Pleasure to miss you

I have limited time, but that won't stop me seeing what I can find to shoot. Scanning the home system and having a second wormhole appear in my results is a good start, as the K162 from class 5 w-space could be an indicator of activity. I jump through the connection to see what's there, with my directional scanner showing me only a tower with no ships. Of course, the ships are probably all stored in the ten hangars, which is tidy if a bit excessive, but as capsuleers are verboten from hangars there's no one home to stalk.

There's nothing else in the system that I won't find without probes, and with an also-tidy two anomalies and five signatures there isn't much to see with probes either. Still, a K162 from more class 5 w-space pops up when resolving each of the signatures, but moving backwards to C5b indeed looks like a backwards move, with nothing appearing on d-scan. There's more space outside of the d-scan's range, however, so I warp away to explore. I don't launch probes yet, as I consider it to be careless to launch scanning probes on an already known wormhole.

A tower pops up on d-scan as I warp around C5b, with an Executioner frigate and Buzzard covert operations boat also visible. Locating the towers kinda sees both ships piloted, except now the Buzzard is a Badger hauler. I'd wonder if I'd initially misread d-scan, but an update shows the Badger is a new contact and the Buzzard is elsewhere in the system, curiously uncloaked. I don't see probes being launched, though. Perhaps the Buzzard is scouting the route out of w-space for the Badger. I hope so.

I sit and watch the two ships. The Executioner moves a little, but does nothing of consequence. The Badger moves towards a hangar, and looks to my imagination to be taking his merry time loading up on loot and salvage to export to empire space. But the hauler's next movement, minutes later, is to swing around and point in no specific direction, and not towards the wormhole in particular unspecificity. It's a word. And hurry up, I need to go out.

Finally, the Executioner makes a new ship choice, swapping one frigate for another, and warps a Magnate to the wormhole. Or what I think is the wormhole. I follow, for want of a better target, only to see the Magnate not on the same grid as the wormhole but still on d-scan and launching probes. I don't have my own probes launched to quickly locate the frigate, so there's not much I can do. But I learn that the static connection from this system to C5a is now at the end of its life.

The Badger should still have plenty of time to get his loot out to empire space and return through the dying wormhole. But if he chooses to wait the few hours then I think I'm wasting my time here more than he is. I have a few more minutes before I need to go, though, and there may not be a better option to stumble in to through our own static connection, so I stay and watch the Badger a little longer.

A new contact appears, this one in a Cheetah cov-ops, and disappears to empty space. That was fun. But I don't understand why the Badger hasn't mov—oop, there he goes. The hauler swings around, clearly not going to the wormhole but a customs office, and I'm right behind it. Actually, I'm in front of it, impetuously entering warp before the Badger manages to. And, I suppose, I'm not even right in front of it, as I manage to choose poorly between two closely positioned customs offices. I went to one, and the Badger went to the other.

I try to chase the Badger between customs offices, but he doesn't want to play. The hauler doesn't loiter for long enough at his first choice for me to catch up, and disappears from d-scan and back to the tower instead of warping to another CO. What a poor sport. He may go out on a second run, of course, and I wait and watch a little longer, ignoring the new contact in a Thanatos carrier, but my time really has run out now. Which, I suppose, makes it good that I didn't catch the Badger after all. I head home, across a couple of systems, and go off-line without a criminal flag keeping my ship in space for the next fifteen minutes.

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Tags: badger, buzzard, cheetah, eve online, executioner, magnate, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, thanatos, w-space

Uncovered by a cov-ops

Spies! In my channel! Kickity-kick, spies no more. I bet they are responsible for the new lack of anomalies in the home system, indirectly of course. But that's cool. We've just recently cleaned up the most profitable of the home anomalies, raking in the ISK from them quite deliberately before another ransacking fleet came flying through, so all they've done is clear up the system for us a bit. Thanks, chaps. Apart from that, there is only the static wormhole of interest, so whoever came through is thoroughly gone.

Exploring through our wormhole has my directional scanner showing me nothing from the K162, with one planet sitting out of range. A passive scan revealing nineteen anomalies says that the system is unoccupied. My notes say that planet holds occupation, if it hasn't moved from six months earlier. And my notes are right again. Have another biscuit. There are no ships, though, and no one home, so I launch probes and sift through the mere nine signatures.

A skinny wormhole is a nice find, and the chubby one will be the static exit to low-sec. That's it for wormholes, and as the U210 takes me to uninteresting Tash-Murkon I stick with w-space and warp to the other wormhole in C3a, a neat-looking V301 outbound connection to a class 1 system. Neat-looking, but probably still terminating the constellation.

One salvage drone is visible on d-scan in C1a, and it isn't in one of the four anomalies present. I'm not really interested in the drone in itself, though, so I launch probes, blanket the system, and warp off to explore. Twelves signatures, two towers, no ships. And two wormholes, the static exit to high-sec being disappointingly joined by a K162 coming also from high-sec empire space, and being at the end of its life.

Eschewing high-sec for low, I return through C3a to the system in Tash-Murkon to scan. Being by myself lets me rat too, and I pop a juicy rat battleship foolishly carrying an armour repairer blueprint copy in its hold whilst resolving what turns out to be an X702 wormhole. Finished with this system, I jump to C3b where core scanning probes are already on d-scan. Has this K162 already been noticed as new? That could put a crimp in my plans to ambush whoever may be here.

My notes suggest three towers sit on a distant planet, but now there is only one, and still there are no ships to be seen. At least the probes in the system don't belong to anyone watching intently for new connections opening, and there may well be a K162 amongst the three anomalies and six signatures my blanket scan reveals. And a ship? I think I may have warped away from the K162 at the wrong time, as it looks like whatever scout was scanning has found the wormhole I came through and used it himself. Maybe I can get back in time to see his return, and maybe catch him polarised.

Actually, it's just as possible, and maybe more likely, that the scout went through this system's static exit to high-sec, but I only know of the one wormhole so far, so it makes sense to wait there. And to scan whilst I wait, to increase my options. Sure enough a wormhole crops up almost on top of the low-sec K162, just as the K162 flares. A Cheetah appears, which I would let cloak and warp without even trying to stop him, with covert operations boats being notoriously slippery, if it weren't for the cov-ops almost bumping in to my strategic cruiser, stopping me being cloaky in my Loki.

