Home help

I come on-line for an afternoon jaunt through w-space, looking for an industrial ship or two to destroy. Hullo, I don't have to look far it seems, as a Noctis appears on my directional scanner as I cloak in a corner of the home system. Then again, the Noctis is called 'Noctis', and there are no wrecks and no fleet nearby. I don't remember abandoning a salvager out here, and don't think my colleagues would do so, but I'm not quite sure what d-scan is showing me. Oh, nothing. The Noctis has disappeared, either cloaked or jumped. That settles that.

Of course, that doesn't really settle anything. Warping finds a fleet of two Tengus and a Cyclone in the inner system, although the battlecruiser isn't with the strategic cruisers, none of the ships are in an anomaly, and I still see no wrecks. Hold on, there are some wrecks appearing, so the Tengus are fighting and the Cyclone is... well, I don't know what the Cyclone is doing, but I'll ignore him for now in favour of looking for the fighting fleet. This turns out to be more involved than I anticipate, as the Tengus are neither in an anomaly nor a bookmarked site, so a new site must have spawned overnight. I'll have to hunt them to find them.

Luckily, our system is big enough to hide ships on either side of the system, so I warp away from all the ships, launch combat scanning probes, and return to look for the, uh, oh. The Tengus have gone. That site didn't take long to clear. Still, the Noctis will have to come, presuming that he's cloaked and waiting, and I have a bunch of wrecks to aim for using d-scan, so I hunt for them. I get a tight five-degree d-scan beam on the wrecks, estimate their range from me, and arrange my probes to be on top of them, but I don't scan. The site may despawn quickly, so I'll wait for the Noctis to arrive.

A Helios covert operations boat appears on d-scan as I wait, although I can't say why, but it seems likely that the fleet is taking a precaution about new wormholes opening unexpectedly. That's wise but doesn't always help, as I hope I'll make them find out. But there's still no Noctis, and rather than wait at this single site I am probably better served in shadowing the fleet. After all, the Noctis may not salvage in the same order that the sites are cleared. Luckily, the Tengus have moved in to—or back in to, judging by our pillaged system—plain anomalies, all of which a passive scan has revealed, and I can follow them without fuss.

A new wave of Sleepers has the Tengus, now with three in the fleet, warp out. That's curious, as surely the ships can easily take what abuse the Sleepers dish out, and even more curious when the fleet moves in to a second anomaly of the same type instead of returning the first. Maybe they are trying to keep potential threats like me off their tail. Sorry, chaps, I'm right behind you, making another tactical bookmark to keep track of your movements. As we warp around I am still updating d-scan to watch for the Noctis, checking that my probes are sitting on top of the wrecks and getting more confident with the triangulations I'm performing, and wondering what the hell that Cyclone is doing.

The Tengus are busy, so I see if I can find the errant battlecruiser. He appears to be sitting on a planet, but warping there doesn't find him. His range puts him an impressive sub-warp distance from the planet, and although it's nothing a single scan couldn't find I want to keep my probes on the despawned site for the Noctis, and without knowing what the Cyclone is doing I'm not about to blow my cover for nothing. I return to monitor the fleet, as they clear the second anomaly and warp back to finish the first. And, that done, they warp out not to another anomaly but presumably their wormhole, as the ships drop from d-scan.

Here's the Noctis, in our system a couple of minutes after the Tengus leave. Somewhat predictably, but by no means certain, the salvager warps to the site of the wrecks, where my probes have been waiting for the past forty minutes. I'm glad the fleet didn't go for much longer, as my probes may have decayed in space, but now I can use them. I make one last check, align my ship roughly towards the despawned site, and hit 'scan'. A single scan gives me a 100% hit on the Noctis and nothing else, which is exactly what I expected. The site is despawned but my location was perfect. I recall my probes, bookmark the Noctis, and warp in to take a look.

I don't warp directly to the Noctis, as I don't know if or how quickly he is moving, and can probably get a better shot if I take a moment to see. I can also be pretty certain that a single focussed salvager won't be checking d-scan often enough to spot my scanning probes, so don't feel pressed for time. I make a tactical bookmark, bounce out and in to it, and return to see the Noctis finishing up. This looks like it will work out well, as I can surprise the salvager with a full hold, giving me a chance of finding some actual loot in the wreck. That is, if I can ambush him successfully.

I warp in, decloak when close, and burn hard towards the Noctis to bump it as I wait for my sensor recalibration delay to end. Now I can lock on, point, and shoot. The warp-disrupted Noctis has nowhere to go, the pilot asking me to stop as my guns rip through shields and armour. Now, why would I do that? I'm in it for the explosions, not the ISK. Then again, the ISK is good too, and although the pod flees once the Noctis is ripped apart I am left with wreckage full of juicy loot. Actually, apart from the ex-Noctis's modules the loot is pretty poor, and it's the surviving salvage that's valuable.

There looks to be about 65 Miskies to recover from the estimated 230 Miskie wreck, which I loot but don't shoot. The site is otherwise clear of wrecks and I don't expect the fleet to come back solely to salvage their empty Noctis wreck, and as it sits in our home system I think I could take advantage of it myself. All I have to do is ensure that I am safe before bringing out my own salvager. First, I need to find where the fleet came from, so I launch probes and scan. Six signatures gives me a K162 from class 4 w-space that must be their wormhole, as it is in the right direction the Tengus warped to, as well as our static wormhole and a K162 from class 5 w-space.

The C5 K162 is interesting, but can't be where the fleet came from. I have to ignore it for now and loiter on the C4 K162 to watch for ship passages, which is where my most immediate threat will come from. And I couldn't know how right I was, until an alliance colleague says he is sitting outside our tower and asks if that was my ship he saw launching probes. The C5 K162 really is interesting, as it is the static connection of our sister w-space system, which has already let a couple of scouts in to our home, making it simultaneously benign and helpful. Isn't that a bit of good fortune. 'Barrak, can you do me a favour?'

