🎲 [v1] Alchemy Lab FAQ, Discussion & Alkashard Calculator

[zephyr1]

NOTE: Alchemy Lab has been updated as of June 2020

Please see new thread here: 🎲 [v2] Alchemy Lab FAQ & Discussion

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Please post questions and discussion down below, and see the Calculator at the end of this first post!

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What is Alchemy Lab?

Alchemy Lab is a new Advanced Building that unlocks with Stronghold 23.

It allows Transmuting some items into some other items. It also produces Alkashards, which can be combined into an item of your choice from a selection of random items.

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Can I Transmute items to other items of the same rarity, e.g. 1* Crafting Ingredients to other 1* Crafting Ingredients, or Training Manuals to Rugged Clothes?

No, you generally can’t Transmute items into other items of the same rarity.

Alchemy Lab only Transmutes from lower to higher rarity, with the exception of:

• Level 9, which Transmutes farmable 3* Ascension Materials into Unfarmable Ascension Materials, along with a 5% chance of producing a 4* Ascension Mat instead

• Level 10, which Transmutes 4* Ascension Materials into a random different 4* Ascension Material

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Are Gems required to use Alchemy Lab?

Yes, Levels 6 through 10 require Gems to use.

These cover Transmutations of Epic Crafting and Battle Items, as well as Rare and Epic Ascension Materials.

Lower levels covering farmable items and 2*/3* Battle Items don’t require Gems.

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Can I rush Transmutation times using Gems?

No. Unlike Training Camps, Forges, and Hunter’s Lodge, the long durations for Transmutations can’t be accelerated or skipped.

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Can I run more than one type of Transmutation at a time?

Yes, as Alchemy Lab is upgraded, it allows for up to 3 different Levels to be run at the same time in parallel.

Items queued in the same Level run sequentially, however. There’s nothing you can do to accelerate the Transmutations of a particular Level.

Thanks to @MAGS661 for documenting the Alchemy Lab Levels that unlock the ability to run additional Transmutations simultaneously:

@MAGS661

Levels 1-4 only 1 transmutation at a time.

Levels 5-7 only 2 transmutations at a time.

Levels 8-10 10 only 3 transmutations at a time.

Thanks to @Scarecrow for confirming that Level 8 actually does not unlock 3 Transmutations at a time. We’ve since confirmed that Level 10 is required to unlock 3 simultaneous Transmutations.

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Can I queue and dequeue Transmutations like in a Training Camp or Forge?

No, not exactly.

You can queue up multiple Transmutations for a given Level, but once queued, you cannot remove or reduce the queue.

Because it’s also impossible to accelerate Transmutations, players should be mindful of what they queue into Alchemy Lab, as it’s currently impossible to undo those decisions, or do anything to accelerate them. So you can effectively tie up Alchemy Lab for extended periods of time.

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@Mariamne’s Guide to Alchemy Lab Upgrades & Research

@Mariamne

New Building : Alchemy Lab

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Alchemy Lab Levels

@zephyr1

unchanged from the first Beta, and are still posted in the top post of this thread from then.

