Two stabs at bagging some plunder

That's a lot of signatures. Sure, it's the same number as yesterday, but still. It's a lot of signatures. There's even a new anomaly, my favourite type in the home system, and I think I'll clear it of Sleepers to rake in some ISK. I scan and resolve today's static wormhole for reference, pointlessly ignore all other signatures, and warp to our tower to swap to the Golem marauder, the forced session change refreshing the silly discovery scanner.

I check that no new signatures have appeared in the last few seconds, ignore them all again, and ensure I have enough ammunition in the Golem for the one site. Probably. I have only a sketchy idea of how much I actually use to start with. I activate my hardeners and damage control unit, and warp to the anomaly, hiding in a fog bank to better surprise the Sleepers. They still find me.

The opening monologue in Oblivion is a bit out of place. I can only imagine that test audiences asked for more information early on, which would be disappointing, as explaining the world in such detail spoils much of what we're about to be shown anyway, as well as breaking the show-don't-tell ethos of storytelling. The monologue feels even more out of place when Jack repeats much of it, almost word-for-word, to his rescued wife—oops, spoilers—half-way through the film.

There's the proper place for our exposition, people. It doesn't belong at the start of the film, but at a point where it makes more sense, filling in any gaps that are left. I doubt Oblivion will ever reach cult status like Blade Runner, but I can imagine the film getting off to a more powerful start if the monologue were to be cut and we were instead introduced to the world through Jack's eyes and actions. Also disappointing is the lack of good salvage from the site, just the blue loot picked up by the silly mobile tractor unit. I should have left this anomaly to be cleared by stinking pirates.

Time to explore. I hop back in to my Proteus strategic cruiser, warp to our static wormhole, and jump to the neighbouring class 3 system. The silly discovery scanner sweeping around looks like a disco ball. With so many anomalies and signatures popping up with no effort required, it makes me doubt anyone calls this system home. I update my directional scanner anyway and get a surprise. No tower is in range, but three Tengu strategic cruisers are, flanked by a whole load of fighters.

I can't see a carrier to go with the Tengus, but there are more silly mobile tractor units, a pair of them, and switching filters sees the Sleeper wrecks. I immediately start bookmarking the anomalies, in case the active one is cleared and the signature disappears, which takes a while. There are quite a few. I fully expect the discovery scanner to be pinging our K162 to the pilots by now anyway, and although I feel the faux pressure to be frustratingly quick in an environment that doesn't otherwise require it, I'm not convinced it will matter. Once done, though, the ships remain in space.

Swapping to the system map, I start sweeping d-scan around the anomalies on a narrow beam. I find one Tengu by itself in an anomaly, which feels kind of baitish, but, even better, I spy a bookmark without a green signature on top of it. That's a despawned anomaly, one I managed to catch and bookmark. As I've only been in the system a minute or so, that is a definite sign of activity. I drop d-scan down to a five-degree beam, point it at the naked bookmark, and see a beautiful sight. I see a Noctis salvager and MTU.

The salvager alone looks too good to be true, but I can at least take a closer look. I head towards the anomaly, aiming to drop only just short of the cosmic signature itself. I'm reasoning that the presence of the MTU almost certainly means the ships warped to the site's cosmic signature, dropped the MTU, and now the Noctis is salvaging away next to a cluster of wrecks. Sure enough, I decelerate out of warp to just that sight, and as I exit warp I am in warp scrambling range of the salvager.

The Noctis is nearly finished. I don't think he's moving, but even if he is this isn't the time to procrastinate. One wreck left, I decloak and approach the salvager. That wreck disappears, salvaging complete, and it is perhaps with a bit of luck that my targeting systems recalibrate after decloaking in time for me to gain a positive lock on the Noctis. I start blasting away at my target, overheating my guns because of the threat of other ships, and reduce d-scan down to a range of 1 AU. Only the Noctis and MTU are that close, and if any ships appear on d-scan now they are surely coming for me. I hope that will act as an early warning system.

Shoot and d-scan, d-scan and shoot. The Noctis is going down. This is excellent! The salvager explodes beautifully, and I aim for the pod. It takes a while, and maybe the pilot is sleepy, surprised, or wondering why his warp core stabilisers, if any were fitted, weren't working. I have no idea, but whatever the reason I manage to snare the pod too. A couple more blasts and it is cracked open to release the inner corpse.

I scoop the corpse and, well, shit. I really dislike mobile tractor units, partly because they have made actual salvaging an activity of the past, and partly because they steal. As I catch the pod, the MTU springs in to life, sensing a new wreck and pulling what's left of the Noctis in to range, extracting all my rightful plunder to return it to the owner corporation. I shouldn't have to make a snap decision between grabbing loot or aiming for a pod. I never used to. MTUs really are a bad idea.

D-scan remains clear. I wasn't slow in ripping the Noctis apart, but I wasn't outrageously fast either, so I am sensing I won't see a response. Good, because I'm going to blow the crap out of the silly MTU, despite its ridiculous structural integrity. I reckon I've got time, and I definitely have the motivation. I get my guns working again, keep d-scan updated, and, after too much effort for a crappy box, crack the unit open.

I grab what's left of the loot, a paltry twenty-five million ISK, give-or-take, and finish by shooting the wrecks of the MTU and Noctis, warping clear to cloak and repair the heat damage to my guns and modules. Checking the kill report shows that the Noctis was worth about 110 million ISK, and the pod a decent 190 million ISK. That's got to sting. It's a shame I'm not able to earn more from the plunder, but I get the ship kill, and the podding, and a good dose of excitement.

