Industrial Alchemy: Real Ores & Chemistry
Industrial Alchemy: Real Ores & Chemistry is a Factorio overhaul mod focused on turning raw resources into a believable industrial production chain. Instead of treating ore as a simple one-step path into plates, RIC builds a heavier progression around real ores, crushing, concentration, metallurgy, chemistry, waste handling, petrochemicals, and electronics manufacturing.
The goal is not to add complexity for its own sake. The goal is to make industry feel more grounded, more mechanical, and more satisfying to scale.
Core Identity
RIC is built around a few simple ideas:
- ores should feel like real mined materials, not generic colored rocks
- processing should move through clear industrial stages
- chemistry should matter before the late game
- waste streams should become part of factory design
- electronics should require believable materials and component preparation
- early industry should remain readable and playable
This is a work-in-progress overhaul, but the direction is intentionally long-term: raw resource extraction → ore preparation → metallurgy → chemistry → petrochemicals → electronics → advanced industry.
What RIC Changes
RIC adds and restructures industrial chains around:
- real ore and mineral resources
- raw ore versus crushed ore visual identity
- crushing and ore preparation
- early metallurgy and steelmaking
- wet processing and flotation-style progression
- sulfur, acid, and wastewater handling
- petrochemical bootstrap routes
- electronics materials and component preparation
- packaged electronic logistics such as reels, trays, and assembly kits
- Recipe Book readability and clearer machine roles
The mod is intended to make the factory feel more like an industrial site: crushers, furnaces, chemical plants, waste treatment, component assembly, and specialist intermediate production all become meaningful parts of progression.
Gameplay Style
RIC is for players who enjoy:
- larger production chains
- more realistic resource processing
- slower, more deliberate progression
- chemistry and metallurgy systems
- factory planning beyond simple plate throughput
- Recipe Book / Factory Planner style exploration
- overhaul-style play without jumping straight into extreme endgame complexity
It is not intended to be a tiny quality-of-life mod or a simple ore reskin. It changes the structure and expectations of early and midgame industry.
Development Status
RIC is actively developed. Expect balance changes, recipe cleanup, icon polish, and progression adjustments as the overhaul matures.
The current focus is on building a stable, playable industrial spine before expanding into larger advanced systems such as deeper oil processing, rare earths, uranium chemistry, high-temperature alloys, and more advanced electronics.
Saves may continue to receive migration support where appropriate, but major overhaul development can still change recipes, unlock order, and intermediate requirements.
Recommended Use
RIC is best played in a new save.
Recipe Book, Factory Planner, or similar planning tools are strongly recommended because the mod intentionally expands the number of intermediate materials and process steps.
Dependencies
RIC uses Forgeworks Core as its shared library foundation.
Other graphics and compatibility dependencies may be used where appropriate to keep the mod visually consistent and maintainable.
Design Philosophy
RIC aims for industrial believability, not strict simulation.
A recipe does not need to be a laboratory-accurate chemical equation to belong here, but it should feel like it belongs in a real industrial process. The factory should become more interesting because the materials have identity, the machines have purpose, and each production stage gives the player a reason to expand.