For the RNG side of things I think you could improve the situation by a cheaper/more satisfying mitigation sub-system than the recycler with its big cost penalty, basically tuned so that if you want to reliably achieve a certain tier of quality you can do so with a hefty but manageable up front cost...

Yeah, the names are awful. Factorio is not Fortnite! (or WoW, which I guess popularised this tiering? I heard of it first from Fortnite, having never played MMOs) The gameplay I guess can't be judged without trying it but on the face of it I am quite skeptical. 5 tiers of quality presumably means 5 ...