Aiming high

There must be other pilots in w-space I can shoot. I've done it before, after all. I'll try to find one today, which means working my way out of the home system. Getting to our neighbouring class 3 system is easy again, as Shev has scanned the constellation for me, although the hours difference keeps the possibility of new connections to find. But I may not need to scan, as I see a pair of destroyers and two towers on my directional scanner from the K162. Maybe I've found some pilots already.

I was in this C3 seven weeks ago, and I noted the position of two towers then. But one of those noted towers should be out of d-scan range, which makes one I can currently see new. The towers are easy enough to locate, letting me update my notes and see that both the Coercer and Cormorant are piloted inside the force field of one of the towers. Except now they are a Coercer destroyer and Badger hauler, yeah! No, the pilot has swapped back to his Cormorant, which is a little disappointing but shows that he's awake at least.

Whilst the pilots here think about what they're doing, I'll check to see if the third tower is still around. It is, and there's a Tengu on d-scan with it, but dropping out of warp outside the tower shows the strategic cruiser to be elsewhere. And I can see wrecks on d-scan. A passive scan of the system reveals the anomaly the Tengu is in, and warping in has it flying solo against the Sleepers. This would be so much better if Shev weren't currently in high-sec and my glorious leader were here to help, but I'm flying as solo as the Tengu, which somewhat limits my options.

In fact, I'm flying even more solo than the Tengu, as the Cormorant from the first tower warps in to the completed anomaly and starts sweeping up the wrecks. The salvager gives me a target I can definitely engage, but I remain tempted by the Tengu fighting Sleepers by itself. The destroyer won't be quick in salvaging, so as the Tengu warps off I have time to find it and decide which ship I want to ambush. I lose the Tengu briefly, perhaps crossing its path in warp, before picking it up again in an anomaly near the first. Now, what to do.

I'll aim for the Tengu. The strategic cruiser won't be as straightforward as the salvager, particularly as it isn't staying stationary in the anomaly against the Sleepers, but it is a better prize if I can catch it. The C3 also holds a wolf rayet phenomenon, which will boost our armour-based Legion strategic cruiser whilst degrading the Tengu. But as it's moving around I can't rely on dropping on the target when warping from across the system, so I'll have to bastardise our cloaky Legion to adapt it to today's task. Decision made, I get home, stow my scanning boat, and modify the Legion. I add more firepower in exchange for a little less capacitor-neutralising capability, even though I suspect I'll still come up short in both regards, but we'll see.

I return to C3a and warp across to my monitoring point in the anomaly, where the Tengu continues to engage the Sleepers, now in to the second wave of drones. I try to get close to my target so that I can spring the trap but only manage a little under forty kilometres to start with, which is too far out of weapon range. Bouncing out and back in, a second attempt puts me closer to the Tengu and in range to begin an assault, but unfortunately the Cormorant has now dropped off d-scan. It looks like the destroyer has finished salvaging, which means he could feasibly bring reinforcements. That is a risk I was aware of, and will have to take. I decloak to ambush the Tengu.

My Legion locks on to the Tengu and starts draining its capacitor, as my lasers scratch its undamaged shields or just plain miss. That's okay for now, as I will be relying on my neuts to suck the Tengu dry before I can do any real damage, but what I'm really watching for is the return of the Cormorant. And it doesn't take long before I see him, with the Tengu still unharmed. Of course, the incoming ship is not a Cormorant, the pilot having switched to a more appropriate ship, and instead a Blackbird cruiser drops out of warp in the anomaly. Within a few seconds the Blackbird has locked on to my Legion, got a successful jam with its ECM systems, and has allowed the Tengu to warp clear.

That's it for me. I initiate warp too, not wanting to be potentially caught in a counter-attack, only to see the Blackbird warp clear before my sluggish armour boat can do so itself. But being the last ship to leave at least means I can leave, and I warp back to the wormhole and return home without being countered. I reconfigure the Legion back at our tower, so there is no confusion the next time it is launched, and reboard my scanning boat, which I take to sit on our static wormhole to watch for movements. No ships come, and I don't think I'll go. The C3ers may not be waiting for me, but I doubt there is much more I can do in their system today.

Maybe I should have aimed for the Cormorant instead. I was there, I had a clean shot, and I was more likely to pop a salvaging destroyer than the Tengu. I could even have made some iskies had I picked my moment and got lucky with the loot. But some times you need to aim high, and at least I showed ambition. I also gained more experience in piloting the Legion and using guns, which could be valuable for future engagements. Although the ambush turned out to be a damp squib, I got myself caught up in another exciting hunt.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Aiming high
Tags: badger, blackbird, coercer, cormorant, eve online, legion, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, tengu, w-space

Bringing back Shev

I have a purpose. Shev's got himself stuck in high-sec empire space, away from our w-space system, so it's up to me to get him home. I know what it's like being surrounded by so many other pilots, with little to do but run errands for puppet masters—they call them 'missions', but they're not. Actual missions are important, much like my current one. I must rescue Shev! Scanning the home system has an extra wormhole hidden with some new gas, with a Tengu sitting on it as I resolve the signature. That's unfortunate, as the strategic cruiser must have seen my probes and been alerted to my presence. But I suppose at least I won't be distracted from my primary objective by hunting a pilot, particularly one who could have been coming or going without my knowing the difference.

Warping across to the wormhole where the Tengu was shows it to be a K162 from class 2 w-space. The system on the other side will offer a connection to k-space, but the wormhole may be monitored and unsafe, so I leave instead through our static wormhole to the neighbouring class 3 system. A tower with a bunch of ships lights up my directional scanner from the K162, but without wrecks in the system I doubt any of note will be piloted. Indeed, locating the tower finds just one of the six ships holding a capsuleer, and a mere Helios covert operations boat at that. Without any probes on d-scan I doubt this cov-ops is doing anything either, so I hunker down to scan.

This is a messy system. Ten anomalies and twenty signatures will be a little tedious to sort through, unless you're as awesome as me. My first hit is a wormhole, although the K162 to low-sec is not the static connection, and I blitz through rocks and gas to the point where the static wormhole is looking more like being an exit to null-sec. It's probably good, as I drop out of warp next to a K346 that's reaching the end of its life, that the K162 from low-sec is here, as well having a C2 connect in to our home system. Let's see where that K162 leads first.

Oh look, there's the Black Monolith. I must be in Dead End. I resist the temptation to put my tongue on the monolith this time, helped by there not being any careless capsuleers around, and tell Shev where I am. 'Eep, thirty-six jumps.' Okay, don't panic, there may be a better route. I scan Dead End, and even with eight signatures in the low-sec system they are mostly crappy, including a wormhole that apparently dies before I can warp to it. But a second wormhole is fancy, as it connects to class 3 w-space. Normally I'd not expect the C3 to lead anywhere else, as I would be looking at the K162 of the system's static exit, but this wormhole in low-sec is an X702 outbound connection. I have another exit to resolve.

Two towers and no ships are on d-scan, and I appear in the system eight kilometres from the wormhole. I'd say it's safe to scan. Another messy system of twenty-six signatures is irritating but no real bother. And this wormhole is too skinny to lead out to low-sec or be a K162, and too chubby to be an exit to null-sec. Could it be a connection to high-sec empire space? It surely can, which is a good result, particularly as the nebula reflected in the wormhole definitely isn't that of Aridia. I exit to be in Verge Vendor, but what does Shev think? 'Nice.' Oh, good! 'Sixteen hops, and right through Jita, so I can sell up.' That is rather splendid.