My colleague is only too happy to help, already in the system in his covert Tengu, letting me swap to a destroyer so that I can make even more ISK from the intruding fleet. My first stop is to salvage the Noctis wreck, which gets me little but more than shooting it would. Next is the first of the two sites the Tengus cleared before leaving. Barrak follows behind me, acting as escort and muscle, helping to keep me safe as I sweep up all the wrecks left by the other corporation, which really takes the tension out of doing so solo.

Both sites are salvaged without interruption, and I take back another 150 Miskies to our tower as profit for doing not very much at all. I thank Barrak for his help and return to my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser. Another scout has gone to C4a to see the pilot I ambushed back in his Tengu and doing nothing, and Barrak and I poke through the static connection to C3a to find just as little happening there. That's okay. Some patient stalking and expert scanning bagged me a Noctis and a quarter-of-a-billion ISK in loot, and a lucky connection brought corporation pilots who rarely see each other to work together. I've had another good adventure.

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Tags: cyclone, eve online, helios, loki, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space

Isolate and return

Back, and hopefully refreshed, I arrive with Aii having finished scanning our neighbouring system. The class 3 w-space system has an exit wormhole to low-sec empire space that's at the end of its life, and a couple of ladar sites. Will Aii gas it up? No, because the gas isn't good gas, which seems to be a tautology to me, but okay. We can collapse our static connection instead and hope to find a better constellation. Out goes Aii in the Orca industrial command ship, and back in he comes. We repeat and I add a Widow black ops ship to mix it up, until I jump home and the wormhole collapses behind me. Oops.

Mine was meant to be the penultimate jump. Aii is stuck in C3a in the Orca without a wormhole to use to get home. At least the EOL exit remains long enough for him to jump through, because Aii wasn't keen on scanning in the Orca, and he even only needs to make one hop to get to high-sec. I don't think that quite makes up for isolating him in scummy Gallente space, so I'd better get scanning to return him safely home. Resolving the replacement static wormhole is straightforward enough, but my directional scanner shows that bringing an Orca back through C3a may not be as simple.

A tower on d-scan is accompanied by a slew of ships, industrial and combat, and although there are no wrecks, canisters, or probes visible I don't fancy the odds that all the ships would be scattered empty inside a tower's force field. Warping to the tower noted from six months ago finds it in the same place, and that the Thrasher destroyer, Cheetah and Buzzard covert operations boats, and Dramiel frigate are piloted. That's not a bad mix, even if the fast Dramiel is a potential threat, but the number of pilots on-line is more of a concern. If they are all active then scouts can identify targets and ships can be swapped. We'll need to take care.

I warp out, launch probes, and perform a blanket scan of the system, noting the core scanning probes on d-scan on the edge of the system. At least one of the pilots is active, which becomes more than one when returning to the tower sees the Orca missing. I didn't even think it was piloted when I arrived. The locals collapsing a wormhole would make them a threat, and hauling goods with an Orca when other pilots are active should involve scouts, also making it a threat. On top of my paranoia, the scanning Cheetah warps out of the tower having found our wormhole, even if he curiously appears uncloaked 100 km from the K162.

Whatever's happening it still seems benign for now, and I need to get Aii home. I scan the five signatures and resolve a static exit to low-sec, which takes me to the Khanid region and thirty-five jumps from Aii. That's not good, particularly with there being plenty of low-sec systems in the way. There is also the pilot of Buzzard from C3a in the low-sec system, perhaps the source of the scanning probes, and he could have seen me appear on the wormhole. I wait to see what he does, which is scan for a while and leave the system not through the wormhole, after which I consider it relatively safe to head back to C3a and ponder our options.

The locals have found our wormhole but don't appear to be aggressive towards it. And there is some movement amongst the local pilots, but it's mostly towards the low-sec exit. That's actually okay, as I don't think either of us wants the Orca to make the current trip, so we call on the puppet and, with my watching the C3 tower, let him start collapsing our wormhole a second time this evening. We proceed as before, but I get gun-shy when it comes to my pushing the Widow through and don't quite stress the wormhole as much as I can. The puppet and I get home safely, but without collapsing the wormhole.

A critically destabilised wormhole is one of the problems of w-space that has been solved by smarter people than me. I ditch the Widow, thank the puppet for his help, and board a wormhole-collapsing heavy interdictor. The HIC's warp bubbles decrease the ship's mass to under a thousand tonnes for the outward jump, and the over-sized reheat and armour plates boost it to over seventy thousand tonnes for the return. The wormhole can take no more and implodes as I reappear in our home system. Now to scan for yet another exit.

The third neighbouring C3 of the evening has no notes in my files, which is uncommon but still happens. D-scan is clear, but a big system and only one anomaly returned on a passive scan suggests occupation, which I find when exploring. A Tengu strategic cruiser and Cheetah sit piloted in a tower, which I ignore to scan the few signatures for gas, gas, and another static exit to low-sec. This exit leads to Heimatar, only nine hops from Aii and much a better result than the last. And although making the route safer almost doubles the system transits it also more than halves the number of low-sec systems en route. That'll do, pig.

Aii makes his way home, and I watch the Tengu and Cheetah in C3a, willing them to collect gas or shoot Sleepers. Naturally, they do bugger all, so it is a relief to be called to scout low-sec for Aii's returning Orca. The exit system is empty but for one persisting pilot, who is probably docked, and although one system across has a dozen pilots somewhere none of them are on the stargate that Aii wishes to use. I call the gate clear, and Aii jumps in and warps across the system unmolested. A second gate activation and warp gets him to the wormhole, after which he is pretty much home. W-space can feel much safer than low-sec.

We're back at square one. Another peak in C3a sees the Tengu disappear, the pilot going off-line, leaving a Cheetah by itself in the tower and far out of d-scan range of some good gas in the system. That's all the encouragement Aii needs to grab some harvesters and start stealing resources, whereas I need to hit the sack. The evening's adventure seemed like a lot of effort just to get Aii a nice gas cloud to snuggle up to, but it was worth it.

