You've been on the right track early on, but then missed completely. :p
The recipes are know as Jet, Mentats, Psycho, Stimpak, RadAway are all craftable on any chemistry station. Why isn't explained, but likely the original productional companies sooner or later gotten looted, and the knowledge spread. Though some stuff (Buffout, Rad-X) are missing. No idea if that's intentional or just a mistake.

...WANT.

Up to 70 hours in game so far and I have a few more thoughts.

1. STUTTERING BAD. BETHESDA NEEDS TO OPTIMIZE BADLY.

2. Some of the updates have fixed the settlement builder snap features, which is a boon. Building expansive one level buildings still leaves gaps in the walls, though, which is nay so good.

3. Raiders could have had so much more relevance, but I do enjoy the flavor texts and the fact that as you take out each gang in succession, the other leaders are "aware" of it, judging by their logs.

4. Go away, Brohood. You're stealing mah XPz. >.>

5. I really like Nick Valentine's quests and him as a character. Of course, I also really like noir and his VA really nailed the flavor.

6. It's growing on me and I find I can't put it down, as I get used to the settlement builder and come up with more and better ideas, etc. I feel like they could add more to the builder though, especially as you explore the Institute, and can then come up with better tech and building schematics. (I'd really like to be able to build my own Covenant.)

All that said, weekend comes and I play it more than anything else, so they did do something right.

1. I don't know what Bethesda did with the engine but GTA 5 runs much smoother and is way much prettier. Couple that with the "disappearing weapon" bug and some gunfights really becomes awkward (that's why I don't play on hard)

3. There are different gangs of raiders????!!! Fuck, I already also have around 70 hours of playtime and never noticed that. Maybe that's because I kill them on sight :o)

4. LOL, I just shoot down their vertibirds so they don't interfere with my businesses (I'm already in conflict with them anyway ^o^)

6. If you're on PC, then this mod is for you:
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/1145/?

Neat!

It seems like raiders are making certain drugs (such as Jet, Psycho, etc), but the majority of other drugs (Stimpaks, RadAway, etc) are found in undisturbed pre-war containers. Beggars belief, but arguing about it isn't going to fix it, so oh well.

The gap at the top of walls? That seems to happen when mixing prefab segments with non-prefab floor pieces. Try using only one or the other in each building, or at least around the outer edges where you'll be placing walls.

It sucks, but they might not be able to patch this without risking messing up everyone's current creations. :(

Yeah, that's more-or-less what I was saying, too. Killing them is a good source of ammo tho, if you're efficient about it.

Many raider bases have named raider leaders. Sometimes there'll be a terminal/journal/whatever that mentions other leaders and gangs you've taken out. Not much, but at least it's something.

After 200 years, you can question ANY container or place why it hasn't been pillaged yet. The question is, what do you want to see? A realistic, believable environment consisting of nothing than rubble, or a fun one?

I actually farm .38 ammo for selling for things and ammo I actually use. (Shells, 5.56, .44 and .45.)
Starting to get to the point where I can start doing the same with my fusion cells. I honestly rarely use energy weapons for anything, because I have a kickass combat shotgun for close range, an awesome upgraded revolver for most things, and a double shot combat rifle that fires two bullets with each trigger pull. I also tend to spend most of my time farming junk in my power armor to increase my weight limits, then run back to Sanctuary Hills to offload before going back out.

I've been wandering the Glowing Sea quite a bit recently, as there's good loot to be found there, and out by the ghoul settlement as well.

I've also cut down on the settlements I'm trying to actually build on, and even let some of them die off, or moved their inhabitants out. I use the Starlight to lure settlers in, then when they hit capacity, I send them off to Sanctuary, the Castle, hippie co-op or the ghoul settlement. I have the Airport open now too, but I have no idea if/when I'll do anything with it. I've got an outpost in County Crossing and Hangman's Alley, since the latter is a great chokepoint with not many easy access points, once you block them off and destroy what doors you can, then line up some turrets and set up the settlers there with good armor and weapons.

I'll be hitting it up again this weekend, I'm sure!

Make a good stock of .45 if you come across the overpowered machinegun with explosive effect ;)

BTW, I heard a dialog in-game about the ghoul settlement but I don't have any idea where it might be. Any tips?

mmmmm, I vaguely remember this area I think. Is the asylum the vast building bordered by walls just south of the "ancient" tower (and a bit up to the north, there is a nest of deathclaws)?

Yes, there's something at the top of the tower BTW.
If you go south and cross the river there's The Slog which is a farm run by ghouls.
That's the only ghoul settlement I can think of, seems like there aren't that many friendly ghouls in this game.

there are a good bunch in Goodneighbor b/c the mayor's a jerk. :)

Yessir. It's right near the Saugus Ironworks. Almost literally right across from it. It is the Slog, and it's a tonberry farm in a pool area.

Yeah, buddy! The combat shotgun is awesome in this game. Real mutant-destroying power. That double-shot legendary must be beastly... I want one! Most of my legendary weapon drops have been melee weapons.

My favorite gun right now is the 10mm pistol with suppressor and reflex circle sight. Plentiful ammo, fast rate of fire with very little recoil, great for both V.A.T.S. and run-and-gun. And I got lucky and found one with the "freezing" legendary property (which does 10 cryo damage and freezes the target on critical hits). I call it Mr. Freeze. ;)

Also packing a .50 caliber sniper rifle, and I'm looking to make a good armor-piercing automatic for deathclaws, raiders in power armor, etc. Any recommendations? Is the armor-piercing effect worth the damage reduction in this game?

It does seem odd that certain effects (armor piercing, incendiary, etc) are attached to the guns rather than the ammo.

Do settlers actually use the armor you give them? Early on, I tried giving a full set of leather to a settler wearing only basic clothing, but he didn't equip the armor... ?

Edit: Just watched a helpful vid. Didn't realize that you need to manually equip each item from the settler or companion inventory... That's an interesting change from the usual Bethesda convention.

A big chunk of my playtime has been spent building and managing settlements. I've developed Sanctuary into a well-defended center of commerce and built fortresses at Sunshine, Greygarden, and Hangman's Alley. The small 2-to-3 person farms get 5-6 turrets and a supply line if I can spare someone for it. Sanctuary and Sunshine are the only places always recruiting. Don't want the hassle at the others. I wish they had given us a decent interface for managing settlers instead of having to find them individually to issue orders.

Hopefully there's some reward or recognition for building a strong network of Minutemen.

There's also one under a donut shop, but on average it just feels like there's less of them and more ferals.

As far I concerned, armor piercing didn't give a lot of benefit. I just spent my point level to Rifle (not the automatic rifle) and Sniper and almost could penetrate deatclaws and power armor riders in range with fully modded .50 caliber suppressor hunting rifle 2-3 head shot will do the trick. I intent to played F4 as sneaky as possible since i invest a lot of point to INT (leveling), CHA (tried to use diplomatic ways to solve quest), PER (for V.A.T.S.).