Chemistry Links (domain)
The rules governing Chemistry Links and Chemistry Levels. The glossary entries are canonical in CONTEXT.md; this document expands them into the full rule set. For the code that models and draws them, see Chemistry Links Rendering.
What a Chemistry Link is
A Chemistry Link is a schema-defined connection between exactly two Positions. The set of links is a property of the Formation Schema (4-3-3, 4-4-2, …), not of the articles placed on it: changing schema changes the link topology, and the same two articles may be linked under one schema and unlinked under another.
This is the FUT-style adjacency model. Chemistry is only evaluated between schema-adjacent positions, never between every pair of owned articles.
Chemistry Level
Each link carries a Chemistry Level, a four-step rating:
| Level | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Excellent | Both placed articles link to each other on Wikipedia (mutual) |
| Good | One article links to the other (one-way) |
| Weak | Both slots filled, but no Wikipedia link between them |
| Empty | At least one of the two positions is unfilled |
The level is derived from the Wikimedia article links of the two placed articles, an article's outbound links are the raw material for chemistry.
Scoring contribution
A Chemistry Level contributes additive flat points to the team score. It is not a multiplier, and it is not computed over all owned pairs.
| Level | Points |
|---|---|
| Excellent | +1.5 |
| Good | +0.5 |
| Weak | 0 |
| Empty | 0 |
TeamSynergy = Σ over schema links ( points(level) ) # mutual = 3 × one-wayThese values are canonical in the scoring system §4 and encoded as CHEMISTRY_POINTS_BY_LEVEL in model/enums.ts.
The additive form was chosen over a multiplier because it favors low-traffic articles proportionally and preserves the formation-placement puzzle, a multiplier would scale with an article's own popularity, rewarding the already strong. See CONTEXT.md "Open questions resolved".
Invariants
- A Formation Schema defines both its Positions and its Chemistry Links.
- A Chemistry Link connects exactly two Positions.
- A Formation carries a Chemistry Level for every link in its schema: including
Emptyones, so the link list is always the full schema topology.