Entertained by an over-reaction

With any luck there will be a w-spacer or two out tonight. There's me, for a start, but I can't shoot myself, so I resolve our static wormhole and jump to the neighbouring class 3 system. My directional scanner tells me my princess is in another castle, with a tower and no ships visible in the system, which means I'll be scanning. But as I launch probes I glance at my notes, which remind me that my previous visit to this system had Fin and I catch a scanning battlecruiser that polarised itself on their wormhole to high-sec. That could bode well.

No one is home today, so I sift through the twelve anomalies and six signatures and come away with just the one wormhole. Naturally, it's the static exit to high-sec, so I poke my nose out to appear in a system in the Domain region, where I loiter listlessly on the other side of the wormhole wondering what to do next. Nothing really strikes me as of particular interest, until an orange appears in the local channel. D-scan says the pilot is only in a pod, but it's still a capsuleer, and he drops on to the wormhole and jumps to C3a. I give him a minute and follow, to see what he does next.

Back in C3a d-scan shows me an Iteron hauler and... some probes? These pilots have some weird scanning ships. That is, unless a second contact has appeared and is in an actual scanning ship. If there is one he's not at the tower, and neither is the Iteron for long. The hauler warps away not to a customs office but back to the high-sec wormhole, which is a shame. And a Viator appears in the system, so says d-scan, probably from high-sec too, as the transport disappears. I assume the Viator decloaks in the tower's force field, and that I crossed him in warp, because I'm now sat on the wormhole myself.

I'm kinda hoping the Iteron is in high-sec collecting items shipped to a nearby station, instead of making a lengthy journey itself, which will bring it back to w-space a bit too quickly for polarisation effects to end. Wouldn't that just be lovely if it's the case? I get my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser above the wormhole, trying to get in to a good position for a ramming manoeuvre, should I need to bump the Iteron away from the wormhole. And the wormhole crackles with a transit.

If it is the Iteron that has returned, I think he has returned soon enough to be at least a little polarised. There's no point decloaking my Loki before I make a positive identification, as doing that could allow the target to hold his session change cloak for longer, maybe giving him time for polarisation effects to dissipate entirely. Iteron, it is you! It is you! I decloak, burn towards the hauler, and give him a nudge away from the wormhole.

I gain a positive lock on the Iteron and get my weapon systems hot. Autocannon rounds start ripping the hauler apart as the wormhole crackles a second time. I haven't lost my lock on the Iteron, so I don't think it's jumped back to high-sec. What's just happened? Ah, a new transit has occurred, a pod jumping in from high-sec as I am ambushing his colleague. If he's here to see the explosion he's just in time, the Iteron's hull unable to take any more punishment.

That was a fun kill, and good timing. The pod flees, partly because of my confusion as to which pod is ejected from the Iteron and which just came through the wormhole, but mostly because pods are agile little buggers. I loot and shoot the wreck of the Iteron, nabbing some more expanded cargoholds but sadly unable to carry the expensive ship-building materials. It's almost a shame that I have to destroy the 150 Miskies of construction parts, particularly as we could have used them, but if I really cared about that I wouldn't have shot the ship in the first place.

I reload my guns, cloak, and warp to the tower, updating my notes in warp that this is the second time I've caught a ship in this system polarised on its high-sec wormhole. That information is always good to know. And at the tower the two pods are now in a Dominix battleship each, which warp to the wormhole, followed by a third Dominix when the Viator pilot returns and swaps to the bigger ship. I follow behind, at a safe distance, to see what they are doing, because this doesn't quite make sense to me. Surely collapsing the wormhole connecting our systems would be a better use of these ships than guarding a connection that borders high-sec.

The battleships float around their exit as the wormhole crackles. Is it another hauler they hope to protect, because I could probably decloak, pop it, and hop out to high-sec before being in any real danger. But, no, it's a Buzzard coming in from high-sec, the covert operations boat unaffiliated with the locals. But maybe they think him and me are together, which could fuel their paranoia nicely. The Dominices also find out how little a threat they really are, as the Buzzard doesn't panic and merely cloaks to avoid their attentions.

Clearly three battleships with drones out isn't enough to prevent intruders—definitely not with an open wormhole behind you, guys. In an effort to be more threatening the Dominices trap themselves on the wormhole by anchoring a warp bubble to it. Maybe I could word that more diplomatically. Before the bubble inflates, one battleship returns to their tower to swap in to a Hawk assault frigate, which then gets caught in the bubble on its return, and flies deeper in to it for some reason.

I spy on d-scan a Helios cov-ops scanning. Well, a Helios blips on scan and probes are visible, but maybe it's the Buzzard scanning. Even so, I warp across to our K162 to see if anyone finds our wormhole, but despite the probes, two cov-ops boats, and obvious activity nothing actually happens on the connection. Other ship changes occur with the locals, though, as the three ships become three Dominices again briefly, before one is swapped for a Damnation command ship, and, perhaps when they realise how it's hindering more than helping them, the bubble is taken down. Still nothing comes near our system. I don't mind. I take my loot home and leave the neighbours wondering what happened.

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Tags: buzzard, damnation, dominix, eve online, hawk, helios, iteron, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, viator, w-space

Noodling behind a null-sec nobber

Looking for more luck in the hunt tonight has me heading through the only wormhole at home. Our static connection takes me to a class 3 w-space system with a tower and no ships visible on my directional scanner, which neither fills me with nor sinks my expectations. There may be more to see, more to find, or new pilots turning up at any moment. And as my previous visit to C3a, some four months earlier, had me missing a hauler but bagging a more expensive transport I kinda hope someone does come on-line. Until then, I'll scan for wormholes.

The nine anomalies and scan six signatures hold a dying exit to low-sec empire space, but two more wormholes offer potential. One is simply a connection from null-sec, but the other is a K162 from class 4 w-space, which could hold activity. I enter the system to see what's happening, and find in C4a much the same as I left in C3a. An Orca is added to d-scan along with the tower, but I doubt the industrial command ship is piloted.