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Tags: buzzard, cheetah, dramiel, eve online, low-sec, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, thrasher, w-space, widow

Lacking in spirit

A new radar site in the home system and bookmarks leading out to empire space greet my arrival in w-space. All seems dandy for a roam, until I warp to the bookmarked static wormhole and end up in empty space. It looks like I have to scan my way out as usual. Launching scanning probes finds an extra signature, this one a magnetometric site, along with the new static wormhole which I resolve. Jumping to our neighbouring class 3 system looks pretty dreary, with a tower and no ships on my directional scanner, but locating the tower almost has a surprise for me.

The well-positioned canister almost catches me, but not quite. Besides, no one is home to see my ship decloak. I warp out, launch probes, and blanket the system to reveal twelve anomalies and fourteen signatures, which seems like a lot these days. More signatures could mean more opportunities, and it seems that way today, as an initial rock site is followed by resolving a K162 from class 2 w-space and a T405 outbound connection to class 4 w-space. I continue scanning through lots of gas and a radar site to find the static exit to low-sec, and finish up with a magnetometric site.

I poke through the exit to low-sec to appear in a system in the Solitude region, seeing a ratting Proteus strategic cruiser leave moments after I arrive. That means I am alone in the system, and I too should probably pop a rat because of my once-again ailing security status. I can only find a cruiser in the rock fields, but my security status is only just negative at the moment and it may just be enough. I introduce the rat to my guns and move on, back to w-space and through the K162 to C2a.

The wormhole is now reaching the end of its life, as evidenced by its wobbly nature, but as it was healthy when I found it I have a few hours before it is due to collapse. As it turns out, that's plenty of time to see two towers, no ships, and no anomalies from the wormhole. A single planet out of d-scan range tempts me to warp across to look for playthings, but all I find is a third tower in a system still empty of ships. I'm not even going to scan for more connections, instead heading back and in to C4a to look for activity.

This is more like it. A tower is on d-scan along with a Mastodon transport and Hulk exhumer. Even so, there aren't any jet-cans or drones to suggest the Hulk is mining ore that the Mastodon is collecting, so it's no surprise to locate the tower and ships together, with no pilots to be seen. All is not lost, however, as my notes from almost two years ago indicate the static connection leads to class 2 w-space, which could be worth looking for. On top of that, warping around finds a third tower, which not only has a bunch of ships but some pilots too.

A Tengu strategic cruiser, Zealot heavy assault ship, and Purifier stealth bomber are piloted at the third tower, and an Oracle battlecruiser and Mammoth hauler float empty. And here's Fin, my glorious leader coming on-line with what would be impeccable timing, if only the ships in front of me would warp out of their tower. Instead, Fin has plenty of time to tell me that she killed our previous static wormhole because it led to a crappy system in low-sec. It's not much better now, and I tell her that 'we have another crappy low-sec exit' in Solitude.

Fin suggests collapsing the wormhole a second time to get a better connection. That would normally be a good idea and I'd zip back home to help, but for some reason my heart's just not in it today and I can't bring myself to get excited about collapsing a wormhole. We all have good days and bad, I suppose, so I leave the dozing C4 pilots behind, make my apologies, and park in a quiet corner of the home system to find inspiration elsewhere. At least I find on a final check that my security status is indeed raised above zero again, sitting at a whopping 0·0007 rating. I feel positively law-abiding.

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Tags: eve online, hulk, low-sec, mammoth, mastodon, mmorpg, oracle, penny ibramovic, proteus, purifier, scanning, tengu, w-space, zealot

A little bit of everything

Aii's here. Ish. 'I'm in C3a', he says, probably because our rock field has vanished. Only the crappy rocks floated away, though. The high-value rocks were all chewed in to manageable chunks and stored in a new extra-large hangar we had to import specially to hold all the ore, such are the skills of Aii and Fin. 'No pilots, null static.' Okay, that's me caught up, and I jump through our static wormhole to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system to share Aii's fun.

A blanket scan of C3a reveals six signatures and, blimey, thirty-five anomalies. Let's leave the static exit to null-sec k-space closed for now and make some of the profit that the locals clearly don't want, shall we? Aii's happy with that, and although a second wormhole is resolved along with the static connection it clearly is too skinny to be a K162, so we simply leave that also unvisited for now. We head home, swap out scouting strategic cruisers for Sleeper strategic cruisers, and return to C3a to start destroying drones.

I would prefer to be in my Golem marauder for simple Sleeper slaughter, as it makes short work of the battleships and lets us salvage as we shoot. But the system holds a cataclysmic variable star, which reduces the effectiveness of local repair modules whilst boosting remote repairs, so it makes more sense to use our remote-repair Tengus and come back with Noctes. Let's just hope we don't get ambushed. Sticking to anomalies within directional scanner range of the local tower means we see no one obviously coming on-line, and we blast through a puny four anomalies before curiosity over that second wormhole gets the better of me.

We return home, swap to salvagers, and sweep up after our messy selves. We don't do a great job, though, bringing back some pitiful salvage for four sites, even if the basic Sleeper loot remains constant. I suppose we can't really sniff at an easy 150 million ISK in profit. And as we finish our glorious leader appears. I still want to look at that wormhole, but my industrial colleagues have the rock-lust. That's okay, our gravimetric site may be dead, but I saw one in our neighbouring system. I just didn't resolve it. As I'm heading back that way in my covert Loki anyway, I let Fin and Aii prepare their ships as I scan for and bookmark the rock site.

A core gravimetric site gets Fin quite excited, and rather than do the bare minimum I warp in to the site, making additional bookmarks to the most valuable ores. That should keep them busy for a while, so I point my Loki towards the unidentified wormhole. But, as I'm here, I would like to point out that, without any prompting, my mining colleagues naturally follow the reasoning I made in my post about mining outside of the home w-space system. Aii stuffs a Hulk exhumer in to the Orca industrial command ship, to reduce stress on the wormhole, and the boosting Orca is parked away from the miners and aligned to an exit. A scanning probe is also launched and used to monitor for new connections. Mining in other systems is dangerous, but it doesn't stop motivated capsuleers from using an Orca-boosted pair of Hulks.

