Limited to looting low-sec sites

18th November 2012 – 3.29 pm

Time to roam the constellation! Of course, living in a system with a static connection to class 3 w-space doesn't always offer much of a constellation to roam, as it can terminate to k-space immediately. Much like today, in fact. I even collapsed one wormhole to give me a second chance, again leaving me with a direct route to low-sec empire space and no options that didn't involve stargates. But maybe w-space has woken up, either with pilots being active in our neighbouring class 3 system or scouts from elsewhere opening new connections.

A quick check of the home system sees no new wormholes appeared, and jumping to C3a has no pilots in the tower or out. I launch probes and scan, almost gurgling with glee at the sight of a new signature, until I realise that there are the same number as before and one of them is just a fuzzy double-dot under my probes. Stupid probes. On top of that, the exit to low-sec is now at the end of its life, and although that will probably give me enough time to take a look around I consider it an ill omen. Instead, I return home to collapse our wormhole a second time today.

I swear I'm getting the hang of collapsing wormholes. It just takes a little practice, and I suppose a lack of fear in getting isolated. I push our static connection to half-mass with a couple of jumps, and crush it with a couple more, comfortably floating in the home system on its inevitable demise. Time to again start again, still with no unexpected signatures at home, despite the ten minutes since my last check. I resolve the replacement static wormhole and jump to what I hope is a system more active than dead.

Two towers appear on my directional scanner, as do two ships. I doubt the curious pairing of Devoter heavy interdictor and Impairor frigate are piloted, though. And there are also enough canisters and bubbles on d-scan to suggest the towers are fortified against scouts. That doesn't bother me, and I consult my notes to see if they will help. My visit from six months ago points me to one tower, and some trivial work with d-scan finds the other. The new tower looks to anticipate visitors coming from the direction of the star, judging by bubble and can placement, whereas the old tower is cool about stalkers and lacks any kind of decloaking trap.

As expected, neither visible ship is piloted, so I sift through the eleven anomalies and five signatures to get gas, gas, rocks, and a static exit to low-sec. The fifth signature is, of course, our own K162. It's a dreary result for a dreary day, but I press on and optimistically head to low-sec to see what I will find, and at least the U210 is stable and healthy. Then again, it also leads to Aridia. Isid? Yes, id is Aridia, I double-checked. Ha ha ha!

The system of Isid doesn't appear to be well-travelled, holding thirteen anomalies and four extra signatures, and my atlas shows perhaps why, with the system being one hop from a dead end. But the signatures don't hold more w-space potential, without a wormhole between them. Instead, I resolve one radar site, two magnetometric sites, and some dumb drones. Well, if space is giving me a sign, I shan't ignore it. I bookmark the sites, head home, and swap to a Drake battlecruiser to go ratting.

I can only assume I'm being given an opportunity to make use of the hacking skill I just recently trained to level five, to go with my maximised archaeology and salvaging skills. I throw a codebreaker, analyser, and salvager on to the Drake, compromising its shields with a nonchalance that suggests I don't think it will be the slightest bit challenged anyway, and head back to low-sec to pop some rats and steal their loot.

I poke the radar site first, which throws a few frigates and cruisers at me for the sake of defending not even a handful of decryptors. Next are the magnetometric sites, the first of which involves only salvaging, resulting in salvaging loot. I shouldn't be surprised by this, but am a little surprised that I resolve to clear the site completely, despite it feeling a waste of my time. The second magnetometric site is the charmingly named Blood Raider Mass Grave which, judging by the Tech II blueprint copy I pluck from the first artefact, is where industrialists come to die. I feel quite at ease in my natural environment.

The Medium Auxillary Nano Pump II BPC is a nice find, and makes me not care that the second container is empty. Or the third. But I'm getting peevish again by the time I open the fourth empty can. Still, the last container gives me another BPC, this time for Medium Anti-Explosive Pump II rigs, which seems like a nice find. I hope I can convert it to ISK at some point. And, with that, I'm finished. I don't care to crash our wormhole again, and C3a remains quiet, so I dump my loot at the tower, find a corner of the home system to hide in, and go off-line.

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