I locate the tower, confirm the Orca's empty, and spy a familiar name when checking information about the tower. The director of the local corporation is a chap named Von Keigei. Do I know him? Not personally, not yet. Maybe we can be formally introduced today, but if he's not around at the moment then it's likely someone else opened the wormhole to C3a. Scanning the five anomalies and five signatures indeed resolves another wormhole, leading back in to deeper class 4 w-space.

There could be lots of scanning with nothing to show for it this evening. D-scan is clear on the wormhole in C4b, although only a single planet is in range. A tower was elsewhere four months ago, and it remains in the same place, empty. A second tower is almost more interesting, with a bunch of ships inside its force field that would be worth listing were any of them piloted. As it is, I'm stuck with another inactive system holding ten anomalies and a whopping thirty-eight signatures. Tidy up occasionally, guys.

I ignore all but the chubbiest signatures to sift for K162s. The exit-side of the wormhole gives a pretty strong signature, and class 4 w-space is notorious for almost never, if ever, having any random outbound connections. So because I entered the system through its static wormhole, if there are any more wormholes to find they are almost certainly K162s. Being able to ignore all the data and relic sites, having weak signatures and taking an extra scan cycle or two to identify, really can save time. As such, I ignore banks and banks of gas clouds and pluck out, oh great, a K162 from class 5 w-space.

Just as class 4 w-space has a tendency to chain itself together, so does class 5 w-space. Swapping one for the other is no great indication that I'm about to find the end of the constellation. But I've yet to see another pilot, so back I go, deeper in to w-space, hoping to find a target. Ugh, C5a is a black hole system too, making it no surprise to not find any occupation, itself an indication that I have another K162 to find. At least the there are only five signatures with the thirteen anomalies, so I resolve the next wormhole in little time.

The wormhole I resolve doesn't feel particularly chubby, I have to say, and as C5 space can regularly connect to k-space I'm not discounting extra connections this time. And a second wormhole is chubbier, which will be the expected K162. It comes from more class 5 w-space, naturally, but that remains my best choice of direction when the first wormhole turns out to be a C140 exit to low-sec. In to C5b I go, were d-scan shows me a tower and Orca, and a red giant shines down on my boat. Exploration really isn't going well tonight.

Another inactive system, but at least there are few signatures again. The first of the four is a wormhole, a rather depressing K162 from null-sec. Has this whole chain really been opened by a damned tourist, falsely raising my hopes that somewhere in this w-space constellation there is an active pilot? A second wormhole settles my frustration a little, even if it is probably a K162 from yet another C5. Which it isn't. It's a second K162 from null-sec. I have been on a wild goose chase all evening. Thanks, dick.

Trying to make the most of my wasted exploration, I poke out to one of the null-sec systems to rat and scan. I am alone in the system in Scalding Pass, and although I wasn't going to scan I can't help myself when I find a rat battleship to shoot. Two extra signatures resolve to be two wormholes, the rat battleship a wreck, and I am given a less-than-enticing pair of connections. The first is an outbound link to class 3 w-space that is both mass stressed and at the end of its life. I don't fancy getting lost in space so late in the evening, so ignore it for the second. But the other wormhole is an outbound wormhole to more class 5 w-space! I said I don't fancy getting lost in space so late in the evening, dammit.

I scanned it, I may as well look through it. I leave w-space to see what's in C5c, and return to null-sec when d-scan shows me a tower and no ships. That's a good enough look for me. I cross the system in Scalding Pass to return to C5b, and poke out through the other null-sec connection to appear alone in a system in Omist. No scanning this time, just the rats, ma'am. Actually, sod it. Not even the rats any more. I'm not in the mood today. I just turn my boat around and head home, through two C5 and two C4 systems to C3a, and back through our K162, seeing no one on the way.

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

Indirectly podding a pilot

I'm looting the wreck of the Tengu when I realise something: I know the escape route of the ejected strategic cruiser pilot. He's a tourist from empire space, come to w-space through a class 1 system connected to this class 2 system. His way to safety must surely be back through C1b, so why am I still here? That's when I realise something else: how the hell am I supposed to catch a fleeing pod?

It would be an exercise in futility to send my own strategic cruiser, in this case a refitted Legion, towards a wormhole in the hopes of catching a pod. It's pretty much impossible to stop a ship jump if it lands on top of the wormhole, and a pod enters warp so quickly that trying to catch it on the other side would be useless. I wouldn't even have a second shot, as I haven't scanned C1b for whatever entrance the pilot came through.

What's weird, though, is that the pod remains in C2a. The pilot's had plenty of time to retreat, so why hasn't he gone through the wormhole yet? And do I still have time to catch him? I may as well try, but not in the Legion. I warp to our K162, jump home, and get back to our tower. I ditch the ship, unrepaired and with expensive plunder still in its hold, to grab Fin's Flycatcher. My glorious leader has fitted the interdictor with sensor boosters that make locking any target almost instant, and the interdiction sphere will stop even a pod from warping. This should do it.

I jump back to C2a, see the pod still visible on my directional scanner, and warp across to the wormhole to C1b. Now I have a slight dilemma. Like I say, I won't be able to catch the pod on the wormhole, and if I wait for it to come to me and hope to jump and launch the interdiction sphere before the pod warps on the other side I may be disappointed. On top of that, I only have one launcher fitted, and the cool-down means I will only be able to have one pod-stopping bubble at a time. That really should be saved for the other side of the wormhole. Even if it means the pod can jump back to C2a that should be okay. It's not like he has another route out of w-space.

So I jump to C1b, decloak, and wait. Now my main problem is knowing what's happening in the class 2 system. I can't see anything using d-scan, and although the wormhole crackling on activation should be the pod coming my way I'd rather not be surprised by a roaming fleet. But the wormhole doesn't crackle, leaving me waiting for longer than I really should. Perhaps the pilot, not used to combat engagements with other capsuleers, fears for his criminal status he's been flagged with, earned by defending himself, and what it means when returning to empire space. I don't blame him, but it gives me another couple of minutes to wait before he possibly comes my way.

