There's always time for a salvager

Back in to my Proteus strategic cruiser, looking for more wormholes. That elusive connection to empire space that doesn't take me through a notorious low-sec gate camp must be somewhere, although it's not like I absolutely must find it this evening or our tower will go off-line from wanting fuel. That's a scurrilous charge spread by the automatic notification system sending disinformation to the corporate directors at regular intervals. Still, a decent high-sec connection would be nice.

The high-sec exit from C3a leads to a big high-sec island in Placid, the borders camped by opportunistic pirates. I found this out by losing a Bustard transport full of fuel to them. A C2 K162 then opened up to our home system, promising a new high-sec exit but delivering an angry Myrmidon battlecruiser and his Dominix chums, the battleships collapsing the hostile connection after I fled their attentions. A C5 K162 in to home provided a half-decent high-sec exit, but that died of natural causes before I could use it. What else can I try?

Maybe that T405 outbound connection to class 4 w-space in our neighbouring class 3 system leads somewhere. It's got to be worth a look, so I take my Proteus through our static wormhole, across C3a, and in to C4a, where my directional scanner shows me nothing from the K162 and the discovery scanner little elsewhere. Three anomalies and two signatures, which will be this K162 and the static wormhole to wherever. I'm here to find that wherever, so I launch probes and resolve that other signature, too easily located to waste time with a blanket scan.

The static wormhole leads to more class 4 w-space. How tedious. But maybe that C4 leads somewhere good, and it's not like I have a much better option elsewhere. I approach the wormhole and, well, pause. I should probably scout this system, as the lack of anomalies and signatures implies occupation, and I ought not to consider this system as a logistical route without knowing what could stop me. Much like venturing through low-sec.

I perform a blanket scan to see if anyone else may be out there and see two ships light up my combat probes. I warp across the system, updating d-scan as I go, and notice the presence of two towers, a Golem marauder, and Coercer destroyer. I start looking for the towers, having trouble until I realise my warp took me to a planet out of their range. Curiously, though, the Golem remains on d-scan. Is he shooting Sleepers?

Yes, yes he is. Switching overview settings and updating d-scan sees Sleeper wrecks all over the place. What a night and time to find a ratting Golem in w-space. Of course, it's not like I am really tight on time, already having stayed an hour longer than normal, just to find an exit to refuel our tower. Lies! I should probably leave the Golem alone, particularly as I probably can't break it with my Proteus alone. That's what I think, anyway, as I warp towards the anomaly where the Golem is, just to take a look.

The Golem is no longer in the anomaly when I drop out of warp, but the Coercer is, surrounded by wrecks pulled in by a mobile tractor unit. Of course they've used an MTU, it's too powerful a tool in the w-space environment, breaking the previous dynamics in favour of being static and staid. But now is the not the time to bemoan the continuing diminution of w-space, not with the rate the Coercer is sucking up salvage.

I back off to my perch, turn my Proteus on a sixpence—if the sixpence had the radius of Pluto's orbit—and warp in to the anomaly to drop on top of the Coercer. He's an efficient bugger, as by the time I am out of warp and decloaking to ambush him, the destroyer has salvaged the last wreck and scooped the MTU. That's okay, as I still catch him, disrupting his warp engines, and blowing the crap out of the Coercer.

The pod warps clear easily enough, leaving me a wreck to loot and shoot. Huh, a few measly modules as plunder. I think the Golem nicked all the Sleeper blue loot as it left, but analysing the space dust from the Coercer explosion says otherwise. The destroyer and its cargo was worth almost 120 Miskies, and I'm left with about ten million. It's just not my night. And I still don't have any fuel, which I don't need urgently, not at all.

I should probably not head forwards through this system's static wormhole. It's not that I'm expecting the locals to watch for me and retaliate, but more that it could be something that they would do. That settles it, really. I have to use C3a's high-sec exit and blast my way through that low-sec gate camp. I can't really afford to fail now—not that we're desperate, I've just fallen to social pressure and made a bet with my cat that I will get through successfully—so ship choice will be important.

Let's assume, solely for argument's sake, that I need to bring home at least a day's worth of fuel. That sets a limit on the size of the ship's cargo hold. Let's also assume, solely because I've already been caught and blown up by it, that there is a gate camp in low-sec. That demands a ship that can evade said gate camp. Luckily, there exists such a ship: the Crane blockade runner transport. Cloaky, agile, with a hold just big enough for my needs. Let's do this.

I head home, drop the Proteus for the Crane, and head out through C3a to high-sec. Dodixie is the nearest market hub, which is fine. I have to hit a low-sec choke point whichever direction I go in the extended high-sec island that is Placid. Going out is easy enough, and I see the camp is still on the gate ready to catch unwary travellers from connected high-sec. Wrecks are littered everywhere, and some of them must be fresh. Oh goody.

In to Dodixie, buy fuel, and head back. Here we go, in to low-sec. Yep, the camp hasn't given up yet. I'm in a more suitable ship this time, as well as not having the bad luck to appear within cloak-interfering distance of a previous victim. The ships are also suitably distant from my Crane. Time to put my faith in the cloak. I hit the command to enter warp, activate the cloak, and hope.

Nothing happens. At least, there is no obvious reaction from all the flashy, skull-painted battlecruisers. My Crane cloaks, aligns, and enters warp. Thank goodness. I hop the next stargate, cross that low-sec system, and get back to high-sec, leaving me a simple and safe w-space system to cross to get home with fuel that I can't stress enough how little we actually need it this evening of all times. I dump the fuel in the tower and slump in my pod. What an evening. I'll have to do it again soon too. Well, not exactly that, I hope, but you know what I mean.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: coercer, crane, eve online, golem, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, proteus, pvp, scanning, w-space