I never thought about doing this... Might be doing it in the future though!

[Deleted member 110222]

In my long-range trade endeavours, which usually involves rare goods or the discreet shipping of guns, I use a fuel scoop to extend my Cobra's range.

I never thought to use additional fuel tanks. But I'm looking at the numbers... Yeah, for a number of my activities, fuel tanks do the same trick as a scoop.

Better still, I never need to leave myself vulnerable in the corona.

 

[Drelthar]

Yeah, if your not going super super far, a tank is sometimes better.

They do give you more mass though, lowering your range, whereas I think fuel scoop are zero mass modules?

It's nice to just be able to keep jumping too, without having to stop for a scoop.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Yeah, if your not going super super far, a tank is sometimes better.

They do give you more mass though, lowering your range, whereas I think fuel scoop are zero mass modules?

It's nice to just be able to keep jumping too, without having to stop for a scoop.

Well that's just it. The security offered by a raw increase of fuel capacity is notable... And possibly beneficial in the more dangerous regions.

 

[insanephoton]

A trick for fuel scooping if it's going to take some time is slow right down and point your thrusters to the star. Anything trying to interdict you has to get behind you. If you are close enough to the star to be fuel scooping you'll be safe from npc pirates. As for players, it's still going to take a gutsy player to try and get in the gap, but as long as you watch your scanners they shouldn't be able to surprise you.

 

[WR3ND]

Well that's just it. The security offered by a raw increase of fuel capacity is notable... And possibly beneficial in the more dangerous regions.

There's I think a 10 second cool-down after a high jump, so if you get a fast enough fuel scoop, it can refill in about that time anyway if you do skim refueling.

But yeah, a good fuel scoop is going to eat up a lot of cargo room potentially too, so it is a trade off here and there. An extra tank won't use as much room (depending) and should still give you a few extra jumps, but then does also add mass, can affect route plotting efficiency (since it doesn't do it dynamically on the fly), and of course uses some cargo room too.

Main thing of course is that you'll want the biggest FSD for long range jumps and trade efficiency, unlike exploration where that generally doesn't matter quite as much... (Still nice to have though, of course.)

 

[Lightspeed]

I went in the opposite direction with the Beluga, halving the fuel tank to boost the fill time and reduce the weight of the ship, but the Beluga is probably exceptional and not optimally designed.

 

[WR3ND]

I went in the opposite direction with the Beluga, halving the fuel tank to boost the fill time and reduce the weight of the ship, but the Beluga is probably exceptional and not optimally designed.

It's important to look at refuel per jump, unless you're only stopping to refuel once in a while and take longer during those instances.

Just looking at refuel time per total fuel capacity can be a bit of a misnomer, or misleading metric, if you will.

I also generally get along fine with a small fuel tank though, as you can plot for scoopable stars and the like now too.

I'm much more of an explorer than trader though in the game.

The way I see it, you have to wait for the FSD cool down anyway, so might as well be scooping.

 

[Speedcuffs]

An extra fuel tank and some economy route plotting saved my cutter a few times.

 

[WR3ND]

An extra fuel tank and some economy route plotting saved my cutter a few times.

I was thinking this might be a good option as well, but then you have the added risk of the extra stops along the way and the extra time it takes, so probably not the best for trading in the bubble. On the other hand, you don't need to stay in a system for as long then necessarily, but still have to wait for the FSD cool down either way before high jumping.

I think there are some pros and cons either way, so it may be something people want to test out for themselves to see how efficient and safe the different options are for them.

I err on the side of having a big fuel scoop and sufficient but relatively low fuel capacity, but that's just me.

 

[Frank]

I had considered extra tanks myself. But I thought the reason for massive tanks was to make your jumponium go further?

I don't know if that's the case because a massive fuel scoop can refill a tank before the jump drive cools down for another jump. I hadn't bothered experimenting with extended fuel reserves because of that.

 

[WR3ND]

I had considered extra tanks myself. But I thought the reason for massive tanks was to make your jumponium go further?

I don't know if that's the case because a massive fuel scoop can refill a tank before the jump drive cools down for another jump. I hadn't bothered experimenting with extended fuel reserves because of that.

That's a good question, and since I don't use jumponium much at all in the game, I'm not sure. Might be more relevant to others though.

 

[WR3ND]

To be fair, I think it also depends if you're in Open or not. The Cobra Mk III will likely still do more than well enough managing NPCs either way.

The Engineers changed that up a bit though for a more PVP related context, and I don't think a stock A rated Cobra Mk III can quite cut the mustard still. Not sure about an Engineered one.

To me the Engineers made it more of a meta gameplay style choice and less of an emergent gameplay option. But I digress.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Here's the thing though - or perhaps it's just me misusing things again, but...