The minutes pass, my own criminal flag is dropped, and the wormhole stays quiet. I think I have to admit that the pilot is not coming. He could have seen the Flycatcher on d-scan in C2a and decided not to follow. If he's really smart he could be sat on the other side of the wormhole waiting for the tell-tale activation of my return before he jumps and makes a dash for empire space. Or, and this is just a guess, he didn't bookmark the wormhole in C2a, and is left having to self-destruct his pod to return to civilised space.

Seeing the pilot's corpse on d-scan in C2a makes me wonder how much time I've spent waiting for nothing, but such is w-space life. And it's not been so long that I don't have time to explore through the other wormholes I resolved before running in to the Tengu. Home I go, get back in to my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser, and once more to C2a. In C2a, I warp to and jump through the K162 from class 4 w-space, the wormhole opened from the other side being the best chance of encountering more activity.

D-scan is clear from the wormhole in C4a, and although only one planet sits out of range it is that planet that holds the occupation. Occupation and a Venture. The mining frigate is piloted and looking quite enticing, but a closer look sees the Venture sitting next to a hangar and pointing directly away from a refinery. I think this industrialist has harvested enough raw materials for this evening and is kicking back with a drink, waiting for the sun to go down. It's going to be a long wait, so I leave him to it and head back to C2a.

The class 2 system has a second connection to class 1 w-space, also an outbound wormhole. I take a look in C1a and find occupation but no ships. A mere three signatures makes scanning almost trivial, but there are no more K162s, just the static exit to high-sec and a bit of gas. I poke my prow out of w-space to see where in high-sec I end up, appearing in a system in the Genesis region, and realise my interest in high-sec pretty much ends at the wormhole's event horizon.

I've exhausted the known connections from the class 2 system, but I have yet to see what's through our own static wormhole. A couple of jumps puts me in C3a, which looks like just about every other class 3 system out there. A tower, no ships. Oh, and this one has a gaping anus of doom pulling me towards it. As much as I'd like to gaze in to the abyss, checking the one planet out of d-scan range finds nothing more than what I've already seen, and as it's late I think I'd rather get some sleep than make up more colourful metaphors for a black hole. Instead of scanning, I turn my ship around and find a quiet corner of our system to hide in for the night.

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Tags: eve online, flycatcher, legion, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, venture, w-space

Tackling a tourist in a Tengu

Home has been raided again. It's our own fault really. We shouldn't store our Sleeper loot in the Sleepers, as they aren't that secure. And how secure does the home system currently look? Not great, with a second wormhole connecting in to us. Maybe the K162 leads to the class 2 w-space system of the raiders, but whether they stay awake or active, or if it's even the same system, remains to be seen. I jump through the wormhole to find out.

I see a tower but no ships on my directional scanner. What else is around? A messy system, that's what, with twenty-five anomalies and twelve signatures. I guess their anomalies are honey pots, if the locals stole our loot, and I can't really blame them. Class 2 Sleepers offer poor levels of plunder, certainly when compared to class 3 w-space systems and above. Actually, yes, I do blame them, and I want to shoot one as an act of revenge.

There's no one around to shoot at the moment, so I scan, both in the hopes of finding more wormholes and to pass the time, in case a local shows his face. No one turns up, but I find more wormholes. Four more, in fact, amongst the wealth of gas. The static exit to high-sec is expected, a K162 from class 4 w-space looks promising, and a pair of Z647 outbound connections to class 1 w-space could give me a soft target or two. I land by the wormhole to what I designate C1b, so head that way first.

D-scan shows me a Tengu and a tower, plus a whole load of Sleeper wrecks. How lovely! The strategic cruiser is hardly a soft target, but it looks to be a target all the same. Still, there is only one anomaly in the system, and it's an ore site, so if I am to find the Tengu I'll need to hunt it in probably a data or relic site. Or, because I am unlikely to be able to punch a hole through the Tengu's defences in my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser, I'll need to hunt the following salvager.

Well, the assumed following salvager, as I don't see one yet. I'll also need to launch probes, and although I think I manage to sneak out of d-scan range of the Tengu, once my probes are launched and have performed a blanket scan of the system it seems that the ship has left. Maybe that's a good sign, and the pilot will come back in a salvager. On this assumption, I start hunting a site full of wrecks. And I keep hunting the wrecks, once managing to warp further away from the site when meaning to get closer, and then having quite a time fiddling with d-scan to get a decent bearing.

Whilst I am busy the Tengu returns, along with some scanning probes. Did he see the wormhole open from C2a? I hope not, as I seriously dislike the dumb discovery scanner announcing my entrance, but I must continue with a positive attitude for now. There goes the Tengu and probes, and there are the wrecks. They are sitting in a narrow d-scan beam, range determined, and my probes neatly arranged around them. All I need now is the salvager to appear and I can grab him.

I wait and watch d-scan, and watch d-scan as I wait. I relocate to sit on the K162 back to C2a, in case the Tengu comes this way, or returns from going that way, but still I wait and watch. No salvager appears in the system, no ship comes or goes through the wormhole, and my probes are close to running out of time in space. With still no sign of a salvager I take a punt and scan where the wrecks are, but it must have been a basic anomaly, as I find no trace of a site. Damn.

The jig is up here, but there are more w-space systems to explore. I head back to C2a, and, before I warp across to C1a, update d-scan to see the Tengu in the system. Is he local? If he is, he's not at the tower. In fact, he's in an anomaly, one that's easily found. What's he doing? Shooting Sleepers, obviously, which I find out by warping in to take a look. I also see that he's a tourist from empire space, and it seems that his scanning found the wormhole and a new system to engage Sleepers in. Now, what can I do about it?

The tourist Tengu is moving at quite a clip, so I can't rely on dropping out of warp on top of him and will need to be stealthy. He will almost certainly have an active shield booster too, which means, as I'm flying solo, I'll be relying on energy neutralisers to get through his defences. That's a bit tricky, I think, as our two ship-killer Legion strategic cruisers are kinda paired. One does the damage and a bit of neuting, the other does the neuting and little damage. I head home and to our tower to see just how little it does.

