Cliff explosives are free and craft faster.
Mods introducing new content into the game.
Play it your way.
I have not researched cliff explosives - is that required?
Yes, you must research it first. With recent changes you can't research it on Nauvis.
Use this mod togeather with the following mod if you want to use it on nauvis.
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/id-like-cliff-explosives-on-nauvis-please