Empty space is quiet space

Shev's scanning our neighbouring system. 'Seems quiet here', he says, as I join him in an occupied but inactive system. In the bookmarks he's made I spy a connection in addition to the exit to low-sec empire space, and warp to appear next to a K162 from class 2 w-space. Shev's happy to hunt down the last few signatures in C3a, so I jump through the wormhole to see what excitement may wait for us. Not much, really.

One tower is visible on my directional scanner, and a second appears on exploring, but that's down from five towers a year ago and, besides, there are no ships to be seen. It's no wonder no one's home, though. A blanket scan of the system shows it to be barren, the bare minimum two signatures lighting up my probes. I resolve the second signature, having passed through the first, to be an exit to high-sec that is reaching the end of its life. I poke through to be in Metropolis and far from anywhere, and just turn my boat around and return to w-space.

There's not been better luck in the other direction. Shev exits C3a to be in Aridia, and although there was an additional wormhole in the low-sec system it too was EOL. W-space is dead tonight. Maybe we can find a more happening constellation if we collapse our static wormhole and start again. I board an Orca industrial command ship and Shev swaps in to a battleship, and between us we over-stress the wormhole methodically to collapse it without drama. I make the last, destructive trip in the Orca whilst Shev returns to the tower to prepare to scan.

A new static wormhole is resolved, a new neighbouring class 3 system is entered. And, as before, all looks clear. I launch probes and blanket the system, revealing another bare system of one anomaly and four signatures, warping across to the other side of the C3 to look for occupation. I find it too, as well as a Cheetah blipping on to d-scan. The covert operation boat disappears quickly, a second blanket scan missing the ship, and I locate a tower on the opposite edge of the system from the wormhole. No one's home and the Cheetah doesn't reappear, so I start scanning.

I'm expecting to find a K162 amongst the few signatures, partly because systems so empty generally don't have sites for long, and partly to explain the appearance of the cov-ops. But all I resolve is a ladar site, a gravimetric site, and the static exit to high-sec. No more wormholes. The Cheetah remains cloaked or otherwise disappeared, so we're again left with little option but to wait or explore through to empire space. Shev waits, I exit w-space and scan the system in Genesis.

I bounce around rock fields looking for rats as I scan the one additional signature, and have to remember not to engage ratting cruisers in high-sec. The signature turns out to be more disappointing rocks, but rather than admit defeat, and remembering this is high-sec, I hop one system across to try again. Two signatures are in the second system, one of them resolving to be a wormhole, but once again the connection is at the end of its life. But I have a route home should the wormhole die, through high-sec too, so I poke my nose in to the class 2 w-space system.

Combat! Or combat-like activity. Ships and drones appear on d-scan, but no wrecks. Maybe the ships are shooting a tower instead, with two to choose from, but when I find all of the ships but the Orca at one of the towers they are all safely nestled inside the force field. At least they are piloted, I suppose, but it means nothing if all the ships don't leave the tower. I wonder if perhaps they saw me enter the system and bugged out of a site, but the anomalies a passive scan reveals still show no wrecks, and the drones still obviously on d-scan aren't in any of the sites either.

Whatever's happening in this C2 is opaque to me. I think I'm about to find out, as a few ships mill around, but the only ship to warp out of the tower is a Hurricane, and the battlecruiser looks to head towards the EOL exit to high-sec. I follow to see what he does, which is not much. He could be watching to see when the wormhole dies, but he could do that in a cov-ops boat more safely. There really isn't much I can do. If the wormhole dies I'll have to scan and work my way home, and if I tried to engage the Hurricane without a wormhole for either of us to jump through I think I know which of us will be able to scramble more ships to this location the quickest.

I take my leave from C2a, jumping through the dying wormhole back to high-sec. I pause briefly to say hello to some Blood Raiders, but get bored when a few dozen of them chew through my shields. I hop back to the first high-sec system, return to w-space, and get the report from Shev that there's 'not much happening'. No, there isn't. A whole big bowl of nothing is happening tonight, and I'm not in the mood to collapse our wormhole a second time. I head home for an early night, hoping for better opportunity tomorrow.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Empty space is quiet space
Tags: cheetah, eve online, hurricane, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Death by aggression

The home system clutter is down to one pocket of gas, which looks much nicer. It is then increased to two pockets of gas as I scan, which is still better than before, and after I activate the new site I jump through the only wormhole to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system. A tower is joined on my directional scanner by some ships for a change, but I suspect the Rorqual capital industrial ship and Archon carrier are unpiloted. Locating the tower shows that indeed they are empty, much like the system itself. A blanket scan reveals one anomaly and four signatures, which is about what I expect for a system with a carrier for support.

Resolving the signatures gives me gas and two wormholes, which is a better result than it sounds. The static exit to low-sec empire space is joined by a K162 from class 2 w-space, but one that is reaching the end of its life. The link to low-class w-space is tempting, though, and all I have to do to mitigate the risk of isolating myself from the home system is use C3a's exit to low-sec, bookmark the way in, and if the EOL wormhole collapses I can still get back. And with my route home almost guaranteed, I can experience the disappointment of jumping in to C2a to appear seven kilometres from the wormhole and sitting on the cosmic signature. Clearly no one has been in this system for a while.

I didn't stay or explore this C2 the last time I was here, when I gave chase to a Magnate from a hostile alliance, with my notes merely suggesting occupation rather than confirming it. I warp around looking for towers and ships, then kick myself when I realise there won't be any pilots and that I'm just wasting time. Still, I warp past a tower, so at least I know there is actual occupation here, I simply don't care to find an empty tower at the moment. I return to C3a through the dying wormhole and head out to low-sec, which is now my current remaining option for adventure.

The low-sec system in Heimatar remains as empty as before, so I warp around rock fields looking for rats as I scan for wormholes. I find a couple of crappy cruisers to pop, and four additional signatures give me one more wormhole. It's a K162 from class 1 w-space, but another connection that's EOL. Still, it's got to be worth a look, so I jump in to C1a. And hello Gila and drones on d-scan, without a tower in sight. A passive scan reveals some anomalies, and locating the Gila in one of them is straightforward. If only I had any confidence in my skills and ability I might be willing to risk my covert Loki strategic cruiser, but an expensive faction cruiser fit for combat is perhaps too much for me to handle. A Rupture basic cruiser, on the other hand, will crumble.

The Rupture joins the Gila in the anomaly, and looks to be looting and salvaging as the Gila shoots the Sleepers. It's a curious choice of salvaging ships, but not one I'll complain about. Maybe the Rupture lets the pilot salvage in the site whilst Sleepers are active, even if limited to C1 anomalies, but it provides some protection. Even so, I assume the Gila will warp to another anomaly and leave the Rupture behind, albeit briefly, giving me a clear shot at some point. But not quite yet, as a new wave of Sleepers warp in. That's okay, as this system is quite large and occupied according to my notes, and it gives me some that I should use to check to see who else is here.