A couple of small guns are going to take too long to kill a Tengu, even if it has no capacitor juice. We have some bigger guns, but the power requirements to fit them are too high. Still, I've never been known to fly a properly fit ship. I strip one of the armour plates off to reduce power requirements and let me fit a power diagnostic system, and take out the small guns and a small energy neutraliser to squeeze three bigger guns on. That seems to work, and the two heavy neutralisers should still suck the Tengu's juice well enough. If he's still there.

I jump back to C2a to see the Tengu still on d-scan, and warp to my perch in the anomaly where I saw him to see him again, only now without any Sleepers. That works even better for me. The Tengu is even near a wreck, making it trivial to warp closer. But the time I spend in warp has the pilot loot the wreck and burn towards the next, which explains a lot. He isn't planning on salvaging the wrecks, only looting them, hence my long wait for nothing in C1b. Someone should tell him that Sleeper salvage will be worth significantly more ISK than the loot from C1 and C2 Sleepers.

The Tengu is moving fast, certainly much faster than I can creep cloaked. But all is not lost. He loots the wreck and turns back to cross my path for the next. I plot an intercept course, wait until he's almost close enough, and decloak to spring the ambush. But he really is moving fast, and although I get a positive lock on the Tengu I am not close enough to engage my warp scrambler. Even burning my own micro warp drive has the Tengu move further away, as my engines take precious seconds getting up to speed. Even so, the pilot doesn't warp clear, instead moving to the next wreck to loot it. That seems like a mistake to me.

As the Tengu slows my Legion catches up, and finally my target's warp drives are disrupted. His micro warp drive is shut down too, which along with my stasis webifier slows the Tengu to a crawl. I've got him, can I kill him? I bring all my offensive systems on-line, and start sucking juice from the Tengu's capacitor as I plink away at its shields. He shoots back, naturally, and I am initially concerned at the damage I'm taking until I realise I'm in an armour boat. I don't need no stinkin' shields.

I can probably slow down a bit. Literally. I have kept my micro warp drive on, thinking that the increased speed will mitigate some missile damage, but it is also making my guns work harder trying to track the Tengu as I orbit it, and I think my armour will be okay for now. I also need my own capacitor juice to power the heavy neuts. I turn off the MWD and slow down to a steady orbit, which lets my guns land solid blows on the Tengu. They still don't do any real damage, not until the neuts work their magic and stop the Tengu from powering its defences.

His capacitor must be dry, as now the Tengu's shields are dropping. D-scan stays clear, so it really does look like this tourist is out here alone and it's just a matter of time before his expensive ship explodes. The discovery scanner brings in new pilots to w-space, so other capsuleers have argued, which gives more targets. It seems so, in this case. The pilot perhaps didn't understand the significance of the new signature appearing in C1b, otherwise he would have gone back to empire space. But I question the legitimacy of the claim, because I doubt this chap will be coming back to w-space again.

As I chew away at his armour, the Tengu jettisons a container. I don't know what's in it, and I don't really care right now. I'm still watching d-scan, checking that I'm still not in trouble—my armour and capacitor are still healthy—and waiting for the Tengu to explode. There he goes, with a beautiful loss of skill points to accompany the flames. I try to catch the pod, but without a sensor booster fitted I'm not surprised that it gets clear. In this case, the pod doesn't really matter. I just killed me a strategic cruiser.

It's a good kill, too. A Caldari Navy shield boost amplifier sits in the wreckage, but more impressively so does a Pithum C-type shield booster. That's an expensive piece of kit, thanks very much for surviving the explosion. And the poor tourist lost his 750 M ISK ship for the sake of maybe fifty million ISK in low-quality Sleeper loot. That's giving a generous estimate too, certainly without the accompanying salvage. I really doubt he's going to come back any time soon, not when he loses an order of magnitude more ISK than he takes, or he'll learn to bug out when seeing a new wormhole appear.

No, I don't think the discovery scanner is really helping bring pilots to w-space. I think it would be much better if the discovery scanner helped show wormholes to empire space pilots, and then refused to show them anything in w-space. The emptiness the pilot would see, the lack of reliance on the scanner to show the pilot what's out there, must surely help delineate the different regions of space and warn the pilot that they are entering deeply unknown territory. I'll take my 350 M ISK of loot back to our tower, thank you, but I won't expect many more kills like this.

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Tags: eve online, legion, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space

Empty ships and null-sec rats

So I don't come home with a tower. But that pretty much describes every day, so I don't think I should be judged for that. Sure, I could have destroyed the tower, after blowing up the Impel transport that carried it, but sometimes the lure of bringing home something so impressive overcomes the desire for explosions. Either way, I've exhausted my options in this direction, so head home and swap back in to my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser.

Luckily, all the action so far has taken place down one arm of the current w-space constellation, back through a K162 from the home system. The class 3 system through our static wormhole remains unexplored, giving me another avenue of interest, and perhaps more mayhem. And jumping to C3a for the first time looks promising, with a tower and ships visible on my directional scanner.

The Onyx heavy interdictor I could do without encountering, but the Magnate and Imicus frigates are eminently catchable, and a Covetor mining barge is always a pleasure to destroy. Of course, this assumes that any of the ships are piloted, and with any luck I can find that out quickly, as my previous visit to this system was only three months ago. My notes should be current.

Should be, but aren't. Still, with one tower gone and another erected elsewhere, the one tower that remains constant is the one that holds all the ships, so it is straightforward to warp directly to it and see that, yep, all of the ships are empty. There's not a pilot in sight. Even exploring finding a third tower, bubbled trapped but no threat to my interdiction-nullified Loki, doesn't find any pilots, leaving me to scan for wormholes. I can do that.

Eight anomalies, seven signatures, and amongst the gas pop two wormholes. It's almost exciting to think I could stumble in to more activity this evening, until I actually reconnoitre the connections. The static exit to low-sec is expected, the K162 from null-sec k-space a disappointment. I'm a persistent bugger, though, and won't stop here. After exiting to low-sec and a system in Solitude I turn right around and head to the null-sec system, this one in the Cobalt Edge region, to rat and scan.

