Further announcement:
The orders system is now confirmed functional for both saints and potions (quaffed only - no applying lotions or blade oils during battle!).
Moreover, the 'construct orders' system is also done and tested. Discover that you need fire resistance you hadn't planned for? Hit the I key until you're in Construct Orders mode, then hit the Tab key to start building an order. In this example:
Tab -
"Take action..." (AKA "Order to self:")
Tab -
"Order to Anya..."Wait 3s -
"Order to Anya..."Tab -
"Order to Anya: quaff..."Wait 3s -
"Order to Anya: quaff..."Tab -
"Order to Anya: quaff Sina's New-Wind..."Tab -
"Order to Anya: quaff Jabir's Firewall..."Tab (oops) -
"Order to Anya: quaff Hayyan's Quickmove..."Tab -
"No order." (Ran out of potions Anya has on hand.)
Tab -
"Order to Anya: quaff Sina's New-Wind..."Tab -
"Order to Anya: quaff Jabir's Firewall..."Wait 3s -
"Ordering Anya: quaff Jabir's Firewall."Two seconds later (the time it takes to get out a potion you've got ready to hand), you hear a drinking sound, and suddenly you're seeing messages like
"Anya has fully resisted 5 fire damage". Yay!
If you know your potions on hand (and/or your saints studied) well enough to know what you're looking for, this process is reasonably quick in play. Not recommended for in the thick of combat... but that's realistic, innit? And if you don't know your saints well enough, well, maybe
this is the one you're looking for... it's worth a shot.

I'm now quite satisfied that you can access any of your alchemy or prayers as freely as can be called for. Still to be coded on this subsystem:
- Actions (prayers and potion-quaffing) may be interrupted if the character in question takes damage in the meanwhile.
- Access via dialogue to a list of which orders you've got prepared for quick access.
- The ability to delete an order from your list of prepared orders.
Also, thanks to Blankshield's help with the sequencing process, another random encounter (my personal favorite, the catch-22 "Pardoner" encounter) is now implemented. Remember, even if he's an asshole who's trying to kill you, it's sacrilege to beat up the clergy.
Everybody looking forward to v0.2 yet?
- Hellequin