Warping across C1a finds the tower where it was three months ago, empty of other ships and pilots, and tells me that the Gila and Rupture pilots aren't local. That's good to know. I return to the anomaly to watch the two ships, and wait for the last of the Sleepers to be destroyed. And when they are, the Gila, well, just kinda sits there. That's a shame. I consider warping in to ambush the Rupture anyway, hoping that the Gila doesn't have a warp disruptor fitted, but the Sleeper structure is now between me in the cruiser and it doesn't look like I can get close without unwittingly revealing myself first.

Just when I think I won't get lucky the Rupture warps away, in the direction of the wormhole to low-sec. The Gila remains in the anomaly so I follow to the wormhole and see the Rupture just sitting there. Let's see how much attention he's paying. I decloak, lock, and start shooting. The Rupture's shields evaporate with a couple of volleys, but the pilot is paying enough attention to jump out to low-sec. I follow and try to engage in low-sec—forgetting about my security status—but the Rupture aligns and warps out remarkably quickly. I don't even get a positive lock.

I sit on the wormhole and watch as the wormhole flares, the Gila following the Rupture out and warping away. Curiously, the Rupture returns and jumps back to C1a, but with the Gila still in the system I let him go, not wanting to get in to trouble whilst polarised on a wormhole. The Gila docks, does whatever it needs to, and undocks to leave the system. Now by myself again, I poke back in to C1a to see what the Rupture is up to. He's on d-scan from the wormhole, but not in the cleared anomaly. Refining d-scan gets a rough bearing before I realise that the range is probably more the defining factor at the moment, and sure enough the cruiser is an astronomical stone's throw from the wormhole.

The Rupture is so close to the wormhole he should be trivial to scan. I warp out, launch probes, and return to the wormhole in preparation to drop on top of the cruiser, clustering my probes in a tight bundle and aligning in the ship's general direction. He should be trivial to scan, if I didn't bodge the z-axis alignment in my rush. A second scan almost resolves the ship's position, and a third gets a positive hit. I hope the Rupture's not paying attention, as that was an embarrassing display. And he doesn't seem to be, as I drop out of warp to see the Rupture where I scanned him and stationary. I get close, decloak, and burn to bump the cruiser as I wait for the recalibration delay before I can lock. A few seconds later and the Rupture explodes in blue flames, the pod warping clear as it does.

That pod warped away awfully quickly. And the Rupture was rather close to the wormhole. I don't think that the pilot wasn't paying attention, but that he went off-line whilst under a state of aggression and I found his ship in its pocket of space after the emergency warp. If that's the case it also means the pod warped clear in the same manner, and I can find that too. My probes are still launched and available and, sure enough, one scan later gets me warping to where the pod's emergency warp took it. Knowing the pilot's not watching I warp in hot, and before I know it I'm scooping a new corpse in to my hold.

That was fun, if a bit brutal. Now maybe I have to face the consequences, as a Cynabal cruiser blips on d-scan, which is now maybe waiting for me in low-sec. I could wait for the wormhole to die and give me a new exit to use to get home, but that's boring and long-winded. I warp to the wobbly wormhole and jump to low-sec where I am greeted once again by empty space. That's anticlimactic, I suppose. Still, it lets me get home safely whilst still giving me a bit of time to go shopping in nearby Rens. I take out Sleeper loot in my Crane transport ship, buy some new modules and ammunition, and return home. All goes smoothly, and the only sign of danger is when I pass a Drake battlecruiser and Vagabond heavy assault cruiser being shot at by stargate guns, those bad boys.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Death by aggression
Tags: archon, crane, cynabal, drake, eve online, gila, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, rorqual, rupture, scanning, vagabond, w-space

Exploration and ships but nothing to show for it

I'm a bit sleepy, and w-space looks the same. I'm alone in the home system and there is no constellation mapped. The situation changes a little when I launch probes to scan, and one extra signature becomes three. It's not that the signatures appear, more that a couple of bookmarks get deleted. I note that some of our anomalies have gone missing and so check to see if the two radar sites have also been plundered, and they have, which gives me two more signatures than expected. And even though they didn't appear mid-scan, they both resolve to be wormholes.

Our static connection to class 3 w-space is joined by a K162 from class 4 w-space, and a K162 from class 2 w-space. As I end up scanning and reconnoitring outside the connection to C2a I head that way first, jumping in to a clear result on my directional scanner. Exploring the system finds a tower on a far planet, which holds a Rokh battleship and Loki strategic cruiser, both piloted. A lack of anomalies returned on a passive scan has me unexcited to see the pilots, but the Rokh gets swapped for an Osprey cruiser and I perk up again. Maybe some low-level mining is about to happen.

I warp away and launch probes out of d-scan range of the tower, and return to see what the cruiser will do. Sadly, the Osprey is swapped back for the Rokh within a couple of minutes, and for a few seconds I'm left watching the two initial ships. It's not for long, though, because the Loki warps out of the tower, and towards the wormhole leading to our home system. I can tell by how quickly the ship drops off d-scan that it is a cloaky Loki, so he is scouting or roaming and not about to present a tempting target for me. I warp to the wormhole anyway, curious to see what he is up to, and although I miss his jump to the home system a short wait has him return to this C2.

The Loki moves from the wormhole and cloaks, and that's the last I see of him. I warp back to the tower but the strategic cruiser doesn't return, and my probes still in their blanket scanning configuration don't show any further activity. As the Rokh continues to show no movement I see no reason to scan the system, and although a cloaky Loki may well be roaming the constellation ahead of me I decide to see what's happening in the other two systems connected to our home. Heading back and in to C4a leads nowhere, with two towers and no ships in the system, and no further K162s to resolve amongst the eight signatures. That leaves our neighbouring C3.

It's my sixth visit to C3a, the last being two months ago. The tower in my notes is still here, which I suppose shouldn't be surprising given the two carriers they have floating in the force field, along with a Phobos heavy interdictor. None of the ships are piloted, though, and I am scanning for more connections again. Twenty-two anomalies stand in stark contrast to the two bare systems behind me, as well as the mere five signatures present. And of those five signatures only one isn't a wormhole. I ignore the rocks and warp around, avoiding the known static exit to low-sec empire space but bookmarking a K162 from class 3 w-space and a K162 from high-sec.

I approach the K162 from high-sec, intending to jump through and get the safety-net bookmark of the other side, when the wormhole flares. A Viator appears and cloaks, presumably warping across C3a towards our system, given that the pilot comes from C4a. I've tried to catch cloaky transports before and they are pretty slippery, so I let him go without a chase and stick with the plan. If I'm lucky I can catch that pilot a bit later, if he gets sloppy. I exit to high-sec, find myself in the Everyshore region and quite a journey to anywhere convenient, and return to w-space to take a look in C3b.

A tower and two Bestowers is a good-looking d-scan result. Even better, locating the tower has both haulers piloted. But I imagine that the Bestowers have collected planet goo by now, and if they are going anywhere it will be to low-sec, not through the wormhole connecting to C3a. If I want to catch these pilots, if they move, I'll need to scan the system. I warp out, launch probes, and start scanning whilst keeping an eye on the haulers. I ignore some rocks and gas and resolve a wormhole, which looks good to me, and recall my probes as my glorious leader comes on-line. Hi Fin!