No one shares the system with me, thanks local comms, so I launch probes, warp to a rock field, and multi-task. One drone battleship is blown up, one extra signature resolved to be a weak wormhole. That sounds fancy, and the outbound connection to class 3 w-space will do just fine. Naturally, jumping to C3b sees a tower and no ships, and performing a blanket scan reveals four anomalies and four signatures. And a ship.

And a ship? I need to find it! I warp in the direction of the approximate blob my probes indicate, bringing me in to d-scan range of an Iteron hauler. It could be collecting planet goo, or it could be in that second tower. I won't know until I get closer, and even when d-scan puts the ship and tower together the hauler could still be preparing to goo. It's only when I drop out of warp outside the force field of the tower and see the Iteron empty that I give up catching it near a customs office. Oh well.

Whizzing my probes around the system resolves two wormholes again, and again I get a disappointing result of the low-sec static connection and a null-sec K162. Well, I'll try to make the most of it, and jump to null-sec to appear in The Spire, with one extra signature, so I can repeat my rat-and-scan that I hear is all the rage in Cobalt Edge. The signature is just a combat site, the rats just cruisers. Well, that looks like sleepy times to me, so with only a pause in the first null-sec system to pop another battleship I head home to go off-line.

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Tags: covetor, eve online, imicus, iteron, loki, magnate, mmorpg, onyx, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Resisting too much wanton destruction

I'm looking for a target. Nope, nothing in the home system. How about a wormhole? Scanning resolves gas, a wormhole, a data site, more gas, and, just when I think it's me and the static connection, a second wormhole. The K162 from class 4 w-space will do just fine, and I head backwards in the hopes of finding some activity that I can shoot.

C4a turns out to be quite big, some 120 AU across, so the initial clear result on my directional scanner is no indication of activity levels. My notes don't help either, with my previous visit being well over three years ago, so I'm down to some old-fashioned exploring. I launch probes, blanket the system, and warp around updating d-scan. Eleven anomalies, sixteen signatures, and no ships. There are some drones somewhere, but who cares when there's no occupation? Not me.

Actually, the location of the drones turns out to be mildly interesting, as they are sitting in an active gas site. Whether they were used against Sleepers or another capsuleer can't be answered from my limited forensic ability, but perhaps the K162 from class 2 w-space I resolve can help with my investigation. I jump to C2a to see if there are any pilots still active.

D-scan shows me a tower and Falcon recon ship in C2a, and my notes show that I'm back in another system from three years ago, almost to the day this time. I have more exploring to do. Warping around reveals a second tower, this one with a Fleet Issue Hurricane piloted inside its force field, and as I warp out to launch probes I see a pod warp in to join the battlecruiser. I'm too late to stop and see what the new pilot does, so I get my probes in to space as planned before returning to the second tower.

My probes detect fourteen anomalies and nine signatures, and the pod remains a pod when I get back to the tower. And he stays that way. In fact, this C2 is pretty boring. Or it would be, had my thinking that out loud not inspired the pod to board an Impel transport and accelerate out of the tower. He looks to be aiming for one of two closely aligned planets, so I pick one and warp to its customs office, hoping to surprise the gooing transport. But the Impel doesn't appear in front of me. And neither does it visit the other customs office. Instead, it drops off d-scan, no doubt jumped through a wormhole.

A quick scan resolves the wormhole the Impel must have used, it being in almost direct line with the tower and the two suspect planets. Having found the connection I throw my probes back out of the system and return to the tower, where the Impel pilot is back in a pod, the Hurricane remains unmoved, and a new contact has appeared in a Heron. The frigate is swapped for a Bustard, accelerates, and warps out of the tower. He's not heading towards the wormhole, but perhaps he's gone to the first tower, which I still haven't found.

Tower or not, I warp to the customs office just in case, and again don't see the transport collecting planet goo. But d-scan doesn't place him with the Falcon in the first tower either, although he remains on d-scan. That's weird. I manage to locate the Bustard around a different moon using d-scan, and although I warp there a bit too late to catch him I drop next to an off-line tower. I don't know why the pilot would want to come here, but at least it probably wasn't an arbitrary choice.

Back to the second tower and the Impel is back on d-scan. He's not at the tower, so I align my Loki towards the wormhole and, still swinging d-scan around, only realise too late to stop my strategic cruiser that the Impel is around this planet. Dammit, I'm warping to a wormhole when a transport may be gooing. Never mind. I get to the wormhole, bookmark the dying static exit to high-sec, and bounce back to the customs office to see, well, nothing. What a surprise.

More of a surprise is that the Impel is still not back at the second tower. I ping the moons around the planet as smoothly as I can, and see the transport, like the Bustard before it, on a seemingly bare moon. There doesn't even seem to be an off-line tower this time. Intrigued, and not least by the possibility of a transport sitting vulnerable in space, I warp across to take a look. Yep, the Impel is there, having jettisoned something, and not moving. That looks like a sitting duck to me.

I decloak, get my systems hot, and start shooting once I get a positive lock on the transport. For giggles I get my micro warp drive active and bump the Impel away from its can, and watch as my autocannons quite efficiently strip the ship of its shields and armour. As the Impel explodes I try to catch the pod, but it flees a split-second before I can stop it, but that's okay. The transport is a fairly expensive ship, and I get another couple of expanded cargoholds to line our hangar. But what's in the can? Well, look at that. It's a tower.

I can't quite bring myself to wantonly destroy the quarter-of-a-billion ISK hardware, however much it may burn the locals, not with a slim possibility of being able to collect it myself. It is a slim possibility, though. But if the locals remain even a little concerned about my Loki I stand a chance. I head home, crossing the intervening C4 system, and pluck a cargo-optimised Crane transport out of our hangar. I was considering a Bustard first, for its cargo capacity, but this Crane can carry the tower and I think its stealth capability will be better, particularly if I drop out of warp next to a small flotilla.

