Dumb move

I'll maybe have just a little poke around w-space tonight. Aii's on-line and has scanned a bit, which should help speed up matters. 'I'm hunting in C2a.' Oh? Are there any pilots? 'A Myrmidon is clearing a site alone.' Well then, I'd better get a ship to you. My directional scanner shows the home system looks clear, so I warp to our tower, stow my scouting boat and swap to a Legion strategic cruiser, and warp to the K162 from class 2 w-space already scanned and bookmarked. Jumping through has a curious sight, though.

There's a bubble and a Typhoon on the wormhole. I tell Aii this, concerned that a battleship should be apparently guarding our way home, but he seems blasé about it. 'Warp to me, there's only two Sleepers left.' And, with that, the Typhoon cloaks. That's most odd, a cloaking battleship. But if Aii knows about it then we're probably okay. I move out of the bubble, make a bookmark outside of the bubble for safety, and warp towards Aii's Tengu.

I can see Aii's strategic cruiser on d-scan, but check to see if I've remembered his ship's name. 'Yes, I got decloaked somehow', he says, and he's engaged the battlecruiser in the anomaly, one Sleeper ship with them. As Aii is visible I drop my cloak mid-warp, activating my armour hardeners and getting my offensive systems hot. I'm warping in to a fight.

I drop out of warp in to the anomaly a little over ten kilometres from the tackled Myrmidon, Aii's Tengu already piling on the damage, and have to burn a bit closer to get my systems working. I start draining the capacitor juice from the Myrmidon and fire my lasers, and the battlecruiser starts to take damage, albeit slowly. I'm a little wary about that Typhoon making an appearance but d-scan looks clear. Not for long. Here he comes.

It's time to consider whether to flee or stay and fight with a second target. I think the battleship will be just a new target for us, given how badly the Myrmidon is damaged, and although Aii starts trying to pull range I've got myself invested in this fight. And so it is that I am far from warping away when the Purifier stealth bomber and Pilgrim recon ship decloak, and Scorpion battleship warps in. Fleeing would have been a good idea.

Too late now, I half-heartedly try to leave the anomaly, but I'm already scrammed, webbed, and neuted. I can't warp, can barely move, and my capacitor juice is dropping quickly. So be it, but if I'm going down I'm making sure that damned Myrmidon goes with me. The battlecruiser is dipping in to structure damage, just a few more seconds. Down, down, and there he goes. Pop! It's not much of a trade for the Legion, I have to admit, but at least it's something.

Now what to do? Nothing, apparently. What could have been a good fight is reduced to waiting to die, as the Scorpion gets its ECM working on my ship. I can target nothing, so I can attack nothing. The Typhoon moves away, looking to and managing to catch Aii before my colleague can escape, so I move in the opposite direction to try to get some systems working. Of course, it doesn't work. Although the Typhoon's scram drops from my Legion it's already been replaced by the Pilgrim's, who is keeping nice and close to me. So that's that.

I can't shake the Pilgrim, the ECM doesn't drop, so all I can do is watch my ship die slowly. A Prophecy battlecruiser turns up for some late glory as I prepare to warp my pod clear, and my ship explodes surrounded by flames. It's okay, it's a dry heat. I get my pod away cleanly, warping to the far side of the wormhole outside of the bubble and jumping home safely. Aii follows behind shortly afterwards, also getting his pod safe albeit stripped of a Tengu. Oh well.

Fleeing would have been a good idea, but not fighting in the first place would have been better. I should have called a louder audible when I bumped in to the Typhoon, but I got carried away with the solo battlecruiser and Aii's enthusiasm. I guess that's why bait is made so attractive. And at least I got some action within minutes of coming on-line. That doesn't happen often. Now back in my Loki strategic cruiser I return to the K162 to watch the wormhole be collapsed by our ambushers, the connection having served its purpose.

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Tags: eve online, legion, loki, mmorpg, myrmidon, penny ibramovic, pilgrim, prophecy, purifier, scorpion, tengu, typhoon, w-space

Getting reactions without a reaction

I'm scanning in a huff, having missed hitting a hauler in a case of horrible happenstance. I only continue scanning in the hopes that I will find a better opportunity further down the chain, which, considering I am in a class 1 w-space system, does not seem terribly likely. But I scan anyway, and get gas, gas, wormhole, relics, wormhole, wormhole, data. That's a good result from this system.

The static exit to high-sec leads me out to a system in Domain, four hops to Amarr. I've done some shopping recently, so ignore the proximity to a trading hub and head back to w-space, where the next wormhole is a neat L614 connection to a class 5 system. That's bound to keep me busy with some time-consuming scanning through dangerous w-space. I'll call that Plan B. The third wormhole is a more welcoming K162 from class 2 w-space, which will be quicker to check and perhaps hold softer targets. Plan A.

Jumping in to C2c has four towers appear when I update my directional scanner, as well as a Sigil hauler, Heretic interdictor, and Magnate frigate. And this is interesting: sweeping d-scan around to look for the planets holding the towers has two corporate hangar arrays appear without an accompanying force field. Is there really an off-line tower waiting to be plundered in the system? If there is, I'd better check to see that there aren't any pilots either planning to do it themselves or ready to interrupt me if I try.

All three ships are at one of the planets, and all at one of the towers, with the Sigil and Magnate piloted. Those are hardly threatening ships, and I'm tempted to watch the Sigil to see if it goes anywhere, but I also notice that warping here has put me in range of more towers, as well as a Tengu strategic cruiser and Occator transport ship. I should probably look for them too, as the more pilots there are the bigger the threat to me, but there are so many towers that I would rather at least confirm there are hangars to be plundered. If there aren't, I can resume normal exploration.

Yep, that's an off-line tower with hangars and silos floating nearby. And I'm gonna throw caution to the wind and just start shooting. I can't even see all the ships on d-scan, only those I saw when first entering the system, but I will minimise my risk by sitting far enough away from the structures that I can cloak at a moment's notice. I just hope no one notices and comes to investigate. Thankfully, in space no one can hear explosions.

