It's been three days - surely you've found your MT by now?
Found them loooooong ago. In fact way ago before even opening this Topic. As was Stated Several Times.
But hey. Thanks for Demonstrating to Everyone that just as I said already. You dont bother actually Reading the Stuff your trying to Answer here.
I am just curious about a thing...
All the other stuff you need to collect, to do the actual engineering stuff.
How do you that without any RNG involved?
Lets take a common thing to collect for FSD,
Datamined Wake Exceptions.
1. Mission Reward... oh well, we already know that mission rewards is RNG and there is no guarantee for that specific reward, and not all stuff is offered as mission rewards either.
2. Scan stuff, in this case, scan wakes with a wake scanner, and this is also RNG, as you are not guaranteed to get what you need from a scan.
3. Signal Sources, no guarantee that the desired signal source will spawn, so RNG.
4. Material traders, well in this case, Data Traders, but to use this one you need to have stuff to trade, so you need to get this from either mission reward or scanning stuf, ie 1 and 2.
So I do not get this hatred for this one item, Modular Terminals, it is a one time unlock per play through. Especially as this is a very common game play mechanics in most games, to offer randomized reward in one way or another, the most common variant of this is that you do not know before hand what the reward you get is, ie, you must do the task and then it will reveal what reward you got.
Mining, unless you are very good at getting back to the same location, it is RNG to find stuff, core mining, needs to scan and identify potential ricks, laser mining is to sample or send out prospector limpats. An activity full of RNG to find the specific stuff you want.
Combat, full of RNG, what ships spawns, how valuable are they, what material did they drop (if you are collecting this) etc, etc. Sure some skills is required for the combat thing,but it is not like you can go to a haz rez and expect to inly meet wanted Elite Anacondas... or go to a conflict zone and just fight capital ships. etc, etc
Trading is less random, especially if you use external tools, but if you go by only using ingame tools, you are very much down to luck and randomness to find good trading routes.
Exploration, again, RNG all over the place, as you need to get lucky in finding undiscovered high valued stuff, or simply make hundreds if not thousands of jumps to find a few high paying systems.
So I do not get why this particular thing is any worse than all of the other things we this game has, that is based on being lucky...
1.
You already Answered yourself there Really.
Gathering Engineering Materials has a Safety Net Build in.
A Fallback in case RNG just Refuses to give you the thing you need.
This is called the Material Trader.
Indeed I cannot Guarantee what kind of Data I get in the Collection Methods. So getting a Specific Engineering Data. Is something Reliant on RNG in that Method.
However. I can Guarantee that I get Data by doing Data Collection. And if RNG decides to Screw me over. I can always just go for the Coup de Grace by just gathering enough Blanks to Buy the Material I need.
And Fun Fact for you. I did Complain about this in the Past when Materials Traders did not Exist. Thus there being no Way to Guarantee getting a Certain Material.
2.
There is no Hatred Specifically for MTs actually.
MTs are merely the Example Item as they are one of the Items ONLY Available from Missions. With no other way to Obtain them.
Something I also said several Times already. And something you should actually know if you had bothered Reading my Posts Properly.
3.
Yes. RNG is a very common Mechanic Choice on MMOs. Mostly on those MMOs too lazy to Create a Coherent System.
It is also a Standard Choice for Games that want to prevent Player Skill to have too much Influence on the Player Success and Progress.
But thats Irrelevant. Because ED is its own Game. And I am Complaining about a Mechanic in ED. Not about other Games.
If other Games have such Mechanics I will Complain about them there. Which I am doing by the way. You can be sure of that.
Albeit most of these Games which Rely on RNG for Majority of things tend to Suck and thus aint something I would Play in the First Place.
4.
This is just Flat out Wrong. Because once more.
If you Enter a Hotspot of a Certain Material. Then you are GUARANTEED. That this Hotspot does Contain that Material.
The only thing Randomized is its Location.
And if you Methodically Scan through the Asteroids. You will Find it.
In Fact Proficient Miners are that Good at Finding it. That they Can Guarantee Finding 100-200 Tons of that Material in 1 Hour extremely Consistently.
I myself currently Mine Painite. Using 2x4 Prospectors. Getting roundabout 150 Tons of Painite per Hour consistently each time I enter the Ring.
I can Guarantee that if I go into a Specific Hotspot for Painite. I will Consistently 10 of 10 Times go out of that Hotspot with at least 50 to 100 Tons Painite after 1 Hour.
So the RNG at best is. If I go out of the Hotspot with 50 or 200 Tons of Painite.
This is Different from the Mission Board.
The Mission Board HAS NO GUARANTEE that a Mission for a Certain Reward is Available.
There is no Station Cluster where you have a Guarantee that one of these Stations will have the Mission for that Item Available. With the RNG only being which of the Designated Stations has the Mission.
If you are Unlucky enough. You might Spend several Days looking at Mission Boards on every Stop. And not get a Mission that is Offering MTs.
Meanwhile another Player might be Lucky and on 3 Stations he Stopped each offered him a Mission with MTs as reward.
And having an RNG Range. Of 0 to 100 MTs per Hour by Checking Mission Boards.
Compared to having an RNG Range. Of 50-200 Painite per Hour by Checking a Painite Hotspot.
Is as you might Notice quite a Difference. Because in one Case you will always go out with the Item you wanted. And the worst RNG can do to you. Is to make your Grind Longer.
While on the other Part. The RNG might just Outright Refuse you to Progress.
Of course that as well is Something I have now Explained Several Times over. And I have no Doubt you will still not get it and just keep Repeating that Bullcrab about Mining being RNG.....
And Sorry. But if you really cannot Comprehend how having a 100% RNG Reliance on wether or not you are Allowed to take a Single Step Forward. Is WORSE. Than having a 50% RNG Reliance on wether you are Allowed to take 5 Steps Forward or 10 Steps Forward. Then I really dont know what else to Tell you.
Because I somehow dont think you have the Mental Capacity to ever Comprehend the Problem anyways.
I would tend to disagree with that as I do see a higher amount of missions given with these commodities when allied with factions also higher amounts of commodities offered as a reward. The more factions in a station you are allied with increases your chance of getting the one mission that provides more than enough commodities to unlock items.
I love you go from "tend to disagree" to making the Outright Claim that your Position is Right without a Doubt.
But that aside.
No. There is 2 Reasons for that.
1.
The Mission Board can be Updated by ANY Player in the Instance.
Which means. Even if you do not call up the Mission Board. As long as a Player in your Instance calls it. You have a Set of Missions there which wont Change until you either Change the Instance or Wait for the Preset Time to Refresh it and get a New Set of Missions.
So if your Idea was True. That would mean. Other Players would get Better Missions if someone with a High Rep on that Station Refreshed the Mission Board First in that Instance of the Game.
Likewise if a Player with Good Reputation was the Second Player to Check. He would be Faced with worse Missions cause the other Player did not have his Reputation.
2.
The Mission Board Always Includes Missions of higher Ranks than you are.
Which means. If your Scenario was True the Mission Board would constantly Create Missions that you cannot Possibly take. Because even on Factions that Absolutely Hate you.
It will offer Missions that you can only do if they are Allied to You.
These Missions are of course Blocked to you. Because you are not Allied to them. But they are Displayed.
This would make no Sense if like you say they would offer you better Missions if you got Good Reputation.
So No.
Having a Good Reputation does not Increase your Chances to get a Mission Offered with Modular Terminals.
However. If you have a Bad Reputation. It might happen that a Mission with Modular Terminals is Offered. But you cannot take it. Because it requires a Higher Reputation.