Looking for a Noctis and finding a Sleeper

I need to get home. This new clone is already itching from being in empire space, surrounded by so many other capsuleers all talking freely in public channels. Weirdos. I wake Constance up, my life-line to the home w-space system, only for her to roll over and go back to sleep when she sees our glorious leader already scanning for an exit. Fin's in our neighbouring class 3 system, and has resolved the static exit to low-sec. That should be good enough for me, even if the wormhole leads to a system in The Bleak Lands and is eighteen hops from Jita, where I casually stopped for a bite to eat.

I have a new clone, new implants, and a replacement Devoter, having lost my pod and the heavy interdictor after making a naive fitting decision. C'est la vie. I undock, autopilot set, and warp to the first stargate along the route home. Hop, hop, hop. How will low-sec treat me? Like a ghost. Of course, it helps when Fin scouts ahead of me, but there is nothing and no one waiting on the stargates, and it's a simple matter to enter w-space and return to relying on my directional scanner to show me nothing and make me paranoid about everything.

Home again, I stow the Devoter in our hangar and swap to my cloak Loki strategic cruiser, so that Fin and I can go roaming for targets. The low-sec connection wasn't the only wormhole Fin resolved in C3a, there being two links to class 5 w-space too, one K162 and one outbound. We pick one each, warp off in different directions from our K162—I assume, as we are both cloaked—and, well, I stop short. The wormhole I land near is pulsating quite noisily for such a tiny disruption of space-time. It seems that the pilots on the other side have made an effort to kill the wormhole, pushing it to a critically destabilised state.

I hold near the wormhole for a few minutes, wondering if the C5ers are going to throw another ship through to try to finish the job, hoping that they get as unlucky as me earlier and become isolated in this C3. But they're more cautious, or less motivated, and apparently decide to leave the wormhole not-quite-collapsed. Fin's wormhole is healthy, at least, and it leads to the system where a while back I miss catching a warp-stabilised Noctis salvager in a ladar site, and then bump in to its baity destroyer replacement. There's no one home today, but, then, the ships we encountered before weren't local either.

Neither of us really fancy diving down a chain of class 5 w-space at this hour, and consider heading home happy enough with my return. But my notes from the previous visit to C5a help change our minds, as I see that the system has a static connection to class 3 w-space. That should terminate the constellation nice and soon. And, as Fin says, 'we would be remiss if we did not at least check it'. Quite so. We launch probes and scan. Fourteen anomalies and fifteen signatures get whittled down between the two of us, Fin resolving a couple of K162s from more class 5 w-space, me finding a K162 from null-sec, and both ignoring plenty of gas, before the static wormhole is eventually discovered.

I jump to C3b to take a look around. D-scan is clear from the K162, a blanket scan reveals ten anomalies and thirteen signatures, and my notes point me towards a tower that turns out to be heavily bubbled. It's all a bit mundane. Fin, on the other hand, has poked through to one of the class 5 systems and has found a Tengu and some wrecks. The strategic cruiser, however, is not in an anomaly, and the size of the Sleeper wrecks suggests the pilot is flitting around the rock and gas sites, looking for some quick ISK. I ignore the dull C3 and head back to help Fin look for the Tengu.

By the time I find the right wormhole, having somehow returned to C3a first—if only there were some handy table to let me identify wormhole class by colour, and avoid making such mistakes—there are only wrecks, no Tengu. That's good, as it lets me move away from the wormhole and cloak, and the system is big enough for me to warp out of range of any wrecks to launch scanning probes. I bump in to a tower in launching probes, but with only an unpiloted Helios covert operations boat floating in the force field, so I suspect the Tengu not to be local.

Probes out, I warp back towards the inner system, where I discern multiple sites holding Sleeper wrecks. I pick one cluster of wrecks and hunt them as I would a ship, getting a range and bearing using d-scan, and arranging my probes around the estimated position. And as we suspect the wrecks to be in ladar and gravimetric sites, the sites won't have despawned yet and it should be possible to scan for them. I can't think of a reason why not to do this whilst the system is clear, and am about to call in my probes when the system becomes not clear. There's a Noctis on d-scan. Good. And a Manticore stealth bomber blips on d-scan too, which is even better. We may have two targets to pop.

I have to wait for the salvager to come to me, which could take a while, depending on his choice of sites. The Noctis should give me a much fatter target for my probes to lock on to, but it also holds a capsuleer who could be checking d-scan occasionally. With any luck, he'll be too busy looting to update his scanner. But judging by his speed in salvaging, he is perhaps more focussed on updating d-scan. That gives Fin time to get to my position and for both of us to align roughly in the direction of the wrecks my probes are clustered around. So when the Noctis finally warps to the site, we are quite ready to ambush him.

Okay, not quite ready, as our fleet structure is upside-down. I call my probes in to scan, get a good result, and try to warp the pair of us to the salvager's position. I don't register why I can't warp our two ships as one, but instead of wasting time trying to work out why I simply throw my ship in to warp and prepare to call Fin in to follow. Fin, not troubled by being in warp, sees the problem in my not being the squad leader, and so unable to issue squad commands, and adjusts the hierarchy appropriately. It's a little late, but it doesn't really matter, as the Noctis isn't in the ladar site when I get there.

It's possible the Noctis saw my probes when I scanned, but I'm not entirely convinced, mostly because of the Sleeper cruiser that I can see ahead of me. And I happen to be around a hundred kilometres from the deadspace signature, wrecks, and presumably newly arrived Sleeper, which suggests I scanned the Noctis as he was already leaving, particularly as a few of the wrecks are looted. Something peculiar occurred, and it could be that the Noctis simply didn't want to be popped by the Sleeper. Whether that means he's coming back in a combat ship, abandoning the site, or actually did see my probes waits to be seen.

I make a couple of strategic bookmarks in the ladar site whilst hoping for the Noctis to return, getting Fin in to position at the same time. Instead of the Noctis, or the Tengu, d-scan next shows us an Anathema, the cov-ops not even bothering to cloak. Maybe I scan his position and at least give us a ship to shoot. I warp out, relaunch my probes, and come back to roughly scan the tiny ship. Or I would, if he were stil around. But I got a good idea of where he was, and two scans later I've resolved a wormhole, which turns out to be a K162 from class 6 w-space. That's neat, and means we can give chase too.

Of course, we can only give chase if there happens to be a ship to chase, and there currently isn't. The Anathema isn't showing itself, the Manticore could be anywhere, and the Noctis and Tengu haven't returned. Fin waits in the ladar site, me on the wormhole, but minutes tick along with no sign of any activity. Perhaps the Noctis saw my probes, and is paranoid of getting shot. Then again, Fin and I are stalking him, so it's not really paranoia. Or maybe he doesn't care enough to make a couple of trips to pop one Sleeper cruiser and salvage a handful of wrecks. I don't really blame him either way. But with nothing coming our way, it's finally time to call it a night. It's a slightly disappointing end to the evening, but at least we got a hunt.

