Pointing towards a Probe

I'm late. Late enough for the w-space constellation not only to be scanned and mapped by my glorious leader, but also to have her and Aii both in empire space selling our recently accumulated loot. So what is there for me to do? Well, w-space can change at any minute, and scanning the home system is almost a warm-up routine for me now, so I launch probes to see what looks different. Nothing. Thankfully, Fin tells me that the class 3 system they used to exit to high-sec wasn't fully scanned. I have a purpose!

Our neighbouring C3 has been scanned, and the towers reconnoitred. I take another pass at both towers but no ships or pilots have made themselves known yet, and so warp across the system to jump to C3b. Cor, ships! A Retriever mining barge, Retribution assault ship, Oracle battlecruiser, Hurricane battlecruiser, and Bestower hauler all light up my directional scanner from the wormhole. There's a tower somewhere too, which triggers a thought: did Fin mention these ships to me in her sitrep? Yes, yes she did. 'All empty', she said. Damn.

I go to the tower in C3b anyway and, to my delight, one of the ships must be new. The Hurricane isn't empty, and although it's currently only floating inside the force field it may not stay there. I warp away, launch probes, and blanket the system as I warp back to watch the battlecruiser for movement. My combat scanning probes reveal six anomalies and six signatures, plus the ships which I ignore so that new arrivals are more easily spotted. And I'll scan whilst the local pilot looks like he's not paying attention.

A radar site, ladar site, wormhole, second ladar site all get resolved, which, along with the wormhole back to C3a and the already known exit to high-sec, makes six signatures. Rather than recalling my probes I take advantage of having them prepared and return them to a hidden blanket scanning configuration, confirming no new ships or signatures. And now I wait. I note that the Hurricane has actual guns fitted and not gas harvesters, so he's unlikely to be heading to the ladar sites, but if he wants to shoot Sleepers that would be okay.

I periodically update my combat scanning probes. I get a result too. Two extra ships blip on my probes, one of which turns out to be Fin's Bustard transport ship returning from high-sec, but the other remains unknown. It seems to be out of d-scan range of the tower, and so I don't know what it is, and by the time I decide to warp around to actively look for it the ship drops off the probes. In case it came from the other wormhole, I reconnoitre the connection, finding it to be a K162 from null-sec at the end of its life. I doubt a ship came this way.

With little other option I return to watching the Hurricane, who actually moves after a short while. The battlecruiser takes an unhealthy interest in his hangar, and although this indicates a possible change of ship it remains the Hurricane that aligns and warps out of the tower. It looks like he's gone towards the high-sec connection, which is easily confirmed, but I'm not too concerned that I can't catch him there. The phantom ship reappeared on my probes and has spat core scanning probes everywhere, which somewhat undermined my until-then covert posture.

The high-sec exit is close to a market hub, albeit Gallente, and so the Hurricane may come back soon. No doubt not soon enough for him to be polarised, but Fin, always up for a scrap, suggests putting some big guns on the wormhole and seeing what comes our way. It's a better plan than my lack of one, so Fin boards an Oracle and heads my way as I sit and watch the wormhole for activity, whilst monitoring the scout's probes on d-scan.

The scanning pilot seems inexperienced. The only signature near the wormhole I'm on is the wormhole itself, and as the tower is out of d-scan range that puts it over 14 AU away. There should be no reason for the scout's probes to continually blip in to range and disappear, unless he's resetting their ranges to greater than 8 AU and not scanning planet-to-planet. I'm almost tempted to offer some advice. But, finally, the mystery ship reveals itself, to Fin on d-scan and me on my combat probes. 'It's a Probe', says Fin, moments before the frigate drops out of warp near the wormhole.

'Near the wormhole' is a bit misleading. Space is big, certainly, but eighty kilometres away is not particularly near in the context of trying to catch the frigate. He also sees Fin's Oracle sitting brazenly on the wormhole, and is perhaps wondering how best to leave. 'If he's sensible, he'll warp away and back to land directly on the wormhole', says Fin, quite wisely. Instead, the Probe cloaks. Now, Probes can't warp cloaked, so it will be obvious if he starts to leave. As he doesn't, I can only assume he is crawling towards the wormhole at best speed. Maybe I can intercept him.

My idea to bump in to the Probe has two problems. First, I didn't quite see which direction the frigate warped from, which means I can't really align my ship to his. However, I can reasonably expect the Probe to have warped from a celestial object, so pick the likeliest one and send my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser in that direction. But, second, two cloaked ships won't interfere with each other's cloaks. If I'm to reveal the Probe, I need to reveal myself. If I do this too early, the Probe will be able to flee, or perhaps move out of the way, even if he'll be crawling whilst cloaked. If I reveal myself too late, I'll whiz right past my potential target without knowing it.

I'll do my best. I crawl to about fifty kilometres from the wormhole, which I figure the Probe could in no way have reached in this time, then shed my cloak and burn hard to close the rest of the distance quickly. With any luck, the pilot will have no time to react. Or be thoroughly spooked by the sight of a strategic cruiser barrelling towards him. I get within ten kilometres of the Probe and he looks to panic, decloaking and trying to get the hell away from me. At least, that's what it looks like. I'm pretty sure I didn't get close enough to nudge him, as my micro warp drive wouldn't have got me so far away within such a short time.

Either way, it seems like the worst time possible to run. Hence the panic, I suppose. It puts the Probe in range of my warp scrambler, whereas waiting a couple of seconds longer would have seen me speeding past him. I won't complain, though. I try to gain a positive lock, getting my offensive systems ready, but the frigate gets lucky and warps clear a split-second before I am able to stop him. I try to follow, again not really seeing which way he went, as my ship was past his new vector and concentrating on targeting the frigate, but I think I have a good idea.

I enter warp, cross the system, and manage to completely miss where the Probe went. I return to the wormhole in time to see the frigate land just as Fin predicted, and watch it jump safely to high-sec. Ah, right, Fin and her Oracle, waiting for the Hurricane. You know, I don't think he's coming back soon, and we've probably had our fun here. Time is drawing on, so we head back the way we came, without a kill but with some minor excitement, and go off-line in the home system.

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Tags: bestower, bustard, eve online, hurricane, mmorpg, oracle, penny ibramovic, probe, pvp, retribution, retriever, scanning, w-space

Magnetometric sites are attractive

There are going to be other pilots in w-space tonight. I can smell it. And that's not just a standard prediction that I occasionally make after what feels like a particularly dry spell, in a bid to play the odds and come out at the end of the evening looking like a prophet. Nope, there's capsuleers out there. I just have to find them.

