I’m currently trying to make Alpha mutagen in the latest stable build, which is made up of thee other types of mutagen. I’ve been wandering a lab looking for these other types, but keep finding “serums” instead of mutagen.
It’s a shame I can’t make alpha serum from these three serums, and/or make normal mutagen by diluting serums.
[quote=“Paquito, post:1, topic:6584”]I’m currently trying to make Alpha mutagen in the latest stable build, which is made up of thee other types of mutagen. I’ve been wandering a lab looking for these other types, but keep finding “serums” instead of mutagen.
It’s a shame I can’t make alpha serum from these three serums, and/or make normal mutagen by diluting serums.[/quote]
Intended. Serums are an effective way to rapidly obtain demonstrable results in mutagen research, at a noticeable cost savings thanks to increased efficacy and lower subject-rejection rates. XEDRA’s xenopharmacological corps adopted that methodology agency-wide. Mutagens you find lying around were probably being processed or whipped up for limited-run tests.
From a game perspective, serums offered fairly effective one-shot taste(s) of advanced categories without just giving the player the ability to bypass everything and go directly to top-level mutagens. They also add a bit of verisimilitude to labs containing all the recipes: surely there ought to be some samples of the stuff somewhere?
[quote=“KA101, post:2, topic:6584”][quote=“Paquito, post:1, topic:6584”]I’m currently trying to make Alpha mutagen in the latest stable build, which is made up of thee other types of mutagen. I’ve been wandering a lab looking for these other types, but keep finding “serums” instead of mutagen.
It’s a shame I can’t make alpha serum from these three serums, and/or make normal mutagen by diluting serums.[/quote]
Intended. Serums are an effective way to rapidly obtain demonstrable results in mutagen research, at a noticeable cost savings thanks to increased efficacy and lower subject-rejection rates. XEDRA’s xenopharmacological corps adopted that methodology agency-wide. Mutagens you find lying around were probably being processed or whipped up for limited-run tests.[/quote]
Hrmm, the fact that serum recipes call for the same-type of mutagen suggest that they’re merely a concentrated form of the mutagen that could be diluted, rather than what you’re describing here. The recipe should probably be changed to fit the lore?
Anyway, the recipe for alpha mutagen calls for three other types of mutagen. Given what you’ve explained, it’d make sense to be able to make alpha serum from serum of those three other types, ya?
[quote=“Paquito, post:3, topic:6584”][quote=“KA101, post:2, topic:6584”][quote=“Paquito, post:1, topic:6584”]I’m currently trying to make Alpha mutagen in the latest stable build, which is made up of thee other types of mutagen. I’ve been wandering a lab looking for these other types, but keep finding “serums” instead of mutagen.
It’s a shame I can’t make alpha serum from these three serums, and/or make normal mutagen by diluting serums.[/quote]
Intended. Serums are an effective way to rapidly obtain demonstrable results in mutagen research, at a noticeable cost savings thanks to increased efficacy and lower subject-rejection rates. XEDRA’s xenopharmacological corps adopted that methodology agency-wide. Mutagens you find lying around were probably being processed or whipped up for limited-run tests.[/quote]
Hrmm, the fact that serum recipes call for the same-type of mutagen suggest that they’re merely a concentrated form of the mutagen that could be diluted, rather than what you’re describing here. The recipe should probably be changed to fit the lore?
Anyway, the recipe for alpha mutagen calls for three other types of mutagen. Given what you’ve explained, it’d make sense to be able to make alpha serum from serum of those three other types, ya?[/quote]
They’re a cooked-down form of the mutagen. I’ve considered dilution but would then go MUTAGEN_WEAK on 'em (less than 100% chance for one mutation, not usable in further crafting).
Likewise you’d end up with alpha “inedible gunk in the bottom of your vessel”. Serums are fairly concentrated as-is.
Sorry, I’m still a bit confused, or maybe I’m not being clear with my second question. In the table release. the alpha mutagen recipe currently calls for:
Bird Mutagen
Slime Mutagen
Plant Mutagen
Would it make sense to be able to create alpha serum from
Bird Serum
Slime Serum
Plant Serum
?
[quote=“Paquito, post:5, topic:6584”]Sorry, I’m still a bit confused, or maybe I’m not being clear with my second question. In the table release. the alpha mutagen recipe currently calls for:
Bird Mutagen
Slime Mutagen
Plant Mutagen
Would it make sense to be able to create alpha serum from
Bird Serum
Slime Serum
Plant Serum
?[/quote]
Right now, no.
Serum-making is theoretically a very precise cook-down. The X-P folks never messed with combining serums into each other before the Cataclysm. My earlier response was that you were likely to ruin the ingredients and create an unusable mess in your chemistry gear if you were to process multiple serums into each other.
[quote=“KA101, post:6, topic:6584”][quote=“Paquito, post:5, topic:6584”]Sorry, I’m still a bit confused, or maybe I’m not being clear with my second question. In the table release. the alpha mutagen recipe currently calls for:
Bird Mutagen
Slime Mutagen
Plant Mutagen
Would it make sense to be able to create alpha serum from
Bird Serum
Slime Serum
Plant Serum
?[/quote]
Right now, no.
Serum-making is theoretically a very precise cook-down. The X-P folks never messed with combining serums into each other before the Cataclysm. My earlier response was that you were likely to ruin the ingredients and create an unusable mess in your chemistry gear if you were to process multiple serums into each other.[/quote]
Ah. Incidentally, are any of the devs chem majors? I have no idea what pseudo-realistic chemistry would look like, so when I talk about something that “seems” to make sense, it’s coming from a place of ignorance 
Not to my knowledge, but I’ve picked up a lot of random, esoteric chemistry knowledge as a result of the various crafting categories I’ve filled in.
Also learned a lot about military tools, atomic energy and safety, prototype powered armor, caseless firearms, etc.
Working on DDA has been a serious learning experience!