Philosopher's stone

[Potjeh]

I guess it could stop a theoretical gold cartel from creating artificial shortages to boost prices. I'm not sure this is a good thing, however. Cartels are fun.

[sabinati]

is anyone even buying gold? i haven't seen much activity in either of the threads where gold is being offered.

[Delamore]

I guess it could stop a theoretical gold cartel from creating artificial shortages to boost prices. I'm not sure this is a good thing, however. Cartels are fun.

How would a cartel ever exist in a world that probably has around 10 or so gold mines with more getting added with new grids and that don't actually have a way to be located after they have been built on?
Right now 3 different people in different factions own mines.

[Jeff]

How can you possibly balance this so it keeps gold mines valued?
Gold mines are stuck in one location, finding them is hard and they are rare.
Gold is a bitch to smelt down too.

Ok now we have your idea:
Balanced by being hard to work out the first time
hard to get materials

So what happens when people know how to make it and the hard to find out thing is ignored, will it be hard enough to make to make it balanced against mining?
Then if it's hard enough to make even without working it out, why would it be worth it to try to work it out when it's clear that the effort to get gold otherwise is easier?

Well, part of the convenience of the stone is in his secretness, meaning that if the formula is unknown, you can get some of the materials with relative easiness (they could have some other uses, so you can simply bluff when acquiring them).
If the formula isn't secret anymore, it loses part of his utility. In that case, it could be easier to simply buy gold. But at least you have a difficult but possible alternative.
The point of this idea is to give an alternative source, but it isn't meant to be a replacement. It is supposed to be useful when the formula is hidden, and it is right if it loses part of the usefulness when the formula is revealed.
Of course, as more items are added, the numbers of combinations between items increases, and so the difficulty on gaining the right formula.

[Delamore]

Well, part of the convenience of the stone is in his secretness, meaning that if the formula is unknown, you can get some of the materials with relative easiness (they could have some other uses, so you can simply bluff when acquiring them).
If the formula isn't secret anymore, it loses part of his utility. In that case, it could be easier to simply buy gold..

I do not think you understand how this would actually work in play.

[warrri]

What are these cartels you're talking about? I'm offering Gold for prices which, compared to the needed effort, are very low, yet no one wants to buy it.

[theTrav]

is anyone even buying gold? i haven't seen much activity in either of the threads where gold is being offered.

Probably private trades. No one wants their large stockpile of gold to be particularly well known

[CG62]

Unfortunately, for a substance that can turn ANYTHING into cocking gold, you need some sort of arbitrary limitation for it (to curb abuse).


What I'm thinking is:

A.) Make it a random recipe every time, with variables for weather conditions, time of day, and ingredients. This way, no one can share the recipe. Bonus points for making it keep a memory of previous recipes and only using them after, say, 100 or so different recipes (different as in, at least 5 or so of the variables are different).

B.) Make it so only one philosopher's stone can be in existence at any one time. I CONTROL THE STONE, I CONTROL THE UNIVERSE!!!

C.) Rather than make it turn anything into gold, make it produce a random item or material out of the selected item. I'm not sure how alchemy is supposed to work (aside from the fact that it cannot create matter, therefore requiring all ingredients to be present at the time of transmutation), but this seems feasible.

[Vanigo]

Or you could have it so everybody has a different recipe. Probably some common elements, but if everyone who wanted to do alchemy had to do their own research, well, that's not really any easier than prospecting for a new gold mine.

[Jeff]

Unfortunately, for a substance that can turn ANYTHING into cocking gold, you need some sort of arbitrary limitation for it (to curb abuse).


What I'm thinking is:

A.) Make it a random recipe every time, with variables for weather conditions, time of day, and ingredients. This way, no one can share the recipe. Bonus points for making it keep a memory of previous recipes and only using them after, say, 100 or so different recipes (different as in, at least 5 or so of the variables are different).

B.) Make it so only one philosopher's stone can be in existence at any one time. I CONTROL THE STONE, I CONTROL THE UNIVERSE!!!

C.) Rather than make it turn anything into gold, make it produce a random item or material out of the selected item. I'm not sure how alchemy is supposed to work (aside from the fact that it cannot create matter, therefore requiring all ingredients to be present at the time of transmutation), but this seems feasible.

Maybe you haven't read well. It works only on metal nuggets/bar. It trasmutes metal in gold. And it is a single use item, meaning that you use a liter of philosopher's stone on a bar (or on ten nuggets).It gets consumed.The A) proposal doesn't seem bad, but it lacks any logic (well, one could tell that the laws of the universe get breaked when the Stone comes into the world and so its recipe changes, but...that's not much credible).
Well, after all my ideas are theoretical congettures, so they aren't feasible as i thought them.