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Tags: eve online, mmorpg, noctis, oblivion, penny ibramovic, proteus, pvp, scanning, sleepers, tengu, w-space

Almost finding activity

It's time to investigate some wormholes. Having successfully ignored a tower trap, my Proteus strategic cruiser is still in one piece and able to reconnoitre through one of two K162s in this class 5 w-space system. One leads to more class 5 space, the other to deadly class 6 w-space. Purely arbitrarily, flipping-a-coin randomness, I head to C5b first.

Jumping through the wormhole sends me in to the middle of three bubbles. That the wormhole is encumbered to prevent easy travel out of the system, and away from the wormhole inside the system, I immediately suspect activity is occurring. Updating my directional scanner suggests otherwise. I see ships, but only a Phoenix dreadnought accompanied by two pods, and there are also two towers and a distinct lack of Sleeper wrecks.

Maybe the activity happened earlier and the bubbles remain on the wormhole because it's easier to do that than collect them. I can understand that. I move from the wormhole and cloak, guiding my Proteus along the shortest path out of the bubbles, happy to see nothing and no one decloaking to catch me. I also see a Nereus hauler now appeared on d-scan, sharing space with the Phoenix and pods. I should find that.

Sweeping d-scan around on a tight beam locates the tower with the ships, including the Nereus, and warping to the tower sees the Phoenix empty. The pods have capsuleers in them, naturally, and although I suspect the Nereus does too I cannot confirm this, as the hauler is no longer at this tower. That is, if he even was here. I doubt the hauler is being used for collecting planet goo, but he may have other reasons for warping around the system. I don't know, I don't understand haulers too well.

Opening the system map sees an ore site out of d-scan range, which makes me wonder if the Nereus is used for ore, and if he's hauling it to and from a mining operation. That would explain the bubbles too, and I warp to the ore site looking for activity. Nothing here, though, just some Sleepers ambling around. Not real people, or Gallente capsuleers. I head out further, towards the edge of the system, which brings another tower in to range, as well as the Nereus.

Locating the third tower finds an Orca industrial command ship and Helios covert operations boat, both empty, and the piloted Nereus. But not for long. The hauler warps moments after I reach the tower, as I am still orientating myself, although I think I catch the ship's vector as heading back to the other tower. That seems probable, but I warp my Proteus to that planet's customs office, just in case.

Of course, the Nereus isn't gooing and back for more, he did indeed warp to the tower again. Whatever he's hauling, it's between the safety of two active towers. I could watch for longer, if I had a weird fetish for industrial ships warping between towers, but time is short and nothing of interest is happening. I warp back to the wormhole, navigate the unmonitored bubbles, and jump to C5a.

I have one more system ready to explore, and jumping in to C6a puts me on a clear wormhole. That's about all that is clear in this system, though. D-scan shows me a tower with no ships, and the discovery scanner is making a merry mess of my system map again. Nineteen anomalies and twelve signatures doesn't sound like much, but it's plenty this late in the evening.

Given that I locate the tower from the wormhole—it's at a planet with a single moon—I'm happy to call it a night. I don't need to confirm the lack of ships or tag the corporation to track pilots that aren't here. There is more to see and scan, and had I started earlier I would commit to doing more. You never can tell what waits for you in w-space until you start looking. Never mind, tomorrow is another day.

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Tags: eve online, helios, mmorpg, nereus, orca, penny ibramovic, phoenix, proteus, scanning, w-space

Turning away from a trap

No anomalies have sprung up overnight, but four new signatures accompany our static wormhole this evening. They can't all be sites, surely, and I launch probes to scan them hopefully. Then again, an initial blanket scan, which I find to be a good security precaution, shows that two signatures are chubby, one is middling, two are weaklings. As our static wormhole has a fat signature, that gives only one chance for having an extra wormhole. That signature is a gas site.

Four new sites. Two gas sites that I activate and ignore, not wanting to suck more than I already do, and a data and relic site that I activate and ignore, not wanting the extra danger they hold without much extra profit. Our static wormhole is even in the same spot as it was yesterday, simplifying the scanning a tiny bit. I warp to the signature, bookmark the wormhole, and jump through to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system.

A tower and no ships appears on my directional scanner from our K162, no one to startle with the appearance of a new signature. I launch probes and perform a blanket scan, not moving away from the wormhole to do so. There is only one planet and one signature out of range, and there seems little point in warping anywhere yet. Three anomalies, ten signatures, no ships. All the signatures are relatively strong, and it won't take long to sift through them.

Wormhole, wormhole, gas, wormhole, wormhole, gas, gas, gas, and wormhole. It's like a weird w-space version of Countdown. From what I've given, I can make a static exit to what looks like low-sec Genesis, a K162 from class 5 w-space, a dying K162 from class 4 w-space, a K162 from high-sec Sinq Laison, and a dying T405 outbound link to class 4 w-space. The dying connections limit my options a little, but it's a good result. I doubt I'd have enough time to fully explore the constellation if all the wormholes were healthy anyway.

I get the exits before moving on. The U210 takes me to a system in Genesis with no one else around and seven extra signatures, which I note in case I hit dead ends elsewhere. The high-sec system in Sinq Laison is three hops from Dodixie and has one extra signature. Fair enough, I suppose. Now, how about that C5 K162?

