Space takes an afternoon nap

Nothing is new in the home system, beyond our static wormhole having been refreshed. I warp across to take a look and it looks good. Wormholey. But a wormhole has two ends, and I would be remiss if I didn't check that the other side is also in working order. I jump to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system to take a look at the K162, and that's good too. Just as I expect K162s to look. And, as I'm here, I may as well see what's in the system.

Updating my directional scanner sees a tower and two frigates, a Maulus and an Imicus. My notes tell me I was last here eleven months ago, when there were two towers and I resolved an exit to high-sec. The second tower sits outside of d-scan range, if it's still there, so I warp in a different direction to launch probes and, whilst performing a blanket scan of the system, head back to see the current state of occupation.

My notes guide my Loki strategic cruiser directly towards the moon that previously held the second tower, instead of pausing at the planet to interrogate each moon individually. This saves a bit of time, as the tower remains in the same place, but with no more ships to see, although d-scan shows me a third tower now in the system. I have to find that one manually, not that it's a difficult process. And, given that one tower is unmoved, I warp directly to the first tower too, where I see the Imicus piloted and Maulus empty.

The piloted frigate doesn't seem too lively. A lack of obvious probes in the system is a fair indication that he's not doing anything, so I ignore his presence and whiz through the two anomalies and five signatures. Two gas pockets, two wormholes. One is the static exit to high-sec, which leads me to a system in Sinq Laison close to Dodixie. Too close to Dodixie, really. But this is interesting, as the second wormhole in C3a is a T405 outbound connection to class 4 w-space. I've found me a bona fide w-space rabbit hole.

Seeing a tower with no ships in C4a is a little disappointing, but not much. The class 4 system will hold a static wormhole to further w-space, and the odds are fair that it will lead to more class 4 or even class 5 w-space, perpetuating the chain. For a late-afternoon expedition, this promise of plenty of systems to explore feels invigorating instead of enervating. The lack of activity in C4a is also good when considering the centrally positioned tower, leaving nowhere in the moderately sized system to hide.

With no one watching, I launch probes, perform a blanket scan of the system, and, cloak re-engaged, warp towards the tower. My probes show me seven anomalies and five signatures, and at the tower I see a piloted Loki. That's odd. What I want to know now is whether my timing was excellent and I got my probes and my ship hidden before the Loki saw anything on d-scan. Apparently not. The pilot is curious or careless enough to ask me in the rarely used local communication channel... something.

I suppose he saw me. Sadly, this looks like an early end to the chain, just as I was getting excited about it. I could press on and scan further, but it's possible the local pilot has already done that. Even if he hasn't done in his Loki what I'd do in mine, it still leaves a pilot aware of my presence in a system between home and where I'm going, and that isn't generally conducive to my returning home.

So I don't want to go further down the rabbit hole. There is still the high-sec system to poke for more wormholes. I head back to C3a, ignore the sleepy Imicus, and return to the system in Sinq Laison. One additional signature has my interest, but when it implodes the moment I launch probes I think that perhaps now is a good time for a sammich.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Space takes an afternoon nap
Tags: eve online, imicus, loki, maulus, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Not quite ready for the return

Let's see what I can get up to today. The recent spate of wormholes connecting to our home system has apparently dried up, leaving me with the one route to go, jumping through our static connection to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system. I won't get up to much mischief here, not with only an off-line tower visible on my directional scanner and the whole of the system being in range. I'll have to look further abroad.

My notes indicate I'm looking for a static exit to null-sec amongst the fifteen anomalies and ten signatures. I ignore gas, relics, data, resolving the wormhole as the final signature. Thanks for that. At least it's obviously the only wormhole in the system, and again I have just the one direction to travel. Out to null-sec with me, and in to a system in Oasa by myself.

By myself, you say? I do, Penny. Then I shall rat whilst I scan. Or maybe just find a rat to pop for a gain in security status, given that there are no additional signatures in the system. And, what the hell, as it all looks quiet I shall hop a stargate or two to look for more wormholes rather than turn around, not today fearing what isn't w-space. The next system across is equally empty of pilots and signatures as the first, although I pause to pop another rat, but the next stargate-hop lands me in the middle of a load of warp bubbles.

If a ship is in a warp bubble but not one of the twenty pilots in the system is there to shoot it, is it really caught? Who cares, as my Loki strategic cruiser not only has a covert operations cloak but also the interdiction nullifier subsystem. I point myself towards the next stargate in the little ring of systems I'm travelling through, and enter a cloaked warp without bother. The bubbles on the other stargate impede my exit just as much as my entrance, which is to say not at all.

Maybe I should have stopped in that last system. The locals clearly want to discourage visitors. But never mind, as this next system has two signatures for me to scan, which I do as I also find a rat to pop. One is a combat site, the other a wormhole, an outbound connection to class 5 w-space. On the one hand, an outbound connection guarantees at least one more wormhole to resolve. On the other hand, the discovery scanner will have alerted anyone in the C5 system of my imminent arrival. Really, what's the point of roaming these days?

Not entirely deterred, I jump to C5a to an empty result on d-scan. That's no surprise when opening the system map, seeing one planet in range and the next being over 40 AU distant. I launch probes and perform a blanket scan of the system, revealing ten anomalies, a measly four signatures, and six ships, one of which I can tell is a dreadnought even with my probes set to their coarsest scanning range. I should find them, however obvious this new wormhole must be to anyone who realises the power of the discovery scanner.

Warping towards the centre of the system finds a tower, along with a Scorpion battleship, Navy Raven battleship, Archon carrier, and the Moros dreadnought. But that's four ships. A subsequent blanket scan shows five now, which is still one more than is at the tower. A second Navy Raven soon warps in, though, followed by a third, bringing the number of ships up to six. The newly arrived ships are piloted, naturally, as is the Scorpion. What were they doing? Are there any wrecks from the direction they came?

I see two anomalies in the rough direction the Ravens came from, far out of d-scan range, so I point my Loki towards the planet near them and enter warp. I may need to be quick in identifying the right anomaly and making a perch, because as I enter warp one of the Ravens is swapped for a Noctis salvager. But, reaching the planet, I see no wrecks. And not only are these are the only possible anomalies the Ravens could have come from but the Noctis appears on d-scan. And disappears from d-scan. That's when I remember the previous disappearing ships.