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Tags: anathema, devoter, eve online, helios, loki, manticore, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, w-space

Jumping to high-sec

Three signatures are left to scan in the system. A blanket scan of our neighbouring class 3 w-space system revealed five signatures, our K162 is one of them, and the ladar site where I successfully ambushed a Brutix is another. But referring to my notes again shows that the system's static wormhole is an exit to null-sec k-space, which isn't particularly enticing, and the lack of signatures combined with the locals gassing, up until a few minutes ago, probably means that there are no other K162s. I've had my fun here, there's nowhere else to go, so I may as well collapse our connection. I can do that, grab a sammich, and return to explore a new constellation.

Orca, Widow, Orca, Orca. Hmm, our wormhole has put on some weight, as it doesn't implode with my last jump in the massive industrial command ship, remaining in a critically destabilised state instead. In some cases this wouldn't be an issue, as such a wormhole could still deter intruders, but as my intent is to kill the connection to explore through its replacement, I kind of need to complete the operation. At least we have a fairly foolproof way of getting rid of critical wormholes.

I swap ships at our tower in to our Devoter heavy interdictor, fit with extra warp disruption field generators, plenty of armour plating, and an oversized propulsion module. Activating the WDFGs drastically reduces the mass of the ship, down to below that of a frigate, whilst the oversized reheat has the opposite effect, increasing the mass to around half that of a battleship. It's a neat effect, and going out light and coming back heavy makes killing obstinate wormholes less risky.

Less risky, not risk-free, as I find out. Even massing under a thousand million kilogrammes, which is pretty light for spaceships, is too much for our wormhole to bear. I jump out of the home system, and the stupid connection throws one final wobbly and gives up the ghost. That's just great. Now I'm isolated from the home system in a heavy interdictor, and I didn't even bother to scan for the exit wormhole in this class 3 system. At least I have a probe launcher fitted to the HIC, anticipating just this kind of situation.

I launch probes and ignore both the ladar site and K162 home. Well, not the K162 home, as it's no longer there. I remember now. And now I get to find out just how tedious it is to scan in a ship lacking any bonuses to scanning strength, looking for a wormhole that is the weakest type of the three possible varieties of static connection. If the Brutix pilot I ambushed earlier were here he may see the funny side. I'm not.

It's good that there aren't many signatures, as scanning can be pretty tedious when it takes so long. But I resolve the wormhole, send the Devoter to it, and exit w-space to appear in a system in the Deklein region. I grab my atlas, check my position, and see that I have this null-sec region to cross, and a second and third null-sec region to pass through, before I can get safely to high-sec and think about returning home. Before the gravity of the situation hits me, the numbers in the local channel spike. Perhaps going from six pilots to thirty isn't much of a spike for null-seccers, but it is unsettling for a w-spacer like me who isn't even used to having a functioning local channel.

Thankfully, the local spike is just a spike. The small fleet—pretty big for me—obviously is just passing through, and local dips back down to three pilots. But it highlights my plight a little, in that I could potentially find myself warping in to such a fleet, and I have no way to defend myself. This will be interesting. First, I may as well scan the system, to see if I can get lucky and find a random intra-k-space wormhole. Three extra signatures give me hope, scanning takes its time, and I'm left with rocks, drones, and a magnetometric site. Okay, I suppose I'm making a break for high-sec.

I set my auto-pilot to guide me the shortest route to safety, which may not be the best route but I honestly don't know much about travelling through space with stargates. I point the Devoter towards the first marked stargate, and start hop, hop, hopping from null-sec system to null-sec system, pretty sure that I'm going to die. I could scan each system as I enter it, looking for that lucky connection, but scanning is slow and doesn't guarantee results, so I consider my time being saved as I count down the twenty-three stargate jumps.

I pass a couple of ships in the first dozen systems, and get shot by some gate rats, but nothing particularly threatening occurs. Hop, hop, hop, from Deklein to Fade. Hop, hop hop, from Fade to Pure Blind. And I stumble in to a usable station, where I take the opportunity to modify my ship's fitting. The armour plates are slowing me down, and I have a different set of modules intended to make travel out of w-space safer. I add to my agility, increase my warp core strength, and undock to continue on my way, immediately appreciating the much-reduced alignment time to enter warp. This is better.

Hop, hop, hop, to EWOK-K, site of the second Death Star, and in to EC-8PR, which sounds familiar for all the wrong reasons. But I am one hop from high-sec, and I warp to the last stargate to jump to Torrinos and the safety of Concord at last. That's the plan, and, as usual, it goes a bit wrong. I don't so much warp to the stargate as to the bubbles that are surrounding it. And it's not just bubbles that are littering the gate, as some pirates are there waiting for unwary pilots such as me. They catch me pretty easily.

I try to get away, but I know I won't. Even if I did, I don't know where I'd go. Maybe I should have diverted through low-sec first, avoiding the obvious choke-point of a high-to-null-sec connection. But what I really think I should have done was realise that my alternative fitting was for surviving low-sec travel, where there are no bubbles, not null-sec, where there are plenty. The extensive armour plating on the original fitting would have my surviving being shot for much longer, and the oversized reheat would let me burn towards the stargate and the safety of the other side without fear of it being shut down by a warp scrambler. The original fitting may have saved me. My panicky modified fitting gets me killed.

Of course, my pod has nowhere to go either, but the bright side is that I make my way from the edge of The Citadel to the heart of The Forge in the blink of an eye. And the cost for the speedy teleport is a new clone, new implants, and a replacement Devoter, costing the corporation the three hundred million ISK we made shooting Sleepers the other day. But it's only ISK. We can always make more. Okay, mission accomplished, if unconventionally and with a couple more explosions than desired. It's time for a sammich.

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Tags: devoter, eve online, mmorpg, null-sec, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space, widow

A hit and a miss

A new signature in the home system today is just more Sleepers. Stupid drones. I'm going next door, through our static wormhole, to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system. Updating my directional scanner after the jump shows me a tower, Orca industrial command ship, and Brutix battlecruiser, and although there are no anomalies thrown up on a passive sensor scan there are wrecks. And now a second Brutix has appeared from somewhere. How exciting! I have activity within a couple of minutes of waking up.

The tower looks to be in the same position I saw it on a previous visit six months ago, judging by d-scan, where the Orca is sitting. The Brutixes are elsewhere, though, and a jet-can is in space too. I would guess the pair are gassing, giving me pilots to hunt. I warp out to a planet 40 AU away, placing me far out of d-scan range of the gassers, and launch scanning probes. I perform a blanket scan, partly out of habit, and reveal the three ships I know about and five signatures. The battlecruisers will be in one of them.

I return to look for the ships, using the range gate on d-scan to gauge their distance and finding what is probably the planet closest to them. Once around that planet, I start narrowing d-scan's beam until I have a good approximation of their bearing, and adjust the range gate again to determine their distance from me, which I estimate to be about 2·7 AU. I cluster my probes around their position, although now just one Brutix is in the site along with a Noctis salvager, and call in my probes to scan.