In fact, I already know one pilot is out and about, as glorious leader Fin is in our neighbouring class 3 w-space system, having already scanned her way from home. I think that makes me technically correct, which is the best kind of correct. I probably shouldn't shoot her, though, and hunting Fin is made trivial when I can simply form a fleet and warp to her position, after following the bookmark breadcrumbs.

But what has Fin found? 'Null static', she says, 'plus one', which hopefully is a better wormhole than the first. I jump to C3a to find out with Fin, noting that this is my fourth visit to the system and the tower remains in the same place from ten months ago. Ignoring the static exit to null-sec, which is easy given its characteristically weak signature strength, we reconnoitre the second wormhole. It's a K162 from high-sec, and one at the end of its life. That's not much good at all.

The w-space constellation has ended early. We could kill our connection and start again, but as the null-sec wormhole possibly remains unopened, and the high-sec K162 is EOL, we could perhaps shoot some Sleepers to continue refilling our wallet. Tourists fom high-sec aren't likely to wander through a dying wormhole, and we can make ourselves safer by sticking to the magnetometric sites that Fin has resolved.

Anomalies can be found passively, which makes ambushes more likely. Magnetometric sites need to be found with scanning probes, which are detected by the directional scanner, at least giving us a chance of having some warning. So that's the plan. To make it safer still, we refit Fin's Tengu strategic cruiser with an analyser module and I take the Golem marauder as usual, for salvaging, so that we will only need to make one pass through the sites, and can flee with loot if necessary.

As with most of our plans, it doesn't quite work beyond the first step. There's a reason why we have dedicated analyser ships, and that's because analysing can be a bit hit-or-miss. The shield on Fin's Tengu is compromised for having fit the analyser, and having only one module installed makes for painfully slow retrieval of Sleeper artefacts. On top of that, I remember why we don't normally bring the Golem in to magnetometric sites when the Sleeper battleships, the marauder's specialty, mock me by easily moving and staying out of torpedo range.

We persevere with the first site, clearing the Sleepers and analysing with the Tengu, but return home to swap to a more suitable two-Tengu configuration for a second. Two Tengus work much better at chewing through the Sleepers without too much trouble, even if it means coming back with a salvager and analyser afterwards. But even then, my access to Tech II analyser modules makes recovering the artefacts a doddle. One pass with the modules cracks most of the containers, and I'm out of the site almost before Fin has got her Noctis salvager in to place.

Salvaging is straightforward, by the looks of it. I drop off the artefacts at the tower and, rather than let Fin take all the risk of staying in the site, get back in to my covert Loki strategic cruiser and return to the site in C3a to shadow her ship. No one interrupts us, though, and the second site is cleared without issue. Two is our limit tonight, if only because of the hassle involved with the first site, but we still have almost three hundred million ISK in loot brought home. So there were no other capsuleers after all, and I'm reminded of why we don't enter magnetometric sites so often. But the fact that they must be found with probes is actually a pretty good reason to consider them more often.

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

Scanning until there's no more life left

Home alone. I won't construct elaborate traps for potential invaders, though. We already have them in the form of gas clouds, they just aren't attracting any suckers yet. It's no surprise that we have no visitors, because scanning finds no wormholes except for the static connection. I resolve it and jump to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system to see if anyone other than me is active.

My directional scanner is clear from the K162. How disappointing. The system looks to be small too, although careful inspection shows that one planet sits outside of d-scan range. The far planet even has a tower around one of its moons, but sadly there are no ships or pilots to stalk. I launch probes and scan. Fourteen anomalies and ten signatures look to be reduced to only the static exit to low-sec being of interest, until a second wormhole crops up near the end, which is nice.

I poke out to low-sec to bookmark the other side of the wormhole, which is in a faction warfare system in Black Rise and of little interest, before returning to C3a to see where the other wormhole leads. It's a connection to more class 3 w-space. That's good enough, and I press on through the constellation. D-scan shows me a tower and no ships, which is confirmation that I am indeed in a C3. One planet out of range held three towers a year ago, but a canister somewhere in the system dated four weeks after my visit indicates when that corporation moved out. The new tower is easy enough to locate.

Scanning C3b has two more wormholes amongst the seven anomalies and seven signatures. The static exit to low-sec is general issue for class 3 w-space systems, but the K162 from class 5 w-space could be interesting. I jump in to find out, and see a black hole prominently in front of me, and a tower with no ships on d-scan. Locating the tower is a miserable process, if only because it's so easy. The system is small, nothing is out of d-scan range, and there are few moons. All I can see is all there is to see. Back to scanning with me.

Naturally, the eleven anomalies and twelve signatures hold another wormhole, and the K162 leads to another C5 system, as a good chain of class 5 w-space would. A second wormhole is less exciting, being a K162 from high-sec, but offers another safety net, even if it turns out to be in Gallente space and near Dodixie. Jumping to C5b has a clear d-scan return and, repeating a motif of the evening, one planet out of range. This time, however, the far planet doesn't hold a tower, making the system unoccupied as well as inactive. On the positive side, this should mean there is likely to be a wormhole waiting to be found.

Launching probes and performing a blanket scan shows that whatever wormhole may be here doesn't really want to be found, not with twenty-nine signatures to sift through. But concentrating on the chubby probables, I pluck a wormhole from the noise within a couple of minutes. It turns out to be a Z142 connection to null-sec, but that's okay. Before I drop out of warp at the first wormhole I've resolved a second. EVE Hermit is now probably scheming to kill me, but I'm not worried. He's got to find me first.

Sadly, the second wormhole I find, whilst continuing the backwards chain of class 5 w-space, is at the end of its life. Maybe the wormhole has a couple of hours of life left in it, but I've stopped caring for scanning my way through inactive system after inactive system. So, of course, I head out to null-sec to rat and scan, when I see it empty of pilots. I don't understand myself sometimes either. Ratting bags me a puny cruiser, and scanning three extra signatures a wormhole, but only a K162 from a different null-sec system. I don't know which one, and I don't find out. It's all quiet again, and I'm heading home.

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

Settling for Sleepers

My glorious leader has been exploring. Indeed, the w-space constellation has already been mapped by Fin, having worked her way through our neighbouring class 3 system and out to empire space. So what's the plan? 'Roll, I think', Fin says, suggesting that we collapse our wormhole to make all her effort for nothing. But that's how it goes in w-space.

