How much tritium does an exploration carrier need?

[BradHann]

Yes, I took advantage of the discount to get a carrier. I'm currently in the process of getting fuel for it, but I hate mining. Sure I could buy it, but I know my own boredom threshold and I would hate ferrying tritium from station to carrier almost as much as mining it. So how much do I really need to get to, I dunno, let's say Sag A* and back?

I can probably handle taking a break from the jump-honk-scoop to mine a bit every now and then once I'm far away from civilisation, but getting enough to get that distance in the first place is driving me bonkers.

 

[Factabulous]

Elite: Dangerous Index

www.spansh.co.uk

 

[Gregorio Cortez]

Bubble-SagA-Bubble eats approx 13000 tonnes.
But from my experience what I'd say - the answer to the question "how much an exploration carrier need" - is simple:
"As much as it can take, and even more"
When you're in the black on your carrier on the other side of the galaxy, the tritium becomes essential, and next refuel stop might be away, you will recall my words "top it up, and take some more in the canisters on the roof"
And take a notebook with list of fuel stops with you

 

[Darth Ender]

if you're just site seeing distant places and honking along the way, dont bring the carrier. there's no need.

if you're actually exploring places, then the mining in between the many hundreds of systems you jump to every 500 ly or so (if not more) , will be a welcome reprieve.

 

[LifesAJourney]

24,403 T burned to travel 105 kylies. Started fully tanked from the Bubble, acquired 11,402 T in the meantime, bought or mined.

 

[Rudi Raumkraut]

Sure I could buy it, but I know my own boredom threshold and I would hate ferrying tritium from station to carrier almost as much as mining it.

Park it near a refinery in a busy system which sells for minimum, set buy order for minimum+20, announce it and watch it be filled

 

[varonica]

All of it, plus a T9 worth sitting in the docking bay to get you out of the bubble!

 

[K Olley]

The amount of fuel needed is very dependent on the weight of the carrier, that is the weight of any service installed, any modules or ships for sale via shipyard or outfitting and any cargo carried in carrier hold.

The carrier owners ships and spare modules and any carried CMDR's do not add to the carrier weight, nor do any cargo carried in those ships. Tritium in the carriers fuel tank does not count either so it is better to keep carriers tank full rather than leaving it in the cargo bay where it does count as weight.

Keep the carrier as light as possible and it will use the least amount of tritium that saves on the amount you need to buy or mine.

 

[MattG]

Repeat after me: Do. Not. Mine. Tritium.

It is just not worth the time investment. Even if they buffed it and made the yields 4 times what they are currently it would probably not be worth the effort.

Do yourself a favour, move your carrier to Cupinook and buy your trit. You can get so close that you don't even need to decelerate between station and FC. Take a T9 or Clipper full of cargo bays (and docking computer) and you'll likely fill the hold quicker than the time it takes to mine enough to fill just the main tank. Yes, loading trit is tiresome - but it's positively delightful compared to mining it.

 

[LifesAJourney]

Tritium in the carriers fuel tank does not count either so it is better to keep carriers tank full rather than leaving it in the cargo bay where it does count as weight.

Tritium in the depot does count to total carrier mass for fuel consumption calculations. I think it used to be not taken into equation but it is now for sure.

A good source of tritium outside the Bubble are DSSA carriers. The prices are very different, though. I've seen 50-ish kCr as well as over 200 kCr. Thus, if a long trip is planned, I'd suggest having 2-3 billion Cr extra cash only for buying tritium.

Mining can be a good change from weeks/months of jump-honk-FSS-scan routine but it becomes tedious very soon. It's OK to mine several hundreds T from time to time but mining thousands T would take weeks. A waste of time unless you're a mining die-hard fan.

 

[Orvidius]

I totally agree with what MattG just said. Buy the tritium if you can. It'll be significantly less painful that way.

To get an idea of how far you can go, here's a sort of "explorer's worst case scenario". Assuming a full cargo hold and tritium depot / main tank, and all services installed except for the "secure warehouse" (since that serves no exploration purpose), you can travel a total of 95 kly.

