Efficient Fuel Scooping

[velospeed2002]

Hi,

While a simple game mechanic, fuel scooping is a fairly significant, if repetitive, part of exploration. I'm a bit surprised that it isn't discussed much, if ever. Decent technique can save time over a long trip. So, I think it's a worthy topic. Obviously, this is more for the newer explorers or those looking to make some refinements. Like me not so long ago.

I actually haven't been exploring for all that long. I do feel that I've developed a decent technique during my recent trip out to Beagle. When I compare to when I first started exploring, it's much faster now. I recall being overly conservative and even stopping while scooping! Ugh. [noob]

Here's how I do it now...

My ship of choice is the DBX, so this technique somewhat plays to the attributes of that craft: slower scooping, higher heat tolerance, decent supercruise agility

When in "fast mode" hurrying to get someplace, like towards the end of a long trip:

1. zero throttle coming out of hyperspace (important: with nonzero throttle I've almost crashed due to carelessness, alt-tabbing or even system lag)
2. 3/4 throttle moving towards the fuel scooping tangent line while honking the system
3. 1/4 throttle while taking a glance at the nav panel for anything interesting (read: possible terraformables)
4. full throttle while aggressively scooping, engaging FSD early as possible and pulling away when fuel and/or heat get high enough
5. align and jump

[video=youtube;kOVyqNUy3mI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOVyqNUy3mI[/video]

About 50 seconds per system if not stopping. Skipping step 3 could speed up the process a bit, or quite a lot with a fast scooping craft. However, I feel guilty if I don't at least sneak a peek. After thousands of jumps you get familiar with the habitable zones and pretty quick at spotting potential terraformables worth a closer look, just based on distances and star type.

When in "slow mode" not in a rush to get somewhere, I basically follow the same steps but with more relaxed scooping and extra time looking at the nav panel and system map. About 55 seconds to a minute per system when just passing through.

Any thoughts from vets? Questions from newcomers?

 

[racer1]

My personal technique for fast travel.

Drop in full throttle
Aim to just miss the exclusion zone also with next jump target as close as possible
Just before FSD cool down start to turn away from star, approx 1-3 seconds depending on star type and heat tolerance of ship.
Engage FSD as soon as available
Open system map and check for shinys
Close system map and stop FSD to go see stuff or
Align with destination for jump

Approx 45 seconds per system.

 

[Qohen Leth]

[video=youtube_share;JJ1gm3af1KU]https://youtu.be/JJ1gm3af1KU[/video]

 

[velospeed2002]

My personal technique for fast travel.

Drop in full throttle
Aim to just miss the exclusion zone also with next jump target as close as possible
Just before FSD cool down start to turn away from star, approx 1-3 seconds depending on star type and heat tolerance of ship.
Engage FSD as soon as available
Open system map and check for shinys
Close system map and stop FSD to go see stuff or
Align with destination for jump

Approx 45 seconds per system.

Hmmm - I've tried a variant of that, but felt it was tricky to monitor heat levels, or that I didn't have enough time to cancel FSD if I saw something interesting.

Shaving off 5 more seconds is significant, so I'll have to try again - thanks!

 

[duckofdeath]

My method is quite similar to racer1's. Though, I aim full throttle straight at the arrival star until I have a decent scoop rate then I keep it at the level until the cool down is complete. Engage FSD and turn 90 degrees off the star to avoid melting. Glance at the map and if it's no good just point towards the next system and jump.
Edit:
On pure F class routes I check the map when I'm scooping, simply because it isn't as easy to hit the right time to engage the FSD without causing heat damage. It "costs" a couple seconds extra, but, the modules likes it better. \o/

 

[Stinja]

I'm a full throttler -> aim to go deep to the EZ -> hit the apex at max scoop -> charge FSD as star changes from red to orange (ship dependant, esp non-DBX)

You should be able to maintain 50-55 second jump to jump times (this is on PS4. i swear it's faster on PC, also faster if in solo because less loading), and keep yourself topped up with each scoop:

[video=youtube;J63H-Y_72-o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J63H-Y_72-o[/video]

 

[Jonny Shiloh]

Took me a while to get fuel scooping down, but nowadays I'm pretty handy at it. Entering normal space at full throttle and keeping it on full, I roll my AspX until the curvature of the star is *just* visible at the top of the cockpit view, and then continue gently pushing up (with the mouse - I don't use a HOTAS, I've tried but I just prefer keyboard + mouse), "orbiting" the star and keeping the curvature of the star just visible at the top of the screen, until the tanks refill. I scoop every opportunity I get on a long jaunt though, so in the case I get routed via a T Tauri or similar unscoopable, I have plenty in the tank for onward jumping. While this increases the general time spent exploring (I'm refuelling at every available star), it obviously makes the scooping process faster as there's less fuel required to complete the scooping process, and less time scooping means less time for a catastrophic failure.

