Antimatter Engine Idea

[Inferno]

Maybe have the engine set to blow up if it takes too much damage(and take the ship with it) in order to promote 'getting that deathtrap out of my ship.'

I like the idea... but it may need another counterbalance for it... maybe have it take up some serious space on your ship(to the effect that you may not be able to mount a UAU8?)

Nah, Nerf the cruise charge time up to 10-15 seconds [Seems fair given that they would be able to catch ships that are cruising away in combat situations but if they get caught themselves well... it makes cruising not that viable of a plan for them to escape] and make it so that in order to go the 550 speed you have to have "Antimatter" Fuel either in the form of ammo like cloaks or cargo, if they don't have the fuel then they go the normal 350.

Perhaps to make it interesting there could be a command to start the antimatter engine without fuel but has a 60-65% chance of exploding the ship when starting the engine without fuel.

Ammo? Yes. More charge time than a BS cruise? No.

As for your suggestion to make it like 'equipment' I wouldn't deny that having an antimatter 'supercharger' instead of a whole new engine cell would be logical as well. Not to mention, the device would only take damage when in cruise(if we can do that)