Engineer help required please, I don't understand the 5 chances

[dunno]

When in a upgrade one is given a few chances to change the upgrade, this has me puzzled.

I have 5 chances to try and improve the Mod but but I could end up at exactly the point I started or with little gain if i click through the 5 opportunites to improve the Module ?.

If so what's the point of this random method of upgrading ?, I really don't understand the design philosophy behind this, especially after one has had to jump through so many hoops to acquire the materials required, There's No precision in this so called "Engineering", this isn't Engineering its trial and error "HACKING" with a hammer and chisel.

And the cherry on top, if "HACK" 5 is the worst of the lot it cannot be undone. I think that the dev's need to get out into the real world a bit, mix with real engineers, real rocket scientists, touch feel things, enjoy the sunshine, take a break from the virtual world that you LIVE in.

Yes its a rant, but I'm close to just zooming past the Engineer play with my middle finger out the side window.

 

[Rathbones]

It can help to buy a second module. Improve your first and then swap it out for the second. Keep improving until it beats the first and then carry on.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

What I do is this;
I do 1 roll, if it's good, I accept and save it. If it's bad, I roll again, I don't save.

Then, if I saved it, I go back in, and see what can be improved, and guage how likely it is to happen.
If it seems very likely I can improve the roll, I do it.
If it fails, I don't save it, and keep my original.
If it does improve it, I save it.
Then go back in again to see what's left, how how likely I am to beat the last.
If it's not likely, I save the materials and go with what I have. If I still have a crap roll, I blow the remainder of my materials trying to beat it. Lol

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[NW3]

Yes, the engineers can be painful when your "dice rolls" are unlucky.

I spent 2 months (real time) trying to get a "great" roll on my FSD, which was necessary for me to join the Distant Stars Expedition (due to the extreme distance between stars on the galactic rim).

I would spend a week gathering materials and then do a bunch of rolls each weekend. I figure I did ~250 rolls, to get a 56 ly jump range on my AspX. I love the results, but it was frustrating to waste all my hard earned materials on useless rolls.

 

[dunno]

Thanks for your replies.

I'm just terrified of doing anything in that UI as I ;
Don't know what I'm doing, click and hope. (that's no way to Engineer anything).
I'm terrified of losing valuable materials as there's no going back.
I really don't want to waste my time gathering stuff for casino odds

The horror and despair of losing hours of time invested in collecting everything and then, click (hope and pray), huh ? WT&F just happened.
then the cllincher, WASH......RINSE........REPEAT....... I'll most probably revisit this, if at all, later when I'm really really bored with this game.

 

[FrogsFriend]

It's simple really. On the first go, if the result is an improvement on your stock Module i.e. if you're trying for a Lightweight Mod and it's reduced the Mass by some amount (without any crippling side effect such as a massive increase in power requirement that you can't live with), then apply the Mod. The Materials have already been used at this point and it's an improvement so there's no point in not applying it.

Now, if you select that same Mod again the bars will now show you the potential changes from your new baseline. If the potential for improvement is very small, then you may decide to keep your Materials for some other Mod, but if there's a reasonable chance of improving the results then give it a go. If the results are better than current, then apply them. If not discard and try again.

There are only certain rare occasions when only the best possible result will do (see example above about max FSD range to reach some specific stars on an expedition). Otherwise, if you leave with a better Module than you arrived with then it's been a success.

If the worst comes to the worst, and you really mess up and manage to apply a Mod with terrible side-effects that you can't live with, you can always remove the Mod completely from the Outfitting menu, returning the Module to stock values.