Less Ridiculous Tinkering

Continue using it only if you're still playing an older version of the game via GOG or something.

I think it's safe to say that the Tinkering cost curve in this game is ridiculous. If you haven't seen a visual representation, check this mod's Images section.

Keeping a piece of gear that you like maintained beyond 6 or 7 tinkers, across multiple pieces of gear, is flatly financially infeasible.

There have been several mods made that try to address it, but usually are either too lenient in cost (i.e. a low flat cost per tinker), or essentially free (i.e. a 1-bit tinker cost).

After playing Avowed recently, I was having a lot of fun keeping my uniques and other gear maintained throughout the whole game, whilst also feeling that the costs to maintain that gear were always somewhat of a struggle.

The intention for this mod is to try and emulate that progression, albeit dealing with monetary costs instead of resource costs.

The target cumulative cost to tinker a piece of gear 20 times I aimed for was roughly 30,000 bits, assuming a Science skill below 40.

(I don't have any old saves at Tartarus, so I can't reference what accumulated wealth players tend to have by that point; is 30,000 bits too much/little in the grand scheme of things? Let me know!)

Here is the formula I use, pretty standard quadratic:

X = times already tinkered

Tinker Cost = 10X^2 + 10X + 30

I went with a quadratic formula to give those first few tinkers a somewhat cheaper cost relative to later on in the curve.

Please let me know if this curve is too much or lenient. If you have thoughts, try the mod and let me know how many pieces of gear that you've tinkered, and how many times tinkered for each.

Compatibility

If playing with Engineering Skills Buffed, grab the optional file instead of the main file.

If playing with Less Useless Engineering, grab the optional file instead of the main file.