Alchemy Factory beginner guide: Levels I to V in 1.1

Your Alchemy Level rises one step with each main quest you complete. Each asks for one batch of one item and pays coins, sometimes items too. Up to Level IX, each new level adds materials to buy (the level-up panel calls them New Materials) and opens the next tier of the research tree:

Two side chains start early. Once you reach Level II, six Carpenter Requests begin with 200 Planks; they pay coins and unlock buildings such as the Wooden Box, Trash Barrel and Beam. At Level IV, a Sample Request for 50 Bandages pays 1212 silver and unlocks the Dispatch Portal with the Bandage purchase contract.

You start at Level I with Logs and Gelatinous Gridlock to buy; Logs cost 200200 copper. A Table Saw cuts Logs into 30 Planks a minute, and a Grinder turns 1 Plank into one Large Wooden Gear every 6 seconds (10 a minute). The first quest's 20 Large Wooden Gears take 20 Planks.

The reward includes 200 Flax. That is two thirds of the 300 Flax needed for the next quest's 50 Linen Rope:

• Grinder: 1 Flax → 1 Flax Fiber in 3 seconds
• Processor: 3 Flax Fiber → 1 Linen Thread in 3 seconds
• Processor: 2 Linen Thread → 1 Linen Rope in 6 seconds

Grow the rest on a Seed Plot: Flax Seeds unlock at Level II for 280280 copper, and one seed gives 200 Flax after 400 seconds. Seed Plots are harvested by hand, and machine speed upgrades don't change their growth time. The in-game manual notes that sleeping doesn't pause their growth.

Shop Recognitions start here. Sundries Recognition (Level II): sell 6 Mortar, then pay 400400 copper. It adds 8 Shop Reputation and 10% Sundries Profit. You apply for Recognitions with an NPC; the 1.0.4950 hotfix made that NPC easier to spot.

Level III adds Iron Ore and Sage Seeds to the shop. The quest for Level IV wants 100 Healing Potions.

An Assembler makes one Healing Potion from 6 Sage Powder and 6 Flax Fiber every 6 seconds: 10 a minute. It uses 60 of each input a minute, exactly one full belt at the starting belt speed of 60 a minute, so give each input its own belt.

The 100 potions take 600 Sage and 600 Flax in all. A Seed Plot gives 180 Sage per seed every 540 seconds. The planner sizes the whole line for one Assembler.

To sell potions you need a Potion Shelf: the in-game manual says potions only sell from their own shelves, and since 1.0 the shelf comes from the Workbench after researching Healing Potion.

Apothecary Recognition (Level III): sell 100 Healing Potions, then pay 24002 silver 400 copper. It adds 8 Shop Reputation and 10% Potion Profit.

At Level IV buying, checkout and farming can be automated. It adds Redcurrant Seeds, Portal Sigil and Automatic Cashier, and the quest for Level V wants 100 Vitality Potions.

Automatic Cashier

The in-game manual says you buy the Automatic Cashier in the shop and build it on the Checkout Table, where it rings up customers for you. Players report it costs 33 silver there, the value the game lists for it (Steam thread (opens in a new tab)). It stops working when its coin store is full: take the coins out by hand or connect a conveyor belt.

Purchasing and Bank Portals

The Purchasing Portal unlocks at the Workbench at Level IV and is built from 1 Portal Sigil and 5 Planks; a Portal Sigil costs 15001 silver 500 copper. Feed it coins and it buys raw materials from the shop. The manual says it takes any coin type and changes them as it buys. Unlocking it opens the Bank Portal, which converts between two coin types and lets you set how many coins it puts out at a time.

Vitality Potions

A Blender makes one Vitality Potion from 4 Quicklime Powder and 80 Fruit Wine every 8 seconds (7.5 a minute). Fruit Wine is a liquid that travels by pipe: an Extractor turns 1 Redcurrant into 10. The 100 potions take 800 Redcurrant and 400 Quicklime Powder. Quicklime is baked in a Crucible, which draws heat and has to sit on a furnace (heat and fuel guide). The planner lays out the chain for one Blender.

