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Newcomer / Intro how to use fuel scoop?
- Thread starter Elyk.McG
- Start date
You prob never got close enough or is it disabled in your settings?
You can only scoop ABFGKMO stars. Variously remembered as KGB FOAM, "Oh be a fine girl, kiss me" or my preference KFOG BAM.
There is also a technique that I use to scoop, that should minimise the possibility of heat damage. The trick is to imagine you are skimming stones across a pond; then you can get the idea.
Assuming you have a fuel scoop, and are at a scoopable star, aim outside of the edge of the star, and slowly accelerate. After a few seconds a ring will appear outside the star. This is the "Impact Ring", and flying inside this ring will cause you to drop out of Super Cruise, taking heat damage. Aim the same distance from the outside of the ring as the edge of the star is from the inside of the ring, and maintain your speed. After a few more seconds the Fuel Scoop will automatically start working ("Fuel Scooping" voice message, and an HUD display with Temperature, Fuel Flow, and Tank level). You can now slow down to a minimum speed (although, once you have practised scooping you can change your scooping flight), but watch the temperature. If it goes over 70 pull away a bit, as the heat can climb very rapidly if you are not careful. When your tank is full you will be made aware of this ("Fuel Scooping Complete", and the fuel flow goes to zero). Pull aware from the star, and, if you are going to jump to another system, wait until the fuel scoop shuts down ("Fuel Scoop disengaged", HUD display clears) before jumping, as you are now far enough away from the star for its temperature not to cause problems as the FSD spools up and generates internal heat.
Assuming you have a fuel scoop, and are at a scoopable star, aim outside of the edge of the star, and slowly accelerate. After a few seconds a ring will appear outside the star. This is the "Impact Ring", and flying inside this ring will cause you to drop out of Super Cruise, taking heat damage. Aim the same distance from the outside of the ring as the edge of the star is from the inside of the ring, and maintain your speed. After a few more seconds the Fuel Scoop will automatically start working ("Fuel Scooping" voice message, and an HUD display with Temperature, Fuel Flow, and Tank level). You can now slow down to a minimum speed (although, once you have practised scooping you can change your scooping flight), but watch the temperature. If it goes over 70 pull away a bit, as the heat can climb very rapidly if you are not careful. When your tank is full you will be made aware of this ("Fuel Scooping Complete", and the fuel flow goes to zero). Pull aware from the star, and, if you are going to jump to another system, wait until the fuel scoop shuts down ("Fuel Scoop disengaged", HUD display clears) before jumping, as you are now far enough away from the star for its temperature not to cause problems as the FSD spools up and generates internal heat.
The heat only starts going up when you're in range to scoop. As long as your fuel scoop isn't disabled (it really shouldn't be) then the only reason you're not scooping is because of the star type.
Look on the Galaxy map and it'll tell you the star type, see where it says "Star Types:" it's the first letter that's all important.
In that image the Star Type is F so it's one of the letters in KGB FOAM and therefore you can scoop it.
Look on the Galaxy map and it'll tell you the star type, see where it says "Star Types:" it's the first letter that's all important.
In that image the Star Type is F so it's one of the letters in KGB FOAM and therefore you can scoop it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpGyEetJKUo
Above posters are correct. Here's a great youtube if you still need help.
If you have further questions please ask.
Above posters are correct. Here's a great youtube if you still need help.
If you have further questions please ask.
A few things I learned about fuel scooping (the hard way!) in a bare-bones Sidey with minimal upgrades:
As I approach the star (typically coming out of hyper) I immediately throttle down supercruise to just above idle and gradually approach until I'm at about 60% heat. Optimally, I like to get a 10-15/s fuel intake, so if I have to absorb a little more heat I'll run the risk. The higher the intake the quicker you can get back to spacefaring. I also like to keep the star at my belly. It'll scoop either way, I'm just used to doing it like that so I can free look away from the star if needed. Once I've found a good heat/intake balance I throttle supercruise completely down to idle and fill her up. I'm only on day two of the game so I have a limited understanding of its capabilities, but I believe by doing that I've put myself in a pseudo-orbit speed, because I experience no deviation from my path and my heat/intake stay locked in.
A few considerations:
Again, I'm pretty new and have a lot to learn, but I'm fairly certain Coronal Mass Ejections are a thing in this game, as I've seen my heat go from a paltry 50% to critical in the blink of an eye. That or I did something really, really wrong at the time.
Some stars give off a ton more radiation than their siblings and are not worth the risk (in a starter ship, at least) as they give you a very slim margin of heat/intake. An example of this is when heat is approaching 80% and you're only getting about 2/s worth of fuel. This not only takes longer to replenish your tanks, but you risk overheating and causing damage to your ship. The stars I've come across like this are often much more massive than the typical ones you encounter and you run a great risk even being near it because one false move will pull you out of supercruise, so you sit there and cook while you wait for your Frame Ship Drive to reset. Your best bet is to avoid scooping stars like this (until you've upgraded to a ship and/or components that can handle it) and move on to the next system.
