Hi
It depends on the size of the fuel tank and the amount of power draw - even if not actively being used, the engines and distributor and so on are kept warm and powered so that you can get an instant response off them without waiting for them to reboot. If you actually shut down the other modules from the right panel and just kept life support running, your fuel would probably last for days.
Corvette has a default 32t tank +1t in the supply tank, you can see current hourly usage rates on the HUD, so divide one by the other to get your operational life. (Supercruise and deploying hardpoints will drain it faster)
But if you absolutely definitely got at least as far as the Main Menu screen last night or shut down the entire computer ... your fuel doesn't run down at all while you're logged out, so that should be absolutely fine. I've gone logged out in flight for days at a time - on a ship build which would probably last about 20 hours on a full tank - and not had a problem.
Your Journal files might have a clue about what happened - and certainly would reveal if you somehow forgot to log out - or you could ask Support if they can find anything in Frontier's logs.
I'm just about to finish a play session, mostly core mining again today (gotta keep those credits and Arx rolling in y'no
).
As I mentioned earlier, my Carrier has been parked up near the first planet that's orbiting the gas giant with a metallic ring, so there isn't much distance as such from the Carrier to the mining spot.
Okay, so earlier on today I departed the Carrier with fully stocked munitions, limpets and a full tank of fuel. I've only been in the ring, nowhere else apart from jumping out and then entering the ring to a different hot spot now and then. I just left the game to run mostly all day in the background, while I did other RL stuff, occasionally checking in on the game, mining for a while etc. etc.
The fuel tank now is down to less than 1/2 full..... this is obviously the root cause I think to this mornings fiasco. I'm thinking that maybe the tank was more or less empty when I shut down the game last night, but never noticed. Obviously if I'd actually docked at the Carrier last night (and shut down the game) instead of being in the asteroid belt this situation wouldn't have happened.
I'm pretty sure the ship on shutdown of the game had a more or less full fuel tank......
...No you're not!
.
As regards fuel use at the end of the thin fuel tank line there is a figure which is you r current usage per hour, if you note that figure you can see the effect on consumption by going in to the modules menu and shutting one off.
Any powered module will be drawing something even if it is not actively working at the time, thrusters and shields are usually the big user of power at all times and your cargo hatch is probably using as much or more than life support.
How long, that is in the piece of string level of question. I got distracted away for around 3 hours once years ago while parked near a scoopable star and found I had barely enough fuel left to reach scooping distance. It will come down to what you modules you have fitted and what grade they are as well as fuel tank size and How full that was.
Just checked, it reads 1.86/h
To be honest I hadn't taken much (if any) notice of those readings before, I generally take more notice of the just the bar readings....but I will from now on.
In short, I reckon I've just been fortunate this hadn't happened earlier.
The solution is obvious really. When shutting down the game make sure your ship is in a safe situation, which in my case with the Corvette is on the Carrier.
Though, just for the devilment I'll use an Imp.Courier tonight and park in the asteroid belt with next to nothing in the fuel tank, and tomorrow see what ensues.
Maybe a 'controlled' explosion?
Once again, thanks for all the help, it's appreciated
Edit.... just thought to add. The experiment with the Courier didn't really prove anything, I purposely drained the fuel tank so there was only about 1/8th remaining.
Parked it just shy of the asteroid belt, set the speed to about 50 and shutdown the game to desktop. Booted up the game the next day to find the ship stopped and the fuel roughly showing (If not exactly) the same quantity as the night before. All systems / engines functioning normally.
I'm still not 100% sure what the problem was with the Corvette, I suspect Gremlins!
Jack