The Noctis has gone through a wormhole, the Ravens having engaged Sleepers in a different w-space system. Being out of range of the tower also means I can scan for the wormhole, where I can wait for the Noctis. Doing so is easy, with one signature around this planet, and warping to the resolved wormhole sees the system's static connection to class 4 w-space. I get close and wait for the Noctis to return. I hope he won't be long.

I could jump to C4a and look for the Noctis, but that doesn't seem like a good idea. Worst case, we could pass each other on the wormhole. And even though that's unlikely, the anomalies have probably despawned by now, and there is no guarantee that I could either launch probes covertly or successfully hunt the salvager in time. But I know the Noctis will be coming back this way, and by staying here I have the option of jumping through the wormhole without polarising myself. On top of that, he'll be jumping back with a cargo hold full of loot. I'm best off waiting here.

I remain cloaked. I don't want to spook the Noctis and have him be prepared to flee, nor to call in reinforcements as he holds his session change cloak. I just have to give the pilot a second to feel comfortable before ambushing him. And I don't have long to wait. The wormhole crackles. I give him the second he needs to see nothing untoward, then shed my cloak at about the same time as the Noctis does. He is trying to enter warp, I am trying to stop him. But even getting my sensor booster active, the recalibration delay from decloaking is apparently enough for the perhaps-modified Noctis to warp clear.

That was pretty close. I initially think I couldn't have done better, but second thoughts have my considering the choice to remain cloaked a mistake. Several seconds of recalibration delay are significant, and even if the Noctis had called for support I would have survived the attentions of a battleship or two in the time it takes to destroy a salvager. And, like I said, staying this side of the wormhole meant my chances of getting polarised during the ambush would have been low. Yeah, I probably should have been ready and waiting for that salvager.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: archon, eve online, loki, mmorpg, moros, noctis, penny ibramovic, raven, scanning, scorpion, w-space

Gigs of 2013, part two

All I had to do was write up the XFM Exposure night at the Barfly and this post would have been complete back in July. But, no, that was too much like hard work. Still, here it is now.

And So I Watch You From Afar at The Garage

Lighting guys are dicks. At least, bad ones are. The audience is in a small, dark venue, with pretty much the only lighting being directed towards the stage, yet dick lighting guys think it's a terrific wheeze to regularly turn high-powered beams directly in to the audience's faces, sometimes including a strobe for added hilarity, and nearly always at times of such musical intensity when, oh, I dunno, we actually want to watch the band. Trying to get engaged with the music when all I can see is afterglow on the back of my retinas, or am wiping tears from my eyes, is not easy. It's actually really damned frustrating and a significant hindrance to enjoying myself.

I already wasn't having much fun. Gallops unfortunately have to pull out of the support slot because of illness, which causes an extended delay of standing around bored as their kit is set-up and then torn down with no live music being played. Frustration and temporary blindness coupled with my only slightly irrational pet peeve of audiences clapping along with songs means I'm having a pretty poor evening overall. On top of that, leaving the venue has me facing a massive crowd queueing to get in to the police-controlled tube station, and even though it's only the tail-end of the Arsenal fans returning home after watching their team's match against Everton it still looks like it will take ages to get in to the station. I've only just left standing in one crowd of strangers feeling frustrated. I instead trudge down to Angel, tired and fatigued, which gets me back to Euston in time to watch a train leave the platform seconds before I can reach it, giving me a half-hour wait for the next one.

Right, there was music too. And So I Watch You From Afar play their gig cancelled from a few months back and are somewhat overwhelmed by having their first sold-out gig outside of Northern Ireland. The set is pretty good, but because of the delays and other frustrations I'm just not having much fun. Maybe I'm getting too old for this.

Menomena at The Garage

Back for a few shows before heading to a festival, Menomena are somewhat jet-lagged after their fifteen-hour journey from Portland to get to their first date here in London. It hasn't dampened their spirits, even if Danny wishes Emily in the audience a happy birthday twice, once half-way through the set and then when Menomena return for the encore. But the playing is as vigorous as ever, and quite technical when Justin swaps between guitar, bass, and saxophone, whilst also playing an organ's foot pedals. The set seems to be the same from their last visit, when I saw the band play Cargo, and it's a decent mix of songs from all three albums. There are no strobe lights, or powerful beams shot in to my face, and Arsenal aren't playing at home (I checked, just in case, and they're playing Wigan at the Emirates the next night, when I'm seeing Suuns elsewhere). It's just really good music from an excellent band, in a decent venue with an enthusiastic audience.

Suuns at XOYO

I missed seeing Suuns play a little while back, and wasn't going to make that mistake twice, not with their excellent second album being on constant rotation. The band come on stage and seemingly start tuning up, but what we're actually hearing is an extended opening to Music Won't Save You, the sampler's beats doubling in time again and again before the bass drum kicks in, and we get the full Suuns experience. Of course, extended noodling is kinda the full Suuns experience anyway, the band somehow managing to instil energy and intensity in to songs that feel relatively laid back. Perhaps it's lead singer Ben's harsh stare and repeated palative fricatives and affricatves in the lyrics.

Whatever it is, most of the second album is played, with plenty of time dedicated to seeing how long they can push the bridge in Edie's Dream, which is a long time. But it's a long time well spent, the bridge beautifully hypnotic, eventually distorted by the refrain from the bass, before finally resolving perfectly to return fully to the main beat. The album version, perhaps only half as long even with just this one extended section, will now never quite live up to the live version. To finish, Suuns play Armed for Peace and Gaze, the first two tracks on their debut album, as the encore, bringing the gig to a wonderful climax. I have to see Suuns again.

Suuns at Sebright Arms

I told myself I had to see Suuns again after their previous excellent gig, I just didn't think it would be quite so soon. Coming off their visit for Glastonbury, the Canadian band return to London for one date in the East End. It's kinda far for me to go, with the Tube not really extending that far, but I did say I should make the effort, so I make the effort. And, of course, it's worth it. The basement of the pub really is just the basement of the pub, the band having to walk through the audience to get to the stage, but at least it means the lighting set-up is rudimentary and isn't constantly pulsed to blinding levels.