I give Fin a sitrep, which is pretty verbose for a lack of anything actually happening, and Fin scouts C4a for a potential pilot. All looks quiet, but with Fin here we may be able to tempt the cloaky Loki in to engaging one of us. I start to head back towards the home system, but first bouncing off the static exit to low-sec in C3b for reference. Oh, this is embarrassing. 'Did you eject?', says Fin, but it's not quite that bad. The U210 is actually a K162 from class 5 w-space and not the static connection at all.

Having a new system to explore is too tempting to pass by, so I poke my nose in to see ships and two towers on d-scan. The ships are all around one easy-to-find tower, where I can see the Orca industrial command ship floating empty, and the two Nemesis stealth bombers, Buzzard covert operations boat, and Federation Navy Comet all piloted. I would imagine these pilots have popped an industrial ship in C3b already, or their presence is keeping the Bestowers in the tower. Whatever the case, there is no movement in either system.

I leave C5a and C3b behind me, and spot a Buzzard in C3a on d-scan as I enter. The Buzzard jumps or cloaks, and Fin soon confirms that it headed to C4a before disappearing. But that's about it. The Buzzard doesn't appear at the tower, there's no one from w-space in the high-sec system when I check, and trying to poke the C2ers only has me warp past the tower to find it now empty. After some initial promise, and a handful of connected w-space systems to roam, there really hasn't been much to do.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Exploration and ships but nothing to show for it
Tags: bestower, buzzard, comet, eve online, loki, mmorpg, nemesis, orca, osprey, penny ibramovic, phobos, rokh, scanning, viator, w-space

Don't tease me

It's just me and the static wormhole, and I'm soon enough waving goodbye to that too. I move away and cloak from the K162 in our neighbouring class 3 w-space system with four towers but no ships visible on my directional scanner. One planet out of range holds a little hope that there are pilots somewhere, but I am not at all surprised when warping across the system finds nothing new. Launching probes and performing a blanket scan gives me nine anomalies to bookmark and nine signatures to resolve, and starting to locate the towers shows them to be configured with silos. If the system is owned for the silos to run reactions I don't suppose there's much chance of seeing any kind of local activity.

I've seen the silos, and yet I still spend a significant amount of time locating the four towers, each of them around a different planet. I'm not sure why. But once done I concentrate on scanning the signatures. Scanning, but not resolving. I used to be inclined to resolve each signature and bookmark the resulting site, hoping that a capsuleer would wander in to one without first checking the system for wormholes, but I think those days are mostly gone. Although gas and rocks are still harvested, the odds of my resolving a site now for it to be used later are negligible. Nowadays I simply resolve a signature until my probes can tell me the type of site, at 25% strength and above. If it's not a wormhole, I'll ignore it.

A magnetometric site and some rocks are ignored to start with, and two wormholes are resolved. I have an inkling that the signature of the second wormhole, DIE, is trying to tell me something, but I can't quite put my finger on it. It's probably paranoia, whatever the message. Gas, more rocks, even more rocks, and a third wormhole round off the signatures, giving me a static exit to high-sec empire space, a K162 from class 4 w-space, and a K162 from null-sec k-space. I jump through to high-sec and bookmark the exit, just to be safe, putting me in The Citadel and under ten hops either way to Jita and Amarr, which may spur me to do some shopping later. But, for now, I return to C3a and warp across to explore in to C4a.

D-scan is clear from the wormhole, and my notes from five months ago put a tower on a distant planet. Checking the tower finds it still there, but not in any functional configuration, leaving the system unoccupied and inactive. That should give me another K162 to find, so I launch probes to take a look. A blanket scan has nine anomalies and nine signatures, and a ship! I'm too slow in switching to d-scan to see what ship it is, which probably means it can cloak, and as my probes are hidden outside of d-scan range I hold off scanning for the moment. Repeated scans don't see the ship reappear, and d-scan doesn't catch it either, so rather than waste time looking for something that may not be there I call my probes in to start looking for the wormhole.

There it is. The K162 from class 5 w-space is probably what I'm looking for, so I recall my probes and ignore the other, weaker signatures. Jumping in to C5a doesn't give me positive signs of activity, though, with two towers and no ships visible on d-scan, but as I am considering looking for another K162 an Orca industrial command ship appears at one of the towers. Its appearance means the ship is piloted, and that makes it worth monitoring for at least a little while. I locate the tower, note that the system is too small to launch probes covertly, and so have little to do but loiter cloaked, watching the Orca for the moment.

Watching ships do nothing is pretty boring. Watching fat, expensive ships that are unlikely to leave the tower without scouting or escorts is boring and instils a sense of futility. Ignoring the fact that I could be spotted, I warp out, launch probes, and blanket the system. Well, as the system holds four anomalies and just the one signature, unless I overlooked a really obvious K162 in C4a I've found the source of activity all right. I either watch the Orca do nothing or head back. Or watch the Orca crawl in to life. My pulse increases with the velocity of the massive ship, as it appears to align out of the tower and towards another planet. Could the Orca really be heading out to collect planet goo from a customs office, giving me a fat target?

Hardly believing my luck, I align towards the customs office the Orca is pointing towards, and when the Orca does indeed enter warp I am following behind it. I reach the customs office before the whale, which I'm not too surprised about, but when a couple of seconds draws out to a dozen I start to think that maybe the Orca wasn't heading here after all. And spinning d-scan around to interrogate the nearby moon reminds me that there were two towers in the system. Right, I remember that now. The Orca warped from the safety of one tower to the safety of a second, and I spend a few minutes watching the ship make the same trip a couple more times.

But when I think the Orca is content with moving fuel and other supplies between the towers I get that tingle of excitement a second time. The Orca is aligning out of the tower again, but this time towards the wormhole to C4a! Maybe he has taken stock of the supplies and needs to get fuel. Maybe he was the scout I saw earlier, who mapped the constellation and saw it quiet, and is relying on it staying that way. I could have an Orca to slowly chew through when it warps to the wormhole, and even if it takes half-an-hour to pop by myself I'm willing to invest that time. I just have to align towards the wormhole and wait for the Orca to enter warp. Just wait a little as its speed reaches the critical point, and I can follow behind.

Oop, a little bump off the tower, but the Orca realigns and is gaining speed again. And still he is aligned towards the wormhole but doesn't warp. I get the feeling he's not actually going to the wormhole, and even though the stupid ship crawls to the edge of the shield and beyond, taking quite a while to do that, becoming vulnerable outside of the force field, there is little I can do. The tower defences would rip my ship to pieces before I could pop the Orca, and the Orca itself, even slowed by a web module, could return to be inside the force field before my guns could do much harm to it. Quite what the pilot was trying to achieve I don't know, but once entirely out of the force field he turns the Orca towards the second tower and warps there once more. What a damned tease.