Jumping to C5a and updating d-scan sees nothing, although opening the system map sees just the one planet in range. I launch probes and scan, revealing three anomalies and six signatures, still no ships. Switching filters to show structures sees a few scattered in the inner system, and a whole bunch on the other side of the system, roughly where my notes say a tower was three months ago.

I warp to where I'm expecting to see a tower, and see a tower. This C5 is occupied by reds, damn them, and they have a fairly good bubble trap outside of the tower. I am pulled to the edge of the bubble, where my Proteus strategic cruiser narrowly misses scattered cans, narrowly enough to make me call up my tactical overlay to help me manoeuvre safely out of danger. Once clear, and with no one home, I scan.

Three gas sites and two wormholes are in this C5, the wormholes being K162s from class 5 and class 6 w-space. Reconnoitring the wormholes also brings me in to d-scan range of the inner system at last, having forgotten to refresh d-scan when warping to the tower earlier, where I see a tower with hangars and no force field. That's interesting. More interesting is the mobile tractor unit also on d-scan. I'm sensing trouble already.

I locate the apparently off-line tower, but before I do anything too rash I take a careful look at the tower and its defences. Sure enough, the tower is not accidentally off-line but on-line and with active defences, just deliberately left with its force field down. The corporate hangar array and ship maintenance array are almost certainly empty and being used as bait. The mobile tractor unit is understandable, wanting to collect the loot from ships the trap tower snares, but that greedy desire too easily tips off that this is a trap.

I am not falling for this obvious trap. I don't even feel any curiosity as to what could be left inside the hangars, knowing that they are definitely empty. I just turn my Proteus around and leave the trap untriggered. I appear to be learning and adapting. I think I should reward myself with a sammich before exploring through the two K162s.

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Tags: eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, proteus, scanning, w-space

It's referred to as the scanner overlay and not the 'discovery' scanner for good reason

Another day absent, even more anomalies brazenly stolen from us. This is an outrage! The perpetrators really ought to have dumped a container with 30% of their plunder at our tower, just as a basic nicety for taking advantage of our system. I normally do, or try to, or maybe I sometimes consider it whilst trying to keep a straight face, and I don't see why other w-space denizens wandering in to our home system don't offer the same courtesy.

Beyond the lack of anomalies also lies a lack of signatures, just our static wormhole to resolve. I do that, warp to it, and jump to the neighbouring class 3 system to see if anything's happening. I think there may be, if the Tengu strategic cruiser and pair of Drake battlecruisers are any indication. Of course, there's also a couple of towers visible on my directional scanner, but I'm thinking positively, particularly with a silly mobile tractor unit in my d-scan results.

I bookmark all the anomalies in the system, immediately revealed to me no thanks to the silly discovery scanner, and move away from the wormhole and cloak, trying not to curse the still silly discovery scanner for also showing me a mere two signatures in the system. Of course, there was one less than a minute ago, and if the combat ships are piloted and active then those capsuleers will be as aware as I am of our K162 at any moment.

Switching overview tabs and refreshing d-scan sees wrecks, Sleeper wrecks, a whole bunch of them, but sweeping d-scan around the highlighted anomalies doesn't find them. The site has gone already, it must have, as the only other signature in the system will be the static wormhole, not a data or relic site. If I'm lucky, the active pilots will be oblivious to the discovery scanner's glaring utility and move on to another site. That I'm seeing a Cormorant on d-scan now indicates that I won't be that lucky.

The destroyer is sweeping up the Sleeper wrecks, and probably just salvaging a ball of them, what with the mobile tractor unit taking away the fun and once-necessary activity of actually salvaging a field of wrecks in a Noctis salvager. The Drake and Tengu, the second Drake no doubt replaced by the Cormorant, have not moved to a different site.

I may still have a minor window of opportunity against the Cormorant, and I find, by warping across to both edges of the fairly compact system, that I can drop out of d-scan range of the ships. From this position I launch probes and throw them out of the system, performing a blanket scan that is rather disappointing. I can see only two ships under my probes, the Drake and Cormorant, immediately swapped to be Buzzard and Cormorant. Yep, I've been thwarted by the discovery scanner.

I suppose I shouldn't be upset by the annoyance of the discovery scanner any more, but it still does get to me that opening wormholes to unknown systems is such an unthreatening activity nowadays. Whatever, that Cormorant looks to be in space still, I can assume the locals believe someone is around, I may as well quickly scan the destroyer's location. I call in my probes, take a couple of scans, and resolve the ship under my combat probes. The Cormorant appears to be at a moon. Is he now bait? I warp across to find out.

No, the Cormorant is not bait. The Cormorant is inside the force field of a tower, which d-scan wasn't showing me as I hadn't swapped my overview back to the standard tab. Thankfully, warping to the destroyer's position drops me healthily short of the force field and I am not revealed or in danger of having the tower shoot me. It also lets me see the Cormorant blink off-line.

That was quick and frustrating. Never mind, I can scan the system's static wormhole, my notes telling me it leads to high-sec, and go looking for more wormholes. Or I could, if the damned exit weren't at the end of its natural life. It's a little curious how the locals were happy engaging Sleepers with an open wormhole. Even if on the edge of collapsing, there are enough pilots out there who would happily use a dying connection to look for such activity. They got away with it this time.

