Why no Military Science?

[Mordaem]

I recently did a 0.17 run and even managed to get the "there is no spoon" achievement finally and I was just curious why there is no Military Science required to launch a rocket? I feel like it should at least take Rocketry to launch a rocket. Even if you only required it for the Rocketry and the Rocket Silo research it would basically be as a useful as Utility Science for a speed/spoon run, more so if you do it in a game where you have to deal with biters. It just feels like an oversight to me personally.

[TruePikachu]

It was an intentional change, so people who don't need to deal with biters don't need to do so much any research in military technology.

The "rocketry" research node deals with using rockets as a weapon, while the endgame rocket is more a utility than a weapon.

[Serenity]

It's very much intentional:
https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-275

There is still some issues though. For example power armor Mk2 needs military science

[leadraven]

I accept all arguments from fff-275, but space program without military technologies is the most unrealistic thing in the game.

[Koub]

You reason in "earth" situation, where military research is a race between countries for supremacy. There's no such thing in Factorio : your only enemy are the natives, and there's no need to develop ICBM to fight them. And with no biters, there's no need at all to research any military.

I have been a Kerbal Space Program player, and there is no reference to military either.

[GrumpyJoe]

It was an intentional change, so people who don't need to deal with biters don't need to do so much any research in military technology.

The "rocketry" research node deals with using rockets as a weapon, while the endgame rocket is more a utility than a weapon.

People who play without biters have 2 reasons. At least.
Performance in mega bases. Pretty much self explaining
They like to just build, uninterupted. Or jsut dont like combat at all.

At least in case of a mega base, i wonder how many would play without Power Armor Mk2

There is still some issues though. For example power armor Mk2 needs military science

This should change imho. While it has a combat part with shields (which could also help prevent train deaths ) and lasers, to me the armor itself is utility. Could make military equipment unlocked with military science. But the armor? no

I believe i even posted this in that FFF thread, but noone seemed to notice it.

[Italian Cuisine]

+1 on removing military science from armor. Without biters, it's a powered utility suit and portable construction roboport.

However, the armor rating itself should probably not increase much without military research. Maybe there can be a few types of armor: utility vs military.

[xfir01]

Maybe there can be a few types of armor: utility vs military.

+1 for that.

[bobucles]

The only real difference between utility and military armor depends on what kind of modules are in it.

Rocketry and material sciences have always had a close relationship with the military. Better steel makes bigger guns, and pure refined fuel is critical to developing reliable explosives, aircraft and rockets. In the <current year> it is also essential for programs and code to be hardened against the increasing reality of digital warfare, though we don't have to worry about that against biters.

Military science isn't very different from regular science. The only real difference is how much mud and grime a device is expected to deal with on a daily basis.

[xfir01]

The only real difference between utility and military armor depends on what kind of modules are in it.

You'd have to adjust resistances to account for that. Utility armor would have more module space but no resistance.

One way to accomplish that would be to change the armor to "Armor Frames", remove military science to research them, increase the grid size and add a module for Armor plates that increases resistance that takes military science to unlock. For balance to make it so you couldn't stack armor modules until you hit 100% resistance, they could make it diminishing returns and add a run speed reduction for every armor module you have.

Is it possible to make this into a mod? I'm not sure if you can make equipment that adjusts your resistances or not.