So, started new character and wanted to see how skills affect things.
Most noticeable difference was amount of comm lures dropping from seekers.
From lvl 1 to lvl 17, got comm lure loot from seekers 2-3 times. That is ridiculous low drop rate. Killed hundreds of them.
As seekers are my primary targets all, i see those floating lights anywhere. I always attack them. Because if i cant loot comm lures, i use the seekers itself as comm lure. 
This definitely need to be checked out.
Well, what’s there to be checked out?
If you increase the machine component drop rate without Mechanic skill then all you do is nerfing the Mechanic skill since then, it would have much less of a use.
Also, the game clearly states that;
Which says that to salvage machine component without Mechanic skill, it has to be in prestiene condition (0% damage).
Best way to get comm arrays without the mechanic skill is to loot static dead seekers. For example there is one at Lennart’s Marin AB and two at Tärnboda skans.
And when on PC, there are plenty of downed seekers in the South part of the Farmlands as well (places where battles took place).
How much is 50% from 0% ?
I have max level char with mechanic skill, and comm lures are extremely rare occurrence with the skill also.
Skill really dont reflect that what you get, 50% from what. Is it every 2nd seeker you should get component. And from that you have mostly 2 components dropping from which are vision module and comm lure.
Depending on game calculation mechanics, drop rate might be dived by 2. Or its 50% chance and you certainly get one of the two modules.
So first scenario would mean empty loots, second scenario would dive the skill with 2, leaving actual 25% chance. 1 out of 4 you should get comm lure.
You are mistaking chance with damage.
If a component is damaged more than 50% then there is no way to salvage it.
Machines tend to explode when destroyed so I guess that you don’t have to actually hit the comm array to make it unusable.
Best chances to get the comm array lure, is to one-shot seeker in it’s thruster. Shooting the seeker main body results you damaging comm array lure with your bullets, surprassing the 50% damaged condition (with Mechanic lvl2).
Have you checked this with binoculars tech view? Does it even show the comm lure device?
Yes, it does. It’s on top of the seeker (that tiny part with 4 horns).
Same Tech View as with binos (it was a bug back then). Comm array also lights up, as one of the components, if you look closely.
A common tactic is to shoot out the comm array lure on top of the seeker, so that seeker can’t call for backup. Of course, that in turn also means that you won’t get any comm array lure from the seeker once you kill it.
I made also quick test yesterday, hunted down seeker. After every shot checked comm lure status with tech view. And last time before seeker was killed it was something around 69%.
And yes, with 50% mechanic skill this seeker yielded comm lure device. Or it might have been just luck. Need to do more testing.
Edit.
So far with this testing. Any component you shoot, you seem to damage the comm lure always which is quite weird. All components take damage.
Which pretty much leads to every component being below 50%, making retrieving component without skill or with the skill pretty much useless.
Didn’t test with melee weapons or all possible weapons. Or lower quality weapons if damage amount done affects this.
Also my char have component damage skill, which might act as nullify to this mechanic skill.
Conclusion something is changed, and this skill is not that useful that it was couple updates ago. I could pickup comm lures like apples form tree.
