How will the new flight model treat asymmetrical ships when in atmosphere?

They fly really badly. That's pretty much it. It's the price you pay for having these odd, quirky ships: they do odd things.

Yeah, they fly strangely. I think one of the best examples is the, I can't remember the name of the Vanduul ship that has one wing. The Scythe. It has a tendency to turn and roll. So the thrusters will try and counteract that, because IFCS's job is to keep the ship stable. It'll try and counteract it, but you'll see the thrusters fighting that.

This is a good time to mention that this is also going to be dependent on the severity of the asymmetry. Something like the Scythe is very clearly like this, while something like the Star Runner, for instance, is asymmetrical to a lesser extent.

The Star Runner is almost symmetrical, with very minor differences to it. It's probably going to be fairly good in atmosphere, because it's got essentially a large delta wing shape-ish. Even the side, taking away the aerodynamics of it, the center of mass isn't hugely off-center. It is off-center and forwards a bit. But it's not like it's out at the very tips of the wing, which, if we had a ship like that, which I don't think we do, would be almost unflyable in atmosphere.

I remember in a lot of the early meetings with Paul Jones and Sarah McLellan, we were talking about the severity of the asymmetry, and you want enough to give it a unique silhouette, something that's easily identifiable as a Star Runner, but at the same time, we didn't want to cripple it in certain situations. So before people start running out thinking asymmetrical ships are globally going to suck in atmosphere, remember that, like most things, it's a measure of degrees.

As I said, IFCS will try and counter it. And in some cases, it'll be minor enough that IFCS will cope with it and you'll only feel it very minorly.

It also depends how you fly as well. If you're going full tilt, you're at the high end of that.