When the process is complete, I drop out of orbit and let the heat dissipate while honking and finding my exit point. The heat seldom gets above 65% on the readout.

I've not had a dangerous encounter with a star for a while now - last one was because I ended up exiting witch space slap bang in the middle of a star. Of course, having now said that, you can guarantee the next time I scoop, I'll end up messing up - the Law of Sod is never far away in Elite...

 

[marx]

My fuel scooping technique since 2.4, in an Imperial Clipper, 7C fuel scoop, 8T fuel tank (also, 40 ly jump on a full tank): jump in at full throttle, aim pretty much anywhere that's somewhat close to the star, turn towards the destination when it's no longer obscured, and start jumping when the heat starts decreasing. With the new route plotter no longer planning all the jumps at maximum range, and the Clipper's oversized fuel scoop (plus its great SC turning), the tank will always be full by then. (Perhaps the only case when it won't would be if you somehow came in with a near-empty tank.) It's quite comfortable.
Also, this way there's no need for orbit lines even for people who have less practice.

 

[racer1]

Hmmm - I've tried a variant of that, but felt it was tricky to monitor heat levels, or that I didn't have enough time to cancel FSD if I saw something interesting.

Shaving off 5 more seconds is significant, so I'll have to try again - thanks!

Don't completely align with the next star before you open the system map. Then even if the fsd is fully charged while you're looking at the map it won't jump and will wait for you to align before jumping. Giving you as much time as you need to look at the map.

Regarding heat, it is just practice and learning what you can get away with with particular star types. You will need an afmu using this technique on a long duration trip as you will inevitably take some heat damage.

 

[disorganise]

Hold on.....are you guys suggesting the sparks are optional?

 

[grnbrg]

My personal technique for fast travel.

Drop in full throttle
Aim to just miss the exclusion zone also with next jump target as close as possible
Just before FSD cool down start to turn away from star, approx 1-3 seconds depending on star type and heat tolerance of ship.
Engage FSD as soon as available
Open system map and check for shinys
Close system map and stop FSD to go see stuff or
Align with destination for jump

Approx 45 seconds per system.

Same here, flying either my Asp or Conda. The only limiting factor on a repeatable 45 second cycle is the location of the next jump point -- some times it's obscured for 2-3 seconds after the cooldown ends.

Neutron surfing, I can usually average around 60-65 seconds per (boosted) jump.

Edit: And keep the hammer down. The only thing I will slow down for is neutrons, black holes and white dwarves -- they'll kick your if you jump in too hot. Always check the next star type when you engage the FSD.

CMDR grnbrg.

 

[Orvidius]

It's certainly possible to go faster than my method, but I think I average about 55 seconds per system this way (with my AspX, and a 6A scoop).

1. Come out of witchspace, remaining at full throttle.
2. Quickly aim past the edge of the exclusion zone (eyeballing it, since I leave orbit lines off).
3. Open system map before scooping begins. Assuming nothing is interesting, close the map and continue:
4. By this time I should be exiting the scoop zone, scooping complete.
5. Start charging FSD.
6. Align with target.

So far with my Anaconda this seems to work well too, but I haven't timed it on a longer trip yet. The thing that ruins my average the most, is that larger systems take much longer to open the map. But I can make a quick visual assessment this way, looking for ELWs, AWs, and WWs.

 

[iain666]

Imperial Clipper, 7C fuel scoop, 8T fuel tank (also, 40 ly jump on a full tank)

How do you find the 8T tank? My full tank range would go from 39.65 to 40.33 if I made the switch from the default but that's not quite two full range jumps and I've never gone that low...

 

[Straha Yeagar]

Here is my fast travel scooping...avg 43 seconds per jump...

[video=youtube;y2jp0noRO_8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2jp0noRO_8&t=249s[/video]

 

[GunnerBill]

As per OP except I very rarely slow down (as much). Which I guess is ship dependent (SC agility & Scoop size/class).

