Suggestion - Planetary atmospheres and IDS effect on engines...

[220048]

I understand that when you set your velocity to 0, but keep you engines on and are flying through an atmosphere, you will stall and start falling.
But you won't die when you hit the ground.
I think that this is because the ship tries to keep you velocity at 0.
What I don't understand is that when you disable your engines by pressing space bar, precise the same happens.
You still won't get damage when crashing into the ground.
Is it possible to add damage from crashing into the ground when disabling your engines?
I know that getting damage is possible by pointing your nose at the ground and set your velocity higher than 1000.
But it does not make a lot of sense that when you completely disable your engines, your velocity will stay around the 800.
Or is it possible to make this an option in the game settings?

[Vice]

The space bar will disable the IDS (effectively shutting off the engine which powers forward and reverse), it doesn't disable the stabilizing or maneuvering thrusters, which are what try to keep you level and avoid damage (particularly once you reach the ground effect near terrain). So auto-levelling and collision avoidance still apply.

Your ship's control systems and shield system will attempt to prevent you from colliding with terrain in a way that would destroy you. As you noted, you can still override those safety mechanisms and nose-dive into the ground and destroy yourself if you want to, just fly into the ground at high speed. But these systems were put in place many years ago after player feedback indicated confusion and frustration over the ease with which a player could run into the ground and destroy themselves. Here is an excerpt from an earlier discussion on the topic:

When earlier games in the series were more 'unforgiving', I received a lot of negative feedback, complaints, and requests to change it to protect the player better (to be 'more forgiving', 'protective', 'less punishing', 'more player friendly', 'more game-like and less hardcore space shuttle landing sim-like'... lol, the list goes on and on). I also did not receive much of any positive feedback from players who may have liked it the way it was. So it was changed to a fairly protective system several years ago and it hasn't changed much since.

Currently, for players who want to smack into the ground or have a risk of exploding while flying high speed 'nap of the earth' routes, the risk is there that they will collide with terrain and explode. For players who just want to reach the ground without worrying about exploding when they get there, they are generally protected if they keep their speed low. So each can have their way depending on how they fly.

Lastly, it does make sense that if you disable your engines by turning the IDS off, you will fall from the sky. Your ship's thrusters and control systems will still do everything they can to try and keep your ship stable and flyable, but without momentum and lift, it will still fall from the sky (nose down) until you reach the ground effect near the terrain. Your ship still has mass and the planet still has gravity. The only resistance you will get is the atmosphere applying drag and whatever the thrusters can provide to try and hold you back. But the weight of your ship combined with the gravity from the planet will still pull you to the ground at a given speed. And without sufficient forward momentum to generate lift, your ship's nose will simply drop as the frame stalls and it falls to the ground.

[Marvin]

There was only one change (from previous Starwraith versions) which had me thinking, "What the heck?" and that was when takeoff from a planet became a dangerous proposition. Speed had little or nothing to do with it. No matter what the speed, if you failed to get sufficient altitude before pointing skyward, you'd scrape your tail on the ground ... and blow up. But, if you think about it, if shields can minimize damage from high-speed incoming missiles, they should also be capable of fending off most impacts with the ground.

[220048]

Thank you for your response.
I now understand the reason for this.
And it shouldn't be changed anymore.
Thank you.

[Marvin]

I now understand the reason for this.
And it shouldn't be changed anymore.

As the old saying goes: never say never.