Simulation:

Spoiler

Installed Services: refuel, repair, armoury, redemption, shipyard, outfitting, cartographics
Space Reserved:     5900/25000
Starting fuel:      20100 (including depot tank, 1000)

  1: Fuel used (133), Total consumed (133), Fuel remaining (19967), Total distance (500)
  2: Fuel used (132), Total consumed (265), Fuel remaining (19835), Total distance (1000)
  3: Fuel used (132), Total consumed (397), Fuel remaining (19703), Total distance (1500)
  4: Fuel used (132), Total consumed (529), Fuel remaining (19571), Total distance (2000)
  5: Fuel used (131), Total consumed (660), Fuel remaining (19440), Total distance (2500)
  6: Fuel used (131), Total consumed (791), Fuel remaining (19309), Total distance (3000)
  7: Fuel used (131), Total consumed (922), Fuel remaining (19178), Total distance (3500)
  8: Fuel used (130), Total consumed (1052), Fuel remaining (19048), Total distance (4000)
  9: Fuel used (130), Total consumed (1182), Fuel remaining (18918), Total distance (4500)
 10: Fuel used (130), Total consumed (1312), Fuel remaining (18788), Total distance (5000)
 11: Fuel used (129), Total consumed (1441), Fuel remaining (18659), Total distance (5500)
 12: Fuel used (129), Total consumed (1570), Fuel remaining (18530), Total distance (6000)
 13: Fuel used (129), Total consumed (1699), Fuel remaining (18401), Total distance (6500)
 14: Fuel used (128), Total consumed (1827), Fuel remaining (18273), Total distance (7000)
 15: Fuel used (128), Total consumed (1955), Fuel remaining (18145), Total distance (7500)
 16: Fuel used (128), Total consumed (2083), Fuel remaining (18017), Total distance (8000)
 17: Fuel used (127), Total consumed (2210), Fuel remaining (17890), Total distance (8500)
 18: Fuel used (127), Total consumed (2337), Fuel remaining (17763), Total distance (9000)
 19: Fuel used (127), Total consumed (2464), Fuel remaining (17636), Total distance (9500)
 20: Fuel used (126), Total consumed (2590), Fuel remaining (17510), Total distance (10000)
 21: Fuel used (126), Total consumed (2716), Fuel remaining (17384), Total distance (10500)
 22: Fuel used (126), Total consumed (2842), Fuel remaining (17258), Total distance (11000)
 23: Fuel used (125), Total consumed (2967), Fuel remaining (17133), Total distance (11500)
 24: Fuel used (125), Total consumed (3092), Fuel remaining (17008), Total distance (12000)
 25: Fuel used (125), Total consumed (3217), Fuel remaining (16883), Total distance (12500)
 26: Fuel used (124), Total consumed (3341), Fuel remaining (16759), Total distance (13000)
 27: Fuel used (124), Total consumed (3465), Fuel remaining (16635), Total distance (13500)
 28: Fuel used (124), Total consumed (3589), Fuel remaining (16511), Total distance (14000)
 29: Fuel used (124), Total consumed (3713), Fuel remaining (16387), Total distance (14500)
 30: Fuel used (123), Total consumed (3836), Fuel remaining (16264), Total distance (15000)
 31: Fuel used (123), Total consumed (3959), Fuel remaining (16141), Total distance (15500)
 32: Fuel used (123), Total consumed (4082), Fuel remaining (16018), Total distance (16000)
 33: Fuel used (122), Total consumed (4204), Fuel remaining (15896), Total distance (16500)
 34: Fuel used (122), Total consumed (4326), Fuel remaining (15774), Total distance (17000)
 35: Fuel used (122), Total consumed (4448), Fuel remaining (15652), Total distance (17500)
 36: Fuel used (121), Total consumed (4569), Fuel remaining (15531), Total distance (18000)
 37: Fuel used (121), Total consumed (4690), Fuel remaining (15410), Total distance (18500)
 38: Fuel used (121), Total consumed (4811), Fuel remaining (15289), Total distance (19000)
