[Cainehill]

Originally posted by PhilD:
An Alchemist has a Gold cost of 300, so an Upkeep cost of 20. If you're alchemizing about 4 Earth gems a turn, or 3 Fire, that pays for his upkeep. Not exactly early game, but I'd say that's easy to reach in a non "purely blitz" game, and definitely worth it in solo play (of course, you have to add in the 200 Gold for a Lab, and the 300 upfront cost of the Alchemist; but that's just 34 Fire gems before you get the Alchemist, or 23 after it).

And in addition to alchemizing for gold, he's forging items or doing research every turn he's at that lab. Or searching for magic sites, if you have a combination of pretender and nation that doesn't have much fire/earth/air. (Is air the third path on the Alchemist? I have several, but...)

In a large game, I always pop out 1 alchemist if I find that site. Usually no more than one, and I put bodyguards on him and move him to a fort with a lab soon as possible; I've moved one away from a fort with a lab (where I recruited him) simply because that was a border province.