[PvK]

I think the people who need to run at speed 8 are doing it to pass the time during uneventful travel, or their computer is way below spec or running in software mode or something.

Yes, turning takes about three seconds. It is too fast for a starship simulator, for my tastes. It's ok for a light strategy/arcade/RPG game, which is what it is. Other things besides speed which complete the design are things like the inability to do everything while paused, the need to manually avoid crashing into other ships and planets, and the way the ships and bases are about as big as planets, and their sizes are taken literally for collision detection, accidental weapon hits, the limited viewing arcs, the lack of navigation commands, range and firing arcs from different firing points on the ship, and the way days of game time pass in seconds of real time, even on the slowest game speed setting.

However, it's clear that MM and many of the playtesters don't mind all that much, and actually enjoy the design as a light strategy/action game with abstracted time and space and the need to fight at arcade speed, the responsibility to avoid collisions and check the views for threats manually, etc. These things will bother some players (myself included), but not everyone.

Yes, it'd be nice to have two game designs in one. It'd also be rather tough to pull off, for various reasons. Some mods like SJ's will help for those players whose tastes are somewhere in between, no doubt.

PvK