 39: Fuel used (120), Total consumed (4931), Fuel remaining (15169), Total distance (19500)
 40: Fuel used (120), Total consumed (5051), Fuel remaining (15049), Total distance (20000)
 41: Fuel used (120), Total consumed (5171), Fuel remaining (14929), Total distance (20500)
 42: Fuel used (120), Total consumed (5291), Fuel remaining (14809), Total distance (21000)
 43: Fuel used (119), Total consumed (5410), Fuel remaining (14690), Total distance (21500)
 44: Fuel used (119), Total consumed (5529), Fuel remaining (14571), Total distance (22000)
 45: Fuel used (119), Total consumed (5648), Fuel remaining (14452), Total distance (22500)
 46: Fuel used (118), Total consumed (5766), Fuel remaining (14334), Total distance (23000)
 47: Fuel used (118), Total consumed (5884), Fuel remaining (14216), Total distance (23500)
 48: Fuel used (118), Total consumed (6002), Fuel remaining (14098), Total distance (24000)
 49: Fuel used (117), Total consumed (6119), Fuel remaining (13981), Total distance (24500)
 50: Fuel used (117), Total consumed (6236), Fuel remaining (13864), Total distance (25000)
 51: Fuel used (117), Total consumed (6353), Fuel remaining (13747), Total distance (25500)
 52: Fuel used (117), Total consumed (6470), Fuel remaining (13630), Total distance (26000)
 53: Fuel used (116), Total consumed (6586), Fuel remaining (13514), Total distance (26500)
 54: Fuel used (116), Total consumed (6702), Fuel remaining (13398), Total distance (27000)
 55: Fuel used (116), Total consumed (6818), Fuel remaining (13282), Total distance (27500)
 56: Fuel used (115), Total consumed (6933), Fuel remaining (13167), Total distance (28000)
 57: Fuel used (115), Total consumed (7048), Fuel remaining (13052), Total distance (28500)
 58: Fuel used (115), Total consumed (7163), Fuel remaining (12937), Total distance (29000)
 59: Fuel used (115), Total consumed (7278), Fuel remaining (12822), Total distance (29500)
 60: Fuel used (114), Total consumed (7392), Fuel remaining (12708), Total distance (30000)
 61: Fuel used (114), Total consumed (7506), Fuel remaining (12594), Total distance (30500)
 62: Fuel used (114), Total consumed (7620), Fuel remaining (12480), Total distance (31000)
 63: Fuel used (113), Total consumed (7733), Fuel remaining (12367), Total distance (31500)
 64: Fuel used (113), Total consumed (7846), Fuel remaining (12254), Total distance (32000)
 65: Fuel used (113), Total consumed (7959), Fuel remaining (12141), Total distance (32500)
 66: Fuel used (113), Total consumed (8072), Fuel remaining (12028), Total distance (33000)
 67: Fuel used (112), Total consumed (8184), Fuel remaining (11916), Total distance (33500)
 68: Fuel used (112), Total consumed (8296), Fuel remaining (11804), Total distance (34000)
 69: Fuel used (112), Total consumed (8408), Fuel remaining (11692), Total distance (34500)
 70: Fuel used (111), Total consumed (8519), Fuel remaining (11581), Total distance (35000)
 71: Fuel used (111), Total consumed (8630), Fuel remaining (11470), Total distance (35500)
 72: Fuel used (111), Total consumed (8741), Fuel remaining (11359), Total distance (36000)
 73: Fuel used (111), Total consumed (8852), Fuel remaining (11248), Total distance (36500)
 74: Fuel used (110), Total consumed (8962), Fuel remaining (11138), Total distance (37000)
 75: Fuel used (110), Total consumed (9072), Fuel remaining (11028), Total distance (37500)
 76: Fuel used (110), Total consumed (9182), Fuel remaining (10918), Total distance (38000)
 77: Fuel used (110), Total consumed (9292), Fuel remaining (10808), Total distance (38500)