Shooting a barn door isn't terribly difficult. The first hangar doesn't so much explode as decay in to a bunch of canisters, which I ignore so that I can maintain my cloaking distance. The second hangar must have been empty, as it explodes with a satisfying blast. No one's turned up yet, and d-scan hasn't changed, so I sneak a peak in to the canisters. Blimey, there is are a few Orca loads here. Defences, hangars, and reaction materials galore. I didn't really think about how I'd carry any plunder—and having a class 1 system between home and here makes it trickier—only about making a mess.

I keep shooting, as there are reactor arrays to be destroyed. From all that constitutes a tower, my overview only shows corporate hangar arrays, ship maintenance arrays, and force fields as standard, to reduce clutter and give an indication of occupation. These extra arrays around this tower are just a bonus. Two simple reactor arrays explode nicely, and I switch to the first of six silos. I have no idea what's in them, I just know that they cost someone ISK.

The first silo pops. The second silo pops. An Occator appears on d-scan, and it looks like he's at another tower. I ignore him, in as much as I don't go looking for him but I stay aware of his presence. The third silo decays in to a can holding a whole lot of expensive reaction materials. The fourth and fifth silos provide no resistance, and as I shoot the sixth I launch probes and scan for C2c's second static wormhole.

There's the wormhole, there goes the final silo. What's the wormhole? How lovely, an exit to high-sec empire space. It takes me to a system in Everyshore, where I can't buy any kind of suitable ship to short-cut loot collection, but at least there's a station. Okay, I'll just have to trust that having the owners and locals oblivious to my wanton destruction in their system means they will also be oblivious to the looting. I head back to w-space, and back through the constellation towards home.

C2c to C1a, to C2b, to C2a, to C4a, and home. A Buzzard covert operations boat and Tengu are visible in C4a, but I ignore them for now. I find the cargo-optimised Crane transport ship in our hangar and go straight back through the chain to C2c. I drop near the untouched canisters that are all that's left of the hangars, and approach them under cloak. It all looks much the same. And so it is. I drop my cloak, inspect the cans, and grab 150 Miskies of exotic materials as I align and warp towards the high-sec exit.

The wormhole is unmonitored, as far as I can tell. I warp away, dock, and dump my first load of plunder. Pausing to catch my polarisation, I undock, warp back to the wormhole, and return to the canisters in C2c to see what else I can carry. More exotic materials fill my hold, this time 64 Miskies worth, and I dump them with the others in the high-sec station. One more trip gets about as much as the Crane can comfortably carry, bringing my total haul up to around 260 Miskies for the night, leaving just bulky and not particularly expensive defences and hangars left in space. That'll do.

There's not much I can do with my plunder at the moment, though. The local market is hardly healthy, and as it took three trips to get it here it will take three trips to get it somewhere else, at least in my current ship. As it's late, I think I'll leave it all here and make a note to come back with a Bustard. The system is close to a regional boundary, and so it shouldn't be too onerous to turn the booty to iskies, given a relatively convenient future exit. Let's hope I don't forget. For now, I get home safely, without even touching that C5 connection, and sleep happy knowing that I ended up doing well for myself tonight after all.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Getting reactions without a reaction
Tags: buzzard, crane, eve online, heretic, magnate, mmorpg, occator, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, sigil, tengu, w-space

Avoiding an easy ambush

A new signature in the home system today is a treat. It seems like a while since something unexpected appeared under my probes, but as it looks a bit weak I don't think there's much reason to get excited. It's probably just some relics or a data site. I resolve it anyway, as I need to know what to do with the site, and, I'll be jiggered, it is a wormhole. Permission to get excited granted!

The K162 from class 4 w-space is healthy, but the state of the system behind it doesn't look good. A tower appears on my directional scanner with a single ship, and I doubt the Archon carrier is up to much by itself. At least I can silently mock the silly placement of the tower. Only two of the six planets in C4a are mutually out of d-scan range, but the occupants have anchored the tower to one of them. Well, it's your choice to let me be able to warp out of range to launch probes, so thanks for that.

I launch probes, blanket the system, and locate the tower. There's no need to mark the locals orange because they are already flagged as red, presumably because we need to punish bad tower placement. I'll get on that, as soon as someone turns up. For now, I'll whizz through the five anomalies and three signatures, giving me a K162 from class 2 w-space heading further backwards through the constellation.

D-scan is clear in C2a, and one of the two planets out of range holds two towers lacking ships or pilots. Scanning the few anomalies and signatures resolves two more wormholes, and although I expect one to lead to high-sec empire space, because of the connection to class 4 w-space, I instead find an exit to low-sec. That will make the outbound connection to more class 2 w-space the other static connection, and I mark my notes appropriately.

Checking the exit lands me in the Molden Heath region, and although there are a bunch of signatures to scan I have more w-space behind me to explore first. Back I go, and on to C2b, where I appear 8·5 km from the wormhole. That's not a good sign. I doubt the Sabre interdictor on d-scan is doing anything but floating empty inside the also-visible tower. Still, my notes from a little over a year ago indicate static connections to class 1 w-space and high-sec, so it's worth a poke around.

Five anomalies, seven signatures. Gas, gas, gas, data, wormhole, wormhole. I wonder what they can be. I coincidentally warp to the wormhole to C1a first, so plough straight it, where I see a tower, some drones, much dullness. Launching probes and blanketing the system reveals six anomalies, eight signatures, and, hello, a ship. It looks to be at the edge of the system, and hopefully it isn't with a tower. And I suppose it isn't, as the Bestower is actually with two towers.

Still, the Bestower is piloted, which could mean he is itching to collect planet goo. Or he's fast asleep. It's hard to tell when looking at a metallic hull. And as a subsequent blanket scan sees a second ship I think I'll look for that. Warping to the centre of the system doesn't find anything, though, where I was hoping for a new arrival at the first tower, so I head back to the second tower to watch the Bestower again. At least, that's the plan.

