Automated Fuel Scooping - Supercruise Assist

[Northpin]

you can simply set a suitable distance from the star, and sit there in idle if you want.

I regularly do that when i fly my DBX and its notorious slow scooping rate due to oversized FSD/Fuel tank and undersized Fuel Scoop.

I usually get my ship in scooping range and try to park it under one of the poles, so i have full visibility over the ecliptic plan, then i stop and i use the scooping time to fss the system.

 

[Morbad]

even with a MASSIVE fuel scoop , it can take a minute or more of carefully circling a star's superhot edges to get your tank up to half full on larger ships...

Just scoop a jump's worth every jump...

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVT7xX8Yqho

5 jumps instead of like 44... And so a singular jump can take 1/6th of my tank.
Recovering the fuel for a single jump would take a lil bit, even with my size-7 Fuel Scoop.

A 7A scoop is ~1.25 tons per second. Most ships that can mount such a scoop top off a full jump's worth by the time the FSD cooldown is done.

 

[Northpin]

Small correction, but from extensive experience in using an E-rated Class 8 Fuel Scoop on board a Type-10, overheating really shouldn't be an an issue. It takes more than that to heat up a T-10.

The Type-9, on the other hand, gets toasty pretty damn quickly. Like if I'm boosting away from a station and then immediately engage the FSD, I'll get the "temperature critical" warning, which I don't get with the T-10.

Must be all the T-10's armour providing extra thermal mass, I reckon.

Definitely T10 runs cooler than the T9 or the T6, however that doesnt mean one cannot build a non-thermal-efficient T10

 

[Dash]

The approach when I'm buckyballing somewhere is to dive into the star as I jump in and then travel round the star to my exit jump (as it's usually behind these days), while keeping my side to the star, I line up the exclusion zone to the hardpoint vertical lines on my hud, which stops me from getting too close to overheat but keeps the fuel rate up high.

I usually travel with a big scoop as I'm impatient, but the approach works on small scoops too, you just have to go round a few times. For longer scoops you'll want to keep back in the blue range to avoid carrying too much speed and breaking orbit.

 

[Nekozji]

To be fair I'm using a D-grade scoop... Because the A-grade hikes up my rebuy substantially and I really don't want to push it any higher, if possible.

I think this is a false economy, tbh. Your slow scoop is what's causing you to need to spend a lot of time near a star, where the A-grade would probably refill the tank by the time you're on the far side of it and pointed at the next jump target. It may not sound like much, but if it's costing you 10-20 seconds per jump, that kind of thing can really inflate your total journey time - and it's not exactly top quality gameplay, nor does it make any money or savings, so I'd recommend minimising it

But also, as was pointed out earlier in the thread; there's no benefit to moving fast while scooping. If you want a smaller/cheaper scoop, just get to a comfortable altitude and zero the throttle. Been known to do this myself, with a 3A scoop in a Clipper when doing cargo/refugee runs, because I hope not to need it - but should the route be just a little too long, I could park in stellar orbit and go get a cuppa

 

[varonica]

Phanom tank 32T, 5A FSD (not deep charge) 5T max fuel/jump. You should get 6 Jumps from it. Did you downsize your tank?

Well yes or course, more jump range with a smaller tank don't you know, and with a 6A fuel scoop it fills up before I round the star. 5A FSD with Mass Manager and 5H Guardian booster.

 

[Untilting]

Well yes or course, more jump range with a smaller tank don't you know, and with a 6A fuel scoop it fills up before I round the star. 5A FSD with Mass Manager and 5H Guardian booster.

Haven't tried that yet but might give it a whirl in my own Phantom, see how it plays.

 

[DjVortex]

Well yes or course, more jump range with a smaller tank don't you know

It's not the tank itself that adds the weight, but how full it is of fuel. You can have a larger tank and constantly keep it half-empty (by stopping fuel-scooping early) for that added extra jump range. It's not very hard to keep the tank half empty, really.

The advantage over a smaller tank is that if in any situation you would need the extra fuel, you'll have the tank for it. Wouldn't want to find myself in a situation where I need the extra fuel but my tank is too small and the nearest inhabited system is 5k ly away.

 

[Terekhov]

Well yes or course, more jump range with a smaller tank don't you know, and with a 6A fuel scoop it fills up before I round the star. 5A FSD with Mass Manager and 5H Guardian booster.

