Burn Aridia

I come on-line to look for opportunity. My glorious leader is here already, so has Fin found any? Nope, she's just turned up too, so we scan the home system. Five signatures hold three known sites and the static wormhole, with the remaining signature being some new gas. We resolve the wormhole and jump to our neighbouring class 3 system. A tower and Orca are visible on my directional scanner, the industrial command ship nestled unpiloted inside the tower's force field, which I find from my notes made four months ago. Warping around has nothing interesting out of d-scan range, so we're back to scanning.

Cripes, our probes reveal twenty-two signatures, with six anomalies. I suppose that's not too many, and it's just that I've got quite used to systems with single-digit signatures floating around recently. Fin and I ignore gas, rocks, and radar sites on our quest to find more to explore, and when we resolve two, three, four wormholes the time has come to start visiting them instead of keeping them closed. A K162 from high-sec empire space that's reaching the end of its life may come from Lonetrek, judging by the insipid grey bleeding through the wormhole. A second K162 comes from low-sec, the static exit leads to low-sec, and a third K162 comes from class 4 w-space. It's not terribly inspiring, but we work with what we're given.

The K162 from low-sec comes from Aridia, as Fin discovers, before she jumps through the K162 to high-sec—and the Black Rise region, so Caldari if not Lonetrek itself—and apparently has the wormhole die on her. That's a pain, but at least we have a way back in to w-space already mapped. It just happens to be in Aridia. I take a detour in to C4a, where a Raven battleship and Rorqual capital industrial ship float empty in a tower that's weirdly moved two moons across since I was here ten weeks ago. Scanning the class 4 system has a much more manageable lone anomaly and three signatures to examine, none of which turn out to be further wormholes.

I have nowhere to go but the way I came, and then out to low-sec through C3a's static wormhole. Hello, Aridia! This second exit is not much better for Fin's return than the first. I launch probes and scan, which gets me some anomalies and four extra signatures, all of which are the 'unknown' type and none of which turn out to be wormholes. Empire space is stupid. I'm going to start a campaign to Burn Aridia, beginning now! All I can find to burn is a frigate in a rock field, though, and it's a simple rat. Still, it's a start. I would continue too, but Aii would like to return home after also getting himself isolated, and asks 'can you give Aridia a few more minutes?' It's a reasonable request, so I call a temporary amnesty on the region and return to C3a, although I warn Aii about the significant damage I've already inflicted. 'Mind the flames, aye Penny.'

C3a remains quiet, so I warp across the system to exit through the K162, also to Aridia, but I remember my promise not to burn it for a little while longer. I scan. Three signatures become a radar site, magnetometric site, and a wormhole. It's a K162 from null-sec, but I have nowhere else to go, and it will get me away from Aridia. I jump through the wormhole, appearing in a system in the Venal region with one pilot in the system and core scanning probes on d-scan. I hold on the wormhole for a minute, but the probes go, the pilot goes, and I don't see him pass me. I hope I didn't black out again. It's my turn to scan now. Or scan and rat.

I get to shoot the Loki's guns! It's my first test of the strategic cruiser's weaponry, and my first use of guns that use ammunition. I hope they are point-and-shoot, or I'm not going to get far. Even so, I am in a strategic cruiser, my trained skills are pretty good, so I warp between rock fields until I find a rat battleship, and let loose. As I usually do with the safety of a transparent local channel, I get in to an orbit around the rat, start firing, and then focus on scanning. My ship can take care of itself. I resolve a wormhole and radar site in the system, and am I actually killing this rat? This is embarrassing. Maybe my ship can take care of itself, but it needs to take care of others too, capisce?

My Tengu scanning boat would have ripped through this rat battleship by now. I may have had to change missile types, but I wouldn't be struggling. Of course, I'm not entirely sure what sort of ammunition I should have loaded, and the differences between them are confusing me. I remember seeing a natty chart somewhere that explained the different types, but I'll be buggered if I can find it now. Or, rather, when buying the ammunition. I think I maybe hedged my bets a little and have some rather under-performing ammunition at the moment, which maybe I should correct. Until then, I satisfy myself with popping the cruisers and lesser battleship, leaving the more robust one to rue the loss of its chums.