I head back to C2a, crossing C4a again, and warp to, well, I don't see a cargo container on d-scan any more. That's not a good sign for claiming the tower as my own, but I warp to its bookmarked position anyway, just to see that, yes, it has gone. Easy come, easy go. I'm not surprised that the locals came back to claim it, but it would have been a great bit of plunder to take home with me. Still, that's probably it for this system, so I turn my Crane around and head home once more.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Resisting too much wanton destruction
Tags: bustard, crane, eve online, falcon, heron, hurricane, impel, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space

Traces of activity

Old sites have dispersed, new sites have coalesced. Such is life in w-space. What's elsewhere? Two towers and a Thanatos carrier appear on my directional scanner in our neighbouring class 3 system, and I'm pushed seven kilometres from the K162 when jumping in to the system. Even without that clue I'd expect the system to be inactive, as a solo carrier in a C3 is generally unpiloted inside a force field, and that I'll be settling down to scan the ten anomalies and ten signatures present.

I locate the towers first, at which point a Falcon recon ship blips on d-scan, and only on d-scan. The towers stay clear, except for the unpiloted Thanatos. The question now is where did the Falcon come from, and where did he go? Scanning finds a wormhole in the recon ship's general direction, but the K162 from null-sec k-space is not much of a find. A second wormhole crops up, and almost literally, as the discovery scanner blinks the new signature at me and won't shut up even after I've resolved and warped to the damned connection.

I loiter for a minute at the K162 from class 3 w-space, wondering if a scout will jump through. It can't be the home of the Falcon, though, and when no ship comes through the wormhole, and another new signature appears under my self-updating probes, I continue scanning. The other new wormhole turns out to be the system's U210 exit to low-sec, making me suspect the previous one has just died of old age, and a Crane transport that appears on d-scan heads towards what resolves to be a T405 wormhole to class 4 w-space.

An outbound link to class 1 w-space rounds out C3a, giving me choice but perhaps no surprises. C4a seems like my best option, given that the Crane looked to be using that wormhole, but jumping in sees a tower without any ships on my d-scan. The Crane could have gone out, I suppose, or is safely hidden. As my previous visit to this C4 system had a welcoming party waiting on the wormhole I feel a little caution is recommended, but all looks quiet at the moment. And with a static wormhole to class 3 w-space to find it's probably worth taking a look around at least.

Exploring finds the Crane. It's sitting in a second tower on the other side of the system, along with its Falcon pal. That's one mystery solved. And cross-checking the corporation from my previous visit shows them not to be the overtly hostile pilots from before, so I probably just stumbled in to a roaming fleet that day. Still, whatever these two pilots were doing, their intentions now seem to be to do nothing. I think I'll leave them to it, what with my having more w-space behind me to explore, like that class 1 system.

Returning to C3a and moving in to C1a sees a two towers and no ships on d-scan. Okay, this was a dull example of having more to explore. I'll try again, back in to C3a and on to C3b. Two towers are on d-scan again, but this time with an Imicus frigate and scanning probes. As I confirm tower locations from a previous visit, the Imicus comes and goes from d-scan, the probes disappearing too. That would mean he's jumped systems, and that maybe I should scan.

My notes show this C3 holds a static exit to high-sec, which could be a boring result, so it's good that two early wormholes give me a K162 from class 2 w-space along with a K162 from high-sec. But having a Loki strategic cruiser jump to C2a as I warp to the second of the wormholes causes me to swear, both for missing it and for it having seen my probes. There's nothing I can do about that now, so keep scanning, resolving a dying K162 from class 3 w-space along with the high-sec exit. Now to follow the Loki.

Jumping to C2a sees an Orca industrial command ship, Buzzard covert operations boat, and two towers. I'm beginning to think this exploration's going nowhere, more so when my notes tell me of the static connections to class 3 w-space and high-sec space the system holds. Then again, there looks to be another wormhole, as a pod appears on d-scan and neither ends at one of the towers or jumps past me, followed by a Heron frigate and Buzzard doing the same. They're using the high-sec connection most likely, but if they are going to another w-space system they can be caught, once the wormhole is found.

A Legion and Tengu strategic cruiser pair appearing on d-scan behind the smaller ships makes me think that perhaps I will bump in to too much ship, but they may not all be moving together and a hauler could be brought through. It's worth a look. Launching probes and scanning the simple four signatures doesn't take long, and I reconnoitre a dying high-sec exit and healthy K162 from class 4 w-space. Will there be any more ship movements?

Nothing crosses the system for a while, nor does the K162 I loiter on crackle with a transit. Maybe a fleet is waiting for me on the other side? Nope, just empty space on the wormhole, and four towers on d-scan. One more tower sits elsewhere in the system but still there are no ships. I think this is game over, for scanning at least. I've done plenty this evening. The best I can hope for now is to bump in to someone on my way home. C2a, to C3b, to C3a, and back to the home system. Nope, all quiet all the way. Oh well.

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Tags: buzzard, crane, eve online, falcon, heron, imicus, legion, loki, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, thanatos, w-space

Just about making it home

I was going to scan, thinking the destruction of a planet-gooing Viator would have subdued the locals, but a pilot at the tower swaps back to his Crane. I can't quite believe a second transport would be thrown in front of my ship, just to see if I was actually out here, and I haven't seen any other new contacts or ship changes that would imply some kind of bait-and-ambush about to happen. Of course, perhaps a replacement for the Viator will be wanted, and even though there may be no more gooing the Crane may exit w-space to buy a new ship. I'll need to scan for whatever wormhole it may use quickly.

One wormhole is resolved, but warping to it finds a dying K162 from class 3 w-space and so is unlikely to be used. A second wormhole is the static exit to low-sec, which is the most probable exit the locals would rely on, if it weren't for the third wormhole being a K162 from high-sec. I won't be catching anything on that wormhole, not easily. And by the time I've finished my simple scanning the Crane is gone. I have no idea where or how, not having crossed paths with it, and the pilot may well have gone off-line. Never mind, let me check the exits.