Even if a Loki strategic cruiser hadn't turned up at the tower before the Orca warped, because the whale went to the second tower I feel pretty sure that I'm wasting my time watching it. If it leaves the system now it will be escorted, and I won't have a viable target anyway. I'm going back the way I came. A poke through the K162 in C3a to null-sec puts me in a system in the Venal region, and I'm not alone. That stops me ratting, and although I could scan I'm actually more interested in catching up with a sister I forgot I had. But when she mentions the ISK I owe her I realise that I have something important to do back at our tower, and rather than hang around to scan I return to w-space. The night draws on anyway, and watching the Orca has rather taken the wind out of my sails.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Don't tease me
Tags: eve online, loki, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Going after gassers

Let's not mess up an easy kill today, shell we Penny? Assuming, of course, that I get another fat target like yesterday's miner. But in finding the miner after collapsing our static wormhole, and not scanning the class 3 w-space system for an exit, I may have inadvertently shut Shev out. I don't know for sure, but as no exploration bookmarks have been made yet it's a possibility. I should at least scan my way to empire space so that he can get back if he is stuck in a station.

Scanning sees all the gas in the home system has dissipated, and nothing else unwanted has drifted in to take its place. We still have some rocks and sites full of Sleepers, but nothing unmanageable, leaving me with just our static connection to explore beyond. Jumping in to C3a has a tower appear on my directional scanner but no ships, which is a fairly standard result. Warping around finds three towers in total, which is one more than on my previous visit three months ago, and they are in an unconventional configuration. One is fairly standard, another has hangars but no ship arrays and is owned by a one-member corporation, and the third is a tower protected only by an unpiloted battleship.

The Abaddon is the only ship I can see in the system, so I launch probes and scan. With such a quiet system I hope that the two anomalies and eight signatures hold more than the static exit to high-sec, but it doesn't look good. Even though my first hit is a wormhole it doesn't last long enough for me to warp to it, and when I resolve the exit to high-sec empire space only to find it at the end of its life I have to wonder where that first wormhole led. Rocks and gas, gas and rocks, until the last signature thankfully resolves to be wormhole, it's signal strength indicating an outbound connection.

A T405 connection to class 4 w-space is not just another wormhole. A C4 connection is enticing, as it will contain another wormhole to more w-space to continue the constellation at least one step further. Jumping in has a clear d-scan, and a blanket scan of the system shows me six anomalies and twelve signatures, but no ships. A tower sits empty around a planet, which I monitor as I sift through the signatures. No one turns up as I resolve what turns out to be the static wormhole first, spending the rest of my time ignoring rocks and gas. More w-space doesn't always mean more opportunity. And the wormhole from this C4 leads to a C3, which gives me a strange sense of deja vu.

In to C3b, and along with a tower I spy some ships. A Maller cruiser and jet-can could mean some gassing is happening, but what are the odds? A Drake battlecruiser and Cormorant destroyer could indicate Sleeper activity is being quelled, but a lack of wrecks makes that less likely. And a Buzzard covert operations boat without obvious matching probes probably means there is no scanning occurring. Looking for the tower using d-scan finds it soon enough, but without the Maller, Cormorant, and jet-can. There is gassing in progress! The hunt is on.

Warping to the edge of the system to launch probes finds a second tower, with a Reaper presumably in its shields, but that's okay. I made a safe spot out of d-scan range of any planet on my way here, so without even checking to see where the tower is or if the frigate is piloted I warp back to that spot to launch my probes. And with my probes launched and safely out of the system I pay a visit to the first tower, where I see the Drake and Buzzard unpiloted, and get a rough estimate of the distance to the Maller. Apparently the Cormorant has left, but as the cruiser remains I think it's safe to say I haven't been noticed.

The Maller is about 12 AU from the tower, which is a fair distance to try to scan him accurately. I note which planet the ladar site must be closest to and warp there, just as Aii wakes up and asks me what's happening. 'I'm hunting a gasser. Home, C3a, C4a, C3b. Bring an Onyx.' Always happy to come in hot, in his own words, Aii boards the heavy interdictor and starts navigating the constellation as I locate the Maller, still sucking in gas. I get a bearing the cruiser, then confuse myself on the range again, but arrange my probes ready for a scan.

I've taken long enough in finding the Maller that Aii is sitting on the wormhole to this system in C4a, so we're ready. I warp over to the wormhole, call for Aii to jump and hold his session change cloak, and hit 'scan'. Nothing. Nothing? Crap. I throw my probes back out of the system to be out of range of d-scan and compose myself. Aii confirms that the Onyx has a cloak fitted, so he breaks the session change cloak and activates the module one, and I warp back to the closer planet to try to find the Maller again. I managed to throw my probes directly upwards when making them disappear, which means I only need to bring them directly downwards and interrogate them along one plane to find the Maller this second time. And he's still there, still gassing.

I got the range wrong on my first scanning attempt, which was a bit of a newbie mistake to make, but I correct it this time. I push my probes away from me a little, if measurements in astronomical units can be considered 'a little', and warp back to the wormhole once satisfied. I'm ready again, and my clumsiness may have worked in our favour, as the Cormorant is back and with the Maller. Aii's Onyx should trap them both nicely, if I can get it right this time. Aii aligns towards the planet we're aiming for, to accelerate him in to warp, and I scan a second time. A solid hit on the Maller and Cormorant is just what we need.

My reactions are better than yesterday, that's for sure. I recognise the 100% hit on the two ships and immediately recall my probes, apparently having banished whatever fuzzy-headedness afflicted me the day before, and get everything moving smoothly. I call for Aii to decloak, confirm that the Onyx is free to warp, and send us both warping towards our targets. We get to the ladar site in time to see the Cormorant warp out. Whether that's because of luck and he was already leaving, or good reactions from seeing the Onyx on d-scan, we can't say. But the Maller has no such luck, and the HIC's warp bubble engulfs the cruiser for our entertainment.

It's a trivial matter to pop a gassing Maller using two combat ships. There is a pause after the pilot's pod is ejected in to space, but still trapped by the bubble, which maybe makes the capsuleer think he could pay his way out of dying. But no, I'm just waiting for Aii's slower sensors to lock on to the pod so we can share the vicious pleasure of creating a new corpse. Lock and pop, job's a good 'un. We scoop, loot, and shoot, gaining us even more expanded cargoholds and a bit of gas. I think it's more rewarding to harvest gas using guns and missiles than specific harvesting modules. Now let's get home before the galaxy resets.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Going after gassers
Tags: abaddon, buzzard, cormorant, drake, eve online, maller, mmorpg, onyx, penny ibramovic, pvp, reaper, scanning, w-space

Creeping up on a Covetor

Some gas has gone, some rocks have come. Or some gas has been compressed to rocks. Either way, the home w-space system remains as untidy as it was yesterday, and I have a whole cluster of bookmarks waiting for me. Let's take a look around the constellation to see if anything is happening, which starts with only one direction to go. Jumping to our neighbouring class 3 system has nothing visible on my directional scanner, and bookmarks pointing to a static exit to high-sec empire space, a K162 from low-sec, and an outbound connection to more class 3 w-space.