I drop out of warp outside an empty tower. The Bestower has gone. But what kind of gone? Refreshing my probes has a ship somewhere, so he may be gone collecting planet goo and not gone off-line. That would be terrible timing on my part, so of course I warp back to the inner system to see, well, it's not the Bestower, but an Iteron is somewhere. It's not at the first tower, and spinning d-scan around suggests he is indeed gooing, but can I catch up with him?

I warp to the customs office where d-scan pinged the Iteron but, naturally, he's gone by the time I get there. I look around again, but it seems I've missed him. The only customs office out of range of the inner system is back near the second tower, and heading that way has the Iteron not at the office but, as d-scan shows, at the tower where the Bestower was. It looks like my timing is off tonight.

My timing is really off, because it's also the tower where the Iteron was by the time I get there. It seems the hauler was simply stuffed to the gills with goo and merely dumping a load before going back for more. Here I go again. And here I come back again, barely seeing the Iteron on d-scan in the centre of the system before he's disappeared back to the tower, where at last I catch up with him. At least I confirm that it's the same pilot from the Bestower. Just to prove it, the Iteron is stowed and the Bestower comes back out of the hangar.

Maybe all is not lost. I have missed the Iteron, but another scan sees that mysterious second ship back in the system. I warp to the first tower to see what's going on, only to see the damned Bestower on d-scan back gooing! I swear this pilot has psychic powers, or anti-cloak technology. I don't give up, though, even when I get to the customs office just in time to see the hauler warp back to his tower. I'll wait here, maybe he'll be back for more. Or not. And now I'll give up, as the mystery ship pings on d-scan this time, and it's just a stupid shuttle. Sod the pair of you. I'll scan my way out of here.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Avoiding an easy ambush
Tags: archon, bestower, eve online, iteron, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, sabre, scanning, w-space

Taking what we can get

Mmm, pie. But back to space, and if our neighbours remain dull I'll take my frustration out on our static wormhole. Well, someone's awake, as there are two full sets of scanning probes in the home system. There are no new signatures, though, so whoever is in our system has come from the connecting class 3 w-space system, and that may well be the neighbours themselves.

I'll loiter on our wormhole as the scouts scout. We only have two signatures, the other being a pocket of easily scanned gas, which should mean the pilots get bored and head back this way sooner rather than later. I don't want to go ahead now because one or other ship could be cloaked on the wormhole and I'd rather not be so obviously spotted if I can help it.

Seriously, there's just chubby signature that's the gas site and the wormhole you must have come through. What else is there to do with scanning probes? But, finally, both sets of probes disappear and... there we go. A Helios belonging to our C3 neighbours appears and jumps back through the wormhole. That's no surprise, as I saw a covert operations boat in the C3 earlier. But what about the other ship? I should wait until he goes too.

I wait, wait a bit longer, and get bored. I'm sitting on a wormhole updating my directional scanner, with my paranoia tingling. The scout is likely sitting on this wormhole watching for transits, and as much as I don't want to show him one I more don't want to spend my evening here. Screw him, I'm going through, so that I can actually do something.

In C3a, I see an Osprey and Augoror cruiser on d-scan, both of them at one of the two towers I scouted earlier. Warping to the tower to get a closer look sees two Ospreys, the Augoror gone, with one of the ships holding the Helios pilot. One Osprey warps, the other follows behind, and it looks like they've gone towards our K162. Was I hasty in coming in? Was there actually a scout watching for me? But, if so, why Ospreys? They are known for remote repairs, not directly engaging hostile ships. I'd better take a look.

As I warp to the wormhole a Tengu appears on d-scan, and it's not long before the strategic cruiser has joined the pair of Ospreys. I suppose that makes more sense. The Ospreys will provide the support, the Tengu the firepower. That the Tengu is fitted with the covert subsystem is a bit odd, but whatever. What's odder is that they are just sitting on the wormhole. Are they really just waiting for me?

Ah, the wormhole crackles, bringing a new pilot in to the system, and the logistics chain lights up. The two Ospreys and Tengu share shield transfers and capacitor juice, ready to encounter... one of their colleagues in a Buzzard cov-ops. I think they are overreacting somewhat. Do they not talk to each other?

I also realise that C3a holds a wolf rayet phenomenon, which punishes shield-based defences and augments armour. That makes the trio's configuration curious, but I suppose they are expecting to fight me in our home system with its shield-boosting and armour-punishing pulsar phenomenon. And, yes, I realise that although I said I didn't want to sit on a wormhole doing nothing I am actually sitting on a wormhole doing nothing. There is a reason.

Mick managed to isolate himself from our sister system and, after a brief period of being at large in w-space, is in empire space. And that chain of wormholes linking null-sec to low-sec to a high-sec system near Jita is looking good now, as he buys a bruiser Dominix battleship and brings it this way, sneaking in to C3a barely touching a stargate. As he jumps in and initiates warp to my position, I decloak and pounce on the ships on the wormhole.

The Tengu fights back, probably happy to see his target, even if he didn't expect a direct attack. He changes his tack when Mick's Dominix warps on to the wormhole and launches sentry drones, the three of them escaping through the wormhole in rapid succession. That didn't take much, but I suppose they got a bit more than they were expecting.

We give chase, but not nearly quick enough, as we were expecting more of a brawl on the wormhole to start with. The three ships get clear of the wormhole and bounce around the system, apparently without purpose until I realise they are merely marking time until any polarisation effects have dissipated. I use the time to warp to our tower and ditch one strategic cruiser for another, swapping the covert Loki for an armour-based, ship-killing Legion. This should do well when chasing them back to the wolf rayet system.