It's a perfect result again. The Noctis has gone, but the Brutix remains gassing away in a ladar site. I recall my probes, warp towards the battlecruiser, and bookmark its position for reference. The scan result was perfect, and the scan itself must have been good, as my probes don't appear to have been spotted. I drop out of warp in the ladar site near the stationary Brutix, letting me decloak to start the ambush without worrying that the ship is about to warp away.

I lock on to the battlecruiser, scramble its warp engines, and start shooting. Or I would scramble its warp engines if my module would activate, but it seems I am a couple of kilometres out of range. A pulse of my micro warp drive closes the distance between us within a couple of seconds, and I get my scrambler active, actually preventing the Brutix from fleeing now. And now it's all about applying damage, and the battlecruiser looks to be a tough nut.

I tell a lie. The ambush is not just reduced to applying damage. There was a second pilot, one who disappeared from d-scan, which means there is a second pilot who may appear with reinforcements, or at least an ECM boat to kick my lock off his chum. I'm watching d-scan as I shoot the Brutix, watching for any sign of a counter-threat. Although, I have to admit, I am actually hoping for a more positive outcome. I knew that the Noctis wasn't going to be long in the ladar site, salvaging the few wrecks there, and I had hoped that my timing would be accidentally good enough that I would warp in and start my ambush after the other pilot had turned around and engaged warp himself, returning in an also-vulnerable ship and without being able to stop. As it turns out, circumstances are better than I could have expected.

I have been watching for the second Brutix to return, but what appears on d-scan instead is a Mammoth. The hauler is in warp to collect some of the gas, and indeed started coming this way before he could be told to abort and hold his position. There is nothing he can do but land a few kilometres from me and hope for the best. My problem is that I only have one module available that disrupts warp engines, and two ships to stop. What makes this not quite so problematic is that the hauler is nowhere near as tough a nut to crack as a battlecruiser. As I watch the Mammoth on d-scan I already know what I'm going to do: keep point on the Brutix and swap my guns over to the hauler, looking to pop it before it can turn around. I think I can do that, as they're pretty fragile.

Here comes the hauler. I am quite enjoying this, as an ambush rarely turns out so well. I can only imagine what feelings the pair of pilots have been going through, as the Mammoth realised he was flying right towards a Loki strategic cruiser already assaulting his colleague in the Brutix. I stop my guns firing on the Brutix, keeping the point in place, and target the Mammoth. It takes a few seconds longer than I expect for the hauler's warp engines to wind down, but I get a positive lock and start shooting again. And after a few volleys I realise my mistake.

I have a positive lock on the Mammoth, and my guns are firing, but I didn't move my active target from the Brutix to the Mammoth. I have only resumed shooting the Brutix, which isn't what I intended. I correct my mistake, as the Mammoth still slowly turns about its axis to flee, apparently not thinking about aiming for a celestial object more in line with its initial trajectory for a quicker exit, and start shooting the flimsier hull of the hauler. It's all a bit too late, though. My guns take chunks about of the hauler's shields and armour, but before I can rip the hull to pieces the Mammoth enters warp and disappears in to space.

It was a good plan, and had I switched targets for my guns properly I would have easily popped the Mammoth whilst holding the Brutix. It's a shame to miss the second target, particularly as the ambush was working out so well, but at least my plan let me keep hold of the primary target. I switch my guns back to the Brutix and start chipping away at its shields. The battlecruiser isn't quite as fragile as the Mammoth, but its destruction is inevitable. I keep watching d-scan as the shields deplete, and note that the Mammoth remains in range. Maybe the pilots are local after all. But the hauler isn't swapped for another boat, and the Brutix's defences are crushed before long, the resulting explosion ejecting the pilot's pod through the debris.

The pod flees before I can get a positive lock, leaving me just one wreck and a can to loot and shoot. Reload and cloak. I could loiter in the site for a while, but no one sensible would return whilst a hostile ship is known to be at large, so I warp towards the tower to gauge the response. As the Mammoth wasn't swapped for even an ECM boat I'm not expecting a response, but I'd rather witness it first-hand than by watching d-scan. What I see instead, when reaching the tower, is the Mammoth warping away.

Surely the hauler isn't daring to collect the gas in the ladar site, trying to salvage what little profit they can from their doomed operation. Surely not when d-scan clearly shows a lack of any jet-can that used to be holding the gas, the one that I destroyed. And even the wreck of the Brutix is gone, also destroyed after being looted. I don't know why the Mammoth is heading towards the ladar site, but I'm almost kicking myself for leaving it. I turn my Loki around and head back with best speed, dropping out of warp a few kilometres from the mental Mammoth, decloaking and activating my sensor booster in anticipation. Sadly, I am a few seconds too late in assuming the foolhardy nature of the pilot, as the Mammoth once again turns around and flees, escaping my attentions a second time by the narrowest of margins.

At least the Mammoth saw a lack of anything to haul in the ladar site, and my Loki ready to relieve the pilot of his ship, so when he returns to the tower now he probably will be staying there. He got lucky, twice. The Brutix wasn't quite so lucky, as not even two warp core stabilisers let him escape my faction warp scrambler. I'm quite enjoying having that fit now, even if I have to remember to get that little bit closer for it to activate properly. And as I bask in the glow of a well-executed ambush, albeit without making the most of my good luck, I watch the two pilots go off-line and leave me in a newly empty system.

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Tags: brutix, eve online, loki, mammoth, mmorpg, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space

Backwards and forwards through w-space

A short poke around w-space to look for targets starts out positively, with an unexpected wormhole in the home system. Glorious leader Fin has resolved and bookmarked our static connection, leaving it unvisited, which lets me identify the other wormhole with ease. Warping to it sees a K162 from more class 4 w-space, which is as good a place as any to start my exploration, so I jump backwards through the constellation to see what awaits.

One planet sits in range of my directional scanner, and nothing else. Launching probes and performing a blanket scan reveals an awfully sparse system, with only two anomalies, two signatures, and one ship. Getting closer to the ship lets d-scan identify it as a Damnation, and I have a hunch a solo command ship will be sitting in the local tower that's now in range. And that is indeed where I find the ship, although it's curious to see it piloted.

I have a second hunch that the Damnation won't be doing anything by itself. I may as well scan that second—oop, a Paladin marauder warps in to the tower before I can even finish that thought. With any luck, the Paladin won't remain a Paladin for long, maybe getting switched for a hauler to take the capsuleer on a run for planet goo. The marauder moving to a hangar makes me tingle with anticipation, but before a change occurs a Buzzard covert operations boat warps in to the tower, followed by an Apocalypse battleship. It's all go.

I think I'm witnessing a tower meeting. Not much else is happening. I should scan. I could have saved myself ten minutes had I scanned straight away. One signature won't take long to resolve, and it doesn't, giving me another K162, which is no surprise in an otherwise empty system. Another K162 from class 4 w-space too. Chains of C4 w-space can be as monotonous as those of C5 w-space, which I'm beginning to remember from our C4/C4 days.