Level	Research Cost	Research Time	Advanced Food Storage Required	Transmutation	Transmutation Cost	# Transmutation Ingredients (how many items must be put in)	Alkashards Produced	Transmutation Time
1	2952k Food	1d 0h	1x Level 6, 1x Level 5	Transmute UNCOMMON Crafting Materials from COMMON Crafting Materials	121k 31000 Food	30 Ing.	2 Alkashards	1h 0m
2	2975k Food	1d 0h	2x Level 6	Transmute UNCOMMON Battle Items from COMMON Battle Items	135k 42000 Food	15 Ing.	4 Alkashards	2h 0m
3	2999k Food	1d 0h	2x Level 7	Transmute UNCOMMON Ascension Materials from COMMON Ascension Materials	167k 57000 Food	24 Ing.	6 Alkashards	3h 0m
4	3009k Food	3d 0h	2x Level 7	Transmute RARE Crafting Materials from UNCOMMON Crafting Materials	142k 63000 Food	20 ing.	12 Alkashards	6h 0m
5	3025k Food	3d 0h	1x Level 8, 1x Level 7	Transmute RARE Battle Items from UNCOMMON Battle Items	159k 73000 Food	10 ing.	18 Alkashards	9h 0m
6	3051k Food	3d 0h	2x Level 8	Transmute RARE Ascension Materials from UNCOMMON Ascension Materials NOTE: This can only produce Battle Manual, Chainmail Shirt, Scabbard, and Tall Boots	1 Gem, 194k 86000 Food	18 ing.	30 25 Alkashards	12h 0m
7	3069k Food	7d 0h	1x Level 9, 1x Level 8	Transmute EPIC Crafting Materials from RARE Crafting Materials	25 Gems, 168k 94000 Food	10 ing.	7055 Alkashards	1d 0h
8	3088k Food	7d 0h	2x Level 9	Transmute EPIC Battle Items from RARE Battle Items	50 Gems, 181k 103k Food	5 ing.	100125 Alkashards	2d 0h
9	3105k Food	7d 0h	1x Level 10, 1x Level 9	Transmute EPIC and RARE Ascension Materials from RARE Ascension Materials NOTE: This transmutation has a 5% chance of producing an EPIC Ascension Material, and a 95% chance of producing a unfarmable RARE Ascension Material.	150 Gems, 207k 168k Food	12 ing.	700 Alkashards450	7d 0h
10	3127k Food	14d 0h	2x Level 10	Transmute an EPIC Ascension Material into a different EPIC Ascension MaterialNOTE: This transmutation will never result in the same item that was used as the ingredient.	250 Gems, 256k Food	1 ing.	1200600 Alkashards	7d 0h

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What are Alkashards, and how do they work?

@zephyr1

Introduction of Alkashards

A new Item has been added to Beta as part of the Alchemy Lab, called Alkashards.

I would compare Alkashards to two things many people will have encountered in their lives:

1. Customer Loyalty Programs or Credit Card Reward Points, where you earn points that can later be redeemed for an item selected from a catalog
2. Arcade Tickets, where you can trade in a large pile of tickets for an item of your choice…and everyone wants the item that costs more tickets than anyone is ever going to get without spending a very large amount of time and money at the arcade

The Alchemy Lab produces Alkashards whenever any Transmutation is completed. The number of Alkashards produced varies with each level of the Alchemy Lab and the items being Transmuted.

In this initial version of Beta (remember this is highly likely to change), once you have 10,000 Alkashards, you can Combine the 10,000 Alkashards into an item of your choice, selected from 6 random options.

I’ll include full details on the number of Alkashards produced by each Transmutation when I document all of the Alchemy Lab Levels, but suffice it to say, in this first version, it requires a LOT of items and/or Gems to get to 10,000 Alkashards.

In my opinion, the cost/conversion ratios are in need of significant adjustment to make them worthwhile — but the premise of how it works is excellent.

The options that you can select one of currently appear to include:

• Your choice of 1 of 2 random 4* Ascension Material selections (e.g. Poison Darts OR Mystic Rings)
• Your choice of 1x 4* or 3x 3* Ascension Material selections (e.g. 1x Farsight Telescope OR 3x Warm Cape OR 3x Battle Manual — farmable 3* Ascension Materials can currently be included as an item choice)
• Your choice of 1 of 2 random 50x30x Titan Battle Item selections (e.g. 50x30x Hurricane OR 50x30x Time Freeze)
• You choice of 1 of 2 random 200x50x Emblem selections (e.g. 200x50x Fighter Emblems OR 200x50x Rogue Emblems)

You can choose 1 and only 1 of those items, e.g. 200x50x Fighter Emblems. You don’t get both of the items from that category, just one.

To say this again to prevent confusion:

While there are two options of each type, you only get 1 of those — so you’d pick 1x Poison Darts OR Mystic Rings3x Warm Cape, for example, not both.

Once you select that 1 item from the choices and Combine the Alkashards to produce it, all 6 of the item selections are changed randomly again.

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@MAGS661’s Alkashard & Alchemy Calculator

If you make a copy of this Google Sheet, you can calculate how many Alkashards and items you can produce, along with the time, gem, and food costs.

