Afterburner

Thankfully to modern technology and mainly to afterburners, fighters and bombers started to gain more respect on the battlefield. An afterburner, when ignited, accelerates the fighter, thereby allowing it to escape from capital ship turrets and run away from hostile sentry defences.
The rate of acceleration is dependant on the type of fighter or bombers, each craft has a unique maximal speed, both with or without afterburners. While intercept fighters gain a faster speed using afterburners, bomber engines are less focused on reaching a high maximal speed, due to more energy is required to be diverted to shields and laser guns.

Any ship using afterburners can be recognised even by distance and without reading the target's speed on your HUD. When the afterburner is used, the engine glow changes color, often to a lighter saturation compared to the not-afterburnt glow.

Increasing the energy diverted to engines also make afterburners recharge more quickly, while having no power on engines make the afterburner not to recharge at any rate. A good pilot knows when and how to manage engine power. If you meet an ace pilot, do not ever expect to overtake him unless your craft is so much faster.