As for the gig itself, Suuns are Suuns, and play most of the same songs as at XOYO recently, but not necessarily in the same order. Opening song is different, and I don't recognise it, and the encore is now the previous gig's opening track. But it all works, because Suuns are brilliant, a deeply impressive band with songs that manage to creep up on you and work their way in to your mind and body in ways you don't realise until they stop playing and you notice a part of you is missing. I have to see Suuns again.

Thought Forms, It Hugs Back, Wild Smiles at Camden Barfly

An unexpected gig, I managed to blag a guest ticket from singer/guitarist Matt when I caught early an e-mail offering the ticket to whoever replied first. That was pretty cool. I'm already a fan of the band and have all three of their albums, and spotted Matt before the gig to thank him. He spotted me too, as I was wearing my It Hugs Back bear t-shirt, grrr! Not only that, but it was an XFM Exposure evening, with XFM DJ John Kennedy compering. For all the homogeneity of the airwaves, John's late-night show really highlights new bands and new music, and I have a lot of respect for what he does. I plucked up the courage to say hi between bands, and found to my delight what a thoroughly charming man he is. He even remembered my name at the end of the night when I went over to say good night, after which I also said hi to the rest of It Hugs Back, who also liked my t-shirt.

So it was a really good night for me. How about the music? First band Wild Smiles are all loud guitars with lots of wailing feedback. Well, not all the time. A lead gets yanked out of a guitar during the first song, which is recovered deftly enough. And when a string snaps a couple of songs later and needs to be replaced—no spare guitars here—the other guitarist points out that he told him to change the strings before the gig, then asks everyone to 'give him a big fuck you' for causing the pause. It was all in good spirits and just added to their attitude and rough charm. I'd listen to them again.

I am, of course, here for It Hugs Back, who are showcasing their third album tonight. They aren't really quiet and loud, as was a trend some years back, but equally calm and energetic, a mellowness effusing through even the more upbeat sections of the music. Naturally, most of the songs are from the current album, and as it is only a supporting slot the set is thirty minutes long, but it's a good thirty minutes. It Hugs Back are sounding great.

Headliners Thought Forms are rather unconventional, occasionally unfocussed, and, to me, a little pretentious as a result. Never the less, there are sparks of genius in their sonic soundscapes. And they really are sonic soundscapes. I don't think I can call sprawling, sometimes incoherent, extended experiments in music 'songs'. But Thought Forms sensibly, or cleverly, end the set with a huge, sustained burst of energy. I wouldn't be convinced that a burst could be sustained if I hadn't heard it for myself. At the end of the set I am torn between ambivalence and admiration for what I've just witnessed.

Posted in Audio | 2 Comments »
Tags: and so i watch you from afar, barfly, garage, gig, it hugs back, menomena, sebright arms, suuns, thought forms, wild smiles, xoyo

Short and sweet stab at a Skiff

An extra signature in the home system doesn't give me anywhere to go, it's just gas. It makes for a simple start to the evening, though, with no intruders or choices of direction to go. I simply resolve our static wormhole and jump to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system. Updating my directional scanner when in C3a sees a tower and ships, with a Fleet Issue Stabber cruiser, Drake battlecruiser, Skiff exhumer, and shuttle somewhere in the system. At the tower, presumably.

I'm not expecting to find much, and if any of the ships happen to be piloted or even active the mere two anomalies and three signatures in the system almost guarantees everything will stop. Only a minute ago there would have been two signatures, our K162 popping up on the systems of any pilot in this C3 as soon as I warped to our static wormhole. I hate the ill-devised discovery scanner being active in w-space.

Unlikely or not, a negative attitude will never find anything. Given that both anomalies in the system are both ore sites and one of the ships is a Skiff it's hardly a Herculean task to point d-scan at each to see if the exhumer is chomping on rocks. And, what do you know, the Skiff is in the first of the ore sites. For how much longer I can't say, and I have no idea if any of the other ships are piloted and perhaps ready to counter an ambush. But this kind of opportunity is already rare, and getting rarer because of the discovery scanner. I'd better move quickly and hope to catch a pilot asleep at the controls.

I warp to the ore site, hopefully making a reasonable perch on my way in, to see the Skiff still chipping chunks of ore from some rock or other. I can't see it from this distance, not with that suitably named large collidable object dominating the view. I'm actually glad it's there, in fact, as it gives me an excellent reference point to the Skiff from this vector. I bookmark the otherwise pointless rock sculpture, check that I can warp to my perch and warp to it, bouncing right back in to drop ten kilometres short of my target.

The Skiff is still skiffing, a ship has dropped from d-scan—the shuttle, it seems, although I can't tell what's happened to it—and I am close enough to strike. I don't think I'm throwing too much caution to the wind to ambush this miner. Whatever warning our wormhole popping on to the discovery scanner gave the locals it probably wasn't long enough to get this Skiff next to a bistot rock with a couple of covert escorts. I'm going in.

I approach under cover of my cloak, getting as close as I can before circumstances naturally shed my cover, and strike. I get a positive target lock, disrupt the Skiff's warp engines, and burn towards my target to give it a thump away from any kind of alignment it may be aiming for. And what a thump I give it. My first impression is that the Skiff is trying to get away, but as I notice it apparently aiming towards empty space I settle my Loki strategic cruiser down to allow its autocannons to track more easily, and the Skiff slows under its natural inertia. Yep, the pilot really isn't paying attention.

Big hunter Penny has caught a ship that doesn't have a pilot at its controls. I remember the days when I used to have to hunt ships, carefully position probes around gravimetric sites, scan with practiced precision and speed. I liked being good at what I did. Now look at me. Shooting a sleeping miner in an ore site that was handed to me on a plate. I don't feel accomplished.

Ah, my whingeing has woken up the Skiff pilot. That, or the armour alarms of his exhumer. The Skiff actually starts moving under its own steam, turning to point towards a nearby planet. He doesn't enter warp, though, and it barely takes much care to keep him within warp scrambler range. No help comes to aid him, and the hardy industrial ship takes only a little longer to be torn down to its hull and ripped apart. The Skiff explodes, its now-alert pod warping away a moment later.