Alchemy Lab Calculator

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@Vikingblood80’s Spreadsheet

A static spreadsheet similar to the one above, showing costs and calculations for reaching 10000 Alkashards.

Alchemy lab

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Beta Information and Discussion

From what I’ve seen, the last version of Alchemy Lab seen in Beta matches what was released to the live game, but please keep an eye out for the possibility of things having been changed.

🧪 The Beta Beat (v23) [NOW RELEASED] – Sharing the Big Picture on What's Going on in Beta: Stronghold 22/23 & Alchemy Lab, New Challenge Event Heroes, New Knights of Avalon & Pirates of Corellia Challenge Events, Costumes, November/December HOTM

[Orionis]

Thanks for this ! As I understand it, there is no way to transform common items in common items ? Get oil flask from common herbs ?

[zephyr1]

Good question!

I’ve added that to the top post:

@zephyr1

Can I Transmute items to other items of the same rarity, e.g. 1* Crafting Ingredients to other 1* Crafting Ingredients, or Training Manuals to Rugged Clothes?

No, you generally can’t Transmute items into other items of the same rarity.

Alchemy Lab only Transmutes from lower to higher rarity, with the exception of:

• Level 9, which Transmutes farmable 3* Ascension Materials into Unfarmable Ascension Materials, along with a 5% chance of producing a 4* Ascension Mat instead
• Level 10, which Transmutes 4* Ascension Materials into a random different 4* Ascension Material

[tsoukalos]

in epic thread, bump for reading

[Gra]

Alkashards sound like something that Harry Potter would use.

[maldos04]

So for level 9, you put in 12 farmable 3* ascension items (I.e tall boots) for a guaranteed 3* unfarmable or a 4* (5%) chance - is this correct?

Can u receive a different farmable 3* item - I.e battle manual - for your troubles?

[zephyr1]

@maldos04

So for level 9, you put in 12 farmable 3* ascension items (I.e tall boots) for a guaranteed 3* unfarmable or a 4* (5%) chance - is this correct?

Correct, as long as we’re clear that by “a guaranteed unfarmable,” we mean “a random unfarmable.”

You can’t select the item you’d like any more than you can select the Hero you’d like when Summoning.

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@maldos04

Can u receive a different farmable 3* item - I.e battle manual - for your troubles?

No, Level 9 is a 95% chance for a 3* unfarmable, and 5% chance for a 4*, as noted in the table above:

@zephyr1

Transmute EPIC and RARE Ascension Materials from RARE Ascension Materials NOTE: This transmutation has a 5% chance of producing an EPIC Ascension Material, and a 95% chance of producing a unfarmable RARE Ascension Material.

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This may appeal to some players who need any 3* unfarmable, and don’t care which they receive.

But I think many players would prefer a particular item they need (or one of a few particular items) — and certainly the more you were to run Level 9, the more likely you’d start having preferences about wanting a particular item.

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Given the gem costs associated with using Alchemy Lab Level 9, I would caution players to remember that RNG can be fickle. Much like Summoning, you could spend a lot of gems and not receive the item you wanted.

If you were after a specific 3* unfarmable ascension material, you’d have to do 20 Transmutations to have a roughly 95% chance of receiving at least one of that item.

To put that into perspective, that means if 1 million players each wanted a single Fine Gloves, and each spent 3,000 gems and 20 weeks running Alchemy Lab Level 9, over 50000 of those players wouldn’t get a single Fine Gloves.

Given the frequency of complaints about Summoning outcomes, despite posted odds, I anticipate it’s only a matter of time before we see similar complaints about Alchemy Lab outcomes.

[maldos04]

Thanks @zephyr1, very clear and as I expected.

Given the extreme costs of building and researching to get to level 9-10 of this building, I can’t see many people being in a position still where they are crying out for 3* unfarmable materials, so going through all this for a 5% chance at an epic item - at random - seems very unappealing.

Stage 10 whilst still a gamble, could have it’s benefits.

I certainly won’t be rushing to open this building in the slightest.

[zephyr1]

I agree completely about Level 9.

