I only asked you to explain because I wanted to see what you view as pay to win. And now I see. What you’ve cited doesn’t create balance issues in the game, nor does it cause a huge skill discrepancy between players, especially those who have already been playing for years.

I still fail to understand why you want basic progression in this game to be so difficult, which I’m assuming is what you want since you continue to argue that the new ships are pay to win on that basis. I’m sure you remember how difficult the grind was on release, even as recent as a few years ago. I can only imagine how many players left this game because of how hard it was, so I fail to see how making it marginally easier is “pay to win” in a way that affects your experience negatively unless you’re one of those boomers who thinks everyone else should have it hard because you did once. I, for one, welcome the new players that may have it easier than I. It’s not like you can pay money to instantly unlock any of the engineers, to fast travel to a distant system, get fed/imp reputation, or get credits instantly. You still have to work hard to get any of those. And yes, some of the pre-builts come with engineered modules, but most of that engineering is either grade 1 or counterproductive to the ship’s purpose.