I loot and shoot the wreck, not caring to salvage what little bistot the Skiff had managed to collect so far. Reload, cloak, locate the tower. The pod is there, and the Stabber is also piloted. The Drake is empty. There is no reaction from either pilot, apart from the pod going off-line a minute later, and so I launch probes to resolve the other two signatures. Gas and a static exit to low-sec. The wormhole is at the end of its life, deterring me from exploring further. But that's okay. I got a kill, which makes for a short and sweet session. Well, kinda sweet.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Short and sweet stab at a Skiff
Tags: drake, eve online, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, skiff, stabber, w-space

Evasive manoeuvres

I'm just going to have a little poke around the constellation. Nothing much, you understand, as I'm not even supposed to be here today. But the inexorable pull of exploring new systems has my coming on-line to see what I can find in w-space. Two extra signatures in the home system aren't echoes either, giving me a bit of gas that I try to ignore and an actual-to-goodness K162 from class 5 w-space to investigate. Maybe there are ships flying around!

Nope, nothing in C5a. Well, nothing immediately obvious, although only a single planet lies in range of my directional scanner. Still, launching combat probes and performing a blanket scan of the system reveals eight anomalies and five signatures, without a trace of ships, and warping around doesn't find a tower. There were six towers five months ago. Losing one is unfortunate, losing six sounds like a good party. The lack of occupation indirectly points to another K162 being in the system, and scanning finds it easily enough. The wormhole takes me to class 4 w-space.

There's occupation in C4a but still no ships, but apparently some bookmarks. I don't think I have kept them from my last visit, being three years ago, and it seems that we connect to our corporation's sister system. But it only seems that way. The reason why the wormhole I entered through is not similarly bookmarked is because no one from our other half has scanned today, leaving both bookmarks pointing at empty space instead of connections. That's a shame, as it could have saved me some time.

Four anomalies and ten unscanned signatures in C4a get whittled down to just the one K162, again from class 4 w-space, so I head further backwards in what looks like one of those evenings of scanning a perpetual chain. Again, d-scan is clear, one planet is in range, and the almost-messy system holding ten anomalies and fifteen signatures is unoccupied. But this time I get a choice of direction, as the constellation forks with two K162s from class 2 w-space and a K162 from class 5 w-space. Maybe it tridents.

C2a first, and I'm greeted by one tower with no ships on d-scan and one planet in range. Exploring reveals two more towers still without any ships, and although I feel like turning around immediately I feel compelled to scan for the other static connection. I can spare a couple of minutes, and the five anomalies and five signatures are sifted through until I resolve the exit to high-sec, which I poke through to appear in a system in the Tash-Murkon region. Whatevs.

Back to C2a, in to C4a, and through the other C2 K162. D-scan is clear once more, but this time it's with one planet out of range. Even so, that planet holds the tower, but as it is as lacking in ships as every other system so far I find myself launching probes to scan again. Fifteen anomalies, seven signatures, and the high-sec exit is joined by a K162 from class 5 w-space that is sitting at half mass. That's almost interesting, as it implies the wormhole is in use. Maybe the occupants are using the high-sec connection to import or export items.

I check the C2b exit—it chucks me out to a nondescript system in Essence—before taking a closer look at C5c. Returning to w-space and the K162 has no change in the wormhole's condition, so it doesn't look like it's being actively collapsed and should be safe for me to jump through. My strategic cruiser doesn't have enough mass to destabilise it significantly. And in I go, to see a few drones, some core scanning probes, and some bubbles on d-scan. That's it, at least until I consider exploring, at which point an Orca industrial command ship appears on d-scan. That is interesting.

The Orca drops on to the wormhole and jumps to C2b. Is he mid-way through collapsing the wormhole, and about to polarise himself in front of my Loki? I hope so, as that would give me a nice fat target to shoot. Oh, or maybe he's using the high-sec connection as I assumed not ten minutes ago. Nope, the wormhole crackles and brings the Orca back to C5b, right in front of me, with nowhere to go. I decloak, wait for the sensor recalibration to finish, and then experience an unsettling sensation as the wormhole disappears. Apparently it was closer to collapse than I assumed. It didn't even drop to critical levels when the Orca jumped out.

This is trouble. I don't mean having to find my way home. That's a minor irritation. Trouble is being decloaked in the middle of space with no wormhole to jump through on top of a target that has probably already called for help to come. And this ship isn't a Mammoth, it won't break apart by disrupting its warp engines. Ships will be swarming over me before I could break the Orca's shields, let alone its armour, and with no escape route I will end up dead. I take the sensible if unexciting manoeuvre and cloak and jink. Thankfully, my cloaking is not impeded by a Revelation dreadnought this time.

Help was already here, it seems. Barely have I re-hidden my Loki than one allied to the Orca decloaks nearby. I'm glad I was thinking clearly, particularly as losing my ship would mean losing my pod, given that I'm in a system whose only wormhole I know about has just been collapsed. I need to scan for the new one, and I kinda need my ship to do that. And once I get away from the two hostile ships and launch probes, I remember about the already present core probes. The locals will be ahead of me in looking for the replacement connection. And there's only one signature in the system, making finding it trivial. It's good, then, that I'm a fast scanner.

I resolve the new wormhole, warp to it before the core probes disappear, and jump through to C2c without any direct threat or ships following me. Now to find my way home. The class 2 system is unoccupied and inactive, which gives me no distractions, but my notes from two months ago tell me I found a wormhole to class 5 w-space on that occasion. That will mean the other static wormhole leads to null-sec, and that isn't ideal. But maybe it will have to do. I launch probes and start sifting through the sixteen anomalies and twelve signatures.

Two wormholes are resolved almost on top of each other. The first is a K162 from high-sec, which seems too good to be true, and the second is another K162 from high-sec. I would consider myself lucky, had I not just been isolated from our constellation and almost caught by a Loki. A third wormhole is an outbound connection to low-sec, leading to the Placid region, indicating that my notes from a previous visit aren't accurate. But I don't care to determine the other static wormhole tonight. It's late, and I want to go home.

