Thanks for the welcome! I know how much flight really can mess up balance. I've been on Minecraft since Beta 1.2, once you get the Elytra, it pretty much kills all other forms of transportation. That's why I figured a very limited boost system, 1 tank may get you to that trader that is 1,500 blocks away and back, but you're not going to be traveling to the Lazaret without an excess of tanks, which could be expensive, maybe 8 steel plates in a circle in the the 3x3 or a complex smithing recipe along the lines of the anvil.
I can appreciate that. To each their own, that's what makes these Block survival games so wonderful, there isn't just one way to play. With Anego doing what they are with the core design of the game being easily modable, you can tweak the gameplay to whatever you want.