Thrusters/dampers shouldn't work like this
So this is pretty simple, no matter the mass of your ship. If you only have one little tiny thruster pushing down, your ship will only go down or fall (even though your lift thrusters go to zero) as fast as that one thruster can push you as if there were no gravity.
Worse then this, if you have no down facing thrust and enough thrust to keep your mass afloat, you can get to space with just a tap of space bar. Gravity has zero affect on a ships mass if they have no thrust pointing in the direction of movement. (using purely atmo thrusters the ship will start to slow down a 0.85g-0.80g, however you can easily use speed to cover come it or use hydrogen.) Once you reach space, use Gryo to roll over 180 degrees to slow down and re weld those top thrusters and then you're off as good as gold.
Lastly, as long as you have enough thrust down to keep your self afloat, you can push yourself to space using your gyro and a lever without actually even hitting space bar and you will float into space.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHyhqhhlHPg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIZ0PaVYh5k
Both videos are unlisted but otherwise publicly viable with the link.
I like this feedback
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