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[BlueDestiny]

Seeing as how the alchemy lab is only usefull if you want soap for some reason, I thought perhaps it could be used to process stuff into gunpowder/blasting powder. This could be used to make primitive bombs for quick, dirty mining or traps. However, to balance it out it would have to require many different minerals or whatever, and have a chance of causing a cave-in whenever used indoors. Also, the lab could produce torches (when lighting is added) or improve torches to burn longer, among other pyrotechnics.

[Toady One]

It used to be used to make antidotes from extracted venom.  There are also some other industrial processes which might have a branch through the lab later on.

For lighting, I'm not sure what needs to be done, since I haven't looked into much yet.  If you just have to soak a rag in pitch or fill a brazier with some inflammable liquid it might not need to go through the lab.

Gunpowder is one of those...  things.  It has various applications but leads down a road that eventually nullifies a lot of game fundamentals.

[Maximus]

Make it so every time you make gunpowder it blows up the lab.  

[ctrlfrk]

or if you type in "gunpowder", "sulphur" or "saltpetre" in the manager screen, all your alchemy labs explode and your alchemist (if you have him) goes stark raving mad.

[Pesty13480]

I don't know, quite a few things could be done at the alchemist's place with a little imagination. Perhaps it could even address a few issues, like running out of diamonds and gems because the duke and duchess mandate their production so much that you run out.

I mean, sure, a classical alchemist ought to be concerned with turning base objects into gold, but why not gems or metals? It should be a last ditch thing, mind you, and prohibitively expensive in terms of raw materials (possibly a use for gnome blight and venom and the dozens of types of plants and things).

Let's say, a piece of clear glass, some muck root, two wooden logs, a base stone, a bag of dye, and a dwarven ale would produce one star sapphire. Just an idea, but would be pretty hard to implement without making it too easy.

Or perhaps naptha for a proper fire weapon trap?

Or make blocks of soap weigh something more manageable so that there's incentive to trade.

Medicines? Poisons? I don't know, plenty of things could be done.

[LR]

I don't think that gunpowder represents much threat for game concepts. It does not necessarily implies creation of guns and cannons, which certainly would be out of the concept of this game. It could be very useful for creating artificial cave-ins to remove unwanted mined out areas. And, of course, it could be used for traps. I think that maybe it could be renamed into something different than 'gunpowder' to remove associations with guns and make it sound more fantasy-like.
I think, that gunpowder production would fit very well into game process. To produce saltpetre, dwarves would designate some space for nitre-beds organisation. All organic refuse would been taken there (corpses, rotting food, ets.), mixed with wood ashes and left for a season or two to ripe. After that, nitrified substance would be taken to ashery for leaching and as a result, we would get saltpetre. Except for making the gunpowder, it also could be used as fertilizer along with potash.
The charcoal for gunpowder is not a problem and the sulfur.. Well, it is already present in some ores that dwarves mine (galena and sphalerite). They could produce sulfur at kiln or as a by-product of smelting named ores. The excesses of sulfur could be used to reduce the numbers of vermin in the fortress.
Then all ingredients for gunpowder would be mixed at the alchemy lab. I think, the most suitable would be the German standard - 4:1:1. So, we would need 4 bars of saltpetre, 1 bar of sulfur and wood charcoal to get 1 full barrel of gunpowder. And then, finally, we would be able to make noble-exploding rooms.
*Sigh*. But that is only a dream, i afraid..

[Telok]

To hepl head off the "gunpowder" problems go and call it "bang powder" or "blasting sand". What we're really talking about here is a simplistic form of blackpowder that probably isn't much good for actual gunnery anyways.

Hangfire, a new way for dwarves to die.

[Krakow Sam]

Hmmm, saltpeter could -also- be used for preserving food against the day advanced food spoilage is implemented.

[herrbdog]

Saltpeter can also be used to slow reproduction rates. It "kills" a man's best friend, hence a secondary reason (besides preservation) why it was used in the Navies of old.

[Krakow Sam]

But you can use them as wardogs!

(Yes, I know   :roll: )

[Abyssal Squid]

quote:Originally posted by herrbdog:
<STRONG>Saltpeter can also be used to slow reproduction rates. It "kills" a man's best friend, hence a secondary reason (besides preservation) why it was used in the Navies of old.</STRONG>

what no it doesn't

Once alchemy is introduced, I expect more alchemical herbs to be added as well.  I'd like to see alchemy restricted to more magical sorts of things, mostly potions of many sorts, with some enchantment and transmutation as well.

As for transmutation, I think imports should be the main source of gems and metals once your location runs out of them, but the rare and even precious gems would still be difficult to get.  Let's say you have to go through a series of steps to get a star sapphire from raw materials.  First, convert a hunk of clear glass and some herbs into a [rough] rock crystal (green glass will turn into a random other ornamental stone).  Then, a rock crystal can be converted into a semiprecious gem with the appropriate dye and more herbs, or it could be turned into a precious gem if melted into crystal glass first, then treated with the appropriate dye, more herbs, and large cat bones (CATBONES).  Converting a precious gem into a rare gem would require more valuable ingredients still, and a second rock crystal.

And of course alchemy should be difficult and dangerous beyond that, with the artificial gems blowing up left and right if they're not made just so.  Maybe give artificial gems a hidden quality level, and if they fail to meet a certain minimum quality there's a chance that they'll blow up at some unspecified time in the future.  In other words, reliably making valuable gems would require a lot of experience with the less dangerous varieties of alchemy, such as making gem lamps or anti-emetic potions.  Come to think of it, anti-emetics are sorely needed already.

[herrbdog]

Regarding saltpeter being an "anaphrodesiac": I have searched a bit and found claims to both sides, including your link. It looks to be that it is probably a false rumor. However, I could not find a credible source for either argument. (Even wikipedia I do not consider credible, though they make no mention of it, either way.)

Saltpeter is a diuretic (makes you urinate). This can cause a drop in blood pressure, leading to impotence, but it is not the direct source of the impotence, as far as I can tell.

Heh, I just hate being wrong. If I am, I like to know so that I can correct myself. It looks though as if I was. =/ Thanks for calling me out =D