This is loosely inspired by Cave of Qud’s tinkering mechanic.

Any items or artifacts from ancient civilizations have some dice roll associated with them where the number of dice reflects the mechanical complexity, and the die type reflecting the obscurity/rarity of the artifact with higher dice being more obscure/rare. So a relatively uncomplicated device with common parts might require a 1d4 roll, whereas something mechanically complex from a poorly understood civilization might be a 3d12. When you roll the dice mark down the numbers for parts: e.g. 3, 4, 9.

Players with a disassembling skill can take apart devices. When taking apart a device you roll the die based on the obscurity/rarity of the device you are disassembling. If the device is in reasonably good shape you may roll an extra dieor so. The dice you roll are the bits you have acquired, e.g. 3-bits, 4-bits, and 9-bits.

If the player understands how to build a device, e.g. one that requires 3, 4, and 9 bits, they simply spend those bits to build the device. Players can understand the build requirements through careful study of the device, or by finding a schematic if they can figure out how to read it.