Warp Travel

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**sturgeondtd**

Can ships be tracked through warp travel, or does going into the warp cause a ship to untraceable?

**ProwlerPC**

I can't see how it could be traced unless one is a powerful being within the warp at the time such as the Chaos Gods. I'm not 100% sure but pretty sure.

**Duskweaver**

I seem to recall mention of navigators being able to 'see' other ships' wakes through the tides of the Warp, but I couldn't swear to it.

**AndrewGPaul**

That's certainly the case in Inquisitor, but that was written in 1st edition times and may or may not be reliable. Ships passing through the warp leave trails, like eddies or wakes on water. Tracking them depends on the size of the ship, the time since it passed by and the skill of the Navigators involved.

I think there may also have been a psychic power only available to Astropaths that let them place a psychic "beacon" in someone's mind and track that through the warp. Not amazingly useful in a tabletop skirmish game, but there you go.

**chyron**

AndrewGPaul wrote:
That's certainly the case in Inquisitor, but that was written in 1st edition times and may or may not be reliable. Ships passing through the warp leave trails, like eddies or wakes on water. Tracking them depends on the size of the ship, the time since it passed by and the skill of the Navigators involved.

IIRC there were mentions of that in relatively recent HH books (some even has that as major plot device) - but i can't remember which ones :( - which most probably means they were about shattered legions or traitors

OTOH interstellar BEACON can be placed on ship to be traced by psykers - see Vengeful Spirit+Wolfsbane books.

**Otto Weston**

Navigators are able to track other vessels (it takes skill though, so better/ more experienced Navigators are more likely to be able to do it with any success), however they are still prone to the vagaries of the Warp which can throw a wrench in anything.

Source -
FFG RPGs, Rogue Trader, Navis Primer

**locarno24**

More recent horus heresy abd ciaphas caine books both show navigators spotting the wakes of other shìps abd fleets.

**Themanwiththeplan**

I've read about ships shinning like bright in the warp with all the souls on-board, and why the warp predators track and follow them. Could not this be used by the Navigators to find another ship.( I admit it would not tell you who it was. Only that another ship was close by)

**Prev**

In the BFG rule book right at the end of the narritive on the Gothic war, it makes mention that the Eldar were tracking the Choas fleet with accompany black stone fortress through the warp. They even predicted where they were heading and when they would roughly arrive. Hence the allied Eldar and Imperial fleet using Warp Gates to arrive ahead of the Chaos fleet to set a trap.

Edit: Below is the passage from the BFG rule book.

Then the forces opposing Abaddon received a major breakthrough when the Eldar located Abaddon's fleet in the Lower Lysades and were able to use their sophisticated starships to trail him through the Warp. From his course it was clear that Abaddon was preparing to launch an attack on Schindelgheist, where Blackstone V floated in the depths of space. Leaving only a few vessels to deal with the other Chaos fleets, Ravensburg and the Eldar raced to reach Schindelgheist before Abaddon. Utilising ancient Warp Gates shown to them by the Eldar, the Imperial Admirals sped across the sector and arrived five days before the Despoiler was due to arrive in the area. The Imperial ships and Eldar lay in wait, awaiting the arrival of the Chaos fleet.