I head homewards, mission complete, to wonder if anyone is waiting for me on the other side of the K162 from class 2 w-space. It's worth a look, so in I go. And there's no one on the wormhole, and all d-scan shows me is a tower and an Orca industrial command ship. My notes tell me a bit more, from a visit eleven months ago, including the location of the tower, that the other static connection leads to high-sec, and that the occupants are blue to us. If I'd known all that before I may have started scanning for an exit here, but the Tengu's appearance deterred me a little. Still, I'm here now, so I'll scan.

A chubby wormhole pops up amongst the seven signatures, which I don't initially consider to be the exit to high-sec. But I remind myself I'm in a C2 and not a C3, and that the signature strengths will be different to what I expect in our neighbouring class of system. And warping to the wormhole shows it to be the B274 after all. On top of that, a second wormhole is also a high-sec connection, but through a K162. I would say Shev's coming home. The static exit leads to Tash-Murkon, a mere six hops from Amarr, which is better than the Verge Vendor connection. But the K162 in C2a comes in from Domain, one hop from Amarr, and is the most convenient connection yet. In fact, I could probably use that myself.

Shev's on his way home and I am preparing an Orca for a fuel run to Amarr. Checking the tower and our storage shows that we have over two months' worth of fuel pellets already, and there are some blueprints and materials to make our own pellets, so without checking with Fin first I don't really want to blow a load of ISK on fuel we don't need, regardless of how convenient a connection we have. What I can do instead is take a Bustard transport out full of loot to sell. Or I could, if Aii hadn't been so busy mining arkonor. We have too much ore by a long way to fit in to the Bustard, so I'm taking the Orca after all, which just about squeezes everything in. And with Shev back in w-space he volunteers to scout ahead.

We shouldn't have much trouble, with a single w-space system to cross, and one that's blue occupied. And indeed we don't. I don't even have far to go with the sluggish Orca, merely hopping one system across to dock and sell all the ore, modules, and loot we've accumulated recently. The corporate wallet is boosted by a good half-a-billion ISK and I return to w-space with an empty Orca. I hope I don't need to be buying more fuel, but even if I do I would like to think we'll get another decent connection before two months passes. Shev scouts me back to w-space, spotting a Phantasm faction cruiser in C2a, which from its name looks to be local and so allied with our alliance. I cross the system, jump home, and return the Orca to the tower unscratched to end a successful evening.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: bustard, eve online, helios, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, phantasm, scanning, tengu, w-space

Flashing a Drake

It's just me and my shadow. Hopefully my shadow can find someone to shoot, because I've not been doing well lately. I wonder if the unidentified signature in the home w-space system could lead to an incautious pilot, but as it resolves to a radar site that pilot would have to be me. I'm not about to tackle class 4 w-space Sleepers solo, so warp to our static wormhole and jump to the neighbouring class 3 system. A tower and no ships is a humdrum result on my directional scanner, but a C3 I've not visited before lends some air of the unknown to my evening. I have a system to explore.

I warp away from the wormhole, launch probes and blanket the system, and head back to the inner system to locate the tower. My probes show me five anomalies, seven signatures, and no ships, which seems about right, and I settle down to scan what little there is here. The first signature becomes a wormhole, and feels like an exit to high-sec empire space, in pretty much the same way that the second signature does. One of my intuitions must me wrong. A third wormhole is chubbier and is likely a K162, after which I'm left with just a ladar site and two radar sites.

The wormholes turn out to be a lovely outbound connection to class 2 w-space, the expected static exit to high-sec, and a K162 from class 4 w-space, giving me some good options. First, I exit to high-sec and bookmark the empire-side of the wormhole—in the Domain region today, and relatively close to Amarr—to give me a route home should everything go pear-shaped, before warping back across C3a to explore in to C2a. An equally dreary tower holding no ships is visible on d-scan from the K162, although I am slightly perked up by three drones floating somewhere in the system.

I was only here a month ago, and although the tower's listed in my notes the static wormholes are not. The abandoned drones feel familiar, but I'm drawing a blank. I have no other notes to distinguish this system from another either, so I ignore any sense of deja vu and get down to proper scouting. I warp out, launch probes, and perform a blanket scan. Fourteen anomalies and eleven signatures shouldn't take long to sift through, but I think I'll leave them for now and look in C4a instead, as the K162 may have some activity occurring behind it. And maybe it does.

Four carriers, one dreadnought, a Drake battlecruiser, and a Mammoth hauler are on d-scan in C4a, along with three towers. It's all crammed in to a tiny system holding six planets and nine moons, and around 8 AU across. I locate two Archons and the Mammoth at one tower, no ships at the second, and the two Thanatos carriers, Moros dreadnought, and Drake at the third, along with a newly arrived Buzzard. The covert operations boat is piloted, as is the Drake, but that's all the capsuleers I can see. And I see one less now, as the Drake warps out as I am orientating myself.

It looks like the Drake went to C3a, which makes me wonder if the Buzzard will swap to a salvaging ship to sweep up some wrecks. But a Drake would make hard work of class 3 w-space anomalies, and just as I think about finding out what he's actually up to I find out anyway. A new contact warps in to the tower in an Orca industrial command ship, followed by the returning Drake. It looks like the battlecruiser was flying escort to the Orca, wisely scouting the route back from what was likely a logistics run to high-sec. And as the Orca is back, and being escorted when in w-space, I probably don't have anything more to do in this system.

The Orca is ditched and the pilot boards a shuttle, and he warps out of the tower towards C3a, following a minute or so behind the Buzzard pilot, also now in a shuttle. I would say they are heading out to empire space to collect some ships, which could actually give me a possible target or two. But lurking on exit to high-sec, so that I can identify the ship and intercept it on the connection to C4a, I realise that all I've reduced myself to waiting on a wormhole for nothing again. At least this time I'm not in an interceptor, I suppose. I wait a few more minutes anyway but nothing comes my way.

A Drake has appeared at the C3a tower now, but he's not doing anything. A nose in to C4a has a single piloted ship also doing nothing. And it's only when I decide to finally scan C2a that I realise that the connection to the system is outbound, giving both of C2a's static wormholes to find, which includes one to more w-space. I'm spurred on knowing that I have more w-space to explore, and further motivated when I resolve a static connection to class 1 w-space. I bookmark the second static wormhole—an exit to high-sec making this a pretty weak C2 overall—and dive headfirst in to C1a.

D-scan is clear from the K162, but warping around finds a tower with a couple of ships. The Raven is interesting, as the mass restrictions on wormholes in to class 1 w-space mean the battleship was built here, and the Iteron hauler could be a target. But locating the tower finds it to be owned by a blue corporation. That wasn't in my notes from my previous visit. Regardless, neither ship is piloted, and I don't care to scan for another exit to high-sec, so I turn around again. C2a hasn't woken up, the Drake still sits lonely in the C3a tower, and warping to the exit to high-sec has me pass a Blackbird in warp.

The Blackbird may be an ECM boat and able to break target locks with ease, but it is also just a cruiser and if it's unlucky could pop quickly. I flip my Loki strategic cruiser around to chase it across to the C4a wormhole, presumably its destination, but I am too late. I poke in to the system anyway, seeing the cruiser on scan, before watching the pilot warp back to the wormhole in a pod and head back out to empire space. I give him a minute to clear the wormhole before I follow, as I was going that way anyway. What I don't expect to see is the pod sitting on the exit wormhole when I get there. Maybe he's slow, or maybe he's distracted. Maybe I should find out.

