Quester's Tools

Getting Rich thru Alchemy and Winning at Darklands
by Alan Pitts

(Edited for the Darklands Domain)

Please note: Listed at the bottom of the page is a reprint of an e-mail Alan sent to the Darklands discussion group which explains the theory behind using the data listed below. Thanks! (ed.)

 

Here 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.

Pure Gold 146
Manganese 46
Naphtha 50
Marsh Vapor 71
Eastern Black Bean 71
Zincblende 42
Antimoni 30
Orpiment 34
White Cinnabar 23
Solanaceae 40
Aqua Regia 38
Gum 38

Mondragora 38
Alum 26
Camomile 27
Nikel 24
Pitchblende 26
Zinken 27
Brimstone 17
Choleric Base 7
Phlegmatic Base 6
Sanguine Base 8
Melancholic Base 10
Now we have 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.

k (batch size coefficient)
Philosopher's Stone
Intelligence
Alchemical Skill

100
29
42
99

Immediately under the components are two rows 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.

Batch Size

1,2,3
4,5
6,7
8,9
10,11
12,13
14,15
16,17
18,19
20,21
22,23
24,25
26-29
30-33
34-41
42-?

k (co-efficient)

100
50
33
25
20
16
14
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4

Below 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.
  • 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.
Formula Name Mystic
Number 		Cost Price Chance Profit Buyer Rare
Materials
 k  4,5 6,7
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
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
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
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
Essense o' 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  
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  
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
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
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  
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  
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
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
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  
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
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  
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  
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
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
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
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  
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  
Most profit possible ---->
889  

 

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!!!

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.

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

Alan

 

Here's the original email with attachment in Excel spreadsheet format.

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