Pungent Pickle Posted February 16 Report Posted February 16 (edited) What does "Early Chemistry" refer to? Medieval Alchemy, aside from experimental research, had very practical sides, particularly in the synthesis of Acids and Mineral Compounds. Vintage Story already includes some of these in the form of Mordanting of Cloth, which used Alum (Aluminium-II-sulfide), which could be synthesized. This is just one example. What is Acid Parting? Acid Parting is a method of non-destructively extracting Ore from Rock, as well as breaking down Noble Metal Alloys, especially Electrum. According to Wikipedia, the use of Acid to seperate Metals (specifically, Silver from Gold) emerged in the Medieval Period of the 12th Century in Europe, and earlier further East. Historically, it was primarily used in Goldmining and -smithing. Metal Parting involves using a strong Acid to dissolve a "lesser" Metal or Rock into an Acid-Salt solution while preserving the more "Noble" metal. For example, one method calls for the use of Nitric Acid, then called Aqua fortis, to refine Gold and Gold Alloy. EDIT: Today, a similar ore processing method which can involve acids and water is known as "leaching". See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extractive_metallurgy What is Niter? Niter is a naturally occuring Potassium Nitrate mineral, historically mined and collected for use as Fertilizer and for Gunpowder manufacture. It is found on the Surface in Arid Climates, as well as in Cave deposits. Why should it be added? The addition of Acid Parting would add a Mid- to Late-game method to recover more Ore from individual pieces at a cost of rare chemical ingredients, such as Saltpetre, Sulphur and Alum. This addition could also serve as a springboard to add more utility to these specific minerals, which have so far been limited in their Utility to one specific niche, as well as adding Utility to the Distillery. Niter would add a Mineral complement to the use of Compost to replenish Nitrogen, and powdered Niter could optionally replace compost as an option when crafting blasting powder. Several of the Chemical Compounds mentioned have medical properties and could be used to allow player production of medicine. One such example is Green Vitriol (Iron-II-Sulphate), which can be consumed orally as an Iron supplement to treat Anemia. How could it be implemented? Almost all Minerals and Substances required for these processes are already present in Vanilla Vintage Story. I propose the addition of the following crafting Recipes... Sulfates: 2x Blue/Green/White Vitriol: "Crushed" Powder, created by sealing 20 Copper/10 Iron/10 Zinc per 1 L of Sulphuric Acid in a Barrel for 1 Day Alum: Created by sealing 4 Crushed Bauxite per 1L of Sulphuric Acid in a Barrel for 1 Day Diluted Vitriols: Mixing 1x Vitriol and 5L Water in a Barrel OR Bucket Acids: 2L Aqua fortis mixture (in Jug): Liquid, created by combining 5x Compost/5x Crushed Niter, 3x Vitriol (Historically, copper vitriol was used) and 2x crushed Alum in the Crafting Grid with a Jug 1L Aqua fortis: Created by distilling 2L Aqua Fortis mixture in a Distiller Salts/Metallurgy: 8-12 Gold bits + 4-6 Silver bits (dropped): Sealing 20x Electrum bits with 2L Aqua Fortis in a Barrel for 1 day Textiles/Leatherwork: (+) Mordants: Sealing 1 Bolt of Cloth with any 2L Diluted Vitriol for 8h (+) Black Leather: Sealing 5L Diluted Green Vitriol and 1 Leather in a Barrel for 8h ...and the following items: Niter: Chunk. Occurs in small patches in Soil within Arid Regions, and in Caves in the same Layer-like structures as Saltpeter. Hardness 2 (Copper-grade). Powdered Niter: 30% N Fertilizer. Source of Nitrate for Explosives. Blue Vitriol: Vitriol of Copper. Dissolved Blue Vitriol: Mordant. Used in Copper Electroplating. Green Vitriol: Vitriol of Iron. Given as Iron supplement to treat deficiency and Anemia. Dissolved Green Vitriol: Mordant. White Vitriol: Vitriol of Zinc. Apparently important for Yeast growth in Beer-brewing! Dissolved White Vitriol: Mordant. Used in Zinc Electroplating. Aqua Fortis: Nitric Acid. Used in Acid Parting of Gold and explosives Manufacture. To this day, the primary source of Nitrate groups for nitration of organic compounds. Aqua Fortis Mixture: An intermediate step to allow Distilling of Aqua Fortis from multiple ingredients. Sources and Literature In Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_parting#Acid_parting In Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_and_metallurgy_in_medieval_Europe In Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitriol In Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niter Contemporary Source: De re metallica by Georgius Agricola/Georg Bauer, 1556. (Note: The original 1912 english translation by Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover, US President to-be and his wife, are of notably high quality, with plentiful footnotes and further reference to other contemporary works, and come highly recommended) Book VII, "On the assaying of ore" Book X, "Separating silver from gold and lead from gold or silver" Book XII, "Manufacturing salt, soda, alum, vitriol, sulphur, bitumen, and glass" Academic Source: Islamic Technology: An Illustrated History p. 147, regarding synthesis of Nitric Acid (Aqua fortis) Image Attribution: Iron(II)-sulfate: By Benjah-bmm27 - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2116160 Niter from Tarapaca, Chile: By Mrfoogles - Own work, Creative Commons CC0 License, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Niter_from_Tarapaca,_Chile_(cropped).jpg Edited February 16 by Pungent Pickle Added Note on "leaching" 4
