Finding more class 4 systems

12th June 2014 – 5.43 pm

Oh, unknown signature, what are you? More gas? You do not interest me. Through our static wormhole I go, updating my directional scanner on the other side to see nothing but some cans littering the class 3 w-space system. I launch probes and perform a blanket scan, not expecting much for there being just one planet beyond d-scan's range, and detect no ships. Tonight's start is not looking positive.

Warping to the far planet finds occupation, three towers in total, there's just no one home. I'll scan the ten anomalies and seven signatures. It should be quick, as there is only one weak signature amongst them. Wormhole, gas, wormhole, wormhole, gas, really weak wormhole, and a final wormhole. They're everywhere. I've resolved a K162 from class 4 w-space, a second C4 K162, another C4 K162—they're everywhere—and a K162 from null-sec. Damn, that means the weak wormhole is the static connection, making it an exit to null-sec.

Null-sec or class 4 w-space. Exits first. The K346 leads to Geminate and is at the end of its life, so doesn't lure me through. The K162 comes from Immensea, where no one is around and there is an extra signature. I shall rat and scan. Or I shall just scan, as I've resolved the wormhole by the time I've dropped in to a rock field. It's a shame I've only found an N432 outbound connection to class 5 w-space. Still, I work with what I've got.

Jumping to C5a has nothing on d-scan and nothing out of range. What I see is what I get, the lack of occupation explaining the thirty-two anomalies, leaving me to scan the seven signatures for wormholes. I resolve three, yet another C4 K162, plus an outbound connection to null-sec Cloud Ring, and the static wormhole to deadly class 6 w-space. How lovely.

I poke the static wormhole first, where d-scan shows me a tower and no ships from the K162, and the discovery scanner highlights loads of anomalies and signatures. I'm not ploughing through them to hit another outbound wormhole, not with more unexplored w-space behind me, certainly not with my notes telling me this C6 has a C5 static wormhole. The chain may never end. Back to C5a and in to C4d.

Signatures huddle around the system's star

C4d looks like the other systems so far, devoid of activity. There's no occupation either, even if there is plenty of space—not that the signatures understand this concept as well as the anomalies do—so unless a wormhole has been collapsed there is a K162 to be found. I launch probes and start sifting through the sixteen anomalies and six signatures, concentrating on the three chubsters that are possible K162s. Gas, gas, wormhole, one scan. I resolve the wormhole, but warping to it sees a dying K162 from class 2 w-space. Okay, back the way I came.

Through C5a, across null-sec, in to C3a. My first class 4 system explored was C4d, so why not go backwards with the others? Because there are RSS core probes visible in C3a, maybe. There is another signature too, so I launch probes to resolve it, not seeing any ships under a blanket scan and watching the probes disappear from d-scan. Huh, the new signature is just gas. I'll check the C4 systems after all.

Oop, a Tengu strategic cruiser is on d-scan in C3a. And gone. It can't be worth waiting for near the home K162, not when I don't know where he came from, what he's exploring now, and given that he can cloak and evade me. In to C4c at last, where a tower on d-scan is accompanied by ships, not that I'm holding much hope that the five Orcas are really pack hunting like they would in the wild. Industrial command ships aren't known for their aggressive behaviour.

Locating the tower finds all the ships unsurprisingly empty, and I'm not scanning any deeper for now. Back to C3a and in to C4b, where a tower, Orca, and shuttle on d-scan almost make me lose interest immediately, until I see from my notes that the occupation has changed from three months ago. That delay in reaction is just long enough for the Tengu to jump past me to C3a too. I'm tempted to try to engage, but that would make me polarised and him not, which makes the idea rather foolhardy.

Tengu scout jumps from class 4 to class 3 w-space

I resist chasing the strategic cruiser, instead waiting for my polarisation timer to expire and, not having the Tengu return, moving on. C3a to C4a. D-scan shows me a tower and no ships. Exploring finds a second tower, and quite why I'm scanning I can't say, but I resolve yet another C4 K162. I found it, I may as well jump through it, but C4e is pretty lame too. A blanket scan reveals five anomalies, a mere two signatures, and a ship, the Probe frigate floating empty inside a tower's force field.

Just one other signature, why can't I leave it alone? Because it is almost inevitably a wormhole, and on a night like this it is a K162 from class 4 w-space. Just one more, I can stop whenever I want. In to C4f, update d-scan, see a tower and no ships. Okay, I've had enough. There's only so much empty space a capsuleer can scan in one evening.

W-space constellation schematic

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