We're both visible and relatively vulnerable, so I get my sensor booster active and futilely try to gain a target lock on the Cheetah as my sensor systems recalibrate from being cloaked. But I get a positive lock, the Cheetah choosing a curious path of running straight through my ship and the wormhole instead of trying to get clear to cloak. He has speed on his side, though, and is already out of warp scrambler range. But he still can't cloak, not whilst targeted, so I get my own micro warp drive hot and burn towards the Cheetah, autocannons chattering tentatively towards the cov-ops.

I'm not quick enough. Or he's quicker. Either way, the Cheetah enters warp before I can get close enough to shut down his drives. I could follow him, if I thought it was worth it, and if I had that other wormhole resolved by now. Which I don't, and I don't. One more scan gets the wormhole in to focus, however, and my curiosity as to where it leads is enough to get me warping in that direction. It's only a K162 from null-sec k-space, though, which is pretty boring as wormholes go.

I continue scanning C3b and resolve two more wormholes. Another dull null-sec connection destabilised to half mass accompanies the static wormhole, the most interesting aspect of my finds being that the high-sec exit is a mere three hops from C3a's low-sec entrance. And, yeah, that's not particularly interesting. Preferring wormholes to stargates, I turn around and head home through w-space, having found little but quiet systems. But loosing a few rounds towards a stray cov-ops spiced up an otherwise ordinary evening's exploration.

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Tags: cheetah, eve online, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, w-space

Hauling ores

Out of curiosity, what is that other wormhole? I resolved two in our neighbouring class 3 w-space system and got diverted down the first, an outbound link to a tedious chain of class 5 systems. I have spent my evening scanning unoccupied or empty systems, being a tourist in a unique C6, and failing to disrupt moving day. But returning home has me pausing in C3a, wondering what the other wormhole type is and where it leads. Only recently, a similar situation had me jumping to a class 1 system where miners were becoming active. I can't not look tonight.

'If it's a C2 with Hulks I might cry', says Fin, coming back with me. And warping across C3a lands me next to a terribly enticing outbound connection to class 2 w-space, so I get the tissues ready. Jumping to C2a doesn't see any exhumers stripping rocks of ore, but my directional scanner does pick up a tower and a Hoarder, so perhaps there is a hauler to surprise. Or a transport ship, now that an update of d-scan also sees a Bustard, and now an Iteron. And back to just the tower and Hoarder. Were the other ships local, or passing through? Passing through seems the obvious option, but I search for the tower anyway as a sensible first step.

The Hoarder is empty at the tower, which lends more credence to the other ships bridging through this system. I warp away to launch probes, bumping in to two more towers but no more ships, and perform a blanket scan of the system. The scan is partly out of habit, but it also gives me an idea of the number of signatures, how strong they are, and where they are clustered, which can save time when looking for K162s. At least, I assume I'm looking for a K162.

A ship appears under my probes on the edge of the system, giving me a good idea of where I may find one of the two connections the haulers are using, so I concentrate my probes there first. I resolve the wormhole and warp to it, hoping mostly that it's not the static exit to high-sec this C2 holds. It isn't, but it is the second static wormhole, the one that connects to class 4 w-space. Whilst the C4 occupants couldn't have opened this connection themselves, there's nothing stopping the wormhole being opened independently and the C4 pilots using it to get access to the high-sec exit. Besides, the wormhole I land next to has been stressed to its half-mass state, almost as if multiple hauling trips had already been made. Funny, that.

As if the mass-stressed wormhole weren't evidence enough, as I approach from twenty kilometres away the connection flares. The Iteron and Bustard appear in unison, along with a new contact in a Mammoth hauler, and they all align and warp away, no doubt towards the high-sec connection. What a beautiful sight. With any luck they'll also come back together, so we can blow them up. I let them go out, because they are too far away for me to stop effectively, and because I can't catch them all. Fin can, with her Flycatcher interdictor, and she's on her way to me now.

Because of the size of the system, where I saw the haulers first on d-scan, and where the C4 wormhole is, I am confident the two wormholes being used are out of d-scan range of each other. I have no problem calling Fin in and to the C4 wormhole. But should she stay there? Sitting on the other side sounds like a better option, unless there is a tower in range with pilots maybe occasionally pinging d-scan. The odds are slim, I suppose, so Fin jumps to C4a to be a neat surprise for the pilots, whilst I remain in C3a to, well, I dunno. Watch for the ships? I suppose so.

I don't really need to stay in C3a, not with Fin being so immediately obvious once the ships jump through the wormhole. And when they are all coming back—really quite soon too, so the high-sec wormhole must be convenient, or they've stacked up all their goods in the exit system—I think I would be better waiting with Fin. If only I had more time to think about this, or wasn't so tired. I jump to C4a to make the ambush more proper, but not quite in time. The ships drop out of warp just as my Loki strategic cruiser finishes its transit through the wormhole. Arse.

Did the pilots see me? Will they turn around and seek refuge in high-sec until a scout takes a look around? I don't know any more. My own mistake may need to be compounded with another, and I send Fin's Flycatcher back to C3a, just in case the ships are turning tail to run. The only problem is if they didn't see me, or think they're safe, and blindly jump through the wormhole anyway. Which, of course, they do. Maybe Fin's interdiction sphere helped their decision, though.

The only problem now is that Fin is polarised in C3a—the ships really were quick in turning around—and I am left with the initial problem of stopping three targets with one warp scrambler. Well, I can't stop any if I don't try, so I lock, lock, lock, and the first ship to be locked becomes the target for my scrambler and guns. I get lucky. The Mammoth is first and it pretty much shakes itself to pieces when trying to enter warp. I'm not entirely convinced I fired a shot. The Iteron is luckier, as it is pushed in to warp by the Mammoth's explosion. That leaves me with a pod and Bustard to choose from.

I am locked on to the Bustard and not the pod, so I let the pod fly free and make the Bustard my next target. I scramble its warp drives, burn towards it and give it a big bump away from the wormhole, and start shooting. And continue shooting. And shoot a bit more. Damn, this Bustard's shields are harder to crack than a Drake's. 'Ninety seconds' says Fin from the other side of the wormhole. I'm not going to pause my guns just yet, because I am far from convinced I'll pop the Bustard before Fin's polarisation will end. Anyway, the Bustard's not going anywhere.

