[Atreides]

The idea of alchemical formulas is an incredibly cool idea in my opinion. That would be a very interesting line of expansion for future patches, broadening the alchemy system. Furthermore, I would like to see alchemy developed more, with some variation on gem exchange rates by nation, and other minor tweaks like that. As has been mentioned several times in this thread already, underpowered nations like MA Ulm who have the option of pretenders like the Master Alchemist could create a significant strategy around alchemy if they were given favorable exchange rates, on certain gem exchanges, and maybe even the option of different conversions rather than the standard strictly all gem types to astral and astral to all gem types. I'm not advocating being able to exchange anything for anything, but some slight expansion of options and maybe even a 3 for 2 exchange rate between earth and fire gems or some such advantage. Going along with the idea of alchemical formulas, nation specific formulas just like that could exist adding a new dimension to game play for some nations, particularly if there was further variation by era. And to be clear, I was just citing MA Ulm as an example of a nation that could certainly use a boost as it is frequently mentioned as one of the weakest nations in the game.

And on another random note, alchemical formulas could also be items that need to be forged so they could only be used when a mage has the item equipped. And rather than using the traditional alchemy system, the formula could give the mage a spell to cast that would consume x amount of various gems and give y amounts of various gems. That way, as alchemy is currently an instant action, the formula could only be used in a limited manner. On the other hand, if the idea is that all your mages are aware of the formula and can take advantage of it, than all well and good. Either system would add a new interesting aspect to the game.
Lastly, the Alchemist's Stone. The unique item never used by anyone that could suddenly become incredibly cool and ridiculously valuable if alchemy is expanded. Obviously a lot of cool things could be done with the stone, maybe even let one or two gem types be traded on a 1:1 basis, who knows?