Thanks Mods. Much Better now 
If you look at how looting and crafting has changed over the last few years, there is a trend to move away from using pure RNG as a mechanism for obtaining the items with the most desirable features.
We have moved away from need before greed, or pure random drops into mechanics which can guarantee a player gets the items they want albeit after they do X,Y or Z
There has to be a reason for that, and the reason is I believe is that players are more selective and want to have the fate of their gameplay in their own hands.
I have no issues with using RNG(in any shape or form) to determine things in a game, after all our encounters with NPC's in game is a refined RNG. But what my main concern is, is that there is no safety net for the player, the fate of what the player ends up with is NOT in their control, but in some randomly assisted skinner box mechanic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWtvrPTbQ_c )
I've seen a few points made, which on the face of it seem reasonable but to me at least on reflection they don't hold water.
1. It avoids min-maxing.
Not really, people are not going to want to settle for a FSD that does 3 less LY's than their friend, they're not going to want to have the healing beam on their lasers when someone else gets a heat ray. All they will do is collect the mats and try, try again. This inevitably leads to frustration, annoyance and in a lot of cases just giving up and not playing any more.
It doesn't avoid min-maxing it simply delays it and puts it behind a repetition wall.
2. These aren't engineers but tinkerers and the improvements are small anyway
Great, love it. But.. if the improvements are too small to matter, then what's the point? and if they do matter then the tolerances they show would be unacceptable in the 21st century,. let alone the 31st. I mean an increase in say 5 tons in mass or 10% more heat is hardly negligible. Heck if tolerances in my car were that lax I wouldn't dare drive it.
3. It adds variation
Sure. But there are better, more player deterministic ways of doing it. For example. Have the RNG slot machine work all the way up to the maximum level. At the maximum level have the player use the blue siders to tune what they want, but let the red sliders work to provide the balance to what the player does. E.g want the max DPS, then you'll need to sacrifice heat, power and weight.
Let the player determine the variation, not the RNG
If you look at how looting and crafting has changed over the last few years, there is a trend to move away from using pure RNG as a mechanism for obtaining the items with the most desirable features.
We have moved away from need before greed, or pure random drops into mechanics which can guarantee a player gets the items they want albeit after they do X,Y or Z
There has to be a reason for that, and the reason is I believe is that players are more selective and want to have the fate of their gameplay in their own hands.
I have no issues with using RNG(in any shape or form) to determine things in a game, after all our encounters with NPC's in game is a refined RNG. But what my main concern is, is that there is no safety net for the player, the fate of what the player ends up with is NOT in their control, but in some randomly assisted skinner box mechanic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWtvrPTbQ_c )
I've seen a few points made, which on the face of it seem reasonable but to me at least on reflection they don't hold water.
1. It avoids min-maxing.
Not really, people are not going to want to settle for a FSD that does 3 less LY's than their friend, they're not going to want to have the healing beam on their lasers when someone else gets a heat ray. All they will do is collect the mats and try, try again. This inevitably leads to frustration, annoyance and in a lot of cases just giving up and not playing any more.
It doesn't avoid min-maxing it simply delays it and puts it behind a repetition wall.
2. These aren't engineers but tinkerers and the improvements are small anyway
Great, love it. But.. if the improvements are too small to matter, then what's the point? and if they do matter then the tolerances they show would be unacceptable in the 21st century,. let alone the 31st. I mean an increase in say 5 tons in mass or 10% more heat is hardly negligible. Heck if tolerances in my car were that lax I wouldn't dare drive it.
3. It adds variation
Sure. But there are better, more player deterministic ways of doing it. For example. Have the RNG slot machine work all the way up to the maximum level. At the maximum level have the player use the blue siders to tune what they want, but let the red sliders work to provide the balance to what the player does. E.g want the max DPS, then you'll need to sacrifice heat, power and weight.
Let the player determine the variation, not the RNG
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