Exploring C3a finds a threadbare tower with a few defences that are all incapacitated, and only an Orca and Noctis sitting inside the force field. There isn't even a hangar to hold more ships, so the unpiloted industrial command ship and salvager are all this system has to offer. I suppose the static connection to high-sec didn't help this corporation too much in the end, except perhaps to export their assets with a modicum of safety. There's nothing else to see, so I press on to C3b, where a tower and a lack of ships is all d-scan shows me. More bookmarks point the way to a static exit to low-sec, a K162 from high-sec, and a K162 from class 2 w-space.

I was last in this C3 five months ago, when a slippery Magnate evaded me quite effectively. But he then neglected to tell his colleagues I was roaming the system and I popped a planet gooing hauler. There's been some change since then, with towers being moved around, but there remains two and they both sit empty of pilots. Nothing's happening, so I continue exploring by jumping to C2a, where the constellation stops. The only bookmarks for this system point to the C3 I just came from and the second static wormhole to high-sec, and a poke around locates three empty towers. I suppose I'll be exiting w-space and scanning an empire system.

No, actually I'll head home and collapse our static wormhole to give me a fresh constellation to explore properly. I have time and I'd prefer to do that than rely on empire systems to hold more connections to w-space. I grab an Orca and thrust it through our connection, noting the mass I'm adding with each trip, and waiting for the polarisation effect to dissipate when necessary. It's all rather simple, until I jump to C3a and hear the wormhole flare a few seconds later. Shit! Have I been watched? Who has followed me? How much danger am I in?

I hold my session change cloak in the Orca to see who appears, but no one does. I decide to make a break for it, which isn't easy in a whale of a ship, and jump home, breaking my cloak immediately and warping back to the tower. No one follows, and continued hammering of d-scan shows no other ships appear during the four minutes of polarisation. Are they waiting for my next trip, so that they are not polarised even though I will be? Did they not actually see me? Or was it just a bizarre echo of my own jump that I heard? Either way, I have only one more round trip to make to kill the wormhole, so let's get it over with.

I warp the Orca to the wormhole, jump out to destabilise the wormhole to critical levels, as expected, and return. The wormhole collapses, no ships appear, and I warp back to our tower unmolested. Echo or not, at least I'm awake and have my blood pumping. I'll scan for our new static connection and see if I can find other pilots before the adrenalin wears off. Jumping to the new neighbouring system has a shuttle, Orca, and tower on d-scan, which is a pretty unremarkable result. I'm curious but still not impressed when the shuttle looks to be in empty space and not at the tower—it's probably just been abandoned—but perk up when I locate the tower to see the Orca piloted and the shuttle warp in to join the larger ship.

Already pumped on adrenalin and perked up, imagine my reaction when the pilot of the shuttle swaps in to a Covetor mining barge. Oh my. And he warps! What is this curious tingle I'm experiencing? I think my timing is remarkably good today, as it looks like the pilot has just used the shuttle to find a nice rock to mine, and has taken the Covetor out to chew on it for a bit. I'm even in a system big enough to hide me as I launch probes, so the hunt is on. With my probes safely out of the system I return to the tower to start locating the Covetor, as it seems to be around the planet closest to whatever gravimetric site the barge is in.

I refine d-scan to have the Covetor in a five degree beam, and then set the range gate to have him, um, 5·6 AU away? That sounds awfully far. I check my system map to confirm that there isn't a planet closer to the site, then recheck my d-scan settings only to have lost the Covetor now. Nope, there he is, in the tower. I really hope he's back just to drop off the first full hold of ore, and it looks that way. A minute later the Covetor has warped away again, and back to where my datum probes are pointing, only now he's 4·5 AU away. That sounds better, and even if I don't know if my maths was wrong the first time I work with what I've got.

I arrange my probes around the datum, make one last check that the Covetor hasn't moved, and scan. I get a fuzzy hit on the gravimetric site but a 100% result on the Covetor, although I must be out of practice as it takes me an extra couple of seconds to work out that I have a positive result and need to recall my probes. But I do it, and send my Loki strategic cruiser in warp to the mining barge's position, bookmarking it once in warp for reference. I land near what I assume is the Covetor in what I also assume is a gravimetric site, and approach the mystery ship as my systems update to draw the barge and all the rocks around me.

The full power of my 6502 is brought to bear, and finally I can see the Covetor and its mining lasers active on the rocks surrounding us. My approach has me in good range to burn and bump the Covetor, so let's go! No, not you, Covetor, damn you. I decloak and activate my micro warp drive just as the Covetor's lasers abruptly stop and the mining barge enters warp. In my surprise I poop a scanning probe instead of reactivating my cloak, just to enhance my embarrassment, but manage to recall it and re-activate my cloak soon enough. Warping back to the tower dashes my hopes that I somehow wasn't spotted still, as the Covetor goes off-line, followed by the Orca. But what happened?

I can only assume that the pilot was being vigilant with d-scan and saw my probes, which wasn't helped by my poor reactions in reading my first scan and recalling them. But not being able to see the ship for a few seconds was something of a hindrance too. I know I should shoot first and render rocks second, but the last time I tried that the general unresponsiveness let my target get away anyway. I was hoping that a little patience would guarantee me the kill. Maybe I should shoot first and take pictures of the explosion, not of the pretty mining lasers. Whatever, as these opportunities don't come along often it's a particularly disappointing result. I'm going home to pout.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: covetor, eve online, loki, mmorpg, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space

I brake for d-scan

I would say that Shev's here, early as usual, but apparently he isn't. He's out of w-space and in null-sec k-space, looking to cosy up to a pirate faction. More power to him, I say, as it sounds like a lark and is different to my run-of-the-mill exploration. He can still give me a sitrep of what he found when scanning his way out of the home system, which is pretty much just that we have a neighbouring class 3 w-space system holding a tower with unpiloted ships in its force field. It's not exactly inspiring, but at least it will quell my initial excitement of thinking there are actually pilots in our w-space constellation.

There are no new signatures in the home system to give me a different route to fly, so I take my covert Loki strategic cruiser to C3a. Sure enough, there's a tower and a bunch of ships on my directional scanner, but I don't get my hopes up for activity just yet. I warp to the tower bookmark that Shev made earlier to see that the unpiloted ships he saw remain unpiloted. The only good aspect of the lack of capsuleers is that no one will see me launch probes, as this C3 is too small to offer anywhere to hide from d-scan. And I'm scanning now, even though the system was scanned earlier, because I'm hoping a new connection or two has opened up since Shev came through.

My combat probes picked up the nine ships in the tower, along with six anomalies and four signatures. That's really not much, and two of the signatures are our K162 wormhole and the static exit to high-sec empire space. And despite one of the other signatures resolves to be a ladar site it looks like I get lucky, as there is another wormhole to be found. It's even a K162 from class 2 w-space, which would normally get me tingling with expectation, but this one is critically unstable and liable to collapse with even the slightest extra stress.