Before I make up my mind, the pod jumps through to high-sec. That's a damned shame, because if I'd followed a few seconds earlier, knowing that my guns insta-pop pods, I may have got a sweet opportunistic kill. Now I probably have a fair wait until the next ship is brought back. I exit to high-sec and, within a minute, see another C4 pilot appear in the local communication channel. That's lucky. Even luckier, I notice and jump back to w-space before he appears on the wormhole. I move away from the wormhole and cloak, knowing that I cannot reliably engage on this connection, and align my ship towards the C4 K162 in preparation. That's when my Loki turns on a sixpence and flies back through the wormhole.

My decloaking is a little bad luck and a little lack of awareness. It's down to chance that I appeared in C3a on the opposite side of the wormhole to the direction I wanted to travel, but I could have mitigated the likelihood of hitting the wormhole when aligning by moving in the z-axis first. I burn away from the wormhole again in order to reactivate my cloak but not before the wormhole flares and a Drake appears, catching my brief exposure. The battlecruiser warps away and I am left feeling silly. Admittedly, I wouldn't have engaged the Drake by myself, but being seen pretty much discounts any further ambush opportunity. But that's okay, as I am getting hungry.

Belay that cooking, cadet! I am reminded that my head is getting full of skill points again and that I ought to upgrade my clone. I could leave this for another day, but with high-sec connections all around me it would be churlish not to take advantage of one of them. I choose the one through C2a, as it won't have C4a pilots going to and fro and maybe looking for a dumb Loki pilot. I head out to empire space, make a simple journey, pass a recent massacre on a high-sec stargate, and upgrade my clone at a medical centre.

Returning home is just as straightforward, sticking with a high-sec route tonight, and although the journey is a little time-consuming its purpose is necessary. And it's also done. Now I can get some food.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: archon, blackbird, buzzard, drake, eve online, iteron, loki, mammoth, mmorpg, moros, orca, penny ibramovic, raven, scanning, thanatos, w-space

Plugging a skill gap

The w-space constellation's been mapped, and although it's a few hours stale I choose to roam first before scanning afresh. There seem to be enough connections and systems to warrant at least a brief look around for activity and targets before considering the appearance of new connections, and the longer I can resist launching probes the longer I'll stay covert. Such is my will that I don't even scan the home system, instead thrusting my Loki strategic cruiser towards the static connection to our neighbouring class 3 system.

According to my directional scanner, C3a is quiet and clear from the K162. My notes place me in this system five months ago, but a bookmark to the local tower is a more convenient way to find out if anyone's home. I warp across to see that, no, no one's here, so I merely perform a passive scan, bookmark the eleven anomalies, and move on. I pick the N968 to visit first of the three wormholes in the system, and jump through to see ships and a tower on d-scan. Again, I have been here recently but, again, a bookmark to the tower lets me more easily see that the Covetor mining barge, Drake, Ferox, and Talos battlecruiser, Iteron hauler, and Hound stealth bomber are sadly all empty. That mix of ships would offer good opportunity had any or all of them been piloted, making it more of a shame that none are.

Still nothing is happening in w-space, and I've checked all of two systems without having launched scanning probes. This is an outrage! But I have another system to roam through, and I return to cross C3a and jump through a K162 to class 5 w-space. Only bubbles are on d-scan, which lets me move away from the wormhole and cloak with less chance of being seen. I always secretly hope a stealth bomber will take a potshot at me when I enter each system, but I remain unlucky with this transit. Warping across to the tower sees yet another unpiloted ship, this one an Orca industrial command ship floating empty in the force field, giving me another dreary system. It looks like I'll have to get my scanning probes out now.

I'm not about to scan the w-space I've roamed through just yet. There is a fair chance of new connections having opened up, and if they have been opened since earlier scouting then there is more chance of activity, but I'd rather tread fresh ground. Each system has a connection to k-space, this C5 holding a K162 from null-sec, so I'll look for wormholes outside of the scanned constellation. Exiting w-space to an unoccupied system in the Tenerifis region lets me rat and scan, and I find and start shooting a rat battleship as I push my probes around to determine the only other signature here to be rocks. My Loki handles the battleship without problems, though, and I achieve both ratting and scanning simultaneously, which lets me appreciate my efficiency if not the lacklustre scanning result.

I return to w-space, pass through C5a back to C3a, and in to C3b where I sadly see no change in activity levels. I take my leave and exit w-space through the static connection to low-sec empire space, where I appear by myself in a system in the Derelick region. Rat and scan, man. Like the null-sec system, I find a rat battleship in the first rock field I enter, and my probes pick up one additional signature. Unlike the null-sec system, the signature resolves to be a wormhole, an outbound connection to more class 3 w-space no less. Continued exploration could pay off again, particularly as entering the system has a tower and Bestower hauler on d-scan.

A previous visit to this class 3 system points me towards the tower, which d-scan confirms remains in the same place. But my appearance over six kilometres from the wormhole and sitting on the cosmic signature makes me suspect the Bestower will be empty. Undeterred, I warp to the tower but indeed find the hauler as unpiloted as every other ship I've seen this evening. W-space tonight is as dry Oscar Wilde's wit, but nowhere near as entertaining. I've not exhausted my options yet, and even though I know C3c holds a static wormhole to high-sec I launch probes and take a look around. Seven anomalies and seventeen signatures get reduced soon enough to ignored ladar sites and the single wormhole, which also takes me to the Derelik region. Continued scanning only finds the wormhole I'm sitting on, leaving me the one direction to go.

Back to low-sec, in to C3b, across to C3a, and I leave still-inactive w-space for another low-sec system, this one in Verge Vendor. Faction warfare pilots kind of stop me ratting as I scan, in that their presence dissuades me from casually poking in to rock fields, and a lack of signatures stops me scanning as I don't rat. Now I've checked every system for new connections, found a couple, and still not had any pilots appear on my overview. The lack of activity has somewhat taken the wind out of my sails, which is a particularly drastic situation being in a Minmatar ship. I take one last look around the w-space constellation—C3a, to C3b, to low-sec, to C3c, back to low-sec and C3a, in to C5a, and back to C3a—to see no change in any system, and head home for an early night.

Actually, I could use a skill book or two. It's getting a little petty to continue ignoring a whole race's ships because I think they're ugly and useless, and think I perhaps ought to train to fly Gallente cruisers. It's maybe snubbing the Gallente scum a bit too much to be able to fly two types of marauders and three types of strategic cruisers but not an Exequror. Checking our hangar shows that we don't have any spare lying around—and why would we, useless bits of paper that they are—but I could use the empire connections and spare time to go and buy one. I estimate only needing ten minutes to pop out to market and make my way back, even heading out to high-sec through C3a, C3b, low-sec, and C3c, so there's little reason no to do it.

Of course, an estimate of ten minutes real time turns in to half-an-hour in New Eden, but I knew it would. What I actually hoped was that working my way to high-sec, crossing a region border, and getting to an academy system that sells the Gallente cruiser and battleship skill books would pass enough time for w-space to have woken up by the time I get back. It's a vain hope, though, and I knew that too. But collecting the skill books provides some tangible progress for the evening, and there was a slight chance that I'd return to w-space to see activity, particularly as my route took me through most of the systems in the constellation. But there remains no change as I pass through w-space on my way home, and I slink away to a corner of our system and go off-line.