You don't need to refill yourself at every star, and you can still stop at a station at top off your tank.

A small Fuel Scoop, yes, might just take forever to fill a large tank, but if it scrapes up enough starticles to get you from your point of entry to the next closest station to fill up... purpose served. And this coming from someone who had to be Fuel Ratted .15 Ls away from a Safe Disengage at a station once! lol

 

[WR3ND]

Here's the thing though - or perhaps it's just me misusing things again, but...

You don't need to refill yourself at every star, and you can still stop at a station at top off your tank.

A small Fuel Scoop, yes, might just take forever to fill a large tank, but if it scrapes up enough starticles to get you from your point of entry to the next closest station to fill up... purpose served. And this coming from someone who had to be Fuel Ratted .15 Ls away from a Safe Disengage at a station once! lol

If you can make it to where you're going on the stock tank which can't be used for cargo anyway, yeah, I think that's the way to go. It's only when you can't that these other factors really start coming into play, generally speaking, I think.

Stopping over places if you don't have to would take more time on a trade run and would potentially have added risk.

For me back in the day using my rum running Cobra, I would just get in on low fuel, and if I recall correctly, have some added speed for it too to help keep me out of trouble. Not sure if speed is as significant of an advantage for the Cobra these days though.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

If you can make it to where you're going on the stock tank which can't be used for cargo anyway, yeah, I think that's the way to go. It's only when you can't that these other factors really start coming into play, generally speaking, I think.

Stopping over places if you don't have to would take more time on a trade run and would potentially have added risk.

For me back in the day using my rum running Cobra, I would just get in on low fuel, and if I recall correctly, have some added speed for it too to help keep me out of trouble. Not sure if speed is as significant of an advantage for the Cobra these days though.

Couldn't really say, as far as the Cobra is concerned... it's quite possibly my least favorite ship. And back in the day, for me, is just a bit over two years ago, shortly after the Cobra 4 was no longer available for those buying Horizons on the PC. I tend to like my ships more tubular, and less pancake-like.

 

[Stealthie]

It's a bit of a double-edged sword though.

Sure, you gain immediacy but at the expense of self-sufficiency and flexibility.

Having to make an emergency-jump to avoid attackers or getting hyperdicted by 'goids when you're running low on fuel could leave you in a world of hurt.

 

[WR3ND]

Couldn't really say, as far as the Cobra is concerned... it's quite possibly my least favorite ship. And back in the day, for me, is just a bit over two years ago, shortly after the Cobra 4 was no longer available for those buying Horizons on the PC. I tend to like my ships more tubular, and less pancake-like.

I still have a Cobra around as an option for exploration. It's still a very capable small ship for that, I think. And if jump range is your thing, the the DbE is an option too, but is a little less capable for exploration in general, in my opinion.

But yeah, I haven't really bothered trading nor mission running in a Cobra much since before Horizons either. It was a fun ship for running rares for me back in the day though.

Aesthetics? Well, kind of hit or miss for some. Better looking than the Asp though at least, I think.

This is what I was going to go with for DW2 before deciding on taking my Vulture. I rather like the utilitarian/tactical look of it here. ↓

Spoiler

 

[NecasekO]

I'd say an extra fuel tank is definitely worth it on a trading ship, especially if you only need to extend your range by 1-2 jumps and can do that with a relatively small tank.

I don't particularly like fuel scooping so I used up to 32 tons of extra fuel on a Python to double the the total jump range. Sometimes I also just make one extra stop and refuel at a station, if I really can't be bothered with outfitting

Fuel tanks have some other advantages too, like:
- Fuel tanks may be available at stations that don't sell big / high rated fuel scoops.
- Much cheaper to buy, reducing rebuy costs.
- No power draw.

 

[CMDR ANCALAGON]

I took my Anaconda (prior exploration build) all the way to Colonia and on the SagA and back on a 16T tank. I don't do that anymore, but it did add an element of risk, especially when neutron boosting. With the increased full per jump secondary, I was only good for two jumps before having to refuel, so neutron boosting was a risky ordeal.

Not really relevant, but I felt like posting something somewhere, and that's my fuel tank story.

 

[Susanna]

A trick for fuel scooping if it's going to take some time is slow right down and point your thrusters to the star. Anything trying to interdict you has to get behind you. If you are close enough to the star to be fuel scooping you'll be safe from npc pirates. As for players, it's still going to take a gutsy player to try and get in the gap, but as long as you watch your scanners they shouldn't be able to surprise you.

Well Said! Reped. The only disadvantage of a small scoop is the extra time spent just sitting there. Personally, if you have the cash, fit as large/high grade a fuel scoop as possible.