I recall my probes and check the high-sec connections. One comes from Sinq Laison, fifteen or twenty hops to get back to one of the C2 systems. The other takes me to Devoid, a dozen hops to C2a's entrance. That'll do, pig. Again, I feel glad that I scanned and found those two exit systems, but had I not scanned I wouldn't have found the fateful half-mass C5 K162 that got me in to this mess. Still, although it's not been quite the adventure that I wanted my exploration gave me a minute or two of excitement. I ponder on the decisions I made as I make the peaceful journey across high-sec, back in to w-space, and across four empty systems that take me home.

Posted in Gaming | 6 Comments »
Tags: eve online, loki, mmorpg, null-sec, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space

Recovering null-sec relics

I know C2a. Not intimately, like we see each other every day, but in reconnoitring the path an Occator transport took, before its warp core-stabilised cheating self escaped my clutches, I entered and scanned the class 2 w-space system. I know it has the two static wormholes, one to the class 4 system home of the Occator and the other an exit to high-sec the transport was using, as well as a K162 from more class 2 w-space. There are also three towers, currently empty of ships. What this means is that I can bypass C2a and head directly to C2b to look for more ships to shoot.

Circumstances don't look promising on entering C2b. Drones don't tend to get abandoned for no reason, so seeing a flight of them in otherwise empty space makes me think that I'm not about to find any active pilots. How right I am. Exploring the system doesn't even find occupation, let alone ships or capsuleers, but that just means I'm back to scanning for wormholes. There should be a wormhole to find too. Well, naturally there is the other static wormhole, which as the first goes to class 2 w-space will lead to low-sec empire space. But as wormholes need to be opened, and this system is unoccupied, someone must have come in to open the wormhole to C2a. I'm looking for a K162.

I look for a K162 amongst the eight anomalies and five signatures, but I don't find one. The low-sec exit is the only signature of interest, and even the level of interest in that wormhole is low. The exit leads to Domain, ten hops to Amarr, with half-a-dozen pilots in the system and no other signatures. That leaves me going back the way I came. I return to C2b, warp and jump to C2a, and head across to the wormhole to C4a. Will someone be waiting for me there, hoping to exact revenge for having the audacity to shoot one of their ships? The pilot of the Occator seemed a little upset after all. But, no. The wormhole is clear, no one is lying in wait, and even the Occator is gone.

The transport could be making another trip to high-sec, but I'm not waiting a second time for him to come back, even if I could add another point or two of warp disruption just to annoy him. I'd rather find a new target, and as I've yet to head through our own static wormhole there could be a target to find. I jump home, warp to the connection, and go through to tonight's neighbouring class 3 w-space system.

A tower is visible on my directional scanner, as is a Dominix battleship. That's rather more ship than I can expect to engage by myself, but as there are no wrecks on d-scan it may not be doing anything anyway. A visit to the system from five months ago sees that the tower is different, and, once I locate the new one and see the Dominix is empty, I'm left scanning the eight anomalies and seven signatures for the static exit to null-sec. I find the characteristically weak signature as expected, as well as a chubbier wormhole. What can it be? Ah, hilarious. It's a K162 from null-sec.

Okay, to null-sec! Through the static wormhole first, to appear in Etherium Reach. The system is empty of pilots, so I rat. It's not empty of signatures, so I also scan. I resolve a wormhole and pop a battleship, warping to the connection to see a Z971 outbound link to class 1 w-space. How lovely, let's see who's inside. A tower and ships light up d-scan, with two Retriever mining barges, a Rorqual capital industrial ship, and three battlecruisers all in the system. It's a shame that d-scan puts all the ships and tower together, but the scanner doesn't show me pilots. Locating and warping to the tower does that, and I see that the two Retrievers are piloted.

Normally, finding a pair of miners in w-space gets me a little excited. Not tonight. The Retrievers are almost certainly back in the force field of their tower because the horrible discovery scanner automatically popped up the new signature of the K162 in this C1 system when I warped to the Z971 in null-sec, immediately alerting the miners to the new threat. And, sure enough, both pilots go off-line within a couple of minutes. How tedious.

Back to null-sec, C3a, and out through the K162 to more null-sec, this time in Stain with two other pilots in the system. I'm ready to ignore this system too, but seeing one extra signature and knowing that scanning whilst cloaked is a relatively safe activity I feel compelled to see if there is another wormhole here. I launch probes and start looking, and at first I think I will resolve a wormhole, what with the covert operations boat sitting on top of the signature. But as a subsequent scan has the cov-ops remain on the signature, rather than jumping or cloaking, and with the signature strength being extremely weak, I suspect what I'm resolving is a relic site.

My combat scanning probes fully resolve the ship before the site, but that's enough for me to warp in and take a look. I aim to get close but not cosy with the ship, just in case of unforeseen trouble, and indeed I warp to a relic site that the Cheetah is currently attempting to loot. I perform a quick sanity check on the pilot, particularly now that two more pilots have turned up in the system, and note that she has no colleagues obviously nearby. It seems that she really is engrossed in analysing the relics. That works for me.

I approach the Cheetah, decloak my Loki strategic cruiser, and get the sensor booster active. The few seconds of sensor recalibration pass and I am able to get a positive target lock on the cov-ops, at which point I scramble its warp drives and start shooting. A few good hits is enough to rip the small ship apart, which wakes the pilot up enough for her to get her pod away cleanly, leaving me a wreck to loot. And it's pretty good loot too, with this perhaps not being her only site of the evening.

I grab the loot and run, but not back to the wormhole. I managed to forget to bookmark it, like a newbie, so have to pick an arbitrary celestial object to warp to before whoever owns the core probes now visible on d-scan has them converge on my position and maybe bring a bigger fish. Once out of the pocket I launch probes and resolve the wormhole back to C3a, enabling me to head home. Taking a look at the kill, now that I'm back in control, sees that the total loss to the pilot is close to a quarter-of-a-billion ISK, with maybe 140 Miskies now in my cargo hold. Easy-mode mining is fun, but easy-mode relic analysis is more profitable.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: cheetah, dominix, eve online, loki, mmorpg, null-sec, penny ibramovic, pvp, retriever, rorqual, scanning, w-space

Tracking a transport

What's with the proliferation of signatures? The home system is positively bursting with them. Launching probes to see what they are, as I'm going to be exploring anyway, finds a new pocket of gas and a decent haul of four wormholes. Well, I think that's what I've found, but the first wormhole is dead-on-arrival, landing me in empty space, the second is our static wormhole and generally assumed to be in our system, and the third is also dead-on-arrival. What the hell, space, stop being a dick. At least the fourth wormhole is an actual K162. It comes from class 4 w-space, which means I am going to class 4 w-space.

