I propose a new thing that skills can modify: Ship Systems. These would fall under the "specialist" type of the new skill system, as their effects would work well for some ship systems, but not for others. This could come in the form of numerical bonuses to ship systems, but I think it would be more interesting if they are enough to really change how systems feel.
As an example, consider the hypothetical skill System Redlining: You've learned how to push ship systems beyond their factory limits, increasing their effectiveness at the cost of duration. Increases the the effect of limited duration systems by 100%, at the cost of reducing the duration by 33%.
This provides a modest total bonus (33%) over the base skill when time is taken into account - for something like a Hammerhead with accelerated ammo feeders, it would be a net increase in damage. Nothing too exciting, though its always better to deliver more damage in a short amount of time. For something like High Energy Focus, burst beams like phase or tachyon lances would benefit a lot more if the timing was correct, but its still just a numerical bonus. When applied to movement based systems however, this skill would be more interesting: Burn Drives would suddenly become much, much more dangerous (to both sides...), maneuvering thrusters would let ships zip extremely quickly in any direction, and plasma burst would just be crazy. For some ships however this skill would do nothing, as they don't have limited duration systems.
Thoughts? Interesting ways for skills to change ship systems?