Spike Factory (BTD5)

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The Spike Factory is a tower in the Bloons TD series. It makes a return to Bloons TD 5 Flash on the March 13, 2012 update. It is unlocked at Level X.

The main role of the Spike Factory is to produce spike piles across its range to pop bloons. In this way, many of its upgrades serve in primarily cleanup roles. In addition, the Spike Factory can pop camo bloons by default, making it an effective option at countering early-game camo bloons.

Appearance
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Upgrades
In Bloons TD 5, all upgrades have gained two separate paths of four upgrades. Path 1 refers to the left side of the upgrades, while Path 2 refers to the right side of the upgrades.

The base Spike Factory dispenses spikes every ~2.3s. These spikes will last for up to 70 seconds (20 seconds in BTDB Mobile) and will last until used up or expired. Alongside Ninja Monkey and Dartling Gun, Spike Factory can detect and pop Camo Bloons by default. There is no limit to how many spikes are on screen, but with the lifespan mechanic in place, spikes do not last forever, unlike in BTD4. The presence of many spikes on screen can cause lag, however, regardless of game.

With the correct upgrades, the Spike Factory is a very versatile tower, and it becomes more true in Bloons Monkey City, due to the extra cash provided at the start of each game, accompanied by the Spike Factory's potential to stockpile high-pierce spikes versus the earlier stages of the game. It can be further upgraded to deal even more damage to Ceramics and MOABs through the Spiked Ball Factory and MOAB-SHREDR upgrades, respectively, allowing it to support other towers in later stages of the game. The final two Tier 4 upgrades, Spiked Mines and Spike Storm, all are useful at combatting larger groups of bloons, and can even handle with chipping down MOAB-class bloons decently. Unlike Ninja Monkey or Monkey Buccaneer, it is not dependent on Monkey Intelligence Bureau to pop leads.

Total Costs
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Update History (Bloons TD Battles Mobile)
The Spike Factory's been noticeably buffed via game updates in the form of price reductions to its upgrades and itself. Despite this however, it continues to be one of the least used towers in the game along with the Glue Gunner and the Sniper Monkey, due to how heavily it struggles versus grouped bloons. The only loadouts that use the Spike Factory are Engineer Farm Spike Factory, Boomerang Farm Spike Factory, and Tack Farm Spike Factory.

Due to prevention of lagging other players' devices, Ninja Kiwi has nerfed the Spike Factory to produce much less spikes than normal by decreasing its spike pile lifespan dramatically.

Quotes
"Spike Factories are tailor made for guarding exits but can be used anywhere. Powerful upgrades include: White Hot Spikes, Spiked Ball Factory, MOAB-SHREDR, Spike Storm."

- BMC Flash description

"Generates piles of road spikes on bits of nearby track. Each pile can pop 5 bloons, and unused spikes disappear at end of each round."

- Bloons TD 5 Description

Trivia

 * It is possible to beat the entire game with only this tower because it can pop Camo Bloons, and with White Hot Spikes, Lead Bloons.
 * This can be made even easier on the mobile version with the maxed specialty building.
 * In BTD5, the player only needs 2 of these to beat Monkey Lane on Easy (even without selling them or using Road Spikes), and having both of them be 4/1 or 4/2 or with Tack Awesomizer is optional.
 * In Bloons TD Battles, after the release of Bloontonium Mine, the Spike Factory was nerfed to fire half as fast compared to BTD5 and BMC with the spikes popping twice as many bloons as before.
 * In BTD5, there is a glitch where when you buy Even Faster Production, it doesn't load the upgraded look unless it is under the range of a monkey village.
 * In BTD5 (not Mobile), the piles with the Bigger Stacks upgrade won't pop the same amount as regular Road Spikes (10 and 11 Bloons respectively).
 * On certain maps where the exit is parallel to the start, spikes that are placed at the exit will only pop MOAB class bloons because of their size. This is a great way to pop the MOAB layer, especially in Bloons Monkey City where many maps are like this.
 * A 2-2 Spike Factory in earlier versions of BTD5 Flash used to look the same as an 1/1 one if upgraded to 1/1, then both tier 2 upgrades were bought. This could be solved by placing a village near the Spike Factory.
 * The Spike Factory is the only tower other than the Boomerang Thrower that has different price in BMC than in BTD5. In BTD5 Mobile however, Boomerang Throwers cost $400.
 * In Bloons TD Battles, Spiked Mines were a great way to freeze the opponent's computer, when spammed, due to the extreme amount of explosions.
 * Upgrading a Spike Factory in both paths gives it a unique appearance, somewhat blending the colors of both upgrades.
 * Upgrading a Spike Factory from 4/0 to 4/2 will turn it orange instead of the usual red, and upgrading a Spike Factory from 0/4 to 2/4 will turn it green instead of the usual blue.Purplespactories.pngDifferentColoredSpactories.png
 * In Bloons Monkey City, the claim of the strength that it "never misses" is not entirely true, because if a Pink Bloon zooms fast enough past the Spike Factory, it cannot spew out the piles fast enough to catch it, unless it is placed far enough from the entrance.
 * In Bloons Monkey City, the range of the Spike Factory is the range it had when placed. This means that when you place a Spike Factory and then a Monkey Village upgraded 1/0, it will only produce spikes inside the original range. If you place the Monkey Village first, the range will be increased.
 * In BMC, 3 4/2 Spike Factories can beat any tiles with only one ending.
 * They are restricted on Desert and High Desert BMC tiles.
 * After a round in BMC, its spikes will disappear, with the exception of an MvM attack, where they will only disappear if they stay too long on the track or are used up.