Fuel items are essential for powering machines, processing materials, and sustaining continuous production in Alchemy Factory.
Unlike regular materials, fuel items are consumed during operation. A factory with unstable fuel supply will frequently stall, even if all other inputs are available. This page explains what fuels are, common types, and why fuel planning becomes increasingly important as factories scale.
What Are Fuel Items?
Fuel items are consumable resources that:
- Provide energy for machines and processing
- Are burned or consumed during production
- Must be replenished continuously
Fuel items do not usually appear as final outputs. Instead, they support almost every production chain indirectly. Because of this, fuel systems often become early bottlenecks.
Common Fuel Item Types
Solid Fuels
Solid fuels are the most common early-game energy sources. Typical examples include:
- Logs
- Planks
- Charcoal
- Coal
- Coke
Solid fuels are easy to store and transport but often require manual production chains at the beginning.
Processed Fuel Powders
Some fuels exist in processed or powdered forms. Examples include:
- Charcoal Powder
- Coke Powder
- Black Powder
These fuels usually burn faster, support advanced machines, and require additional processing steps. Powder fuels often appear when factories begin optimizing throughput.
Liquid and Alchemical Fuels
Certain potions and alchemical items can function as fuel. Examples include:
- Blast Potion
- Panacea Potion (in specific systems)
These fuels are more specialized, used in advanced or niche setups, and usually appear later in progression.
Where Fuel Is Used
Fuel items are commonly consumed by:
- Smelters
- Kilns
- Processing machines
- Advanced alchemical devices
Most machines will not operate without fuel, even if all other inputs are present. This makes fuel supply a hidden dependency across the entire factory.
Why Fuel Planning Matters
Fuel problems often appear as:
- Machines stopping unexpectedly
- Production chains desynchronizing
- Outputs fluctuating without clear cause
These issues usually trace back to:
- Inconsistent fuel generation
- Fuel being consumed faster than produced
- Multiple systems competing for the same fuel source
Stable factories treat fuel as a first-class system, not an afterthought.
Early-Game Fuel Mistakes
New players often:
- Rely on a single fuel type for everything
- Underestimate fuel consumption rates
- Expand production without scaling fuel supply
These mistakes cause frequent downtime, even in simple factories.
How Fuel Connects to Other Systems
Fuel systems interact closely with:
- Raw Materials → logs, ores, base inputs
- Recipes → fuel requirements per machine
- Automation → sustained, hands-free operation
- Blueprints → reusable fuel-support layouts
Many early blueprints fail not because of layout issues, but because fuel was not planned correctly.
What to Read Next
If you are exploring fuel systems, the following pages are especially useful:
- Fuel Recipes – Production methods for different fuel types
- Automation Guide – Stabilizing continuous fuel production
- Early Game Blueprints – Fuel-support layouts and planning
Many factories fail to start not because of layout or recipes, but because fuel delivery is missing or inconsistent.
→ See Why Your Factory Is Not Working in Alchemy Factory for a system-level breakdown of common factory failures.
Final Notes
Fuel items rarely feel important until something stops working. Factories that scale smoothly usually do so because fuel was planned early and expanded deliberately.
As Alchemy Factory continues to evolve during Early Access, fuel balance and available fuel types may change. This page will be updated accordingly.