Ignoring the ships doing nothing, I head to C4b, where exploring finds a tower and empty Bustard transport ship, which is less then inspiring. Scanning has three anomalies and, crap, twenty-six signatures. But coarse scanning bags me a chubby signature, which is, oh hey, a K162 from class 4 w-space. But jumping in to C4c has me turn my hopes down to one, as I appear over seven kilometres from the wormhole and less than two from the deadspace signature. A quick look around finds occupation but no activity, and that's good enough for me.

I return to C4a, through C4b, and note using d-scan another change of ships as I warp past the tower, before jumping back home and warping to our static wormhole. Maybe I can find something of interest ahead of us instead of behind. And I nearly do, as a Helios covert operations boat decloaks and jumps through the K162 as my session change cloak holds in C3a. I think it's safe to assume that the pilot didn't see the wormhole flare on my arrival in to the system, or he'd have held his cloak and waited until mine dropped so that he could identify my ship and me. Either that, or he's a terrible scout.

The Helios is gone, d-scan is clear. I break my session cloak and activate my module cloak, holding on the wormhole in case other ships come this way. Perhaps the movement in C4a is the locals bringing ships back from empire space. I check my notes as I wait, seeing that my last visit to this system, four months ago, had my bringing an Orca industrial command ship home after a wormhole collapse left me isolated. Thanks, Penny. That's great nostalgia. Meanwhile, no ships have come past me, so I think I'd better not waste any more time in exploring the system.

A tower and no ships graces C3a, along with seven anomalies and nine signatures that are revealed by my probes. I scan whilst sitting on our K162, more optimistic that a ship will be brought through than one will come on-line at the tower, but none does. Gas and rocks are discarded, and a wormhole skinnier than I expect for a high-sec connection is resolved. A second wormhole feels more like a static exit to high-sec, and it is a D845, which takes me to a system in the Domain region not too many hops to Amarr. There are no oranges amongst the forty or so pilots in the local comms channel, though, and still no more ship movements.

I return to w-space and warp to the second wormhole, which is a nifty outbound connection to class 5 w-space. Sadly, jumping in to the system puts me almost eight kilometres from the wormhole, which I still don't think is a good sign, despite there being a tower and two drones visible on d-scan. Along with not getting good vibes from the system, Penny is getting hungry. I scanned backwards through a C4 chain earlier, I don't intend to scan forwards through a C5 chain now. I'm going home to get a sammich.

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Tags: apocalypse, bustard, buzzard, damnation, eve online, helios, mmorpg, paladin, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Find and forget

Three signatures. One gas, which I know about. One wormhole, static. One unknown. But is it 'unknown'? No, it's more gas, leaving me just our static wormhole to explore through. Or not, as the bastard's at the end of its life. I bet some blues came this way, opened our connection, then left it in a state of decay just to piss us off. And probably stole something on their way home too. Still, it's possible the wormhole has enough life left in it for me to kill it without getting isolated. Let's see, shall we?

My directional scanner is clear in C3a, as I make the first jump in a massive industrial command ship, which should keep me safe from unwanted attention, as long as the wormhole lives naturally whilst I shove a loving pillow over its face. And it does, as a Widow and two more Orca trips collapse the wormhole and leave me in the home system warping away from empty space back to our tower. I hop over to my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser and scan for the replacement static connection. There's no place for sentiment when killing wormholes.

The second C3a of the evening also shows me nothing on d-scan from our K162, which is odd. A mere six weeks ago there was a tower that should be visible from my position. A passive scan revealing a single anomaly suggests the system is probably still occupied, though, and warping around confirms this. Occupation, but no activity. A pair of empty covert operations scanning boats sit inside the tower's force field. But rare is the day that a single w-space jump will find action, so I launch probes and look for the next system in the constellation.

Eight signatures offer nothing interesting until the last two signatures throw up two wormholes, the static exit to low-sec empire space and a nifty K162 from class 2 w-space. I could get the exit system first, but I'm going to live stupidly tonight. Dangerously. I meant dangerously. Jumping to C2a has a Hurricane battlecruiser and Corax destroyer on d-scan, along with four towers and a distinct lack of wrecks to indicate anything happening. But although sweeping d-scan around the planets gets a rough idea of where the towers are, the ships don't show up. There are vulnerable in space, somewhere.

I warp out, launch probes, and warp back to start looking for the two ships. And I re-activate my cloak, which is a good idea when being covert, although this step should preferably be done outside of d-scan range of the targets and not several seconds after having warped back close to their position. Just a tip. The Hurricane and Corax don't appear to be spooked by my Loki being near them, which either means they aren't paying attention, or they are bait. I won't know until I locate them, so I start hunting their position. I get them in a tight d-scan beam, about 1·2 AU distant, and arrange my probes suitably.

Hullo, one last broad sweep of d-scan shows a Loki newly arrived at a tower. I ought to show some caution, I suppose. I call my probes in to scan for the pair of ships, and get a solid hit. But they aren't in a ladar site, harvesting gas as I originally suspected, but sitting on a wormhole. I warp in to take a closer look, dropping short because of the circumstances. The pair are at the system's second static connection, which leads to high-sec, and the ships are slowly circling it. I'm tempted to take a shot at them, the Corax in particular, but with such an easy escape route available it all seems rather pointless, for all of us.

I'll head back to C3a, get the low-sec exit system to give me an alternative route home, and then consider engaging the Corax. That sounds like a plan. I return to C3a, cross the system to exit to low-sec, and appear in a faction warfare system in the Black Rise region. A quick scan turns up no additional signatures, which, combined with the late hour, gives me little option. I won't crash our static wormhole again, as that takes time, so I may as well see if the two ships on the high-sec connection would like to play.

Back in to C3a, across it again to C2a, and before I do anything foolish I take a couple of minutes to locate all four towers. Finding them finds the Loki, which naturally is piloted, nestled inside a force field and not really looking like he's ready to cause much mischief. I think I can see what the Corax is made of. I warp across to the high-sec connection only to find that the ships have gone, even if they are still in the system. And, thinking about it, that wormhole looks much like one leading to class 3 w-space and not high-sec.

Ah, right. It seems that I forgot to bookmark the second static wormhole after I scanned its position earlier. I neither bookmarked it from the scanning interface, or after I warped to its position to reconnoitre the ships. That was a bit of an oversight. And I don't really care to hunt the ships again, or be overly overt in my intentions to find their location now, which makes this game over, man. Game over. I'm heading home to get some sleep.

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Tags: corax, eve online, hurricane, loki, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space, widow

Going all around the constellation to stay at home

I'm hoping for more than a newbie in a frigate and empty covert operations boat to shoot today. And here's my glorious leader to help! What shall we do today, Fin? Shoot Sleepers in anomalies—the shortcut to explosions—explore, or both? Explore to start with, we think, so we resolve the static connection and jump to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system. I was in C3a almost two years ago, when two of our Manticore stealth bombers launched against a Crow interceptor, and later the same day I took the obvious bait and lost the Manticore to a Loki strategic cruiser. Great days. But the Tengu strategic cruiser, three Tornado battlecruisers, and Manticore on my directional scanner now should probably be my focus, not my notes.

