Wizard golems

[Admiral jimbob]

It's about making it better, not compensating for how bad it is.

The round I explained, I spent 30 minutes creating some really fun goelms; grog, meatpaste, weird cheese, eggs, etc.
even then, however, I did this while entirely disguised as a Research Director. A fully clothed wizard is not going to have the time to gather worthwhile chemicals, let alone the containers to carry a lot or the time to start swapping staffs and beakers around.

Agreed 100%. There's literally no reason to take it over Animate Dead now except the fun of making novelty golems like the ones mentioned. Which is something that should be encouraged! As it is, skeletons are extremely strong (which is fine, it's overall a balanced spell thanks to the need to kill people to make the skeletons in the first place, and you won't rule the station with it until you've done well enough that... well, you deserve to) and golems just don't compare at all. The suggestions in the OP are good.