So, I looked into the MT Starship Operators Manual V1.
- The anti-grav modules (early grav) seem to be able to work in the inner system. There is a reference to them not operating due to drop off *in the outer system* and the other part of the paragraph identified them working within the gravity field of the star. They don't quote any particular threshold. These are also present on 20 or less ton small craft/vehicles.
- Thruster plates have 100% power in one cone, out to the sides about 25%, and to the front about 10%. So they can do for manouvering thrusters, though a gas system is always included.
- Thruster plates can be mounted in any orientation (but that would change the main thrust direction). What is never discussed is could you have one on each end of the ship (or is that buying 2 M-drives?). In some world where they were cheap and small, having one in each direction would give you all around equal thrust. But they just sort of assume everyone only has one.
- Ships with 1G cannot hover over a planet normally with belly down (Scout Courier for instance) but they can tail stand (with grav plates, the occupants have no fuss). This is due to having about 25% power orthogonal to main thrust. However, you can overdrive drives by 40% for up to several days and you can overdrive to 400% (to allow a belly levitation vs nose up in a Scout) for about 5 minutes if you keep an eye on key systems. a 4G drive can exert 1G at orthogonal angles to the main drive, so they can belly hover in a 1G gravity field without overdriving.