Random access denial
1st May 2014 – 5.44 pmI have a little time to hang around w-space, let's see what I can get up to. I can start by checking out the kill report of the Vindicator, a marauder that was idling on a stargate valued at 1·5 billion ISK. I wonder if the owner corporation still thinks declaring war on us was a good idea. I also see that someone has swept through our system, taking all the Sleeper loot from the anomalies. The joke is on them, though, as they were all rubbish anomalies.
A couple of gas sites remain untouched in the home system, and they will continue to remain untouched. I scan a new pocket of gas, ignoring it with surprising efficiency, and the current static wormhole, which takes me to today's neighbouring class 3 w-space system. Updating my directional scanner on the K162 in C3a sees nothing, and even though only one planet is in range warping away to explore doesn't find much else. The system is unoccupied and inactive.
Unoccupied, inactive, and with a ghost site amongst the seven anomalies. Should I just blast through that quickly, even if 'blast' is perhaps the wrong way to think about clearing a ghost site? I think so. The occupation from a year ago is gone and my blanket scan has only three chubby signatures, which will be our K162, the static exit to low-sec, and probably a gas site. The third signature isn't quite strong enough to suggest another wormhole. The system is probably currently secure.
I head home, warp to our tower, and start refitting my Loki strategic cruiser to be ghost site-compatible. I think I do, anyway. I really should write this kind of information down, as it has been a while since I last went in to a ghost site. I do my best with the refit, as the cargo scanner and relic analyser are obvious choices, and not much else can be fit in the other positions. Refit done, I save the refit as the 'ghost site Loki, experimental'. It'll do until this one explodes.
Back to C3a, where I move away from our K162 and cloak. Align to the ghost site, and warp cloaked. On decelerating in to the ghost site I decloak to soak up the recalibration delay, and lock the four containers to scan their contents. Nothing special, a 'Wetu' mobile depot BPC, nothing special, and a 'Packrat' mobile depot BPC. I have clear options, but I'm not sure which BPC is the better one. I believe the Wetu is the better depot, but the Packrat one is newer. Whatever, I'll go for the Wetu BPO.
Hack, hack, explosion. Silly randomness. Never mind, move across to the container with the Packrat BPC. Hack, hack, explosion. Silly randomness. And half my shields are now gone. There is no worth in the other two containers, certainly nowhere near enough to risk my Loki against the rats that are due to warp in any time soon, so I re-activate my cloak and warp back to our wormhole, empty-handed. Still, I gave the ghost site a shot and get clear with my ship.
Home again, restore my fitting, and once more to C3a to scan the system. I check the chubby signatures and resolve gas and the static wormhole, as expected, and ignore every other signature in the system. They are all too weak to be K162s, and checking them for outbound wormholes is time-consuming with no guaranteed result. I'll hit low-sec instead, through the pristine U210 that, well, if it isn't the nebula of Aridia seeping through the wormhole like a shit-stain.
Exiting w-space does indeed land me in a system in Aridia, where no one cares to come and two signatures lure me to resolve them. I launch probes and warp to a nearby rock field, bumping in to a rat battleship and two escort frigates that I pop for security status and pocket ISK, whilst resolving the two signatures to be a gas site and data site. No more wormholes means no further exploration, but also that no other capsuleers connect to this backwater system. We should be grateful for the little mercies. At least my time has been a little varied, thanks to the ghost site. But my time is now up for today.
One Response to “Random access denial”
I've already been reminded that the Packrat is a mobile tractor unit. I don't always pay enough attention to what's in front of me, that's what makes me good to bait.