Fuel scoops - reality check required.

Marco Santos

Marco Santos
Normally i fit the biggest i can get, but i dont like having a weaker shield to have the biggest scoop...

Now atm i dont have an issue, since i am running the federal corvette so the class 7 slots i got has A-rated class 7 shields, A-rated class 7 fuel scoop, and class 7 cargo rack.

But in all other ships i fit the biggest shield i can get on it, and them the biggest fuel scoop that will fit after that is done.
 

Phongsalt

Phongsalt
Stealthie said:
Just wondering what folks usually do for fuel scoops.

The conventional wisdom was always "one size smaller than your FSD is fine" but, I gotta say, I think that falls down for a variety of reasons, especially now engineering is a thing.
If you've got a ship that's heavy on power and you fit a "one size smaller than your FSD" fuel scoop, you're going to get toasted when you try to scoop.
Also, subjectively, I usually find scooping with a "one size smaller than your FSD" fuel scoop excruciatingly tedious.

Just built myself a Krait Phantom as a bit of a "heavy scout ship" and I automatically stuck a 6A scoop on it, which means I can only fit a 32t cargo rack.
I could swap those around and double my cargo capacity but I just don't fancy taking the extra time scooping fuel.

Which is why I was wondering what other people do.

Am I being unreasonable to "need" to scoop so quickly?
Do other people accept that they might have to take 2 or 3 swipes at a star to refuel?
Do most people just fit whatever size scoop they can squeeze into a build or is it important?
Etc.
Click to expand...
Heavy build doesn't really suit scout role,but i guess you're talking multirole or long range.With the advantage of new slots recently introduced i've been able to upgrade my scoop from 1D to a 2D. Time to scoop is not a priority for me but ymmv.I guess it's whatever floats your boat. :giggle:
 

Timpraetor

Timpraetor
For my ASP/X explorer and Exploraconda, I add a secondary gas tank as well as a scoop. Even with the route planning trying to keep you in range of a fuel star, I sometimes leave the route if I see something interesting.

However, since exploration is all about the wonder of discovery for me, I don't worry about scooping speed. I can park my ship at 60% heat and then enter FSS. The scooping usually completes while I'm in FSS. If I do mess up and get too close to the star and heat becomes an issue, I leave FSS, start moving away fro the star and drop a heat sink (you DO equip a heat sink launcher, right?).

For my T10 and FDL (combat equipment) and ASP/X Miner, I don't equip a scoop since I'm staying close to the home star in most cases.

For my T9 Cargowhale, I did fit a 6A scoop since speed to target = profit.
 

IndigoWyrd

IndigoWyrd
For me my choice in fuel scoops has always been: biggest I can fit without compromising my design.

I don’t suffer the heat/patience issue so many do - that is, I don’t feel the need to dive as deep into a corona as I can to max out my transfer rate and fill up as fast as possible. I’m perfectly happy to park close enough and bask in all that fuel for as long as it takes. And if I’m being harassed by.NPCs I’m all to happy to turn so my aft end is closest to the star and watch NPCs fry to interdict me.
 

Momatty

Momatty
Largest A grade for my ship. On long trips I like to make jumps as fast as I can. I blow past the star scooping whatever possible and hit the fsd as soon as it's available and my ship cools down while the fsd is charging (I also keep two heat sink launchers just in case). When the tank is around half full (usually after 5-6 jumps) I top it off. It kind of feels like doing laps on a racetrack.
 

yolomcbobbinz

Y
I never payed attention to that. I just stuck a class 4 on my ships if I could. My anaconda has a 7A. I'm impatient when scooping. Only my dedicated combat ships will have a class 2 on them because they never leave the system or go far.

This brings up the stupidest thing I ever done. I put an 8A (280 million) on my type 9 and died. I didn't want to pay for the rebuy so I chose to respawn and delete the fuel scoop, saving me a few million off the rebuy. I didn't realize what I had done...🙄
 
Last edited:

Timpraetor

Timpraetor
yolomcbobbinz said:
This brings up the stupidest thing I ever done. I put an 8A (280 million) on my type 9 and died. I didn't want to pay for the rebuy so I chose to respawn and delete the fuel scoop, saving me a few million off the rebuy. I didn't realize what I had done...🙄
Click to expand...
Time to run the Robigo/Sothos passenger run for a night or two :D
 

AsukaZ

AsukaZ
Depends what I'm doing. I alternate between scoop, shields or cargo in the largest slot. Most of the time I fly with the largest possible fuel scoop. A few seconds shaved off refuelling quickly adds up if you're going long distance.
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
Timpraetor said:
For my ASP/X explorer and Exploraconda, I add a secondary gas tank as well as a scoop. Even with the route planning trying to keep you in range of a fuel star, I sometimes leave the route if I see something interesting.
Click to expand...

Might sound a bit hyperbolic but, honestly, one of the biggest QoL improvements FDev could make, for me, would be a proper "slider" to allow you to adjust how the Navigation computer deals with refuelling.

If I'm flying, say, an AspX with a 32t fuel-tank, I don't want the nav-comp to plot a course that uses 31.85t of fuel and then finds me a fuel-star.
If it does that and I spend a heap of time cruising around intermediate systems, or just get side-tracked, or get interdicted and have to make an emergency-jump, I'm not going to make it to the planned fuel-star.

Instead, let me set a "reserve fuel" quantity and then the nav-comp can do all the sums based on the "safe" amount of fuel in the tank.
I have 32t of fuel, I set the "reserve fuel" at 25% and the nav-comp assumes I've got a 24t tank and makes all it's calculations based on that rather than on 32t.

I know you can sort of do this by fitting a cargo rack and then twiddling the assumed cargo capacity but it'd be much more straightforward if there was a proper "reserve fuel" setting.
 

CMDR Takuforts

CMDR Takuforts
Stealthie said:
Just wondering what folks usually do for fuel scoops.

The conventional wisdom was always "one size smaller than your FSD is fine" but, I gotta say, I think that falls down for a variety of reasons, especially now engineering is a thing.
If you've got a ship that's heavy on power and you fit a "one size smaller than your FSD" fuel scoop, you're going to get toasted when you try to scoop.
Also, subjectively, I usually find scooping with a "one size smaller than your FSD" fuel scoop excruciatingly tedious.

Just built myself a Krait Phantom as a bit of a "heavy scout ship" and I automatically stuck a 6A scoop on it, which means I can only fit a 32t cargo rack.
I could swap those around and double my cargo capacity but I just don't fancy taking the extra time scooping fuel.

Which is why I was wondering what other people do.

Am I being unreasonable to "need" to scoop so quickly?
Do other people accept that they might have to take 2 or 3 swipes at a star to refuel?
Do most people just fit whatever size scoop they can squeeze into a build or is it important?
Etc.
Click to expand...
My rule is Exploration/ largest scoop i can get. Combat/ smallest. Works ok for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom