Currently, the wake scanner is fairly useless. By the time it takes to scan, then jump, your target could have easily jumped a second time and following the trail becomes increasingly impossible.
But in Oolite, if someone makes a jump, you can see their hyperspace cloud (like in Frontier and FFE). But if you fly though the cloud, you also make the jump, at the cost of no fuel. The idea is that the leading ship has already made the hole in space which requires most of the energy, whilst it still exists you can just reuse it. This is great for following targets. Of course the wake dissipates after a while.
I don't suggest exactly that, but what I suggest is the following. The wake scanner (which is hardly used now) is changed to a "wake follower" and basically works like the following:
a) Can immediately scan wakes.
b) Can be activated to follow a wake when flown through.
Fuel usage for a wake follow jump is not zero as in Oolite, but multiplied by the following factor:
(ship mass / (ship mass + target ship mass))
Which is of course is always less than one. As maximum fuel per jump stays the same, ships will be able to jump further by following another ships wake. For larger ships this is not going to make a significant distance, but for smaller ships it could make a big difference. Yes, this means the "wake follower" could be used cooperatively, a large ship with a good frameshift drive could make a jump and smaller ships that would otherwise would not have the range could achieve the jump.
An Anaconda would be able to able to drag along escort Eagles without having to drastically reduce it's jump range. But also, assassins will be able to follow their targets throughout space quickly and easily, but at the cost of a utility slot of course.
But in Oolite, if someone makes a jump, you can see their hyperspace cloud (like in Frontier and FFE). But if you fly though the cloud, you also make the jump, at the cost of no fuel. The idea is that the leading ship has already made the hole in space which requires most of the energy, whilst it still exists you can just reuse it. This is great for following targets. Of course the wake dissipates after a while.
I don't suggest exactly that, but what I suggest is the following. The wake scanner (which is hardly used now) is changed to a "wake follower" and basically works like the following:
a) Can immediately scan wakes.
b) Can be activated to follow a wake when flown through.
Fuel usage for a wake follow jump is not zero as in Oolite, but multiplied by the following factor:
(ship mass / (ship mass + target ship mass))
Which is of course is always less than one. As maximum fuel per jump stays the same, ships will be able to jump further by following another ships wake. For larger ships this is not going to make a significant distance, but for smaller ships it could make a big difference. Yes, this means the "wake follower" could be used cooperatively, a large ship with a good frameshift drive could make a jump and smaller ships that would otherwise would not have the range could achieve the jump.
An Anaconda would be able to able to drag along escort Eagles without having to drastically reduce it's jump range. But also, assassins will be able to follow their targets throughout space quickly and easily, but at the cost of a utility slot of course.