Posted in Gaming | 7 Comments »
Tags: bestower, covetor, drake, eve online, ferox, hound, iteron, loki, low-sec, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, talos, w-space

Scanning through the w-space constellation

Returning from a short break planetside I'm keen to see if anything has changed. Mick's gone back to our sister class 5 w-space system for a start, but otherwise space looks just about the same. Fin's roaming through a constellation scanned on Mick's earlier exit, confirming the death of a wormhole, and I scan the home system for safety and resolve a newly created connection. The K162 from class 3 w-space is more interesting to me than the apparently lifeless systems through our static wormhole, so I tell Fin where I'm going and head in to C3b.

My notes tell me of a tower in this C3 from two months ago, and although a tower appears on my directional scanner it looks to be a different one. Thankfully, the new tower is easy to find, being around a planet with a single moon, as I want to get there quickly to see if the Iteron and Badger haulers are piloted or not. And they are, even if not currently moving. I'm happy to sit here and watch them for a bit, in case either capsuleer gets a desperate urge to collect planet goo. But maybe I should be looking elsewhere, as a Myrmidon battlecruiser appears on d-scan but doesn't enter the tower.

The Myrmidon drops off d-scan to be replaced by another Iteron, which is a neat trick if you can pull it off. I suspect a second tower to be in the system out of d-scan range, but the timing of the ship changes doesn't seem right and the appearance of the new Iteron warping in to the tower I'm watching would suggest otherwise too. Fin comes to join me and scouts the outer planets, finding no other towers and no sign of other ships. I would say we have another wormhole to find, which the Myrmidon probably used. Fin and I swap positions, with my glorious leader keeping an eye on the haulers in the tower—or the single hauler, as the Badger and second Iteron have gone off-line—as I warp out to launch probes.

Scanning the outer planets seems safe, with them orbiting out of d-scan range. I resolve two gas sites and a wormhole around the far planet, and a second wormhole and more gas on the next one in. As I check the wormholes I revert my probes to a blanket scanning configuration, which shows me a new ship appear in the system, but it is gone before either Fin or I can spot it on d-scan. The mystery traveller could have appeared from the K162 from class 4 w-space or the static exit to low-sec empire space. Or, when resuming scanning, on the assumption that the remaining hauler is not paying attention, the ship could have come from a K162 from class 5 w-space which is also in the system.

I see the same ship on my probes again, as noted by the signature identifier, a few seconds before I see the ship on my overview. I resolve and warp to a fourth wormhole in time to see the Helios covert operations boat appear on the K162 from more class 4 w-space. The cov-ops jumps and I decide not to follow, and not just because I am too far from the wormhole. I would like to think that the pilot will come back with a different ship if he thinks the system is safe, but I suppose that if the pilot has been paying any attention he'll have seen my probes on d-scan and already think it not safe, even if I don't engage him. Still, the cov-ops would have probably slipped away, and I was rather far from the wormhole to react.

There are a few more signatures to resolve, mostly ladar and radar sites, but also a fifth wormhole. The K162 from class 2 w-space is the last connection to be found, and I recall my probes and ask if Fin's killed the Iteron yet. 'No, I'm still trying to mentally push it out of the shields.' And how's that coming along? 'It is not working.' Mmm. It looks like we missed whatever may have been happening here, making it time to move on and look for other targets. As I've ended up floating next to the C2 K162 I decloak and jump. Fin exits to low-sec through the static wormhole, before returning to C3b and exploring in to C4b.

D-scan is clear from the wormhole, but exploring finds a tower and ships. And some interesting ships at that, with a sole battlecruiser accompanying exhumers, a hauler, and a Helios. But I won't get too excited, as d-scan places all the ships inside the tower, and locating the tower finds only the Helios piloted, which is disappointing. Nothing is happening here, and I doubt anything will happen, so head back to C3b to pick a new system. Fin had less luck, with a tower but no ships to find, although the C4 itself was a curiosity, with twelve planets in a system barely 12 AU across.

I jump in to C4c, wondering if the Helios pilot seen earlier will be laying an ambush or getting comfortable in a hauler, having forgotten about my probes. Looking for occupation I warp to the territorial control unit in the system only to find no tower to go with it, which is peculiar. A bit more exploring locates the tower, hidden away elsewhere, but it only holds an unpiloted shuttle. The tower belongs to the same corporation as the Helios which came this way, so this will be the pilot's home and there is not likely to be another K162 in the system.

I return to C3b and warp to loiter on the K162 to C5a. Fin's scouting the class 5 system and has found capsuleers, but they seem to be playing musical ships with the losers of each round going off-line. What movement there is involves a Buzzard cov-ops and Myrmidon—probably the same I saw on d-scan in C3b—warping away from the tower, but not towards me. I continue to sit next to an unused K162. I ponder if its worth my while exiting to low-sec and monitoring that system, but Fin tells me it was empty, a dead end, and a shithole. Well, Fin actually called it a 'backwater' system, not a shithole, but I understood the subtext.

Fin points out that class 5 w-space systems can be wormhole attractors—much like today's C3b—and that we are unlikely to get anywhere without overtly scanning. So what now? Fin suggests heading back the other way and scan the low-sec and null-sec systems for new wormholes, which seems like a good idea. Low-sec is dull and the 'backwater' system is not worth loitering in, so we pass through C3a and out to null-sec, appearing in a system in the Querious region with two other pilots. Seeing two Nightmare faction battleships on d-scan, along with a couple of towers, immediately makes me think we've interrupted a couple of ratters who will hole up until our intruding selves have left the system.

I perform a passive scan of the null-sec system, highlighting a whole load of anomalies, and locate the towers, where I naturally find the cowering Nightmares. Adjusting d-scan sees a few dozen rat wrecks in the system, and I can even warp in to a completed and now-despawned anomaly that my scan detected to see all the unlooted wrecks left behind. But we're really aren't going to catch the Nightmares being silly, not in a system with a transparent local communication channel. We could scan, but the hour's getting late after exploring through the nexus that is C3b. A unanimous decision says it's time to get some sleep. Instead of seeing it all on d-scan, maybe we can intercept some action tomorrow.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Scanning through the w-space constellation
Tags: badger, buzzard, eve online, helios, iteron, myrmidon, nightmare, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Targets in two directions

All is clear at home, and corporate bookmarks have the w-space constellation mapped out to low-sec. It looks like I'm going roaming. A check of the home system has no new wormholes, and jumping to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system brings back memories. In one of my earliest recorded systems, I see that the last time I was here I popped a large warp bubble in a stealth bomber. All has changed in the intervening two years, with the system now occupied, but the tower is empty of pilots and ships, leaving me exiting through the static connection to low-sec empire space.

Three pilots in the system in Essence stops me ratting, but scanning reveals two additional signatures, both of which look wormholey. And I get two for two. Disappointingly, the first wormhole is a K162 from more low-sec space, although it could offer another system to explore. The second is a K162 from class 3 w-space and looking good, until jumping in has me appear eight kilometres from the wormhole, so there is probably no activity here either. I scout the system, finding a tower but no ships, and scanning only reveals a single gravimetric site and nothing else. No other wormholes, no other sites, no anomalies.

What do I do now? I update Fin on the situation, and think about scanning C3a for new connections. But as I am making a monitoring point in the gravimetric site, for want of a more interesting task, a Probe frigate appears on my directional scanner, giving me a pilot to watch do nothing. My glorious leader is happy to scan C3a as I waste my time, and thankfully finds a wormhole almost at the same time as the Probe goes off-line, having continued to do nothing since its arrival. I head back to low-sec and in to C3a, warping to reconnoitre through the K162 from class 4 w-space that Fin has resolved.