The wormhole in C3a I resolved earlier is indeed an outbound connection, and a neat link to class 1 w-space too. Jumping through has d-scan empty but for an 'ammo box', and exploring the one planet out of range has three ships in three towers around three moons. In fact, the three ships—an empty shuttle, a piloted Manticore stealth bomber, and a piloted Helios covert operations boat—are all at one tower. A blanket scan confirms just three visible ships in the system, along with three anomalies and five signatures. Three, sir? Nope, definitely five. Maybe the extra two sites have only recently spawned to upset the harmony.

The signatures are clustered in the inner system of this C1, where the ships are on the outskirts, and I can resolve them without my probes appearing on d-scan. Wormhole, rocks, rocks, rocks. The wormhole is an exit to high-sec and, hey Nonni Nonni, takes me to Lonetrek, a few short jumps from Jita. As scanning Nonni finds no signatures I head to Jita to see if I can tweak my Loki's fitting a little. Thirty million ISK in a wasted subsystem and modules later sees me heading home in the same Loki, but with some mining equipment in its hold. I wish there were some way of determining fits virtually, at least when docked in a station with a market, but I suppose computers haven't been invented yet.

Buzzing the C1a tower has the same pilots in slightly different ships, but the system's still dull. I pass through C3a and our busy Hulks, jumping home to drop off the new equipment at our tower and swapping in to a Bustard transport to start hauling the rocks. But warping in to the gravimetric site sees a Heron frigate on d-scan, along with some combat probes. Our mining operation is over, it would seem, but we get our ships home without being interrupted.

I return to C3a in my Loki to look for the Heron, who doesn't seem to be cloaking until I manage to get my combat scanning probes near his location. Aii and Fin bring Iteron haulers in to collect the rest of the ore whilst I keep guard, but the only ship that appears as our rocks get home safely is the Heron again, and this time I'm ready. Well, mostly ready. It takes me a few scans but I am quick enough to locate the frigate and warp to his position. Sadly, my ship is only quick enough in warp to land in time to see newly launched probes warp off from where the Heron must be cloaked. But I'm here now, I can wait.

Fin comes in a stealth bomber and waits with me, and our patience is rewarded as the Heron decloaks once again. This time, however, it is not to switch probes but to warp off. And, with a bit of bad luck, I dropped out of warp within two kilometres of the Heron, so as the frigate appears my cloaking device is interrupted and I appear. My targeting systems suffer the interminable recalibration delay that, despite my curse, actually ends, but the Heron has still warped clear before I can get a positive lock. I see which way it goes, at least, and it looks like he's heading to our K162. In to warp with me!

I don't bother cloaking my Loki, as I doubt there will be much surprise left for the Heron, and I could do without another recalibration delay, so am visible on d-scan as I head directly to our wormhole. The Heron disappears, but I doubt he jumped, even if he didn't know the K162 leads to our home system, as he probably wouldn't leave his probes behind. So, on a whim, I flip my Loki around and, aligning to the safe spot the Heron came from, burn hard away from the wormhole. The basic frigate can't fit a sophisticated cloaking device, so what it can fit will severely limit its speed, and I am hoping that it won't be able to get out of my way in time. But when I reach 125 km I have to admit that I'm not going to bump in to him.

I turn my Loki around and warp towards the static wormhole, cloaking only once I've entered warp. I'd rather not let the Heron know I'll be going back to his safe spot, nor that I've obviously cloaked, just to keep him guessing. But he's not stupid. He is a little relieved, though. Fin sees him decloak 100 km from the wormhole and warp away, and when d-scan shows him safely back in his tower the pilot lets me know just how close I came to finding him. But close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. And with his evading our attention it seems like time to head home for the night, after an entertaining evening of a little bit of everything.

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Tags: bustard, eve online, helios, heron, hulk, iteron, loki, manticore, mmorpg, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space

Bumping in to blues

I appear to be early. What can I do with myself? There's nothing to do in the home system but mine, which means there's nothing to do in the home system. I resolve our static connection and jump through. The neighbouring class 3 system looks much more interesting, not because of the tower and Legion strategic cruiser visible on my directional scanner but the corpse that also shows up. A tweak of d-scan's settings reveals the wreck of a Scythe cruiser, which I'm going to assume used to be the ship that the used-to-be-a-capsuleer was in before she became a corpse. How she became a corpse interests me, and even though I suspect it will remain a mystery finding the Legion may hold some answers.

The Legion isn't out shooting Sleepers or loitering on a wormhole, but is sitting stationary inside the local tower's force field. The strategic cruiser is piloted, but I'm not about to ask what happened to the Scythe and its capsuleer, as that could just make a target of myself, or prevent the Legion becoming a target for me. A little sweeping around of d-scan shows the wreck and corpse to be at a planet or customs office, which gives some more information as to the circumstances of destruction, but that the pilot is in a state corporation and not obviously affiliated with the locals means I probably won't understand what happened without making contact. I'm not going to do that.

Exploring the rest of the system finds no more occupation or ships, nor any more signs of combat. I launch scanning probes out of range of the tower and Legion, blanket the system, and return to lurking. I bookmark the single anomaly, in case the Legion fancies his luck, and nine signatures hold rocks and two wormholes that I can resolve without my probes being visible. One connection is the static exit to low-sec empire space, the wormhole at the end of its life, and the second is a healthy K162 from class 5 w-space. Maybe this is the system that holds the pilots who caused the corpse.

Jumping in to C5a has a Tengu strategic cruiser, Occator transport ship, and three towers on d-scan. As d-scan only reaches as far to show a single planet with three moons finding those three towers can't be more straightforward, and I quickly see that the two ships are piloted. Warping around to see what else I can find discovers four more towers, with a whole bunch of ships scattered amongst them. A Helios covert operations boat, Navy Scorpion battleship, Guardian logistics ship, and Prorator transport are all piloted and mostly in different towers, with some more massive ships floating empty in one of the towers. Despite all the pilots little seems to be happening, and as a passive scan reveals a lack of anomalies I think I'll leave this inactive system behind me.

Returning to C3a has the EOL exit to low-sec inexplicably still alive, even after my extended fifteen minute absence, the Legion in the tower is still doing nothing, and the corpse and wreck aren't up to much either. It looks like it's going to be a quiet night of watching pilots do nothing. But speak of the devil and a wild Aii appears. Shall we collapse our wormhole? 'Sure.' Okay then.

