Contrails Yay or Nay

[Haxus]

Should the long contrails be removed from spacecraft and vehicles?

[Haxus]

I am undecided on this one.

The contrails sometimes are the only visible sign of another spacecraft passing nearby.

Spacecraft do not leave long lit contrails in normal flight in any sci fi depiction I can think of. They are sometimes used to highlight a ship jumping to FTL.

I really like the contrail effect on the ships in The Expanse, their Epstein drives. They are more of a rocket drive so perhaps just the glow at the contrail emitter for gravity drives.

[Vectorus]

Tricky one. I'll have to think.

I do like the heartening sight of a near-invisible ship streaking by in the abyss, like a lonely comet at night.

[Haxus]

I do like the heartening sight of a near-invisible ship streaking by in the abyss, like a lonely comet at night.

That. Space is pretty empty without it.

I could put a reticle of some kind around ships when you are on the bridge, like a transponder signature of some kind. Unfortunately, this would be limited to ships that were actually in your scene. They are removed from your scene at far distances.

[Deantwo]

I could put a reticle of some kind around ships when you are on the bridge, like a transponder signature of some kind. Unfortunately, this would be limited to ships that were actually in your scene. They are removed from your scene at far distances.

With maybe basic information, like empire and ship names. Would be useful.

[nightslaysanta]

space is not empty it is full of nuclear suicide ships :D but yah im all for contrails

[Vhwatgoes]

One of my most memorable moments of the game was seeing a fleet spacecraft engage a pirate craft.

I had just come out of a wormhole with 3 destroyers after a report that my home system was being harassed by pirates. The first to go through was an officer commanded ship, who was immediately ordered to engage the first pirate ship. 

As I followed a few minutes behind, I looked out from my bridge to see two tiny streaks in the sky, a red one followed by a blue one. The two ships had been heading straight for each other, and the pirate must have pitched hard to slow it's approach, only to turn the encounter into a chase / dogfight. I saw it all like a light show, and I was in awe to be able to witness action like that from so far away as just contrails in the stars.

So to me the contrails have become iconic to the game, but if different engines emitted different kinds of trails, that could give ships some more character, and also let people identify at a glance what kind of technology a ship is packing, kind of like the colour of a hull can indicate the armor type.

To finish my story, the encounter ended with me and the pirate parked in front of each other, watching our number bars deplete. When the enemy fell to below 10%, it began to awkwardly creep forward until it slammed into my ship, destroying us both...

[xxqpxx--PMW]

Keep them please

[pizzasgood]

No, you can't take my contrails! I need those to keep my citizens compliant!

[Deantwo]

No, you can't take my contrails!  I need those to keep my citizens compliant!

Isn't that chemtrails?