They have to go back at some point. The Tengu and one of the Ospreys jumps home and tries to warp clear, with me in C3a with them and Mick holding watch in the home system. I try to catch either and miss both, which is probably my mistake, but when the second Osprey comes a minute later he's not so lucky. I get a positive lock, disrupt his warp drives, and start shooting. He has little option for survival but return through the wormhole.

I follow the Osprey back to our home, where I again catch his attempt to get clear of the wormhole. Now he's polarised and trapped, and a Legion and Dominix bearing down on a cruiser doesn't make for a long engagement. The Osprey explodes, his pod flees, and we have the wreck of an inexpensive ship to loot and shoot. For all the waiting and effort, popping a mere cruiser is rather anticlimactic. Still, this is as much a victory for having routed the other side than any loss of ISK.

We have a quick crack at catching the pod as it tries to get home, but an error in strategy by us lets it evade us on its first attempt. The pilot then goes off-line, clearly not wanting to try again whilst we hang around. That's fair enough, and we really should have caught the pod that first time. I'm content with this outcome, so park my ship and get ready to go off-line, after a pretty typical engagement: plenty of waiting followed by a burst of extreme violence.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: augoror, buzzard, dominix, eve online, helios, legion, loki, mmorpg, osprey, penny ibramovic, pvp, tengu, w-space

Wormholes don't just connect w-space

I'm hoping today that explosions will come sooner than it takes to strip down an entire tower and almost relocate to a new one. With just the static wormhole in the home system I have an obvious direction to travel, and our neighbouring class 3 w-space system has ships visible on my directional scanner. Maybe I can shoot one of them. Switching overviews and updating d-scan doesn't get my hopes up, as I don't see any wrecks, and opening the system map shows me nowhere out of range to hide so I can launch probes. I'll just do it quickly and hope for the best.

An Imicus frigate appears on d-scan, to join the four other ships in the system, as I launch probes. I whisk them out of the system and perform a blanket scan, revealing two anomalies and nine signatures, then warp around locating the two towers. One has a pod that was recently a Tengu strategic cruiser, the Imicus, and an Augoror cruiser all piloted, the other has an empty Venture mining frigate. I'll be loitering outside the first tower.

The pod gets back in to the Tengu, the Imicus warps away and drops off d-scan. Maybe I should scan for wormholes rather than wait for something to happen. It's easy too. Within a minute I have a wormhole where the Imicus headed, as well as a second wormhole, chubby, probably a K162. That's good enough for me, so I hide my probes again and reconnoitre the two wormholes.

The first is the system's static exit to low-sec, leading out to Molden Heath where there's no sign of the Imicus or its pilot. The system isn't close to a hub either, so wherever the Imicus has gone it may not be back soon. Still, I can scan the system as normal, watching for an orange pilot to appear, and I launch probes to see what the four extra signatures are. Relics, data, and two wormholes is a good result, and I am ready to see what they are when the K162 from C3a crackles.

A Helios covert operations boat appears near me, not orange and so probably not from C3a itself, and jumps back to w-space. I don't give chase. A minute's wait doesn't have anyone else come this way, so I warp off to what the wormholes are. One leads from this low-sec system to another low-sec system, which is pretty pointless, more so when jumping through puts me nowhere nearer a trade hub, just in Domain this time. Back in the first low-sec system, the second wormhole actually comes from w-space, but the connection to another class 3 system is at the end of its life.

Still no oranges have appeared, so it's back to C3a to see what's happening. The Tengu is now a Loki, although the new strategic cruiser looks to be a new contact in the second tower. Also, the wormhole signatures have either swapped or I deleted the wrong rough bookmark when creating the bookmark for the low-sec exit. Silly Penny. Okay, I launch probes and scan a second time, at least knowing which signature I'm aiming for specifically this time.

The second wormhole is barely worth scanning for, being a K162 from null-sec. But I scanned it, I'm going to use it. I exit to a system in the Branch region, where none of the three pilots matches that of the Helios I saw. One extra signature calls to me, though, and resolving it resolves a wormhole, which hilariously is an outbound connection to low-sec. Apparently I don't want to be roaming w-space today. I'll take the hint, and exit null-sec to go to low-sec again.

Two extra signatures are in the system in Derelik. One is a combat site, with heavy assault cruiser included, and the second is a wormhole. A good wormhole? Oh my, no. It's an outbound link to high-sec. I take a look anyway, because why not, and appear four hops from Jita in The Forge. Fine, I'll go shopping. I think I recently mentioned needing some modules. What were they again?

Right, a cargo scanner for an analysing cov-ops. I'll buy more than one, for the inevitable refits, pullings of the wrong ship from the hangar, and ship explosions, as well as some extra modules and ammunition that I can cram in to my Loki. That'll do. And I think that'll do for this afternoon's exploration. I head back across high-sec, in to low-sec, null-sec, and back to w-space, making it home to refit a Buzzard as an analysing boat, before going off-line for a sammich. Maybe something more interesting will happen later.

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Tags: augoror, eve online, helios, imicus, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, venture, w-space

Covert tower siege

I'm returning to a fairly extensive w-space constellation, but I have no idea what's out there. Earlier, I crossed paths with a few cloaky strategic cruisers but that was about it, which explains how I had the time to scan so far. But I didn't get to the end of the constellation, so as long as the wormholes are still healthy I at least have further to scan, if I don't find any activity. I'd rather have the activity, though.

Nothing is new at home, and diving in to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system sees no obvious change beyond two previously dying wormholes now being dead. I head straight out to low-sec through the static wormhole and across to where I found a K162 from class 2 w-space. That's still there, still healthy, so in I go. Yep, this is about as I remember it. A tower, no ships, and some wormholes. So far so good, I suppose.

Scanning C2a has the same number of signatures as earlier, but let's not move on too hastily. Two of the wormholes I have bookmarked are listed as being EOL, and they should be dead now, which means there are two new signatures. Sure enough, poking around the system with probes resolves two more wormholes for my map, a K162 from more class 2 w-space and a K162 from high-sec empire space. I think I'll see what's new with w-space, and head in to C2e.

