What's "Excess Mass"?

[Stealthie]

I've noticed, over the last few days, that I keep seeing systems "redded out" in my nav-panel even though they are, allegedly, only a few Ly away with a note saying "excess mass" next to them.

Presumably, it's something to do with the weight of my ship vs the optimised mass of the FSD or something.
Not really sure what's going on, though, cos it usually seems to happen when I'm flying an A-rated bubble-hopper with no cargo aboard - either a DBX or an AspX.

Don't really understand how I can jump to a system 40Ly away but not jump to a system 6Ly away because of "excess mass".

Maybe I'm just lucky but I've never had this before. [where is it]

 

[zombieapocalypse]

Isn't excess mass what you always end up paying penalty charges for at airports?

 

[Bryan K]

Isn't excess mass what you always end up paying penalty charges for at airports?

It’s also what most diet plans are designed to eliminate.

Or an unusually large long church day.

 

[GunnerBill]

I’ve noticed this too... but also have no idea!

Check this out:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/383234-quot-Excess-Mass-quot-on-an-empty-ship

Wrong class of FSD?

 

[Bryan K]

Check if those systems are permit-locked. It may be a bug displaying the wrong marker for those systems on the nav panel.

 

[GraXXoR]

Isn't excess mass what you always end up paying penalty charges for at airports?

Isn't excess mass what I have around my midriff?


Excess mass usually shows on the navi panel on the left when systems cannot be reached in a single jump. The nav panel allows you to high wake to a system without using the galaxy map but only allows direct jumps, thus if they are over the maximum distance it exceeds the mass of fuel burned in a single jump by your FSD.

 

[Lightspeed]

Never met it before .... anything to do with the FSD mass manager ?

 

[Arguendo]

Your mom!



(Someone had to to do it)

 

[Koen]

I have noticed this too. Seems like a bug in the galaxy map route plotter.

Replotting the route solved it for me.

 

[EISENHORN01]

Too long in church

 

[Deleted member 115407]

Has to do with the optimal mass of the FSD, I think.

Or try this.... plot a route, then take on enough cargo to reduce your jump range so that the route cannot be followed, see if you get the excess mass indicators.

 

[GunnerBill]

It may also be that these destinations would be reachable if your cargo was reduced.

 

[Stealthie]

Excess mass usually shows on the navi panel on the left when systems cannot be reached in a single jump. The nav panel allows you to high wake to a system without using the galaxy map but only allows direct jumps, thus if they are over the maximum distance it exceeds the mass of fuel burned in a single jump by your FSD.

Hmmm....

Weird thing is, I definitely encountered one of these after high-waking to dodge a gank so it wasn't part of a plotted route.

I wasn't flying a super min/maxed ship either.
It was just my DBX which is A-rated and then G5'd (using the old system) and I wasn't carrying any cargo which might've screwed-up anything mass-related for the FSD.
My nav-panel was telling me I could make a whole heap of >40Ly jumps but one jump, to a system 6Ly away, was giving me this "excess mass" warning.

I suspect I could sort of replicate the issue by, perhaps, fitting the smallest viable FSD in my T9 and then loading it up with cargo.
Presumably that'd create similar issue but I dunno why it might be happening when I'm flying things like an un-loaded Asp or DBX.

There's no way that, for example, a 5A, G5'd FSD in an AspX should be so mass-critical that a full tank of gas would inhibit it's jump ability, is there?

 

[Deleted member 115407]

It may also be that these destinations would be reachable if your cargo was reduced.

...ooh, nice.

 

[drakhyr]

Normally "Excess Mass" in the navigation panel means that it is a system that you could reach if your cargo was empty and fuel minimal, but cannot currently because of the mass of your cargo.

 

[NecasekO]

My nav-panel was telling me I could make a whole heap of >40Ly jumps but one jump, to a system 6Ly away, was giving me this "excess mass" warning.

This doesn't sound right - nav panel has always shown systems within 20 Ly, plus your current destination regardless of distance.

Are you absolutely sure you saw more than one system which was beyond 20 Ly? Is this something that changed in 3.0?

 

[BradHann]

Or try this.... plot a route, then take on enough cargo to reduce your jump range so that the route cannot be followed, see if you get the excess mass indicators.

It might have changed, but this situation used to give you a warning about Max Fuel Per Jump Exceeded (or words to that effect).

 

[777Driver]

It might have changed, but this situation used to give you a warning about Max Fuel Per Jump Exceeded (or words to that effect).

Max fuel per jump appears on the HUD, completely different issue. Excess Mass has always displayed on the left Nav panel. Never seen that msg appear on nearby systems, always right at the bottom of the system lists when I am fully laden, it's just telling you that you can't single plot jump to those systems, you have to econ route to get there via the galmap.

No idea if it changed in 3.0, or a new bug exists.

And the Nav panel never shows systems 40LY away, maybe if you are out in the fringes of the galaxy with only a few systems around.

Edit - Actually if you have a route plotted, the first jump of the route should display at the very bottom of the list, so if that system is 40LY away, it will show up.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

In my understanding it means it's a sparse area or you have short jumprange, so the systems at the bottom of the list in red are simply out of range.
If there were more stars withing range to choose from, you would not see it.

 

[Jmanis]

Hmmm....

Weird thing is, I definitely encountered one of these after high-waking to dodge a gank so it wasn't part of a plotted route.

I wasn't flying a super min/maxed ship either.
It was just my DBX which is A-rated and then G5'd (using the old system) and I wasn't carrying any cargo which might've screwed-up anything mass-related for the FSD.
My nav-panel was telling me I could make a whole heap of >40Ly jumps but one jump, to a system 6Ly away, was giving me this "excess mass" warning.

I suspect I could sort of replicate the issue by, perhaps, fitting the smallest viable FSD in my T9 and then loading it up with cargo.
Presumably that'd create similar issue but I dunno why it might be happening when I'm flying things like an un-loaded Asp or DBX.

There's no way that, for example, a 5A, G5'd FSD in an AspX should be so mass-critical that a full tank of gas would inhibit it's jump ability, is there?

On the edges, a full tank of gas does make a difference. Very cut down explorer fits usually install a smaller fuel tank. If you refuel completely after a jump it can make you too heavy to jump further.

The route plotter plots based off your current fuel amount, which is why i try to do it when my tank is full of you're half empty, you'll be too heavy for some.