I poke out through the dying wormhole, expecting from the colours seeping through to appear in The Forge, and indeed appearing in The Forge. The system is only four hops from Jita, and has three extra signatures that look enticing. I can't rely on this wormhole to get me home, though, so I will neither go shopping or scan the other signatures. I am too deflated to consider collapsing our wormhole for a new connection either. I'll just go home and collapse myself.

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Tags: buzzard, cormorant, drake, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, w-space

Flashing a Mackinaw

I just want to check through a K162 before potentially plunging down a long chain of w-space systems, particularly when the discovery scanner will be a mere half-step behind with each jump. I exit the class 6 system to return to our neighbouring class 3 w-space, and warp across to the K162 to jump to C5a.

Updating d-scan on the other side of the wormhole sees a Mackinaw exhumer, Anathema covert operations boat, and four towers. There's little else to see, and it appears that this C5 is the dead-end system I considered to be a possibility, with the sole signature in the system being the wormhole I'm sitting on.

There are also three anomalies in C5a, which I'm already pinging with d-scan on a five-degree beam, before I've even checked to see which, if any, are ore sites. This one probably is, as the Mackinaw looks to be in it by himself. That's what I was looking for. Now to see if the ship is bait.

Not bothering to explore the system, mostly because the only ship I can see is the cov-ops and any that I can't see I won't find by looking that bit harder, I warp in to the ore site at range to see the Mackinaw in the site. I also slam my Proteus strategic cruiser directly in to a rather large rock when exiting warp, forcing my cloak to drop when I'm still 260 km from my potential target.

Thankfully, my Proteus hits the rock so hard that I am thrown back twenty kilometres, allowing me to cloak as soon as the re-activation delay allows. I doubt it will be quick enough, however, as I would have blipped on to the Mackinaw pilot's overview for several seconds. He wouldn't even have needed to update d-scan.

Even with my impromptu appearance far out of ambush range, the exhumer remains in the site, and I can see his chomping on a rock that I can warp to. I do so, dropping short to give me time to assess the situation and manoeuvre as necessary. The Mackinaw is pointing potentially out of the site but motionless, and its mining lasers are still chipping away at the rock. Ah, what the hell. I approach, decloak, and engage the miner.

The exhumer doesn't have much in the way of defences. I blast through the Mackinaw's shields, and no one decloaks to give me a shock. I blast through the Mackinaw's armour, and the Anathema on d-scan is swapped for an Impairor frigate. Even if he's awake, that ship change doesn't seem much like a threat, and I keep shooting. I blast through the Mackinaw's hull, and it explodes.

I aim for and catch the pod, making me think the pilot's asleep, and make this clone's slumber somewhat more permanent. I scoop the corpse, and loot and shoot the wreck, taking the modules and destroying the mined ore. Now to scoot, back the way I came. It's not like I have another direction to go, and there's nothing left in the system with me either. The Impairor is gone.

As I lurk on the wormhole back to C3a I get a conversation request. It's the miner. He says I 'did quite well', and I'm not sure if I should take that as some kind of praise or the start of another round of abuse. It turns out that he thought I had been hiding in his system for a week, as his corporation regularly keeps everything neat and tidy, which I can see from the lack of signatures. Nope, I tell him, his static wormhole is open.

I ask if if he saw my Proteus, he says he panicked. Yep, I know the feeling. Even so, it looks to be an expensive moment of panic for him. The Mackinaw is listed as a 210 Miskie loss, with the pod adding 160 Miskies on top of that. And on top of that, if the podded miner thought his static wormhole was inactive, does that mean he doesn't have a route home? Apparently not. Not being awfully mean, I let him know the system in The Black Rise the neighbouring C3 exits to, before taking my Proteus out of his system and back home. I think I can ignore that other arm of the constellation after all.

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Tags: anathema, eve online, impairor, mackinaw, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, proteus, pvp, scanning, w-space

Starting with Sleepers and scanning

Oh no! Our anomalies have been pilfered by dirty pirates in the couple of days that I've been absent. The stinky anomalies I wasn't going to clear anyway. And new anomalies have appeared, including one of our favoured type. But, still, it's the principle that matters. Stinkin' pirates!

A favoured anomaly popping in to our system, and the only signature beyond our static wormhole is a gas site. That seems like an opportunity I shouldn't pass by, particularly with nasty thieves wandering w-space, and I warp my cloaky Proteus strategic cruiser to our tower to swap for the Golem marauder, fit for engaging Sleepers.

I make the required system checks, get the shield hardeners running, and warp to the anomaly. Last time on Oblivion, I mentioned the subject of the plot driving circumstances, which feeds in to another moment of incongruity. The drone weaponry is pretty awesome, essentially disintegrating humans. Each hit on a human obliterates them entirely, with just flakes of ash left. Except for Beech, played by Morgan Freeman, who needs a death scene.

Despite taking over a large weapon to engage the drones directly, and the drones shooting every human in sight, Beech only gets hit by normal small arms fire, apparently. At least this allows time for him to be found by Jack for some touching last words. The disparity between disintegration and Beech's wounds is somewhat jarring. Still, a little over ninety million ISK is brought back from the one anomaly, which is nice.

Returning to my Proteus, I warp to our static wormhole, hopefully activating it, and jump to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system. Updating my directional scanner doesn't see anything of interest, and launching probes and performing a blanket scan doesn't change that. Eight anomalies, nine signatures, but no ships. There is a tower, though, found by warping across the system.