Two towers with a lack of ships visibly on my directional scanner is a disappointing result, and my notes made seven months earlier don't even help me locate the towers. Still, the four anomalies and three signatures will make scanning quick, which resolving a gas pocket and second static wormhole that leads to low-sec is. Back to C2a and the known constellation with me. The static wormhole to class 1 w-space is at the end of its life, making me worry that I've perhaps reached a dead end already, but the K162 to C2c is healthy. In I go.

I only scouted this class 2 system briefly earlier, not even locating the towers. And this time one tower has more than just a Cheetah, the covert operations boat being joined by a Mammoth, Iteron, and pod. Are either of the two haulers going to haul? I locate the tower ready to loiter with intent, but only the pod has a pilot. That's odd. I quickly locate the third tower, outside of d-scan range of these two, launch probes covertly in case I need them, and return to the tower with the ships and pod.

Nothing's happening, so I start to scan for more wormholes. There's one, and a gas pocket, and two new contacts under my combat scanning probes. I fling my probes out of the system, hoping they weren't spotted, and update d-scan to see what company I have. Two Hound stealth bombers have appeared and the pod pilot is now in the Mammoth. This is getting interesting. I wouldn't mind being ambushed by two flimsy ships whilst ambushing the hauler, but I may be getting ahead of myself. I'll sit and watch for now.

A pod warps to the tower, boards the Iteron, and starts moving. The Mammoth moves too, and warps out of the tower. But to where? Not a customs office, but another one of this planet's moons. That's curious. I follow and see, hello, a brand new tower erected without my noticing. And now the Mammoth and Iteron seem to be transferring assets from the current to the new, as the pilots upgrade from a medium- to a full-sized tower, potentially giving me nothing to catch. That would be a shame.

Ah, the Iteron reappears at the current tower outside of the force field to scoop some of the defences. This is a potential opportunity for me, even with a Hound maybe flying escort, but when I notice that the paired defences above the tower are still operational and include a warp disruption battery I reconsider doing anything quite so rash. But perhaps when the other defences are taken off-line and scooped I can strike.

Mind you, a basic industrial ship is a rather small-value target given what's being moved. But I suppose I don't have much opportunity in what I can catch, as the ships warp from one force field to another. The biggest value item will be the tower itself, so I think if I want to cause any kind of disruption it should be ambushing the ship that scoops that. Sure, they won't need the tower any more, but it has value and the corporation probably would want to reclaim that by selling the tower on the market. I think that's my plan, then. Blow up the tower, sneakily.

I need to be patient. The hangars are taken off-line, the other defences are scooped, and everything is moved and brought on-line at the new, larger tower. This takes a while, and when the Mammoth makes a couple of trips back to the old tower without taking it off-line itself I have to wonder if they'll just take out most of the fuel and just let it run out of juice, to be collected another day. But it seems not. I suppose the hauler was transferring the strontium and fuel bricks first, as when he comes back a third time the tower starts unanchoring. Ah, great. This will take thirty minutes.

I've waited this long, I won't give up now. Besides, it gives me time to consider the plan. I need to do this right. I can't strike too soon, or the tower won't be scooped in to the hauler. If it's not a neat package in the hauler's hold I won't be able to destroy it, and my time will be wasted. But if I dally too long, the hauler will simply warp away unmolested and my time definitely will have been wasted. What I need is a good position to strike from.

I warp to the old tower, still counting down the time until it can be scooped, and manoeuvre so that my Loki strategic cruiser is sitting in an orthogonal vector to the new tower, which will let me ram the hauler nicely, whilst remaining nicely in warp scrambler range. Now I wait a bit more, keeping d-scan updated. The minutes tick down on the tower, and little changes in the system. In my experience, capsuleers have a good sense of time when it comes to collecting assets, so I don't think there'll be much delay when the tower unanchors completely.

Not long now. Minutes become seconds, and the tower becomes scoopable. The Hound drops off d-scan, which I take to be a positive sign, and not particularly threatening. The Iteron comes back on-line, having disappeared earlier, so it looks like he will collect the tower, not the Mammoth as I suspected. Either works for me. And here he comes. The Iteron warps in, I push my boat stealthily forwards and wait for the tower to disappear. But instead the Iteron warps away without it.

Was that a dry run, in an attempt to flush out potential ambushers? Or was there a legitimate logistics problem? I dunno, but the Iteron returns a minute later. I reset my position and push forwards again. The tower is scooped, it's time to strike. I decloak, activate my micro warp drive, and surge forwards. I get a positive lock before I ram the Iteron, which means my guns are already chattering away, knocking down the hauler's shields, although I manage to bump the Iteron out of alignment before it explodes.

I aim for the pod but it flees easily enough. Not a problem, and I loot and shoot the wreck, the tower surviving the first explosion only long enough to die to my pettiness. Bye bye, tower. Hello, Hound. The stealth bomber decloaks and launches a bomb my way, but all I want to do is catch him too. He's positioned well, though, and I don't stand a chance of closing the distance to catch him with my warp scrambler. I try all the same, but the Hound warps as the bomb explodes, scratching my shields.

After all that waiting all I get is a simple kill on a cheap industrial ship. Well, not really. I destroyed the tower, which was my primary aim. Objective achieved! A secondary target would have been nice, but not necessary to have made the wait worthwhile. I have a quick chat with the locals, who really don't seem to mind that I've just cost them 150 million ISK, before heading home. It's later than I think. But at least all the wormholes are still there.

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Tags: cheetah, eve online, hound, iteron, loki, mammoth, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space

Covert cruisers avoiding each other

Bleary-eyed scanning may not be good for my health, but I'm rather hoping that bleary-eyed planet-gooing will be worse for others. I just have to find some. Our neighbouring class 3 w-space system looks as sleepy as me though, with my directional scanner showing me nothing from the wormhole. The one planet out of range holds occupation at least, and although there is also a ship I don't think the Gnosis battlecruiser will be wanting to collect planet goo, certainly not without a pilot.

