Chemistry 22

Lore & Background

In the sprawling factory that a player builds atop the alien world, chemistry is where raw geology becomes engineering. The first Chemistry research introduces the Chemistry Plant—a squat, multi-pipe structure that hums with the smell of sulfur and the slow drip of orange acid. Sulfuric acid, plastic, iron and copper plates: these are the staples that let a fledgling factory outgrow its earliest belt-and-furnace days. Chemistry 2 deepens the recipe book, letting the player convert more complex inputs and unlock the fluid transport systems that make large-scale production possible. Chemistry 3 crowns the line, opening still more advanced reagents. The number '22' never appears in this progression. It is a ghost number, a phantom that some players have typed into search bars or mentioned in forum threads, perhaps conflating it with a mod's extended chemistry tree or simply misremembering the sequence. In the canon of the game as shipped by Wube Software, the chemistry line is deliberately compact: three steps, each a meaningful jump in capability, before the player's attention shifts toward military research, logistics, or the far more terrifying Assembling Machine 4 upgrades. What fans love about the chemistry line is not any single recipe but the feeling of watching a pile of sulfur and water become something useful, of hearing the soft clunk of the Chemistry Plant's piston as it cycles. It is the game's quietest magic, the moment the factory stops being a pile of boxes and starts being a process.

In Their Own Story

The night shift at the factory was quiet. Klonan's blueprint—pinned to the wall above the crafting terminal—still showed the original layout: three furnaces, one belt, a single stone wall. That was four hundred hours ago. Now the Chemistry Plant sat at the center of a cathedral of pipes, its four input ports gurgling with sulfuric acid and water, its output spitting plastic pellets onto a conveyor that stretched beyond the edge of the screen. The player leaned back in the chair, watching the little green progress bar on the plant pulse and reset, pulse and reset. Somewhere to the east, a train hissed through the tunnel, bringing another load of iron ore. Somewhere to the west, the alien creatures were still out there, clicking and clicking, waiting for the day the player's turrets would finally reach them. But right now, right here, the only sound was the soft, rhythmic *thunk-thunk-thunk* of the Chemistry Plant doing its work. And that was enough. That was, in its small and mechanical way, beautiful.

Reader's Guide

Because 'Chemistry 22' is not a real technology, this guide addresses the actual chemistry progression so readers can find what they likely intended. Chemistry 1 is the gateway. It unlocks the Chemistry Plant, the recipe for Sulfuric Acid (sulfur + water), Plastic (petroleum + water), and the basic Iron Plate and Copper Plate recipes. It requires no prior research beyond early-game basics and sits near the top of the tech tree, typically researched in the first 20–40 minutes of play. Chemistry 2 builds on that foundation. It unlocks additional fluid-based recipes, including the production of more advanced intermediate items, and is a prerequisite for several logistics and production technologies. It sits in the mid-game, usually researched after the player has established a stable petroleum and water supply. Chemistry 3 is the capstone of the line, unlocking the final tier of chemistry recipes and enabling the most complex fluid-processing chains. It is typically researched in the late mid-game, just before the player pivots toward advanced logistics or military preparations. If you encountered 'Chemistry 22' in a mod pack or a community-shared blueprint, check the mod's description page—some fan mods extend the chemistry line well beyond three tiers. In the base game, the line ends at 3.

Did You Know?

• The Chemistry Plant is one of the few buildings in Factorio that has both solid and fluid input ports, making it a natural hub in the factory layout.
• Sulfuric Acid, unlocked in Chemistry 1, is required for the Oil Refinery's petroleum processing and for several advanced material recipes, making it a critical mid-game dependency.
• The chemistry technology line is intentionally short—only three tiers—compared to lines like Military (4 tiers) or Logistics (4 tiers), reflecting Wube's design choice to keep fluid processing accessible early while rese
• In the game's internal data files, the chemistry technologies are referenced by simple sequential IDs; there is no hidden or easter-egg 'Chemistry 22' entry in the base game's tech definitions.