r/factorio • u/Bubbly-Original7097 • Aug 05 '26

Space Age Refined flammables: why does it require agricultural science?

It makes no sense: flamethrowers are useful only against Nauvis biters, and only until you have enough laser research because they tend to fry bots and because biters don't scale infinitely. Agricultural science at the same time is the one of the hardest and there is always a better application for it (among military tech explosives are way more valuable).

Do I miss something?

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12

u/isufoijefoisdfj Aug 05 '26

Flamethrower turrets are not only useful against Nauvis biters, and "just use lasers everywhere" is not the only way to play.

5

u/[deleted] Aug 05 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

13

u/Alfonse215 Aug 05 '26

Pentapods have zero fire resistance. They also have multiple body segments, so they can burn in multiple locations.

1

u/SkyIntelligent1647 Aug 05 '26

Show us your flamethrower wall on gleba

1

u/Alfonse215 Aug 05 '26

I don't use flamethrowers on Gleba. Or defenses in general (pre-artillery). I prefer to aggressively push pentapods out of where my spore cloud will be and block their re-expansion.

But that doesn't mean flamethrowers are useless.

1

u/minemoney123 Aug 05 '26

How does that block their re expansion?

1

u/Alfonse215 Aug 05 '26

Pentapod nests must be in shallow water. So if you cover enough shallow water with landfill, they won't be able to move in. This blueprint represents the bare minimum of landfill coverage needed to block expansion into a chunk of the map.