ECP – a simplified way to reach the center perks.

I completely disagree. You need to know how to level up. The sequence is simple:
Basic skill -> first ability -> Advanced skill -> second ability -> Expert skill -> third ability
You can say that it's easy to talk about, but it's hard to do, but in order for everything to work out, you need to take the racial skill and all the abilities related to it at the beginning, then, if there are no other open skills, you will have 2 abilities of the desired skill to choose from, one of which will be the one you need.

Each skill has at least three initial abilities (for example, Wisdom, Arcane Knowledge, and Mana Regeneration), and you can only get the desired one if you are very lucky. And yes, don't forget about racial abilities.
Literally in the game before last, I was playing as Daleb and was able to get the Ballista ability only at level 23, i.e., at the last level on that map. Before that, I got catapults and first aid. If you always roll a 6 on the dice, and you draw all the aces from 36 cards in 4 turns, then the mod is not for you