Nurseries, contracts and Recognitions

The Nursery and Basic Fertilizer research (both Level IV) end hand harvesting: the in-game manual says a Nursery grows plants from fertilizer without using up its seed. The fertilizer and nurseries guide covers how many a line feeds. The Sample Request above opens the Dispatch Portal at this level too.

Tavern Recognition (Level IV): sell 20 Whispering Fields, then pay 48004 silver 800 copper. It adds 8 Shop Reputation and 10% Beverage Profit.

Reaching Level V adds Rotten Log, Coal Ore and Grand Portal Sigil to the shop, and four more Recognition tracks open: Licensed Alchemist, Jeweller Recognition, Licensed Supplier and Relic Recognition. Its quest asks for 100 Transformation Potions, made from Coke Powder and Gloom Spores. The heat and fuel guide covers Coke and furnaces.

In 1.0 shelves, portals and most other buildings that don't make anything left the research tree. The 1.0 patch notes say: “Removed all non-production devices from the Tech Tree. These devices must now be unlocked at the Workbench.” The Workbench itself unlocks with the Table Saw research (Level I), and 80 other buildings are unlocked there. These are the ones you are most likely looking for:

Players who ran out of money early describe the same trap: a Purchasing Portal keeps buying as long as it has coins, and a long belt of bought materials between the portal and the machine is money standing still (Steam thread (opens in a new tab)). Their fix is to move coins instead of materials: put a portal next to the machine it feeds and buy only what that machine uses. Some also keep a reserve of coins in a box (Steam thread (opens in a new tab)). Both threads are from before 1.0, and no patch note since has changed how the portal buys.

Raw materials get more expensive as you level: Coal Ore costs 24 times as much as Logs. What Levels I to V add, at the game's shop prices:

Selling is the other half. The in-game manual says some goods only sell once you hold the matching license or Recognition, and customers ignore unauthorized goods even on a shelf. Check that you can sell a product before you build its line. The money guide covers Recognition and customers; the profit table ranks what earns most per machine.

The in-game manual says floors and walls unlock with the Building Tool upgrade at the Workbench. They need support: building parts hold each other up well vertically but much less sideways, and a part that shows yellow while you place it is close to its limit.

Players who have rebuilt their factory give the same advice: plan upward early, and leave room for pillars and supports before you fill the ground floor with machines (Steam thread (opens in a new tab), another Steam thread (opens in a new tab)). Both also say to expect some rebuilding. The Conveyor Lifter (Level III research) moves items between floors.

Belts start at 60 items a minute. The separate upgrade tree raises a few global stats one level at a time:

• Logistics Efficiency adds 15 items a minute to every belt per level for 12 levels (25% of the base), which brings belts to 240 a minute. A repeatable level after that adds 3 a minute each time.
• Factory Efficiency adds 25% Device Production Speed and 25% Heat Consuming Speed per level for 12 levels, then 5% of each per repeatable level: machines work faster and burn fuel faster.
• Fuel Efficiency adds 10% Fuel Heat Value per level for 12 levels, then 10% per repeatable level.
• Fertilizer Efficiency adds 10% Fertilizer Nutrient Value per level for 12 levels, then 10% per repeatable level.

Level for level, Logistics Efficiency and Factory Efficiency add the same share of speed, so raising them together keeps every machine-to-belt ratio as it was: an Assembler making Healing Potions still fills one full belt of each input. Seed Plots don't speed up with any of them. Which upgrade to raise first depends on what holds your factory back: belts, machines or fuel. The heat and fuel guide covers the fuel side.

Many guides and forum answers were written before 1.0 (September 2026). If you read one, check these points against the 1.0 patch notes:

• Workbench. Shelves, portals, hoppers and most other non-production buildings moved out of the research tree (above).
• Reputation. “Customer feedback when making purchases no longer affects Reputation.” It now comes from Shop Recognitions: every level of the Sundries, Apothecary, Tavern, Jeweller and Relic Recognitions adds 8 Shop Reputation.
• Furnaces. “Removed the base heat cost of all heating devices.” A furnace burns fuel only for the machines on it.
• Knowledge Altar. It breaks down any item for experience now, and relics give extra.
• Clockwork Bird. It no longer sells and is gone from quest requirements.