Unified Chemical Plant — FAQ
What does this mod do?
This mod adds the Unified Chemical Plant — a large 7×7 building that combines the capabilities of a chemical plant, oil refinery, and fuel refinery into a single structure. It can process all recipes from these three building types.
How do I unlock it?
The recipe is unlocked by the Advanced Oil Processing technology. No separate research is needed.
What does it cost to build?
- 2× Chemical Plant
- 100× Steel Plate
- 80× Pipe
- 100× Stone Brick
- 40× Advanced Circuit
What are the default stats?
| Parameter | Default | Configurable Range |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 7×7 tiles | Fixed |
| Module slots | 5 | 0 to 8 |
| Crafting speed | 4× | 4 / 6 / 8 / 10 / 12 |
| Base productivity | +50% | 0% to 200% |
| Energy usage | 300 kW | Scales with speed (75 kW per unit) |
How do I change the settings?
All settings are startup settings. Go to Settings → Mod Settings → Startup tab, find "Unified Chemical Plant" and adjust:
- Module slots — number of module slots (0 to 8)
- Crafting speed — crafting speed multiplier (4 to 12 in steps of 2)
- Base productivity (%) — built-in productivity bonus (0% to 200%)
- Allow building on space platforms — Space Exploration compatibility
Changing startup settings requires a game restart.
How does energy consumption work?
Energy usage scales dynamically with the crafting speed setting: 75 kW per unit of speed. For example, speed 4 = 300 kW, speed 8 = 600 kW, speed 12 = 900 kW.
What fluid connections does it have?
- 2 inputs on the north side
- 3 outputs on the south side
This layout supports complex recipes like advanced oil processing that require multiple fluid outputs.
Is it compatible with Space Exploration?
Yes! The mod automatically detects Space Exploration and adds fuel-refining recipe support. You can also enable the "Allow building on space platforms" setting for full SE compatibility.
Is it compatible with other mods?
The mod inherits crafting categories from the base chemical plant, oil refinery, and fuel refinery at load time. Additionally, it re-syncs all categories in data-final-fixes, so any categories added by other mods (such as Space Age adding new chemistry recipes) are automatically picked up. If a mod adds a recipe to any of these three buildings, the Unified Chemical Plant should be able to craft it.
I updated from an older version and now some recipes are missing?
This was a known issue in versions prior to 0.4.0 where categories added by other mods after the initial prototype copy were not picked up. Update to version 0.4.0 or later, which re-syncs all categories in data-final-fixes.
Does it work in multiplayer?
Yes. All configuration is done through startup settings, which are synchronized across all players.
Does quality affect this building?
Yes, but in a focused way. Higher-quality versions of the building receive increased crafting speed (e.g. Legendary ≈ 2.5× base speed) and more HP. Module slots and energy efficiency do not scale with quality — they stay exactly as configured in settings. This gives you precise control over balance.
What are the side fluid connections?
East-west pass-through fluid connections were prototyped but not shipped. The Factorio engine ignores fluid filters on crafting machines and assigns fluids to input boxes automatically based on recipe ingredient order, making it impossible to reliably control which fluid goes through the side. This may be revisited if Wube changes this engine behavior.
Why is the building so expensive?
The Unified Chemical Plant replaces three separate buildings (chemical plant, oil refinery, fuel refinery), has more module slots, higher crafting speed, and built-in productivity. The recipe cost reflects this power level and is designed for mid-to-late game.
The building doesn't show fuel-refining recipes!
Make sure you have Space Exploration (or another mod that adds the fuel-refining recipe category) installed and enabled. Without SE, fuel-refining recipes don't exist.