No, really. The Bustard's not going anywhere. It's not moving at all. If I didn't know better, I'd say the pilot is drafting an angry letter to Lai Dai to get compensation for her soon-to-be-destroyed ship, perhaps unaware that her +2 warp core strength is being countered by my faction warp scrambler's +3 strength. Shoot, shoot, shoot. Maybe Bustards are modified small Caldari towers with engines. Whatever their construction, those ninety seconds are up and the wormhole flares again. Fin dumps another interdiction sphere and adds her launchers to the combat. By now I've hit the Bustard's armour, which drops much more quickly, but it could simply be Fin's increasing the damage rate.

The Bustard wakes up with Fin's arrival, maybe realising her ship is no longer polarised either, and makes a half-hearted break for the wormhole. No can do, I'm afraid. I give her a little nudge like a bop on the nose with a newspaper, and the Bustard stops again. The ship exploding kinda stops it moving too, with the exception of a few outlying bits of the Bustard accelerating away. And we have the pod trapped, thanks to Fin's interdiction sphere. I lock on and wait for Fin's launchers to start firing again before I let loose with my autocannons, and we share in the massacre of the pilot.

Scoop, loot, and shoot. There are some fancy modules in the wreck of the Bustard but nothing special. Fin flies over to the Mammoth wreck to see it full of tritanium, almost three million units of the ore. It seems the same was in the Bustard, but which is now dust. 'Is it worth collecting?' Probably. 'Do you think they'll send reinforcements?' Not after the hour it took to pop the Bustard. D-scan stayed clear for the entirety of the combat, by the way, and we remain unmolested. And it will take time for Fin to go home and prepare a hauler, during which I can scout. So I scout.

There's a tower in the system, in which are four pilots in an Orca industrial command ship, Anathema covert operations boat, and two pods. It's the same corporation, and they aren't looking to mobilise against us. It's safe to collect the tritanium. Fin brings our own Bustard across C3a, C2a, and in to C4a, loots the Mammoth wreck, and heads home again without any problems. As it was late before we even found C2a it's certainly late now, so I'm off too. I pass by the wormhole and destroy the Mammoth wreck, regretting it as soon as the criminal timer resets, and leave C4a to go home. Job's a good 'un.

Woah, this has been another job better than simply 'good'. The criminal timer gives me a chance to examine the new corpse, and what juicy, expensive brains I have managed to collect. That solo Tengu pilot had some pricey implants, but this industrialist beats them easily. +5 training implants again, but she's also stacked up on some top-notch mining yield chips. The brain's estimated value tops two billion ISK. If only we could dig them out of her head to re-sell. It makes me wonder why she didn't eject, abandoning the Bustard and running for her tower when she could. It's a bit crazy. But it makes for an excellently destructive end to the night, and compensates for my lack of competence in executing the ambush in the first place. Maybe I'll cradle her lifeless head in my lap as I sleep.

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Tags: anathema, bustard, eve online, flycatcher, hoarder, iteron, mammoth, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space

Another look at the lava planet

Glorious leader Fin has scanned the home system by the time I come on-line. There's nothing new to be found, and even the untouched static connection from yesterday is in the same place. We give the command to touch C247, and jump through to an occupied but inactive class 3 w-space system. A tower sits on a far planet, with a Nidhoggur carrier unpiloted inside the force field and Buzzard covert operations boat wreck outside, Fin's pod warping away a little embarrassedly.

Fin tidies up the mess she made as I scan the system's five anomalies and eight signatures. C3a holds a static exit to high-sec, which will help with getting a replacement ship for Fin, and is easily resolved. It doesn't look like there are any K162s to be found, and the high-sec wormhole being super-stable supports this notion, but a second wormhole appears under my probes anyway. Ah, but it's a weak signature and so another outbound connection. This bodes well for tonight's exploration.

Popping to high-sec first gets this evening's exit, which is in The Forge but a little out of the way, before warping to the second wormhole in C3a. It's an N770 to class 5 w-space. In I go. My directional scanner shows me a tower and no ships, and no hangars either, which seems threadbare for living in dangerous w-space. The six anomalies and seven signatures reduce to the H296 static connection to more class 5 w-space, and I press on to see a tower and Orca industrial command ship on d-scan in C5b. Be still my beating heart.

The single tower is a step down from a year ago, when there were four, no doubt on the only four moons in the system. Scanning C5b resolves three wormholes amongst the handful of signatures, the static connection to more class 5 w-space, a K162 from deadly class 6 w-space, and a dying K162 coming from low-sec empire space. My choice of direction is obvious and, I must say, magnetars look pretty sexy when bathed in the red of a C6 system. The Thanatos on d-scan doesn't, not with the tower to accompany it. I don't think the carrier gets out much either, when a passive scan sprinkles the system map with thirty-four anomalies. I can fix that, but I'd better scan first, if I don't want labels obscuring my interface.

Actually, first I want to get a good view of the second planet in the system. It's a lava planet, and perhaps the only named planet in all w-space, Eyjafjallajokull. I've seen it before, but it's still interesting to visit it again. And to capture the planet with the magnetar in the background looks really cool, even if it takes me fifteen minutes and being shot at by C6 anomaly Sleepers to get my ship in to the right position. It's worth it for the result.

Scanning for K162s finds one, but before I leave I make good on my intention to activate all the anomalies. Oh, my poor capacitor. But it's done, so I move on. And that's weird, as the wormhole is another outbound connection to class 5 w-space, just like the static connection. But I suppose that can happen, so I jump through and, uh, hmm. That tower and Orca look familiar, as do the bookmarks now highlighted in my folder. I may well have gone in the wrong direction by mistake. Never mind. And as I scanned the K162 in C6a, I may as well use it. I head back, warp to the right wormhole, and return to class 5 w-space anyway, just this time through a K162.

It's all a bit bland in C5d. No occupation, no activity, and scanning the sixteen signatures finds no K162s. I nearly saved myself some time heading the wrong way, if only I'd have admitted defeat and continued in that direction. I do now, back through C6a, C5b, and in to C5c, which is pretty much the same as C5d's unoccupied emptiness but with the guarantee of another wormhole to find. The static connection is yet another H296, pushing me to C5e, where a tower, Orca, and pod on d-scan assures at least one pilot is doing nothing. That deep space scanning probe is a concern, though.

