Settling for Sleepers

I'm back from a short break. Is anyone around? Maybe the locals from class 5 w-space that connects to our neighbouring class 3 system. I missed catching their Tengu strategic cruiser scout earlier, as well as the same pilot in a Drake battlecruiser, paired with a second, when they were engaging Sleepers in the C3 system. But before I can see if they're around I see a better sight, that of some colleagues being on-line. That immediately gives us more options.

I let the others know about my failure to catch the C5ers, and as it gets little reaction I can only assume even less has happened since. Indeed, the sitrep that comes my way is that nothing is happening at all. That's okay, as it gives me a chance to explore the scanned constellation for activity and changes. If nothing else, the static exit to low-sec from C3a should have died and been replaced by now, giving me a new wormhole to scan and a system beyond potentially full of opportunity.

Or, when I confirm that C5a is entirely inactive, perhaps we could collapse our static wormhole and take advantage of the half-dozen good anomalies once more accumulated in our home system. Whilst Sleeper combat isn't entirely engaging, less so with the dumbscovery scanner keeping us completely safe under these circumstances, it does get quicker the more pilots we throw at the activity, and making ISK quickly and efficiently helps fuel our rather less successful endeavours.

The first problem to overcome is finding a boat for HR to fly. He came to us in w-space without Tengu skills, and even though he currently has the books injected and updating his head he can't jump in to one of our Sleeper ships and join us in flying through explosions. It would be good if HR was instrumental in creating wrecks and not just sweeping them up, so rather than relegate him to salvaging duty again we consider other choices of boats.

A Drake battlecruiser is suggested, and although it may be suitable I'm sure we can do better. The Nighthawk command ship, for example, effectively the Tech II variant of the Drake. Fin grabs one out of a hangar, swaps the fitting around so that it more matches our Tengu doctrine, and offers it to HR. The command ship may also give us another benefit. Can you run warfare links? 'I have all leadership skills, except fleet command, trained to level V.' And yet you can't fly a Tengu. Weird.

Anyway, we're all home, the wormhole is collapsed with everyone still being home, so it looks like we're ready to go. Aii even turns up to add a little more firepower, although a quick break has him return and voluntarily jump in to a Noctis to sweep up behind us. I have to say, there is some allure to being responsible for collecting a few hundred million ISK in loot and salvage.

Tengu, Tengu, and Nighthawk go to meet and greet the local Sleeper delegates. For some reason, I'm reminded of my first flight in a Tengu. After spending so long in a Drake it felt agile, fast, powerful, much more so than I imagined, despite the ISK-tag associated with the strategic cruiser. And I'm reminded because the Nighthawk runs surprisingly sluggishly. It also needs a tweak to its fitting to prevent the Sleepers from draining its capacitor juice at the first opportunity.

The disparate performance of our tiny fleet is no reflection in HR's skills or flying ability. We've just got used to speeding around in fast-firing Tengus. A bit of tweaking our strategy and flying styles keeps us all together and operating as a unit in no time, raking through the Sleepers pretty effectively. It will be good when we can get HR in to another Tengu, all the same.

The anomalies themselves pose no problems, being homogeneous, and we blast through six of them in total with explosions aplenty and the home system remaining isolated. It's far too easy to know that we remain isolated, and although it keeps us safe it's pretty boring. We may as well be in high-sec empire space, except we're earning vastly more ISK, about 650 Miskies in total, for what amounts to straightforward environmental combat. Still, it keeps our wallet healthy, if not my interest. I don't fancy a post-Sleeper roam, so slink away to go off-line in a corner of the system.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: eve online, mmorpg, nighthawk, noctis, penny ibramovic, sleepers, tengu, w-space