A tower and Cheetah are on d-scan in C4a, which are easy enough to locate in a system with eight planets and nine moons, and all of them in d-scan range. The covert operations boat is piloted but inactive, although the appearance of a new contact in a Drake battlecruiser perks me up a little. I sit and watch as Fin continues to find wormholes in C3a, this one a K162 from class 2 w-space. She goes in to take a look around, finding plenty. Three towers and quite a few ships light up Fin's d-scan, and a recently arrived Mick follows in to the C2 to help Fin scout them all. I leave this dull C4 behind me to help too, but hold on the K162 in C3a in case we have valid targets and need a different ship brought in. There are only so many scouts required to recon a single system.

We may have targets. Fin sees wrecks on d-scan, but can't see any ships to go with them. She continues locating towers and pilots, as Mick manages to launch probes out of range of anyone before looking for the sites. I sit and hold on the K162, in my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser, and watch as the wormhole flares and a Cheetah moves away and cloaks. He's local to the C2, but his presence in this C3 is unclear. He warps away and launches a single probe, making us think he's looking for new signatures. Even so, a combat scanning probe in the system, and potentially the Cheetah monitoring the K162, makes my presence awkward. Mick and Fin will need to engage any ships first before I jump to join them, or our intentions could be inferred. That is, if we find targets.

Mick places a Drake in a site with wrecks. The battlecruiser could be salvaging, and although a Cormorant warps in to join the Drake, the destroyer a more likely salvaging ship, they could both be salvaging. Mick scans the site but feels rusty. 'Miss. Hit. Warping in.' The Cormorant is out of the site by the time Mick gets there, and the Drake is aligned to leave, warping without Mick decloaking. Maybe they saw his probes, but at least we can see their reaction. There are more pilots than just these two, with movements that suggest some ships are being shuttled through the exit to high-sec the C2 has, which along with the three towers makes it awkward to gauge exactly what any of them are reacting to.

Ships get swapped, the Drake returns to the site and leaves again, and Mick refocusses to scan for a second site of wrecks. I think the ship's return suggests a trap, but that has rarely stopped us taking shot anyway. Mick asks if we want to try, prompting Fin's reply that 'it's been a while since I lost a Tengu'. Whatever happens, our three covert strategic cruisers are probably not enough to overwhelm the Drake sufficiently, so I am sent home to get a more destructive ship. I remain concerned with the Cheetah's monitoring of the C3, though, and rather than head directly home, with a bit of time on my hands, I divert in to C4a to see what the pilots there are up to and hopefully misdirect the scout.

The C4a Cheetah and Drake have gone from d-scan, but a Bestower has replaced them. How exciting, maybe the hauler is collecting planet goo! I sweep d-scan around but can't place the hauler at a planet, so warp towards the tower. But the Bestower isn't at the tower either, making him elsewhere and vulnerable. I must find him. Oh, here she is, warping back from collecting planet goo. The hauler moves to a hangar in the tower, but not one that holds ships, and I watch expectantly to see if she'll empty her hold and go out for another run. Yes, ditch your goo and go out again. You know you want to. Yes, she does!

I watch the hauler move away from the hangar and align towards a customs office. The nearest customs office, in fact. I align my ship in that direction too, holding my speed until I see the Bestower enter warp. I'm right behind it and decloaking as I drop out of warp at the customs office. I decloak perhaps a little early, as the Bestower looks to be turning in a panic back towards the tower. A little early for me, still too late for the Bestower, as I burn hard towards my target, gaining a positive lock and activating my guns, and instead of bumping the Bestower I blast through the exploding ship.

My warp disruptor once again fails to snare the capsuleer's pod, despite it looking like I got a positive lock. I am beginning to wonder if my systems are malfunctioning. But never mind, as I loot and shoot the wreck of my latest victim to gain yet another expanded cargohold for our growing collection. And as I reload my guns it sounds like Mick and Fin are ready for me. If only I weren't in completely the wrong system. I head back to C3a, then home, and swap my Loki for a Nighthawk command ship at the tower. Mick is about to scan for a pair of Drakes and a Stabber cruiser, and would like a bit more damage to add to the assault. I am on my way back out of the home system as he resolves the position of the targets.

I jump to C3a and warp across to the C2 K162, but before I get there the Drakes and Stabber have warped clear, evading the attentions of Mick and Fin. I have little to do when landing on the wormhole but warp clear again, as I don't want to make my ship a sitting duck. I bounce around making safe spots, still aware of the Cheetah that hasn't been seen since coming from the C2 and its combat scanning probe. And, on the understanding that we have shown our hand fully now, it's time to call the operation over. There's a touch of disappointment in feeling the ambush was fluffed, but hunting in w-space is rarely straightforward and Mick managed to resolve both sites with some skill. There is also a small sense of accomplishment when, on the way home, I mention my admittedly soft kill of the Bestower.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Targets in two directions
Tags: bestower, cheetah, cormorant, drake, eve online, loki, mmorpg, nighthawk, penny ibramovic, probe, pvp, scanning, stabber, w-space

Chasing but crashing

I'm by myself again, but not in spirit. Bookmarks have been made for our w-space constellation, and indicate the simplest of constellations today. Home leads to our neighbouring class 3 system, which leads to k-space. Let's see what else I can find, and if any new connections have opened. Home is clear, but jumping to C3a has three ships and a tower visible on my directional scanner. There's no bookmark to guide me to the local tower but my notes from ten weeks ago do, where I find the Orca industrial command ship, Curse recon ship, and Bestower hauler all floating empty inside the force field. I also learn from my notes that the static exit leads to null-sec, but the bookmark I have is not for that. In fact, I have no idea what the extra bookmarks are for, because they point nowhere from home and nowhere from this C3. I'll be scanning, then.

Twenty-one anomalies and six signatures are easy enough to sift through. I resolve rocks, gas, a chubby wormhole that won't be the exit to null-sec, a second chubby wormhole, and finally the static connection. The two K162s both come from class 2 w-space systems, which is attractive, and although I head to the static wormhole to get the exit system first the connection is reaching the end of its life, so I leave it alone and stick to w-space. Entering C2a has me appear seven kilometres from the wormhole, and so probably with my ship on the cosmic signature and in a system that hasn't seen activity for hours. There's a tower on scan, so I limit myself to locating that for reference before heading back to C3a and scouting in to C2b to look for action.

Three drones, an off-line tower, and some canisters that are probably related to the off-line tower litter d-scan. There's nowhere to hide in this small system either, so that's all there is to see, but I suspect it means there is another K162 to find. Six anomalies and six signatures resolve to give more than the one wormhole. An outbound connection to class 1 w-space is neat, the static connection to high-sec empire space has a Sabre sitting on it, and as the interdictor pilot no doubt has seen my probes I finish scanning a third wormhole and two radar sites as if he weren't there. I recall my probes as I sit and watch the Sabre, wondering what his reaction will be. I imagine he is waiting and watching for me.

The Sabre warps from the exit to high-sec towards the wormhole from C3a, giving me time to reconnoitre the third wormhole, which is a K162 from class 4 w-space. We both return to the exit wormhole, even if the Sabre probably doesn't realise this, and although I think I watch the interdictor leave the system the wormhole flare actually indicates a ship entering. A Cheetah allied to the Sabre appears before disappearing, cloaking as comes naturally to a covert operations boat. Maybe the Sabre is acting as escort to colleagues, but surely not to a cov-ops. I still think he's waiting for me to show myself, and maybe I should. I am in my Loki after all, and covert configuration or not, my strategic cruiser would probably prevail over the interdictor. I just need the Sabre to move from the high-sec connection again for engaging him to be worthwhile.

