Planetary no fly zones - around some ancient ruins

Before posting had I considered some of the thoughts that you have outlined and others, but I was looking for something that creates mystery and initially fails at explanation. Failing at explanation creates intrigue, curiosity, and the need to investigate. The opportunity to add Sci-fi, 'not of this world' elements arises from this, and this is what creates at tension in the players mind, going into the unknown, exploring and adventure. Having everything explained logically and matter of fact takes away from the journey, a good fiction does not do this.

I have posted this at a conceptual phase, as it appears that finding fault at a logical and physical phase is too easy. Positive and constructive imagination is required to create worlds of play, I would appreciate your input in making this idea happen.

"...a good fiction does not do this..."

-I know a few old trekkies, brown-coats, gaters, and possibly a beltalowda or two that may disagree with you, but I do see your point. Also I see little wrong logically with using a canyon to avoid a Crematoria sunrise, but that isn't the point of the thread.

...Such a no-fly zone would be difficult to explain the purpose of (though that would be the point), large enough to be a substantial hazard on most planets, and rather difficult to prevent people from circumventing with something like a drop-pod if it were on the surface of a planet... Assuming this is meant to be procedural instead of a specific mission in the game's story-mode, I think it would be best attached to a "rogue planet/moon" that appears for the event and then vanishes after it is done.

-The appearance and disappearance could be woven in to the mystery,

-The event would not accidentally crater someone flying between planetary locations by spawning between (or on top of) said locations,

-Part of the site could be inside a deep cave or surrounded by floaty-rocks and involve retrieving something to prevent a drop-pod -> respawn rush of the event.

This of course all assumes the weirdness-level is in line with what Keen wants the SE2 'verse to be like. If not then more logical reasons to stay low would probably be the way to make something like this happen.

Everything that you have said is good, my post was in response to one of Marek's blog post where he said that he was unsure on how rovers would be purposeful in the game.

In SE1 rovers are fun to use almost any where, with the exception of on a ship in space, I was trying to find a use for rovers regardless of biome type and weather conditions, as I do like going for a drive on a clear sunny day.

The issue was not only to make it difficult to fly for vessels but also for jet packs.

SE1 has the option to turn jet packs off in the game settings, but this effects the whole game everywhere all of the time. I wanted something that would allow the use of jetpack and aircraft most of the time, but change the gameplay dynamic for certain areas that were not obvious.

The initial encounter with such a zone would not cause anyone to drop out of the sky, but would give the player a chance to land or turn around. There would be a performance reduction on lift systems by an amount that would cause survivable-ish decent.

The no-fly zone that I had imagined contained a mystery thing at its centre and would be the cause of the no-fly zone. The mystery thing would eventually be beneficial in game to the player

The options from from there would be rescue, build, repurpose, escape and assemble an expedition into the zone, or re-spawn.

It should be possible to de-activate or remove the mystery thing of the no-fly zone.

There still could be caves, bad weather and other obstacles in the zone. Some excavation and fixed construction may be required too.

Some people will say 'But physics', I will say 'Sci-fi, physics but not in our current understanding.'