I made a post a couple of weeks ago about being a returning player and happy credits are easier to come by now, and how it opened up a lot of different avenues especially in the ship department. Many folks warned that whilst credits are easy, the real grind was engineers.
I have to admit, the prospect of starting down this path was daunting and putting me off, and after getting owned by some NPC's then realising engineering is a must, I got that sinking feeling and started to question whether coming back was a mistake. 'Do I have the time, energy and patience for engineering?' I asked.
All the advice was to start with FSD, and after MUCH reading and watching many YouTube you tube videos, what was initially very confusing started to make sense. Mat gathering, which initially seemed complicated, became straight forward, and going out to do the various tasks that netted the required mats was really enjoyable.
In fact, it really added to the game. It gave me something to do, something to focus on and a purpose. Before, SRVing around on a planet seemed like a gimmick, but now I'm doing it with purpose, and I LOVE exploring planets.
I'm under no illusion that some engineers are harder to unlock than others, and some mats harder to obtain, but hey, I'm taking it slow and just enjoying the process.
So in short, whilst I initially thought engineers made a fairly simple game unnecessarily complicated (and an excuse to make planets viable), in reality, I'm loving it
Glad you're enjoying it mate. I only wish I did, too...A wee bit of further info, just in case you haven't come across it yet. At some point you'll need scan data. You might have heard some of the guys talking about 'Mario cart runs' or similar? They're talking about scanning outposts. You run your SRV against a timer and if you scan all the data points before the timer runs out you get a bundle of scan materials. It's actually a bit of a laugh the first few times through! See the vid below for further details.
Another thing is emissions data. Hazardous Resource Sites in gas giant ring systems are a great place to scan ships for those bad boys. Just be aware that if you get into a fight the system authorities won't be showing up, you're on your own. You don't have to shoot anything, just drop in, scan everything that spawns, then low wake out. Rinse and repeat. You might not get exactly what you need, but that's what material traders are for.