Scanning C3a resolves three wormholes, which looks initially promising. The static exit to low-sec leads to a system in Devoid, which neatly describes my interest in it, a K162 from null-sec is handily at the end of its life, so I don't have to consider it further, and the rather lovely V301 outbound connection to class 1 w-space would be better were it also not dying. I imagine I have the null-sec tourist to thank for opening that early. Still, I can't resist a look in to C1a, particularly as I have a route home should I need it.

D-scan shows me a tower, Rorqual capital industrial ship, Orca industrial command ship, Badger hauler, and mining drones. It all looks rather pleasantly harmless and, appearing around eight kilometres from the wormhole, unlikely to be active. But whilst the distance I'm thrown in to the system may not be a positive sign it isn't definitive. Locating the tower to see all the ships empty is pretty definitive, though. At least I manage to avoid the nicely bubbled tower by sneakily almost flying in to the force field instead.

Returning to C3a and bouncing off the tower there sees no change, so it's back to low-sec with me to scan. And there's a bounty of signatures, which must surely take me to more w-space. Wormhole, data, relics, data, data, relics, relics, relics, data. I suppose I'm technically correct, the best kind of correct, but it's still a crappy result. But never mind, warping to the wormhole sees a welcome sight, as the K162 from class 2 w-space will give me its own w-space connection inside.

Once again the system looks inactive just by entering it, appearing over five kilometres from the wormhole and seeing nothing on d-scan. I try to remain positive, though, and launch probes to blanket the system. Eight anomalies, thirteen signatures, and a lack of ships mean I am scanning again, although I locate a tower to loiter around as I do so, in the hopes a local pilot will wake up. Nope, no one comes, but a ship appears under my probes as I resolve a wormhole, which I spot too late to hide my probes and not quickly enough to see on d-scan what it is. Super.

I finish scanning and reconnoitre the wormholes in C2a. The K162 from class 5 w-space is probably the source of the ship I detected, the connection to class 2 w-space will be the second static wormhole, the class 4 w-space behind the K162 that's at the end of its life is probably dead, and who cares about an EOL K162 from high-sec. I'll loiter on the C5 K162 for a bit to see what happens. I think we can guess nothing, but it's good to find out that, yep, nothing happens. They are probably waiting for me, whoever they are. I'll find out.

Hello, Mr Loki waiting on the wormhole. He may be waiting for me, it's hard to tell. I move and cloak without a problem, and then his strategic cruiser cloaks too. Maybe he was expecting a smaller ship to come through. Checking d-scan sees two towers and a few more ships, nothing too serious, but a second check also has a Hurricane battlecruiser and Broadsword heavy interdictor in the system. Maybe they are getting serious.

The bubble of the Broadsword doesn't really trouble me, my interdiction-nullified Loki unaffected by it, but the more ships that can target or bump me makes circumstances more troublesome by itself. I think I should head in another direction whilst I can. And that turns out to be simpler than I expect. I crawl cloaked back to the wormhole and return to C2a without another ship turning up or following me through the connection. Maybe they are bleary eyed too, and don't want to make mistakes. Either way, I think I'll take a look in to C2b.

Two towers and a lack of ships is no surprise, but a bit disappointing, and although I'm getting peckish I can't quite resist racing through the mere five signatures in the system to look for a soft kill in the next w-space system. And, with each signature a wormhole, I'm feeling optimistic. I can poke each in turn to see what they hold.

Jumping through the static connection to a class 1 w-space system has a tower, no ships, and my appearing seven kilometres from the wormhole. Okay, that's this system scouted. Back to C2b and through one of two K162s from class 2 w-space, where bubbles, one planet, and nothing else are on d-scan. At least I'm under two kilometres from the wormhole. I bookmark my way back and warp off to explore, finding two towers and an empty Cheetah covert operations boat. I'm finished here too.

Back in C2b I spy a Proteus strategic cruiser briefly on d-scan, but it's gone and I can't tell where, so it's through the other C2 K162 to C2d. And right back to C2b I come. D-scan was clear, I was over eight kilometres from the wormhole, and the system was 100 AU across. I don't have time to warp that far. It's time to go home and get some lunch. And as I head back to C2a I see the Proteus on d-scan again, accompanied by a Phobos heavy interdictor, which makes me think that there's little more than cloaky strategic cruisers out to get me at the moment. Maybe circumstances will swing in my favour later.

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Tags: badger, broadsword, cheetah, eve online, gnosis, hurricane, loki, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, phobos, proteus, rorqual, scanning, w-space

Wasting time with rejected relics

It's been a few days, but I'm back in space and excited to be here. Old sites have died, and my blank slate of a start coalesces in to a fairly standard beginning of resolving a gas site and our static wormhole, jumping to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system having done so. Now I can see bubbles, but only on my directional scanner, and only bubbles. A mere three anomalies suggests occupation, but my notes from three months ago say otherwise. I launch probes to blanket the system, and warp off to explore to see whether intuition or notes win this round.

Fifteen signatures, no ships, no occupation. My notes win again. I'm okay with that, as it lets me ease myself in to the evening with some light scanning. But, no, it's ruined immediately when the first signature resolves to be a wormhole. Do I have to perk up so soon? No, I must go on, warm up my scanning chops, and, as it happens, warping to a K162 from class 2 w-space that's at the end of its life helps me along with that.

Relics, gas, gas, wormhole—the static exit to low-sec. More gas, more wormholes—K162s from class 5 w-space and null-sec this time. Data, and, to finish, two more wormholes. The outbound connection to class 4 w-space is also sadly EOL, as is the K162 from low-sec. The constellation is already a bit stale, it seems. But there is some freshness, so I head to the C5 K162 to see what and who lurks beyond.

