Fly speed

[Arbegla]

I think the short and sweet answer to why fly has such a small (relative to SS/SJ) movement cap is due to mobility while fly is enabled. You get pseudo-KB protection while flying (flip in the air rather then on the floor) and you can out range mobs by flying above them. Neither of those things can you do with SS/SJ. 

[Captain Fabulous]

13 minutes ago, Ukase said:

So, this is a necro post, but on topic, sort of. 

We have movement caps. Caps to speed, caps to fly..and caps to teleport distance and caps to jump height and distance. 

I'm not going to ask why. 

I'm playing a PB, trying to like the set. Trying to learn what it's good at (nothing yet) and what it's bad at (no real strengths, but seems weak like other ATs in endurance and accuracy - but that's probably more about the content I'm running and how I build than the AT itself. 

I wanted to avoid Super Speed with this character. But, if I did, I'd have to take conceal because I'd rather get missions completed than clear maps. The XP will come. You guys can flail away all you like, I want the merits. But where I'm at right now is flying, slowly. 

So, here's my questions for your folks that are smarter than me, or at least think you are. 

Why does afterburner, and the PB equivalent Quantam turn off after a short time? (My detailed info and City of Data do not show what the duration is, I'm guessing 20-30 seconds) 
And why are people with flight okay with this? 

These powers are, well, inefficient as designed. Would it not be better to just increase the fly speed cap to 150, 200 mph? Why so slow? Super speed is a toggle. You turn it on, you can go as fast as you can go. There is no additional button to increase your speed. Why does Fly or Cosmic Flight have to endure this additional power execution? 
And did I ask why it's so slow? Seems like a no brainer to raise the caps so people have a reason to pursue increases in movement speeds. 

I'm sure this has been discussed, but when I typed in "Fly speed cap", my results found this on the third page, and I wasn't going to sift through every page to find something relevant. 
 

And did I ask why the caps are so low in the first place? It wouldn't hurt bystanders by ramping up the speed caps to something noticeable like 150 mph or so. 

Speed caps were increased not all that long ago. Fly is slower because it has increased functionality as a tradeoff. Afterburner is designed to be a short duration boost. Y'know, like the afterburner on a jet. Afterburner and Evasive Maneuvers (along with their PB counterparts) increase the flight speed cap. The Jump and Steam packs available for free from the START vendor also significantly boost flight speeds and can be stacked with Afterburner. 

PBs and WSs have always been a jack of all trades, master of none AT. But they're still fun to play. Stealth IOs, while not full invisibility, make it easy to cruise thru missions.

At one time the cap on Superspeed was set because it was the fastest speed the client could reliably handle. Still might be the case.

[Captain Fabulous]

7 minutes ago, lemming said:

On the why of speed caps at the level they are, there is some upper limit that the engine can deal with.  (something rendering I think?)  Will have to get someone with more knowledge to weigh in.

Yes. The client has a limit as to how fast a character can move. This is why powers like Shield Charge had to be teleports instead of moving you very fast, because the client would break.

[Luminara]

2 hours ago, Ukase said:

Why does afterburner, and the PB equivalent Quantam turn off after a short time?

 

Because if it would remove any need, or reason, to use enhancements if it stayed active in perpetuity.  Same reason Aim and Build Up have limited durations, to make one example.

 

2 hours ago, Ukase said:

My detailed info and City of Data do not show what the duration is, I'm guessing 20-30 seconds

 

 

2 hours ago, Ukase said:

And did I ask why the caps are so low in the first place?

 

Because it's the least restricted travel power in every other way.  Super Speed requires going around a lot of obstacles.  Super Jump is only "fast" until it reaches the apex of the leap, and is still blocked by obstacles.  Teleport requires constant manual input, both to keep moving and to avoid obstacles.  Fly - angle up, autorun, browse AH, angle down, enter mission.

[Ukase]

I appreciate everyone's answers. I knew they would make some kind of sense. But damn, I wish it were faster. But then, I wish I was faster, too. 

[Glacier Peak]

The faster you move, the harder it is to see the fine details of the city. And eventually there would be no reason to use anything but Mission Teleporter. I think the journey is the fun part.