Our last visit to this C3 was over three years ago, when I made a note of a tower's location. I point my Proteus towards that planet and moon and wonder if it's still around. On the one hand, plenty of towers are torn down or moved between visits, even with only weeks separating them. On the other hand, we've been fairly static in our systems for years, and there's no reason why others shouldn't be too.

The tower is in the same place. Good show, chaps. That I'm not cloaked is rather poor, though. I correct my oversight before this tower locks on and starts shooting, thankfully, and without anyone obviously in space to notice this error. Without anyone obviously in space, I revert even further to normal behaviour, and start scanning.

Three wormholes lurk amongst the data sites, one whose signature is rather weak. The two chubsters are a K162 from class 5 w-space and the static exit to low-sec. I use the exit immediately, wanting to bookmark the empire side of the wormhole before exploring the outbound link in C3a, appearing in a faction warfare system in The Bleak Lands, which I ignore.

Back to w-space, and the other wormhole in C3a leads outwards to deadly class 6 w-space. Whatever, in I go, to a clear d-scan result and a messy system. A blanket scan reveals twenty-one anomalies, twenty signatures, and no ships. There's no occupation either. My notes point towards a static connection to class 4 w-space, but outbound links ping discovery scanners, and I'm loath to scan so many signatures if I'm only to be thwarted. I'll check that C5 K162 first, which could lead backwards quite a distance, or could be a dead end. I can come back this way if needs be.

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Tags: eve online, golem, mmorpg, oblivion, penny ibramovic, proteus, scanning, sleepers, w-space

Full of false alarms

I align my ship away from one wormhole and towards another, AUs distant, that will take me to another class 2 w-space system, but call a full stop before I accelerate in to warp. A final look at my directional scanner before entering warp sees a new ship in this system, a Tengu strategic cruiser. That could be quite interesting.

The Tengu is not only a new ship but a new contact, as the Mastodon transport, up until a minute ago the only ship in the system, is still also visible on d-scan. I'd like to see what the Tengu does, if it decides to do anything, and so point my Proteus towards... well, where should I go? There are seven towers in this system, all around the same planet. I'll go to the tower that holds the Mastodon. I suppose it would make sense for the tower with one pilot would be where a new one would also appear.

Warping to the tower sees the Mastodon but no Tengu. I'll have to find where it is manually, like I did with the towers earlier, and in much the same way. I didn't visit each tower to create a bookmark at each one, meaning I am back to sweeping d-scan around on a narrow beam to locate the Tengu. The moons aren't even conveniently labelled, without highlighting them individually, so little time is saved to see if the moon matches one in my notes having a tower around it. Never the less, it doesn't take long to locate the Tengu.

The strategic cruiser is piloted, of course. Few ships blink in to existence in the middle of space without a capsuleer on board. The Tengu even looks like it is fit and ready for combat, more likely against Sleepers than other capsuleers. Whether he will actually enter combat or not, with his static wormholes opened and another wormhole connecting in to this system, is another matter. I've seen other pilots risk it. This one, however, seems to just like floating weightlessly.

Never mind the Tengu, then. There is still that other wormhole, coming in from more class 2 w-space, and I was headed that way anyway. I leave the Tengu behind, warp to the wormhole, and jump to C2c. Checking d-scan on the other side of the wormhole sees a couple of ships, a Rook recon ship and Iteron V hauler, and another seven bloody towers. My notes don't even have anything on this system.

Thankfully, opening the system map shows the task of locating the towers to be far less onerous than first expected, and much simpler than in the system behind me. There are only seven planets in the system, all in range, and holding nine moons amongst them. I can pretty much identify the locations of all but one of the towers from the wormhole using d-scan alone. I can see that the Rook is at one tower, the Iteron another.

I head towards the tower with the Iteron, hoping he's up to something. I should say so, as the hauler isn't at the tower when I drop out of warp. It's still on d-scan, though, and, ah, he's back at the tower, warping in from, well, somewhere. The vector of the Iteron's arrival doesn't seem to give away his intention, or if it does it suggests the hauler has just come back from a wormhole, or maybe one of the mobile depots in the system. Neither option really makes sense, though.

If the hauler was checking on a wormhole, surely pinging the silly discovery scanner would tell him whether it was still alive or not. And there seems to be little point in having mobile depots that you warp to in a vulnerable hauler in a system where you have a tower anchored and on-line. But, whatever, the Iteron is swapped for a Stratios frigate, and the pilot blinks off-line. Nothing's happening.

I don't care for the Rook, as it won't be doing anything by itself and hasn't yet been swapped for a ship that might. I'm heading home. Returning to C2b and swinging past a tower sees the Tengu still idling and no wrecks in the system. A second Tengu appears on d-scan, swiftly followed by a Sabre interdictor, both of them together, neither of them with this first Tengu or the Mastodon.

I would try to work up some excitement about the appearance of two new contacts, but the night has been full of false alarms. Even when I locate the new pair of ships and, just as I am deciding to give up and go home, see the Sabre warp off, I don't know where he's gone and can't locate him. Not even jumping to our home system gives me the half-hearted ambush attempt on my Proteus I was almost hoping for. Home is just another inactive system. Never mind, tomorrow is another day.

