I had sacrificed range for max fuel so I really had thought that I could scoop my way around the universe and usually refilled at every star as I waited for the scanner to complete - so I know for sure I didn't miss a single scoopable star in my final run.. and that for me is the problem - I had no way of knowing where to go to find the correct type of star as there was no maps.. I have friends who play so could easily have waited for them to try to come get me - but what is to say they too didn't end up with the same fate.. do I risk calling them for help and have them stranded somewhere close to me, also out of fuel? And yes I know about the economical setting - but the zone was pretty sparse with stars and I just ran out of luck.
Do you know about the classes of stars that are scoopable and how to filter for them on the GalMap? There are several areas of the galaxy that require a bit of forward planning to cross as there are very few scoopable stars, having a good understanding of the map really helps with this.