The high-sec K162 comes from a system in Sinq Laison and is full of bunnies. The low-sec exit leads to, well, I dunno yet, because the Impel transport now on d-scan at the tower in C3b intrigues me more. Is this a new pilot, perhaps unwarned about my presence in the system? I hope so. But the only immediate movement from the ship is to move towards a hangar, where the transport is swapped for a Falcon recon ship, after which the pilot goes off-line. Okay, after that minor diversion I head to the low-sec wormhole and exit to a system in Metropolis. A system in Metropolis that holds the Crane pilot from C3b.

I would be more interested in seeing the Crane pilot in the low-sec system were she not in the agile, stealthy transport ship, and if I hadn't already popped a colleague of hers. If she has any sense, the pilot knows my name and will be quite aware of my presence in the system too. Still, I don't get so many opportunistic kills by assuming competence on the part of my targets, and I jump back to w-space and loiter with intent on the wormhole. But I'm not liking the look of this possible encounter, not with a Pilgrim recon ship visible on d-scan in C3b. I've tangled with one before, and it didn't go well for me.

The Pilgrim is swapped for a Sleipnir command ship, presumably at the tower, which scares me less. I just need to catch and kill the Crane, surviving long enough to make my own escape, and as long as I don't polarise myself on the wormhole that should be easy enough. Speaking of which, the wormhole crackles, signalling a transit occurring. I decloak, get my sensor booster active, and wait for my target to appear. There she is, but in a Helios covert operations boat, not the Crane. Smaller, more agile, just as stealthy, but I give it a go anyway, and get damn close at catching the cov-ops.

But close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, and the Helios warps back to the tower. I suppose that's my fun over, so I head back to our tower, jumping back to C3a and warping to our curiously destabilised K162. I'm pretty sure I didn't leave it that way, and the sole jump in my Loki strategic cruiser won't have done any damage to the wormhole. What's been happening whilst I was away? As if to answer my question, albeit rather unconvincingly, the wormhole crackles, twice, and an Anathema cov-ops appears in C3 and warps clear, with a Brutix battlecruiser decloaking behind it.

A third wormhole crackle brings a Buzzard cov-ops in to the system, but even this doesn't explain the mass destabilisation of our wormhole. But it turns out I don't have much time for more observation, as the Buzzard and Brutix jump back, to our home system, and the wormhole drops to critical levels. I'd better go back too, before I'm isolated. As I jump, I consider how my Loki would fare against the Brutix. It would be interesting to find out, under other circumstances, and even with the wormhole in a half-mass state I might have engaged the battlecruiser. But I have to accept that a critical wormhole is not a safe place for a fight.

As much as I'd like a scrap, potentially being forced back through our critically destabilised wormhole is a really bad option. The wormhole may collapse, and even if it didn't I'd be polarised and outside of the home system, with known hostile ships available to push more mass through the connection. I take the sensible route and move away from the wormhole and cloak. Seeing the Dominix on d-scan in the home system helps persuade me, although I don't think the other pilots are likely to risk pushing the battleship through the wormhole to collapse it. Well, I don't think so, but the Dominix warps to the wormhole to join the Brutix.

I think the Dominix is just here to try to scare me. But I'm not leaving. They may not realise I live in this system. Either way, both ships warp away, no doubt to the whatever new wormhole must be in present. And, moments later, the wormhole crackles and brings in a Viator transport, along with the Anathema I saw before. The cov-ops launches probes and warps to the assumed K162, but with our static connection still alive. There doesn't seem to be the final push to collapse it either, although the Dominix remains in the system for a while longer.

I suppose the pilots were trying to collapse our wormhole to secure the system before stealing our anomalies. And I assume the Anathema scanned for new connections, after the pilots saw me, and when he couldn't find any they had to abandon their operation. A rogue strategic cruiser shouldn't really ruin anyone's fun, but it perhaps can be more hassle than it's worth to deal with an unknown element. Personally, I'm just glad that I got home safely. I also quite like that doing so has perhaps saved our Sleeper loot for another day. Maybe we should collect some more of it soon.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Just about making it home
Tags: anathema, brutix, buzzard, crane, dominix, eve online, falcon, helios, impel, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pilgrim, scanning, sleipnir, w-space

Getting a second go at a gooer

How extensive will the constellation be tonight? I shift yesterday's thirty wormhole bookmarks—only one made outside of w-space—to a temporary folder and start afresh. The home system gives me a straightforward start, the static connection being the only wormhole and my first of the day. Jumping to the neighbouring class 3 system sees an Archon carrier and two towers, which is nothing to get excited about, neither is seeing from my notes that the static wormhole leads to high-sec empire space. Maybe there's more to find.

One of the two towers present is the same as from my previous visit eighteen months ago, the other simple enough to find, so now I scan. I bookmark the eighteen anomalies for reference and sift through the eight signatures, whittling them down to a pair of wormholes. The rather uninteresting high-sec exit is joined by a neat N968 outbound connection to more class 3 w-space. Looking for opportunity I jump to C3b, but maybe I'm too late in getting here. Two flights of drones look abandoned with just a tower, pod, and Crane transport sharing the same directional scanner result.

There are no wrecks or corpses, so I have no idea when or why the drones were left wherever they are, and with no other information to go on I return to standard procedure and locate the tower. At least, that's the plan, but pointing d-scan at one planet sees the tower but not the Crane, and at a different planet the Crane and not the tower. The transport is collecting planet goo! I urge my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser in to warp but cancel the command almost as soon as I give it. The Crane will be far too quick in collecting goo and moving on for me to realistically catch it, and I am probably better served warping to the tower to lurk.

I drop out of warp amongst the defences at the tower, but not in an immediate threat of decloaking, to see the Crane returned and now at rest inside the force field. Hoping for another trip doesn't look good. The only movement the Crane makes is towards a hangar, where the transport gets swapped for a Helios covert operations boat. Will the capsuleer scan for the wormhole I just came through, or go off-line? Neither, not at the moment, as a new contact appears. On d-scan first, then warping in to the tower, comes a relative of the first pilot in a Velator. He swaps the frigate for a transport, this one a Viator. Excellent timing, sir. Go and collect that goo.