Fin comes home, we board massive ships, and start throwing them through the static wormhole. It looks willy-nilly, but we're using the power of maths and brains to determine how to safely kill the wormhole whilst we both remain on the right side at the end. Clearly, we need better education, or bigger brains, as a few trips merely results in the wormhole shrinking to a critically unstable condition. No, it's the wormhole that's stupid, not us.

We can still get rid of the wormhole by pushing a heavy interdictor through, relying on the curious properties of warp bubbles and an oversized propulsion module to keep us safe. And by 'we', I mean 'Fin', as she volunteers amidst my selfish and stubborn silence. Admittedly, I am under the impression we have a tacit agreement that I can scan her home quicker and with more enjoyment in the process than vice versa. Still, this is not a pleasant duty, because of the uncertainty. Out she goes in the Devoter.

And back Fin comes. Bam, the wormhole is gone. Now to see if the replacement will connect us to a better constellation. Scanning in my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser confirms that the only new signature is the new wormhole, which I resolve and warp to. 'Find us a solo ship running sites', says Fin. 'Or two. Or three, if one isn't an ECM boat.' Jumping to C3a and updating my directional scanner sees a tower, Iteron hauler, and Moros dreadnought in the system, and I relay the information back home. 'I will take a Moros.'

I'm looking for the Iteron, and not because I think Fin is joking. She may actually be a little bit serious. But I suspect the Moros won't be piloted, and even if it is it won't be in a site. The hauler, however, may well be piloted and hauling, which makes for excellent target practice. My last visit to this system was fourteen months ago and the tower turns out to be in the same location, where I quickly see that both ships are empty. Never mind, back to scanning.

Launching probes and performing a blanket scan of C3a reveals two anomalies and six signatures, all of which are chubby. This will be nice and quick. I ignore a bit of gas and resolve a pair of wormholes. The static exit to low-sec is joined by what would be a lovely K162 from class 2 w-space, were it not at the end of its life. Sadly, the exit is also EOL, so I can't really jump to low-sec, bookmark the other side of the wormhole, and risk the K162 knowing I had a route home. So I just jump to C2a without a safety net. Yeah, I'm reckless.

Nothing. Well, a tower and nothing. Given that the wormhole was opened from this side, the odds are pretty high that whoever was here left hours before the wormhole started throwing a wobbly, which is why I don't stay to explore further. I return to C3a and declare this second w-space constellation as dead as tank tops. So, what to do? 'The two anomalies?' We may as well.

Fin and I head home, swap ships, and go back to C3a in a Tengu strategic cruiser and Golem marauder to cause mayhem amongst the Sleepers. Incredibly, this time there is no hitherto unnoticed system phenomenon to complicate matters, and we cruise through the two anomalies purging them of Sleepers without interruption. And, thanks to the utility of the Golem, we return home with about 150 Miskies in loot. Quicker than two Tengus and no need to salvage afterwards. I like my marauder.

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Tags: devoter, eve online, golem, iteron, loki, mmorpg, moros, penny ibramovic, scanning, sleepers, tengu, w-space

Active denial of loot

I'm on my way back through the dull w-space constellation, from a class 1 to class 2 system, as my glorious leader dutifully watches a previously active wormhole. An Anathema covert operations boat jumps past Fin, from our neighbouring class 3 system through a K162 to a different class 2 system. This is interesting, as it shows that two battleships that were engaging Sleepers earlier either had a scout in the system as I entered, or quickly got one in.

Presumably the scout has been watching for my movements, or indications of my cloaked presence, after I startled the battleships, and is satisfied that I've gone. It's a fair assumption, as it's been a while since I stopped loitering and dove down a different wormhole. But it often seems that w-space is a battle of patience, and when a bunch of Sleeper wrecks are left in space, and you know they won't last beyond two hours, there is often motivation to stick around longer than you normally would.

'Flare', says Fin, as I jump from C2b to C3a, on the other side of the system to the wormhole from C2a. A Noctis salvager finally appears in C3a. That's good, but not great any more. I moved on, recalled my probes, and, in a system where there's nowhere to hide, that's a hindrance. It's more of a hindrance when considering the anomalies despawned before my on-board scanner could detect them, which means I'll need to scan for the Noctis to find it near the wrecks. So it's good that I have an alternative plan.

I don't need to find the Noctis in the despawned sites, because I know exactly where it will be at some point in time: on the K162 to C2a. There's little point wasting time and energy with a hunt that is bound to be unsuccessful. The pilots were wary enough with their directional scanners to see my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser enter through our static wormhole, so they are going to be looking for combat scanning probes. But having scanned and resolved their wormhole I already have my designated ambush point.

The Pilgrim recon ship that accompanies the Noctis in to C3a doesn't even faze me. Well, it does a little, but my plan makes it far less of a threat. Engaging the Noctis on the wormhole will let me ignore the escort ship, shoot the salvager, and turn tail once the target is destroyed. Attacking in empty space would actually be much more dangerous for me. All I have to do is get in position and wait. And my position is on the wormhole in C2a. I could wait on the K162 in C3a for the ships to return, but I know they are going to have to jump home, so rather than jump with them, and have them see me directly, or wait and risk losing them on the other side, if I jump now I can perhaps still surprise them. Moreover, the earlier I jump, the less the risk of polarisation will be.

Fin holds in C3a. I jump to C2a and punch d-scan. Towers, a shuttle, a pod. Nothing too threatening, but more space reaches beyond the range of d-scan. And d-scan has thwarted me again, as the Pilgrim and Noctis dash right back to the wormhole in C3a, certainly not having had time to salvage any wrecks. I was spotted. But that's fine, as the ships are simply heading right to my path. I just won't get any good loot from the Noctis's hold. Well, I know they are coming, and they know I'm somewhere, so I may as well make myself obvious for my own benefit. I decloak on the wormhole in C2a and activate my sensor booster, ready to catch what comes my way.

What first comes my way is a Drake battlecruiser, warping in from a distant planet in C2a to bolster the Pilgrim's offensive capabilities. Before the Drake has stopped, though, the Pilgrim appears, and the Noctis almost immediately afterwards. The Noctis is my target. I lock all three ships, but activate my warp scrambler on the salvager. The Drake and Pilgrim will make nice trophies if I can get them, but they are both likely to hang around. The Noctis is definitely going to want to flee, and so is the ship to stop. Once I've destroyed the soft target I can consider a secondary one.

