Alchemy Factory Devices & Machines Glossary
Every machine, structure and tool below is named in an official Alchemy Factory announcement or the developer FAQ, with the version that introduced or last changed it. Since 1.0, production devices are researched in the Tech Tree (Z) while everything else, including catapults, bridges and lifts, is unlocked at the Workbench.
All devices
| Device | Group | What it does | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Table Saw | Production | Cuts logs into planks; also splits rotten logs into gloom fungus and planks. The first machine the tutorial has you research. | Demo |
| Grinder | Production | Turns planks into large wooden gears and flax into fibre; also grinds coke into coke powder and obsidian into volcanic ash. | Demo |
| Processor | Production | General crafting station: mortar and pestle, linen thread and rope, small gears, nails, rivets, bearings. Output side can be flipped with T. | Demo |
| Assembler | Production | Combines ground ingredients into potions, starting with Healing Potions from flax and sage powder. | Demo |
| Stone Crusher | Production | Breaks ore and stone; coal ore becomes 120 coal here, which is the recommended coke powder route. | Demo |
| Stone Furnace | Heating | 3 x 3 heating device that burns fuel for the consumers stacked on it. Base heat draw removed in 1.0. | Demo; changed 1.0 |
| Blast Furnace | Heating | 6 x 7 heating device with more capacity than the Stone Furnace. | Early Access |
| Steam Boiler and Steam Heating Pad | Heating | A separate heating mechanic: the boiler makes steam, pads deliver it to consumers. | v0.4.4.4298 (Apr 2026) |
| Crucible | Heat consumer | Sits on a furnace, 4 P/s, processes planks, stone or herbs into ash, charcoal and similar. Stackable crucibles pass heat through even when idle. | Demo; stacking change Dec 2025 |
| Paradox Crucible | Heat consumer | Higher-tier crucible mentioned for non-cauldron late-game runs. | Early Access |
| Iron Smelter and Kiln | Heat consumer | Smelter makes iron ingots from ore; kiln fires clay into brick and sand into glass. | Demo |
| Athanor | Heat consumer | Multi-output alchemical furnace: iron plus coke powder to steel, charcoal powder to coke powder. Random output was replaced by a fixed output sequence before EA. | Demo; changed Dec 2025 |
| Advanced Athanor | Heat consumer | Athanor whose results are modified by catalysts (Unstable, Fertile, Resonant, Eternal). All its recipes were rebuilt in v0.5.4467; it also accepts standard Athanor recipes at standard heat. | Reworked v0.5.4467 (Jun 2026) |
| Alembic | Heat consumer | Extracts oils and essences (linseed oil, lavender essential oil). Output rate scales with the Alchemy skill. | Demo |
| Cauldron | Alchemy | Three-slot pot that turns any three inputs into a procedurally generated product; inputs decide what comes out, not how fast. Got an item filter in April 2026 and lost its hidden output multiplier in June. Costs 20 Bronze Ingots. | Demo (Experimental Cauldron); filter v0.4.4; rebalanced v0.5.4467 |
| Advanced Cauldron | Alchemy | A new cauldron type added in April 2026; 1.0 fixed it sometimes failing to find a product. | v0.4.4.4298 |
| Shaper | Alchemy | The relic assembler: six item inputs plus, from Venus onward, a liquid input, with slots sized for an exact balanced ratio. | Early Access |
| Knowledge Altar | Progression | Consumes relics for experience and skill points. In 1.0 it can break down any item, with extra experience for relics. | Dec 2025 (replaced the old upgrade system); expanded 1.0 |
| Workbench | Progression | Consumes materials to upgrade inventory, gloves (restock speed), the Building Tool and the Potion Belt. From 1.0 it is also where every non-production device is unlocked; it sits next to your bed in a new save and costs 50 planks to place. | Demo; role expanded 1.0 |
| Conveyor Belt, Lift and Incline | Logistics | Item transport. Lifts are placed bottom-first, dragged to any height and rotated with R while holding click. The belt system was rewritten in June 2026 for stable high-speed movement. | Demo; rewritten v0.5.4467 |
| Wall Conveyor Tunnel, Crossway Tunnel, Conveyor Passage | Logistics | Ways to pass belts through walls, across each other, and over gaps at adjustable length. | Dec 2025 to Mar 2026 |
| Hangable Drawbridge Conveyor | Logistics | Height-adjustable belt bridge hung from above; a 7-slot version had an item-eating bug fixed in April 2026. | v0.4.3.4131 |
| Splitter, Merger, Filter, Priority Splitter and Merger | Logistics | Belt routing. Free stacking since December 2025; the yellow arrow marks the filtered item's exit; 1.0 fixed priority mergers reducing throughput. | Demo; changed 1.0 |
| Hopper | Logistics | Catch box for thrown items. Three Hopper Conveyor variants arrived with the Workshop update; 1.0 lists an Advanced Hopper. | Demo; variants Jan 2026 |