 78: Fuel used (109), Total consumed (9401), Fuel remaining (10699), Total distance (39000)
 79: Fuel used (109), Total consumed (9510), Fuel remaining (10590), Total distance (39500)
 80: Fuel used (109), Total consumed (9619), Fuel remaining (10481), Total distance (40000)
 81: Fuel used (108), Total consumed (9727), Fuel remaining (10373), Total distance (40500)
 82: Fuel used (108), Total consumed (9835), Fuel remaining (10265), Total distance (41000)
 83: Fuel used (108), Total consumed (9943), Fuel remaining (10157), Total distance (41500)
 84: Fuel used (108), Total consumed (10051), Fuel remaining (10049), Total distance (42000)
 85: Fuel used (107), Total consumed (10158), Fuel remaining (9942), Total distance (42500)
 86: Fuel used (107), Total consumed (10265), Fuel remaining (9835), Total distance (43000)
 87: Fuel used (107), Total consumed (10372), Fuel remaining (9728), Total distance (43500)
 88: Fuel used (107), Total consumed (10479), Fuel remaining (9621), Total distance (44000)
 89: Fuel used (106), Total consumed (10585), Fuel remaining (9515), Total distance (44500)
 90: Fuel used (106), Total consumed (10691), Fuel remaining (9409), Total distance (45000)
 91: Fuel used (106), Total consumed (10797), Fuel remaining (9303), Total distance (45500)
 92: Fuel used (106), Total consumed (10903), Fuel remaining (9197), Total distance (46000)
 93: Fuel used (105), Total consumed (11008), Fuel remaining (9092), Total distance (46500)
 94: Fuel used (105), Total consumed (11113), Fuel remaining (8987), Total distance (47000)
 95: Fuel used (105), Total consumed (11218), Fuel remaining (8882), Total distance (47500)
 96: Fuel used (104), Total consumed (11322), Fuel remaining (8778), Total distance (48000)
 97: Fuel used (104), Total consumed (11426), Fuel remaining (8674), Total distance (48500)
 98: Fuel used (104), Total consumed (11530), Fuel remaining (8570), Total distance (49000)
 99: Fuel used (104), Total consumed (11634), Fuel remaining (8466), Total distance (49500)
100: Fuel used (103), Total consumed (11737), Fuel remaining (8363), Total distance (50000)
101: Fuel used (103), Total consumed (11840), Fuel remaining (8260), Total distance (50500)
102: Fuel used (103), Total consumed (11943), Fuel remaining (8157), Total distance (51000)
103: Fuel used (103), Total consumed (12046), Fuel remaining (8054), Total distance (51500)
104: Fuel used (102), Total consumed (12148), Fuel remaining (7952), Total distance (52000)
105: Fuel used (102), Total consumed (12250), Fuel remaining (7850), Total distance (52500)
106: Fuel used (102), Total consumed (12352), Fuel remaining (7748), Total distance (53000)
107: Fuel used (102), Total consumed (12454), Fuel remaining (7646), Total distance (53500)
108: Fuel used (101), Total consumed (12555), Fuel remaining (7545), Total distance (54000)
109: Fuel used (101), Total consumed (12656), Fuel remaining (7444), Total distance (54500)
110: Fuel used (101), Total consumed (12757), Fuel remaining (7343), Total distance (55000)
111: Fuel used (101), Total consumed (12858), Fuel remaining (7242), Total distance (55500)
112: Fuel used (100), Total consumed (12958), Fuel remaining (7142), Total distance (56000)
113: Fuel used (100), Total consumed (13058), Fuel remaining (7042), Total distance (56500)
114: Fuel used (100), Total consumed (13158), Fuel remaining (6942), Total distance (57000)
115: Fuel used (100), Total consumed (13258), Fuel remaining (6842), Total distance (57500)
116: Fuel used (99), Total consumed (13357), Fuel remaining (6743), Total distance (58000)
117: Fuel used (99), Total consumed (13456), Fuel remaining (6644), Total distance (58500)
