Fuel Scooping

If you’re heading into The Black, then at some point (and in some ships sooner rather than later) you’ll be fuel scooping. Put simply, this is how you replenish your fuel when outside of a station. In theory you could go for ever simply by fuel scooping. However, even the most nomadic of us have homes that we like to visit every once in a while. Even if it’s only to cash in all that exploration data.

Every ship in Elite Dangerous can and should be fitted with a fuel scoop – and it’s automatic. It’s simply a case of knowing where and how to use to use it.

WHERE TO GO FUEL SCOOPING:

The picture below shows you all the stars where you can replenish your fuel. You can even set your route in the Galaxy Map to make sure that you hit only these stars a waypoints on your journey.

You can use a Supercruise Assist to make sure that, as you drop out of hyperspace, you don’t crash straight into the system’s star. It’ll automatically set your speed to zero when you drop. You can then control where you scoop and how fast you fly through the heat of the star. The faster you go, the hotter your ship will get. Although you’ll need a little bit of speed (not much) to do your fuel scooping. Remember that!

HOW TO GO FUEL SCOOPING:

Around every star you’ll see a yellow circle. Don’t go within that circle! You’ll get pulled out of hyperspace and risk damaging your ship. However, stick reasonably close to it and you’ll scoop plenty of fuel. Of course the higher rating your scoop has, the faster your fuel scooping will be, as you’ll collect it at a faster rate. Module ratings are covered in the post about The Shipyard.

Your scoop will deploy automatically after a few seconds. It will continue to scoop fuel until either your tank (the heavy, dashed bar to your right) is full, or you stray out of range of the scoop. The thinner line above it is the tank that is used for normal flight. It refills automatically from the main tank. Either way, the scoop will disengage and you can pull away from the star and head towards your destination.

Keep an eye on the star on the radar in the centre of your HUD and when it goes from red to yellow behind you, you know you are safe from it’s heat.

That’s all there is to fuel scooping in Elite Dangerous. Keep your eye on the fuel levels in your tank and you’ll be fine. Sometimes, if you’ve not made sure your waypoints are scoopable stars, you might be in the unenviable position of having run out of fuel. Stranded! Or does it? Luckily you can call on the Fuel Rats and they will come and rescue you. They’ve got fuel, you haven’t. Any questions?