Escort Fuel Management on long Journeys

[EXoThERM1A]

Does anyone know how to order escorts to refuel on planets without landing your own ship?

Especially in the early game, where you can't afford a freighter/tanker, traveling through uninhabited/unexplored systems on escort missions can be problematic if the whole route isn't set from the map (can't see/choosing a route other than the shortest).

Is there a comand for this?

Or if not, I know adding this could be challenging, can anyone make (/does anyone know of) a mod to add this function?

[Ker]

Press B to board ships - this can be used to refuel escorts. If you personally are out of fuel as well, then tab around to any friendly ships in the area and press T to hail them, ask for help.

As for personal escorts, your personal fleet, hold Shift-B to board and repair/refuel them, and its a good idea to put ramscoops on all of your vessels.

[Avior]

You can't, not at will, unfortunately.
But, if your jump path is longer than your escorts have fuel, the escorts will refuel partway.

edit:

Originally posted by Kiko:

Press B to board ships - this can be used to refuel escorts. If you personally are out of fuel as well, then tab around to any friendly ships in the area and press T to hail them, ask for help.

As for personal escorts, your personal fleet, hold Shift-B to board and repair/refuel them, and its a good idea to put ramscoops on all of your vessels.

this is true, but it technically does not answer the question, about ordering them to land.

[euphm1]

Select your destination in the map screen. Hold down the jump button (J) before jumping until all the ship icons in the lower left screen turn green. Hold down J upon arriving in the next system until everything is green again. Rinse, repeat.

Option B - get far enough ahead of them that they have to optimize their own route.

The AI checks to see if the ship has enough fuel to get to a known fuel point on the designated path this way, but not on single jumps. And your band of merry misfits apparently never have their own maps. So you're going to have to land while heading into the unknown.

[Ker]

The main issue I'm seeing is unexplored entering uninhabited. Hence the B to board command solution.

[larrybagina]

You can also equip your main fleet with ramscoops to speed up the process of harvesting fuel from space.
As long as you stay with your fleet (don't go off ahead), they'll refill each other, land when they need to, and ask assistance from passing ships.

[EXoThERM1A]

Thanks all. Guess I'll stick with having a fuel tanker [freighter full of fuel tanks] to refuel everyone when exploring.

[Ker]

well, they will, as long as you bribe the planet and remain in system for long enough for them to land and refuel. at which point you might as well just land with them.

[warp_core]

If you go ahead of your escorts they will take the route that requires the fewest jumps to catch up to you taking into account the need to refuel. They won't wait around for their ramscoops unless there is no other way. Say, for whatever reason, every route to get to you requires them to pass through more systems where they cannot refuel then they have fuel to get through but that shouldn't be the case unless you pissed off the government of a large cluster of systems (or you're in the parts if the FW campaign where the republic hates you, but I suppose that's technically the same thing anyway).