AGIS is working on this problem, actually. They are making sure no one else does, though!
That’s basically how I’ve been thinking of it. Maybe inertia works differently, so it’s actually logical to accelerate at an insane rate for a fraction of a second and then immediately stop? 
Yeah, it definitely wouldn’t be enough to influence a planet, especially since we’ve seen changing it on a small ship made a significant difference in power consumption. But if you’re influencing a small area, where and how does that influence end? Does the effect taper off, or is there a distinct edge (gravity fields!)? I like the idea of comparing it to an electromagnet, or the possibility of creating negative mass (maybe that’s how you contain a field?). I do need to have some basic guidelines in place for this next update!
Oh, this is a really good worldbuilding question!
Colonies are kind of their own subculture, and then private starships are a minority within that, so the skills the mc’s picked up on the Delora are fairly unique. (Basing this roughly on growing up in Alaska and knowing a lot of fishermen living on small boats.)
Broadly, the systems that make up the Coalition still have distinctive cultures and probably slightly different approaches to education. AGIS doesn’t approve of homeschooling, but there’s no official laws against it. Wanting to teach your children yourself without feeling like the system is subtly against you is an excellent reason to join a colony, though, where there often aren’t any regulations on education. There’s definitely a perception that colonies are inhabited by uneducated bumpkins. Private tutoring is fairly common for wealthy families, and the only dignified option if you’re the governor of a colony or something.
People flying starships in the central cluster generally have a permit (the process is long – closer to getting a pilot’s license than a driver’s license). If you grew up flying in the colonies, you’ll probably need to pass some kind of exam before you could work commercially here (and you’d still be a bit of an oddity).
Sailing is the pastime of the wealthy, maybe a bit like horseback riding as automobiles became more common. It can be practical, or very prestigious. Ordinary captains would have a cursory knowledge to get from point a to point b, but professional pilots devote their lives to the skill. Going to Hespera (the city planet you can choose as your home) to sail is maybe like going to the Alps to ski. You could certainly go there casually to enjoy some gorgeous scenery, but it’s also a place where the masters go for a challenge.
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). And I wrote that choice assuming most people would use it and threw in a check just in case they didn’t…
If the latter, I very much look forward to how it plays out.
HAHAHA This is actually a really old typo that’s been in the description of Galene since I first uploaded it. Galene has weird seasonal patterns because it’s a moon and would spend a good deal of time with Pontus eclipsing Pleione (the ‘sun’). It’s also on the outer edge of the habitable zone, meaning it’s generally darker and colder than the rest of the inhabited system. Yet its marine life depends on a thriving population of algae that appear to be photosynthetic. It’s either an example of the most efficient known producers, or the algae is depending on some other energy source. The leading theory is that Pontus is providing this somehow.
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