ELI5: Why should anyone go for bio power/fuel?

[No, I'm not, You are!]

TLDR: Why would you ever want a factory where you have to actively grind/farm for its input?

I see streamers with their bio fuel setups... I don't want to watch their entire videos to find their explanation half way through ;) So why are they doing this? Am i missing something, or do you not actually need to actively farm for materials to keep those factories going? Materials as in, either matter enemies drop, or plants. So technically nothing about this is automated in the end. (Buying it from the shop would be a massive waste of points imo, I would never)

I will put up a factory to dump all bio matter from things I killed, but that stuff is going straight into the sink for DNA points. It is absolutely beyond me why anyone would want to have anything to do with bio matter, unless its a temporary early game thing. Anyone who knows the game at this point will rush coal... Automation is king.

[NocheLuz]

They can be a kind of backup power after you have automated power. So, it isn't like it will all go to waste. The only thing I can think of in my head is that they want to unlock other things first or automate other things before building the Coal power.

[zOldBulldog]

I agree. The biofuel cycle is just an early game annoyance, and a way to get rid of unwanted resources.

Maybe someday they'll add crops and automated crop harvesting (unlocking very early, possibly before even tier 1), as a way to make biofuel more interesting in the long run.

[cfteague2]

I mean, people play lots of survival crafting games where you have to do things non stop.

I cant think of any reason *I* would prefer to run a factory, completely on biofuel.

But the world is full of lots of people. I guess if you RP hard enough, its totally renewable, so maybe they'd go for that.

ah, PS -- if you mean they had a small biofuel thing. I dunno, does the chainsaw run on other fuels, or only on biofuel?

[Wolfgang]

Package the liquid biofuel and you have a fantastic fuel for your jetpack. Lasts the longest out of all the fuel types.
But as a fuel source for power beyond coal: No.

Edit: Here the comparism with other packaged fuels for the jetpack:
https://satisfactory.wiki.gg/wiki/Jetpack#Fuel
Packaged biofuel has the same acceleration as packaged fuel but lasts much longer.

[zOldBulldog]

Originally posted by NocheLuz:

They can be a kind of backup power after you have automated power. So, it isn't like it will all go to waste. The only thing I can think of in my head is that they want to unlock other things first or automate other things before building the Coal power.

The whole concept of backup power is kind of crippled without some kind of alarm that warns you if you are running under backup power.

I remember building that alarm as early as I could in Factorio. That way if power run short and I started drawing from backups... I'd get an alarm and immediately start addressing the issue.

[NocheLuz]

Originally posted by Golden Monkey:

It totally is a waste in the end :D As this power sources is finite, and you have to work for it... Its massively inefficient. Even for early game, it's always better to rush to coal.

I have my Coal power. However, due to limited water sources, I cannot expand out more (at this time). I have 900MW of Coal power and my factory uses a little over a thousand. So, the Biomass generator comes into play in this case.

After some time, the Biomass Generator is only there to jump-start the automated power once it fails.

[Aranador]

I have a biofuel facility - I no longer farm for the material, but it is there. If I go over power, it will kick into gear and keep me afloat for a bit, so it is a nice backup - but - I am totally powered by coal atm, and soon will be getting oily. It is a stepping stone, but I would absolutely not want to try skipping straight to coal - all that hand crafting would make me very sad.

[NocheLuz]

Originally posted by Golden Monkey:

I'm going to guess you are just new to the game, based on your response :) Lack of water sources is ridiculous. You are on an island with water on all sides ;)

I'm currently only using the most northern coal sources. Built my coal plants over the water near it. I have well over 6k power atm.

I did play the game until Turbo Fuel (and Diluted Turbo Fuel which makes one pure Oil node generate over 10k power). But I didn't rely on Coal that much, since I'll rush for the Fuel generator next. That is why I don't expand out. Not to mention my Coal nodes are mostly used for Steel (for train/rail production).

[Eminence Front]

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Package the liquid biofuel and you have a fantastic fuel for your jetpack. Lasts the longest out of all the fuel types.
But as a fuel source for power beyond coal: No.
...
Packaged biofuel has the same acceleration as packaged fuel but lasts much longer.

I second this. The only reason I generate liquid biofuel is to package it and use it for the jetpack. Not to generate power.

[kLuns]

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Package the liquid biofuel and you have a fantastic fuel for your jetpack. Lasts the longest out of all the fuel types.
But as a fuel source for power beyond coal: No.

Edit: Here the comparism with other packaged fuels for the jetpack:
https://satisfactory.wiki.gg/wiki/Jetpack#Fuel
Packaged biofuel has the same acceleration as packaged fuel but lasts much longer.

Not anymore.
In tier 5-8 it's the best fuel.
In the endgame packaged ionized fuel lasts longer

[Maehlice]

Because masochism.

(Adding a conveyor input to the Biomass Generator was the stupidest thing, IMO.)

[Wolfgang]

Originally posted by kLuns:

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Package the liquid biofuel and you have a fantastic fuel for your jetpack. Lasts the longest out of all the fuel types.
But as a fuel source for power beyond coal: No.

Edit: Here the comparism with other packaged fuels for the jetpack:
https://satisfactory.wiki.gg/wiki/Jetpack#Fuel
Packaged biofuel has the same acceleration as packaged fuel but lasts much longer.

Not anymore.
In tier 5-8 it's the best fuel.
In the endgame packaged ionized fuel lasts longer

I'm not that far yet so I wouldn't know. Still setting up oil processing.

[No, I'm not, You are!]

I guess if you don't drop your enemies remains into a factory for Sink purposes... It could give you jetpack biofuel. Not sure if it would last you long though, Since you aren't killing things all the time, plus not returning to your biofuel hub all the time. My point is that in the long run you have to go out of your way to keep producing it.

I would rather get my certainty and leech 0.1% from my fuel production. There will always be a full storage when I need to stock up on jetpack fuel.

[Wolfgang]

Originally posted by Golden Monkey:

I guess if you don't drop your enemies remains into a factory for Sink purposes... It could give you jetpack biofuel. Not sure if it would last you long though, Since you aren't killing things all the time, plus not returning to your biofuel hub all the time. My point is that in the long run you have to go out of your way to keep producing it.

I would rather get my certainty and leech 0.1% from my fuel production. There will always be a full storage when I need to stock up on jetpack fuel.

Unless you are really massively burning through it it will last you pretty long since you get a ton of biomass from remains which gives you a lot of solid biofuel.
Just by pure numbers alone, one alien protein gives you about 33 packaged liquid biofuel (unless I made some mistake in my calculation). Just having lizard doggos gives you enough to be prepared basically forever. Even more so if you have creatures set to hostile and/or you still have your biomass stuff from the early game.

[kLuns]

You can organise the production of jet pack fuel in your storage room and make a dump container for everything you don't need anymore. Smart splitters can divert items to any place.