Overview

The Host may allow alchemy ships to perform their alchemy function or you may disable the function and the ships will behave as standard freighters. HCONFIG will configure the HOST to allow or not to allow alchemy ships.

There are two classes of alchemy ships, Those that make metals and those that make Fuel

Those That Make Metal

• Merlin Class Alchemy Ship

The MERLIN CLASS ALCHEMY SHIP can convert supply units into minerals.

the chemical reaction

 9 * (supply unit)----+--->  1 * (duranium)
                                +--->  1 * (tritanium)
                                +--->  1 * (molybdenum)

 9 KT units of supplies yield 1 KT of duranium and 1 KT tritanium and 1 KT molybdenum.

The ship will continue to convert the supplies to minerals as long as the following condition is met:

• (A) There is at least 9 KT of supplies on board.

The Merlin Class Alchemy Ship is a tech 10 ship with 10 engines and 2700 KT of cargo room. The fuel tank can hold 450 KT of fuel. The ship's hull has a mass of 920 KT, which makes it one of the largest ships in any fleet. The ship is armed with 8 beam weapons and costs 840 magacredits to build. The ship can produce a maximum of 900 KT of minerals per turn ( 300 KT duranium, 300 KT tritanium and 300 KT molybdenum ).To transform minerals, just load the ship with supplies and wait till next turn. The supplies will be turned into minerals automatically. The ship friendly code of "NAL" will disable the alchemy function.

Those That Make Fuel

• Neutronic Refinery Ship
• Aries Class Transport

The NEUTRONIC REFINERY SHIP can convert minerals plus supplies to neutronic fuel (neutronium).

Here are three alchemy reactions that a refinery ship can use:

 1 * (duranium)   + 1 * (supply unit) ---> 1 * (neutronium)

 1 * (molybdenum) + 1 * (supply unit) ---> 1 * (neutronium)

 1 * (tritanium)  + 1 * (supply unit) ---> 1 * (neutronium)

The neutronic refinery ship will automatically perform the refinery function if all three of the following conditions are met. The ship will continue to refine fuel until one or more of the conditions are no longer met.

(A) There is at least one KT of duranium or molybdenum or tritanium on board the ship. (B) There is at least one KT of supplies on board the ship. (C) There is at least room for one KT of fuel in the fuel tank.

The ship friendly code of "NAL" will disable the alchemy function.

The Neutronic Refinery Ship is a tech 9 ship with 10 engines and 1050 KT of cargo room. Fuel tank will hold 800 KT of fuel. The hull is very massive, 712 KT. The ship is armed with 6 beam weapons. This ship can produce up to 525 KT of fuel per turn. The ship hull costs 970 magacredits to build.

To refine fuel, first unload fuel or transfer fuel to other ships. Load the ship with half supplies and half minerals (any type or mix of). Now you just wait until next turn and the fuel will be produced and stored in the refinery ship's fuel tank.

The Aries Class Transport functions in a similar manner. Although it carries less space, it only needs minerals to perform alchemy, and does so at a 1:1 ratio. The alchemy cannot be disabled, however, except by having a full fuel tank.