[dotancohen]

There was enormous engineering effort put in with close coordination of physicists, but those 14 prior baffle configurations could have just as easily been 140.

For a relevant example, even just the oil formulation for Water Displacement on the exterior of the steel Atlas rockets took 40 iterations. Hence naming the product WD-40.

[HPsquared]

I wonder how many of the other baffle designs and water displacement formulations would still have been "good enough" - not optimal but usable?

[dotancohen]

At least for the baffles: None. That's why they kept going. Presumably there are even better possibly designs, but they were not discovered because one that works was found.

I don't know about the prior WD formulations.