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Tags: eve online, iteron, mastodon, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, proteus, rook, sabre, stratios, tengu, w-space

High-sec orange

Moving on. Having missed my chance at catching a planet gooer in a silly ship, I head back through one class 2 w-space system, in to and across our home system, and in to another class 2 w-space system. My directional scanner shows me nothing from the wormhole in C2b, the discovery scanner almost nothing. Two anomalies and four signatures is a strong indicator for occupation, if not current activity, so I launch probes and perform a blanket scan of the system.

One ship is added to the discovery scanner's annoying omniscience, the ship looking to be coincident with a planet that has a single moon. I take a punt and warp across to that moon, dropping out of warp to see nothing on my overview. That will be a result of scanning probe inaccuracy, I suppose, and my ship is in another castle.

My notes look to help me locate the ship, assuming it is inside a tower's force field. A previous visit three months ago lists a choice of two towers around a different planet, and it seems reasonable that they would still be there. They probably are, but the towers have been multiplying like Gremlins with water pistols. I don't see two towers on d-scan, but seven. Bastards.

I warp to one of the two towers in my notes, seeming as good a place to start as any, and drop out of warp next to a tower, but without the ship present, a Mastodon transport. I'll locate the other towers manually, sweeping d-scan around with a narrow beam. Pinging the moons, I locate the towers individually, all but one. I am sure I've done two complete sweeps with d-scan, checking each moon in turn, but I only count six moons with towers in my notes.

There are definitely seven towers on d-scan, I even use a second hand to help confirm this fact. Being smart, I reduce d-scan's range to 1 AU to also confirm that all seven are around this planet. They are. Where's this seventh tower? I make another sweep of the moons, and realise that although I made a mental note of all the towers, I didn't make a written note. That's why one kept on registering as there without my written tally totting up. Silly Penny.

All towers located, I warp to the one with the Mastodon. The transport is piloted but idle, almost thankfully idle, as it would be frustrating if he did something silly whilst I was struggling to count properly. Still, my notes also point out that my previous visit had my surprising a hauler coming in through a high-sec wormhole, not just by decloaking in front of him but popping his mineral-laden ship. That must have been quite the surprise. I should probably scan for the second static wormhole, on the off-chance that the same circumstance occurs today.

There's not much to see, and it takes little time to resolve a gas site and two wormholes. One is the static exit to high-sec, the devilman of Heimatar shining through, along with a K162 from even more class 2 w-space. I check the exit first, hoping to find a target, and there is an orange pilot in the system. We're only five hops from Rens, the orange pilot is local to C2b behind me, so it's possible he's hauling goods.

I hold my cloak for as long as it lasts, hoping for the pilot to drop on to the wormhole and return to C2b, but my Proteus strategic cruiser reveals itself before anyone else appears. I activate my cloak, but not before launching probes and throwing them off the wormhole. There's an extra signature in the system, and I may as well scan that whilst I'm waiting. It's a wormhole, and warping across sees an R943 outbound link to more C2 w-space. That's worth a look, particularly as the orange pilot hasn't shown himself yet.

Jumping to C2d and updating d-scan sees nothing but a rogue drone, with a single planet loitering out of range. I launch probes and perform a blanket scan, revealing two ships to go with the nine anomalies and seven signatures. The tiny signatures are for a pair of covert operations boats, the Anathema and Helios piloted but inactive inside a tower's force field at that far planet. That's mildly interesting, about as mildly interesting as my notes pointing out the system's static wormholes leading to class 1 w-space and high-sec.

I don't care for another high-sec exit, and the C1 system may be interesting but I can reasonably assume the local pilots have opened their wormhole and explored through it recently enough for there to be little point in my doing it. I have more w-space behind me to check, and rather than dive down a dead end, I head back to high-sec Heimatar and across to the K162 to C2b. Disappointingly, the orange has disappeared from high-sec, although it gives me hope that he's now waiting for me on the wormhole in C2b.

Jumping in to an ambush would be interesting, as I wouldn't be polarised, giving me an easy escape route, and my Proteus is fairly capable. If the ambusher doesn't know what I'm piloting, I could come out on top. That is, of course, if someone is actually waiting for me. I jump back to C2b with some anticipation to see nothing and no one on the wormhole with me, and still only the Mastodon on d-scan. Moving away from the wormhole and cloaking doesn't reveal anyone either. Never mind, it was a long shot. Time to move on again.

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Tags: anathema, eve online, helios, mastodon, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, proteus, scanning, w-space

Chasing a warp trail

I've had no connection to space for a while, leaving me rather floating free, not quite sure what to do with myself. I tidied up my pod a bit, which was empowering, and watched some good films involving robots and cyborgs and other heartwarming subjects. I almost got used to gravity, but it all got a bit heavy. Now my connection is back, shaky but back, I'm straight in to space once more.

What's changed? All of the sites I have bookmarked in the home system have disappeared, which is unsurprising considering that I activate them all when scanned, they disappear after three days or so, and I've been gone for longer than that. We have some anomalies, but none of my favoured kind that would let me continue pondering just how bad Oblivion is. There are some new signatures, though, and I launch probes to get back in to a scanning groove.

A gas site looks outstandingly normal, but it's joined by three wormholes, which is a little unusual. One is our static wormhole, of course, which I manage to warp to first despite trying to avoid it by guessing which signature it would be. It takes me a second try to discover that the others are a K162 from class 2 w-space, and a second K162 from class 2 w-space. It looks like I'm going to class 2 w-space.