My directional scanner shows me not just a tower but also a bunch of ships in C4a, which is almost exciting. There are no wrecks, though, so I doubt the pair of combat ships are fighting, the lack of probes probably means the covert operations boat isn't scanning, which leaves me hoping the haulers are getting ready to collect planet goo. I'd better find the tower to check.

Locating the tower locates the ships, and most are piloted. The Proteus strategic cruiser has disappeared, which could be a concern, but as the Iteron hauler goes off-line moments after I arrive I hope that's what happened to the Proteus too, rather than him roaming cloaked. But there is activity. An Occator transport poops a canister, which a different Occator scoops. The first transport pilot swaps to a Helios cov-ops and warps away, not to the wormhole heading to our system, and is followed a minute later by the second transport pilot, still in his Occator.

The Helios warping to empty space didn't indicate much, but the transport following behind strongly suggests there is another wormhole out there. I warp to the wormhole home in case the pilots are bouncing off a safe spot to misdirect anyone watching, and see no one come past me. Considering our static wormhole leads to class 3 w-space, which itself will exit to k-space, I imagine the other wormhole in C4a is a K162 from class 2 w-space. A C2 that naturally connects to class 4 w-space will hold an exit to high-sec, giving a shorter and potentially more secure route out of w-space. But only potentially.

Making sure the pilots are out of the system, leaving only one idling capsuleer at the tower, I launch probes and scan. There are only four anomalies—all ore sites—and five signatures, and I saw the direction the ships headed, making finding the wormhole almost trivial. A couple of scans later and I'm warping to what turns out to be the expected C2 K162. Now I just have to hope that I don't accidentally cross paths with the Occator whilst I reconnoitre its route.

Jumping to C2a has d-scan clear, with only a moonless planet in range and almost 90 AU to the furthest planet. A transport will easily out-pace me across that distance, so rather than explore I simply launch probes and scan whilst loitering on the wormhole. A blanket scan reveals twelve anomalies, eight signatures, and a single ship briefly. Making a few more subsequent scans has the ship definitely gone, or at least cloaked, so I resolve the signatures, picking up a pair of wormholes. I should probably see what they are.

As I warp across the system I take the opportunity of having my probes available to locate the three towers I assume there are present. Being so far out of d-scan range and not entirely willing to warp around whilst waiting for the transport, I adjusted the probes' filters to show all structures, revealing clusters around three planets. Now I drop the probes in to a tight, short-range cluster on each of those planets and scan. Once for each planet, I resolve the locations of the defences, tower, and hangars around a specific moon, and bookmark one of each for later reference. It's a quick way to locate towers when there are no pilots watching d-scan.

The wormholes I have resolved are another K162 from class 2 w-space and the high-sec exit. It's possible but unlikely that the C4 pilots are using the second C2 system, as its other static wormhole will exit to low-sec, but that depends on how convenient the high-sec connection is. I poke out to see, appearing in a system in Kor-Azor, eight hops to Amarr. That's not bad, and probably the direction the Occator went. He's not in the local system now, and rather than chase him through the high-sec wormhole, or potentially polarise myself on the connection to their home system, I should probably go and wait in their C4.

I could have waited on the wormhole in C4a in the first place, and I gave the idea some consideration. But it's good to know who has gone where, how long they may be, and what environment not only will they be flying through but where you could possibly be fighting. And now I know that, and feel much more comfortable with the circumstances. I go back to and cross C2a, returning to C4a to cloak menacingly on the K162. D-scan shows me no change, thankfully the Occator not having sneaked back when I wasn't looking, so now I just have to wait. Hopefully he won't be too long.

La la la, I'll just catch up on some correspondence. La la la. Okay, the wormhole crackles. Please be the Occator. I don't want to spook the Helios, who will be nearly impossible to catch and will alert his colleague, and I'd rather not bump hulls with the Proteus, so I stay cloaked until the ship reveals itself. Ah, hello! It is the Occator. I decloak, activate my sensor booster, and wait for the sensor recalibration delay to end. Those few seconds feel like an age, as the Occator begins its acceleration to enter warp, hence the sensor booster to significantly reduce lock time once I am able to target ships.

Here we go. I gain a positive lock, get my warp scrambler active, and start shooting. And just as I start I stop, the transport warping clear from my attentions. I know I caught him, as my autocannons are light a round of ammunition, and my combat log confirms that I had a positive lock. The cad must have augmented the transport ship's already enhanced warp core strength with a stabiliser or two. That's just not cricket. Nor, frankly, is his comment in the local communication channel. I'd shoot him for that, if I could catch him.

Never mind. I reconnoitred the system, watched my prey leave, and followed his trail, patiently lying in wait for his return. I would have caught a stock ship too. But sometimes they get away. And as I loiter on the wormhole, wondering what response I'll get, the connection crackles again to bring the Helios back in to the system. But so what. I suppose I'll leave this system alone. I don't mind so much, as I still have options. I think I'll check C2b first.

Posted in Gaming | 4 Comments »
Tags: eve online, helios, iteron, mmorpg, occator, penny ibramovic, proteus, pvp, scanning, w-space

Looking for ships, getting a Legion

I come on-line and settle in for another evening of scanning. Not that I got far yesterday, as I recall. But already I see four unexpected signatures in the home system, so I launch probes and get my mojo working. The first signature sits where the K162 from class 5 w-space was unsuccessfully collapsed—or successfully critically destabilised, depending on your point of view—the second where our static wormhole has been for the past couple of days. W-space is glitching, it seems.

