Ok, you guys need to cut down on lousy attempts to explain a purely hypothetical sci-fi feature using less-than-perfect knowledge of real world physics and engineering. It's not even amusing anymore.

Please concentrate on "how" will/should/could it work, not "why". That means, how could game mechanics work for us all to have a pleasant, yet balanced flight experience. See Inc's idea mentioned in Mynt's post above - no explanation on the technology to achieve it, only how it should work in game.

Thank you.

This has gotten rather ridiculous.

Actually, Let's just say the Whole thing can be simply chalked up that the jet ports are really power plant venting. Turbo is nothing more than the direction of peak emission for the engines. Normal engine propulsion uses a combination of a property similar to quantum entanglement and the properties of the continued expansion of space. Literally using the magnetic drive not on it's current position but a position in distant space. The ship ends up riding the distantly targeted space's wave of expansion, dragging itself along in it's current space. The engines have a maximum safe range they can target otherwise the the stress could blow the emitters hence the limits preset into the ships. as for turning off flight assist, the quantum drives cannot disengage fast safely at turbo speed. Hence the boot to max normal speed. There the current model makes perfect sense. Everyone can go back to playing the game.

Teleportation of energy as information was proven to be fact in 1993. In the future it could be perfected enough to do wondrous (and terrible)things.

http://www.research.ibm.com/quantuminfo/teleportation/

Zombie thread! Back to whence ye came! Sheesh this is probably just gonna start the whole argument over AGAIN..

/me casts Freeze Thread.