Be careful what you wish for. The Sabre warps away, towards the wormhole to C1a, giving me the opportunity to engage him. I follow behind, seeing the Sabre drop off d-scan, indicating a jump, and hoping that he'll come back soon. If the Sabre is polarised and I'm not I can engage with little overall risk. Or I could, if my stupid ship didn't lock up again. This is getting tedious. I restart my ship systems and return to cloak on the C1 wormhole, knowing that my Loki would have been quite visible in the system for the couple of minutes it took to reboot, and have apparently missed the Sabre's return from C1a. I suppose any element of surprise I had, which would rely on my being in a strategic cruiser and not a cov-ops, has been lost.

I catch up with the Sabre back on the connection to high-sec, but he doesn't stay there. The interdictor warps away again, this time towards C4a, and I follow. Again I hope he'll return and be polarised, but the only second jump is from the Cheetah following behind the Sabre in to the class 4 system. I would guess that the Cheetah has been scouting systems looking for targets for the Sabre, and that they have given up and returned to their C4 home. That means they are not jumping back to this C2 any time soon, and that there is nothing for me to find in C1a either. I take a look anyway, and although there are two frigates and a hauler, they float unpiloted at one of the two towers. The C1 looks pretty quiet.

Maybe C4a isn't the pilots' home and the Cheetah is scouting further afield for the Sabre. I poke my nose through the wormhole, hoping the Sabre isn't sat on the connection, and punch d-scan. Nope, this looks like home. The Sabre is nowhere to be seen, whereas the Cheetah sits on d-scan with a tower. Covert ships tend only to be seen when they want to be seen, and it's no surprise to find the Cheetah safely inside his home tower's force field. So what to do now. I head back to C2b and out to high-sec, but there are no obvious w-spacers in the system, so I suppose I'm going back to scan C2a.

Hullo, there's an Anathema cov-ops on d-scan, which wasn't there before. As with the Cheetah, the visible Anathema is sitting in the local tower and piloted, which gives me a new contact to monitor. Patience now, Penny. Don't engage and lose a small fish, when watching and waiting could bag something bigger. A second new contact warps in to the same tower as the Anathema, in a shuttle, so with the locals ganging up maybe there will be some activity soon. Whilst I wait, I give a full sitrep to my glorious leader who comes on-line, including the constellation and connections, locations of towers, active pilots and ships, and how I was a chicken with the Sabre. Once I've got Fin up to speed I update her with the pilot in the shuttle going off-line. Circumstances are beginning to look dreary.

I've been patient enough with this motionless Anathema. I'll take one last look around the constellation and go off-line if nothing's happening. I jump to C3a, in to C2b, through to C1a, back to C2b and out to high-sec, back again to C2b and C3a, and am about to warp across to C2a when Fin sees the K162 from C4a flare. No, it's not me, I tell her, and return to C2b to join her watching what happens. Nothing, that's what. Fin acts baity and jumps to C4a, but still nothing happens. 'Tengu, Tengu, Sabre on d-scan', she says, adding that 'I am ready to go home if that's our prey'. It's more ships than I saw, but I agree that there probably isn't much we can do if those strategic cruisers are fit for combat against other capsuleers.

It is time to go home. Somehow, the Sabre supernaturally senses this, and turns to leave the tower, warping towards the wormhole. I'm sitting on the other side, with d-scan clear, and ask if I should engage. 'Yes.' Okay then. I decloak, get my systems ready, and watch for the wormhole flare that doesn't come. I ask Fin to alert me to any movement from the other ships, as the Sabre sitting patiently on the wormhole is making me nervous. The Tengus are swapped for Drakes, and the battlecruisers are nudged in to motion. That's all the warning I need, and I cloak almost at the same time as the wormhole finally flares. Whether instinct or cowardice, that was good timing. The Sabre appears, launches an interdiction sphere—a short-lived warp bubble unique to interdictors—and burns hard away from the wormhole. I'm sure he knew I was there and hoped to bump in to me.

The bubble doesn't alarm me, but the Sabre flying in vicious orbits worries me a bit. I warp away with more good timing, seeing a Loki colleague of the Sabre warping in as I leave, and I bounce off an arbitrary point in the system and return to reconnoitre the wormhole. I wonder if the Cheetah seen earlier is still around and has been monitoring C2b all the while. It would explain the actions of the Sabre, as surely he wouldn't have done what he did to welcome his Loki buddy home. Either way, it's definitely time to go home, and we just need to get Fin out of the C4 safely. That's easily done, when the Sabre and Loki head in to the C4 and warp to the tower, giving Fin plenty of opportunity to return to this C2 and warp homewards.

I, on the other hand, stupidly wait to see the Sabre jump back in, this time with a Tengu, and warp towards the C3 wormhole. That's our route home. Rather than try to avoid the ships I decide to draw them away from the connection, warping to the wormhole to C1a and decloaking. Hopefully, they'll see me on d-scan, locate my position, and warp to intercept. They don't, damned amateurs, but as Fin predicts they soon get bored and clear our route home anyway. Fin gets back to C3a and I follow, and from there we have a clear path to the home system, where we settle down for the night. If only I'd engaged the Sabre earlier, we may not have had this hassle.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: anathema, bestower, cheetah, curse, drake, eve online, loki, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, sabre, scanning, tengu, w-space

Getting it backwards

Pilots! Friendly ones, too. Mick and Aii are out and about, and having a constellation already mapped is an unusual circumstance to come on-line to. But there appears to be nothing happening, and our static wormhole is at the end of its life, although no one's sure when it started to die. Despite the uncertainty, Mick is happily wandering the other end of the constellation, which is the way he rolls. I'm more content with poking my nose through the healthy K162 from class 5 w-space that is currently in our system. The C5 has been scouted and occupation found in the form of a tower, but there was no activity earlier and the system wasn't scanned. I can do that, though.

I launch scanning probes, blanket the system, and warp to the tower that has already been noted. An Iteron sits piloted inside the tower's force field when I arrive, which Mick says is 'very new'. But what will the hauler do? He'll watch a Ferox warp in to join him at the tower, just as I do, I suppose. The new contact swaps the battlecruiser for a second Iteron, which fills me with expectation. A newly arrived pilot boarding a hauler is a good indicator that he'll blindly head out to collect planet goo, and as the Iteron manoeuvres and accelerates I think I'm right.

Mick's on his way back from exploring the outer reaches of the w-space constellation, pausing only to get a pointier ship at our tower. 'Customs, planet three', I say, watching the Iteron align to the customs office around the closest planet. I align my cloaky Loki to point the same direction as the Iteron, and as it warps so does my strategic cruiser. Unsurprisingly, I find the hauler collecting planet goo from the customs office, so I decloak and lock on to my soft target, burning towards him and activating my guns. The squishy hauler explodes without much fuss, and although I think I've trapped the pod it escapes my clutches to return to the tower. 'You are quick', says Mick, as his Arazu recon ship lands to see the aftermath.

I loot and shoot the wreck of the Iteron, not caring much for the low-value planet goo inside, and warp cloaked back to the tower to gauge the response. Another new contact warps in to join the pod and first Iteron, also appearing in a Ferox like it's a standard issue rest and relaxation ship for this corporation. The new pilot swaps his Ferox for a Buzzard, warps the covert operations boat out of the tower, and launches probes. If they come looking for us we may have numbers to surprise them, particularly with the arrival of Fin to boost our support. Aii puts an Onyx heavy interdictor on the wormhole, Fin joins him in an interceptor, and Mick also loiters in wait for the scout.