And so he does. The Viator aligns out of the tower and warps, with me following as soon as I determine the direction he's going. Catching the transport may be tricky, as he has a head start, is more agile than my Loki, and can cloak. He's not cloaking on the way to the customs office, though, so I take this as a sign of a cavalier attitude and decloak my ship early, not expecting to be seen on d-scan. I get the sensor recalibration delay over with, my sensor booster active, and drop out of warp comfortably within warp scrambler range of my new target.

I get a positive lock on the transport, disrupt its warp drives, and start shooting. I move in to give it a bump out of alignment, as the ship looks to be trying to flee, and turn to give a second bump as it continues back towards the tower, but this one's not needed. The pilot only warps away in his pod, away from the wreck of his exploding Viator transport.

That was fun, and a spot of luck. And as well as the expensive transport kill I even bag a cov-ops cloaking device from the wreck, along with the obligatory expanded cargohold. I suppose I've killed the system's activity now, though, but at least I did it by killing a ship. I suppose I may as well hang around to scan the system quickly, not that I'm expecting to find anything, before moving on.

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Tags: archon, crane, eve online, helios, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, velator, viator, w-space

Going backwards finds gooing

I have a mapped constellation to roam. Let's just hope it is more active than when I uncovered it earlier, as it seemed like what few pilots were visible were pretending their towers' force fields were one-way space hides. But before I go roaming forwards, a new signature in the home system resolving to be a wormhole has me going backwards. Hey, why not? It wouldn't be a session in w-space without some scanning to be done.

The wormhole is a K162 from class 2 w-space, which is pretty nifty. The system itself isn't, being occupied but bereft of ships, so I launch probes to sift through the seven anomalies and seventeen signatures for further connections. Of course, it's mostly gas out there, which I understand is normal for space, but I resolve four more wormholes. The static exit to high-sec is expected, for a C2 that connects to class 4 w-space, but that's joined by a second C4 K162, definitely not ours, I've checked, and an outbound link to class 5 w-space. It seems I have options.

The C4 K162 is the obvious first choice to explore through, given that some pilot must have opened the connection. And jumping in sees a pair of towers plus a Bestower hauler visible on my directional scanner. Is it piloted? Locating the tower says yes, it is. So not two systems in to the evening and I find myself sitting watching a hauler idling. But, actually, this is curiously soothing. I suppose it's a bit like fishing, except I can see the fish I want to catch. And I'm not drinking.

Actually, I am a bit too soothed by the peace and quiet, as I barely register the Bestower's engines firing up. The hauler's movement also coincides with my view of the ship, so I see little relative change as it aligns out of the tower. Thankfully, I'm not so asleep to miss this transition entirely, and swing my view around to see where the Bestower's aiming for, pushing my Loki strategic cruiser in the same direction. I warp shortly after he warps, towards a customs office.

A sanity check whilst in warp shows that the planet I'm aiming for is in d-scan range of the first tower, so there isn't a second tower I've not yet found that the Bestower is heading to. That almost ensures he's going to the customs office, so I prepare myself and my Loki. On first sight of the hauler at the office I drop my cloak and activate the sensor booster. I'm here in good time, so it is a simple matter to get a positive lock and destroy the Bestower, the local magnetar phenomenon no doubt helping, although I'm not quite lucky enough this time to catch the pod too.

I loot and shoot the wreck, and decide to head straight out of this system. I have more to explore, and I doubt the local pilot will throw another ship at me. So it's back to the wormhole where, hello, the Bestower pilot's pod is sitting. Did he warp to the wrong bookmark by mistake? Maybe. I am leaving anyway, so decloak, get my guns hot, and aim for the pod. And, what do you know, I catch it, ripping it apart with one volley of my autocannons to get a new corpse for my collection after all. How lovely.

Now I leave C4c, back to C2b, and carry on down the pipe to C4b. Don't fret the naming convention, it's mostly first-come first-serve as I find the wormholes, with an emphasis on static connections gaining alphabetic priority. But this is why I make maps. Anyway, d-scan is clear in C4b from the K162, and launching probes, performing a blanket scan, and exploring doesn't find much else. Unoccupied and inactive, the three anomalies and ten signatures in the system are whittled down to just the static wormhole, leading to class 5 w-space. Onwards!

Two towers, a Chimera carrier, and Badger hauler are somewhere, but finding them sees a distinct lack of capsuleer. The three anomalies and nineteen signatures don't endear me to scanning the system either, not this late in the day, so I retrace my steps to C2b and see what the other class 5 system has to offer. A clear d-scan result from the wormhole, three anomalies again, and sixteen signatures. No ships, no occupation. No, I won't scan here either. It's time to head home, having explored many systems and popped a hauler. It's been a good day in w-space.

But wait, I haven't even looked through our static wormhole at the constellation I mapped earlier. It would be churlish not to have a quick poke for activity. C3a is quiet, and as the K162 to C5a is now at the end of its life this may be a quick excursion. The C1 K162 is healthy, though, unlike activity levels in the system on the other side. There are core probes visible on d-scan, but whoever owns them has apparently given up on scanning to pursue a career in theatre.

Back to C3a, across to C3b, but nothing's happening there either. Still, the C4 K162 is stable, and even with no change in C4a it leads backwards to C5b, where I know pilots were potentially doing something earlier. And there is change visible on d-scan when entering the system, the frigates now swapped for a couple of strategic cruisers and two Armageddon battleships. But soon after I slink away from the wormhole the Tengu and Proteus disappear from d-scan, perhaps cloaking themselves. That's maybe not a good sign.

Pointing a tight d-scan beam towards the local tower sees the battleships there, so they're probably not up to much right now, and when the Proteus curiously appears sixty kilometres from the wormhole and cloaks I decide I'm not really in the mood to be hunted myself right now. Maybe another day, chaps. I return to C4a and down the chain to C3b and C3a, where warping to the other N968 sees the connection to C3c wobbling its way to collapsing of natural causes. This is the way tonight's w-space adventure ends, not with a bang.

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Tags: armageddon, badger, bestower, chimera, eve online, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, proteus, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space