Pungent Pickle Posted February 16 Author Report Posted February 16 Addendum: Further development down this path could lead to the implementation of Hydrochloric Acid and Aqua regia, which would open the door to advanced Metal processing. In addition, leaching was used extensively in history. I will look into amending on this topic. 1
Facethief Posted February 16 Report Posted February 16 …who’s gonna tell them saltpeter is already in the game? 1
Pungent Pickle Posted February 18 Author Report Posted February 18 On 2/16/2026 at 5:44 PM, Facethief said: …who’s gonna tell them saltpeter is already in the game? Saltpeter is not pure Nitric Acid. It could serve as a source of it- that's an oversight on my part- but it's Potassium component and mineral impurities means that it's not suited for high-purity explosives. It also does not replace many of the additions i mention in my post. 1
Gemmie6 Posted February 22 Report Posted February 22 (edited) i love the implications of alchemy in this game (or at least early alchemy) (little bit of a side tangent for context) i think one of the things that really shines with this game is the requirement for infrastructure to develop, et a windmill, a bakery, a pulveriser, a distillery ect. so in addition to the ancient technology that you can make in the game, a chemical setup could be very interesting. not necessarily for full on chemistry, but such as a boiling flask (boil impure liquids to extract materials [et saltwater -> salt]) and other mechanics of making perhaps more medicine or preservatives or higher end explosives for fireworks or such. having players add a lab to their roster of industries in my opinion can only add to the game. however i draw a blank as to what the lab would add to actual progression, i might need someone else who is more familiar with chemistry to follow that (id love to hear it) edit: oh yeah making yeast as a required thing is a must, why can't we just be stuck with flatbread until able to make yeast ^an expansion on this could add bacteria as a resource but id refrain from going into that unless we want some REALLY vintage cheese crap second edit: oh i love the implications of electroplating i need to see what statistics you can mess with Edited February 22 by Gemmie6 i forgor again
Pungent Pickle Posted February 22 Author Report Posted February 22 7 hours ago, Gemmie6 said: (little bit of a side tangent for context) i think one of the things that really shines with this game is the requirement for infrastructure to develop, et a windmill, a bakery, a pulveriser, a distillery ect. so in addition to the ancient technology that you can make in the game, a chemical setup could be very interesting. not necessarily for full on chemistry, but such as a boiling flask (boil impure liquids to extract materials [et saltwater -> salt]) and other mechanics of making perhaps more medicine or preservatives or higher end explosives for fireworks or such. having players add a lab to their roster of industries in my opinion can only add to the game. however i draw a blank as to what the lab would add to actual progression, i might need someone else who is more familiar with chemistry to follow that (id love to hear it) I was thinking something of the sort, actually. For one, the addition of some sort of boiling vessel is a must, in my opinion, since we have a way of making hydrous solutions and mixing in water, but not way to reverse this process, i.e. dehydration. For this, an alembic or other boiling vessel would be ideal, perhaps even metal barrels or pressure vessels to lead up to early steam power (as mentioned in the roadmap), since that would require heat-resistant boiling of water anway. Laboratory structures would fit neatly into the early Iron Age, as unlocking Bloomeries would permit one to make Glass for blowing and bending into vessels (Bamboo/Reed as a Tool, perhaps?) with the new Metal Tongs from the next Update. We'll likely never get into stuff like centrifuges and more complicated instruments, but the Technology in Vintage Story should permit everything up to the early industrial age, including things like Nitroglycerin explosives and even TNT, which would feed back into the Mining gameplay loop.
Bruno Willis Posted February 25 Report Posted February 25 On 2/22/2026 at 10:09 PM, Gemmie6 said: edit: oh yeah making yeast as a required thing is a must, why can't we just be stuck with flatbread until able to make yeast Sourdough! It's very easy to get a basic starter going with flour and water and little else. We've been eating sourdough in V.S. and it is delicious.
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