| Catapult | Throwing | Throws items to a chosen target through walls if placed before the wall. Initial speed set to 60 per minute in January 2026; 1.0 added range indicators and stopped targets that are too high or low. | Demo; changed Jan 2026 and 1.0 |
| Cannon | Throwing | Longer-range thrower used to feed hoppers, kilns and cauldron stacks in big builds; same 1.0 targeting rules as the catapult. | Early Access |
| Arcane Fountain | Throwing | New in 1.0: a throwing device that searches for suitable targets by itself. | 1.0 |
| Wagon | Logistics | Rail-based transport with more capacity than belts but more building; you can transform into a wagon and ride the rails. The rail system was promised before EA launch. | 1.0 |
| Pipeline, Thermal Extractor, Extractor | Liquids | Liquids have no flow rate or head. Standard extractors work at any height; Thermal Extractors need a furnace but gain a production multiplier with height, measured at up to 200% by guides. | Demo |
| Nursery and Seed Plot | Farming | Grow flax, sage, chamomile, lavender, gentian, red currant and world trees. Nurseries consume fertiliser; their speed is not affected by the Factory Efficiency skill. | Demo |
| Portal (Purchase) and Bank Portal | Economy | Built with a Portal Sigil and wood. Purchase portals swap coins on a belt for raw materials; the Bank Portal exchanges copper, silver and gold at 1 : 100 : 100,000 with no fee. | Demo |
| Dispatch Portal | Economy | Sells goods in bulk against purchase contracts from the trade guild; the Negotiation skill raises contract volume 25% per point. | Dec 2025 |
| Grand Portal | Economy | New in 1.0: brings customers from distant cities into the shop. Building more than one does not add traffic. | 1.0 |
| Automatic Cashier | Shop | Installed on a checkout counter; two belt outputs carry payments to chests or portals. Storage raised from 5,000 to 50,000 in January 2026. | Demo; changed Jan 2026 |
| Brew Barrel | Shop | New in 1.0: blends liquids into beverages, a new goods category sold to customers. | 1.0 |
| Gelatinous Gridlock | Shop item | Locks slots on a device so a smaller stack primes it; useful on blast furnaces and crushers. | Early Access |
| Transmuter | Utility | Transform into items to explore the factory from a new perspective; 1.0 fixed clients being unable to revert in multiplayer. | v0.4.4.4298 |
| Bounce Shroom | Utility | Launches the player into the air; unlocked at level 5. | v0.4.1.3754 (Dec 2025) |
| Passenger Lift | Utility | Player lift for reaching high floors, unlocked by upgrading the Building Tool. | v0.5.4530 (Jun 2026) |
| Trash Barrel | Utility | Deletes whatever is inside once a day; accepts thrown items since April 2026. | Demo; changed v0.4.4 |
| Pillar, Retractable Beam, Custom Beam | Building | Support structures for floors; upper floors need wall or pillar support and removing a supporting wall removes what it held up. | Dec 2025 to Mar 2026 |
| Notice Board, Chandelier, Treasure Hoard, Brick and Marble sets | Decoration | Cosmetic and lighting items; Brick and Marble building sets arrived in 1.0 along with miniature decorations for transformed players. | Dec 2025 to 1.0 |
Glossary checked against patch notes:
New in 1.0
- Arcane Fountain: New in 1.0: a throwing device that searches for suitable targets by itself.
- Wagon: Rail-based transport with more capacity than belts but more building; you can transform into a wagon and ride the rails. The rail system was promised before EA launch.
- Grand Portal: New in 1.0: brings customers from distant cities into the shop. Building more than one does not add traffic.
- Brew Barrel: New in 1.0: blends liquids into beverages, a new goods category sold to customers.
Where things unlock now
The single biggest source of launch-week confusion was the line in the 1.0 notes: "Removed all non-production devices from the Tech Tree. These devices must now be unlocked at the Workbench." Players on old saves posted that catapults, bridges and even the Workbench itself had vanished. A new save starts with a Workbench next to the bed, placeable for 50 planks; on an Early Access save that never researched it, the fix reported on the board is to look in the Workbench's own unlock list or, failing that, to start a new game. The 1.0 changes guide walks through each missing item.
Devices that changed the most during Early Access
Three machines were reworked more than once. The Cauldron went from a risky "Experimental Cauldron" at the demo-to-EA transition, to a filtered device in April 2026, to a rebalanced one in June when its hidden output multiplier was removed. The Athanor lost its random output before launch and gained the four-catalyst Advanced variant in June. The Catapult had its starting speed set to 60 per minute in January and its targeting rules tightened in 1.0, which also added range indicators when placing any thrower.
Official Steam announcements from 11 December 2025 to 8 September 2026 and the 13 December 2025 FAQ; unlock-location change from the 1.0 patch notes and launch-week Steam threads.