The implementation of master modes has made flying much more immersive. Flying is a complicated dance that demands constant attention from the pilot. The only time this was true during the previous iteration of the flight model was during extremely low level flight. With the jousting from the previous model you only had to make sure you didn't ram the opponent. Jousting and abusing all axes of flight (tri-chording) during combat was not interactive for either player really. Now that jousting is gone, there is inherent risk to space combat. Having this inherent risk makes all pilots think twice about the ships they mess with which is a great thing. Now, you have to pay attention to your velocity, your opponents velocity, your shields and your weapon status, etc. For example, in 3.17 I was trying to show my friends how cool sc is by taking them to JumpTown in a A2 to maybe get some maze and see what happens. What ended up happening was a fully crewed A2 was buzzed by a gladius for 5 minutes before we just left. It was a total stalemate because the gladius kept tri-chording away if he got shot but could not bring a section of shields down. This single experience showed me how sorry of a state combat actually was. A fully crewed A2 should not have trouble downing a gladius if it hangs around for 5 minutes. I believe master modes has fixed that issue and ultimately buffed multicrew ships. Large ships like the A2 should be a large slow threat that cannot run down light fighters but cannot be harassed by one for too long. Master modes has made it so. For the people saying master modes is too complicated, I ask that you think back to the last flight model and think about engaging quantum travel. You used to have to press one button to spool the quantum drive and press it again to initiate travel. Now you hold that same button to spool it (if you are in guns mode), and left click to initiate (one of my favorite qol updates right behind the starmap). It is the same amount of button presses you just have to hold one button for ~3 seconds before you can start spooling. If you are travelling somewhere and you want to get there fast, you use NAV FLT mode. If you are approaching an enemy ship or a bunker and you want your shields up you use SCM GUNS. At least, that is how I see it. The PU is your oyster and you are more than welcome to make it as complicated as you want it to seem, but it really doesn't take much practice to get your head around MM. To those saying that the combat speeds are unrealistic I ask what on Earth was realistic about the previous flight model, other than maintaining inertia in uncoupled mode? In the previous flight model there was a max speed to your ship but no one was complaining about realism then. If you think SCM speeds for combat are too low and unrealistic, I don't think you have ever studied how many positive Gs the human body can handle. The previous speeds would have put your brains into your boots. Let's say a gladius is jousting you at 800m/s, which is low for the last flight model, you would be at 2.3 times the speed of sound. Whipping around in light fighters at those speeds would have turned the cockpit into a bowl of human soup. I haven't crunched the numbers for MM, but the speeds coming down actually make the game more believable. Overall MM makes flying more involved, more balanced, and more fun. Feel free to leave a comment with your feedback. Edit: I am going to address some of the more interesting points people are making against my original post and make some clarifications some are misconstruing. 1: What about the G forces when decelerating from NAV to SCM? The G-forces created when decelerating along the longitudinal axis of the ship is on the X axis for humans. The X axis is able to sustain multitudes more Gs compared to the Z axis. This is because acceleration along the Z axis is what causes blood to pool in either your head or your feet while flying. This is the cause of GLOC and "redding out" during a dog fight. It is also why fighter pilots have to worry about Gs and F1 drivers don't. Generally speaking Gs induced on the X axis are not cause for concern unless sustained for long periods of time. Therefore space brakes don't kill you, the previous unrestricted model does. And yes turning at full speed in NAV mode would kill you too, I never said MM is perfect but it is a step in the right direction. 2: I don't have to worry about speed in MM. When I mentioned you have to think about your velocity, I meant you need to worry about your flightpath and your opponents flight path during a fight now. Speed relative to other ships is really what matters now. In the previous patches you could engage someone at top speed, get guns on target for ~1 second, and fly away and recharge your shields (this is what I meant by jousting). The previous flight model never seemed interactive or immersive in that sense. Now there is a risk to engaging someone in combat, which means the playing field has been leveled somewhat. I generally play with friends and having multicrew ships be more viable is a good thing. It makes no sense for everyone to be able to solo a hammerhead in a gladius when the hammerheads whole purpose is to shoot down light fighters. The con to this is that it is much harder to get your opponent to overshoot and give yourself an opportunity to engage. Again MM isn't perfect but I like my big ships. Worth the trade imo. 3: This jet fights at such and such speed or this jet cruises at such and such speed. Ask yourself why those jets fly or fight at those speeds. It is because the structure of the jet has limitations as well as the pilot. In space where we don't have to worry about drag, the only real limitation is the G forces of inertia on the ship and the pilot. I already covered the pilot in the 1st point of this edit, but the ship cannot go .99 the speed of light and try to instantly turn 90 degrees in combat without ripping itself apart. I will admit these tolerances would be much higher in space since no drag but these ships do need to be able to withstand the friction from drag in atmosphere. That would be too complicated and realistic but it is a good reason to explain why we have MM. Some people say that SC combat should not be similar to actual dogfighting and some say it should be "realistic." I just think the flight model in the game should be fun. Again MM is a step in the right direction imo.