How often do you alchemetize for gold?

[Cheezeninja]

How often and in what stages of the game do you alchemetize for gold? Alot in the begining but never towards the end? The other way around? I usually alchemetize fire gems alot but not so much with the earth gems, earth gems just come in too handy for construction for me. I wont normally alchemetize everything every turn for more gold, but if im 20-50 gold away from being able to complete something important like building a fortress or hiring a mage i wont hesitate. What about you?

Also... has anyone used the alchemists stone with the indy alchemist mages? What kind of gem-gold ratio do you get with that combo?

[Norfleet]

Whenever I'm short on gold(often), and have fire gems, I'll alchemize as many as I need: For the most part, fire gems are pretty useless: All of their summons tend to be overpriced, ineffective dullards.

[LintMan]

Originally posted by Cheezeninja:
How often and in what stages of the game do you alchemetize for gold? Alot in the begining but never towards the end? The other way around? I usually alchemetize fire gems alot but not so much with the earth gems, earth gems just come in too handy for construction for me. I wont normally alchemetize everything every turn for more gold, but if im 20-50 gold away from being able to complete something important like building a fortress or hiring a mage i wont hesitate. What about you?

Also... has anyone used the alchemists stone with the indy alchemist mages? What kind of gem-gold ratio do you get with that combo?

I tend to alchemize a few gems whenever I run out of gold and then realize I still need to spend a bit more for some necessary unit(s) somewhere, usually not more than 10 or so gems at any given time. That's mostly fire gems, because they're worth more per gem, but I don't do many ritual fire spells, so I don't miss them that much either.

The Alchemist unit costs 300 gold (upkeep 20!) and gives "50bonus" when alchemizing. I thought: Wow! 50 extra gold per gem, that'll cover the upkeep for sure! But unfortunately, not. It's a 50% bonus per gem. Still not bad, but you need to average alchemizing 3+ gems per turn to break even.

There's also an "Alchemist's Stone" unique artifact that also gives a 50% bonus to alchemy. An Alchemist with the Alchemist's Stone gets both bonuses:
Earth gems: 20 gold each
Fire gems: 31 gold each (the 1 extra must be because of some rounding-up going on)

With this double bonus, I'm more willing to alchemize and have raised several hundred gold at a time that way to buy a needed temple or extra mage or two.

[Cainehill]

I tend not to alchemize too much in the begining, probably because if I start with fire or earth income, I've plans for it.

Fire I'll alchemize before earth - both because the gold income is better, and because, as Norfleet says, earth just seems more useful.

Usually I'll alchemize 1-5 gems at a time, usually just so I can either get an important unit (typically one of the uber-commanders - Anathemant Dragons, Niefel Jarls, Vanadrotts, etc), or to start construction on a key fort, temple, or lab.

But I also tend to stockpile my gems, if I don't have an immediate use. Meaning that in the mid to late game, I may alchemize 100 out of 300 fire gems, and 50 out of 350 earth, to push my recruitment, building, etc, at a moment when I really need it.

(Really wish there was a keystroke equivalent for selling gems at such times - pressing the up arrow would be -so- much nicer than 150 mouse clicks.)

I half suspect it's a flaw in my play, that I sometimes build up too many gems - I know I didn't use to forge enough, I may not summon enough, and I'm not sure on the subject of empowerment.

[Cohen]

If I play Abysya, who has very costy troops and mages, I alchemize very often ... I tend to stay at 0 fire gems, til I'm going to Const 6 - for Lightless Lanterns.

[PDF]

Originally posted by Cohen:
If I play Abysya, who has very costy troops and mages, I alchemize very often ... I tend to stay at 0 fire gems, til I'm going to Const 6 - for Lightless Lanterns.

Yup, me too. Abysia start NEEDS Alchemy to boost income so you can get all that uber-expensive Abysian stuff.
With other nations I don't alchemize much except to cover small treasury gaps or have an extra 50gp to get mercs.