Fuel: Scooping vs Buying

Aidi

A
Hey All,

Hope everyone is having fun still! I have just found a nice trade run between two systems where the stations are very close to the main star. Return journey is around 10 mins and nets me about 123k profit with 60tons of cargo space in my Cobra. The two stations also throw up some good missions on the bulletin board from time to time, so it gives a bit of diversity every few runs.

Pretty happy with that, can start to really up my credits for bigger and better things!

To get the 60 tons of space, i sold my cargo scoop and took the hit on having to buy fuel at the station. Just wondering how many others who's inclanation is trading dump the fuel scoop in favour of haulage space?

Cheers
Aidi
 

Sandmann

Sandmann
I tend not to stick with the same route for long as I fly a cobra and I quickly get bored so I take missions just to take me to new areas, but if I was just grinding creds and I found a way to make more from the cargo space than I was losing buying the fuel then sure... just gotta do the math and see if it's personally worth it for you.
 

quasar_

quasar_
I but a fuel scoop which is about 5k Credits and its EXTREMELY good at refuelling. I only refuel my hyperspace tank not my FSD tank.
This saves me abot 15k for ~130 Ly
 

Rigmor

Rigmor
I just traveled from LS 3447 to SOL in my sidewinder, and couldn't have done it without a fuel scoop. However, Now I'm here, I'll bolt on my cargo hold again and work my way up to an Asp, or Viper.
 

Cryptonomica

Cryptonomica
As a bounty hunter, mission runner and occasional explorer, I find the fuel scoop invaluable. It usually only takes me a few seconds to top up the tank, and has paid for itself many times over by now.
 

Eleazaros

Eleazaros
Amazing to me... 60 units cargo, making over 2k cr per unit. That is some amazing profits. About the best I'm doing is 1610 per unit but my cobra only has 36 units of cargo space.

I can't wait until I get enough saved up to stop trading. I detest it but it is the most profitable activity in the game so far.
 

Kayweg

Kayweg
As a trader, dump the fuel scoop, it's a waste of valuable trading time. Get an extra cargo rack instead, that'll more than pay for the fuel.
As an explorer it's a must have.
I reckon the different combat professions are somewhere in between, depending on individual playstyle.
 

Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
Robert Maynard
Aidi said:
Not yet found any Rare's!! But then again, i have only ventured to about 4 systems so far!! Last of the big explorers me!!
Click to expand...

Lavian Brandy (Lave) is one - I've made some decent profits with that. Also, you travel through a load of systems on the way to the destination (which I select at random), so exploration is a profitable side-line.
 

Zetta

Zetta
I do a 3 destination round trip when trading, fuel cost would be -4500cr for the route, loss of cargo space would be -12600cr for the route.
 

CMDR IPL Victim

C
Shintai said:
Fuel scoop is not worth it if you trade.
Click to expand...

Certainly true if you keep with the tiny E1 300 Cr scoop. Takes FAR too long to fuel even a small fuel tank. Jump up to one of the more expensive models, say a B2 or A2, and you will be pulling in 40+ units of fuel per second on a slow scoop (no damage). Quite easy to jump in system, get the scoop going, throttle back to minimum, and then plot your destination in system while the tank fills. If you fill after every jump, scooping takes seconds. If you wait until you are low, it of course takes longer, but doesn't eat into your profits.

Then, the decision is whether or not the class 2 slot would be better served with a 4 ton cargo rack. If the profits from those 4 tons cover the cost of the fuel, the cargo rack is better. If those 4 tons cannot cover the cost of the fuel, then the scoop is better. Also note that the cargo slot would reduce your jump range, but the scoop would not.
 

vjek

V
Aidi said:
... Just wondering how many others who's inclanation is trading dump the fuel scoop in favour of haulage space? ...
Click to expand...
I would say 99.9% of the time, you have no option once you move to a "large" sized ship. The fuel costs are simply far too expensive not to scoop.
For small sized ships, it hardly matters as the prices are so low it's trivial.

The real problem is, you can't use an A4 fuel scoop at it's max rate without taking hull damage. That's a bug that needs fixing... :mad:
 

Poplin

Poplin
Speaking from a trading perspective, fuel scoops get more and more effective the more expensive ship you have. Even on a Type 6 or ASP you still really don't need to bother with a scoop, but once you start getting above that it's very helpful.

Rare trading on the other hand is different, I would definitely fit one in for that just so you don't have to stop at any non rare stations.
 

LordKee

L
Short (2 jump) trading run, just takes too much time to stop for fuel scooping...time is money and additional cargo space pretty much a must. Just checked, I have spent 6147120cr on fuel so far :)
 

DreXav

DreXav
While fuel scoop is a must for my exploration ventures, in every other instance I have absolutely no need for it - large ships got big enough fuel tanks to travel great distances without any refueling, you will run out of ammo way faster than you will run out of fuel in combat forcing you to visit a station anyway, smaller ships can travel any distance with just a little more thought put into route waypoints.

I find that the fuel cost on bigger ships is completely negligible compared to how much you earn in them. Plus using the extra cargo space for trading will earn you far more than any cost saving by scooping.
 

Flying Penguin

Flying Penguin
Trading doesn't need a fuel scoop for anything below or including a Type-7 unless you are trading rares long distances.

A Type 7 on a medium length run will do ~3-4k fuel per leg, vs about 200k target profit, more cargo and more runs (not having to stop to scoop) is worth more than the cost of buying fuel.

Above this a fuel scoop becomes essential. A Python on a 30LY run will use 120,000cr fuel to do a round trip, loosing 16 units of cargo to fit a class 3 scoop more than pays for itself at that point!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom