Quote:Unfortunatly deceleration is a form of acceleration and physics (to which we are supposed to pay lip service) therefore says that you need to pay energy.Well, the speed drives pretty much are discarding physics-as-we-know-it anyway, y'know? I mean, we're dealing with a drive that, AFAICT, has damned near instantaneous acceleration up to its top speed, and then jack squat. How's that work? What's the mechanism imposing the top speed?
My suggestion would be that the speed drive doesn't engage until you managed to pay the energy difference, and then it suddenly bumps you down to max speed and you go from there as ussual.
I'm coming at this from the point of view where "oops, the damned thing melted!" is a kinda neat thing to have happen if you're pushing the envelope too far with acceleration drives and then want to stop really suddenly.
... which really works out the same (well, unless you're being unsafe, or overengineered things) as the thing just not engaging above its speed limit, come to think of it. And grav slingshots as race strategy makes me cackle with barely suppressed glee.
But hey, I'm just sorta in a brainstorming phase here.