Depending on whether I am the pilot who opened the wormhole I came through or not could determine how long my entrance goes unnoticed. If I opened the wormhole and the owner of the probe sees the new signature, it could be short-lived indeed. The appearance on d-scan of an Archon carrier makes me think the wormhole's death will be sooner rather than later, but when the pod jumps in to a Viator transport my curiosity is piqued. There are no hangars at this bare tower, so the transport must have come from one of the bigger ships. I have to see what's happening.

All three ships are piloted, and there's no movement suggesting the K162 is about to be crashed. In fact, the Archon goes off-line. And nothing is happening, not at the tower or the rest of the system. I consider not scanning, but the temptation of the Orca hitting the static wormhole for whatever reason is too much to ignore, so I launch probes and scan. As I do, a Legion strategic cruiser warps in to the tower and a Cheetah is spotted by my probes, no doubt spewing out his probes on wormhole. I concentrate my scanning where the cov-ops is and indeed resolve a wormhole. The odd bit is that the wormhole is the H296 out of the system.

It's already getting late, thanks to my sightseeing of Eyjafjallajokull, so don't want to dive any deeper down this never-ending chain of class 5 w-space. But as I turn my boat around the H296 flares, bringing another Cheetah in to the system. If ships are being moved maybe I can wait a little longer, particularly as Fin is finished buying and selling and is coming my way as quickly as she can. And, dammit, there goes the Orca. It warps to the wormhole in front of me and jumps through. Should I go for it? 'Yes', says Fin, although personally I'm a little concerned about that Legion, and how very long it would take my one ship to strip the Orca's armour. I fear I'd only end up polarised and at the mercy of the strategic cruiser.

Even so, I give chase to the Orca and get it quite wrong. I manage to jump to C5f in time to decloak and attempt to the lock the Orca a split-second before it enters warp, letting him see my transit and my Loki strategic cruiser decloak, all without being directly threatened. But let's look at the positives: I may now be baited, and Fin is coming to provide some surprise support for me. And I get to look around C5f, at least using d-scan from the wormhole, and I can see another bare tower in the direction the Orca warped, with a Mammoth hauler with it. Ah, the locals are moving systems, hence the movements and minimal tower configurations.

At first, I think the corporation is moving from C5f backwards to C5e, but that notion's dispelled when an update to d-scan in C5f shows a hangar being anchored. I guess they're moving this way, which may well mean the Orca won't be coming back through the wormhole. That's a shame. But there are ships that have to be moved in still, and here they come. The Cheetah returns first, which I let pass for being nearly impossible to stop anyway, after which a couple more flares from the wormhole brings the Legion I already saw. But two flares for one Legion? No, two flares for two Legions.

One Legion I could probably hold and annoy for a bit, with Fin heading my way, but two of them would rip my cloaky Loki apart before help could arrive. Or, at least, force me to disengage. More ships pass me by. Finally, Fin arrives, and my glorious leader sits on the wormhole in C5e to watch d-scan for more ships. As she does that, it seems like a fair idea to scan C5f for the static connection, in case supplies are being brought in from k-space too. But just as I engage my warp drive, Fin says that a 'Moros and Archon are on d-scan' in C5e. Abort warp, abort warp! If the dreadnought or carrier come this way, the wormhole will die and I'll be trapped in a hideous C5 chain forever.

I jump back to C5e, as a precaution, and reconnoitre the tower and, when seeing neither capital ship there, the K162 home. It remains stable. It looks like the big ships have gone off-line again. So all is quiet. Just the small tower is left, and that could be disposable. Then again, it is now off-line and being unanchored, and that Viator hasn't gone to C5f yet. They're going to take it with them, and in the transport. This is our last chance at catching someone, and it's not going to be easy.

Fin and I warp to the tower and get close, made easier by the Viator accidentally revealing himself a few minutes early. We watch the timer count down and prepare for the transport to decloak in order to scoop the unanchored tower in to his hold, and pounce as soon as the target appears. But he's quick. Decloak, scoop, cloak. My sensor recalibration doesn't even end before the Viator is gone, only appearing on d-scan as he transits the wormhole, fast enough for us not to even bother to give chase. Still, it was worth a shot, but that looks like it for activity in the constellation. Time to go home. I really hope no one's killed a wormhole behind me this time.

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Tags: archon, buzzard, cheetah, eve online, legion, loki, mammoth, mmorpg, moros, nidhoggur, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, thanatos, viator, w-space

Do the double collapse for ISK

How many wormholes do we have now? And how many ships are lurking beneath the cover of a cloaking device, watching, waiting for our guard to relax? I suppose it's not called paranoia for nothing, because I certainly seemed quite aware of most of what was happening earlier. Well, as far as I know, that is. It pays to be cautious, though, so seeing the K162 from class 5 w-space is still connecting to the home system I poke through to see what the situation looks like.

All is clear from the other side of the wormhole, with my directional scanner showing me nothing. Warping to the tower has the ships and pilots gone too, but it is a few hours since I last saw them, and not really bad that we don't have a small fleet of Tengu strategic cruisers on our doorstep. What I didn't do earlier was scan, and considering how quickly w-space changed when I was actually on-line I consider it prudent to take a look around with scanning probes after having been absent a while.

Five signatures are reduced to rocks and a wormhole quickly enough, the connection leading back to more class 5 w-space. Again d-scan is clear after jumping through the wormhole, and this time my notes point me directly towards a tower, in the same position from four months ago. There's no one home, though, and the fifteen anomalies and twenty-eight signatures give me pause about scanning. If I focus on the chubby signatures I should be able to find K162s without wasting much time.

Hmm, my notes also indicate that I resolved a wormhole to class 3 w-space the last time I was here, but now the system connects to a C5. It's possible I found a random connection previously, but resolving a Z142 wormhole to null-sec k-space isn't going to clear anything up. Neither is a second Z142, and the C140 wormhole to low-sec doesn't help. That's it for the fat signatures. I start delving down to the skinnier signatures, but realise that spending so long looking for something that may not be there, merely to sate my curiosity, is not a good use of my time. I recall my probes and head homewards.

A poke through to our neighbouring C3a sees much the same as in C5a. The system looks clear, the tower has no pilots or ships present, and the K162 from class 2 w-space that had some activity earlier is now at the end of its life. Maybe it's time for the double collapse. Glorious leader Fin is on-line and willing, so we both grab a massive ship each and spend a short while bouncing between the K162 and C247 wormholes, synchronising our jumps to confirm the maths and ensure neither of us gets isolated. Well, we do get isolated, but with both of us in the home system.