Then again, maybe there's a reason someone took the trouble to try to kill the wormhole. If a fleet is active and doesn't want visitors I could give them a surprise, as long as I can get home should I collapse the wormhole when passing through it. I don't even need to leave this C3 to give myself a route home either, as Shev bookmarked the other side of the static exit on his way out, so with no concern about the health of the wormhole I jump through to C2a. The wormhole survives! And d-scan is clear. Hopefully there is more to see, and the system is big enough to hide other ships around a planet or two, so I move away from the wormhole, cloak, and warp away to explore.

There's really not much to see in this class 2 system, which is a little disappointing. I had hoped to find a mining operation in progress, a few exhumers thinking themselves safe with a known critically unstable wormhole discouraging any visitors. Sadly, there is only a tower with no ships on a far planet, and no activity that I can tell. Even scanning only gives me two anomalies, some rocks, gas, a radar site, and another exit to high-sec. The exit leads to the Domain region, and a system a piddling eleven hops from C3a's exit to Tash-Murkon, but I bet some quantum entanglement has happened there. If the critical wormhole had actually collapsed as I passed through it I'd now be in a C2 with an exit leading to a far corner of null-sec.

Scanning the high-sec system in Domain finds plenty of ships but no signatures beyond the K162 I'm sitting on, so I return to w-space and C3a. The wormhole still doesn't collapse, but I doubt I'll be heading back that way. Instead, I warp to the exit to high-sec in this system to scan there instead. But hold on, as I approach the wormhole a last refresh of d-scan looks different. That Manticore is new. I turn my Loki around and warp to the tower, where I find the stealth bomber and confirm that it is indeed a new contact and piloted. Even better, the pilot switches to a Mammoth hauler with barely time to get his bearings.

Please don't go to high-sec, please don't go to high-sec, please don't go to high-sec. You beauty! The Mammoth aligns out of the tower and warps to the nearest customs office, with me following close behind. I decloak as my warp engines start to cut out, and I get my systems hot and ready to activate as soon as the recalibration delay ends. I gain a positive lock on the hauler, disrupt its warp drive, and start shooting. I am conscious that some haulers fit warp core stabilisers, so am reluctant to use my stasis webifier quite so readily, as that tends to ironically speed them in to warp and away from me. And as the Mammoth is taking solid hits but not much shield damage I wonder if this pilot is a cautious one.

I thought I was burning towards the Mammoth as I started shooting, but it seems I was a bit eager in activating my micro warp drive, trying to do so whilst my warp engines were still engaged. Wanting to give the hauler a solid bump I get the MWD active and surge towards my target. My Loki spins the hauler on its axis, turning it back towards the customs office, before I back it off a little to get a run-up for a second bump. And now that the Mammoth is taking heavy armour damage he realises his ship is lost, ejecting his pod and warping clear, his defensive action not passing me by but definitely giving him an advantage in awareness. Another volley pops the Mammoth, and I loot some shield modules—which along with the pulsar phenomenon helps explain the sturdiness of the ship's shields—and expanded cargoholds before shooting the wreck.

Reloading and cloaking, I lurk back at the tower for a minute, but the pod of the hauler isn't doing anything else. I'll continue with my plan and head to high-sec to scan. Again, I drop short, precisely because one last look at d-scan can show a changed situation, and warping to zero will decloak my ship and effectively force me to jump, but this time the nine ships and a pod remain as nine ships and a pod. Exiting to the system in Tash-Murkon and scanning finds as little as in the system in Domain from C2a, but that's okay. I've explored some w-space and had my wicked way with a hauler, so I turn my Loki around and head home for an early night. I pause in C3a long enough to see the pod get slotted back in to the Manticore and warp out to a safe spot, presumably with the same aim as me, to leave w-space just as I found it.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: eve online, loki, mammoth, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space

Earning ISK from Sleepers

Shev's here and scanning as I wake up. He resolves the static wormhole for the both of us as I orientate myself and note that the build-up of gas in the home w-space system is yet to dissipate. I suppose a bunch of clouds doesn't really get too much in the way, but they are a minor distraction when looking for other w-space systems to explore. Resolving a new signature to be a ladar site doesn't quite hold the expectation of finding a rogue wormhole connecting in to the system. But now we've opened one in to another class 3 w-space system, and we head in to see what opportunity awaits.

There is nothing for our directional scanner to show us from the K162 in C3a, although my notes from a couple of weeks ago indicate a tower should be just out of range. I bookmark the wormhole home, move and cloak, and warp away to see that the tower remains where it was and that no one is home. I think that's how it was the last time I was here too. Scanning reveals seven signatures and a healthy thirteen anomalies, including a bunch of our favoured type, although by 'our' I mean 'mine and Fin's'. I think Shev can be persuaded of their benefits.

This evening certainly looks like it could be a good time to earn some iskies from the Sleepers. The system is quiet, there are enough anomalies to keep us busy, and the seven signatures hold just the one wormhole. I keep the wormhole unvisited for now—although that doesn't guarantee it not being already opened—and Shev and I head home to board our Sleeper Tengu strategic cruisers. Well, I board mine, Shev borrows Fin's, which seems quicker and easier than him refitting his own Tengu.

We return to C3a and I pick the first anomaly. The sites are spread out a little, but I take care to choose anomalies within d-scan range of the local tower for us to clear. It doesn't seem intuitive to stay in range of possible prying eyes, but my reasoning is that I'd rather see when a local pilot appears even if it means he can see us. That is surely preferable than having a local capsuleer turn up, scout his home in a cloaky boat, and get the drop on us without us having a chance to see him first. Of course, much like leaving the wormhole unvisited, this safety is not a guarantee either, but I consider it better than the alternative.

Two anomalies are cleared with little fuss, but little is not none. Shev is having issues with the stability of his Tengu's capacitor. Perhaps a little insultingly, I wonder if the ship's fitting suited for me and Fin is straining his own skill training, not quite sure how many skill points Shev has accumulated. It turns out that Fin refitted her Tengu for anomaly combat in the home system, removing a capacitor recharger for a target painter, knowing that the pulsar phenomenon would compensate, and that our two ships are no longer duplicates. I forgot about that. Shev takes a short break to swap the two modules over back at the tower, and returns to happily announce that the capacitor is now stable. Good man.

We blast through two more anomalies, with even less fuss, and decide that we've probably got enough ISK for one night. That is, as long as we can recover it. We jump home, board a Noctis salvager each, and go back to C3a to sweep up all the wrecks we've created. We pick two anomalies each, loot and salvage to our hearts' content, and return safely home with a fairly average two hundred million ISK in combined earnings. It's not great, but it's also not shabby, and it keeps the value of our wallet heading in the right direction.

With ISK made, I think it's time to open the static exit to low-sec and see what else we can find. I board my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser once more, and leave w-space to appear in a system in Khanid. A few other pilots in the system deter me from ratting, but scanning reveals a fairly decent result of seven signatures for an empire space system. Sadly, those signatures only turn out to be rocks, a dirty site, three radar sites, and a magnetometric site, as well as a cruiser, heavy assault cruiser, and strategic cruiser on a stargate. It's a bit of a disappointing result for this w-spacer, but the gate camp appears to have seen some action.

