i like that ITU is just an upgrade to DTC that is locked behind skills. it may not feel as "clean" as trying to make them more of a sidegrade to eachother or justify ever taking one over the other but IMO it does a good job tying the skill system in to the ship customizing system -- better than only having hullmods locked behind skills. It gives it an interesting texture, a bit of a kink in the system that makes the two systems a little less, uhhhh, how would I put it... flat? Predictable? It's a little bit of a thread of designed frustration, to start a new game & be forced to make due with DTC & not be able to build the hullmod in for free OP yet bc ur gonna get ITU eventually.
it also makes it so that early level players cant get as much out of cruisers & capitals as later levels, making it a little more justifiable to hold off on shooting past frigates & destroyers
theres a lot of positives to the way it is now. it would be easy to flatten out the oddness of these two hullmods but i dont think that would actually improve the game. I find game design is a lot like carpentry -- you have to actively resist the urge to keep sanding, bc if you smooth something out too much you can wind up decreasing its quality instead of increasing it
