How to grow... Soil, Hydro, or Aero?

How does someone determine the best way for them to grow in Soil, Hydro, or Aero... ?

 

I have grown lots of various kinds of plants before in soil and basic hydro, and yes I've been pouring myself into researching to the point I am even dreaming about it when I go to bed. But what I keep trying to learn and am having issues with is the basics of which type of growing is good for what environment or strains? We know that soil is really forgiving, so better for those who don't know about N-P-K, room temps, soil temps, etc... because there is so many variables that they really just need all the help they can get...

Wick system- when would that be a good choice?
Flood & Drain systems- I'm guessing a good choice when you are growing a lot of plants and want to save tons of time, but what other conditions make this a good choice when?
Drip Systems- When would this be a good choice? I use it for my trees outside so I can water the roots and perennial plants on a soaker hose I have buried under the surface of the soil to save me time on watering areas of the yard.
DeeP Water Cultures- are primary used when going short term plants like lettuce, because you can grow useable lettuce in a week, and that is the only crop ever mentioned for this and nobody ever says anything more about it.
NTF Systems- The books bring out this is how a lot of commercial vegetables are now being grown, and then that's it!
Aeroponics- Everyone uses this type of a system for cloning and yet only those really serious into growing BIG plants get into this, why?


I've bought and read a lot of books that promise to outline the pro's and con's of the different methods, and then they turn out to skip over the dirty details of the pro's and con's, and sum it all up in a line or two... and I really am trying to dig into when and why is each system a good choice for what, and when?


I can find lots of information on how to set up each system, but that is like listing the parts to build a dragster, who cares how to do it if you are in need of a car to get around town. Its frustrating because its like listing every type of transportation to get around and then not telling a person the pro's and con's of each, so you can make the decision you need to make on the system you need or want based off your needs. I mean why buy a compact car if you need a truck to haul materials... and so that is the problem in the basics of the systems without anyone really saying what the pro's and con's are to each system and why or when you'd need it. It's like telling someone to learn to cry a car (soil) before a semi-truck (hydro system), sure makes total sense, but not telling them when they would need to learn to drive the semi-truck. Sorry I just don't know a better way to compare and explain my frustration of what I'm trying to learn.

 

Jay 719... I had wrote out a long post when I tried to first post this and it deleted it... so I just posted a short version out of frustration.