How do you properly see when something is boiling?

[Dregora]

I find it VERY hard to tell compared to the first game. I assumed once you see the water stir because you never see any bubbles? I've tested this by pumping fire for a long time and it never bubbled, so I assume the stirring is the cooking animation. But everytime I cook for 1 turn (using the hourglass) it becomes a weak potion, so i'm either reading something wrong or the timing is somehow off.

[PrimaryVector]

are your alchemy stats up ?

[Pug Gaming]

You put the liquid in the cauldron. You do all that is needed and put in the ingrediences. Then you push it down on the fire and you turn over the hourglass. That means one turn. If there is instructions for 2 or more turns, you just keep turning, wait for the sand to drop down and then turn again. When all turns are filled, you just raise the cauldron back up. That's it.

[DWI_Suriil]

Just turn the watch , water will boil instantly

[Ragnar Lord]

the time starts as soon as you lower the cauldron to the flame. As soon as i lower i flip the timer and lift as soon as its done and its perfect everytime.

[king_of_jamaica]

As soon as you see the surface of the liquid in the cauldron get disturbed, you flip the hourglass. Should take like 2-3 seconds after dropping it on the fire at most.

[DWI_Suriil]

Originally posted by king_of_jamaica:

As soon as you see the surface of the liquid in the cauldron get disturbed, you flip the hourglass. Should take like 2-3 seconds after dropping it on the fire at most.

no... just flip it , it will insta boil
And you can skip animations.

[DWI_Suriil]

Alchemy is very well done and you can skip some waiting times , like you dont need to take off the cauldron from fire , you can send in additional ingredients while it all still boiling etc etc.
If you master the alchemy , potions that take you like 2min30 if you do all by the book, will only take you like 50 secs.
https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxvqk9Geie_-a_kMdflu7bxRQpwBE0r2xG?si=CKSwLb6Gx3fKL5FH

[Tenchuu Khan]

Well it's a bit easier this time around really.

First of all - don't use the bellows unless the recipe tells you to. It's only there for some special recipes like Minta Perfume.

When you lower the cauldron and reach over to the sandglass - that's perfect timing if you want to do it by the book.


Once you get the hang of it you can take shortcuts as well, for instance - Savior Schnaps:
I put in wine, nettle, lower the cauldron
Put in 2 Belladonna - which is about 1 turn
Grind the Belladonna - exactly 1 turn
Throw it in - count 21, 23, 24 - raise the cauldron - pour

You can pour directly of course but that's a bit wonky due to your head shifting all over the place and then you overcook the Belladonna most of the time.


So yea, all in all - it's a bit confusing but an improvement over KCD1's alchemy system. I like it.
Just need to get a hang of it and understand that lowering the cauldron = boiling.

[Frank Dunn]

Originally posted by DWI_Suriil:

Originally posted by king_of_jamaica:

As soon as you see the surface of the liquid in the cauldron get disturbed, you flip the hourglass. Should take like 2-3 seconds after dropping it on the fire at most.

no... just flip it , it will insta boil
And you can skip animations.

This. It's instant, click the "prompts" as soon as they are available, eg, "lower cauldron", "turn hour glass..",. wait for the sand to disappear...etc. Don't use the bellows unless it says to.

[Dregora]

Originally posted by Frank Dunn:

Originally posted by DWI_Suriil:

no... just flip it , it will insta boil
And you can skip animations.

This. It's instant, click the "prompts" as soon as they are available, eg, "lower cauldron", "turn hour glass..",. wait for the sand to disappear...etc. Don't use the bellows unless it says to.

Oh holy hell that's where it all went wrong then, had no idea the boiling process was automatic this time. Thanks so much everybody for the quick replies.

[DWI_Suriil]

Originally posted by Dregora:

Originally posted by Frank Dunn:

This. It's instant, click the "prompts" as soon as they are available, eg, "lower cauldron", "turn hour glass..",. wait for the sand to disappear...etc. Don't use the bellows unless it says to.

Oh holy hell that's where it all went wrong then, had no idea the boiling process was automatic this time. Thanks so much everybody for the quick replies.

Or you can ignore the watch at all.
1 turn is 10 secs , after like 150h in game I just do it w/o.
If you are a hardcore gamer each potion can be "optimized" to cut preparation time.

[n0mad23]

I've found pumping the bellows once before lowering the cauldron makes it really consistent for boiling.

[Tenchuu Khan]

Originally posted by DWI_Suriil:

Originally posted by Dregora:

Oh holy hell that's where it all went wrong then, had no idea the boiling process was automatic this time. Thanks so much everybody for the quick replies.

Or you can ignore the watch at all.
1 turn is 10 secs , after like 150h in game I just do it w/o.
If you are a hardcore gamer each potion can be "optimized" to cut preparation time.

That - especially early on Artemisia is a free gold mine :D

[corthew]

You're thinking the game is more accurate for an alchemy station than it is. As soon as you drop the pot, it counts as boiling. Flip the glass immediately after dropping the pot, turn it the number of specified times each time it empties, then raise the pot.
You don't even need to use the glass if you have the timing. There are even a couple of recipes I ignore the glass on because the act of doing the other steps in those recipes fits the timing well enough to get perfect potions.

[Toran Blackwater]

I always pulled the kettle down, used the bellows once and started the sandclock right after that. While there are only few recipes asking explicitly for the bellows, I ignored that and used it but once for every boiling, no matter the number of turns.