Do you want the returne of the Solar System?

[Linkus]

Trade lanes would not be possible under orbital mechanics.
The only acknowledgement of gravity in the entire game is in the Docking Ring and Heavy Lifter infocards.
Yes, if you have some way to generate momentum or counteract gravity, not by "magic."

• superconductors
  
• gyroscopes
  
• adaptive thrusting
  

No FL fluff discusses antigravity.
In a true vacuum, space dust would not cause any deceleration in space. Angular and translational acceleration by thrusters would asymptotically bring a ship to the speed of light, not to some "maximum speed" defined by "angular_drag". Drag is air/fluid friction, yet there is negligible fluid in space. EDIT: you'd actually decelerate significantly in a gas cloud.

The sounds from ship weapons can actually be explained as a helpfully indicative electromagnetic interruption or detection on your shortwave radio, thus actually keeping with true vacuum...

Trade lanes would be possible with orbital mechanics.
They would simply have to move or be positioned in safe zones, while the planets etc orbit the stars anyway.

Although no FL fluff discusses gravity, aside from docking rings and heavy lifters, it doesn't mean that technology doesn't exist to counter it.
Our ships use incredibly powerful energy sources. Channelling some of that into small amounts of thrust would be simple.

Ships in Freelancer only go to a certain speed for gameplay reasons but can be explained inRP as perhaps safety measures. Our technology may not be advanced enough to cope with speeds higher than (Scanners etc)

Your idea about sounds is a good one alright, would explain it quite easily.

---

Facilitating the rise of robotics since 0 A.D.