Wirkkala, Matthew
From:	Alan Pitts [ajpitts@texhoma.net]
Sent:	Wednesday, October 20, 1999 8:19 PM
To:	darklands@onelist.com
Subject:	Re: [darklands] Make tons of money in your spare time!!!

> From: MWirkkala@walldata.com
>
> Thanks Alan!  I would be most happy to post this data.  I would like to get
> what ever you care to contribute. Maybe Michel can work it into the FAQ one
> way or another. Excel is fine -- it is, after all, the worlds number 1
> flat-file database software! :)
>
> Thanks again!
>
> -MLW  :)

Matt,

    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.

In the upper-left corner is a list of the components.  They are in the order that you would find them for sale at any vendor who has them.  That reminds me that the manual has a differently-ordered list.  In the manual they are listed in the order of rarity.  The one exception is that Solanaceae is not listed at all.  I'm pretty sure it got deleted in a cut-and-paste operation gone awry.  I've noticed at least one other faulty cut-and-paste error in the manual, so I guess it's to be expected.  Anyway, I've always wondered what the description to solanaceae would have been.  It's something I would ask Microprose if they still supported the game. If I'm correct, Solanaceae would be about tenth in the order of rarity. Next to the names of all the components are the prices.  These are the prices I found using a leader whose charisma was 41.  These prices seem
to be sensitive to charisma, but not to town size.  They are listed in pfennigs.

In the upper-right corner are two columns headed "batch size" and "k." The number under "batch size" is the number of potions one person is making over one night.  The number under "k" is a number representing the ease of making that many potions.

Immediately under the components is an arbitrary list with "k," "Philosopher's
Stone," "Intelligence," and "Alchemical Skill."  My intent is that you should enter the corresponding numbers for the person who is making the potions. The numbers I presently have entered there correspond to my main alchemist when he is making 3 or fewer potions.  The number to be placed next to "k" can be gotten from the table in the upper-right corner.  On
Philosopher's stone, I have found that I can get improvements from the local alchemists up to a rating of 24.  After that, no amount of trying has worked to get additional improvements.  However, trying at Universities can get an improvement up to 29.  The disadvantage is
that Universities charge about fifteen times as much as local alchemists charge to improve your Philosopher's stone.  I got an intelligence of 42 by spending experience (?) up to a rating of 40, then choosing Student, followed by Alchemist.  At least, I think that's how I did it.
I cannot recall for sure.  I got an alchemical skill by a mixture of training at the local alchemist's and by simply making a bunch of potions.

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 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. 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 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.

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