How can this be so difficult? That there is a "roles priority" is clearly false, because Isyander refuses to make me Master of dust no matter how many times I reload and try to powergame the order. I'm in first place - Spear. I'm in second place - Spear. Every single time. Third or fourth place always result in Vault keeper/Librarian, even when Master of dust is ranked third in the "roles priority".

There must be other factors at play here. Does it depend on your economy/fleet strength? I tried selling all my ships and running public 3D printing in all systems as well, and also donating 20x my nearest competitor, but I still only get to be the Spear.

The game appears to always favour the AI as Master of dust, even shoehorning it into that position in a clearly manipulated and artificial fashion. I have tried setting up two-player games, me and an AI. The roles priority is "Spear-Vault keeper-Master of dust-Librarian". So, the AI's first and I'm second - He's Spear and I'm Vault keeper. Alright, so the roles priority seems accurate for this time. Reload. I'm first and the AI's second - I'm Spear and he's Master of dust, depite this being ranked third and supposedly not even eligible (at least not for me). WHAT IS GOING ON??

You should move Master Of Dust as your priority to the first place. The priority list is what you want to prioritize to get.

Eh, reorder (by drag and drop) roles to keep Master of Dust first. You always get your first priority role, when you are first contributor.

General rule is you get your highest free role. If you don't, then it's a bug, but I've never encountered it.

Wow, I had no idea you could actually rearrange the roles priorities yourself. I assumed it was a fixed list. Thanks, you guys.