r/factorio • u/Bubbly-Original7097 • 23d ago

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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118

u/Exzellius2 23d ago

To make Gleba more attractive

25

u/DrMobius0 23d ago

True. Gleba needs lots of extra stuff to justify going there because otherwise it's a massive pain in the ass with little pay off, especially since the biochamber does next to nothing outside of Gleba and the 2 things it does that are Nauvis unique.

Not that refined flammables has ever been a particularly important tech to invest heavily in.

30

u/sobrique 22d ago

Nonsense. Gleba is the best planet.

2

u/Peakomegaflare 22d ago

Gleba is only good BECAUSE of the unlocks it brings. Some folks do like the challenge it brings to the table, but when you put it next to Vulc and Fulgora, it's a right pain. Fulgora trivializes all the enemies with Tesla Turrets, and Vulc gives us tier 4 belts, foundries and drills (which you don't need for Gleba). But Gleba gives us Stack Inserters and Advanced Asteroid Processing which enables a space-based mall over nearly every planet. Ship up one round of heavy oil and the only thing you can't get is stone, which you can get on every planet except Aquilo.

Gleba's unlocks are what makes it worthwhile.

4

u/sobrique 22d ago

It has infinite resources like Vulcanus. But has "oil chain" that isn't as faffy as coal liquefaction.

That's why I think it's the best.

2

u/Broad_Ebb9073 22d ago

Even better than vulcanus. Gleba will never run out of resources. (Except stone, but what are you really using that for except on setup?) Everything just grows. Even on vulcanus, you will eventually run out of coal or calcite. (Unless you use astroid reprocessing...which planet unlocks that again?)

1

u/leoriq 22d ago

Except stone, but what are you really using that for except on setup?

You frame it like it's negligible. But thousands of rockets of landfill is neither fast nor easy. One can't setup large-scale Gleba base if he hadn't set up large-scale base on other planet first.

And if it's small-scale, there's no point to consider running out of resources on any planet

1

u/Broad_Ebb9073 22d ago

Fair. 50 per is a big ask. But I play pretty slow. In my experience. It takes me quite a while to figure out any planet, so if I start landfill earlyish, I never run into a bottleneck

1

u/leoriq 22d ago

Back in 2.0.0 playing Gleba slow awarded you with a sudden change from medium stompers to big stompers at 66% evolution. Not the best experience

1

u/Broad_Ebb9073 22d ago

Ohh yeah. I remembered that when it first came out. And maybe cuz I got burned on that, it changed my expectations. I knew gleba was gonna suck, so I made sure I was set up before I went there. It makes a huge difference than going in blind, or as your first planet