My guns rip in to the Noctis, pounding the shields to oblivion and ripping in to its armour. But the Pilgrim and Drake aren't just watching the show. My capacitor energy is being neutralised hard by the Pilgrim, and whatever the Drake is doing is probably working. The Noctis looks like it's going to explode, and I already know my secondary target is now the wormhole, through which I'll beat a hasty retreat, at least comfortable knowing that the Pilgrim won't be able to follow, being polarised. But a second or two before the hull integrity of the Noctis is dissolved, the salvager warps clear. Damn the neuts. My cap juice has run out, and with it my ability to power my scram. Okay, time to leave.

Sure enough, the Pilgrim cannot follow my drained Loki back to C3a, but the Drake can and does. I evade him simply enough, but Fin, still holding on the wormhole and now decloaked and ready to fight, does not. That's okay, as she gets a fight with the Drake, although has to bail out herself after a while. The only way to go is through the wormhole, where now both the Drake and Pilgrim are polarised, which would let Fin come home safely if it weren't for the Vigilant cruiser looking for her.

Fin warps out and back to the wormhole to stay safe, as we work out how to get her home. A fallback option is to scan C2a. My notes from six weeks ago show it to hold a static connection to high-sec, which we could combine with another high-sec connection in our constellation to sneak in the Ewok way. But as Fin launches probes to scan, the C2ers decide that they have made their point, and really want to realise some of the profit they spent time trying to accumulate from the Sleepers.

'Noctis coming back', and a Talos battlecruiser comes along to add more support to the recon ship and Drake still present. They all come to C3a and warp off to one of the two sites. That's a little disappointing, as we get no kill and don't even deny the targets their loot. Then again, updating d-scan shows that enough time has elapsed for the wrecks to begin decaying in space. There were definitely more wrecks before, and a subsequent d-scan update shows a whole chunk of Sleeper wrecks to be missing. No wonder the pilots wanted to salvage.

It's not a great result, admittedly, but with the ships protecting the Noctis Fin manages to get back safely, even if it means we have to leave the salvager alone this time. Still, we had a bit of a scrap with no losses, and caused plenty of disruption. I'd say it's been a good evening.

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Tags: anathema, drake, eve online, loki, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, pilgrim, pvp, talos, vigilant, w-space

Losing out on loot

'System scanned, wormhole not open yet.' Ah, good, Fin's home. I kinda forgot that she got caught and sent back to a high-sec clone vat. Thankfully, the puppet and Aii found a high-sec connection yesterday, which our glorious leader was able to use to return. Now we can get back to looking for other pilots unfortunately trapped in Orcas in w-space, although that doesn't seem to happen to others as often as it does to us. We can dream.

Actually, before seeing what's beyond our wormhole it's worth taking a moment to realise what's at home. A single anomaly isn't much, but considering the shaky status of our wallet it's probably best that we slaughter the Sleepers for the loot before someone else does. It won't take long to clear one anomaly either, so we both board our Sleeper ships, sweep through the anomaly with launchers firing, and sweep through a second time with salvagers to tidy up. A good result with the salvage nets us a neat 160 Miskies too, which is a handy start to the evening.

Now to roam. I jump ahead of Fin, who needs a short break, which is a pity. As soon as I enter our neighbouring class 3 w-space system and update my directional scanner I see two Dominix battleships, a Machariel battleship, and plenty of Sleeper wrecks. I probably need some help here. Then again, I appear in the system one kilometre from the wormhole, leaving me a fair distance to cover before I can activate my cloak, during which I'll be quite obvious to any watching d-scanner.

I make the most of my situation and activate my on-board passive scanner as I move away from the wormhole, and update d-scan once I am able to cloak and disappear. The battleships are still around. I bookmark all of the anomalies my passive scan revealed, knowing that once the anomalies despawn then the scan result, whilst still visible, will become a shadow as the cosmic signature disappears. I check d-scan again. The Dominices have gone, the Machariel remains. I would say that means the two Gallente ships were engaging Sleepers, and the faction battleship is empty in the local tower.

The disappearance of the Dominices probably also means that I was spotted and the ships have bugged out. It could perhaps mean that the pilots coincidentally finished their operation at the same time I entered the system, but that's unlikely. Opening the system map sees that nothing lies out of d-scan range, and locating the tower is trivial in a system with only two moons amongst the eight planets, where I indeed find the Machariel empty.

So the Dominices are visitors. My best bet now is that they bring back a salvager, but sweeping d-scan around the twelve anomalies I uncovered doesn't find any wrecks. That's weird. But if the wrecks are in a radar or magnetometric site then the site should still exist, whether or not there are ships in them, as long as the containers remain untouched. That means I can scan them. And if the active anomalies somehow weren't detected by my on-board scanner, which has happened before, notably in our home system with dick blues, I may need to hunt a Noctis with combat probes anyway.

I launch probes and perform a blanket scan of the system. Eight signatures. There is still no sign of other ships, so I scan, scan, scan. A weak wormhole is curious, as the static connection for the system leads to low-sec and should be quite strong. Gas and rocks won't have produced the Sleeper battleship wrecks I can see on d-scan, and that Drake on a second wormhole is interesting. The battlecruiser could be a salvager, or an escort for one. I warp in to take a look, to see the ship sitting on a K162 from class 2 w-space. But whatever he's doing, it's clear I didn't scan quickly enough.

My probes have been spotted and whatever salvager was coming will know someone's looking for them. In fact, it's fairly obvious that the ships saw my Loki strategic cruiser before it got cloaky, otherwise the Drake wouldn't be loitering on the wormhole, so I think it's safe to say my presence is known. I keep scanning. Three more signatures give three more wormholes, leaving me with no magnetometric or radar sites resolved. I'm not quite sure how my on-board scanner fails to see active anomalies, but it does.

Hold on. The C2 K162 is the home of the Dominices, presumably, and one of the wormholes is a U210 exit to low-sec. But that still gives three other wormholes in the system, even without our newly spawned K162. I'm amazed the Dominices even started clearing Sleepers from anomalies in a system with so many open connections. On the one hand, I've had blues come to our home and apparently not even reconnoitre our tower, so there are some careless capsuleers around. On the other hand, the pilots certainly were wary and vigilant with d-scan.

Even if the pilots were wary, they should have realised the risk of someone finding them would mean more than a threat to their ships. Still only the Drake sits on the wormhole, no salvager coming, which means that all of their time in combat will go to waste if they can't collect their loot. That's a bit of an oversight, if you ask me. And it looks like the loot will go to waste. I can't find the sites without a ship in them to focus my probes on, and the C2ers aren't looking to bring a salvager in. The Drake jumps home, I wait a bit longer, no one comes. Never mind, I have more w-space to explore.

