Alchemy Training and Kegs

Rock

I am currently training an alchemist, currently at 67.1 skill.  I'm in a push to get him to at least 70 so he can start getting LBODs.  Making kegs is no problem, but I wonder if there is a quick and easy way to empty a keg so that it can be reused during training.

Fanny_Adams

I don't know the answer (I use my potions on my plants), but while we're on the subject of kegs, if any expert can answer Rock, can they answer my question too? I am trying to fill a keg for the first time but pouring the potion into the keg consumes the bottle, instead of returning the empty one to my pack like it used to. That would mean 100 bottles to fill a keg!! Has this changed? Does it not return the bottle any more?

Rock

@Fanny_Adams, I just checked with my Baja Alchemist, and things seem fine.  Here is how I do it in the Enhanced Client:

1. get an empty bottle, the ingredient and a potion keg in your backpack
2. if keg empty, make one potion, drag to keg.  You should know have your empty bottle and a keg now dedicated to whatever the potion was
3. keep making potions.  if they are what is in the keg, then the potion bottle should automatically add itself to keg and be empty for next cycle
4. keg will be full after 100 potions

I assume operation of the Classic Client will be very similar.

Fanny_Adams

I'm using the Enhanced Client and what you described is what I was expecting to happen. Here's what actually happened:

1. I had an empty keg and two empty bottles.

2. I made 1 Greater Poison leaving 1 empty bottle and 1 full one.

3. I dropped the full bottle on the keg.

4. The keg filled and I had 1 empty bottle - the one I dropped never came back.

5. I made another Greater Poison, filling the 1 empty bottle.

6. I dropped that on the keg - keg filled, no empty bottles.

7. I got another empty bottle from the chest.

8. I filled that and dropped it on the keg - still no empty bottle.

9. I tried again twice, for a total of 5 bottles before I was convinced that it wasn't working

10. I came to the forum to ask for help.

Must have been a glitch because I just tried it again today and it worked perfectly.

*5 mins later*

Ack, no it didn't work perfectly! It is happening again!

1. I made Greater Poison, filling an empty bottle.

2. Poured it on the keg - the bottle came back, YAY!

3. Made another Greater Poison - it went straight into the keg, as it is supposed to, YAY!

4. Came here to post my success.

5. Went back and kept making Greater Poison till I ran out of Nightshade, all pouring into the keg as expected.

6. Switched to make a Greater Strength in my empty bottle.

7. Poured it in a new empty keg.

8. Bottle came back, YAY!

9. Made a second Greater Strength, bottle disappeared!

10. Got another bottle, made another Greater Strength, bottle consumed again! BUGGER!

Going to log out and in again and see if the glitch has gone.

*2 mins later*

Nup, logged out and in again, new bottle, Greater Strength, poured it on the keg, bottle is consumed. ARGH!!

Rock

@Fanny_Adams, that is strange.  The only thing I can think of is that your newly empty bottles either dropped to the ground due to being at or above max weight, or they showed up in your pack further down that you normally view.  Scroll down and see if there are some empty bottles that you don't remember putting there.

Fanny_Adams

Okay, I think I may have found what triggers the glitch. I actually had 3 empty kegs in my backpack when starting the above. After all the efforts, I had 1 half filled Greater Poison keg and 1 nearly empty Greater Strength and 1 empty keg. I tried taking out the empty keg, and making another Greater Strength. Bottle still consumed. I took out the Greater Poison keg and made another Greater Strength - bottle came back! So it looks like I can only have 1 keg and 1 bottle for it to work, or I lose the bottle. Weird glitch!

*2 mins later*

Goddamnit! No! 1 keg, 1 bottle, 2 successful pours, then bottle gone again and new bottles consumed on every try. I give up!

Rock

@Fanny_Adams, Did you check your weight?  Are you overloaded?

Fanny_Adams

Yes - does that make a difference?

Rock

@Fanny_Adams, I suspect the newly empty bottles are falling at your feet, or perhaps disappearing altogether.  The game avoids auto-adding items to a character's backpack when it is already full, either by item-count or weight.  Put some of your items in a secure container so that you are significantly below your maximum.  IIRC, while you are filling an empty container, its weight grows from 20 to 100 stones.  At the same time you will be losing a little weight due to the reagents you are using up.  So as you fill the keg, overall you will probably gain about 60 stones.  Be at least that much under your max weight at the beginning of the process.

Basara

If by some chance you have High Seas enabled on your alchemist's account, making black powder and fuses for the cannon are an excellent (if expensive) way of training. Though, if you have saltpeter stockpiled from niter deposits, maybe not so expensive (bottles are getting expensive, no matter if it's for making kegs or filling bottles to empty kegs)

I spent 4 hours last night making black powder* 100 or so at a time, then switching to the fuses (which require the powder as an ingredient), then switching back to BP. In the 4 hours, I gained from 74 Alchemy, to a few tenths shy of 90, with the BP being the source of most of the gains (As it has a min skill of 65 compared to fuses at 55). 

The end result was about 700 fuses, and I'll probably get to GM Alchemy in the next night or two, making the black powder for cannon powder charges.

* (note that the powder required a cook making charcoal beforehand, and the alchemist had to make potash for the fuses - potash is easily the most time-consuming part of the process. But. those can be made at near-zero skill)