118: Fuel used (99), Total consumed (13555), Fuel remaining (6545), Total distance (59000)
119: Fuel used (99), Total consumed (13654), Fuel remaining (6446), Total distance (59500)
120: Fuel used (98), Total consumed (13752), Fuel remaining (6348), Total distance (60000)
121: Fuel used (98), Total consumed (13850), Fuel remaining (6250), Total distance (60500)
122: Fuel used (98), Total consumed (13948), Fuel remaining (6152), Total distance (61000)
123: Fuel used (98), Total consumed (14046), Fuel remaining (6054), Total distance (61500)
124: Fuel used (97), Total consumed (14143), Fuel remaining (5957), Total distance (62000)
125: Fuel used (97), Total consumed (14240), Fuel remaining (5860), Total distance (62500)
126: Fuel used (97), Total consumed (14337), Fuel remaining (5763), Total distance (63000)
127: Fuel used (97), Total consumed (14434), Fuel remaining (5666), Total distance (63500)
128: Fuel used (96), Total consumed (14530), Fuel remaining (5570), Total distance (64000)
129: Fuel used (96), Total consumed (14626), Fuel remaining (5474), Total distance (64500)
130: Fuel used (96), Total consumed (14722), Fuel remaining (5378), Total distance (65000)
131: Fuel used (96), Total consumed (14818), Fuel remaining (5282), Total distance (65500)
132: Fuel used (95), Total consumed (14913), Fuel remaining (5187), Total distance (66000)
133: Fuel used (95), Total consumed (15008), Fuel remaining (5092), Total distance (66500)
134: Fuel used (95), Total consumed (15103), Fuel remaining (4997), Total distance (67000)
135: Fuel used (95), Total consumed (15198), Fuel remaining (4902), Total distance (67500)
136: Fuel used (95), Total consumed (15293), Fuel remaining (4807), Total distance (68000)
137: Fuel used (94), Total consumed (15387), Fuel remaining (4713), Total distance (68500)
138: Fuel used (94), Total consumed (15481), Fuel remaining (4619), Total distance (69000)
139: Fuel used (94), Total consumed (15575), Fuel remaining (4525), Total distance (69500)
140: Fuel used (94), Total consumed (15669), Fuel remaining (4431), Total distance (70000)
141: Fuel used (93), Total consumed (15762), Fuel remaining (4338), Total distance (70500)
142: Fuel used (93), Total consumed (15855), Fuel remaining (4245), Total distance (71000)
143: Fuel used (93), Total consumed (15948), Fuel remaining (4152), Total distance (71500)
144: Fuel used (93), Total consumed (16041), Fuel remaining (4059), Total distance (72000)
145: Fuel used (92), Total consumed (16133), Fuel remaining (3967), Total distance (72500)
146: Fuel used (92), Total consumed (16225), Fuel remaining (3875), Total distance (73000)
147: Fuel used (92), Total consumed (16317), Fuel remaining (3783), Total distance (73500)
148: Fuel used (92), Total consumed (16409), Fuel remaining (3691), Total distance (74000)
149: Fuel used (91), Total consumed (16500), Fuel remaining (3600), Total distance (74500)
150: Fuel used (91), Total consumed (16591), Fuel remaining (3509), Total distance (75000)
151: Fuel used (91), Total consumed (16682), Fuel remaining (3418), Total distance (75500)
152: Fuel used (91), Total consumed (16773), Fuel remaining (3327), Total distance (76000)
153: Fuel used (91), Total consumed (16864), Fuel remaining (3236), Total distance (76500)
154: Fuel used (90), Total consumed (16954), Fuel remaining (3146), Total distance (77000)
155: Fuel used (90), Total consumed (17044), Fuel remaining (3056), Total distance (77500)
156: Fuel used (90), Total consumed (17134), Fuel remaining (2966), Total distance (78000)
157: Fuel used (90), Total consumed (17224), Fuel remaining (2876), Total distance (78500)
