Well here's my epiphany:
It's because we can't SC between star systems.
Otherwise there is no reason why FD couldn't tweak the SC speed algorithms to allow much higher speeds as you leave the local gravity well, why we couldn't creep up to, say, 5000c instead of 500c when travelling between bodies in the same system. In fact, no real game play reason why you couldn't increase the speed at a geometric rate as you move away from a planet, moon or star.
OK, the hutton truckers might choke on their egg and chips but I think even they might (albeit secretly) enjoy being able to both cruise to any place in a star system and do so without their head hitting the keyboard from chronic sleep deprivation and/or boredom.
So why can't we? Well because if we could do that we would be then able to cruise on to the next star (which just happens to be in the next system along) in a reasonably short time, and currently if you do that you end up effectively in witch space, sitting at the position where there should be a star right in front of you but in fact you see nothing but space dust.
Now I'm not suggesting that we have to change the speed of travel between bodies orbiting the same star (much), but come on, once your more than 10Kls from the nearest astronomical object there is basically N.O.T.H.I.N.G to see, so at that point you could ramp up the speed as high as you need to make the next 30kls or 90kls or .22Lyrs a more reasonable gaming experience.
But to do that without the need for glass walls between the star systems, you'd need to be able to seamlessly SC from one system to the other.
Now I'm not saying that would be easy for FD to achieve, but I think if they could do it then it would greatly improve the exploration side of the game and also increase the CMDR traffic to a lot of systems in the bubble. And not to mention giving people the option of taking the scenic route to the next star along instead of always having to H-Jump.
It's because we can't SC between star systems.
Otherwise there is no reason why FD couldn't tweak the SC speed algorithms to allow much higher speeds as you leave the local gravity well, why we couldn't creep up to, say, 5000c instead of 500c when travelling between bodies in the same system. In fact, no real game play reason why you couldn't increase the speed at a geometric rate as you move away from a planet, moon or star.
OK, the hutton truckers might choke on their egg and chips but I think even they might (albeit secretly) enjoy being able to both cruise to any place in a star system and do so without their head hitting the keyboard from chronic sleep deprivation and/or boredom.
So why can't we? Well because if we could do that we would be then able to cruise on to the next star (which just happens to be in the next system along) in a reasonably short time, and currently if you do that you end up effectively in witch space, sitting at the position where there should be a star right in front of you but in fact you see nothing but space dust.
Now I'm not suggesting that we have to change the speed of travel between bodies orbiting the same star (much), but come on, once your more than 10Kls from the nearest astronomical object there is basically N.O.T.H.I.N.G to see, so at that point you could ramp up the speed as high as you need to make the next 30kls or 90kls or .22Lyrs a more reasonable gaming experience.
But to do that without the need for glass walls between the star systems, you'd need to be able to seamlessly SC from one system to the other.
Now I'm not saying that would be easy for FD to achieve, but I think if they could do it then it would greatly improve the exploration side of the game and also increase the CMDR traffic to a lot of systems in the bubble. And not to mention giving people the option of taking the scenic route to the next star along instead of always having to H-Jump.