Frame Shift Drive Wakes are left behind when a ship enters supercruise or hyperspace using its Frame Shift Drive. These FSD wakes can be scanned by other ships to identify the first ship's destination for tracking purposes. There are two types of FSD wakes: Low Energy Wakes and High Energy Wakes.
Low Energy Wake[]
These wakes mark the location where a ship has entered/exited supercruise. They can be scanned by any ship without any special equipment. If interdicted, jumping to supercruise or "Low-Waking" does not usually deter any pursuers, and they will simply follow and re-interdict their targets.
High Energy Wake[]
These wakes mark locations where a ship has jumped to another star system. A Frame Shift Wake Scanner is required to scan High Energy Wakes. If interdicted, jumping to hyperspace will elude most pursuers.
Wake Suppression[]
Wake Suppression is a theoretical technology that is able to prevent the formation of Frame Shift Drive Wakes when a ship jumps, allowing a pilot to travel from one system to another without leaving a trail. While Wake Suppression tech is currently unavailable, the Engineer Bill Turner is believed to be experimenting with a way to implement it using reverse-engineered Thargoid technology. The concept was originally studied by the corporation MetaDrive, before it was acquired by Sirius Corporation in a scheme orchestrated by The Club in 3302.[1]
Notes[]
- FSD wakes show up in the Contacts panel and can be targeted as long as the player's ship is close enough to the wake.