Gameplay: High-Altitude non-VTOL Flight

[EdLev]

So I was pondering the improved aircraft physics and their relationship with VTOL, and also wanted to bring together some ideas I've seen related to flight, and thought of an idea that might be interesting.

The gist of it is, what if certain aircraft (say higher thrust/weight ones, like the Mosquito and Reaver) could fly above the maximum ceiling for slower aircraft, but were unable to use their VTOL functionality above this ceiling? Aircraft above the VTOL ceiling would have to keep their speed up or risk stalling.

An addition could be that ejecting above the ceiling would result in significant, if not deadly, health damage over time due to lack of oxygen and exposure. This would avoid hotdrops from insane heights.

The advantage of flying at these altitudes could be an increased cruise speed (say up to twice normal speed, to avoid breaking the game completely). Perhaps interceptor aircraft could have an upgrade path that would make their afterburners much more effective in this environment, to make scrambles to intercept more viable.

This would also open up the possibility for long-range radar-based AA, which could target planes flying at higher altitudes, but would be easier to evade (and would provide plenty of warning, from initial ping to lock-on to launch).

This is just my initial approach to the idea. I'd love to hear opinions and possible modifications!

[SteinB]

This could be implemented with the customizable sidegrades, an engine that had an increased thrust ability at the cost of also having a significant minimum thrust.