Removing the "Speed X8 Throttle"
 

I was wondering if this could be done. I find myself waiting and waiting (and when flying the Astarte, waiting some more) to cross a system...

Now I know why it limits the speed, but I usually only try to speed it up while looking at the overhead map view - which doesn't require much to be shown on screen and allows a faster speed without the chance of problems - but what is the worst that could happen? I slow it down anyway in battle, so the chances of a CTD from that aren't likely to happen...

The engine sure could use optimizing. I know some players spam the "fast forward" button and so far I haven't heard anyone complain that this causes the game to CTD.

Anyway, you can remove that message - it's in one of the loc files, I forgot which one. Simply blank it and the game won't have anything to display when it drops you back to 4x.

Actually, I was looking for a way to take OUT the game's ability to force 4X-speed entirely (and to a reasonable degree, safely)

So just stick to 2X, problem solved.

It's annoying but not a game breaker. The only reason why I need to use 8x is traveling from one place to another quickly. Yes, it is annoying that the game bogs down when trying to render a lot of objects at once (It looks like it switches at the <40 fps mark) but you can always bypass that by switching to the overhead, tactical map view.