158: Fuel used (89), Total consumed (17313), Fuel remaining (2787), Total distance (79000)
159: Fuel used (89), Total consumed (17402), Fuel remaining (2698), Total distance (79500)
160: Fuel used (89), Total consumed (17491), Fuel remaining (2609), Total distance (80000)
161: Fuel used (89), Total consumed (17580), Fuel remaining (2520), Total distance (80500)
162: Fuel used (89), Total consumed (17669), Fuel remaining (2431), Total distance (81000)
163: Fuel used (88), Total consumed (17757), Fuel remaining (2343), Total distance (81500)
164: Fuel used (88), Total consumed (17845), Fuel remaining (2255), Total distance (82000)
165: Fuel used (88), Total consumed (17933), Fuel remaining (2167), Total distance (82500)
166: Fuel used (88), Total consumed (18021), Fuel remaining (2079), Total distance (83000)
167: Fuel used (87), Total consumed (18108), Fuel remaining (1992), Total distance (83500)
168: Fuel used (87), Total consumed (18195), Fuel remaining (1905), Total distance (84000)
169: Fuel used (87), Total consumed (18282), Fuel remaining (1818), Total distance (84500)
170: Fuel used (87), Total consumed (18369), Fuel remaining (1731), Total distance (85000)
171: Fuel used (87), Total consumed (18456), Fuel remaining (1644), Total distance (85500)
172: Fuel used (86), Total consumed (18542), Fuel remaining (1558), Total distance (86000)
173: Fuel used (86), Total consumed (18628), Fuel remaining (1472), Total distance (86500)
174: Fuel used (86), Total consumed (18714), Fuel remaining (1386), Total distance (87000)
175: Fuel used (86), Total consumed (18800), Fuel remaining (1300), Total distance (87500)
176: Fuel used (86), Total consumed (18886), Fuel remaining (1214), Total distance (88000)
177: Fuel used (85), Total consumed (18971), Fuel remaining (1129), Total distance (88500)
178: Fuel used (85), Total consumed (19056), Fuel remaining (1044), Total distance (89000)
179: Fuel used (85), Total consumed (19141), Fuel remaining (959), Total distance (89500)
180: Fuel used (85), Total consumed (19226), Fuel remaining (874), Total distance (90000)
181: Fuel used (84), Total consumed (19310), Fuel remaining (790), Total distance (90500)
182: Fuel used (84), Total consumed (19394), Fuel remaining (706), Total distance (91000)
183: Fuel used (84), Total consumed (19478), Fuel remaining (622), Total distance (91500)
184: Fuel used (84), Total consumed (19562), Fuel remaining (538), Total distance (92000)
185: Fuel used (84), Total consumed (19646), Fuel remaining (454), Total distance (92500)
186: Fuel used (83), Total consumed (19729), Fuel remaining (371), Total distance (93000)
187: Fuel used (83), Total consumed (19812), Fuel remaining (288), Total distance (93500)
188: Fuel used (83), Total consumed (19895), Fuel remaining (205), Total distance (94000)
189: Fuel used (83), Total consumed (19978), Fuel remaining (122), Total distance (94500)
190: Fuel used (83), Total consumed (20061), Fuel remaining (39), Total distance (95000)

With only rearm/repair/refuel + UC installed, that number increases to 128 kly.

 

[K Olley]

Tritium in the depot does count to total carrier mass for fuel consumption calculations. I think it used to be not taken into equation but it is now for sure.

I don't use the calculator so did not know that this had changed

I usually mine on a regular basis, not just for Tritium but for other saleable commodities, the way I work to keep carrier weight under control is to only mine very high value on the way out and lower value but easier saleable on the way back, that way I do not have to mine too much Tritium for fuel.