One of the resolved wormholes in C3a leads to more class 2 w-space, this one an outbound link. The static exit to low-sec is at the end of its life, as sadly is the A982 outbound connection to class 6 w-space. But that just makes me shake my head. How did the C2ers think Sleeper combat would be safe with an active connection to a C6? And not only that, but the last wormhole is a K162 from null-sec, a connection opened from the null-sec side. This system isn't safe! Those are some crazy pilots.

I ignore the now-empty C3a and jump to C2b to look for some more pilots with curious ideas about fleet safety. The second class 2 system doesn't quite offer a lesson on fleet security, but it does make me scratch my head concerning another aspect of operational security. Now I know that locating towers around planets is far from difficult, but hiding amongst a dozen moons can make the process somewhat time-consuming, depending on how stealthy a scout tries to be. So quite why the locals put all five towers around planets with one or two moons, when the system holds three planets with at least twenty moons each baffles me. Don't make it so easy!

The easily found towers don't matter so much right now, as no one's home. And scanning the five anomalies and twelve signatures resolves static connections to class 1 w-space and high-sec. This is living on the edge, guys. Still, I think the system is used mostly for reacting gas products, so is actually a pretty good choice for that. And I have a C1 to explore. A rather extravagant class 1 system, as it turns out, as two of the three ships my blanket scan reveals are carriers. That's a lot of firepower for a simple system. The third ship is a Mammoth, sadly unpiloted in a second tower, and scanning finds just the one wormhole, the exit to high-sec, EOL. After a promising start, w-space has gone quiet.

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Tags: dominix, drake, eve online, loki, machariel, mammoth, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Refining the art of collapsing a wormhole

Collapsing a wormhole is a curious art. I got the hang of it better when I reversed my calculations. Instead of relying on how much mass I was putting through the wormhole, I started thinking about how little mass was left on the wormhole. Now, I know they kinda sound like the same amount, but focussing attention on the wormhole instead of the ships turns out to be important. This is because not every wormhole is spawned the same, and tolerances matter. Concentrating on how much mass has been pushed through the wormhole can make you lose sight of the margins of error.

A second change I made to our wormhole collapsing operations is to push exactly half of the total allowed mass through the wormhole first. We used to work out what ships would be needed to collapse the wormhole completely, and just push the biggest ones through first. But doing the operation half-and-half makes it more precise, as you can then easily tell if other, unknown ships have transited the wormhole, or if the wormhole is on the chubby side.

For our wormhole, with its total mass of 2,000,000,000 kg, throwing an Orca industrial command ship—300,000,000 kg mass with micro warp drive active—and Widow black ops ship—200,000,000 kg with MWD active—out and back again should stress it to half-mass. If it drops to half mass, we use the same ships again. If it doesn't, we both use Orcas for the next trip. This is because the wormhole must still allow over 1,000,000,000 kg of mass to pass, as it isn't at half-mass, which is enough for three Orca trips. One out and back, and one out. The wormhole is guaranteed to survive to that point, with a mass allowance of roughly 100,000,000 kg left. Jumping the second Orca home then guarantees the wormhole will collapse.

It's an elegant method, even if I still make the occasional mistake. Stress the wormhole with half its listed mass allowance, see how it behaves, and determine the best course of action. Now, our neighbouring class 3 w-space system residents took a more casual attitude to killing our static wormhole, although it worked to prevent me killing one of their ships. But it leaves us with a critically unstable wormhole, of indeterminate mass. Well, actually, it doesn't. I've seen which ships have come and gone, and saw when the wormhole halved. I can do some maths.

Our static wormhole dropped to half-mass when a battleship jumped back to C3a. All I have to do is set some boundaries on the mass limits, assume best and worse cases, and perform some calculations. First, as the wormhole dropped to half-mass its current maximum mass allowance can be taken as 990,000,000 kg, although exactly half its mass can be used for simplicity, and perhaps accuracy. Second, I need to know the masses of the ships involved. I'll use engineering estimates for this, as exact numbers will be messy.

A standard battleship masses 100,000,000 kg. A standard battleship with active MWD will mass 150,000,000 kg. A standard Orca masses 250,000,000 kg, and one with its MWD active will mass 300,000,000 kg. So, given that a battleship halved the wormhole, and we already know the upper bound, the lower bound will be the upper bound less the maximum mass of the battleship (more-or-less). I assume the battleship used its MWD, to make collapsing the wormhole quicker, which puts the lower bound at 840,000,000 kg.

After the wormhole was halved, three battleships came and went, as did an Orca, at which point the wormhole dropped to critical mass. Three maximum-mass battleships, plus one maximum mass Orca, is:

3 × 150,000,000 kg + 300,000,000 kg = 750,000,000 kg

Which changes our upper and lower bounds to 240,000,000 kg and 90,000,000 kg respectively. Given that the critical mass of a wormhole is generally understood to be 10% of the total mass, which in this case is 200,000,000 kg, the upper bound will only be true if the wormhole spawned with 20% extra mass. Again, it is generally accepted that tolerances are around the 10% mark, so I can discount the upper bound. Importantly, this means that the ships are almost certainly actively using MWDs for each jump and I don't need to repeat the calculations for the alternative.

Even better, the lower bound is the absolute minimum mass left on the wormhole. Assuming maximum-mass ships, and the wormhole being right on the edge before dropping to half mass, the wormhole must still allow at least 90,000,000 kg through it. This makes the connection safe to pump a heavy interdictor through it, and we can finish the collapse relatively safely, which is a relief for our continuing operations. The only drawback is that one pass with the HIC may not be enough. That, and my glorious leader is shattered and needs to hit the sack.

All is not lost, though, as our neighbours aren't content with leaving the wormhole in its critical state. They're wise not to, as I could get my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser out and back again without it collapsing, and their mining operations won't be safe. And although I admire their tenacity in wanting to kill the wormhole completely, I am less impressed by their lack of finesse. I suppose we all have to start somewhere, but I thought the trick with a HIC was fairly well-known nowadays, and I certainly don't think throwing a Pilgrim recon ship back-and-forth is particularly scientific.

Even curiouser is our neighbours' decision to push multiple covert operations boats through the wormhole, as they mass a smidgen over 1,000,000 kg, making them about as destructive to our wormhole as an ice cube falling out of a drink on the Titanic as it hit the iceberg. I can't help but sit and watch as multiple ships come and go, time and again, with the wormhole paying about as much attention as an elephant to a gnat taking a breather on its back. And, because of this haphazard approach to killing the wormhole, the inevitable happens. The Pilgrim jumps to our system, and the wormhole dies.