I leave null-sec through the other wormhole I resolved, licking my wounds and nursing my shame at not knowing how to fly my new and very expensive ship, jumping through a K162 to more class 3 w-space. I remember this system. I chased a hauler through it a year ago, before Mick and I podded two stealth bombers at a wormhole. Good times. Maybe I can be an agent of more mayhem today, as d-scan shows me a tower, two Hurricanes, and a Hoarder. Warping to the tower shows it to be in a rather limited configuration, with only one hangar and no ship array. I don't think this three-member corporation is the same as the one we hassled on our previous visit. And even though the two battlecruisers are empty, the piloted transport is neat.

Stalking the Hoarder would be neater if he actually did something instead of floating inertly in the tower. But I suppose you can't always get what you want. I could be doing something elsewhere, though, so I head homewards. I pass through null-sec and low-sec to get back to C3a, where an Archon carrier now sits piloted at the tower. Well, whoop-de-doo, Mr Archon, but it's too late to be a target now, as the wind is out of my sails. I jump home where, at the end of an unremarkable evening, I am finally productive. Fin and Aii have both made it home, so I make myself useful and help clear the new ladar site of puny Sleepers so that they can harvest the gas. Salvaging even gets a little luck, as we pull in about twelve million ISK! Cor, we won't see evenings like this again soon.

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Tags: archon, eve online, hoarder, hurricane, loki, low-sec, mmorpg, null-sec, orca, penny ibramovic, raven, rorqual, scanning, sleepers, w-space

Straightforward scanning through w-space

I'd like a shorter night than last night. Maybe just a simple poke around w-space, to satisfy my exploration itch but without becoming a chore. I still need to get the feel of my new Loki, the Minmatar strategic cruiser unfamiliar to me but hopefully not much different from other strategic cruisers. It's the guns that concern me the most, as they are quite different to missiles and I'm sure I have no idea what I'm doing with them yet. With any luck I'll be able to practice on a ship that won't shoot back, but it's been a while since I've ambushed a simple industrialist.

Five signatures in the home system is looking a little untidy. What will people think? Hopefully they'll think, 'let's steal these rocks and gas' and give me a fat target or two for practice. But as there are no incoming connections to our system that will have to remain my little fantasy. I resolve the static wormhole and jump to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system to explore. My directional scanner is clear from the K162, with one planet in range and four not. I launch probes, arrange them to perform a blanket scan, and warp away to take a look around.

D-scan shows me a tower further in to the system, but no ships. My combat scanning probes tell me pretty much the same, as well as revealing seven signatures and eight anomalies. I locate the tower and loiter there, in case anyone wakes up, as I resolve the signatures. Gas, gas, wormhole, wormhole—the second feels nullish in strength—rocks, rocks. And two more signatures? Does that mean the first wormhole is fresh and likely to bring a visitor soon? It's worth taking a look to find out, so I warp across and land near what is indeed a K162, but the connection from class 5 w-space is reaching the end of its life and hardly fresh. I think all the extra signature means is that I can't count. But I knew that.

The other signatures are a pair of magnetometric sites, making this a veritable Noah's ark of a class 3 system. I still only have the exit to null-sec k-space to entertain me, so I suppose I'm heading out that way. I appear in the Querious region, where two other pilots in the system will stop me ratting freely, but not scanning. My probes pick up a fair number of anomalies, three ships, and three additional signatures. One is a Blood Raider Base, and easily ignored for now. The second is a wormhole and interesting, not so much because of it connecting this null-sec system to high-sec, but because the B449 type fills in another cell in my table of wormhole designations.

The third signature in this null-sec system is also a wormhole, and one that interests me for its destination, as the X702 leads to class 3 w-space. I jump in to take a look around, and like the previous C3 I am in range of only one planet from the wormhole. I launch probes and warp away to see what I can find, which again turns out to be a tower and lack of ships. This time, though, the tower is owned by a blue corporation. The only hope of engaging ships in this system is if visitors come trotting through, and that is dependent on more wormholes connecting in to here. I have time to sift through the thirteen signatures looking for K162s.

