Solar Sails

[Spaz]

Pros:
- Minimal power requirement
- Relative low cost to maintain
- Essentially free propulsion
- Great for long distance travel and exploratory missions
- Would look pretty cool and would lead to some very interesting ship designs.

Cons:
- Very slow, you'd need to make bigger sails for faster speeds
- Have to be traveling away from the sun
- VERY easy to damage
- Would still need thrusters in order to change direction and to travel in the direction of the sun
- Would need a way to reel them back in if you wanted to stop your ship, otherwise it would just keep moving

 

[Azelous]

We’re currently limited to a ring around a planet, not even a moon or solar system by early access, I like the idea but I question the timing of suggesting a device that would primarily be used for travel between solar systems.

 

[Spaz]

Well didn't the devs say that the main goal of EA was going to be reaching the moon? Which, given the scale of things, is going to be quite a significant distance.
Ya eventually it would be more useful for interplanetary and interstellar travel (unless of course they add some form of jumpdrive or the like), but in the meantime it would still be useful as a cheap means of travel towards the moon, or even when needing to get from one side of the ring to another (except if your destination is on the dark side of the planet or you are traveling in the sun's direction). Early on, it's uses would be limited, but it would be very valuable in the long run.