Okay, start again. Do we make ISK or explore? 'Yes.' Let me at least scan our home system. I do. It's clear. Fin's got the Tengus, I've got the missiles. Let's make lots of iskies. Aii's woken up too, and we have a third spider Tengu, so we can plough through the Sleepers quickly tonight. And we do. Our three ships treat the class 4 anomalies like a pair of us in class 3 anomalies, rattling through five sites without breaking a sweat.

Sweeping up in three Noctis salvagers has the regulation loot but mediocre salvage, unlike our last excursion, but we still end up with almost half-a-billion ISK of booty that's dumped in to the hangar like we do this every day. If only we could. Even so, that should keep us going for a bit longer.

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

Submarines in space

I'm out for a short poke around w-space, as there must be other active pilots occassionaly. The home system is clear, with just a new pocket of gas to ignore, so I jump through our static connection to class 3 w-space to start exploring. My directional scanner is clear from the K162, and although my notes point me towards a possible tower from a previous visit it should be in range, leaving one planet with moons as a possible location of occupation. I launch probes, perform a blanket scan of the system, and warp across to see what's at the far planet.

There's a tower, plus a Legion strategic cruiser, Noctis salvager, and Anathema covert operations boat, with a Heron frigate appearing a few seconds later. That suggests at least one ship is piloted, and the sole Sleeper wreck tells me some combat has occurred recently. Or maybe the combat is current, as d-scan has the Heron at the tower and the other ships elsewhere. A lack of anomalies isn't surprising, and the appearance of the Anathema already makes me suspect its a hacking boat, so the ships must be in one of the six signatures. Then again, maybe the site's signature has already disappeared. I don't know what governs that behaviour any more.

Definitely disappeared is the Noctis, now that there are no wrecks, and although I get a tight d-scan beam on the Legion and Anathema, at a range of 3·4 AU, they scarper as I arrange my probes around where they probably were. Am I too late, or have the ships moved on to another site? A warp around the system, not wanting to disrupt my probes now, has no sign of the ships, just the Heron launching his own probes, so I would say I'm too late. The ships won't be local, the hapless Heron maybe scaring them off, and I may as well scan.

There's no site under my probes. I can't say I'm surprised. It's a shame my timing was a little off, but c'est la vie. The rest of C3a's signatures resolve to be a K162 from class 2 w-space, rocks, rocks, and more rocks, and the static exit to low-sec. I'm tempted to check the C2 system, wondering if the pilots are setting up an ambush specifically for a frigate, but cautious in case the Anathema stayed behind to scout. I am also tempted to wait for the Heron to come to the K162 and take my own shot at him, as surely, being local, he'd have the other sites bookmarked and scanning won't take long.

I watch the Heron's progress for now, realising that he's scanning the whole system, and badly, as his probes disappear and return. But they are not just his probes that return. A Loki is spewing them out too from somewhere, and a Helios cov-ops multiplies the strategic cruiser's output, really cluttering up d-scan. But where did they come from? I've been on the C2 K162 and not seen anyone appear. A new wormhole could have opened up, or... I point d-scan towards our home K162 and see the Loki, Helios, and probes all coincident with it.

I warp back to the K162, a bit rashly, and luckily land where there aren't a mass of Loki and Helios probes. But there they are. I'm too late to see the ships, but the signs are clear. I don't need some codger to tell me that the blast marks are too accurate for Sand People: a new wormhole has opened in to our home system. W-space is clearly waking up.

Now I'm a bit more uncertain what to do. I want to find the wormhole in the home system, but I don't want to jump back if there's a chance that either pilot is sitting here watching. I should at least monitor d-scan and wait for the ships to be elsewhere. But I don't want to be passive either. To do something I head to the low-sec exit, but only to see it wobbling at the end of its life and pretty much useless. I ponder now heading to C2a, but realise that if I did and found anything then I would still be in threat of the active scouts coming from behind.

My best bet is to watch for the Loki and Helios to disappear, then head back home, scan for the new connection, and hope that they believe the constellation to be quiet and take their own Sleeper fleet somewhere. A bit of patience sees the Helios appear on the C2 K162, the pilot being a member of a ten-capsuleer corporation is good to know, and jump through. The lack of any probes in the system makes me think the Loki has gone too. It's time to find the new connection at home.

I think the Heron came this way. He blipped on d-scan and seemed to finish near our K162, but I don't see him on the wormhole, on d-scan in C2a, or on d-scan at home, nor are there probes visible. Worse, processing this made my jump slow. The Loki was on d-scan in C2a as I made transit home. Maybe he poked out to low-sec and is coming back this way. I warp away from the wormhole, launch probes, and blanket the system, returning to loiter on the static wormhole in the hopes of catching the Loki's movement.

The new wormhole sticks out nicely, and the Loki doesn't pass me. I resolve what turns out to be a K162 from class 5 w-space and, thinking I am not being monitored, jump in to take a look around. D-scan is clear, with one planet in range, and exploring locates a tower with an empty Orca industrial command ship, a Buzzard cov-ops, and a fleet of three Tengu strategic cruisers piloted and, perhaps, ready for action. Whether that action will involve Sleepers or other capsuleers remains to be seen.

My best guess would be that the scouts are checking the constellation before deciding whether or not to clear anomalies through their static wormhole. That would be stealing our anomalies. Hoping to see the scouts return and this plan being put in to effect, so that I can ambush a salvager, I sit on C5a's static wormhole. And indeed the Loki reappears. I just don't expect him to start in the C5 and jump to our C4. Damn, how much has he seen? What does he know? Is he now stalking me? He's either bait, or doesn't know I'm here.

If the locals are looking for my Loki they're making a poor job of it. I would expect more ships to come this way than having a single Loki looking for mine, so maybe the scout hasn't seen me. A short period of nothing happening, and checking the tower to see no change but a missing Buzzard, makes me suspect our paths crossed coincidentally. And as this outing was meant to be short I think it's time to find out one way or another: I jump home. The wormhole's clear. D-scan is clear. It's all rather anticlimactic. But submarines in space indeed. You never really know who's out there or where, and bumping in to each other rarely ends well.

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Tags: anathema, buzzard, eve online, helios, heron, legion, loki, mmorpg, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, w-space

Rats in Fountain

I'm hoping for more luck tonight, after yesterday's rotten exploration. Too many systems, not enough pilots, and a diversion through high-sec. It wasn't much fun. But maybe entertainment will come to me today, with two extra wormholes in the home system. The K162 from class 5 w-space that's at the end of its life isn't great, but the K162 from the class 4 system is stable and beckoning.