K162 wormholes are pretty obvious when you know what you're looking for, as they have a fairly strong return signature. Once all of the minor rock and gas sites are ignored, I can safely say there are no wormholes connecting in to this C3. But I keep scanning, as the weaker signatures could be outbound connections. Could be, but aren't. I suppose I got what I wanted, with a simple poke around w-space that hasn't taken much time. And I am quite satisfied with that. I have yet to shoot the Loki's guns, but that time surely can't be too far away. For now, I simply head home through a pair of quiet class 3 systems and get an early night.

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

Loki here

I'm planning on a short, simple evening tonight. I'll scan my way to empire space and run some errands, nothing more. Let's see how this works out. Oh, hi two wormholes in the home system, throwing a spanner in the works already, but w-space is just teasing me. Warping to one of the wormholes lands me in empty space, the connection dying before I even reach it. That leaves me with just our static wormhole to jump through, where, in our neighbouring class 3 system, seeing a tower and lack of ships on my directional scanner is a good result today.

Not only am I back on track, but my notes even have this C3 holding a static exit to high-sec empire space. Could it be that one of my plans is going to, uh, plan? There has been tower churn since my last visit, which is also good, because the local corporation was red and actively hostile towards us before. Now the owners aren't quite so red, and so whatever pilots may wake up will shoot me only because they can and not for idealistic reasons. But I suppose there is little functional difference between the two situations.

Scanning reveals a tidy system, with a single anomaly to bookmark and five signatures to resolve. I get a magnetometric site, two gravimetric sites, and the exit to high-sec last. I jump out of w-space to appear in the Essence region, scummy Gallente space and far from anywhere civilised. I'll scan for more wormholes, as maybe I can get lucky and find a better connection. No, on second thoughts, let's not. I remember the last time I scanned for a shorter route through empire space, and took half-an-hour effectively progressing through two stargates. I'll make do with what I have.

I head home, swap my scanning boat for the Crane transport, and stuff it full of loot and salvage to sell. Returning to empire space has me realise that the high-sec exit is a little misleading, as it is a dead end with two low-sec systems between it and contiguous high-sec. But that poses no bother for my Crane, I just find it interesting, and probably accounts for the lack of traffic. I get myself to a trade hub, sell all our loot, and—yes, why not—buy myself the new ship I've been thinking about for ages.

My new Loki strategic cruiser is bought but not assembled, as I manage to squeeze the hull, subsystems, and most of the fittings in to the Crane. I don't buy everything I need as I'm sure we have spare modules back at our tower, and there's no point spending ISK wastefully. I have all I think I need, but I'm not heading back home just yet. Instead, I drop off the Loki at a nearby industrial base I once used and collect some datacores. Now to get the rest, which is meant to be the other simple errand I'm running, but the optimal path between my research agents is a draining fifty hops. Still, I'd better do it.

One hop in to my epic journey and already I'm confused and bitter about using stargates. I have all three remaining research systems entered in to my autopilot, with waypoints set and optimised, but instead of one route to A, B, and then C, apparently I have a quantum path mapped out where my autopilot suggests any three of the five stargates here as being the right one to take. That's really unhelpful, and not just because my supposed nav-comp isn't telling me where I'm going but because I have to remember my optimal waypoint sequence, as the only way to proceed without wasting time is to delete my entire route and take it one leg at a time.

I could ponder what the 'auto' in autopilot stands for on my journey, but I just catch up on some reading. I simply need to be aware of when I transition from high-sec to low-sec, as it presents a shorter route, and when I reach my waypoints. Jump, cloak, repeat. Dock, buy datacores, undock—with datacores in my hold, mind you. Jump, cloak, repeat. I pass a Nemesis stealth bomber ratting on a stargate in low-sec, who then catches up to me on the next gate. Is he chasing me? Whatever, Nemesis dude. I don't see him again. I collect all my datacores and get them back to the industrial base, but can't be bothered to think about selling them now. I want to get home, with my new ship.