Whilst I was kinda waiting for the wormhole to die to give me a new constellation to roam, I also was hoping for a ship to get stranded. But the C3ers, whilst not on the ball with their maths, aren't stupid. All the ships they used have covert operations cloaks. The Pilgrim may be isolated, but he disappears before I can even think about engaging him. Even so, I would not be smart to attack the recon ship here, in now-empty space. I don't know how my Loki would fare against the Pilgrim, and if it goes badly I would rather be able to flee. Thankfully, I have a good idea of where he's going next, which will also give me an escape route.

As the Pilgrim warps out to launch probes, so do I. I don't know if the pilot realises I am still here and watching, but his caution suggests he considers it. Even so, I have a head start. Our system may be fairly bare, but I know all the sites, and which signature must be the replacement static wormhole. I resolve it directly, warp to the wormhole, and jump as I notice the Pilgrim's probes disappear from my directional scanner. He's coming already.

I hold on the wormhole in the new C3a, where d-scan shows me a tower and no ships. That's good for now, as I'm going to be quite visible as I watch the Pilgrim enter the system. I'm ready and waiting, and pounce on the recon ship as soon as he breaks his session change cloak. If this goes badly I can jump home, and if it goes well I can chase him further. But if I can't even catch him on the wormhole, instead watching him move away and cloak smoothly, I'm not sure there's much more to be done.

I could scan and resolve the class 3 w-space system's exit to low-sec, out of the three anomalies and twenty signatures, and I probably will even get there before the Pilgrim. But to what end? The Pilgrim has shown that his cov-ops cloak can keep him safe, as long as he appears over two kilometres from the wormhole after jumping. To engage successfully I will need him to be unlucky. And not unlucky once, but twice, as he could jump from low-sec back to C3a, wait for polarisation effects to dissipate, and try to exit again. The odds of him appearing once in low-sec over two kilometres from the wormhole are much, much better than mine of his appearing under two kilometres from the wormhole in consecutive jumps.

On top of that, engaging the Pilgrim in low-sec, if I get the chance, will give my security status a hit, only for the pilot to jump back to C3a to try a second time. One or more drops to my security status in a protracted attempt to engage I ship I don't even know if I can beat seems rather self-destructive. And, if the combat goes badly, I will inevitably end up polarised on the same wormhole as the Pilgrim, getting chewed up by guns, or drones, or whatever. You know what? He's escaped. Good for him. And as this system is empty of other ships I'm going home to rest. At least I got a little entertainment and excitement for having watched our wormhole being collapsed.

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Tags: eve online, loki, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, pilgrim, pvp, scanning, w-space, widow

Wormhole spotting

Our poppet's on-line, but where? 'Scanning, at home.' Great, let's do it, and get Fin home. A pretty bare home system is livened up by a single extra signature, which even though it's some gas is pretty exciting after having scummy visitors almost strip us clean of any resource. Otherwise it's just us and the static wormhole to class 3 w-space. I pop through to see what today's neighbours are up to.

Ships, towers, and probes, oh my. This system has everything. And a recent visit, only a month earlier, should make finding the Venture mining frigates, Mackinaw and Hulk exhumers, and combat ships easy, as I doubt the tower's been moved for shits and giggles. Actually, before I look for the ships directly I'll warp out to launch my own probes. The ones already in the system are only core probes, so my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser won't be detected when dropping my cloak, and doing so will save time. If there are ships to hunt or not I will have to launch probes anyway, so rather than look first and then warp out and back, I can simply launch probes and warp in.

With my combat probes launched and blanketing the system, I locate the ships. One tower has a Sabre interdictor, Naga battlecruiser, Anathema covert operations boat, and Cheetah covert operations boat, all empty. The second tower has the defenceless ships, with the Mackinaw, Hulk, Venture, and Occator transport, Orca industrial command ship, Rorqual capital industrial ship, Atron frigate, and two shuttles. Four capsuleers are spread amongst these ships. What's more interesting is the one Venture on d-scan not accounted for between the two towers.

A lack of piloted combat ships should make this hunt relatively straightforward, even if the Venture itself is agile and potentially able to warp out before the decloaking recalibration of my targeting systems completes. What more concerns me is the core probes that remain in the system, as seen on my directional scanner. If the scout is paying attention he may well have spotted our K162 newly connecting to this system. Even if he's not paying attention, one has to consider that eventually he'll resolve the K162 as with any other signature, realise the threat the wormhole presents, and inform his mining colleague. So I'd best be quick, I suppose.

I have a rough bearing on the Venture in space, but before I refine my estimate I adjust the range gate on d-scan. I'm too far away, it seems. Or, rather, I could be closer. Closer is good when hunting with d-scan, as azimuth errors increase significantly the further away the target, so I warp my Loki towards what looks to be the closest planet to the Venture. Now I look for him in earnest. Okay, there he is. D-scan is showing the frigate in a five-degree beam, about 2·6 AU distant.

I arrange my probes in that rough volume of space—not that rough, really, given the relative size of space—and check once more that my target is in the same place. Nopers. He's gone. And a Drake battlecruiser is new to d-scan, which is interesting. It's possible that Sleepers have arrived to protect the rocks or gas the Venture was stealing, and the Drake is going to shoo them, so continuing to be optimistic I go for a quick scan whilst the pilot may not be paying attention. It's a good result, the vast pocket of gas in the ladar site being resolved in one scan.

Now to make a tactical bookmark. I got close to the Venture to hunt him, but warping in to a gas site safely, where clouds generally appear above and below the cosmic signature, really shouldn't be done from a high angle. That's no bother, though, even with the site sitting a fair distance below me. I merely warp to a distant planet and back in to the ladar site, so that the few AU below the ecliptic plane the site sits is made insignificant compared to the long distance travelled along the ecliptic plane. Learn your Pythagoras, kids. It helps with internet spaceships.

I don't decloak when warping in to the ladar site, which is good. I make myself a perch, to wait for the Venture to return, or the Drake to arrive, and... that's a point. If the Drake is to clear the Sleepers, where are they? The ladar site is empty of any threat—except for yours truly—which means that the Drake is going to be used for another purpose. Probably the same purpose that the Dominix battleship, Hurricane battlecruiser, and Abaddon battleship also new to d-scan are being prepared for.

The sudden swapping to combat ships cannot be a coincidence. Our K162 must have been spotted, which means that the ships are preparing for a scrap on the wormhole, or, more likely, they are going to collapse the connection so they can continue their isolated operations. Not only will the Venture not be back in the ladar site for a while, if I'm not careful I will be stranded. I could hold, willingly get separated from home, and aim for the Venture, but the destruction of a single mining frigate is hardly worth the inconvenience of getting locked out. I'll go back.

