All ships should have a dedicated fuel scoop slot built-in.

[Enrogue]

To be fair with all the equipment it feels as it wouldn't hurt to give (some?) ships "multipurpose" dedicated internal slot(s?) akin to the military slots. Just don't limit it to scoop, also add in discovery scanner, surface scanner, docking computer, along those lines. A few items of absolutely no direct help in combat whatsoever.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

I really like that idea!

Personally, I have no interest in NPC crew (I like being a lone wolf) and I've been worried that FDev will force me to hire one in order to do some core activity (I'm looking at you, Q4 exploration update), but by having them act as a REPLACEMENT for a module means that I can live without them without locking myself out of gameplay.

I'm sure this idea could be extended beyond the DC - maybe the KWS, DSS, AFMU and limpet controllers? Definitely the latter two, I think.

I think you are safe.. however personally i think it is silly that no crew are needed for the large ships.

ESP when even the lore is specific about it (the Cobra MK III is the largest single pilotable craft in the elite universe (well it was until the new ships in the game anyway, i do not know about them).

but i think it is highly unlikely FD will backtrack on that now - tho if it were my game I would........ probably with an E rated mode where all modules shut down the E rated compatibility mode(aside from mass) and can then be controlled by computer

 

[Mephane]

YEAH I can see fd redesigning all ships. Never going to happen. Get rid of my class 7a fuel scoop on my clipper with a 16 gal tank? NEVA

Well, my idea was that the fuel scoop slot would always be fuel tank size +1, so the Anaconda with its size 6 fuel tank would have a size 7 fuel scoop slot anyway.

 

[UmbraRex]

I'd like to add a rider to this suggestion then that would see the removal of the largest non-dedicated slot from all ships to compensate for addition of the new slot. And a second rider that would make bacon mandatory for breakfast.

+rep for mandatory bacon for breakfast.

 

[Susanna]

Preamble:
Let's start with what started out as my favourite ship way, way back when it was first added: Eagle MK II. Before Horizons, it was a workable if underpowered (especially: too slow) ship. Enter Horizons, enter the SRV. Let's not kid outselves, an SRV is mandatory for so much content. So, we could squeeze one into the Eagle, leaving us with a puny size 1 slot for a fuel scoop.

Has anyone else ever tried moving around with an Eagle at ~18Ly jump range, fuel for 3 jumps, and a size 1 fuel scoop? An FDL (able to use a class 4 fuel scoop on a class 3 tank) feels like the most majestic explorer in comparison.

So besides bringing it out from time to time to hunt a bit in some nearby RES and then put it back to storage and fly a "real" ship, the ship is dead.

And I haven't even put discovery scanners into the equation: with a huge proportion of even the bubble starting out as unexplored, not having an ADS at the very least feels crippling even while inside the bubble. Yes, it is workable - you can buy map data, you can use the nav beacon etc., but it all feels like using crutches and workarounds for what should not be an issue in the first place inside the bubble.

Other ships that suffer from this problem are the Sidewinder and the Imperial Eagle. Most other small ships have at least enough compartments of sufficient size to squeeze in a workable selection of modules, which I would define as shield generator, SRV bay, and a fuel scoop of at least the same size as the fuel tank.

This brings me to my solution for this issue: give every ship a dedicated fuel scoop hardpoint in addition to what they already got, which should always at least have the size as the fuel tank, preferrably however one larger. Especially ships with low jump ranges and small tanks can offset this a bit with a 1 class oversized fuel scoop, and while still being much slower in terms of interstellar travel times, at least not cripplingly slow; I am looking not just at the smaller ships like the Eagle here, but also the FDL and the Federal Corvette.

I agree, you'd think a fuel scoop would be standard, even on a basic build when you buy the ship in the first place! But nope, newbies have to find this out the hard way! Just ask any fuel rat! The number of cmdrs that get stranded is truly BREATHTAKING!