Aii throws an Orca industrial command ship through our static connection as I sit in our tower waiting for my polarisation effects to end, then it's my turn. I take the Orca out, activating it's micro warp drive for the gain in mass, and update d-scan reflexively to see a Mastodon transport and Badger hauler unexpectedly appear alongside the Legion, tower, and corpse. A Noctis salvager even wafts across d-scan briefly, as I wonder why all this would have to happen when I am in an Orca that I really ought to take home, after which I'll again be polarised. But Aii's on the case, swapping back to his covert Tengu and coming to C3a to stalk the apparently now-active tower.

As quickly as they appeared, the industrial ships are gone. A second pilot lingers, though, and the Noctis in the tower gives hope that the Legion will become active for about ten seconds, after which the Legion pilot swaps to a Buzzard cov-ops. What interests me most is where the haulers went. The dying connection to low-sec persists, and it's possible the locals have a good estimate of how long it will live, so the haulers could have come this way, but it's also possible that a better exit sits amongst the signatures in the centre of the system, unscanned by me so that I wouldn't alert the Legion. I don't care now, as the Legion isn't coming out to play, so I warp out, launch probes, and scan more thoroughly.

Gas, rocks, and a weak wormhole are all resolved, and although I am expecting to find a connection to class 2 w-space, which could offer a good exit to high-sec, I drop out of warp in front of a T405. Class 4 w-space systems never connect to k-space, so I find it doubtful that the haulers came this way, but my curiosity and general affinity for exploration pushes me through the wormhole to see what's in the system. Nothing, that's what. D-scan is clear from the K162, and hopes of distant activity are dashed when the system map shows the C4 to have an 8 AU radius, it's five planets and five moons all very much in range. Even so, I'm still wrong that nothing's here. Or, rather, that no one's here.

A pilot pipes up in the normally vacant local communication channel. It's almost universally considered verboten to talk in w-space local, but this capsuleer is blue to our alliance, an ally, and is letting me know of his presence. He and his fleet saw my Loki and probes in C3a and were hoping to bait and catch my strategic cruiser, and are a little disappointed when we turn out to be blue. I'm sure they could have shot me first and then apologised, just for a bit fun. As it is, they intend to shoot Sleepers in this C4 instead and are letting me know so we don't interrupt them or get spooked ourselves.

We share intel on the known constellation, including occupation and activity, before Aii and I decide to complete the collapse of our wormhole. We can leave our allies to their fun, and hopefully find some fresh opportunity for ourselves. One last push with the Orca and a Widow black ops ship isolates us from the constellation, and leaves me wondering what to do next. I ended up having my fun—looking for the haulers, scanning the C3, and bumping in to other pilots—and am happy to leave our system isolated so that Aii can have his. I hide myself in a corner of the home system and go off-line, as Aii boards an exhumer to chew on some expensive rocks.

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Tags: badger, buzzard, eve online, guardian, helios, legion, mastodon, mmorpg, noctis, occator, orca, penny ibramovic, prorator, scanning, scorpion, scythe, tengu, w-space, widow

Failing to salvage a class 1 w-space anomaly

Our diminishing gravimetric site is still mostly intact in the home system, but there's no one around to take advantage of that. I don't count as a miner. Instead I resolve the only other signature and jump through the static wormhole to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system, looking for trouble. I don't find it near the K162, with my directional scanner being clear of all but celestial bodies, and a single planet out of range probably means I'll have to look further afield for any activity. A blanket scan of the system shows no ships, seventeen anomalies, and eight signatures, and exploring finds no occupation. An empty C3 is a rare sight.

The first signature I resolve is a chubby wormhole, which seems promising, after which I get the usual mixture of gas, rocks, a magnetometric site, and a radar site, with a second wormhole somewhere in the middle. But the wormholes are uninspiring, the first being a K162 from high-sec, which comes from the Metropolis region, and the other a super-stable exit to low-sec empire space. Leaving w-space for low-sec puts me in a faction warfare system in Verge Vendor, where it looks like I'm scanning if I want to find some action. Two extra signatures resolve to be rocks and a wormhole, a rather nifty K162 from class 1 w-space.

C1a has a tower on d-scan, but no ships. No one's home, and if there is another wormhole leading further backwards it will be quick to find, as there are only three anomalies and two signatures in the system. But, nope, it's just rocks. With nothing more to do here I head back through low-sec, across C3a, and out to high-sec to scan another system. High-sec is where it's at today, with seven extra signatures to keep me busy, although being in a dead-end system in a small high-sec island surround by a low-sec reef probably explains the unusual number of sites. Even so, despite there being several 'unknown' type of signatures only one resolves to be a wormhole. Stupid empire space.

The wormhole is a good find, though. A K162 from class 2 w-space offers more exploration, as well as a second static connection that will lead to w-space. That's just as well, as jumping in to C2a has d-scan show me a tower and no ships, so it looks like I'm scanning for more wormholes once more. My notes from a month ago point me to the tower and give me the impetus to scan, as the other static connection will lead to a class 1 system, which could give me something soft to shoot. Better than that, three more wormholes give me options. The static connection is my first choice, but a second outbound connection to class 2 w-space is also good, and a K162 from high-sec gives me a last resort.

C1b could be where the action is, though. Jumping in to the system has a tower on d-scan along with a Legion strategic cruiser and Catalyst destroyer, which makes me think of an old-school shoot-and-salvage operation. A lack of wrecks dulls my optimism a little, but I perk up again when I find the tower and only the Catalyst to go with it. The destroyer is piloted and the Legion is elsewhere, and as there are plenty of anomalies I may well have a shot at a salvager soon. I swing d-scan around and, sure enough, locate the Legion in one of the anomalies. I warp in to watch what he's doing.