The Drake is sitting on the wormhole as I drop out of warp, joined by a new Rook recon ship. I hold and watch as the battleships warp in, jump to our home system, and return. First pass complete. Now most of their pilots are polarised, and although the Drake isn't he's not much of a threat. I think he's just there to discourage any more jumps from our side, with the Rook looking to keep him safe with its ECM. I'm probably best served returning home now, before an Orca is brought in to sever the connection quickly. I approach the wormhole, decloak, and jump without incident.

It's a shame the locals were scanning. I pretty much had the Venture in my sights. One minute quicker and I may have popped him too. But never mind. The Raven, Dominix, and Abaddon battleships come through our wormhole again, halving the mass of the wormhole. A few minutes' wait, and they are back, this time with the predicted Orca. Without hanging around, the ships return to their class 3 w-space home, and with our wormhole, well, dropping to a critically destabilised mass. Bastards. So much for them doing our job and providing us with a new constellation to roam.

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Tags: abaddon, anathema, atron, cheetah, dominix, drake, eve online, hulk, hurricane, loki, mackinaw, mmorpg, naga, occator, orca, penny ibramovic, raven, rook, rorqual, sabre, scanning, venture, w-space

Crushing wormholes and customs offices

I would say the w-space constellation was rich earlier, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. It was only one system out of four that offered any activity, although I enjoyed how the locals kept throwing ships at me, even if it was unintentional and I couldn't quite catch all of them. But coming home had me pass through a dying wormhole, which means that the connection is likely to be quite unstable now, on my return. It doesn't really matter, though, as our neighbouring system was also waking up when I left, so just about anyone paying attention knows we're here.

Well, everyone except maybe the occupants behind the new K162 connecting to the home system. Our puppet is on-line and has scanned the K162, leaving it mostly unexplored to see what's currently happening in the class 3 system through our static wormhole, which gives me some w-space to explore. Class 4 w-space, too, apparently with a Drake battlecruiser in the system. That's worth taking a look at. I warp my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser to the wormhole and jump to C4a.

There is indeed a Drake visible on my directional scanner from the wormhole, as is a tower. A previous visit from six months ago doesn't point me towards the tower—but does remind me of the time a Legion strategic cruiser with Dramiel frigate escort decloaked me on a wormhole—as the system was unoccupied then. It's easy enough to locate a single tower, though, and after finessing d-scan for a bit I am soon floating outside a force field where an empty Drake sits.

A lack of capsuleer presence probably means there is another K162 to find, linking further back through w-space, so I warp out to launch probes. Performing a blanket scan of the system reveals two anomalies and five signatures, and resolving them finds rocks, more rocks, gas, and the expected K162, somewhat obviously, lurking over 4·5 AU from a planet. As C5 space connects to C5 space, so does C4 space to C4 space. I jump through the K162 to C4b.

D-scan shows me scanning probes in C4b, nothing else. It may be worth loitering on the wormhole for a while, in case a scout passes my way, although I have no idea what ship is scanning or how many signatures there are. And back at home the puppet has returned from minor exploration, deploring C3a's static wormhole leading to null-sec. It is the only exit we have, and it is far from suitable to bring our glorious leader home. But Aii is on-line and also available now, and the pair of them get to work collapsing our static connection to look for a better exit.

If they're crashing our wormhole, they may as well crash the K162 at home at the same time. It won't take any extra effort, and will alleviate the tedium of waiting for polarisation effects to end. So Aii and the puppet bounce massive ships across our system, as a Heron decloaks on the wormhole in front of me and jumps to C4a. I follow the frigate, of course, thinking my odds of catching it are greater than had the scout been in a covert operations boat. I even gain a positive lock on the wormhole in C4a, but only because the Heron has turned right back around and returned to C4b.

Scanning frigates are easier to catch than cov-ops, but not by much. I chase the Heron back to C4b, but the tiny ship decloaks, aligns, and warps before I can stop it. At least I see the direction it warps, and head out that way myself, cloaking as I do, to see a tower appear on d-scan, along with the Heron. I find the two together, and with the comfort of knowing that the pilot is local to C4b, and that C4a remains inactive, I head home so that my colleagues can complete the killing of two wormholes.

The K162 to C4a is collapsed smoothly. Our static wormhole, however, lives after the final jump. We could push a heavy interdictor through it, but there seems little point in risking isolating another pilot in the slim hope of finding a decent connection for bringing one home. The wormhole can stay sickly, and we will recover Fin soon enough. Tonight we have another mission. A customs office is being torn down. No taxation without representation!

Sticking it to The Man sounds exciting, but in reality it can be quite tedious. The puppet and I board laser-spewing Oracle battlecruisers, Aii primes an Armageddon battleship, and we all warp to our barn door of a target. Now we shoot. And shoot. And continue shooting, for what seems like ages. It takes so long that I swear Aii's ship starts looking like a Raven battleship. But eventually the customs office can take no more abuse, and it explodes. I'm pretty much the same, except I end up asleep.

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Tags: armageddon, drake, eve online, heron, loki, mmorpg, oracle, penny ibramovic, raven, scanning, w-space

Ambushing a Drake to keep it safe

I follow the pod back to the tower. The pod whose Atron frigate I just destroyed. The pod who bounced back to the wormhole and out again. I have no idea why he did that, but if it means the pilots local to this class 3 w-space system will continue to offer me targets I'd like to see what happens next. My cloaky Loki strategic cruiser—fresh from popping a hauler before the Atron—reaches the tower in time to see the pod once again warp to the wormhole, and leave w-space through the static exit to low-sec.

I don't know where in low-sec the wormhole leads, as I haven't had time to check yet, and I'm not about to find out now. I won't catch the pod, and I'd prefer to stay cloaked and covert rather than appearing in the local communication channel. Not that the locals don't know I'm here, of course, but they have displayed goldfish-like attention spans. If I'm cloaked, it seems, they forget I'm around. With that thought in mind, when the wormhole flares a couple of minutes later, and I wonder what to do, I drop my cloak and prepare to ambush yet another ship. After all, why not? It's not like I've been dealing with professional killers.

The incoming ship is a Purifier. I try to catch the stealth bomber, but it warps clear before I can gain a positive lock. Naturally, the ship warps towards the local tower, and now I am intrigued. It's possible that the pilot will return to lob a bomb at me, maybe not in an attempt to actually kill me but more as a way of showing some disdain, hoping to shoo me out of their system. That's cool. I can take a bomb. Better still, I can savage a bomber. If I can catch it, that is.