Remember to refuel at every opportunity! As posters have said, not every star can be scooped, and on long hauls you don't want to be caught in a system that has no station or planets when you're riding on fumes. I'm on jump 25 of a 40 jump trip and had a crash course in scooping that, luckily, didn't result in a destroyed ship (yet). But it's been a ton of fun along the way!
As I approach the star (typically coming out of hyper) I immediately throttle down supercruise to just above idle and gradually approach until I'm at about 60% heat. Optimally, I like to get a 10-15/s fuel intake, so if I have to absorb a little more heat I'll run the risk. The higher the intake the quicker you can get back to spacefaring. I also like to keep the star at my belly. It'll scoop either way, I'm just used to doing it like that so I can free look away from the star if needed. Once I've found a good heat/intake balance I throttle supercruise completely down to idle and fill her up. I'm only on day two of the game so I have a limited understanding of its capabilities, but I believe by doing that I've put myself in a pseudo-orbit speed, because I experience no deviation from my path and my heat/intake stay locked in.
A few considerations:
Again, I'm pretty new and have a lot to learn, but I'm fairly certain Coronal Mass Ejections are a thing in this game, as I've seen my heat go from a paltry 50% to critical in the blink of an eye. That or I did something really, really wrong at the time.
Some stars give off a ton more radiation than their siblings and are not worth the risk (in a starter ship, at least) as they give you a very slim margin of heat/intake. An example of this is when heat is approaching 80% and you're only getting about 2/s worth of fuel. This not only takes longer to replenish your tanks, but you risk overheating and causing damage to your ship. The stars I've come across like this are often much more massive than the typical ones you encounter and you run a great risk even being near it because one false move will pull you out of supercruise, so you sit there and cook while you wait for your Frame Ship Drive to reset. Your best bet is to avoid scooping stars like this (until you've upgraded to a ship and/or components that can handle it) and move on to the next system.
Remember to refuel at every opportunity! As posters have said, not every star can be scooped, and on long hauls you don't want to be caught in a system that has no station or planets when you're riding on fumes. I'm on jump 25 of a 40 jump trip and had a crash course in scooping that, luckily, didn't result in a destroyed ship (yet). But it's been a ton of fun along the way!
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The Scoop on Fuel Scooping
As with much of Elite Dangerous, Fuel Scooping is a series of compromises.
Should I fast scoop or slow, should I buy a small scoop or a large, the cheapest or most the most expensive.
Based upon experience, the following are my conclusions:
Tactically, fast scooping is the safest option, many of the dregs of ED pond life hang around the stars (suns) looking for easy kills and to commit acts of piracy, so a slow moving ship is an inviting target for interdiction, avoidance of which can result in your getting too close. Secondly a fast scoop leaves you less likely to burn. The sun puts out heat in the form of radiation and the protection against radiation is based upon 3 factors, time, shielding and distance, the faster you go the less time you are exposed, the less time exposed, the closer you can get, the closer you get, the less time needed to scoop maximum fuel.
If your style of play is based on trading, then economically, the bigger the ship, the more you can earn therefore, a large scoop is taking up cargo space, so this is a compromise you need to work out. If you fly short hops on planned routes, a small scoop might provide a safety net (though, never forget that in the event of running out of or short of fuel, if you have a good supply of elements, you can use synthesis to manufacture a shot of FSD Injection to give yourself an extra bit of range). If you are doing longer journeys on a regular basis, then a scoop is a necessity, to my mind, the larger and higher the class, the better. A 7A scoop will allow a fuel collection rate in excess of 1,200 units/second. Though it costs in excess of 28,000,000 CR and 128 units of cargo space.
In order to scoop fast and safely, I would recommend the following:
Always have orbit lines on, this will provide a visual queue (the green line around the sun) identifying how close you can approach without suffering an FSD failure.
When approaching the point at which you may receive damage from the sun's heat, the “Hologram” of the sun, on the cockpit display, turns red, this is an indication, but there is a degree of leeway beyond this that you can use.
Find a reference spot on your canopy bow or frame which allows a heat build up of maximum of 65% and base your speed on maintaining a constant position w.r.t. the green line to achieve the 65%. It is not difficult but the size and agility of your ship will determine how fast you can go. My Anaconda cannot maintain a tight circle around a small diameter sun, without a reduction in speed, so, another compromise, as suns are not all constant sizes. If your ship is agile enough to maintain max velocity, then use it. It takes a little (not much) practice. I usually find that where (as in most cases) your next jump is on the opposite side of the sun, the fuel used on the previous jump can be scooped in travelling half of the circumference of the sun, and by the time you are lined up on your next jump destination, you tank is full again.
Give It A Try
As with much of Elite Dangerous, Fuel Scooping is a series of compromises.
Should I fast scoop or slow, should I buy a small scoop or a large, the cheapest or most the most expensive.
Based upon experience, the following are my conclusions:
Tactically, fast scooping is the safest option, many of the dregs of ED pond life hang around the stars (suns) looking for easy kills and to commit acts of piracy, so a slow moving ship is an inviting target for interdiction, avoidance of which can result in your getting too close. Secondly a fast scoop leaves you less likely to burn. The sun puts out heat in the form of radiation and the protection against radiation is based upon 3 factors, time, shielding and distance, the faster you go the less time you are exposed, the less time exposed, the closer you can get, the closer you get, the less time needed to scoop maximum fuel.