Two towers are in the system, as is a single Drake, but I doubt the battlecruiser will be up to much, and certainly won't be in one of the twenty-four anomalies. Indeed not. The Drake is piloted, as I find out after warping clear to launch probes, but he looks decidedly inactive inside the force field of one of the towers. Of the three signatures my probes pick up, only one looks to be chubby enough to be a K162 and that turns out to be a gas site, so the system is almost certainly a dead end. I'll treat it that way and head back to C3a.

The null-sec system is probably my next best choice of directions to head. Exiting to a system in The Kalevala Expanse lets me rat whilst I scan the one extra signature, but it's just a combat site. Without using stargates, that leaves me the low-sec system to continue my exploration, where I ruin Solitude for the one other pilot in C3a's exit system. Four extra signatures look promising, though, right up until I resolve them. Relics, gas, relics, and a combat site. Stupid low-sec space.

It's all a bit dull tonight, but there are relic sites to waste time in. Rather than refit my Loki strategic cruiser I head home to swap to one of our Buzzard covert operations boats. It will be cheaper to lose if I'm jumped. The only problem is that these Buzzards haven't really been used for years, not since we realised the multi-purpose power of strategic cruisers in being able to scan, tackle, and engage.

The cov-ops boats are configured to scan but not analyse, and we have no cargo scanners in our hangar. Why would we, it's not like we need to be discriminate when popping haulers in w-space. But I'm informed the scanners are useful when checking what the cans in the sites hold, and not needing to strip all the mid slots in my Loki is pretty much why I want to make use of the Buzzard. But if I can't make use of those mid slots, there's little point having them empty. I'll make a shopping list of modules for the Buzzard and, for now, stick with my strategic cruiser.

Back out to low-sec and a new contact is in the system, a ratting Drake. I think I can ignore that. And by 'ignore' I mean 'cloak and hold until the Drake moves on'. There's no point adding unnecessary risk. And staying hidden almost pays off, as another new contact enters the system, this one in an Anathema cov-ops. Is he configured to analyse, will he come in to this site? Yes, he does, and starts coming towards the first can. Now what to do?

I could try to engage him immediately, but he'll be mostly alert. What I would prefer is for him to do the analysing, steal his loot, and then maybe shoot him at the same time, when he's distracted. Of course, this would work better if the Anathema didn't sensibly have a cargo scanner fit. The pilot checks each can quickly before he gets anywhere near them, decides there's nothing worth getting, and rapidly leaves the system. That's just dandy.

Sod it. I'm here, I'm clearing the site. Clickity click, crack the cans, grab the crap that gets spewed everywhere. Yeah, there's nothing good, not here and not in the second site. I make maybe a few million ISK in profit, but that's not worth the time I spent. Never mind, I'll know for the next time, when I will have my own cargo scanner, with blackjack and hookers. For now, I just head home, dump my 'loot', and go off-line in another quiet w-space constellation.

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Tags: anathema, buzzard, drake, eve online, loki, low-sec, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Descending in class

Standard operating procedure. Launch probes, check home is clear, and resolve our static wormhole. Jumping to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system sees core scanning probes on my directional scanner and nothing else. Core probes don't detect ships, and as I am out of d-scan range of anything obvious I feel safest launching my own probes where I am. Combat probes, naturally. I like seeing who else is in the system with me. Three anomalies, eight signatures, one ship. Let me find it.

Across the system is a single tower holding the Heron frigate, piloted. Maybe he's the active scout, and if he is maybe I can catch him. I just need to work out where he's going to go. That should be simple enough, once I've resolved the signatures in the system and determined where the wormholes are. And in my tricked-out Loki strategic cruiser I should be able to scan faster than the simple frigate. Let's see.

Gas, wormhole, data, really weak wormhole, chubby wormhole, and gas. I've finished and there's no movement yet from the Heron, and although there are also no probes visible we are on the edge of the system. I warp away to check the inner system for signs of active probes—yep, they're still in use—whilst reconnoitring the wormholes. The static exit to low-sec is no surprise, and I jump through to see where it leads, hoping to get a locked-out Aii back home tonight too.

I appear in a system in Genesis, which is quite far from Aii's current location. Mind you, he did get unlucky and was trapped in a C3 with an exit to null-sec. Still, it's an entrance, if he can get here. For now, I return to C3a and check the other chubby wormhole. It's a K162 from null-sec. How lucky can we get? I poke out to take a look and, my goodness, we are lucky. I appear in the Deklein region, the same region as Aii. It's only eleven hops to get here for my colleague, as opposed to the thirty-five or so to get to the low-sec entrance. If nothing else happens tonight, this coincidence will satisfy me.

Back to C3a and to check on the Heron. You know, I think he's moved. The ship seems to be pointed in a different direction, but I could be imagining it. The Heron's certainly not moving now, and his probes are still in space. If they are his probes. Is he not quite finished? Is it worth watching? Probably not, but I do anyway, until Aii returns from null-sec and gets safely home. The Heron is dull, I'm moving on. My first thought is to hit low-sec to continue scanning, but I forget I have that weak wormhole to explore. I'll go there instead.

Huh, the wormhole's an outbound link to deadly class 6 w-space. I wasn't quite expecting that. Still, how bad can it be? Not bad at all, I'd say, not when appearing in the system over five kilometres from the wormhole and with d-scan clear. A blanket scan reveals two anomalies and seven signatures, which is pretty clean, making it more of a surprise that the system is unoccupied. This is easy mode. Scanning finds gas and two wormholes, one leading out to null-sec, the other the static connection to class 5 w-space. I'll stick with w-space.

C5a gives another clear return from d-scan on the wormhole, with one planet out of range. Launch probes, blanket the system, warp out. My probes show me ten anomalies, eight signatures, and one ship, and warping to the first moon of the distant planet drops me outside the force field of a tower. A Helios covert operations boat is on d-scan but not inside the force field. Thankfully, before I get carried away with a hunt, I realise there is also a second tower around the same planet, and it is there where I find the Helios, empty of a capsuleer.

