Cannot complete very early escort mission due to Fuel limits

[OldBlueHair]

I've read the other threads on this issue, and none of them actually answer the question of _how do I make my fuel last?_

I'm in the Highlands campaign in ver 5.0, TGS, n one of the first missions, escorting a freighter. I can get through 2 nav points and a jump, and by the time the freighter says they're clear, I'm out of fuel.

I'm using newtonian physics, only maneuvering to point at new nav points, cutting my engines after I reach velocity and direction on each one. I'm drifting through space, and I run out of gas.

Are some missions just not possible to complete?
Is there something else I can do to use less fuel?
Should I just make a mod to give ships more fuel?

[smaff]

Turn off weapons and lower EMCON. Note the latter will mean you won't pick up stuff (probably until too late...) But weapons recharge fairly quickly and do suck a bit of juice.
 
Interestingly I do recall always being able to use thrusters, even when completely out of gas :> They might have fixed that "bug" in TGS mind.