Out of curiosity, I warp across to the stargate at range, dropping short to see four battlecruiser wrecks that four battleships, one battlecruiser, and a command ship are picking clean. That's a bigger scrap than I've seen for a while, and I occasionally think I should be getting more involved with other pilots than I do, particularly as it appears to be taken in good humour, but I am still enjoying the relatively isolated existence I get in w-space. Either way, there are no wormholes to find here, and shooting Sleepers has eaten up the evening nicely, so I'm going home to get some rest.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: eve online, loki, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, scanning, sleepers, tengu, w-space

Flying my way in to an ambush

The constellation is mapped once more, and although there is a new signature in the home system it resolves to be mere gas. Pushing in to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system sees a tower and Devoter on my directional scanner, but the heavy interdictor is unpiloted inside the tower's force field and the system is quiet. The static exit to low-sec empire space is now at the end of its life, a wormhole that was EOL is now dead, and I'm left with a healthy K162 from null-sec. The K162 comes from a system in the Fountain region that holds two dozen pilots, which is rather busy for my liking, so I leave it to return to w-space and scan for new wormholes in C3a instead.

As I sift through the inevitable rocks and gas that have accumulated in C3a I wonder why I am even bothering. I am by myself and the constellation is dead, so I should be collapsing our static wormhole to look for better opportunity. And it's a good point, as I can achieve this early enough in the evening to give me plenty of time to explore a new constellation. I jump home, grab an Orca, and push the industrial command ship back and forth through the wormhole until it collapses from the implicit eroticism. Scanning the home system afresh this time finds a second new signature, this one resolving to be another wormhole. I may have found adventure.

Warping to the wormhole finds it to be a K162 from class 4 w-space, and has a Buzzard covert operations boat jumping out of our system. My timing in collapsing our wormhole must have been impeccable, as a minute later and I could have had a fleet swooping down on the Orca. Or maybe a lone cov-ops was watching and wishing he was scouting in a strategic cruiser instead. Either way, I resolve our static connection and make a rough bookmark from the cosmic signature, leaving the expected wormhole unvisited to plunge myself headfirst in to whatever ambush waits for me beyond the monitored K162.

There's nothing obvious on the wormhole in C4a, and only a single tower on d-scan. Locating the tower shows it to be blue owned, and as the Buzzard certainly wasn't allied to our alliance I launch probes and start scanning for K162s. This turns out to be easier than normal, and not because of a lack of signatures but the ship that lights up my combat probes on a first scan. Switching to d-scan has the ship gone, but clustering my probes around where the ship was has a wormhole leap out at me. The K162 from class 2 w-space is my next step in to an ambush.

A Hurricane battlecruiser and Buzzard are on d-scan in C2a, along with a tower, but I see no wrecks and no anomalies. I find the ships and tower together, and even though they are both piloted I don't recognise either of them. I imagine there is still more to find, just not without probes. Scanning again has six signatures to sort through, and there is more to find. A dying K162 comes from high-sec empire space, the second static connection leads out to high-sec—and probably the Verge Vendor region, judging by the nebula colours shining through—and another K162 is healthy and leads me to class 5 w-space when jumping through. Finally, here's the Buzzard pilot, only now he's in a Sacrilege heavy assault ship and has a friend in a Nighthawk command ship to help welcome me.

The two pilots have understandably fallen asleep whilst waiting for me to scan my way three systems deep to reach their ambush. I move away from the wormhole and cloak, getting a good twenty kilometres from the ships before the Nighthawk thinks to launch his drones. And, well, I'm here now, I may as well locate the tower I can see on d-scan. Would you look at that, it's the origin of the Buzzard that I chased all the way over here for no good reason. I don't know what I was expecting, to be honest, apart from an ambush, but at least I didn't do anything stupid purely out of curiosity. Speaking of which, as the Sacrilege and Nighthawk have returned to this tower, rather than waiting to see if one of them will swap for a heavy interdictor I should take this opportunity to get out through a clear wormhole.

Ah, I didn't have to wait for the HIC, as the HIC was waiting for me. I warp out from the tower and jump through the apparently abandoned wormhole in to the waiting embrace of an Onyx, Arazu recon ship, and Helios cov-ops, all from the C5a corporation. And although the Onyx's warp bubble is no impediment to my interdiction-nullified Loki strategic cruiser, I am rather concerned that I have appeared one kilometre from the wormhole and unable to cloak as soon as I move. But I give it a go, once the Helios moves away, and fail miserably to get clear and cloak before getting actively targeted. That's okay, as I have experience of getting caught on wormholes and am prepared. I have the wormhole selected on my overview and, as soon as I know I've been targeted, jump right back to C5a.

I'm polarised and have hostile ships on both sides of the wormhole. I don't stop to see who is following me, as that would serve no purpose, and simply burn away from the wormhole and cloak. It seems my alacrity in escaping caught the waiting ships by surprise, as once again I get a healthy distance away from the wormhole before my ambushers give chase. The Onyx and Arazu try to decloak me but don't get close, even when the Nighthawk and Sacrilege come to help. I plant myself a healthy distance from the wormhole and watch and wait, but I have dinner to cook and could do with getting out of here. Maybe I can disarm them a little.

I make a safe spot in the system, out of d-scan range of the ships, where I launch my combat scanning probes. I throw my probes around the system quite visibly, wondering if the hostile ships will have to split their attention across different exits to give me my way out, but with a paltry two signatures in the system they may have the exit sewn up. Then again, the other signature turns out to be a second wormhole, and although there is a Proteus sitting on it when I warp there the strategic cruiser is barely a threat, because the wormhole is a healthy K162 that comes from high-sec. I can jump right out and be immediately safe!

My only concern with using the K162 to exit C5a safely is that I don't have a different route home yet. But as the locals aren't about to leave the connection to C2a unguarded I don't have much choice. I recall my probes, warp to the K162, and jump past the dozing Proteus now accompanied by a second Arazu. High-sec is safe, but out of habit I still back away from the wormhole and cloak, as the Arazu characteristically for the C5ers follows me too late to watch. Now I can cook. But I'll cook with my Loki cloaked and in a safe spot in the high-sec system in Molden Heath. I'm happy to waste the time of the scout and fleet, and keep them thinking that maybe I'll head back to C5a, with a slim hope the other wormhole clears.

Instead, as I chop vegetables, I call on Constance to get me another entrance to w-space. It's simple enough, and doesn't even need scanning, as the C2 holds a static exit to high-sec that I've already resolved. Constance just needs to jump through it and bookmark the other side. She leaves home, crosses C4a, and warps to the wormhole in C2a, where no ships wait for her or me, but a Drake battlecruiser and Crow interceptor are on the other wormhole along with the Nighthawk. Constance jumps to high-sec, indeed appearing in Verge Vendor, bookmarks the wormhole, and waits for her polarisation timer to finish before heading back home safely. Job's a good 'un.