Two towers are also visible on d-scan, and although it's all change from my previous visit they are easy enough to find. One tower looks to hold all the ships, so I head that way, only to find not quite what I expected. The ships are indeed at the tower, but not in the tower. They're shooting it. We've stumbled in to a siege, albeit a minor one, and, more importantly, a siege where the pilots don't appear to be paying too much attention. I'm not surprised, as shooting a tower for a couple of hours is pretty tedious, and continually updating d-scan for that long is probably less preferable to an ambush and a quick death. Maybe we can help with that. All Fin and I have to do is work out our targets and how best to pick them off. 'Oh', says Fin. What? Oh.

The tower enters reinforced mode a minute after we arrive, giving the siegers nothing left to do today. The tower will remain invulnerable for as long as its supply of strontium lasts, which in this case is a day and sixteen hours. Understandably, rather than floating outside the sieged tower for all that time, the small fleet retreats to their own tower, and then mostly go off-line. One pilot remains, now in an Onyx heavy interdictor for some inscrutable reason, but he probably isn't paying much attention to anything but his watchlist now, looking for pilots of the sieged corporation to come on-line. I think it's safe for us to scan.

One anomaly and five signatures isn't much to sift through, and with two of us scanning we resolve the rocks, gas, and static exit to low-sec with no fuss. There's no movement from the Onyx, so we exit to empire space, appearing in a faction warfare system in Devoid. There are no oranges in the system, neither any additional signatures when scanning, and although there's a fan who says hello I manage to have my least charming conversation with a reader that I can remember. I hope you're still reading after that, arbitrary faction warfare pilot.

There's nothing happening. So Fin and I look to make something happen, by collapsing our static wormhole to start again. A couple of paired trips stresses the wormhole to implosion, with a pause for polarisation effects, and we're scanning for a new connection. Jumping in to the replacement C3a has a clear result on d-scan, and although there is one planet out of range it holds no occupation. A lack of anomalies will stop us engaging Sleepers, and seven signatures doesn't give much hope for wormholes. Indeed, a quick poke reveals no K162s, leaving me looking for the static exit to null-sec which I know is present from a visit six months ago.

I find the static wormhole in C3a, only to warp to it and realise that I haven't. A982 does not equal K346, and I've actually resolved a random outbound connection to deadly class 6 w-space. That's nice. I keep scanning, resolve the null-sec wormhole, and swiftly ignore it as I jump to C6a to look for trouble. D-scan being clear doesn't look promising, but a Legion strategic cruiser and Celestis cruiser warping past, blipping on d-scan for a few seconds, is a more positive sign. Once I'm sure they've gone I launch probes and perform a blanket scan, and the sixteen anomalies, twenty-three signatures, and lack of ships makes me suspect the ships were just passing through.

Warping around finds a tower in C6a, but with no one home, so I poke for K162s. I find a couple, which Fin reconnoitres as I continue shoving scanning probes around, giving us K162s from null-sec and a second class 6 w-space system. Fin jumps to C6b, and reports seeing towers on d-scan. 'Many, many towers.' And ships too. I see a ship as well, a Tornado warping to the C6 K162 as I sit there, still looking for the static connection in C6a, and I alert Fin as it jumps to her position. Right to her position, as it turns out. As the Tornado decloaks to warp clear, it nudges Fin's cloaky Loki, dropping her cloak in the process, and almost forcing Fin to jump out of the system.

That's probably us finished with C6b, then. If the pilots know we're around and what we're flying we'll probably doom ourselves if we push for an engagement. Thankfully, I've finally found the static wormhole in C6a. Well, it's the third-to-last signature, so not really finally, and it's not even worth making a fuss over. The wormhole to class 4 w-space is not only stressed to half mass but wobbling away at the end of its life. Stupid wormhole. It was probably in the prime of its life and full of mass allowance when I started scanning for it.

We don't have much option now. Either we die to the C6bers, or head home and collapse our wormhole again. Or, at least, try to crash it. The connection is a little chubby, resisting our attempts to kill it off early, and sits small and far from silently mocking us in its critical state after our second pair of round trips. Screw you, wormhole, stay like that. We'll just shoot some Sleepers instead. And that's what we do.

A quick scan confirms no new wormholes connect to our home system, and we swap to Sleeper Tengus, making white wrecks that look unfamiliar to my piratical eyes, before swapping to Noctis salvagers to rake in over three hundred million ISK in profit for three anomalies. And it's profit that we realise from our anomalies, which makes a nice change.

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Tags: celestis, eve online, legion, loki, manticore, mmorpg, noctis, onyx, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, tornado, w-space

Simple kills for a simple capsuleer

I'm back in space and ready to see how the constellation looks a few hours later. The home system is clear, with no new signatures threatening, and the tower in our neighbouring class 3 w-space system is back up to holding two Heron frigates with the Ferox battlecruiser. The Herons may be piloted but, as they have potentially been on-line and in the tower for hours, the odds of them becoming active within a short time of my turning up are slim. I ignore the locals and blanket the system with my probes.

I already know what I'm expecting to see. I'm scanning to see what I don't expect. The outbound connection to C5a remains, but the static exit to low-sec empire space has been replaced. I resolve the new U210, bookmark its deadspace signature from the scanning interface, and ignore it for now to see what the C5 locals are up to. I popped a hauler of theirs bringing in gas from high-sec to run reactions earlier, so I'm interested to see what they are up to know, and what precautions they are taking.

Going off-line is a pretty good precaution against losing ships, but it's kinda cheating a little. Warping around the many towers in C5a finds no ships, but at least they've kept their static wormhole open. The connection's sitting at half-mass, but it was earlier as well, so it's not like this is a threatening sign. I jump through, to C5b, where again no one's home, and I have a static connection to class 4 w-space to find. I felt it prudent to pop the Bestower and retreat instead of spending all my time scanning earlier. I think I made the right choice.

The first signature I resolve is the static wormhole, which is a time-saver. A crude check for K162s finds nothing, and I don't care to spend ages looking for random outbound wormholes when I already have more w-space to explore. Onwards! Jumping in to C4a has a Vulture and tower visible on my directional scanner, and my first thought is to wonder if the command ship is boosting a fleet elsewhere in the system. Probably not, as a quick passive scan reveals just the one anomaly, and that's within d-scan range of my ship.

Locating the tower finds the Vulture unpiloted, and blue. Those damned blues. I'll scan forwards. Five signatures makes leaving the system quick, and through a static connection to class 1 w-space. That's a pretty soft C4 to live in, and pretty awkward for moving ships and hauling loot, I imagine. But that's not my business, and I jump to C1a and hit d-scan. Nothing. My notes from a little over three months ago agree with the system being unoccupied, and although I didn't scan then I do now. Twenty one anomalies, twenty signatures. Capsuleers don't come here much it seems.