I throw the Loki and its fittings back in the Crane and make my way back to the dead-end high-sec system in Essence, where I dock and dump the Loki again. There is method in my madness. Bringing the Loki with the Crane is effectively making one journey here with both ships, and I only need to double my efforts across one high-sec system and one w-space system. Had I assembled my Loki back where I bought it I'd have had to gone back with my pod and made the same long journey a second time. And I assume we can't assemble strategic cruisers in w-space yet, with CCP hating w-spacers still. I'd rather make a short extra trip now than waste time finding out the hard way.

I get the extra modules required from the tower, which we have, and get the Loki built. It's time for PewPewlitzer's maiden voyage. And rather than just take the Loki home, which is generally what I do with new ships, I'll get it working for me straight away, by scanning the high-sec system. A few extra signatures give me something to get my teeth in to, as I resolve a magnetometric site, some drones, a Serpentis site, some rocks, and a wormhole. The outbound connection to class 3 w-space is a pretty neat find too.

Th X702 would be a better find if the system weren't empty and inactive, although the tower from six weeks ago is still there. I could scan for the ECM drones littered somewhere, or for more wormholes, but my short and simple evening has become a long and simple evening, thanks to the seventy jumps or so I've made so far. Or, rather, the seventy systems I've had to warp across, which takes a bit longer than activating a stargate. Still, I travelled through high-sec, low-sec, and w-space freely and without trepidation, barely registering the differences. I've come a long way, baby.

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Tags: crane, eve online, loki, low-sec, mmorpg, nemesis, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Crashing, collapsing, crushing

It's a full house. Is mining happening? 'It was considered, then we found two wormholes.' My glorious leader is currently in our neighbouring class 3 w-space system, resolving what turns out to be a fresh outbound connection to class 1 w-space, and invites me along to take a look. I ignore the K162 from class 4 w-space in our home system and go to join Fin. Jumping in to C1a has a tower and Buzzard visible on my directional scanner, but I see no probes that would suggest the covert operations boat is active. Even so, I find the Buzzard piloted at the tower—but briefly. He goes off-line soon after my arrival in the system. I suppose I'll scan.

Seven anomalies and six signatures take no time to resolve to be rocks and a static exit to low-sec empire space, the connection taking me out to Lonetrek. The low-sec system is slightly duller than C1a too, with just a ladar site to be found when scanning. And Fin's scanned C3a thoroughly, along with its own low-sec exit system, and there is nothing else to see. We head home, but only after I bounce off the tower in C3a which gets me in range of a strangely familiar jet-can, named so that anyone finding it gets in contact with a certain capsuleer. I did that before, in a different system, and was told it was just a prank being played on him. It's a pretty good prank, and system-spanning it seems, as I've not been in this C3 before. I wonder how many concerned pilots have contacted this poor fellow. Someone should ask him.

Back at home, I learn that the C4 connecting to us has been explored but not scanned. I can scan it! '...because the wormhole is EOL.' Well, a dying wormhole is a good reason to ignore the system, but it leaves us the question of what to do. Do we collapse the wormhole and explore again, or harvest gas? Fin, ever the diploma, says we can do both. So we over stress our wormhole with suitably massive ships, killing it prematurely to give me a new constellation to scan whilst Fin pulls in a cloud or two of fullerites in a ladar site. Everyone's happy.

I resolve the new static wormhole, also confirming no surprises in the home system, and jump to the class 3 system beyond. I see a tower and some ships on d-scan and get closer to see that the Archon carrier and Maller are piloted, the Orca industrial command ship and Absolution command ship not. Opening the system map shows that none of the five planets and seven moons offers anywhere to hide so that I can launch probes. I'll do it quickly, no one will notice. A blanket scan tells me the locals are mucky pups, with fifteen signatures cluttering the system, even if there is only one anomaly. I won't scan just yet, though, in case the ships start moving.

Okay, I'm ignoring the tower. Some core scanning probes have appeared in the system, which makes it look like another pilot has sneaked up. A fresh blanket scan and the same fifteen signatures suggests otherwise, but I can't place the source of the probes. This is why I sit on the K162 and scan, ignoring a couple of mining sites before an occasional check of d-scan shows the other probes gone and a pilot dropped to a pod at the tower. I return to see what's happening, and it's only the Maller pilot having stowed his ship and now aboard the Absolution. But the Archon is abandoned too, in favour of a Dominix battleship, and now a Buzzard warps in to the tower. Damn, I should probably have refrained from scanning when I saw a lack of new signatures. That'll teach me.

