Tips and tricks and explanations i have found

[infinitetech]

1. the map will have multiple hidden locations inside the fog (one of the skill trees increases your reveal radius) that you need to get near to see more
2. at each location you can get between 1 and 3 symbols once for a potion based on accuracy, I touches any point, II is mostly aligning with the shape, III has to be almost entirely pixel perfect
3. you can have up to 5 symbols in a potion, after you get an effect you can move again
4. touching any bones or other debris on the map deals damage to the potion, should you run empty your potion dies, be careful as it adds up quickly
5. retrying means from the beginning, not from the last space
6. be very slow while grinding, mixing, moving, adding water or the like to be more accurate/careful
7. water lets you slide toward the middle which can help with some bad spots and helps with accuracy
8. if you touch a spiral you can pump the bellows to spin around it, the first pass should keep you on the outside more or less, but it eventually sucks you to the middle of it
9. some paths are better than others to get a precise distance, movement, or collection method going
10. watch for cheap prices from the local sales people, but there is a rarer traveling salesman that has a usually complete stock locked at the standard rate
11. the trading skill tree is likely the best overall purchase progression wise as haggling currently does not seem to actually work almost at all, reveal happens naturally usually. however the recipe book can be great to upgrade if you are good at finding super efficient paths and getting perfect accuracy, once you get a minimal use path and lock in a max power potion you can just click to re-make them
12. tracing the patterns onto reference paper can help you plot out paths easier
13. keep in mind that the base price of some ingredients can make using them for a shortcut not worth the end result
14. try to get better potions for people as they will pay far far more for it, and most dont want side effects, although that is not always the case
15. when solving a request you can try 3 potions on the scales before they get mad
16. there are powers not in the mission list you can find
17. you can actually fill the alchemy machine...
p.s./edits:
18.you can recover a ground ingredient by dropping a fresh one in the mortar, if you just try to remove the ground flower manually you lose it

[abitofBaileys]

19. The potion travels faster on the map if you pump the bellows and heat up the pot. Be wary of point 8 though, as it will activate them.

[Sir Kepi]

20. Don't be afraid of a tiny bit of reputation loss from selling to shady people, it's easy to make up and the extra gold is well worth it. Just don't let your reputation get TOO low. One shady deal every couple days should be fine (I don't like my reputation getting below 75-80).

21. This is an extension of the previous one, but if you refuse a shady deal, your reputation will go up slightly. Usually only 3 points or so, so unless you just accepted a shady deal recently or you're really hurting on reputation, it's not worth declining the gold for those couple points of reputation, provided you can make the requested potion.

22. Point 18 is technically inaccurate. If you move the ground ingredient back into your inventory, you'll get it back. On the note of dropping a new ingredient into the mortar, you can't grind more than one ingredient at a time, even if it's the same kind of ingredient. This will move the current ingredient in the mortar back into your inventory automatically, as mentioned by OP.

23. An expansion on point 3: While you can have multiple effects in a potion, it seems that the price the customer is willing to pay for it does not stack. I had a customer that wanted a potion to increase his effectiveness in battle (nothing specific), so I decided to knock out the quest for a 3 effect potion at the same time. If memory serves, it was a tier 1 poison, tier 2 fire, and tier 3 berserk. He paid somewhere around 60 gold for it, no different than a tier 1 potion. Unless a customer specifically asks for a potion with multiple effects or you're going after that quest, it's not worth it really. Maybe if the first effect is tier 3. However, this might have happened to me since I mixed poison and fire with berserk. Poison and fire would go on a weapon, whereas berserk would need to be consumed, so that might be why the value was so low: Side effects basically.

24. An expansion on point 4: Your potion bottle WILL refill quickly after leaving one of the bone/debris areas, so don't be too afraid of them. I graze them all the time. Just have to be careful.

25. Don't be afraid to decline sales occasionally. You'll take a reputation hit each time, but usually no more than one or two sales worth. If you don't have the ingredients for it or can't be bothered, tell them to take a hike.

26. GREEN PRICES ARE YOUR FRIEND! When buying ingredients, always go for the green (sale) prices first, especially on ingredients you use a lot. Never hurts to stock up. Additionally, keep an open mind when buying ingredients. Remember that you can stop grinding an ingredient partway through, same with stirring the potion. Something that doesn't seem helpful if you fully grind it can be immensely so when partially ground, like the Thornstick.

Side note: You CAN technically fill the alchemy machine in the basement, however it doesn't do anything. Clicking on the same part of the machine will recover the potion you just put into it, other than that there's no interactions available.

EDIT: This thread should be pinned.