The C5 K162 isn't there any more, neither is any other wormhole to take its place. It's a ghost signature. I trust our static wormhole is actually present, so concentrate on the other signatures, which are a known pocket of gas, a K162 from class 2 w-space, and an actual C5 K162. That'll do. I'll check the class 2 system first, as it may simply lead out to high-sec.

Jumping to C2a has nothing appear on my directional scanner, which is apparently a bit of a change from my previous visit eighteen months ago when there were fifteen towers in the system. Now there isn't even one, and although the system is hardly tidy the twenty-three anomalies and eight signatures won't take much time sifting through. So sift I do, and all I can find of interest is the static exit to high-sec. Whoever came this way must have disliked what they saw and killed their connection.

As the exit from C2a leads to an unremarkable system in Genesis, I head straight back to w-space, across C2a to the home system, and back further through the other K162 to C5a. There are no Tengu strategic cruisers bouncing back-and-forth like flies trying to use an open window this time. Indeed, all looks quite sleepy in the system, with two towers visible on d-scan, no ships, and my being spat eight kilometres from the wormhole. If the towers weren't so easy to locate for reference I'd turn around now.

There are six planets and six moons, spread almost equally, with only one planet hogging two moons for itself. I warp to the first tower easily enough, noting its location and tagging the corporation, before warping to where the second should be but isn't. Apparently this tower isn't as easy to find as it should be, sitting off-grid from the moon. I've seen this before, although it seems to be rare.

I consider slowboating my way towards the tower's actual location before a bit of maths shows me how long I'd have to do this, and realise that, with no one in the system, I may as well drop probes and resolve its position the easy way. Done. I'd better keep this bookmark for future visits, so mark it appropriately, and now I'm out of here. I warp to the wormhole and jump home, and make my first visit to our neighbouring class 3 system.

A tower and no ships, what a delightful surprise. The tower belongs to a three-member corporation too, so I don't think I can expect to see anyone come on-line, and I simply launch probes and scan. Data, relics, gas, gas, gas, gas, gas, wormhole, gas, gas, relics, and data. That's pretty boring, even when reading it back. To think I spent time identifying them all. And with the one wormhole I suppose I'm going to low-sec.

Exiting C3a puts me in The Forge, an almost-convenient number of hops from Jita, and although there are plenty of potential pirates in the system both stargates look clear. I think w-space is quiet enough that I can spare the time to buy the replacement Legion strategic cruiser I carelessly lost recently—even with a Navy Issue Caracal appearing a hundred kilometres from the wormhole, as it promptly warps away again—particularly as I managed to somehow ignore the direct connection to Amarr the other day.

The shopping trip is simple enough. I go home, ditch the Loki, take my pod out to low-sec, and have my auto-pilot point me stargate-to-stargate to Jita, as I buy the ship and modules en route. The total seems more than I expected, so perhaps I should be more careful with this one. The first hurdle is getting the ship home, but this is achieved easily enough.

Still the stargate in low-sec is empty of ships, and still w-space looks clear of any other capsuleer, even with one last look in C5a and C2a in my Loki after stowing the Legion at our tower. I'm finished for the night, happy with at least being a little productive.

Posted in Gaming | 4 Comments »
Tags: caracal, eve online, legion, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Weirdos from another w-space system

Let's see if I can find someone to stalk. Space has seemed pretty quiet of late. There's no one in the home system, of course; that would be too easy. I'll try next door. Resolving our static wormhole and jumping to the class 3 w-space system has nothing and no one immediately obvious, with my directional scanner being clear from the K162, and prospects are not looking good with only one planet of thirteen in range. I launch probes, perform a blanket scan of the system, and warp away to explore.

My probes reveal five anomalies, four signatures, and two ships, the ships being a Damnation command ship, empty, and Navy Issue Hurricane battlecruiser, also empty, floating inside a tower in the same position around the outermost planet as from fourteen months ago. My notes also point to the system holding a static exit to high-sec, so with no activity and no pilots I suppose I'm looking for that.

Gas, gas, high-sec wormhole. I don't have much option, and warping to the wormhole gives me even less. The static connection is at the end of its life, and even though it may last another couple of hours it could also implode in the next minute. I'll be leaving it alone and instead forcing our own wormhole to collapse. It's not an exciting task, but it is occasionally necessary.

Jumping home changes my plans, though. The frustratingly opaque discovery scanner makes w-space life far too easy in being able to spot a couple of new signatures without my having to do anything, and although that makes w-space inherently safer it also makes it significantly more boring. Where's the fun if you never jump in to an Orca industrial command ship and warp to a wormhole not knowing that a new connection has unexpectedly appeared in the last five minutes and a scout is already planning your expensive demise?

I hold on the wormhole and see an Orca blip on d-scan, which is curious. It seems that whoever is connecting to our system doesn't want to and is killing their wormhole already, given that the ship doesn't warp its way across the system. I should probably find the wormhole while I still can. I warp to a safe spot out of range of the new signatures, annoyingly highlighted for me already, and launch probes to resolve the two new signatures. One is a pocket of gas, the other a K162 from class 5 w-space, already destabilised to half mass.

What to do. Sit and watch for now, I suppose. I expect more ships to appear and the wormhole to close, but depending on what is pushed through maybe I can give chase to a particularly vulnerable polarised ship, or, if rather unlikely, a ship that gets isolated when the wormhole dies. So I sit and watch. And watch and wait. And wait a bit more. Polarisation effects must have worn off by now, so what are the pilots doing? Do they want the wormhole or not? Should I look inside? Are they expecting me? Ah, the wormhole finally crackles with a ship's transit.

A Tengu appears in our home system and jumps back to C5a. That's weird. The wormhole crackles a second time, and two more of the strategic cruisers make the round trip. This is an odd way to collapse a wormhole. A third jump sees another Tengu, and after that are even more. What kind of amateurs throw strategic cruisers through a wormhole trying to kill it? Surely they have the skills to pilot bigger ships, they live in a C5 system so must have bigger ships, and they definitely have an Orca available. Even if they feel the Orca is a fat target, they clearly have enough active pilots and ships to protect it. This is simply bizarre.