I have little option but to assume that the Purifier will return directly from the tower, and, because of the range of bomb launches and radius of the explosion, the ship will probably warp to be thirty-to-forty kilometres from the wormhole. I won't be able to prevent him warping away from that distance, and although I can withstand a bomb blast I'd rather not have to. But what I can do is align towards the tower until I am thirty kilometres from the wormhole, and roughly where I assume the Purifier will appear to launch his bomb. Now if he comes, I can pretty much reach out of my pod and grab his ship manually.

If he comes. And although Purifiers can cloak, having the stealth bomber drop off my directional scanner looks more like a ship swap when it is replaced directly by a Drake battlecruiser. That's a shame, as I'd have liked to spring my surprise on the stealth bomber. But there looks to be more activity occurring, as probes appear in the system now. I doubt they belong to the Drake—but you never can tell—and as there is not much to scan in the system, a mere three signatures, I'm not waiting long before a Helios appears on the wormhole and jumps to low-sec.

The covert operations boat is interesting in that it isn't local. But that's about it. Even when he returns a minute later to w-space, and so is polarised, I don't try to catch him. Cov-ops are rather slippery, and as the pilot isn't local I'd prefer he didn't know my Loki has been causing mayhem in the system. This is why I shoot the wrecks of my victims. The system looks clean to casual scouts. Still, a neutral Helios and inactive Drake doesn't offer much excitement, making it time to move on. Or it would, if I hadn't bounced off the tower on my way out of the system only to see the Drake not there.

If the Drake isn't at the tower, where is it? He's not on the low-sec wormhole, as I was just there, and he's not at the gravimetric site, being a tougher miner than the earlier Bestower, if equally as ineffective. Swinging d-scan around a bit shows the battlecruiser is actually, somehow, in one of the system's four anomalies. That's weird. I've popped two ships, podded one pilot, and even if I'd been spotted leaving, which I haven't, a second scout has passed by, obvious probes and all.

I suppose the Purifier could be protecting the Drake, but if it is that is precious little protection. It's more of an appetiser to the main dish. And I'd be more concerned about a counter-ambush if I hadn't loitered with intent in this system for a while, and pretty much seen all capsuleer movements. I think the Drake is simply being careless, particularly as reviewing my images now obviously shows the pilot to be the same as was in the Purifier. So now I have to wonder if I want to attack the battlecruiser directly, or wait for a possible salvager. To answer that question, I ought to see what the Drake is doing in the anomaly.

The anomaly is easy enough to find, and simple enough to make a perch in. The Drake is indeed engaging Sleepers, and leaving the wrecks for separate looting and salvaging. Checking the capsuleer's details shows he should be competent at piloting the Drake, but my mind is made up to strike directly when the ship warps out of the anomaly. If he can't withstand the Sleeper fire, my Loki can probably kill him too. But I will, of course, need the pilot to return to the anomaly. I warp back to the tower, expecting to see the Drake recharging its shields, and get an unexpected sight instead.

The Drake is at the tower, but not in the tower. The battlecruiser is floating just outside of the force field, for reasons I can't fathom, with the pilot now in a Griffin frigate. Maybe he's going to repair the shields remotely. I dunno. But I think it's worth trying to pull off a risky gambit. I warp to the farthest planet, far out of the d-scan range of the tower, making a safe spot along the way. Safe-ish, anyway. I warp to the safe spot, eject from my Loki, and warp to the tower. If I'm lucky, I can nab the Drake, drop it off at the safe spot, take my Loki home, and come back for the Drake before the pilot has the idea to scan for it.

I'm not lucky this time, however. Returning to the tower has the pilot back in the Drake, although still just outside of the force field, and so I take my pod right back to where I ditched my very expensive Loki in empty space. I wonder what the pilot thought of my pod's appearance. Not much, maybe, as going back, cloaked this time, sees the Drake warp away, returning to the anomaly he started. He's a curious fellow. I follow behind, back to my perch, and watch as the battlecruiser continues popping Sleepers. And he's even taking down the Sleeper guns, which perhaps are causing him problems. How thoughtful. If he didn't do that they'd shoot me too when I spring my ambush.

I'm going to time the ambush right. I make a second perch, one that will let me warp almost on top of the Drake, using a Sleeper wreck as a reference point, and align myself towards my target, waiting for the last gun to be destroyed. As the explosion flares in my display I enter warp, dropping close to the Drake and decloaking as I do. I start my approach, aiming to get in to an orbit around the Drake, in order to mitigate some of the inevitable missile damage, but before I get close, and even a positive target lock, the battlecruiser warps clear. It seems he was aligned too, back towards his tower.

So the locals aren't entirely clueless. Losing two ships and a pod, and seeing my pod try to steal his ship, the Drake pilot tried to keep safe. Even so, I'm not sure what he was thinking in engaging Sleepers under such conditions. I don't know how he thought he'd collect the loot and salvage to earn any ISK for his efforts. But that's not my problem. And time is running late, so now I think I really will head home, after a fun and productive afternoon. I don't even think it matters if I leave, as the locals must be nicely paranoid about everything by now.

I jump back to C5a, and warp across to return to C3a, where I see a sad sight. The wormhole connecting the two systems is at the end of its life, which means that, after I grab a sammich, the constellation may not be available to roam later. That's a shame, but I can always find new w-space systems. Or I could shoot the Buzzard cov-ops that jumps to C3a right in front of me. I burn to the wormhole, jump, and try to catch the tiny ship, only to be thwarted by it cloaking effortlessly. I could have predicted that, but there was no harm in trying. And his orangeness intrigues me. Where is he from?

The Buzzard pilot is local to C3a, as he says hello to me in local system comms in my native tongue. That's sweet of him. On top of that, a Helios coming to C3a from C5a, a minute behind me and the Buzzard, initiates a private conversation. It's all go today. The Helios is the same as I saw checking the U210 in C3b, and asks why I scared the Drake. Because I wanted to kill it, I say. It turns out the Helios had spotted him and his corporation were lining him up too. Well, I'm glad I jumped him when I did, I say, as I wouldn't want to have got caught in the middle. Not again. But I was going home for food, so say au revoir to the Buzzard and wish the Helios good hunting, as I jump home to go off-line for a sammich.

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Tags: buzzard, drake, eve online, griffin, helios, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, purifier, pvp, w-space