Another approach to managing abandoned tablets and USB drives:
To make it easier for players to search for plans, the following proposal would be proposed:
1) Role of USB drives: instead of containing "experience points," they could contain the researched plans (excluding plans required for a technology accessible via a research bench, see below), which would make it easier to search for plans at the start of the game.
2) Role of tablets: instead of containing plans, they could contain "experience points," as I believe they are most needed at the start of the game.
3) Role of research benches: instead of analyzing USB drives, they could search (in my opinion, for a slightly longer time than decoding USB drives) for the plans required for a technology accessible via a research bench (either by player selection or randomly).
PS: The original text has been translated from French to English via Google Translate.
pps: I hope my The suggestion isn't too confusing.
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