There seems to be a persisting confusion. I am in no way saying that I am unhappy to take my time getting the engineer mods. I like this aspect of the game. I like it being something I have to gradually work towards. I really like the resource gathering, I like that it makes me try bits of the game I may not have before. I like the sense of discovery. I like that it takes time. This is not a "now now now, path of least resistance" issue. But once you have the materials for a mod, you should be able to get the mod you want, with the effects that you want. You should be able to plan, set yourself goals, then work out how you are going to achieve those goals. If you fail those goals it should be because you have made a mistake somewhere along the line, then you can learn from that mistake to do it better next time. That way even your failure is an achievement. Adding RNG at the reward stage of the goal cheapens victory as much as failure. You did not get the best mod because you did something clever, or you were persistent enough to find that ultra rare material; you got it because the computer rolled a 6. There is nothing laudable about being randomly assigned a higher digit than you were last time.
So again, this is not about the amount of time things take, but adequately rewarding that time so that the player feels proud of their accomplishments.
There is a second issue which I should like to address. Many have said that the intention is that you just go about your usual business and then, sooner or later, you will have acquired some materials and will be able to get some upgrades. If this was the intention then the lack of adequate out of ship storage was a colossal oversight. In order to get the materials you need to mine, scoop cargo, scan wakes, land on planets and go driving around, scan ships, blow ships up and also scan systems. This means that you HAVE to use a multirole ship. A multirole which is going to be constantly targeted by pirates because you are going to be carrying cargo. You will also fill your 600 materials limit very quickly, and without knowing what upgrades you are working towards, you won't know what to dispose of. So then you will travel to all of the Engineers in turn hoping that one of them has a blueprint that:
1, You want to install (Explorers for instance are not going to want sturdy mounts for their weapons for several reasons) and
2, You have the materials for.
I tried this approach and you end up with a lot of common materials, but not necessarily the specific rares you need for the upgrades you want. No matter how you play you are going to want specific upgrades. An explorer for example is not going to be interested in drives which increase thermal load, heavier-sturdy weapons, or anything else that increase mass or heat generation. If you want to do this for a combat ship - and you probably do because "look at all those cool weapons effects that you can get" - there is another problem. The small jump range means visiting all the engineers take a long time and lack of cargo means that you can't swap to the ship and transfer the cargo, so again you have to know what you are working towards and who has it.
And after all of that, there is still a chance that instead of a 45% boost to your optimal FSD mass you will get a 15% boost. Or a 29% boost rather than a 68% boost to dps.
Again, I say that the time taken for the materials gathering seems entirely appropriate. I can work towards it, then put it down and do something else, maybe get some more by chance, then go back and specifically look for more. Then, when I have done that I can keep my eyes open for a mission that has the commodities i need, and when that comes up, take it and trot off to get my mod. But to then be presented with such a massive swing in stats trivialises the effort put in, and is not respectful of the fact that I have just spent a week of my free time trying to achieve this goal. Please let me work towards something defined and specific, rather than random.