Indeed, but then if you reduce tank below std fitment that is a conscious ship build decision by yourself. I know that you understand that, I'm just clarifying it in words as others might not realise yours was a special use case.

Increased range, Mass manager and GFSD booster do not change the max fuel that can be consumed per jump (but ofc that fuel is used more efficiently to give you greater jump distance). (Deep charge does increase fuel consumed per jump, but is a very special use case and usually the small chance of reducing jump count is outweighed by the increased time scooping - even on smaller FSDs which are cited by some as a use case for Deep charge)

 

[Type-10 Offender]

Yeah, it's the power plants where A grade runs coolest.

Okay, you're talking about the powerplant... Not the fuel scoop's grade, tho.
The other guy seemed to be saying a higher grade of fuel scoop reduces heat generation or something.

 

[Type-10 Offender]

I somehow feel that you may have other issues... like using smaller and lower rating fuel scoops and low efficiency power plants.

I mean, with a properly built ship and with proper technique, fuel scooping should be a 0 risk endeavour
So, make sure you always use A-rated power plants, preferably engineered with blueprints that improve efficiency (G5 armored with Thermal Spread Experimental or G1 Low Emissions with Thermal Spread or G2 Low Emissions with Monstered etc) and the biggest fuel scoop with the highest rating you can afford

Also you dont really need to orbit the star - you can simply stop at a convenient distance, that will provide you with maximum scooping rate but without overheating (if your heat gets over 66% - it will keep getting higher)
Some ships are inherently hot - like the ones you're flying T9/T10 - so yea - there is that too.

If you are worried about cash - make sure you buy your expensive ships and module from LYR space - you'd get a 15% discount that will be reflected in the rebuy screen

And again, if you are eating too many rebuys - you do need to reevaluate your combat skills, your ship building skills or your fleeing skills.
Yea, knowing when to pull out of combat and leave the scene is a skill.

Of course I have a heckin' A-grade powerplant. It's one of few things I invest so much in, as far as part grades go.
It and the A-grade power distributer and the frameshift drive are a MUST.

 

[Type-10 Offender]

And as a general reply - Don't use SCA for scooping. Fit a decent sized scoop (Same size as FSD or larger, one size smaller a bit slow but passable if you must).

With a decent scoop and the right filters, you can scoop for severl seconds after each jump and be on your way to the next star repidly.

Attempting to optimise scoop rate in SCA would likely fry new players ships and as has been said above, you can simply set a suitable distance from the star, and sit there in idle if you want.

Yeah, I had no idea you could just sit idle within the corona for this.
Recently gave it a go, lo'-and-behold, it works like a charm. Way less risky.

From my past experience it never ticked up doing that, you had to actively fly through the thing in orbit (manually or otherwise)...
So I'm not sure when this change was implemented or if I somehow missed it, as ridiculous to me as that possibility seems.

 

[Type-10 Offender]

Pro tip: When fuel-scooping, once the scooping rate is something acceptable (ie. you are at the desired distance and speed), just set the throttle to a minimum. In other words, just "park" the ship where it is, using minimum supercruise throttle. The fuel-scooping will continue at that rate.

At the proper distance (and with an A-grade power plant) you can sit there refueling as long as you want at a very good scoop rate without the ship overheating. No need to keep circling the star. And the size of your fuel scoop doesn't really matter (with a smaller scoop it will only take longer to fill up, but it won't be any more difficult or cause your ship to overheat).

Yeah, tried this method recently as in the past it wasn't a thing you could do... Worked like a charm.
I suspect the change was made sometime during my hiatus.

 

[Type-10 Offender]

Definitely T10 runs cooler than the T9 or the T6, however that doesnt mean one cannot build a non-thermal-efficient T10

I worked pretty hard to engineer my T10 to not cook itself.
Reactor is fine and dandy, engineered the thrusters to likewise put out less heat when using 'em... So I don't accidentally turn my ship into an oversized hot-pocket when thrusting towards stations or using 'em to git out off the surface of heavier-grav' worlds.

RN the only times I see a heat warning is if I fire off the three-shot grouping of Plasma Slug Accelerators repeatedly back-to-back...
Or fire my oversized, long-range pulse lasers (medium & large hardpoints) at a target for more than a minute or more.
Usually that warning is pretty short lived tho', as those heat levels are either the result of LONG firing times without rest or from the sudden heat spike of launching several plasma slug shots at once.