My directional scanner is clear on the wormhole in C4a, and although my notes from four months ago point to occupation it's moved on since then. Well, as it turns out, the tower remains, but is off-line and plundered. My overview is configured to show only the force field and hangars, which gives me all the pertinent information about occupation status, so I missed the rest of the lingering hardware. I can't do anything with it, the tower or any of the defences, which is pretty much why my overview is configured to ignore them and keep d-scan clear.

Scanning C4a has a dozen signatures but no K162s that I can determine, so whoever came this way has since collapsed their connection. That's cool, and I still have more to explore. I head home and through our static wormhole, to the neighbouring class 3 system, where there's occupation but no ships visible on d-scan. That's almost a step up from the C4, I suppose. My notes from nine months ago are helpful too, pointing me towards the tower and letting me know I'm looking for a static exit to, ugh, null-sec. Well, I'd better get looking for it.

Five anomalies and twelve signatures turn out to be mostly rocks. In fact, it's all rocks apart from the single wormhole, which is pretty dull. The one wormhole also only gives me the one way to go, so it's out to null-sec to see if I can find more wormholes. An empty system in Fountain waits, where scanning reveals a lack of extra signatures and warping around the rock fields finds a couple of battleships to pop for security status gains. I've not done that for a while, but I've also not lost any security status either. It's good to build it up, just in case.

Null-sec can be pretty quiet, so I hop a system across to see if it stays that way. Yep, still alone in the system, and still no more wormholes. I rat and scan my way through four systems in total, travelling a small ring back to my origin system, where I give up looking for wormholes in Fountain and head home. My glorious leader has appeared and, after updating her on the current situation, we decide to kill our static wormhole with fire. Or massive ships.

The wormhole puts up little resistance and is soon gone, to be replaced by one looking eerily similar. Jumping through sees nothing of interest on d-scan, and exploring the three planets sitting out of range in three directions doesn't change that. But for a C3 that's unoccupied and inactive it is pretty bare, with one anomaly and four signatures. They resolve to be a wormhole, some rocks, and another wormhole, with our K162 adding to the wormhole tally. The system's static exit leads to low-sec Domain, and the second wormhole is a K162 from class 2 w-space that could hold promise.

Ships! And a tower. And also a lack of wrecks. But ships! A Manticore and Hound stealth bomber, Heretic interdictor, Iteron and Bestower hauler, Dominix battleship, and a Cormorant destroyer. Surely some of them must be piloted. That's almost true. The Hound is, but that's it, which is less than 'some'. I doubt a solo stealth bomber will do much, or at least much where he'll be caught doing it, but it's all I've got at the moment. I won't just rely on the Hound, though. I warp out, launch probes, and blanket the system to see what else may be out there.

I think the locals are industrialists, if the wealth of anomalies and dearth of signatures is any indicator. Twenty-three anomalies and three signatures, at least two of which are wormholes, is a lop-sided result I don't often see. It also means scanning won't take long, and I resolve the two other signatures pretty quickly to be a radar site and the static exit to high-sec, leading to a system in Everyshore.

Back to C2a and watching the Hound, and after a while it even moves. Not just any movement either, but aligning for warp. That's odd. It appears to have gone to a distant planet, but I see no reason to do that. Surely it can't be collecting planet goo, can it? But I've seen odder occurrences, so warp to the customs office to see that, indeed, the Hound is not collecting planet goo. Opening the system map shows the source of my confusion. I didn't twig that the high-sec connection is just beyond and almost in-line with the planet out here.

The Hound must have gone to the high-sec exit, but apparently only to check something. The bomber didn't exit w-space, as it returns to dwell in the tower a little longer, which is curious but there's nothing I can do to determine its motivation. But that was fun, I guess? I saw a ship move. But that's it. I can wait for a bit longer to see if the Hound will move again, but I think I could be more productive elsewhere.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Rats in Fountain
Tags: bestower, cormorant, dominix, eve online, heretic, hound, iteron, manticore, mmorpg, null-sec, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Two scans is too many

Hop, hoppity, hop. High-sec stargates are easy. Twenty-three of them becomes a bit boring, though. Still, it gets me home, and with less effort and randomness than scanning for arbitrary wormholes. I would be home somewhat earlier were it not for the gimboid who collapsed their static connection that I just happened to be using. It really held the constellation together, man.

But I get home. Or close to it. Jumping in to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system, using its rather convenient static wormhole to high-sec, sees no change on my directional scanner, but my bulging collection of bookmarks reminds me there's a system I've yet to visit. In fact, I've yet to visit the wormhole leading to whatever system it leads to, so apart from it being an outbound connection I have no idea where it goes. I can spare a short diversion, so send my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser to take a look.

Oh, how alluring. Dropping out of warp next to a V301 is rather more dangerous than normal, because how can I resist being drawn in to class 1 w-space? Sure, C1s aren't generally dangerous, but it was late when I had to find my way home from the disconnected arm of the constellation, later still when I got to high-sec and faced a couple of dozen system-hops to get here, and the night's not going to suddenly feel younger just because I've found a C1 system. Then again, seeing a tower and three Ventures in C1a perks me up a little.

Seeing that the mining frigates and tower are separated on my directional scanner is like a jolt of caffeine. The system is small, but a rough scan and bit of maths makes me think I can drop out of d-scan range to launch probes, and warping in the opposite direction to the frigates proves me right. I launch combat scanning probes, cloak, and warp to the other side of the system to hunt the ships, barely aware of my fatigue any more.

A Brutix appears on d-scan, but only briefly. The battlecruiser is swapped for a fourth Venture, and a fifth even appears before too long. Despite tonight's trek, I may have appeared in this C1 just in time to catch the start of an industrial operation. But it's kinda hard to pin down for some reason, which I work out when, having finally got a fairly decent bearing on the ships, testing the range to the ships puts them 10 AU away. No wonder small changes were producing erratic results, as my azimuth errors will be significant at this range.

I warp closer to the ships, after placing a datum probe roughly where I think they are. It is pretty rough too, as I have to hunt the Ventures all over again. But I find them again, and now they are about 4·2 AU from my position, which is much better, even if still a fair distance for a site to be from a planet. I get my Loki accelerated in the general direction of my targets, take a breath, and scan. Damn. I've missed. 95% is a good result but not enough for my warp drives to lock on to, and I don't even get a solid hit on the gravimetric site.

