Bele wrote:They are indeed highways inside the system. We'll have jump gates, jump drives and wormholes for traveling between systems.
Fantastic. Although, one thing I didn't like so much about Freelancer is that they lanes were pretty much the only
practical way to travel between planets and other destinations. It kind of channelized travel in the game, making it quite linear, except for the relatively rare occasion when you would go "off-roading" into an asteroid or junk field to find something hidden.
One way to avoid this might be to allow players to upgrade their engines to the point they can travel as fast as the trade lane allows. It'd be sort of expensive, but it would eventually free the player and some NPCs from the linear trade lane system. That way, the trade lanes would be helpful for players who are starting off - sort of like training wheels - but you can eventually ditch them and fly freely.
EDIT: Allowing such speedy flight would also be a good way to allow players to explore systems that aren't civilized enough for trade lanes, without having to crawl across them.