This is my exact situation too. Give me simple config (nee .ini) files to grep/edit, and I can have a system running _the way I want_ faster then any other method.

I can understand it, I can edit it, I can fix it. IMO systemd and the like are too much like hand-waving voodoo.

It's like trying to interact with an adolescent AI: Computer run service abc123

I don't feel like it.

With config files: Computer run service abc123

Error on line #5 of abc123.conf

Bingo!

I wish they had just named systemd as HAL. It would have let me avoid months of hair-pulling.