If your style of play is based on trading, then economically, the bigger the ship, the more you can earn therefore, a large scoop is taking up cargo space, so this is a compromise you need to work out. If you fly short hops on planned routes, a small scoop might provide a safety net (though, never forget that in the event of running out of or short of fuel, if you have a good supply of elements, you can use synthesis to manufacture a shot of FSD Injection to give yourself an extra bit of range). If you are doing longer journeys on a regular basis, then a scoop is a necessity, to my mind, the larger and higher the class, the better. A 7A scoop will allow a fuel collection rate in excess of 1,200 units/second. Though it costs in excess of 28,000,000 CR and 128 units of cargo space.
In order to scoop fast and safely, I would recommend the following:
Always have orbit lines on, this will provide a visual queue (the green line around the sun) identifying how close you can approach without suffering an FSD failure.
When approaching the point at which you may receive damage from the sun's heat, the “Hologram” of the sun, on the cockpit display, turns red, this is an indication, but there is a degree of leeway beyond this that you can use.
Find a reference spot on your canopy bow or frame which allows a heat build up of maximum of 65% and base your speed on maintaining a constant position w.r.t. the green line to achieve the 65%. It is not difficult but the size and agility of your ship will determine how fast you can go. My Anaconda cannot maintain a tight circle around a small diameter sun, without a reduction in speed, so, another compromise, as suns are not all constant sizes. If your ship is agile enough to maintain max velocity, then use it. It takes a little (not much) practice. I usually find that where (as in most cases) your next jump is on the opposite side of the sun, the fuel used on the previous jump can be scooped in travelling half of the circumference of the sun, and by the time you are lined up on your next jump destination, you tank is full again.
Give It A Try
More Necromancers - now it is a four-year old thread. sheesh
I recon they want to help people. But I don't understand why we get al these necros lately. Was the forum search function improved recently or so?More Necromancers - now it is a four-year old thread. sheesh
I'm a little confused by fuel scooping. Looking at the image of my Dolphins fuel indicator below. There are two lines under the word Fuel, a thin light line and a thicker heavier line, then below that another thin line. I've been using a 3A fuel scoop for my passenger runs, and while it says fuel scooping. then fuel scooping complete, etc I never see any actual change in the thin fuel line, though the thicker line seems to always have some blueish color to the end of it. I've never seen my fuel line (the thin one) go to a full 100% while fuel scooping. Am I doing something wrong, or does that top line never go to 100% while fuel scooping? Or, is the thin fuel line, a consumption rating, and not an actual fuel amount indicator?
Attachments
Thick line is your fuel tank. Thin line is a smaller 'in play' cache. You are interested in filling the thick line.
Ok thank you. I wasn't sure what the case was. I assumed the thick one was my tank, as my sidey died from an empty one (I went on a supercruise straight up from the newb zone once just to see how fast it would go, ran out of fuel, then air, then boom, oh the terrible terrible boom. It was earth shattering...) It was that top thin line that had me totally confused. Now I am not. Also. Not a single disconnect since switching modes. \o/!
The thick line is the main fuel tank, the one you can change the size of in outfitting, it is used to power your FSD for jumps to other stars
The blue bit is an indication of how much fuel your plotted jump will use.
The thin line is the fuel tank used by your power pack to run everything else in your ship it refills automatically from the main tank and can in time drain that tank at which point you go onto emergency life support and have minutes to contact the Fuel Rats to come and save you.
The blue bit is an indication of how much fuel your plotted jump will use.
The thin line is the fuel tank used by your power pack to run everything else in your ship it refills automatically from the main tank and can in time drain that tank at which point you go onto emergency life support and have minutes to contact the Fuel Rats to come and save you.
I see your landing gear is deployed. If that picture is from when you were "scooping" you were doing it wrong.
Scooping has to be done in SuperCruise.
I recommend having the mouse dot active and orbit lines as well. Then, all you do is skim along the star and keep the mouse dot just above the exclusion zone orbit line. You'll get a visual of your tank bar filling.
Note, this person is overheating from scooping, and, at this point, is causing themself damage.
Scooping has to be done in SuperCruise.
I recommend having the mouse dot active and orbit lines as well. Then, all you do is skim along the star and keep the mouse dot just above the exclusion zone orbit line. You'll get a visual of your tank bar filling.
Note, this person is overheating from scooping, and, at this point, is causing themself damage.
No. I was docked at the time, I was just trying to clarify exactly what I was seeing. Scooping is working great for me. I'm well on my way to Sgr A with my little fuel scoop and Dolphin.I see your landing gear is deployed. If that picture is from when you were "scooping" you were doing it wrong.
Scooping has to be done in SuperCruise.
I recommend having the mouse dot active and orbit lines as well. Then, all you do is skim along the star and keep the mouse dot just above the exclusion zone orbit line. You'll get a visual of your tank bar filling.
Note, this person is overheating from scooping, and, at this point, is causing themself damage.