I continue to monitor activity in the C5, in case ships come our way that we're not expecting. So far it remains just the Buzzard as active, the Iteron and pod doing nothing, so I add my probes to the system and scan as the Buzzard scans. There's not much to see, though, and I resolve three ladar sites, one gravimetric site, one magnetometric site, and no more wormholes. The Buzzard continues, and I warp around following his probes, as a Cheetah cov-ops appears on d-scan and launches his own probes. The Cheetah doesn't warp in to the tower, but I presume he's local because my probes report no new signatures having appeared.

Finally some probes converge on the static wormhole, which is curious considering that someone coming from the C5 must have opened the connection in to our system. After another couple of minutes the converged probes disappear abruptly, and we get ready. As tactics are confirmed, the Cheetah decloaks in front of me and jumps. I relay the information and decloak to prepare for its return, which the cov-ops does quickly. Really quickly. He jumps, burns away from the wormhole, and warps before I can gain a positive lock or Fin or Aii can get through the wormhole and prevent the polarised ship's escape.

At least we saw the Cheetah, confirming he's local. And not much else is likely to happen, particularly given the lack of reaction of the pod and Iteron still motionless at the tower. Our best course of action is to collapse the wormhole connecting our systems. Even if it isolates us from potential kills, it will also let us be productive without worrying if the C5ers will eventually consider a counter-attack. Massive ships are pushed through the K162 in our home system and brought back again, and with some confidence the wormhole is over-stressed and collapsed with everyone home and safe. Now we have to think about what to do next.

Our static wormhole is still EOL, and although there are tentative plans to collapse that too I suggest we instead shoot some Sleepers for profit. We have no incoming connections and the EOL wormhole should deter some scouts, if there actually are any in the constellation, and we have a few good anomalies in the home system. Mick borrows Shev's Tengu, Fin and I board our two regular Sleeper Tengus, and Aii waits patiently at the tower as our strategic cruisers head off to the first anomaly.

Three ships blast through the Sleepers quicker than two. Who'd have thought? Apart from messing with our reload schedules, combat is a breeze. Four anomalies are cleared of Sleepers with little fuss and Aii sweeps up behind us in a Noctis salvager, collecting all of the loot. It's all nice and smooth, and we end up with a little over four hundred million ISK for the four sites. And I think that's about it for the night. It's been a good evening, even if the order of a kill, hunt, and some Sleepers seems a little backwards.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Getting it backwards
Tags: arazu, buzzard, cheetah, eve online, ferox, iteron, mmorpg, noctis, onyx, penny ibramovic, pvp, sleepers, tengu, w-space

Transports from high-sec

I want to be more successful at shooting ships today. Yesterday saw me bite at bait and flail at a battleship, which although not fatal for me the engagements were hardly inspiring. Before I can shoot a ship I need to find one, which means scanning. Actually, my first task is to repair my armour damage. Rather than return to the tower to repair yesterday I chose to hide and deny a scout what limited intelligence he probably already knew, but now that no one is in the home system I can enter the force field and fix my ship. And with that done, I resolve the static wormhole and jump to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system.

A single drone appears on my directional scanner, with an off-line tower being the only other sign of capsuleer interference in this system. I launch probes, blanket the system, and explore. The towers that were on-line eight months ago are gone, but a single ship on my probes guides me to a new tower near a distant planet. The ship is a Cheetah, and it is piloted, but the covert operations boat doesn't look to be doing anything. The six signatures in the system are all in the inner system, out of d-scan range of the tower, so I can resolve them without the Cheetah pilot knowing what I'm doing, which is handy.

Scanning finds a gravimetric site, a wormhole that's clearly not the static exit to high-sec, a magnetometric site, a wormhole that will be the static exit to high-sec, and another magnetometric site. The exit leads to Domain, the system seven hops to Amarr, and the second wormhole is a K162 from class 2 w-space, which is neat. I jump in to take a look around, only for a bubble to greet me on the wormhole. But who cares? Fin cares, that's who. My glorious leader has appeared and sees the bubble as 'another target!', and one that won't shoot back. But I suggest leaving it for now, in case we give away our presence or intentions to anyone passing by.

My notes let me know that this C2 has static connections to class 3 w-space, which I came through, and high-sec empire space, which I apparently shouldn't have to scan for. Shev appears and tells me he scanned the constellation earlier, and I seem to have misread the corporate bookmarks, decided they were stale, and deleted them. I'm not used to having other people around. I explore the system, noting the new positions of the three towers, and that the only ship visible is an unpiloted Revelation dreadnought. I am about to launch probes when a different ship appears on d-scan. It's a pod, and it warps in to a local tower.

The pod is joined in the tower by a Mastodon transport, and then it jumps in to its own transport, this one a Bustard, and warps out. With both ships being deep space transports and boasting increased warp core strength, and the second wormhole being a direct connection to high-sec, this doesn't bode well for my wanting to be successful at shooting ships. The Mastodon leaves soon after the Bustard, in the same direction. I warp out, launch probes, and perform a blanket scan, revealing a pretty bare system, with no anomalies and four signatures. And having seen which way the ships went I have a good idea of where the wormhole is.

Before I can scan the second connection the two ships are back again. Wherever the wormhole leads it must be pretty convenient, or maybe they are shuttling items already delivered to a nearby system. Either way, it leaves only a small window to scan undetected, but also could give an opportunity to catch the transports. As the ships leave the system again, I resolve the wormhole in two scans, Fin adds more points of disruption to a Legion strategic cruiser, and Shev is returning from high-sec to the C2 through the wormhole he scanned earlier. Now if we can surprise the transports when they return early enough to be polarised, we may be able to pop one of them.

I get to the exit to high-sec as the Bustard jumps back in to the system. I don't engage because we're not in position yet, but it seems likely that the transport will make another trip. Sure enough, the Bustard warps to the tower, does whatever it needs to, and jumps back to high-sec. I mark the time. Fin has arrived, after burning through the bubble that perhaps we should have shot after all, and we are ready, which is just as well. Fin's Legion hits the wormhole's damned cosmic signature and decloaks, and just as the wormhole flares. That would be okay, because we want to ambush the ships anyway, except it is a Helios that jumps in to the system and not a transport. The cov-ops warps away easily, and it looks like we've been rumbled too early.

We may have been spotted, but with a minute left on the Bustard's polarisation timer the wormhole flares a second time, and it is the transport that appears. We move to engage, but fail to get a positive target lock as the Bustard cloaks, dropping the cloak a moment later to enter warp immediately, having used the cloak to make his ship invulnerable whilst aligning. The pilot knows what he's doing. And even though we have actively engaged the first transport, the second jumps in to the system also with a minute of polarisation remaining. But this ship slips away too, even though it looks like both myself and Fin got a positive lock. And just to rub our noses in our failure, both transports head back out past our ships to high-sec for another run. They don't care.

We will make the transports care. We may not be able to stop them using conventional means, but a warp bubble would prevent the ships warping. And if they are cocky enough to still disregard the polarisation timer they won't be able to return to the safety of high-sec either. All we have to do is get our Onyx heavy interdictor here, which Fin dashes away to do, once again going through the bubble that I really should have let her shoot. The transports come back, and go out again. Fin gets home, swaps to the Onyx, and makes her way back to us. She burns through the bubble once more and enters warp before the transports appear again, and it's looking good to surprise them.