But given my ship's turn speeds and how rarely enemies can endure the damage output it can pump out, that rarely occurs.
Worst comes to worst, I can push a pip or two into Weapons from System...
Since if I'm not under fire and my shields are topped up, there's no reason NOT to pump more las' and plasm' into the enemy.

 

[shockbait]

So I'm not sure when this change was implemented or if I somehow missed it, as ridiculous to me as that possibility seems.

I'm glad it's working out for you, but I feel the need to say, it hasn't changed, this is how it's always been. You have never needed to orbit the star to scoop, even "parked" you are still traveling 30km/s, the only thing that affects scoop rate is how close you are to the star(and fuel scoop size).

Don't feel bad, that's the nature of this game. I was doing ground conflict zones by going to the desk inside stations every time for nearly six months before I found out I could just fly to the CZ and shoot the people I was against to join the battle, then relog at my SRV to quickly reset and go again.

 

[Codger]

So I'm not sure when this change was implemented or if I somehow missed it, as ridiculous to me as that possibility seems.

It’s always worked that way, sorry to tell you.

 

[varonica]

It's not the tank itself that adds the weight, but how full it is of fuel. You can have a larger tank and constantly keep it half-empty (by stopping fuel-scooping early) for that added extra jump range. It's not very hard to keep the tank half empty, really.

The advantage over a smaller tank is that if in any situation you would need the extra fuel, you'll have the tank for it. Wouldn't want to find myself in a situation where I need the extra fuel but my tank is too small and the nearest inhabited system is 5k ly away.

Been just about everywhere, never needed extra fuel with forward planning, but I always keep a full load of Jumponium, which other may not do. It doesn't really matter how far away the nearest inhabited system is, as long as you have fuel to jump, the nearest inhabited system could be 10ly away and if you run your tank dry you are in the same situation as being 5kly away, stuck!

 

[DjVortex]

Been just about everywhere, never needed extra fuel with forward planning, but I always keep a full load of Jumponium, which other may not do. It doesn't really matter how far away the nearest inhabited system is, as long as you have fuel to jump, the nearest inhabited system could be 10ly away and if you run your tank dry you are in the same situation as being 5kly away, stuck!

At least in theory you could be in a system with a scoopable star, but surrounded by systems with non-scoopable stars, the closest scoopable one being just a tad bit too far for your extra-small fuel tank...

(I don't know if there's any place in the galaxy like this, but at least in theory it could be possible.)

 

[varonica]

At least in theory you could be in a system with a scoopable star, but surrounded by systems with non-scoopable stars, the closest scoopable one being just a tad bit too far for your extra-small fuel tank...

(I don't know if there's any place in the galaxy like this, but at least in theory it could be possible.)

Nope, that's what Jumponium is for, I could make 2 jumps from the last scoopable star, not leaving me enough fuel to get back if there are no scoopable stars ahead of me, but of course a 100% Jumponium injection will take me back to the last scoopable star, that's why I mentioned Jumponium and forward planning. With Jumponium and forward planning there should be no situation where you can't reach a scoopable star, even if you have exceeded the normal travel range of your fuel tank. I have been to all the furthest points of the galaxy and into the edge areas with my Phantom and never once had an issue with fuel supply.

 

[alex192004]

I worked pretty hard to engineer my T10 to not cook itself.
Reactor is fine and dandy, engineered the thrusters to likewise put out less heat when using 'em... So I don't accidentally turn my ship into an oversized hot-pocket when thrusting towards stations or using 'em to git out off the surface of heavier-grav' worlds.

RN the only times I see a heat warning is if I fire off the three-shot grouping of Plasma Slug Accelerators repeatedly back-to-back...
Or fire my oversized, long-range pulse lasers (medium & large hardpoints) at a target for more than a minute or more.
Usually that warning is pretty short lived tho', as those heat levels are either the result of LONG firing times without rest or from the sudden heat spike of launching several plasma slug shots at once.

But given my ship's turn speeds and how rarely enemies can endure the damage output it can pump out, that rarely occurs.
Worst comes to worst, I can push a pip or two into Weapons from System...
Since if I'm not under fire and my shields are topped up, there's no reason NOT to pump more las' and plasm' into the enemy.

You can use grade 5 dirty drives in your thrusters, the heat build up by the thrusters is insignificant. You are never going to rise above 50% for using just your thrusters in any ship.