Now with a beacon in the Verge Vendor region, I make the twenty-six hops through mostly high-sec space to reach the other side of C2a's exit. Jumping back to w-space has no ships on the wormhole and the system clear of all but the Hurricane and Buzzard that were here earlier, giving me a clear route home. I cross C2a, C4a, and return home as I update a newly arrived Shev with the excitement of the evening. I tell him about the constellation behind us and to be wary of the C5, and that we have an unexplored neighbouring C3 if he would like his own adventure.

But, damn, that was an excellent ambush I fell in to. The Buzzard must have waited to see if I'd scan my way back to his system, and got tackling ships hidden on the C2 side of the wormhole in case I panicked and jumped straight back out from the two combat ships in the C5. And when I didn't, the Sacrilege and Nighthawk warped back to the tower probably to make the wormhole look clear and encourage me to return the way I came, which I did. It's almost a shame that their planning and execution were ruined only by a random connection coming in to their system from high-sec, giving me a separate and quite safe way out. It's almost a shame, but it put a smile on my face.

Posted in Gaming | 3 Comments »
Tags: arazu, buzzard, constance sokolov, crow, devoter, eve online, helios, hurricane, loki, mmorpg, nighthawk, onyx, orca, penny ibramovic, proteus, pvp, sacrilege, scanning, w-space

Scanned and confused

Looking for more opportunity in w-space today has me finding bookmarks already waiting. A quick check of the home system has no new signatures having cropped up in the few hours since the bookmarks were made, so I jump to a neighbouring class 3 system that looks rather uninspiring. My notes put me in this C3 a couple of weeks ago, but with nothing happening, and with the same tower, a lack of ships, and just a static exit to low-sec empire space it doesn't look like much more will happen today. I can still take a fresh look around with my probes, in case of new connections. And just as I call in my probes to start looking for what may be a new wormhole they light up with two ships appearing in the system.

One ship has gone by the time I switch to check my directional scanner. The other ship is an Anathema covert operations boat sitting on the exit to low-sec, which loiters long enough for me to see it on the wormhole. But it's already too late, as both ships would have seen my probes, and so I have no element of surprise. I've thrown my probes back out of the system and in to a blanket scanning configuration, so that they would disappear whilst remaining useful to me, and as the Anathema warps away they are showing me three ships in the system. All I can see on d-scan is an Orca, which is interesting.

The industrial command ship is probably sat on another wormhole, and perhaps working to collapse the connection. This perks me up, as well as Shev, who jumps in to a stealth bomber and gets ready in case we manage to ambush a fat target. But I can't do anything without scanning for what must be a new wormhole, and there is still one ship in the system on a distant planet that is persisting and I don't know about. Knowing I should check this unknown ship first, I warp across to see a Proteus strategic cruiser on d-scan, along with some ECM drones and a wreck.

The wreck looks like that of the Anathema, from what little I can tell from d-scan, which is pretty much confirmed when the pod of that same pilot bouncing around the system briefly appears near my ship. So the Proteus has popped the Anathema, and it didn't happen at the planet or its moons, the customs office, or an anomaly. I would say I have two new wormholes to look for, and as the Proteus and pod both disappear, and the Orca has gone missing, it seems like a good time to resolve them. I call my probes in again and soon find the outbound connection to class 2 w-space where the Anathema was likely popped, and the K162 from class 5 w-space where I can only assume the Orca poked through.

There's a Proteus on the loose, an Orca somewhere, and nothing happening in this C3. I will have to head elsewhere to find activity, and even though whatever the Orca was doing has stopped—the K162 from C5a isn't even at half-mass—as it's the closest wormhole I jump through the K162 first. I haven't found activity yet, as d-scan is clear, but there is only one planet in range. I explore the system, finding lots of empty ships at one of two towers, as Shev monitors the connection to C2a. 'Loads here, T3 gang', he says, as a squad of strategic cruisers jumps from C2a to C3a. 'Look out.' I return to the wormhole leading from C5a to C3a in time to see it flare, but Shev tells me its only a pod. It is, but it's not the Anathema pilot and neither is it local. I have more wormholes to find.

I launch probes and scan, resolving a K162 from more class 5 w-space. C5b holds another tower but no ships, and still isn't the origin of the original Anathema pilot, who has been spotted out scouting in a new cov-ops boat. I scan again, and again resolve a K162 from class 5 w-space. C5c is big and empty, and the thirty signatures scattered all over the place convince me to stop scanning in this direction for no good purpose. Maybe we can find answers in C2a, even if the Orca remains elusive. I make my way back to C5b, then C5a, where a Tengu quickly cloaks on the wormhole as I enter, although not so quick that I can't identify him. He's in the same corporation as the Anathema, but as I still don't know where they are originating it doesn't help much.

I continue in to C3a and on to C2a, where ECM drones litter the K162. Otherwise the wormhole looks clear, at least for two seconds, at which point a shuttle warps in and jumps. My session change cloak is active, but that doesn't stop me telling Shev what's coming. Sadly, the shuttle appears in C3a too far from Shev for him to disrupt its warp engines, even though he manages to gain a positive lock. I leave them to play as I check d-scan, which shows me more ECM drones elsewhere, a tower, Drake battlecruiser, and the wreck of a Minmatar destroyer. The Drake is piloted at the tower but only seems to be bringing defences on-line, perhaps because of whatever has been occurring, and I am once again scanning.

A lack of anomalies declutters my results, and a mere six signatures are easy to sift through. A static exit to high-sec empire space, despite being at the end of its life, may explain why ships are heading this way instead of using C3a's exit, although the half-mass second static connection to class 1 w-space indicates a few ship transits itself. Naturally, the lower mass limits of wormholes to class 1 w-space could skew the perception of how many ships have passed this way, but it's more than a couple. And two more come through as I try hard to resist the temptation to jump my own ship to C1a, and I watch as a Proteus and accompanying Guardian logistics ship appear and warp away.

Shev sees a Tengu jump in to C3a as the Anathema-affiliated pair warp across C2a towards C3a themselves, and it looks like allied ships are meeting up. But I have no idea what for, or where they'll go next. If the active pilots are w-space denizens living deeper than C5c there must be an awfully convenient connection in the class 1 system for them to travel so far to use it. Or perhaps they are from low-sec and just bumping across w-space systems looking for targets. I could probably tell if I had found their home system. There is the possibility that they are from C1a, which is all the persuasion I need to jump in to check.

Nope, the pilots don't call this C1 home, as another corporation does. An unpiloted Iteron hauler and Magnate frigate sit in the tower, with one anomaly in the system, no wrecks on d-scan, and no combat ships or salvagers to be seen. Maybe they really are travelling through three C5s, a C3, C2, and C1 to reach empire space, but that seems a convoluted route, even for w-spacers. I really ought to resolve the static exit in this C1 to satisfy my curiosity, but I've done enough scanning for this evening, and unless the exit led directly to Jita I'd only end up more confused. I head home, with Shev leading the way, after an evening with plenty apparently happening and us privy to none of it.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Scanned and confused
Tags: anathema, drake, eve online, guardian, iteron, magnate, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, proteus, scanning, tengu, w-space