More ship changes occur, but I don't pay close enough attention. I'm stuck looking at the Orca after it is moved to a hangar, only for it to now be unpiloted and the pilot missing, as is a second capsuleer. But d-scan helps a bit, showing me a Legion strategic cruiser in the system launching probes. I update Fin about what I'm seeing, as she is still gassing, only to discover that my Tengu's systems have crashed again. Stupid ship. And I know that rebooting will have my strategic cruiser decloak very obviously outside the tower and remain visible in space for at least a minute, but I don't really have any option. I take the Tengu off-line.

I've lost all semblance of being covert. I think I'll just go home and get some sleep, frustrated. And when I get the Tengu back on-line there are predictably some changes in C3a. The Dominix and Armageddon battleships that were at the tower are gone, although less predictably the Legion is back at the tower and being swapped for the Orca. I was thinking I would have a gauntlet to run getting home, the battleships looking to catch and kill me, but as the Orca starts slowing moving I think that perhaps instead the locals are collapsing our connection. D-scan almost confirms it, with the Armageddon sitting on the K162, and instead of the night being over maybe we can actually catch a ship.

I warp to the wormhole, dropping short to keep my cloak, to see the connection flare and Orca warp in. This is actually quite exciting. I've alerted Fin and she's swapping ships as I update her, with the Orca jumping through the wormhole and the Dominix and Armageddon milling around on this side of it. The Orca returns and holds its cloak, the Armageddon curiously cloaks itself, and the Dominix moves away from the wormhole. They probably don't even know Fin's in the other system, as the wormhole is out of range of our tower and the ladar site. So with Fin preparing an Oracle battlecruiser we have the opportunity for a bit of fun, particularly as all these pilots are now polarised and Fin and I aren't, trapping them here and giving us an escape route. Knowing this, when the Orca decloaks so do I, pouncing on it as soon as my sensor recalibration delay allows.

Even better than having an escape route from the Dominix, the battleship warps away from the fight. This is looking better and better, particularly as the Orca is locked and taking damage from my missiles. I burn towards it to bump it, in case it has warp core stabilisers fitted, as the Armageddon reappears on the wormhole. He's not doing anything for the moment, but that's no surprise. After the significant delay of sensor recalibration and the penalty to his scan resolution, the battleship finally locks on to me and starts, oh, sucking my capacitor dry. The Orca warps clear regardless, probably because of some additional warp core strength, so I swap my offensive systems to the Armageddon, just as Fin jumps in and adds her potent ship to the engagement.

The capacitor-neutralising Armageddon is formidable indeed, completely draining me of juice, but it doesn't seem to be capable of doing anything else. And as Fin has plenty of energy to disrupt the warp engines of the battleship, and my launchers need no energy to fire, the Armageddon is going down. We strip its shields, then armour, and rip apart the hull. No help arrives for the battleship, and it explodes beautifully. I aim for the pod, but miss trapping it by a split-second, so 'loot and run' says Fin. Good plan. I loot the wreck of the Armageddon, shooting it too to leave nothing for the locals, and we both jump home, pretty much unscathed.

Well, that was fun and exciting! A great bit of teamwork and communication got us an excellent opportunistic kill, and all off the back of an irritating crash. As it turned out, the Armageddon was fit solely to neut, with no weapons configured, although it had a flight of ECM drones it could have deployed. We couldn't have known that, though, and I'm sure the C3ers could have brought some help to the wormhole, even at range, just to shoo us away. But I like the notion that we are better becoming dastardly pirates, ambushing and assaulting anyone who crosses our path. I know that when I was new in w-space I would be fearful and admiring of us, had I been on the other side of the fight. And rather than going off-line frustrated, I can now sleep peacefully.