Hello there. A K162 linking class 1 w-space with class 1 w-space is lovely, and rare. I can finally update my guide to wormhole colours with an authentic Penny-captured image, as well as having another C1 system to explore. I make sure I also resolve the static wormhole in C1a, but ignore it for now to see what's in C1b. A clear d-scan result and a magnetar phenomenon. There's more to see, though, so I launch probes and blanket the system. Three towers, no ships; one anomaly and five signatures. I've lost interest already.

I have scanning probes launched, and as K162s are so very chubby it would be churlish not to poke around for them. I find one with a capsule on it. Oops. I bet the pilot has seen my probes. Still, no matter, and it's not even a K162, but the C1's static exit to high-sec, which makes spotting a ship on that connection rather less appealing. And that the pod has gone from the system, and given that he must have been jumping from and not to high-sec, I am sure I have an actual K162 to find. And there she is, a K162 from class 5 w-space stressed to half-mass. Fancy that.

I jump through to C5c, a rather curious class 5 system. It was unoccupied eight months ago, and remains unoccupied now. Whether the C5 is unattractive owing to the static connection to class 1 w-space, or the black hole lurking like a Sarlacc, I can't say, but whatever it is it's keeping occupation at bay. I have more scanning to do, and two obvious wormholes stand out from the four anomalies and nine signatures. One is an outbound connection to null-sec, the other the inevitable C5 K162. And C5d has an impressive collection of ships on display. Six dreadnoughts, four carriers, two freighters, seven industrial command ships, six strategic cruisers, and many others, split amongst six towers. That's a fair bit of ISK just lying around.

There are no wrecks in C5d, and rather than spend time tower-locating and ship-spotting I'll leave what is probably a dead end alone and head back the way I came. Poking my prow through the exit to null-sec in C5c has me in a system in Fountain with two other pilots, which is about as much interest as I can show that system, and returning to C5b and jumping to C1a from C1b stresses the connecting wormhole to half mass. That's fine, as I doubt I'll be coming back this way. Checking the static wormhole for C1a shows it to connect to null-sec, perhaps giving a reason for the continued lack of occupation, and I find myself in Stain with eight other pilots. Whatever, null-seccers.

C1a, to the blue C4a, and back through C5b to C5a. Now some folks have woken up, with some combat ships and a logistics boat on d-scan. There are no wrecks, though, and as I'm warping around to see who is where a pilot drops from his Probe frigate and self-destructs his pod. That's weird, particularly considering there being an exit to high-sec one jump away, which was good enough to haul gas through earlier, but I suppose you have to expect such behaviour from a capsuleer named Loco Kamikaze.

Bored with watching simple ship changes, I leave C5a for C3a—back down to one Heron—and exit to low-sec. The system in Kor-Azor has three pilots, who I ignore whilst I scan, resolving a K162 from class 2 w-space that looks attractive. But the Inquisitor frigate flitting around intrigues me too, particularly as he appears to be coming and going to the easily found Abandoned Battlefield in the system. I warp to the celestial beacon, note that now it's just me and him in the system, making him unlikely to be any kind of bait, and approach in my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser, with the Jaws theme playing in my head. And I'm kinda humming it to myself, but don't tell anyone.

It's been a while since my security status took a hit, and it's probably because the brief thrill of being a criminal isn't worth the time it takes to rat my way back up. But the red mist has descended. I decloak, lock on, and blow the living crap out of the Inquisitor before it can realise what's happening. Damn, I'm mean.

'You could do a catch and release', suggests Mick, when I link the slaughter mail. I could, but I quite like explosions. They learn better with explosions too, I'm sure. Anyway, the brief weapons test is finished—it wasn't really 'combat'—and I head to C2a, where a Helios and corpse appear on d-scan. That's interesting.

The covert operations boat isn't cloaking. He's about 4 AU below the wormhole, which makes it worth trying to scan for him. I warp out, launch probes, and go for a scan. It's good, but not great. In fact, I can't get the scan from good to great without launching two more probes, and it's only when I warp in that I realise why I was able to muck around for so long without the Helios cloaking, warping, or jumping away. The ship is unpiloted, and probably unpiloted by the corpse floating next to it. I know scanning can sometimes feel like a chore, but this is protesting the effort to an extreme level.

I can take credit for the kill here. I scoop the corpse and shoot the Helios, and will happily hand-wave the lack of pod kill when I drop the new corpse in to our hangar. It all happened too quickly for it to register formally, I'll say. Back me up, okay? Why else would I have the Helios kill and the corpse? And bringing back a body helps divert attention from this C2 being where Fin and I embarrassingly popped an apparently abandoned Orca industrial command ship at a customs office, instead of piloting it home. I could scan for the C2 and low-sec static wormholes, but I've done enough of that and it's getting late. I've been evil in low-sec and collected some booty from the Helios wreck, and feel good about heading home for the night.

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Tags: eve online, ferox, helios, heron, inquisitor, loki, low-sec, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, probe, pvp, scanning, vulture, w-space

The pod that got away

Can anything be happening so early? I aim to find out. But I'll need to scan my way out of the home system, as just the static wormhole is waiting for me here. Of course, I can only know that because I already have scanning probes launched, so jumping to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system is little more than a formality. In C3a I see Heron, Heron, and Ferox on my directional scanner, along with a tower, and a few seconds later, after making sure I bookmark the K162 home, d-scan is down to one frigate and the battlecruiser. That's either evidence of activity occurring, or activity diminishing.

A visit to this same system from a month ago points me towards the tower, where I see the remaining Heron piloted and the Ferox empty. I don't suppose I'll be catching a gassing battlecruiser today. I warp out, launch probes, and perform a blanket scan of the system, which shows me a mere two anomalies and three signatures. There's no sign of the second Heron, or scanning probes. He's either off-line or in a different system. I'm guessing the two unknown signatures will be the static exit to low-sec—I'm sticking my neck out there—and a K162. Or a ladar site. I'm not much of a gambler.

The second signature is indeed a second wormhole, but it's not the K162 I expect. Even after hedging my bets, the weak outbound connection to class 5 w-space comes as a surprise, but a good one. It's even possible a fragile Heron came this way. But before I look for him I hit low-sec, through the system's static exit, to get a safety route home and to look for oranges. The faction warfare system in Minmatar space has pilots, none of them orange, and so after bookmarking the entrance to w-space I head back to C3a and beyond.

A tower but no ships grace d-scan in C5a. Along with no sign of locals or a Heron from C3a, there are no probes visible to suggest he came this way. That's okay, I can still scan for more w-space, and I already know I'll be diving down a C5-pipe from a visit fourteen months ago. At least I'm prepared. However, warping around and finding nine towers in the system catches me off-guard, although they are mostly configured with silos to run reactions, making it easy to find the tower holding a Buzzard covert operations boat, Stabber cruiser, and pod. Well, once I have ignored the other seven towers that creep on to d-scan when I get close to the ships.

