My apologies in advance if this isn't the place to ask but how well does VIC fit in with vanilla in terms of power level?
Generally it fits pretty well, though their stuff tends to be tuned more towards the stronger end of vanilla ships and weapons. (Which is pretty normal for well-balanced mods; most modders don't want to add stuff that's worse than the best vanilla options.)
How do you think VIC compares to mods like Scalartech Solutions, Apex Design Collective, Interstellar Imperium or Diable Avionics?
All of these mods are on
about the same level of balance vs vanilla. Imperium and Scalartech tend to be more solidly in line with vanilla (all their ships and weapons are at least as good as the vanilla average, without really anything above and beyond the strongest vanilla options). Apex, Diable, and VIC have some things that are a bit above vanilla power levels, but are generally still balanced by their cost in flux, OP, or DP. Diable has very strong heavy fighters, Apex has very good slot layouts and durability, VIC has very fast ships with good flux dissipation.