The Legion is flying solo against the Sleepers, making it a bit of a shame that our home system is more than a couple of jumps away. The strategic cruiser is also actively moving towards the drones he's shooting, so even if I could make the journey home and back in time there would be no guarantee I could drop my ship-killer in range to engage. Today I'll wait for the salvager. I watch as the Legion clears the site of Sleepers, is joined by the Catalyst, and leaves the salvager alone. Alone with me. Almost as soon as the Legion leaves I send my own strategic cruiser in to the anomaly, albeit a little clumsily. I drop in to the cleared site a bit too close to the Sleeper structure, decloaking my Loki, but in range of the Catalyst.

I lock, point, and shoot, burning towards the destroyer as I do. There's no real battle, and the Catalyst gets ripped to shreds pretty quickly. The pod flees almost as soon as the destroyer explodes, the pilot obviously realising his ship was lost and prepared to warp clear. It's been long enough since I last engaged a salvager that once again I was a bit eager, shooting the target before he even started to sweep up the wrecks, so I get little to loot. That's okay, really, as class 1 Sleeper loot is not worth much, and the Tech II salvager modules I recover probably more than make up for a lack of other salvage. I loot and shoot the wreck, reload my guns, and return to lurk outside the anomaly.

Neither pilot returns to the site, but the pod back at the tower plonks himself in to an Eos command ship. I doubt either pilot knows the location of the incoming connection yet, just as I doubt I will see any more activity that I can disrupt. I'm moving on. Or, rather, back. I return to C2a to explore in to C2b, where an occupied but inactive system awaits. The eight signatures hold two more static connections, but one is a wormhole to a class 3 system that's reaching the end of its life and I don't care for another exit to k-space. That's okay, as I've had an adventure already, culminating in crushing a Catalyst. I'm happy to head home and hit the sack.

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Tags: catalyst, eos, eve online, legion, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space

Lack of combat leads to mining

I could use a bit of cheering up. Popping a planet goo hauler would work, but I can't find one in the home system. I suppose that's for the best, as Aii may not like me shooting him again. Scanning my way out of home shows just a gravimetric site and the static wormhole to be found, and I resolve the connection and jump to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system. My directional scanner is clear from the K162 in C3a, and yet despite the system being 90 AU in radius and my appearing near the star there are only two planets with moons out of range.

My notes suggest one of those planets will hold a tower, although my last visit was eighteen months ago. That was when Fin and I moved a wormhole and tried to catch a transport aiming for it, but Sleeper technology has since been upgraded to prevent that kind of shenanigans. And the tower is in the same place, along with four ships that a blanket scan of the system has already revealed. The Orca industrial command ship, Hurricane and Drake battlecruiser, and Merlin frigate are all unpiloted, though, so I scan through the simple six signatures.

Gas, gas, wormhole, rocks, rocks. The static connection is an exit to low-sec empire space that's in pristine condition, so I am probably the first to visit it. I break its hymen to appear in a system in Derelik by myself, where attempting to rat and scan has me perform miserably in both. No signatures in the system, besides the K162, has nothing for me to scan, and before I can get comfortable in a rock field the local channel spikes with pilots, going from nought to over a dozen in a matter of moments.

The fleet simply passes through, and I watch them exit using a stargate, leaving me and a stray Reaper frigate in the low-sec system. As tempting as it is to pop an abandoned ship for fun, somebody should be thinking about my security status. And I'm trying to, it's the rock fields that aren't. If the asteroid belts aren't empty of rats then all I find are simple frigates to pop, which are barely worth the cost of ammunition, and it isn't until maybe the tenth belt where I find a cruiser. That will have to do, I suppose.

Actually, I may have more luck in one of the anomalies in the system. It's been a while since I've blasted my way through one of these, and after the first couple of waves I'm remembering why. It's pretty dull. Lock, shoot, lock, shoot. It's a straightforward exercise, and I don't even get to rescue any exotic dancers from the brothel. Maybe that means I killed them all in the explosion, I dunno. Either way, I'm heading home to collapse.

A few trips through our static wormhole in an Orca and I've killed the connection. I can start the evening again, just ninety minutes later than normal. And I can do so with company. No doubt having their spider-senses tingling, both Fin and Aii come on-line just as I have completed the tedious task of isolating ourselves from a boring constellation. But that's okay, as they are keen to continue Project Capital and get back to their industrial roots, and having an isolated system is a big help. Fin and Aii board Hulk exhumers, recently brought back to w-space, and warp off to the sole gravimetric site in the home system. A puppet pilots an Orca, and I scan the system to confirm that we are alone.

The rock site and a new and definitely unopened static wormhole are the only two signatures in the system, letting my colleagues shoot rocks in peace. 'You are welcome to join us', Fin says jokingly, and although I can't bring myself to board a mining barge I kind of do end up helping. I dash out in a Bustard transport ship to recover the mined ore every so often, keeping the miners concentrated on mining. It seems to work, as one bistot rock gets obliterated, and then a second. It's all too much excitement for me, though, and I have to make my excuses to go off-line and lie down for the night.

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Tags: bustard, drake, eve online, hulk, hurricane, merlin, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, reaper, scanning, w-space

Late-night loitering

The frigate hunt is over and there are no suitable systems to rat in. I'm about to head home when I realise there is another class 3 w-space system yet to be explored. Shev turns up to help Aii and I push in to unknown space, whilst Fin continues buying and selling to finance our tomfoolery. C3c has some probes on d-scan but no obvious ships, and exploring finds a tower with no one home. The probes go, no ship heads our way, and as a previous visit to this system indicates a static exit to high-sec, and so little chance of catching a scout, I launch my own probes and blanket the system.

With my probes launched and hidden from d-scan one ship appears, then disappears. A second ship seems to go in the opposite direction across the system, a Loki strategic cruiser blipping on d-scan as it does. But whoever they are they're not using the connection we came through and know about. It's likely they are using the wormhole to high-sec, but if they are coming from a second wormhole we have a chance of causing disruption. And as I have seen roughly where the ships came from and were heading I can make a couple of prospecting scans.

My two scans resolve two wormholes. Surprisingly, both are K162s from class 5 w-space, but neither seems to be ejecting ships at the moment. We have enough pilots to cover our options, so we can hopefully intercept a ship exiting either system before it enters warp towards high-sec, so each of us picks a wormhole and loiters with intent. An Anathema appears on d-scan as we get in to position, but that is small-fry compared the to possible strategic cruiser movement, and it presumably disappeared to high-sec anyway. A Tengu strategic cruiser is a much more interesting target, and it has appeared by a C5 K162 with Shev.