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Tags: absolution, archon, armageddon, buzzard, dominix, eve online, legion, maller, mmorpg, oracle, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, tengu, w-space

Too many wormholes

My glorious leader has resolved a K162 from class 2 w-space as I arrive. She guides me to it before warping herself away to our static wormhole, jumping through to the class 3 system beyond. My task is to find whoever opened the wormhole to the home system. I'm not going to find it from the other side of wormhole, with my directional scanner being clear of any signs of occupation, so I warp out to explore. Launching probes and blanketing the system reveals two anomalies, five signatures, and no ships, and I find one tower on my warping around. I make a note of its position and scan the signatures.

A single ladar site sits amongst three wormholes in this C2. The K162 from more class 2 w-space is neat, a D382 to even more class 2 w-space is confusing—I can't reliably tell whether this wormhole or the Y683 to our home system is the static connection—and the third wormhole is an A239 that exits to low-sec empire space. I'll check C2b first, through the K162, and in warp think that I'm probably weirded-out by the extra outbound connection mostly because I've still yet to see one in our class 4 home. I've been assured they occur, but it must be pretty rare.

Jumping in to C2b has a tower with accompanying Orca industrial command ship on d-scan. The tower's in the same place from my last visit four months ago, and the Orca is empty. Nothing notable happened on my last visit, I know there are class 2 and low-sec static wormholes, and exploring the system has no obvious activity. With another class 2 system to explore, which itself promises another w-space connection, I won't scan here just yet. I'd rather find activity than move probes around, no matter how good I am at it. A shuttle isn't really what I am looking for, but it and two towers in C2c gives a little hope.

I locate the two towers but not the shuttle. That it's elsewhere is interesting, until I actually find it, as the shuttle is unpiloted and floating next to an off-line tower and four wrecks. Maybe whoever destroyed the other shuttles and frigates worked out their frustration by the time the Caldari ship was left, or perhaps he was interrupted. I can see scanning probes on d-scan now, and as wrecks decay after a couple of hours in space whoever was here must have been here relatively recently. And as someone is scanning, maybe I can too. I just need to find somewhere out of sight to launch my probes.

Warping in one direction doesn't find me a safe place out of range of the two towers to launch probes, just two more towers. An unpiloted Badger sits in the force field of one, so there's still no one obvious watching beyond the scanner, but I'd rather launch my probes where I'm really not likely to be seen. The next planet out has three more towers anchored around various moons, none with ships, and warping right back across the system bumps me in to yet another tower, this one with fifteen ships in its shields. The ships aren't particularly threatening, with a Vexor cruiser being as big as they get, and less so as they belong to a four-member corporation. And, of course, none are piloted.

I can actually launch probes out of range of a tower, despite the towers covering most of the system, because there is a large gap between two planets that lets me create a safe spot between them out of range of both. Now I can scan, and it seems that launching probes will be the longer of the two processes, with only three anomalies and eight signatures to sift through. And as I start scanning a Loki decloaks near me. A ship appearing was what I was hoping for, funny as it sounds, although maybe not a strategic cruiser. With so many towers so spread out I thought the best place to sit whilst scanning would be the wormhole I entered through and, sure enough, I spot the red-skulled scout as he leaves.

Fin's not found any activity in the other direction, having scanned her way out of C3a to null-sec k-space and is resolving more wormholes there, so I ask if we should hunt the Loki. But we both remember what happened the last time I suggested we hunt a Loki, so I'm not surprised or disappointed when she says no. And it turns out to be a good decision again, as my probes pick up a second strategic cruiser, just as they resolve a wormhole. It turns out to be a second Loki, which I discern only because it drops out of warp at the wormhole but with a yellow-skulled pilot. He pauses at the wormhole but doesn't jump, warping instead to where I have now moved my probes. I am failing at being discreet with my scanning, even if I'm succeeding in finding wormholes in use.

The red-skulled Loki returns from C2a and warps to join his yellow-skulled colleague, and I have finished scanning. I picked up yellow skull on an outbound connection to class 1 w-space, and him and red skull looked to go towards a K162 from high-sec. Then again, from the K162 where I was loitering there is also a K162 from another class 2 system along a similar vector. To round off all five signatures being wormholes, the second static connection is an exit to high-sec that's reaching the end of its life. So I have class 1 and class 2 w-space systems to explore from this C2, but mere minutes after two Lokis have scouted them. I doubt the pair would leave anyone alive, but I suppose space can change quickly and that it's worth a shufti, at least.