In to C2a, updating my directional scanner once my cloaky Proteus strategic cruiser has settled from the wormhole transit. Three towers are visible on d-scan, as are an Occator transport and Epithal hauler. A magnetar phenomenon also hangs brightly off in the distance, giving me hope that I can rake through the Epithal's defences should he be out and about. What are the odds?

I start checking my notes, then realise on opening the system map that locating the towers will be quicker manually. C2a is a tiny system, nothing out of range of d-scan, holding a mere five planets, those planets holding a mere five moons. I quickly see that the Occator is at one tower, the Epithal another, and I warp in the direction of the Epithal.

I reach the wrong one of two moons around the planet where I spied the Epithal, and now it doesn't even look like the Epithal is around this planet. The hauler moved whilst I was in warp. I think that means it is active. I sweep d-scan around, narrow the beam, and find the Epithal around a different planet. Not expecting to get there in time, I warp towards that planet's customs office anyway.

Nope, the Epithal's moved on again. I don't know whether he's gone back to the first tower to drop off planet goo, or if he wasn't in that tower to start with and was actually at that planet's customs office when I first spied him, and instead of mechanically returning to where I was, I look for the hauler with d-scan again. The Epithal appears to be with the Occator now. I should pay the pair a visit.

I manage to get my Proteus to the tower where the Occator floats piloted inside the force field, but again there is no Epithal. I narrow d-scan's beam again and start prodding distant customs offices remotely, making a couple of sweeps of the system before realising that maybe I should do a coarser ping to check that the Epithal is still actually in the system. It is not.

It's a shame to miss trying to blow the crap out of a poorly conceptualised specialist hauler, particularly when a magnetar had my back with this one. Never mind, though, there are more planet gooers out there, and I have the scanning probes to help find them. On the assumption that the Occator pilot isn't paying attention, or simply doesn't care, I warp away, launch probes and start scanning.

Thirteen anomalies and seven signatures are crammed in to this small system, and the only wormhole amongst the signature is the second static connection, which exits to high-sec. I leave C2a for a system in Metropolis, nowhere good, with no oranges visible in the system, and two extra signatures that I can't actually bring myself to care about. I'll go back the way I came and explore the other C2 system instead.

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Tags: epithal, eve online, mmorpg, occator, penny ibramovic, proteus, scanning, w-space

Those wormhole changes

What's your view on the new wormhole changes, Penny?

The major changes, that I am aware of, are an increased number of random wormholes; a second static wormhole for class 4 w-space systems; a new type of wormhole that only allows frigate-mass ships through and regenerates mass over time, making them difficult to collapse; the K162 only being generated on the first jump through a wormhole, not when the originating side is warped to; and ships appearing in the destination system at a distance from the wormhole proportional to their mass. Overall, I'm not optimistic about any of the changes.

Adding more randomly connecting wormholes doesn't seem necessary. Sure, some days the constellation is a simple pipe that leads nowhere. But the exit from w-space is not the end to exploration, and I have yet to learn of a w-space pilot who won't scan the k-space systems for more options when w-space routes are exhausted. Even more occasionally, the pipe will be simple and terminated by an EOL wormhole. This is solved by collapsing one of the wormholes and starting again, or having a night off. It's not a big deal.

Other nights, you can hit a spaghetti junction system, with many wormholes leading in different directions. Perhaps multiple scouts can dive down each one and explore thoroughly, but small operations will not be able to exhaust their options in a timely manner. This leads to shallow exploration, potentially missing activity further up or down the chain by simply not having time to scan more than a couple of systems deep, or by picking the wrong wormhole to start with.

Activity used to be found by diving through wormholes that previously weren't there, that's true. If it were still true, it would make sense that adding wormholes would increase found activity. But increasing the number of wormholes will not lead to finding more activity, because it is no longer the case that a new wormhole can go unnoticed for any period of time, not with the discovery scanner continuously alerting any pilot even merely passing through a system of new signatures. W-space doesn't need more wormholes, it needs wormholes to return to being unknown variables.

It would seem that I would be in favour of K162s only spawning when a wormhole is first jumped through. I suppose I am, kinda. It's better than having the K162 spawn when warping to the grid of a wormhole, but only by about a minute, and there really isn't much more that can be done in that minute that couldn't realistically be achieved now. Some people are talking about being able to prepare a fleet on the wormhole before the K162 spawns, but a fleet for what? I haven't heard anything about being able to see through K162s now.

The question is not one of readiness, because nothing is currently stopping a fleet warping to a wormhole immediately behind the scout, but of what lies beyond the wormhole. If nothing's there, having the fleet ready means nothing. If targets are there, you won't know what they are until you've jumped through anyway, so what fleet are you preparing? In either case, you still don't know what's on the other side, and the K162 delay merely buys a little time that you used to have much more of before the discovery scanner was introduced. That this feature is being introduced seems to be an acknowledgement that the discovery scanner has had undesirable consequences, and the unwillingness to remove it.

Class 4 w-space is seen to be a wasteground, apparently. I dunno, I like it there. I like the isolation. I like how C4 space feels different from the other classes. I appreciate how the rewards from Sleeper combat aren't a huge increase from C3 sites, but allow twice the ISK to be generated from half the sites in the same amount of time. The static wormhole also leads to more w-space, allowing extra sites to be found reliably, unlike in C3 space. I appreciate how capital ships cannot be jumped in and out of the system, adding some increase in security at the expense of increased logistics of occasionally awkward wormhole chains.

