A short time after coming out of a jump, I noticed my velocity had gone to something crazy big, like in the hundred thousands. I hadn't gone into travel mode, had hit the gate only at top maneuver speed (about 650 in a Taizong), and I'm pretty sure that's what it was initially on the other side. I was busy for awhile chatting up Uln and Forsaken to avoid a messy confrontation, so I don't think I caught the change when it happened, but I think I might know about when it did. For the briefest moment, I caught a glimpse of some sort of ship flash by right in front of me. I think there might have been a near collision that threw the engine for a bit of a loop.
Now, here's something that may be important, about the numbers: As I said, the speed was somewhere up in the ten or hundred thousands, and later slipped into fractions of C (I'll get to that bit shortly), but I also recall seeing the SPEC multiplier at zero. I didn't really think about it at the time, but now I think that may have something to do with the rest.
My ship didn't seem to be trying to get back to set velocity, so I tried turning it around to get it to reverse itself. Eventually, it did start slowing down, so I decided to leave it until it got back within sane values, and meanwhile keep chatting up hostiles to avoid dealing with them. It took a little time, but finally it was back below ten thousand, and falling. For some strange reason, though, the number would shift back to a fraction of C for a period, and then back to a lower "normal" velocity, still falling, until I was finally within maneuvering speeds. From there, I was able to fly normally again, and made it to the commerce center I was headed for, thankfully without hindrance from the oversensitive locals.
SO! Here's what I'm thinking:
Somehow, maybe as a result of a near miss or a wonky collision, my SPEC multiplier got set to zero, a value it should never hit (I'd hate to imagine it going negative!) That in turn knocked my velocity into the Twilight Zone, with no clear way back. I think this has happened once before, as I seem to recall similarly weird numbers on some other occasion, but it's probably a very rare phenomenon. Nonetheless, I would suggest adding a check in the SPEC/velocity code somewhere. What it should probably do is check for a value less than one, and reset it to one. It might also force SPEC off in that situation, just in case it isn't already. I would recommend the check take place whether SPEC is on or off, though, just to be safe.
I hope to start navigating the labyrinth of code myself soon, but someone else could probably make the fix much quicker than I.
Meanwhile, I have another idea for anyone who happens to find themselves in a similar situation:If you find your speed inexplicably high, and your SPEC multiplier at zero, try toggling SPEC on and back off. That might fix the multiplier, and with any luck, your velocity will settle down. It might still settle in the high thousands, but at least you should be able to throttle back from that. Eventually.
I don't know when I'll get the opportunity to try it myself, so if anyone else has this happen, I'd be very interested to hear about it!
