Down the chain
11th October 2013 – 5.32 pmHello, all of our anomalies are gone. I suppose activating them was the petulant last act of the fleet who wilfully chose to ignore all the information—I hesitate to call it 'intelligence'—available to them and let me pod their Noctis carrying all of their loot. Well, the last laugh is on them, because now our home system looks so much tidier. Besides, we already have one anomaly back, plus some rocks, and more will be on their way soon. There's even an extra signature at home, which resolves to be gas. Yep, we have something for everyone, which would include the three hundred million ISK in loot, had I not already taken it out to market to liquidate. All is looking rosy.
What's here for me is our static wormhole, leading me out of our system and to today's neighbouring class 3 w-space system to look for adventure. I don't think I'll find it here, as my directional scanner is clear of activity and occupation, with one planet out of d-scan range. I launch probes and perform a blanket scan of the system, and the fifteen anomalies and twelve signatures don't look good, and indeed there are no ships and no towers to be seen anywhere. Maybe the system has a static exit to null-sec, deterring would-be occupiers.
What do you say, notes? A visit almost two years ago shows the system holds a U210 exiting to low-sec empire space, and not the null-sec exit I would expect. That's good, in a way, as at least the wormhole won't be weak and a little more time-consuming to resolve. I'd better get to it, and I start throwing my probes around to look for the static connection and whatever other wormholes may be out there.
I resolve three wormholes in total. The first is a T405 outbound connection to class 4 w-space, which is rather lovely, potentially leading me to a system unaware of the wormhole, as well as to another w-space system beyond this C4. At least, this kind of find used to be lovely. Now, thanks to the rotten discovery scanner, the K162 of this T405 is currently blinking away in C4a, in space and on scanners of any ship in the system, persisting as an alert that a new signature, most likely a wormhole, has appeared in the system. What's the bloody point of sneaking cloaked through new wormholes if space is just going to announce about your entrance anyway?!
I hate the discovery scanner. It does nothing but get in the way, making w-space life safe and secure instead of uncertain and dangerous. K162s are better finds now than outbound wormholes, which is simply ridiculous. As such, I don't care to jump through the T405 with any alacrity, hoping to catch pilots unawares, because the likelihood of that happening reduces with every day that passes where the discovery scanner remains active in w-space. Eventually every capsuleer will wise up to it and roaming will be as good as defunct.
Where was I? Right, the other two wormholes. One is the U210 exit to low-sec, and I poke out to see where it leads, appearing in the Tash-Murkon region. Sagain? I poke out to see where it leads, appearing in the Tash-Murkon region. Ha ha ha! Maybe that won't work in a written log. Back to C3a and across to the third wormhole, which is a rather unexciting K162 coming from high-sec space. Again I jump through out of curiosity, and again I appear in Tash-Murkon. Sagain? Again I appear in Tash-Murkon. Ha ha ha! No, but really, it's nine hops from Sagain, and six to Amarr.
I got fuel recently, I don't think I need to get more right now. Then again, you never know when a good exit will present itself, which probably was why I felt compelled to by two loads of fuel blocks the other day. Maybe if the C4 chain is dull and I have time I'll get some. Let's see. Back to C3a and across to the T405, jumping through to appear in system with a black hole imposingly in the background. I think I can already guess that C4a will be unoccupied.
Sure enough, no towers are to be seen in C4a, and neither do any passing pilots want to take advantage of the sites available, leaving them to build up to thirty-one anomalies and eighteen signatures. With any luck the system will lead somewhere better, and I start sifting through the signatures to find the static wormhole, which keeps me in class 4 w-space but hopefully without a black hole.
Jumping to C4b has no black hole, but still d-scan is clear. I launch probes, blanket the system, and warp to the two distant planets, revealing thirteen anomalies, fifteen signatures, and no ships, no occupation. But my notes indicate the static wormhole leads to class 2 w-space, which could be worth looking for. And scanning resolves two wormholes, the other being a K162 from further class 4 w-space. As I have already suggested, K162s are probably better bets for finding activity these days, so I head straight to C4c.
Ah, occupation. D-scan shows me a tower and ships, with a Raven and Scorpion battleship, Crucifier frigate, and Orca industrial command ship somewhere, but I don't need d-scan to see the Phobos heavy interdictor 180 km from the wormhole I'm sitting on. I can see that well enough myself, right up to the point that it cloaks. Balls to this. I'm not here to be hunted. I jump straight back to C4b, loitering for a bit to see if I'm followed—nope—and ignore the core probes now visible in the system to move on to C2a.
Just out of curiosity, I note that each system I've explored so far today has started with J16–. Will this continue in to C2a? Of course not, not now that I've called attention to it. And although a tower on d-scan makes the system occupied I can see no ships, and so no activity. Still, the five anomalies and four signatures are worth a poke with probes, and I float away with gas and the two static wormholes, one to class 3 w-space, the other out to high-sec.
The high-sec exit leads to Sinq Laison, rather close to Dodixie. C3b looks clear from the K162 but holds occupation out of d-scan range, just no activity. Getting sleepy, and definitely not going for fuel now, I make a last sweep of my probes around a w-space system looking for wormholes, coming up with a U210 at the end of its life and a K162 from null-sec. The low-sec exit takes me to Lonetrek, the K162 to an empty system in Fade, where I can pop a rat to end the night with a whimper.
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