Nug, I think you are going on the wrong direction here. How about instead of limiting things, you open them up a bit:
I.E: Remove perks for 262/tempest/b29/etc and only allow them to be upped at the rearmost fields.
That way, it requires some time investment, but makes it more accessible for newbies.
This is just an example of course and not something that has been completely planned out (I wouldn't know how to do that anyways).
Who knows that kind of mayhem could arise from such a setup.