An adjustment of my probes puts them pretty much on top of the mining operation and a second scan gets what I needed the first time. Two scans already feels too long, like my probes must have been spotted, but there's no point giving up now. I recall my probes, warp to the Ventures, and bookmark their position for reference. But, yes, my probes were noticed. Two Ventures remain in the site when I reach it, and those not for long. The last leaves me alone near a rock I wouldn't know what to do with, before I've even dropped out of warp.

I don't think I can blame my poor scanning on being tired. It was just a bit shabby, and I took a short-cut when gauging the distance rather than being more precise about it. I pay for that by missing my targets. Considering that I still managed to get to the site to see a ship warp out suggests that it was the second scan that was spotted, or that their reactions were sufficiently delayed that the extra ten seconds or so the adjustment took would have been enough for me to pounce on a ship or two had I not needed it. Either way, they've all gone.

Ventures are swapped for scanning frigates, one of which chooses the curious option of scanning outside the safety of the tower's force field. I warp to the K162 at range, wondering if I could catch him when coming to see what type of wormhole connects to them, only to see the pilot choose another curious option of landing on top of the wormhole instead. I can't shoot him from there! The Heron warps away again, back to his safe spot, and I'm ready to take out my frustration on his tiny ship. Sadly, by the time I've launched probes he's returned to the tower and is inside the force field. That's that, I suppose.

A Brutix and Venture warp away from the tower, towards what must be a wormhole, seeing as the ships disappear from d-scan, and I decide to resolve where they went. It doesn't take long, and I am soon next to an unhealthy static exit to low-sec. Hoping that the battlecruiser comes back, seeing that the wormhole may not have much life left, I call Aii along for the fun, but the locals are alert. They've left someone near the wormhole from C3a and they spot Aii entering the system, saying hello to him in the local channel.

Aii is the lucky recipient of a conversation request, and we try to fool the locals in to thinking it was he who scanned earlier, the equivalent of riding single file to hide our numbers. But whether they believe us or not is immaterial, as the Brutix isn't coming back, not even with just one strategic cruiser potentially waiting for him. Aii leaves again, making a big deal of going back to C3a, but still nothing returns from low-sec. Okay, it's definitely time for bed now.

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Tags: brutix, eve online, heron, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, venture, w-space

Going the long way home

I have the actual intention of scanning, exploring, and roaming this evening. Hopefully that's enough for me to find a target. The new signatures in the home system give me some rocks, gas, and a spare wormhole if our static connection should disappoint. It's a K162 from class 4 w-space, and rather than bypass a home-away-from-home, I head to C4a first. And it is just like home, with a tower empty of ships and a system bereft of activity. Mind you, that's pretty much like most w-space systems.

Four anomalies and four signatures. What are the odds of finding a K162? Pretty slim, when the signatures resolve to be a radar site, rocks, and gas. I wasn't to know that, though. Okay, back home, and through the static wormhole to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system, where a tower, no ships, and some salvage drones appear on my directional scanner. There are no wrecks to accompany the drones, and the drones also aren't in any of the four anomalies a passive scan reveals, so I suppose they are long abandoned.

The local tower could use a few more defences. I can see through to space on the other side. Maybe I'll drop the director a note, but before that I'll scan. The first wormhole from the fourteen signatures is pretty weak, but is that an exit to high-sec or an outbound link to more w-space? The second wormhole is chubbier, but does that make this one a static exit to low-sec or a K162? Neither, it seems, as the chubby wormhole is an N968. The other must lead to high-sec after all.

I drop out of warp at the first wormhole to see the grey colours of Caldari space bleed through to w-space, as I resolve a third wormhole, also weak, also an outbound connection. That gives me options. First, I pop out to high-sec, bookmarking the wormhole in the system in Lonetrek, three hops to Jita, before heading towards the N968. The class 3 system is likely to be a dead end, making it a good early option.

D-scan is clear from the K162 in C3b, with one planet just out of range and one very much out of range. A blanket scan reveals seven anomalies, twenty-one signatures, and a distinct lack of ships, although I locate a tower at the distant planet. A coarse scan for K162s almost does its job, as one from null-sec crops up in my result, but so does the static exit to low-sec and another N968. Once more to class 3 w-space I go, and this time with ships in the system.

I'm not expecting much from the Archon and Thanatos carriers, and the Phobos heavy interdictor isn't going to be up to much by itself. It's no surprise to find all three empty inside the force field of the tower also on d-scan, leaving me wondering only about whose core scanning probes are in the system. As they are core probes and not combats they won't detect my ship, so I decloak, launch my combat scanning probes, and scan too. The two magnetometric sites and single radar site may keep the other scout busy for a while, so I investigate the two wormholes I resolve. The static exit to low-sec I know about. The T405 to class 4 w-space is a nice surprise though. So much of C3s being dead ends.

Leaving the other scout behind, I jump in to a system I recognise immediately. Home, sweet home. Our old home, but a home all the same. Someone else has moved in now, and a Buzzard covert operations boat is on d-scan, but I still have some deep safe spots that I use to launch probes covertly. It matters not, as it turns out, with the cov-ops empty inside the tower, but it's just good to be back. If only there were some one on-line not so wet behind the ears that I could share this reminiscing with. Instead, I'm left to scan the single anomaly and ten signatures, already knowing I'm looking for an X844. I find it, naturally, along with a K162 from more class 4 w-space. Backwards first, I would say.

C4d still has no sign of piloted ships, and not even a tower this time. That's a change from three months ago. I scan, expecting to find the inevitable K162, and there it is. I am almost happy to see that the connection from class 2 w-space is at the end of its life, as it is the first termination of the constellation and gives me hope that I can get some sleep tonight. But there are still more systems. Back through C4b and in to C4c, to a clear d-scan result and far more anomalies than is humanly possible to count, all twenty of them.

I'm expecting a lack of occupation with so many anomalies, and maybe a static connection to high-class w-space. I'm a little taken aback, then, to find a tower in the system, and more so when a blanket scan reveals fifteen signatures. What do the capsuleers get up to here? They don't have anything to do with Sleepers, it seems, or with gathering resources. Whatever, the second signature I resolve is a wormhole, and an outbound connection to class 1 w-space. That'll do, pig. Onwards!