The wormhole flares as Fin is only just dropping out of warp. The Bustard appears and tries to warp, but Fin activates the warp bubble just in time and snares the first transport, as the second appears on the opposite side of the wormhole. Shev and I aim for the Bustard, as does a surprise guest. Mick has seen our chatter about the transports, followed the breadcrumbs that are corporate bookmarks, and can't stop himself joining in the fight, even in a Helios. The more the merrier, I say, particularly when trapping deep space transports on a wormhole to high-sec. The Bustard is going nowhere, even surprisingly when the Onyx's bubble deactivates, after a bit of panicky button pushing to get it active on Fin's part, and we rip the transport to pieces.

The pod escapes whilst the bubble is down, which is unfortunate, but the bubble is reactivated with the Mastodon still in it. We move our weapons systems across to the second target, and I burn hard towards the transport and give it a decent shove away from the wormhole, applying my web once achieved to stop the Mastodon from getting out of the bubble or back to the wormhole. The transport is shredded, the pod is trapped, and we have two wrecks and a corpse to clean up. I would call that a success! Popping a couple of deep space transports on a wormhole to high-sec is an uncommon circumstance, and I think we deserve a solid pat on the back for our efforts. The pilots were a bit too cocky for their own good, and we made them pay. And if we can recover the two capital jump drives from the wrecks we can profit from the kills too.

Mick volunteers to get a hauler from our tower to scoop the loot, and we leave the wrecks intact for now. It's only after Mick's Iteron crawls through the bubble on the wormhole connecting to C3a, with me guarding his ship, that I realise we should just shoot this bubble, and Shev and I get rid of it finally. The wrecks are looted and salvaged, and all looks quiet. I suppose we've seen all the action that will happen in this C2 tonight, and probably more than we realistically should have in the first place, so we head home through a bubble-free wormhole. It's been a hell of a time having a gang together again.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Transports from high-sec
Tags: bustard, buzzard, cheetah, chimera, eve online, guardian, helios, iteron, legion, loki, mastodon, mmorpg, onyx, penny ibramovic, pvp, revelation, scanning, w-space

Forced on a Typhoon

Bearing backwards led to bait, which we naturally took and managed to survive. Forging forwards bagged Fin a hauler incautiously collecting planet goo. And in our currently well-connected w-space there are still options for exploration, which is surprisingly through our static wormhole, given that all we've done so far is investigate the systems behind K162s. I press on, looking for more activity as I enter the neighbouring class 3 system but finding only empty space.

My directional scanner may be reporting clear from the wormhole, but my notes suggest a tower should be somewhere, as long as nothing's changed in five months. But there has been change, as opening the system map shows that the tower should be in range of d-scan, and warping out to the only planet out of range reveals a new tower has been brought on-line. There are no ships and no pilots to be seen, so I launch probes and scan, easily sorting through the four anomalies and five signatures. I resolve the static exit to low-sec empire space, a K162 to class 4 w-space, a gravimetric site, and a ladar site.

In an evening of K162s, I poke my nose in to C4b to see two towers and a handful of ships, although there are no wrecks on d-scan to suggest the Typhoon, Apocalypse and Tempest battleships, or Hurricane and Tornado battlecruisers are piloted. An Iteron hauler rounds off the visible ships, and I locate the towers so that I can determine the number of pilots. And, for a moment, it looks like the Apocalypse isn't at the tower, maybe out to collect gas, but by the time I find the tower he's nestled inside the force field as if he hadn't been anywhere at all. Maybe I imagined his brief absence from d-scan.

All of the ships are piloted at one of the two towers, and some are awake, as the Tempest is swapped for a Loki strategic cruiser. A new contact soon appears in a pod at the second tower, warping in to join everyone else at the first, and it looks like an operation could begin soon. Sadly, there is nowhere for me to launch probes, so I have to hope that the fleet will move to C3a for their action. And they almost do. The pod is slotted in to a Cheetah, and the covert operations boat warps towards the static wormhole, closely followed by the Typhoon. I ask Fin if we should engage and, with her usual keenness to attack anything that isn't us, says simply 'yes'. Okay then.

Fin's sitting on the other side of the wormhole, in C3a, after I mentioned all of these pilots, but she sees no one enter the system. I warp behind the two ships towards the wormhole to drop short of the Typhoon sitting on the connection. No other ships have come this way, and in fact none showed any signs of movement, giving us a solo battleship to engage. But I am not sure that we have enough firepower, and I am wary of the flimsy nature of my cloaky Loki. As the battleship doesn't look to be going anywhere, Fin turns around to pick a different ship than her own cloaky strategic cruiser back at our tower.

Moments after Fin enters warp, I am decloaked. The Cheetah has appeared, approaching the wormhole, and his ship gets close enough to mine to interfere with my cloak. Now's not the time to remind myself to move away from predictable flight paths, as the jig's up. I have little option but to engage and call Fin back, and I rather prefer my chances against the Cheetah to start with. I lock, point, and shoot the Cheetah, webbing him to try to keep the cov-ops away from the wormhole, but I only get a couple of shots off before he jumps to C3a. I could follow, but I know the futility of chasing cov-ops ships even in an interceptor, and our target is the battleship. I move my weapons systems across to the Typhoon, and start shooting.

Actually, I start taking heaps of damage. The delay of engaging the Cheetah first has allowed the Typhoon to lock my Loki and take chunks out of my target-painted shields, and that's before he launches some heavy-duty drones. As my armour depletes, I have to remind myself that my Loki is meant to be shield-tanked and bail out of the fight by jumping through the wormhole, which is before Fin has managed to come to my aid. I think I scratched the Typhoon, but I can't say I really did any damage. Still, if the locals were more alert I could have been swamped by combat ships and been in much more danger. And at least we're out and about being menacing in w-space, which is always a good aim.

I move away from the wormhole and cloak, watching my shields regenerate but armour stay in the red, as the Typhoon jumps in to the C3 and immediately back to his C4 home. It looks like the visit was purely for reconnaissance, as there is no repeat visit after any polarisation timer would have ended, so the wormhole isn't being collapsed. But the C4 is another system where we are unlikely to see any action in our favour, so I look further afield for more adventure. Heading out to low-sec puts me alone in a system in Derelik, where I scan and rat. I rely on another ice field for the rats, this one providing me a battleship to pop, and scanning resolves two more wormholes.

Before I can investigate the connections in low-sec, a Proteus strategic cruiser jumps past Fin, still monitoring the wormhole to C4b, and warps. He appears in the low-sec system, quite obviously thanks to the local channel, and jumps back. As I saw him, he saw me, even if he didn't see my ship, which gives him some information as to my whereabouts. At least Fin is watching the w-space movements, so I won't be surprised if an ambush is arranged for my return. As for the two wormholes, they are both K162s from more class 3 w-space, one healthy and one at the end of its life. I choose the healthy option.

C3c holds a tower in the same place as seven months ago, but there are no ships and no pilots. I could scan for more wormholes, but I'll likely just end up in another low-sec system scanning for more wormholes and pondering the meaning of 'recursion'. With at least two scouts from C4b wandering around it is probably best if I head home. 'I think we've shot we could', says Fin, before proving herself wrong with an attempt on a Cheetah from C4b that wanders in to our home system. And no one died, I say, pointing to my lack of ill-fated predictions. 'Say that after you have made the jumps home.' But Fin's gone off-line by the time I get from low-sec, across C3a, and in to the home system, and I talk to myself too frequently as it is.

Posted in Gaming | 5 Comments »
Tags: apocalypse, cheetah, eve online, hurricane, iteron, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, proteus, pvp, scanning, tempest, tornado, typhoon, w-space