I'm flying a Dolphin with a 4A scoop, so:

1. Exit Hyperspace <- Commence system scan
2. Align ship to orbit star for next jump
3. Set throttle to keep ship in appropriate orbit for scooping until aligned with next jump.
4. Orbit star until destination is aligned.
5. Initiate jump when heat less than 62%. <- Check system map, abort if ELW etc.

With the 4A scoop this won't always fill the tank and/or I'll be making a net loss on fuel each jump. However I've found that sufficiently large enough stars and/or poor destination orientations occur often enough that the orbit of the star takes long enough to fill the tank. So I very rarely have to alter my tactic to actually stop or slow at all to fill the tank.

 

[GunnerBill]

Hmmm - I've tried a variant of that, but felt it was tricky to monitor heat levels, or that I didn't have enough time to cancel FSD if I saw something interesting.

Shaving off 5 more seconds is significant, so I'll have to try again - thanks!

My system is pretty much as per racer1, your point about heat/time is valid. You have to know your ship, which may involve pushing the envelope a bit until it's right. I've boiled myself a few times engaging the FSD just a single % too early but now I am 100% confident that so long as I am headed away from the star at full throttle with 62% or less heat I can engage FSD.

Your issue with time, I resolved this by ensuring I have the system map key bound to my stick and the FSD on/off bound to my throttle. Making them easy to access gave me a surprising amount of time to look at the map and TBH if you're just looking for blue balls etc they are easy to spot in millisec's!

As per racer1 not aligning to the destination works to prevent the jump but unless you point it way off it'll sometimes do it anyway. Then of course to make the jump you have to realign (which in an Anaconda could take 1/2 an hour)! So all I do is keep the destination aligned and peg back the throttle so it's much easier to initiate the jump afterwards.

Do this until you get used to the way it all works.

 

[marx]

How do you find the 8T tank? My full tank range would go from 39.65 to 40.33 if I made the switch from the default but that's not quite two full range jumps and I've never gone that low...

Before 2.4, I found it just barely enough to go with, seeing that most jumps were at maximum distance, and sometimes fitted 10T instead. After 2.4's plotter changes, there is more leeway with fuel, so I've found that I can fly it quite comfortably.
Of course, it always helps to keep an eye on the star you're jumping to. Personally, there were a few times when I would have jumped to an unscoopable star because I forgot to set the star class filter. So far, I've never had to call in a rescue.

 

[verminstar]

All great techniques and advice if yer in an aspex or DBE...both of which I have and spent many months in the black in. Another full throttle swoop and scoop type which does break up the monotony somewhat.

That being said, my current ship of choice forces one to put a lot more thought and care into it...the T9 is nowhere near as nimble as its much smaller cousins. The first advantage being obviously the huge class 8 scoop itself and the second being the almost total field of view when keeping an eye on the star to judge exactly where it is and where yer going.

Full throttle is still possible, but only on larger stars and only after a lot more practice than smaller ships require. It wouldnt be a first choice ship fer buckyballing thats fer damned sure. On longer stays out, it makes more sense to throttle back a little as accidents happens now and then especially on ships that handle like a brick swimming in glue...a learning curve all on its own. Probably the least suited ship fer the black and I love it simply because its harder to fly...5 months in nothing but an aspex tends to slant my perspective a tad and I just wanna be different ^

 

[iain666]

Personally, there were a few times when I would have jumped to an unscoopable star because I forgot to set the star class filter. So far, I've never had to call in a rescue.

I still dream of the ELW orbiting a lone L0 so I never filter the unscoopables. I should probably stick with 16t - or at least not experiment with smaller on the DECE...

 

[Satsuma]

I'm also a full throttler, with a technique that's basically the same as racer1s. My only difference is I honk as I'm approaching the star, so I can check the system map while I'm scooping. I fly an AspX with an a-rated power plant and a 6B scoop, so I can aim just barely outside the exclusion zone without worrying about heat damage. Especially post 2.4 the system map loads really quick, so if nothing interesting is on it I'll pop out of it before I'm done scooping. Then I start the FSD charge when the primary turns from red to orange on my radar display - even if I'm still scooping, that's about the point where I don't have to worry about heat.

The reason I change up the order is it gives me the option to explore interesting planets if I see them. If I checked the system map while the FSD was charging, I'd either have to turn back or be quick enough to close the map and abort the jump. And I'm getting old enough that "fast twitch muscles" are an oxymoron.