I stop caring about C5a, it's proliferation of reaction-running towers, and the inactive pilots, and concentrate on looking for the next class 5 system instead. It should be easy enough, with seven anomalies and five signatures. Wormhole, magnetometric site, radar site, wormhole. The static connection to C5b is destabilised to half-mass, but still safe enough to use, which is good considering that the K162 from class 3 w-space is at the end of its life. The locals don't seem to be actively killing their wormhole, which makes it much less risky than poking through a dying link. I head to C5b.

Again a tower and lack of ships appears on d-scan, until I launch probes and blanket the system. Eight anomalies, twelve signatures, and an unexpected ship are picked up by my probes, and switching to d-scan shows a Sleipnir now in the system. The command ship appears to have come from C5a, and is soon gone. But was it passing through or checking the wormhole for something? I'll scan and see, holding on the K162 to C5a in case of more passing ships. And thankfully the C5 chain has ended early, as this system holds a static connection to class 4 w-space. I resolve a wormhole and initiate warp, just as the halved K162 behind me flares. Oops, too late to cancel the command, although I can throw my probes out of d-scan range quickly.

D-scan shows me a Bestower new to the system, which presumably is the ship coming from C5a. I think I know where it's going too, as I land next to a K162 from high-sec space, conveniently stressed to half-mass to indicate that plenty of ships have been moved between here and the class 5 system behind me. Naturally, the Bestower lands on the wormhole shortly after I do, and leaves w-space. I'd say it's worth waiting here a little while as I scan the rest of the system, in case she returns. Scan, scan, sc—that didn't take long. Before I can revert to my scanning groove the high-sec K162 flares. I hide my probes and align my cloaky Loki towards the C5 K162 in case it's the Bestower back so soon. It is, and I am in warp in seconds.

Again I arrive at the wormhole before the Bestower, and again I wait to watch her jump. I give her a couple of seconds to get comfortable, hopefully shed the session cloak, and follow behind. The Bestower isn't visible in C5a, but must have seen the wormhole flare. I get ready anyway, committed to the ambush, and decloak to activate my sensor booster. And thar she blows. The Bestower appears and sluggishly aligns away from me, perhaps knowing that jumping back to C5b is a waste of time. I dunno, it's got to be worth a shot of attempting to return to high-sec, rather than staying in a system with a damage-multiplying magnetar phenomenon. But, then, I'm not industrially minded.

I lock on to the hauler, get my offensive systems hot, and start shooting. Pop! It really doesn't take long to rip the Bestower in half, ejecting a fresh pod in to the cold of space. I aim for the capsuleer's second skin, only for my targeting systems to fail. I try again, and my systems don't respond. Lock, you bastard. No lock. The pod warps free as I look over my HUD to see what went wrong, only to find my high rack overloaded and ready to be used. I'm pretty sure I didn't order that, you stupid Minmatar piece of crap.

I've been hit by sticky keys again, a modifier being active when none was depressed. And I'm having trouble clearing it. Aiming to loot and shoot the wreck has my Neocom alerting me that I'm 'not in a fleet'. Okay, the Bestower was hauling a lot of gas in to the C5 to perform reactions for profits, but I don't need a fleet if I can't carry it all. I'm happy to destroy it. Thankfully, a bit of button mashing convinces my computer that I can, in fact, loot and shoot the wreck whilst not being in a fleet, and all is back to normal. Well, except I'm not carrying a frozen corpse in my hold.

At least I wasn't counter-ambushed whilst fumbling with unresponsive controls on the wormhole. And even though I didn't catch the pod, the gas the Bestower failed to haul home is a fairly costly loss, valued to be worth around two hundred million ISK. I stuff what I can fit in my hold, next to the new expanded cargoholds for my collection, and consider my options. I could press on, but that would be through a stressed wormhole of now-irritated C5ers, which could either mean the wormhole won't be here when I turn around, or big ships will be. I think I'll head home, grab a sammich, and come back later. If the wormhole's still here, so will the C4 further down the chain. If not, I'll have a new static connection to C5 space to explore.

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Tags: bestower, buzzard, eve online, ferox, heron, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, sleipnir, stabber, w-space

Not safe for Sleepers

It's a Fin! What's happening, my glorious leader? Not much, not yet. Or maybe it's already kicked off, in the past day or so, as half of our anomalies are missing. Those damned blues. We should seek and destroy them, perhaps through this second wormhole in the home system. I hope it leads to some action, as our static wormhole is at the end of its life and isn't worth the risk to explore beyond. I blame blues for that too. We really ought to consider modifying our NBSI policy to a more flexible SI one.

The K162 at home comes from class 2 w-space, and in the system itself my directional scanner shows me four towers and three ships. Locating the towers turns out to be straightforward in a system with six planets and six moons, so I find out without much delay that the Reaper frigate, Bestower hauler, and Prorator transport are all empty of capsuleers. And a blanket scan reveals a minimalist system, holding two signatures only, the least amount possible in class 2 w-space. One will be the wormhole to our home system, the other the second static connection that leads to k-space. In this case, k-space is high-sec and, naturally, the wormhole is EOL.

We've run out of options early, so it's time to crash our static wormhole. With two of us in massive ships, we will only need two paired trips to collapse the connection, and as we will be out of the home system for little more than ten seconds at a time the risk of isolation is low. That is if we need to kill the link in the first place. It turns out that the short time we spent in C2a was longer than the death rattle of the wormhole. Victory through inaction!

Scanning for the new static connection finds a healthy and stable wormhole, fresh for our comfort, and jumping through sees three drones, one bubble, and nothing else on d-scan. I launch and arrange probes for a blanket scan, whilst seeing from my notes that the system was unoccupied eighteen months ago and holds a static exit to null-sec. One of those nuggets of information has perhaps changed now, as the blanket scan reveals two ships in the system, as well as thirteen anomalies and fourteen signatures. As suspected, the ships are both in a tower around a distant planet, but to my surprise they are both piloted.

The running refinery probably indicates that neither pilot is going to do much for ninety minutes or so, and after that they'll probably just move minerals from one storage bay to another. It's not exactly riveting adventure. There are some nice anomalies in the system, though, and if the locals aren't paying attention then maybe we can steal Sleeper loot from them. The anomalies are far away from the tower too, so bored pilots not wanting to leave the safety of the force field won't notice us. Active pilots from other systems would be more problematic, so before we set ourselves up as targets we consider it prudent to scan C3a for wormholes.

There's one. It's weak, so probably the static exit to null-sec, but a second is chubby and likely a K162. I fling Fin towards it as two more wormholes appear under my probes. Fin's wormhole comes from high-sec, the other two are K162s from null-sec and class 4 w-space. This isn't an anomaly-friendly system right now. We keep exploring. Fin checks out high-sec, and I jump to C4a, which brings back a happy memory. The last time I was in this system I podded an Iteron hauler under the nose of its Golem marauder escort. That was a lot of fun!

