Multimixer problems...

[RoxiSinister]

So, I ran into a problem using the multimixer where I cannot swap effects around. I am only able to keep whichever is the base effects, no matter which way I toggle it. Many aplogies in advance for my poor photo editing skills. (I also have no clue how to share an edited screenshot on here, so using external site) I sure hope this picture works on Steam. hahahaha

http://imageshack.com/a/img922/5902/5OrJSg.png

On the right are my two ingredients. Effects outlined in RED are "non-removable" effects. After some searching on here I found out that at least one of the ingredients needs to have three or fewer effects for the Multimixer to work, so I completely reconfigured my tiny space to decrease the concentration on one ingredient to get rid of one effect, ran it thorugh a Shaker to line up the effects, and put them into the Multimixer. At the bottom are the reults of the Agglomerator and the Shaker. On the left are the two toggled results of the Multimixer.

The output of the Multimixer is the base ingredient with all of its effects. The other ingredient just vanishes. I've used the Multimixer successfully before, and after a couple of hours of fiddling, I am just stuck. I don't know what to do short of giving up and moving on. Does anybody have any idea what it is I am doing wrong? Do they BOTH have to have only three effects to work? Is it because both ingredients have the same "non-removable" effect? I just don't know what else to try!

EDIT: OK, after studying my own image, I have four "non-removable" effects. Dries Mouth is also non-removable. Could that be what is making it behave this way?

[Twice Circled]

Hi 07CobaltGirl,

Yes that's how the multimixer works. It keeps all of the effects in the "base" ingredient and adds any from the other that it can ie. where there are empty slots.

If the ingredient is "full" ie has 4 effects. Then you will need to remove an effect before you can add something to it. However, it sounds like you have been quite unlucky and you have a lot of "non-removable" effects. If this is the case, it might not be possible to combine them without the Centrifuge. The centrifuge is a late-game machine which *swaps* effects, so you don't need to remove things first.

It's one of the tricky bits of the game, and what makes it a bit of a puzzler at times!

Also you need to consider "Is it worth it for me to even do this?". Sometimes it's so expensive to remove an effect and add back in another that you're better off just making something else.

Hope that helps,

Tim

[RoxiSinister]

Thanks for the reply! I just bought the game a few days ago, so lots to try to understand. Loving the game...just a bit frustrating at times. I did give up on this drug and found something different to make. It was a "Beginner" scenario (Three is the Magic Number?), so pretty limited in equipment to do things with. I've now moved on to Intermediate. Dealing with Patents is a pain. I would have thought it would evaluate the drug itself, but apparently a pill for Malaria with X positive/negative effects regardless of concentration is covered. Ho hum.

[Scifiwriterguy]

Hey CobaltGirl! You're far from alone; the multimixer is one of the more confusing machines to master. It took me several tries, too. I did make a process diagram and description for the wiki that might help you out:
http://bigpharma.gamepedia.com/Multimixer

It's also worth noting that those "cannot remove" side effects can, in fact, be removed! If you have the Marketing & Malpractice DLC, there's a machine added called the Booster Mixer. Basically, it'll take a booster (yellow effect) from one ingredient and replace whatever is in that slot in the main drug. It's the perfect way to edit out those troublesome cannot removes.

Alternatively, you can use centrifuges and/or multimixers to shift those cannot removes into a drug which you just throw away (using the analyzer as a trash can), but that's a lot pricier and more complex.

[RoxiSinister]

Awesome, Scifiwriterguy! That helps explain some things about the device. I've been playing with the Centrifuge today and figuring out what I can use the garbage for instead of just dumping it into an Analyzer. Dumping it seems wasteful, but it seems sometimes that is all you can do with the junk left over. I knew I could remove the "non-removable" items, as I'd done it before. I was just thinking that perhaps there were just too many on that conversion...not often you have two ingredients with all 4 slots full and 2 "non-removables" on each one, it seems, so I think that was just really unlucky for what I was needing to do with it in that game. The guide will be very useful for future references, however, so thanks!!!

[Scifiwriterguy]

That is pretty bad luck, but also not terribly uncommon.

Don't worry about throwing out a "trashcan" product - sometimes you just need to shift bad effects out and there's no use for where they go. (Big Pharma isn't a totally clean industry!) But the Booster Mixer really helps cut down on the number of times you need to do that. Even if you're adding boosters that won't do the drug any good, it's still better than a non-removable side effect that could kill patients. (And reduce your sales.)

[RoxiSinister]

!!

I hadn't thought of it that way. Nice tip!