus of Genoa	113	151	357	99	99	90	202	K
	Leonard of Maurperg	120	138	479	99	99	83	336	K
New-Wind	Sina	90	195	285	99	99	99	87	C	East. Black Bean
	Michael Scot	99	168	399	99	99	99	227	C
	John of Rupescissa	107	216	512	99	99	96	291	C	East. Black Bean
Ironarm	Jabir	110	238	445	99	99	93	203	K	East. Black Bean	Manganes
	Robert de Ketene	115	218	595	99	99	88	371	K	East. Black Bean
	Hugh	120	200	801	99	99	83	593	K	East. Black Bean
Quickmove	Hayyan	101	152	250	99	99	99	96	K	East. Black Bean
	John Dausten	108	131	334	99	99	95	200	K	East. Black Bean
	Richard Anglicus	116	144	450	99	99	87	302	K	East. Black Bean
Essense of Grace	Galen	81	160	219	99	99	99	57	C
	Michael Scot	90	132	318	99	99	99	183	C
	Avicenna	98	121	409	99	99	99	284	C
Firewall	Jabir	117	210	487	99	99	86	272	K	Manganes	Naphtha
	Maimonides	122	163	681	99	98	81	511	K	Naphtha	Orpiment
	Raimundus Lullus	127	158	877	99	93	76	710	K	Naphtha
Transformation	Morienus	195	607	1071	75	25	8	196	K	Manganes	Orpiment
	Avicenna	200	428	1403	70	20	3	554	K	Orpiment
	Nicolaus of Autrecourt	210	277	1731	60	10	0	762	K	Orpiment
Most profit possible ---->								889

•      The last item is the most profit possible. This is simply the largest expected value of all the potions. This made it easier for me to find the most profitable formula. I thought about adding a "Presence" list where you would enter a 1 if your alchemist had that formula, and a 0 if he didn't, but on reflection that seemed more difficult to use than what I have. I routinely print off a copy of the spreadsheet and highlight the formulae I have.

The e-mail reprinted below helps to explain the use of the data listed above ...

-----Original Message-----

From:	Alan Pitts [SMTP:ajpitts@texhoma.net]
Sent:	Tuesday, October 19, 1999 8:07 PM
To:	darklands@onelist.com
Subject:	[darklands] Make tons of money in your spare time!!!

From: "Alan Pitts"

Matt,

I just wanted to share a table I made up which is my summary of how to live better through Darklands chemistry. The table goes a little something like this:

0 - 14	Caravan	al-Razi Noxious Aroma 25Q
15 - 17	Caravan	Solomon's Eyeburn 25Q
18 - 42	Caravan	Avicenna Essense O' Grace 45Q
43 - 76	Koln	Brother Elias Sunburst 45Q
77 - 142	Koln	Raimundus Lullus Firewall 45Q
143 - 163	Koln	Gerard of Cremona Eaterwater 45Q
164 - 177	Koln	Hugh's Arabian Fire 45Q
178 - 203	Koln	Nicolas of Autrecourt Transformation 45Q

The first column is the sum that you get when you add your Philosopher's Stone, your Intelligence, and your Alchemical Skill together. Admittedly it's tough to get that sum less than about 12 or so, but I think with the proper selection of birth and careers, together with really poor answers to a select group of questions in the mines, it may be possible. Further, I stopped the column at 203, but I think with the proper selection of careers and a little saintly aid, it would be possible to get higher than 203.

The second column is the best place to sell the potions. A caravan is the best for the first three formulae, but villages, mines, and small cities will work nearly as well. Koln is the best place to sell the rest, and it has no equal. However, Ulm, Danzig, Nurnberg, and a few others are nearly as good.

The third and final column is which formula to use to make the potion. Basically, the first two work because they have the cheapest components. These aren't really the ones to get the best profit, but rather the ones where the loss is the least. You could consider the loss to be tuition for possibly improving your alchemical skill. The turning point, or the break-even point occurs somewhere in the 45Q Essense O' Grace potion. When the sum is 42, and for a while before, you are actually earning money as you learn. You can earn three times as fast if you make three potions at once. Oh, one more thing--when your skill is this low, you usually have to content yourself with whatever formulae you have rather then going for the most profitable. (Aside--you can trade formulae with the alchemist in town even if you don't have a formula! You get one: he doesn't: he's happy.)

Finally, along about the Firewall or Eaterwater, you can make money so fast that it no longer becomes a problem. Want ten complete plate mail outfits from Nurnberg for each person? No problem! A few days making potions and voila'.

Note that the prices are based on my experience with a talker with charisma of 41. I have found that prices are quite sensitive to charisma. Also I tested prices at several places, and I have found the components to be relatively insensitive to place, but the potions are quite sensitive to place. That's why I listed the best place to sell the potions in the table above. If you use a talker with a different charisma, or buy your components at a different place, the numbers in the first column are liable to vary some from the numbers I have listed. However, I feel that they would make a good rule of thumb in any event.

The reason I mention all this is that in my first time playing I had a difficult time making enough money to supply my needs. I was usually knocking the heads of thugs in the side streets. Now I just go to a village and brew away.

I have a spread sheet with a lot of the information that this table was based on. It's in Micro$oft (pteh!) Excel, and I will give a copy of the spreadsheet to this list if there's enough interest.

Alan

Well, that's it. If anyone has any questions about this spreadsheet, just ask. I'll be here except when I'm not.

Oh, that reminds me. I have another table which lists base damage entered in a matrix which compares your enemies against the weapons you use against them. Is there any interest in such a table?

Alan