Class 4 w-space has a definite place in the hierarchy of classes. It seems to me that the people complaining about C4 systems are those that don't live there. This would be fine if they were complaining because they want to live there, if only it were better connected, but the complaints are mostly that C4 sites aren't profitable enough, or that there is no one to find to hunt. The people advocating for a second static wormhole in C4 space don't want to move in, but want new targets to want to move in. That's not proper motivation for the change. Either way, a second static wormhole may achieve the desired result, but as more wormholes won't lead to more activity perhaps a better incentive would be improving C4 sites in some way.

I have also previously mentioned how the second wormhole probably won't help anyway. The complaints generally focus on how C4/C4 systems are the problem; that is, class 4 systems with static wormholes to class 4 systems are poor chains to scout. If that's the case, let's see what adding a second wormhole will do. If it's not a C4/C4 system—which the majority of C4 systems aren't—then presumably the system isn't broken, and adding a second wormhole is not fixing anything. Indeed, if the second wormhole will now lead to C4 space then the system is arguably made less desirable than if left alone.

What if it is a C4/C4 system? We have to look at what second wormhole is added. Adding a C5 or C6 wormhole will lead to the same kind C4/C4 chains that people complain of—C5/C5 systems surely being as notorious as C4/C4s—but in to more dangerous space that is likely to have capital ships present but where you can't bring your own. Adding a C1 wormhole will lead to logistic problems because of the mass limitations of the wormhole. Adding a C3 or C2 wormhole may improve matters, but how many of those will we get? It seems to me that adding a second static wormhole to class 4 systems is not directly fixing the problem complained about, but is easier to implement. Messing with many corporations' homes whilst not addressing the issue doesn't seem like a good solution.

The new type of wormhole, allowing only frigate-mass ships through is peculiar. I can see the idea behind it, I just don't think it will work. If players wanted frigate fights, they'd arrange them to avoid having to commit expensive ships. Or they'd join RvB. Although only being able to push frigates through a wormhole sounds like it will lead to new w-space fleet doctrines, I'm not convinced. Just because you can't squeeze more than a frigate through a wormhole doesn't mean the other side won't commit bigger and nastier ships, if only to get some cheap kills and hold the field on their side. What is the frigate fleet going to do? They can't send their own big ships through to counter, and mobile depots won't let them do much about it.

Frigate roams are unlikely to work either, unless there is a pipe of these specific wormholes running from one empire system through w-space to another. One normal wormhole along the chain will allow the fleet to be destroyed by a normal fleet. I doubt there will be such chains either, unless they are specifically implemented that way, and even then the chain would need to be scanned first. And as frigates are popped quite effectively by Sleepers in even class 1 sites, these wormholes are unlikely to cause a ripple against PvE fleets.

I understand that CCP are quite happy with the emergent gameplay that wormhole systems have produced so far, and so they should be. Perhaps these new tiny-mass wormholes will produce their own emergent gameplay, but I doubt it. Now, I understand that, by definition, emergent gameplay cannot be predicted, but the limitations on the size of ship that can pass through this new type of wormhole drastically reduce the options available. I'm struggling to see what can be done effectively in w-space with frigates that isn't being done already, and how these new wormholes will affect that. It's not a bad idea, but I don't see these wormholes living up to the vision.

As for a ship's mass affecting its distance from the wormhole after a jump, I don't quite understand what this is trying to achieve. All ships will now be guaranteed to be far enough away from the wormhole to cloak after a jump, making scouting much safer. Non-scouting ships will have to commit to the jump, which will make polarisation ambushes, where a 'caught' ship runs back the way it came, almost impossible to perpetrate. Closing wormholes will also take much more time, organisation, and risk, to the point where smaller corporations will simply stop doing it. Activity will decrease, polarisation will not be a useful mechanic, and fewer massive ships will be caught on wormholes.

It seems to me that the overall direction intended with all the changes taken together, having more and harder-to-close wormholes, is to force players to engage in PvE activities with known open wormholes. That may happen initially, but once expensive ships start to get lost it is more likely that PvE activities will dwindle. Whilst w-space denizens rarely complain about the loss of expensive ships, they can only do so so often, particularly if their income stream is interrupted.

Aiming for players to engage in PvE with open wormholes is also a peculiar goal given that the introduction of the discovery scanner, which has directly led to fewer targets in w-space, was a reaction to what was perceived as the uninteresting and unwanted gameplay of spamming scanning probes to look for new wormholes. Open wormholes will just lead to fleets posting scouts on each wormhole that cannot be closed, listening for transits. This would be an obvious return to the previously unwanted style of gameplay, albeit without the direct interaction of pressing a button every few seconds.

On the whole, like I said, I am not optimistic about any of these changes. I also understand that I often have a negative reaction to change, and that the changes generally end up not being as bad as my emotional reaction suggested. My least favourite part of these changes is how they are presented to us as open for discussion, whilst the devblogs continue to assert that the changes are coming for Hyperion. The changes are not open for discussion, just the balance associated with these changes. We're getting them whether we like them or not, and from experience it seems clear that poor changes are never rolled back but iterated in attempts to make them less poor. The best option is to wait until the changes are live before making a final opinion, and strive to tolerate and work with those changes we consider to be poor.

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Tags: comment, eve online, mmorpg