The wormhole drops to a critically destabilised level at last, but only with Tengus coming and going. Weirdos. I'm left waiting and watching again, wondering if they'll finish off the wormhole, but it seems they won't. But even the critical wormhole is left in a shoddy state, frankly. The fleet made sure it became critically unstable but left it immediately afterwards. Even capsuleers with limited knowledge of wormholes would know that you could sneak a battleship both ways through that connection safely. My Loki strategic cruiser is in no danger of killing the wormhole and isolating me. I'm going to take a look.

No one waits for me on the wormhole. No one I can see, at least. The system itself is alive with ships, though, as d-scan shows me. Eight Tengus, a Legion strategic cruiser, Nidhoggur carrier, Archon carrier, and Moros dreadnought are all somewhere, as are combat scanning probes for some reason, and lots of Sleeper wrecks. It seems the corporation wanted some security in their system in order to make some ISK, but apparently they didn't know how to do that.

If the locals consider their wormhole to be secure in this only-just critical state I hope to show them how wrong they can be. Sadly, not only is the fleet engaging Sleepers outside of one of the standard anomalies, found using the, well, no longer the on-board scanner, but immediately shown to me by the distasteful discovery scanner, but whatever site the fleet is in is central enough to the small system that I won't be able to get out of d-scan range in order to launch probes. And I imagine the combat scanner probes would pick up my Loki when decloaked to launch my own probes. Maybe I should credit the fleet with some sense.

It doesn't look like I can do much in this system after all. Even a Magnate frigate that warps to the wormhole and drops short cloaks before I can decide if I want to try to catch it. The best I can do is decloak and be as obvious an intruder as possible, hoping to disrupt the Sleeper operation. Whether it works or not I can't tell, although the combat probes converge pretty quickly on to my position. Yeah, I'm on the wormhole you didn't kill, numbnuts.

And with that I jump back home, the wormhole predictably not dying, and no one following me. At least this diversion saved me from having to collapse our wormhole. Then again, I would have done it properly. Maybe if I had been noticed and a scout sent to watch me the pilots from C5a could have learnt something.

Posted in Gaming | 3 Comments »
Tags: archon, damnation, eve online, hurricane, legion, loki, magnate, mmorpg, moros, nidhoggur, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, w-space

Music of 2013, part two

Sometimes I need a while to fully appreciate an album before I'm ready to review it. Often I'll find that reviewing music can just be a bit difficult without sounding trite. Sometimes I'm just lazy. Whatever the reason this time, I've finally got around to reviewing the second batch of albums I've picked up this year. And it's a mostly good.

I am loath to describe debut album from Golden Grrrls as simple indie guitar pop, in case that makes it sound insipid. It most certainly isn't. Simple indie guitar pop is apparently difficult to accomplish, at least as seemingly effortlessly and consistently as Golden Grrrls manage, because it is done so infrequently as to be a real pleasure to experience again. I don't think I've been quite so happy and at ease listening to an album since the days of Velocity Girl. There's nothing overtly complicated in the music, but probably deceptively so, as nothing works quite so smoothly without being expertly refined. And the vocals and combined male/female harmonies fit together naturally well, flowing easily over the simple licks and fuzzy riffs. I find myself happily listening to Golden Grrls again and again, a smile always coming to my face when I do.

Mmm, the gossamer vocals and fuzzy guitars of shoegazing in the first track of No Joy's latest album Wait to Pleasure. That's what I like. I can't say why, but it seems to have taken me a little while to work out that it is indeed shoegazing that I'm listening to, because although being on my playlist I've not really registered the album directly. I suppose Wait to Pleasure has lived up to its name in that respect, and it could be simply because that's how the genre works. There is an overarching ethereal nature to the music that it can mostly drift over you, the occasional tendril sending a little shiver down your spine. I think No Joy's album will become a favourite of mine this year.

Another album from It Hugs Back, this one cunningly titled Recommended Record. Along with joining Wire singer/songwriter Matthew Simms is a busy bee indeed. And he's not just churning out tunes, there is a continuation and evolution to the band in this third album. There is less whimsy and more rough edges, but the wispy vocals maintain an overall distinctive style to the songs. My highlight would have to be Piano Drone, which is pretty much what its title suggests, although the piano doesn't drone; there's a piano above a droning beat. It's an excellent almost interlude to the rest of the album that strongly appeals to my krautrock sensibilities. If only it were four times as long. Even if not my favourite It Hugs Back album, Recommended Record easily ensures I'll continue to follow the band.

I didn't really see what the big deal was with the first album from Big Deal. Individually, the songs were okay, but as a whole the album suffered from the duo limiting themselves to strumming guitars. It all sounded rather the same. As such, I was ready to pass by their second offering, June Gloom, until the NME review pointed out that Big Deal had expanded their line up to round out their sound. Frankly, I thought that's all they really needed to add polish to their first album, so I happily changed my mind and picked up June Gloom and, what do you know, it's Big Deal made better. More texture is added to the songs, and there is a more dynamic feel, as the added drums nicely alternately underscore and elevate catchy and whimsical songs. Even the guitars feel more vibrant, as they are released from having to constantly hold the song together, instead allowing them to explore different aspects of the music. This is an excellent second album from Big Deal.

Curriculum Vitae by Swindle gets a decent review in the NME, and maybe mentions jazzy overtones. I don't remember, but aim to pick up the album and give it a listen anyway, as I like to look out for new music. The disc that gets delivered fails to be read by my computer, instead appearing as a data disc with some folders and files on it. They look like music tracks, but not being able to rip the album directly, so that I can transfer it on to my iPod, is a poor start. Undeterred, I transfer the disc to my CD player, which also fails to recognise it. Having heard about this kind of problem before I start scouring the labelling for the 'CD' symbol, not finding it anywhere. This isn't a CD but a non-standard disc. Quite what its purpose is eludes me. I can't play any of the tracks without fussing around, and sending it back for a replacement just gets me a similar disc. Because of this, I'm not going to review the album beyond saying that it clearly doesn't want to be listened to and shouldn't be. Ironically enough, I later find out that I mistakenly bought his first album and not the second one that was reviewed. Naturally, I'm not going to buy the one I wanted after this experience. Get bent, Swindle.

Posted in Audio | Comments Off on Music of 2013, part two
Tags: big deal, cd, golden grrrls, it hugs back, no joy, swindle