ScubadogWhile it can be a pain to get the modules and configure your ship and do the research to find approximately where to go after all the things you need for the various engineers, what I will say is that it kind of forces you to get exposure to some of the types of careers you might not otherwise consider. I am primarily an explorer. That's how I started a year and a half ago, and that's what I am now. I couldn't stand the old way engineering worked, so once I moved to Colonia I had zero interest to go back to the core systems. Then they changed the engineering process. I made the trek back to the core systems and began a pathway to engineer certain aspects of my ships. I got to try out combat (intentional), mining, trading. I got what I needed and engineered what I wanted. So, if I had to, I could certainly do an adequate job of the mining and trading (I doubt I'll ever git gud at combat). I at least know enough now that I don't particularly care for those careers. My choice is now no longer out of ignorance of the process. So, I'll give the developers kudos for bringing that aspect to the game.
I like this aspect of having to dip your toes in various things, too. My biggest issue with it is the learning curve of mining seems steeper than the others. With combat and trading, it's pretty easy to see in outfitting which weapons are going to do more damage, which armor protects you better, which cargo racks can carry more, which FSD will jump farther, etc. Most of the modules make it pretty clear what the pros and cons are between any two choices which makes improvements easier to explore. But there are several key bits of information in regard to mining efficiently that you have to either discover for yourself through lots of testing or learn from somebody else. Prospectors being a chief example of that, since the fragment count multiplier they apply to an asteroid is hidden (0.5 increments from 1.5x for Es to 3.5x for As).