A ship! The Hurricane battlecruiser is on d-scan without a tower in sight. But there are no wrecks, and indeed no anomalies, so is he gassing or loitering on a wormhole? I warp away to launch probes to find out, but before I've even entered warp the Hurricane is gone from d-scan. I suppose I had little chance hunting him with probes if he was able to spot my moving away from the wormhole, but it's still a little disappointing, having spooked the first actual piloted ship I've encountered so far down a chain of mostly outbound connections.

Two towers are in C1a, one with an empty hauler, the other the battlecruiser. I see the Hurricane has guns fitted, not gas suckers, so I'm not sure what he was up to. It doesn't matter though, not now that he's become as inert as argon. I'm going home. Back in to C4c, through C4b and bye bye old home, as I, uh... I... Oh. I'm sure I left the wormhole to C3c at this bookmarked location. Who could have collapsed it? That core-probed scout? What a dick. Now I have to go the long way around. At least I got the exit from C3a, the one in Lonetrek, and C1a should hold an exit itself, so I don't have much more to scan.

I go back the way I came before trying to go back the way I came, and return to C1a, this time launching probes and scanning. The first signature is a wormhole and I think I've got lucky, but the K162 from class 5 w-space is just too much. No more new systems, I just want to go home! My bookmark folder is barely fitting on my screen any more. Ignoring some gas resolves a lovely static exit to high-sec, taking me out to Metropolis and leaving me fifteen hops that will lead through Rancer or twenty-three hips exclusively through high-sec. You know, it's late, I'm tired: I'll go the high-sec route. There's less thought required.

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Tags: archon, buzzard, eve online, hurricane, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, phobos, scanning, thanatos, w-space

Keeping the skill queue flowing

I'm only really here to update my skill queue. It's not full enough to make it through another day, so even though I was going to have a night off I'm sucked back in to w-space, however briefly. But I should be okay. I can quit any time I want. Still, it won't hurt to check that home's secure, or to see if there's an easy kill waiting to be ambushed in the neighbouring system, right? Right?

Two extra signatures at home intrigue me, but they're just a new pocket of gas and Sleepers protecting a more valuable second pocket of gas. It's nothing to get excited about. And as I resolve the static wormhole too it would be churlish not to at least poke my nose through. A tower and lack of ships visible on my directional scanner in the class 3 system should really be all I need to see to turn around and head home, but I stay. No, I don't know why either.

My notes do their bang up job again, informing me of a can planted at the hundred-kilometre warp-in point for the tower, which I'll avoid by warping in from a different direction today. Except the tower isn't there any more, and neither is the can. Never mind, notes, have a biscuit anyway. The new tower is straightforward enough to locate, and it's prickly but not booby trapped. And as I'm getting in to a groove already, I warp out, launch probes, and start scanning.

Eleven anomalies and thirteen signatures isn't light going, but nor does it feel like a chore to sort through them, and is made easier by their close clustering. Three wormholes are plucked from the noise, which I think means I'm out here for the night. The static exit to low-sec empire space is obvious, and takes me to a faction warfare system in The Bleak Lands that I comfortably ignore. The second wormhole in C3a is also ignored for now, being a K162 from null-sec k-space, but that just leaves me with a dying K162 from more class 3 w-space.

Dying, but not dead, or it wouldn't be there. I take the slight risk of isolation and jump through the wobbly connection, to see a couple of towers and a Bestower on d-scan. Is it piloted, is it active? Finding the tower says no, and no. That's good enough for me here, so jump back to C3a and The Bleak Lands to look around with probes this time. There seems to be plenty of faction warfare occurring, as ships come and go, and plenty light up my combat probes, but I'm interested only in the signatures. Well, signature, singular, as there's just the one.

The signature is weak, and of 'unknown' type, which means little outside of w-space. But as it resolves to be a wormhole, its relative strength gains semantic strength. It must be an outbound link. And indeed it is, the Z971 leading to a class 1 w-space system. As I jump to C1a, I notice core scanning probes in the low-sec system. Whether that's an explorer looking for wormholes or not, I don't know. I can't pay it much attention for now either.

Circumstances don't look optimistic in C1a. A shuttle is the only ship visible on d-scan along with a tower, so rather than find that I may as well hold on the wormhole to scan. If that scout from low-sec comes this way I'd like to know. He doesn't, not in the time it takes me to identify six signatures and resolve three wormholes: a K162 from high-sec, K162 from class 2 w-space, and static exit to high-sec. I get both high-sec exit systems first, with one ending up in The Forge but rather out of the way, and the other coming from Sinq Laison, before seeing what I can find in C2a.

I have a curious note about this class 2 system. I don't have any previous visits listed, but I am apparently in Elroy Skimms's home system. That's neat, as he appears to be on-line too, and there are two haulers and a tower visible on d-scan. Maybe I can surprise him with this pop-in visit. No, apparently not, as neither hauler is piloted, merely floating empty inside the tower's force field, and owned by a corporation that doesn't match Skimms's. The bastard's moved out and not told me.

Seven anomalies and four signatures are quick to resolve, giving me rocks, gas, and the second static connection. The other wormhole is another exit to high-sec, leading to a system in Derelik and terminating the constellation. I'm not scanning more empire space systems. I'm not even supposed to be here. Okay, it's time to head home, without having even seen another pilot. I don't think this has been the best use of my time. But, damn, probes are now visible in C1a, tempting me to loiter a little longer.

The scout from low-sec must have come this way, but quite why I'm waiting for him now I'm not sure. Maybe I am a little desperate to at least see someone in w-space to make me feel that my evening hasn't been wasted. Actually, I think I just like explosions, and I'm hoping to make one. Eventually the probes disappear, and the only ship that d-scan shows me is a Nighthawk. That would be a little weird, except I know that Aii is coming back through one of the high-sec connections with the command ship. This is why I scouted every exit system, so that his route would be optimal.

I warp back to the K162 to low-sec, just in time, in fact, to see the Nighthawk that is distinctly not being piloted by Aii warp away. Damn. Who the hell scans in a Nighthawk? I try to catch up with him, but miss the command ship on the C2 K162, and feel that chasing him further is somewhat futile as the other two wormholes lead to high-sec, so head back to low-sec and wait on the wormhole for a minute. He doesn't come back this way, though, so it really is time to go home and hit the sack. At least I remembered to update my skill queue.

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