Scanning has the usual sites and just the one wormhole, the system's static connection, which drops down a class again. That suits me, so I press on to C4a, where d-scan shows me a tower but no ships. Tonight's exploration is not inspiring so far, but a visit from a year ago tells me there is a wormhole to more class 4 w-space to find, so the night's not over yet. And that'll be it, the wormhole trivially easy to spot when it is one of two signatures, and I already know about the first of them. But, sadly, it seems exploration is over. The wormhole is at the end of its life.

I head back up the chain, from class 4 to class 5 to class 6 w-space, where I detour to the Feythabolis region in null-sec to pop a rat, before a return to w-space and C3a. Still the Heron floats inertly. A second look out to low-sec doesn't give me any options, with the K162 I'm sitting on being the only signature. One last look at the tower has the Heron alluringly swap to a Tengu strategic cruiser, but despite my hopes that the pilot will engage Sleepers in a local anomaly all he does is go off-line in the expensive ship. It frustrates me a bit, the damned tease, and makes me wonder why he was scanning in a frigate. But that's it for tonight, as there's no one to play with.

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Tags: eve online, helios, heron, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, w-space

Bad scouting bags a gooer

I don't know what to do. I'm not going to sit on this wormhole any longer, that's for sure. Well, no longer than it takes me to work out a plan for the rest of the evening. The locals of this class 3 w-space system are not around, I've got fuel bricks back from Amarr which is only two stargate-hops through the wormhole I'm loitering on, and the occupants behind the fresh C5 K162 probably know I'm here, thanks to a battleship of theirs decloaking me on its way home from high-sec.

Still, I got the fuel home without incident, despite the proliferation of probes after I decided to make the trip, so I should be safe to collapse our wormhole and start again. Or I could see who's this coming through the high-sec wormhole. The connection crackles before I manage to make up my mind what to do, offering a fresh option. Of course, there's little I can do on a link between w-space and high-sec, but if the C5 pilots didn't actually see me and they're bringing a hauler in themselves, I can follow and ambush it.

Nope, not a hauler, a tourist. The pilot is unaffiliated with this C3 and the known pilots from class 5 w-space, so the Anathema covert operations boat is probably just curious to see what's through the wormhole from high-sec. A cloaked strategic cruiser, that's what. But I suppose he doesn't see that. I am waiting for the cov-ops to cloak, or jump back to high-sec, so that I can get on with doing nothing, but it just sits there, prolonging my procrastination. I'll prod him.

I get closer, hoping to nudge his tiny ship away from the wormhole once I reveal myself, and decloak. Activating my micro warp drive I burn towards the Anathema, soaking up the recalibration delay before my targeting systems can lock on to the ship. Now I'm smoking. Sadly, the Anathema isn't. In my attempt to bump the ship away from the wormhole, the speed of my Loki means my guns are finding it difficult to track the tiny cov-ops. Rather than get a few solid volleys against it, the Anathema suffers only grazes to its shields. I don't even ram the cov-ops that hard, keeping him close enough to the wormhole that he jumps back to the safety of high-sec.

At least I woke the pilot up. This has been a public service ambush. And with that spark of violence, I feel encouraged to poke my prow in to C5b, almost expecting to be ambushed in return by pilots fully anticipating a curious pilot of a cloaky Loki to head their way. In fact, the wormhole is clear in the class 5 system, and there is not a sign of their Loki, Anathema, or Navy Armageddon battleship that I have seen so far. There's just a couple of towers and a Bestower hauler visible on my directional scanner. Still, that could be good.

I locate the tower with the Bestower only to see it empty of a pilot, and distinctly lacking in an orange colouring. Maybe the ships I've seen are not local to this system but are deeper in the constellation. I dunno, the ship naming prefix looks similar, but that could be spoofed. Well, if there's a K162 to find, I shall find the K162. But now a Helios cov-ops has appeared on d-scan, and when it promptly changes in to an Iteron hauler I start to regret warping back to the wormhole to C3a to monitor potential jumps.

There are two towers. Which one is the Iteron at? I try one, picked arbitrarily, and pick correctly. Now, will he collect planet goo? Yes, I think he will. The Iteron is already aligning out of the tower, the only problem being that the ship is aiming for one of two planets that are almost in a direct line with each other from here. I can't tell which customs office the Iteron is aiming for, but I can apply a little sense. Will he visit the first or second planet first? There seems to be a predictable choice, and I could be about to show how being predictable gets pilots killed.

I warp behind the Iteron, indeed choosing the right destination. As my Loki decelerates out of warp I decloak and get the sensor booster active. Now for the guns and warp scrambler, which allow me to target the Iteron and open fire in one smooth action. A few volleys tears the industrial ship open, and the explosion disorientates the ejected pilot enough for me to grab his pod too. One more volley from my autocannons and the ambush is over.

Scoop, loot, and shoot. More expanded cargoholds for me! With a twenty million ISK ship and eighty million ISK corpse, I would say it was worth coming in to this system. Just at the right time, too. Now I can scan for that K162. Or maybe I won't. My shenanigans have apparently brought the ships seen earlier back in to the system, with the Anathema, Loki, and Navy Armageddon all visible on d-scan now. Maybe they are local after all, but did they all go off-line and return just because of a careless planet gooer? No, of course not.

I warp back to the wormhole, abandoning plans to scan in favour of getting home safely, only to update d-scan on the wormhole and have the ships disappeared again. The penny drops for Penny. Two towers are in d-scan range of the wormhole, a third tower, where the ships have been all along, is out of range. I simply failed to warp in the direction of the other tower until I wanted to launch probes out of range of the first two. Good scouting, Penny. Still, I got a kill and corpse out of my recklessness. It remains a good result, and I'm happy to head home for the night.

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Tags: anathema, armageddon, bestower, eve online, helios, iteron, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, w-space