I warp towards the wormhole with the Tengu and ask if Shev can tackle the target. He's not that close, though, and can't move fast enough cloaked to get in range. As I drop out of warp at the wormhole I see the Tengu slowly move around the K162, in a bait-like orbit, but when he jumps a second later, and with Aii and Shev behind me, I don't waste time in following. I decloak, jump to the C5, and engage the Tengu, who appears promptly. But it is to no end, as the ship warps clear from the wormhole before I can get a positive lock, and I tell my colleagues not to follow me in to the system. All looks clear, but there is no point in showing our hand if anyone is watching.

I hold on the wormhole and monitor d-scan as I wait for the polarisation timer to end, not expecting an ambush from my colleagues on my way out but also not wanting to risk a situation that can be easily avoided. No ships come to the wormhole, d-scan remains clear, and I return to C3c with nothing to show for my our efforts. In a bid to find some action for Aii and Shev I warp across to the other K162, and jump to the class 5 w-space system to see what I can find.

A tower with an unpiloted Crane transport ship is uninspiring, particularly with the rest of the system empty. The hour's late enough that I'm not scanning further, so I take my leave and head homewards. There was promise in this corner of the w-space constellation, but I think we were a little late to the party.

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Tags: anathema, crane, eve online, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space

Catching up with a Heron

Let's see what's waiting for me in w-space this evening. Aii, that's what. And some bookmarks to a w-space constellation, but day-old bookmarks and so they probably don't point to a constellation any more. That's okay, as I resolve the new static wormhole and jump to our neighbouring class 3 system. My directional scanner is clear from the wormhole, and exploring finds only off-line towers, giving me an inactive system to scan. I first find some gas for Aii to harvest, then a wormhole that feels nullish, and another that's more K162ish. After that, it's just rocks and gas, man. Rocks and gas.

The K162 actually turns out to be an N968, giving me another class 3 system to explore, even if entering the second system has the same blank d-scan result as the first. A blanket scan and bit of warping around reveals a tower with no ships, and fourteen anomalies and sixteen signatures. More rocks and gas are ignored in favour of four wormholes: a static exit to low-sec empire space, a K162 from more class 3 w-space, a K162 from high-sec, and a K162 from null-sec. That should keep me busy for a little while.

I poke out to high-sec first, to get an emergency route home, only to find myself two hops from Amarr itself. It's time to go shopping, thanks to a very generous donation towards my Revelation fund. I get the ball rolling by buying the necessary capital ships and Amarr dreadnought skill books, injecting and training the first immediately. It's now only about two hours until I can sit in a Revelation, so we had better get all the required minerals, blueprints, and modules quickly, or there'll be trouble.

I return to w-space, passing glorious leader Fin's Orca on its way out to export loot, the industrial command ship pushing the exit wormhole to half-mass on its jump. 'No! So much I want to accomplish, and so little mass allowance.' But I'm sure Fin will cope, as she's much more industrious than me. I cross the two C3s and dump the currently unusable skill book in our tower, so that I don't die and lose it in an embarrassing manner, before heading out again to do, um, something. I suppose I'll exit C3a to null-sec to look for rats. Aii exited through the neighbouring system's static wormhole and said the system was vacant, and it still is.

I can only find a cruiser to pop, but that will do for now. After all, there are more systems connecting to C3b that are suitable for ratting. At least, they would be if it weren't for all the pilots. The null-sec system is positively bustling with annoying capsuleers, and Aii is reporting that the low-sec system is busy too. Never mind, I'll just rat another day. In the meantime, there are probes visible in C3b, and a Heron frigate that seems averse to cloaking. I think I'll look for him instead of more rats.

The Heron isn't hard to find, as warping to the star gets me relatively close, but he isn't being entirely foolish about having a lack of cloaking device. I drop out of warp to see the scanning frigate some three hundred kilometres from me and moving away at a rate exceeding one kilometre a second. Even if he isn't watching d-scan as he fiddles with his probes, there is little point in scanning for his position. By the time my ship's warp engines spool up and get me to where the Heron was the frigate will be far enough away to put him out of warp disruption range. That doesn't make the pilot entirely safe, though. He may not be aligned towards a celestial object, but it looks like he could be pointing towards one of the wormholes in the system.

I bounce off the likely connection and return to drop short of the star, but I don't get close to the Heron. In fact, he's disappeared from d-scan. Aii has a possible location of the Heron near one of the wormholes, which I am already warping towards, as it is the only interesting location out of d-scan range of the star. The Heron isn't there, but he is on d-scan, and both me and Aii place him around the nearest planet. But, again, the pilot is already putting distance between his ship and the planet, and the distance is only increasing. This time, however, it obviously looks like the Heron is aligned towards another celestial object, one of the planet's moons.

Wanting to get closer to the Heron I bounce off the moon and return, making speculative bookmarks in both directions in the hopes that one of them gets me close. The first attempt still has me over two hundred kilometres away, and I think I can do better. The second is better, getting my covert Loki strategic cruiser a mere thirty kilometres ahead and to one side of the Heron. I don't think I can improve on this, particularly as the Heron is quickly closing range with me, so I decloak, aim for the frigate, and get my micro warp drive active.

By the time my sensor recalibration delay is over the Heron is within warp disruption range, allowing me to gain a positive lock and prevent the ship warping clear. A few more seconds and some missed volleys gets our ships aligned nicely, with my Loki having a slight speed advantage, and my guns start taking chunks out of the frigate. A couple more hits and the Heron explodes. I trap the unfortunate pilot's pod without viciously overshooting the wreck, letting me viciously overshoot the capsuleer. I scoop, loot, and shoot, just as Aii drops out of warp near me. Oops, I do get carried away sometimes.

