I still there a method for knowing this stuff intuitively?

This is a really useful tutorial.  But, like most Blender tutorials I see, the steps are quite complicated and numerous - I never know how you’d intuitively know which settings need setting/activating/deactivating when applying modifiers. I wouldn’t, for instance, know how to apply this lesson including the steps taught to other scenarios I come across. For example, how would you know to think that 3 materials need adding? There always seems to be a setting that needs to be tweaked that you wouldn’t even notice in the poor Blender UI - is there a comprehensive overview of all modifier settings and their applicability?

Thanks