Some players may choose to gamble on Level 10 — but I don’t personally find spending gems to re-roll 4* mats appealing.

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As I’ve said vocally several times elsewhere on the Forum, I personally intend to ignore Alchemy Lab indefinitely.

I may eventually build it to farm Alkashards from lower free Levels if I have literally nothing else to do with my Builders, Iron, or Food…which could very well be never.

[Oriontron]

The Alchemy lab is the ultimate disappointment.
It makes me very sad to see them waste so much time and energy designing, building, and beta testing, when this is the result…

[PapaHeavy]

@zephyr1, I tend to agree. I was hoping for certain changes but alas that appears not to have happened. Now if I was independently wealthy I’d probably not give it a second thought, unfortunately I work for a living so these gems seem rather a waste to me. I’ll spend them elsewhere, as it appears there will be plenty of summoning choices.
So I’ll ignore the Alchemy Lab for now, hoping changes come about. I guess my builders will be glad, they are overworked as it is

[DBC]

Beta testing did lead to some improvements (lowered food costs and the introduction of the shards) But the many voices crying out about the basic set up were stubbornly egnored. I am still really disappointed by this and feel that an opportunity to add something truely valuable to the game was missed.
I was and remain vaguely insulted by the introduction of something that is both time and resource expensive to build and to use AND that functions in a way that does not appeal to most of the player base. It should be something people actually want to use for basic things, not just AM and shards.
Frankly at this point I wish they would slow down with all the new flashy fancy stuff and sort out the basics. Half the levels in the training camps are as useless as the lab, and normal quests and missions are in sore need of modernisation.

[PapaHeavy]

Rather nailed it there @DBC, lots of flashy, expensive, upgrades(?) coming but the time and cost see a bit too extravagant for the end result.

These changes do not appear to be F2P, or even C2P, friendly. I totally understand that SG is a business, a VERY successful business at that, but turning a deaf ear to your most loyal players would seem to be an “upper management” decision and not one that many of the dev’s may necessarily agree with?

Also updating the missions and quests would be a very welcomed change IMO. Even making the weekly tournaments a bit more worthwhile to play? I do play mostly them (excluding 2*) but not for any rewards, just to help fill my hero chest.

[sleepyhead]

yeah, I can’t see myself using Level 9 or Level 10. Just not worth it. Especially Level 10, I can see it now. “Gah!! I keep getting Mystic Rings, now I have 20 of them and not a single Red 5*! Why won’t you give me the last Tabard I need to ascend Hel, why???”

[VFROOD]

If i got 12 tabbards and i desperately need telescopes, odds on getting telescope will be 16%?

Maybe i would try that if the 3rd time you really get the desired item, so max 750 gems are spend…

[zephyr1]

@VFROOD

Maybe i would try that if the 3rd time you really get the desired item, so max 750 gems are spend…

After 3 times you’d have a 42% chance of at least one of a specific item from Level 10 — so based on your premise of what it would be worth it to you, it’s more likely than not that you’d end up unhappy with the results.

Sounds like Alchemy Lab Level 10 wouldn’t be worthwhile for you.

[Oliz]

@zephyr1

This may appeal to some players who need any 3* unfarmable, and don’t care which they receive

I found myself in this category, just to get rid of those loads of farmable 3* ascension items, but then…gem costs???
Lvl 9 may just worth my attention…as someone who love novelty, may be and maybe I will eventually lvl to 9 to have a feel. But not entirely keen.

[Oliz]

The next quest Morlovia will give trap tool and Tabard. You may have to be on the watch out for it.

[FrostbiteXIII]

@zephyr1

To put that into perspective, that means if 1 million players each wanted a single Fine Gloves, and each spent 3,000 gems and 20 weeks running Alchemy Lab Level 9, over 50000 of those players wouldn’t get a single Fine Gloves.

Thanks for this @zephyr1. Just got my Level 1 Lab this morning.

Reading this, I have regret. What a pointless load of rubbish.

If the gem costs were a fraction (15-25 gems for final level, say) or if it was your CHOICE of item, that was roughly what I was expecting, for their greed level, but this is beyond belief… It’s really just not worth the gems…