Chasing a target can be quite tedious in this game. The game definitely favors the running target right now. You need to have a visual on your target each time they initiate warp to see which way they’re going. And if you “look at” a ship, the camera breaks as soon as they initiate warp. If I jump into a system immediately after they warp off, I have to rely on the clunky ship scanner to track them. There’s got to be a more sci-fi/techy/immersive way of doing this.
If we had a warp trail overlay of sorts that would show a fresh “jet trail” from a warping ship, we could use it to stay on their tail, even if we don’t have the rare opportunity to witness them entering warp each time. Warp trails would dissipate over time. Some ships could have bonuses for faster warp trail dissipation. Some ships could have none.
Another option would be a “target tracker” module that would give us info on warp tunnel direction of another ship. This could be a “tag” of sorts (maybe a special type of missile, or an electronic “hack” of the enemy’s onboard warp drive computer?), whatever form it takes, it would enable location tracking for x amount of minutes depending on skills.
Also, it would be nice to be able to overheat your warp drive. If your ship aligns 0.5 seconds slower and/or warps 0.5 AU/s slower than something you’re trying to catch, you most likely can’t catch it if they’re making best speed (unless you’re loading grids faster than them, maybe?). I could see this being used by both the chasers and the chased. I can see it being used by fleet members trying to get to you faster if you just hero tackled something in a paper thin ship. Etc. And obviously, this could lead to people burning out their warp drive and getting stranded somewhere. Could be interesting. “I killed my warp drive, but we caught the target.”