C4a holds different occupation today, but still occupation. Occupation and ships. Occupation, ships, and a pilot! But, despite the corporation owning and displaying a Phoenix dreadnought, only a Helios covert operations boat is piloted inside the tower's force field. I ignore the stationary pilot and scan, finding no other wormholes in the few signatures in the system, so head back to C3a and through its static exit to appear in a null-sec system in the Venal region. No one's home, letting me rat and scan, but only the ratting goes to plan. I pop a battleship in a rock field whilst resolving a sole extra signature that turns out to be a magnetometric site. But never mind, as Fin has found a couple of wormholes in high-sec, and they are both K162s from class 1 w-space.

I head out to high-sec, via C3a, and pick one wormhole whilst Fin jumps through the other, and it looks like I chose wisely. A Tengu and tower appear on d-scan, and although there are no wrecks at the moment there may be soon, as locating the tower finds the strategic cruiser piloted and no doubt raring to make a target of itself. No, he isn't, but I like to think positively. Scanning reveals two anomalies and two signatures, the wormhole to high-sec joined by a simple ladar site, leaving me watching a Tengu do nothing. And although Fin hasn't found activity in her C1, she has found a K162 from class 2 w-space. I'd say that's worth leaving this Tengu behind and heading Finwards.

I leapfrog past my glorious leader in to C2b, where d-scan may show me no ships but a tweak reveals Sleeper wrecks. How exciting! A passive scan, however, finds no anomalies, so either the site has despawned and can't be found normally, or the wrecks are in a magnetometric or radar site—judging by the number of wrecks—and will need to be found with scanning probes. That's okay, I have some. I warp out, launch my combat scanning probes, and blanket the system. Four signatures and two ships light up my probes, and I find the ships inside a tower's force field, unpiloted, and the Iteron hauler and Retriever mining barge not looking like they'd have created many Sleeper wrecks.

It's likely that whoever created the wrecks isn't local, and possible that they'll soon be back to loot and salvage. I can find the site once there's a salvaging ship in it, and I can hunt it before then, by 'hunting' the wrecks. I go back to the inner system, get a bearing and range on the wrecks, and arrange my probes around the site. Now I wait. Well, we wait, as Fin is sitting on the wormhole also hoping for a soft target to come our way. Which it doesn't. A few minutes pass and still no ship has come in to the system. I'll go for a scan anyway. If there's a site still there I'll find it, if not then it's doubtful anyone's coming back.

I call my probes in and scan where I think the wrecks are, finding nothing. That's disappointing. More disappointing is then using my probes to scan the four signatures, and resolving only a static exit to high-sec, some rocks, and an EOL K162 from high-sec that probably brought the not-coming-back ships in to this C2. That looks like game over. We head back through C1a, across high-sec space, and in to C3a on our way home, and stumble in to rare w-space conversation. It seems the locals are chatting with... someone. Maybe one of the ships d-scan is showing us.

A Loki strategic cruiser and two Naga battlecruisers are on d-scan in C3a, and not at the tower, whilst a frigate wreck lies a short distance from the high-sec wormhole. The ship names on d-scan look familiar, and I recognise them as from C4a, which is why they are coy when a local admits that there is a C4 K162 in the system. There are two, in fact, but neither Fin or I are about to correct them. It's late, and we're going home.

And just to show that the constellation really wasn't safe for us to engage Sleepers, a Tengu in the home system sitting next to an elite cruiser wreck somewhere in space rams the point home. I should probably care more about where the strategic cruiser and wreck are, as they are not at a planet or moon, and scanning finds no new signatures, but I'm tired. It's time for bed.

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Tags: bestower, eve online, helios, iteron, loki, mmorpg, naga, penny ibramovic, phoenix, prorator, reaper, retriever, scanning, tengu, w-space

Ship watching

Are these three extra signatures in the home system Sleeper-borne or capsuleer intrusions? A bit of both. Some new rocks, with some Sleepers not good enough to be part of an anomaly's fleet, have floated in as a couple of K162s connect to us. Both wormholes come from class 2 w-space too, which is neat. I jump through the wormhole I finish next to after warping around, and, as it's the second of the two systems, I find myself jumping to C2b first.

Two towers, no ships, five anomalies. That's a fairly bland result from both my directional and passive scanners. Launching probes and scanning with intent reveals ten more sigantures, and although an obvious K162 sticks out from the chaff it only comes from high-sec. But that will do, as the C2's second static connection will also only lead to k-space, and there are no other K162s that I can find easily. I pop out to high-sec to get the exit, appearing in Gallente space a few hops from Dodixie, but that's about as close as I'll get to the market hub for now. It's back to w-space with me.

I get myself home and in to C2a, where, good grief, eight towers mess up d-scan, along with bubble traps and a territorial control unit. My notes aren't much help either, despite having been here five weeks ago, where instead of tower locations I have occupation listed simply as 'yes'. That actually rings a bell, as I came to the system nearing the end of an evening and couldn't be bothered to look for all the towers. Thanks, past Penny, you're a real help. Then again, present Penny pretty much feels the same way, so I empathise.

Ah-ha! Locating the towers isn't anywhere near as onerous a task as it looks at first glance. Opening the system map shows that, sure, there are nine planets, but also only nine moons, and they are neatly spread out too. It just goes to show that it doesn't hurt to look. Waving d-scan at each planet in turn finds the sole moon without a tower, making it trivial to determine where the other towers are anchored, as well as where the ships are. The three covert operations boats—a Helios, Buzzard, and Cheetah all being in the system—don't interest me, but the Impel transport ship does.

Warping to the tower holding the Impel finds the transport piloted. But is he active? Not at the moment, although the Cheetah is swapped for a Wolf assault frigate before disappearing, as seen using d-scan. And still the Impel doesn't move. I've watched him not move for a little too long for my liking, and again I don't care to scan for the system's link to k-space, so take myself home. There's another system to explore, after all, through our static wormhole, and I jump to the class 3 w-space system in the hopes of finding activity.

I don't think I'll find anything happening when I'm spat in to the system over seven kilometres from the wormhole and on its deadspace signature. I've been wrong before, and a pair of mining drones on d-scan hint at something having happened, but not today. A blanket scan of the system may show one anomaly, three signatures, and seven ships, but all the ships float unpiloted inside the force field of a distant tower. Scanning first shows that mining drones are chubby fellows—resolving them to 100% using combat drones set to a range of 4 AU—which is good to know, and then that there are two wormholes in the system. That's also good to know.

What isn't good to find out is that the static exit to low-sec is joined only by a K162 from high-sec, terminating the w-space connection. I suppose that's only to be expected, though, given the nature of class 3 w-space, and there are two empire space systems to scan for more connections. The low-sec system, in the Solitude region, indeed holds a wormhole, this one a K162 from more class 3 w-space. Not only do I find more w-space, but pilots in that system. Two towers hold a Prorator transport, Legion strategic cruiser, and a Buzzard, but it occurs to me that I'm back to watching ships do nothing. I could have watched the Impel and saved myself the effort of scanning. There must be better activities to entertain me, so I head home and go off-line to find one of them to do.

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Tags: buzzard, cheetah, eve online, helios, impel, legion, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, prorator, scanning, w-space, wolf