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

Riddle me this

Aii and Fin aren't collapsing the K162 from class 4 w-space in our home system just because they can. As Aii was cleaning up some gravimetric site Sleepers in that system Fin spotted a pod jump through the wormhole to our home system and warp towards the empire space exit in our neighbouring class 3 system. My colleagues are collapsing the wormhole with the intention to isolate the pod pilot from his home system for kicks and giggles. I think we can go further than that, and set up an ambush to catch the unsuspecting pilot's return. 'Good idea', says Fin. 'Which side of our static wormhole should we sit on, home or in the C3?'. Oh, neither. That would give the pilot an escape route. Let's wait where he can't simply run away from us.

Just because the wormhole is collapsed doesn't mean bookmarks vanish. Or, indeed, that the pilot realises what we've done. We can plant ships where the K162 used to be and our target will warp straight in to our ambush, with nowhere for him to go. Add a warp bubble to the mix and we can even stop him trying to return the way he came. This stops the potential confusion and coordination of multiple wormhole jumps, whilst still being able to put ourselves where we know the pilot will be travelling. Even better, the collapsed K162 is out of range of our static wormhole, so the returning pilot's directional scanner won't show him any information, if he bothers to check before warping. All we need to do now is work out what ships we use to spring the ambush.

Aii volunteers to pilot an Onyx heavy interdictor, which gives us the warp bubble in a convenient, heavily tanked package. Fin boards a ship-killing Legion strategic cruiser, so that its capacitor-neutralising capabilities can be brought to bear on any actively tanked ship. I stay in my covert Loki strategic cruiser and sit on our own K162 in the neighbouring C3, to give us early warning about the pilot's return and what he's flying. We're just expecting the one pilot to come our way, and to return not in his pod but a ship brought from empire space. At least, we're hoping he'll return. And as the exit is quite a few hops from any trade hub we may have a bit of a wait. So we wait.

Wait, waitily wait. Finally, a Drake appears on d-scan in C3a, causing me to interrupt Fin half-way through an anecdote and alert her and Aii as the battlecruiser drops on to the K162 and jumps to the home system. She'll pay for that rude timing. My colleagues get ready to receive the Drake, I count to ten and follow in behind, hopefully leaving enough time for the target to have warped clear. It looks good, with the Drake not on the wormhole, but I don't continue following it. I instead head directly to our tower, where I swap my Loki for a Widow, wanting the significantly increased firepower of the black ops ship against the Drake. This is another good reason why we had someone watching for the pilot's return.

Have Fin and Aii trapped the Drake? 'Got her.' Okay, I'm on my way. I turn the Widow towards our trap, dropping out of warp where the K162 used to be and at the edge of the Onyx's warp bubble. What's worse than finding your wormhole home collapsed? Finding an Onyx, Legion, and Widow where it used to be, waiting for you. 'Here come the torps', says Aii, as I lock on to the Drake and start taking massive chunks out of its considerable shields. I even remember that the Widow has formidable ECM systems, and attempt to jam the Drake to make the engagement even more one-sided. But the Widow's torpedoes are persuasive enough, not taking long to convince the Drake to explode.

Trapped in the bubble, the pilot has nowhere to go, and we crack open her pod to get to its meaty centre. We scoop the corpse, loot the wreck of the Drake, but shoot nothing. Aii brings a Noctis to salvage the wreck, gaining us maximum profit from what turned out to be an excellent ambush impeccably executed. We even had some room to manoeuvre, as the Onyx and Legion could have held whatever ship returned long enough for me to pick up a good counter from our tower, which just happened to be a torpedo battleship in this case. But just as we are tidying up and enjoying the thrill of the kill, Aii spots a Kestrel jumping through our static wormhole and warping away.

Surely the frigate can't be a second pilot returning, but just in case I warp myself back to where the K162 was, once again in my cloaky Loki. I drop out of warp in to empty space that's actually empty, as the Kestrel hasn't appeared. Fin scrambles her Flycatcher interdictor to join me, and as she appears I warp towards the nearest planet, where it looks like the Kestrel headed. And I think it did, but only as a waypoint. My Loki enters warp just as the Kestrel appears at the non-wormhole, flying right towards our Flycatcher.

I'm too late to stop my ship warping out, and although I turn around and head back as soon as I can the Kestrel has evaded Fin and warped clear. Knowing time is of the essence, I rush my Loki to our wormhole, not even dropping short as a precaution this time, and jump to C3a. I decloak and get my systems hot, updating d-scan as I do, but the Kestrel is nowhere to be seen. It looks like it got the hell out of our way as soon as it could, and although it seemed to be a bit too fast it is a frigate with a head start. Fin jumps to the C3 and warps to the exit to high-sec, dropping an interdiction sphere to hopefully catch the Kestrel should we be wrong and it's still not clear. And Aii has got back in the Onyx and comes to aid me on our K162.

That's not Aii. He said he was jumping, but he knows better than to hold his session change cloak when being actively aggressive. The second flare of the wormhole all but confirms the first was the Kestrel only just making it here, so it's no surprise to see the frigate appear and attempt to flee. But Aii made it through the connection just in time, and inflates his warp bubble to disable the Kestrel's warp engines, as I lock on and start shooting. A second pod is thrown in to space, and although I hold it for a few seconds to give Aii a chance to lock on I am acutely aware of the wormhole the pilot can jump through to evade us for now. I let loose with my guns, and loot, scoop, and shoot the second ship to fall in to our ambush, albeit rather more messily.

The second ship, but not the second pilot. It takes a minute for me to realise whose corpse I've scooped, and my thought processes are helped along by Fin saying 'I can't believe she came back'. It was the Drake pilot, still trying to get home. And I think I know why. So what's worse than finding your wormhole home collapsed and getting podded by the Onyx, Legion, and Widow waiting for you where it used to be? Not actually realising your wormhole has been collapsed, thinking instead that you got caught by a drag bubble, and returning in a second ship to try again. The pilot bounced off a planet not to confuse us but as a doomed attempt to avoid our ambush and make it back to her wormhole. Dying to the same ambush twice in fifteen minutes can't be a good feeling.

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Tags: drake, eve online, flycatcher, kestrel, legion, loki, mmorpg, onyx, penny ibramovic, pvp, w-space, widow