Apocalypse now

It's the Apocalypse. At least, that is my assumption, because the wormhole collapses moments after flaring. It looks like the pilots from the class 2 w-space system made the wrong choice of ship. They were forcing the early collapse of a wormhole connecting their system to ours, after I had the temerity to pop and pod a Noctis of theirs, and I sat and watched as the mass of the wormhole continued to be stressed. When the wormhole was critical I was wondering if they'd have the nerve to push another battleship through, and it seems they did. But now I feel like I'm in the wrong ship.

I was watching the collapse of the wormhole in my covert Tengu strategic cruiser, which may be enough to take on a single battleship but I have better ships available. If only I'd thought through the options more clearly, I would be in better position by now. I could simply sit threateningly near the wormhole in my Legion strategic cruiser, my ship killer, and the locals probably wouldn't dare engage as they couldn't guarantee getting enough firepower back through the critically unstable wormhole without isolating anyone. Even better, I could have made a bookmark two hundred kilometres from the wormhole and sat in my Legion there, ready to warp in to engage a stranded ship without them being able to warp to me.

As it is, I feel sluggish and unprepared. Never the less, I spin my Tengu around and rush back to our tower, swapping for the Legion, and now having to make assumptions on sensor readings rather than rely on first-hand knowledge. The pilots pushed another battleship through the wormhole, which they are unlikely to have done without an escape route. I have the position of our static wormhole bookmarked, so on the assumption that the Apocalypse, now confirmed by d-scan, is heading that way to get back to empire space I make that my first destination. The battleship drops off d-scan before I get to the wormhole. My best option must be to jump in to the C3 and intercept it before it warps to the next wormhole, as I have not scanned that far myself, but jumping through the wormhole sees empty space and a clear directional scanner.

I wait on the K162 in the C3. Maybe the Apocalypse is trying to throw me off the scent, holding her session change cloak for as long as possible, hoping I'll see and sense nothing and jump home, at which point she's free to leave. Or maybe she saw my Legion leave the system and is sat on the other side of the wormhole, waiting for me to return before she jumps, giving her at least the period of the session change timer to make a run for it, or more time if I am polarised. I feel I have little option but to wait for polarisation effects not to be a concern before jumping back. After all, if she's not coming this way she's not going anywhere.

My assumptions are all based on the pilot and her corporation being at least somewhat prepared for the collapse going awry. As it turns out, I find on my return to our home system that the battleship has gone nowhere. The fleet did not scan past our system, giving the pilot no way of returning to empire space except by self-destructing. I would rather help her out with that, but I am having trouble finding the Apocalypse. I look in the obvious places but d-scan isn't helping me, until I finally locate the pilot's pod sitting outside our tower. I think it is there forlornly, but maybe the capsuleer is making a mental note of our corporation to transmit to her soon-to-be new clone.

I try to close with the pod, to give it the killing blow and add a new corpse to my collection, but she sees my ponderous Legion coming and warps off. Warps off to apparently empty space too, which is disconcerting for trying to chase her. Seeing that her Apocalypse is now a wreck and no threat I swap the Legion for my Malediction interceptor, which is rather faster and quicker at gaining target locks. It doesn't help me locate the pod any better, though. And now the pilot lets me know what she's been doing, telling me that I need to profit from all the sites in our system soon or they'll despawn.

An empty system sounds good to me! It makes scanning so much simpler, although anomalies are working out to be surprisingly good bait. And she's being rather unsporting by hiding. It would be tricky to reach her position and lock on to and destroy her pod in nineteen seconds even if I had a positive location for her. Without one I have no chance. Soon enough, d-scan no longer shows a pod but a corpse. That corpse should be mine, dammit! Still, I claim the moral victory here, getting a second wreck and podding as a result of my ambush of the Noctis earlier. Not only that, but I caused the death of my prime target. Let this be a lesson to all others. Our system is hostile. Enter it and die.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: apocalypse, eve online, legion, malediction, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, tengu, w-space