Before I explore more w-space I take a peak through the K162 from high-sec, to see if red and yellow skull are there. They're not on the wormhole, or in the local channel, but Concord are here, so I suppose that's a good indication that red skull came this way. I just don't know whether he continued this way or returned to w-space. I jump back to C2c and decide to look in C2d, where a Tengu jumps past me in to C2c before I shed my session change cloak. I can only assume the strategic cruiser saw the wormhole flare on my entrance, but that he doesn't know who I am or what I'm flying. That suits me for now, and I move away and cloak whilst I have the chance.

The Tengu returns to C2d a couple of minutes later and cloaks, only to be followed by a second wormhole flare. That would be quite exciting if the Tengu happened to be escorting a hauler through w-space, but the ship that appears is just yellow skull. The Tengu's in the same corporation as the two cloaky Lokis, so it's really good that I chose not to engage. And with both ships in this system, with probably red skull having come this way too, I think my time is best spent looking in another direction. I neither scan nor explore this C2, and merely head back to C2c and across to C1a. But, as I suspected for the Lokis to be leaving it alone, the system is empty of opportunity.

I think that's it for me tonight. There has been plenty to scan and explore, with even more left uncovered, but the hour has drawn on with all the scanning, warping, and reconnoitring. Someone will have to throw an industrial ship in front of me to stop me heading home to sleep now. Some days there can simply be too many wormholes, and you can't find time to do anything with the space you're given.

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Tags: badger, eve online, loki, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, vexor, w-space

Lightening the load

The class 3 w-space system I'm in is quiet. It's not our neighbouring system though, as I've already strayed and had a bit of adventure so far tonight. I suspect popping a Badger, and then a salvaging Thrasher and hacking Manticore, has exhausted my options in this direction, so I head back to the class 4 system that isn't our home, and on to the class 2 w-space system that is finally connected to the home system. But before I return I'll poke my nose through the K162 from high-sec that's here. I have some loot to sell that I thought was better with me than the Thrasher and Manticore.

Jumping to high-sec has an Ibis frigate on the wormhole, but empty. Even so, I have to remind myself that I'm out of w-space, and not even in low-sec this time, and that I really shouldn't pop the frigate for fun. It most certainly would not be. Then again, a Heron frigate appearing on the wormhole as soon as I move away and cloak is a fair target, once it jumps past me in to the C2. I go back to give chase, apparently blasé to my holding a quarter of a billion ISK in my hold and now being polarised in lawless w-space. There's no time to think about that now, because there's the Heron. I decloak and watch him warp away a split-second before I can gain a positive lock.

The Heron looks to be warping to the tower. I go there myself, safely cloaked now, but don't see the ship. I think his choice of destination was arbitrary and coincidental. He also says hello to me in the local channel, although I'm not actually local myself. Some scout he is. I ignore him for now, not getting distracted again with my lucrative haul from earlier combat, and wait for polarisation to end before heading back to high-sec. There is a buyer of Sleeper loot in the Lonetrek region a few hops away from the exit, and I make my way there to sell what I've got. I keep the salvage, not wanting to trade it too far below the market price, but I've halved the value of what I'm carrying as I return to w-space.

Lonetrek is encapsulated in a rather dreary grey cloud, but its neighbouring regions look spectacular from a distance. Flying through k-space can be breathtaking, and it's not an experience we get in w-space. But I leave it behind for my natural territory, crossing the class 2 system to get back home. I make sure the system looks clear before going to the tower to drop the unsold salvage in to the tower, and I realise I've not been through our static connection yet. Maybe I have more activity to find. Jumping in to the class 3 system has a tower and no ships on my directional scanner, but that's not a bad result when only one planet with one moon is in range. I'll explore.

The tower is easy to locate, being anchored to the only moon d-scan shows me, and my notes inform me that it could be the same tower from two years ago, almost to the day. There were six other towers in this system then, piled high with silos, but exploring finds none of them. There are two more towers, though, and still no pilots. Scanning plucks a K162 from high-sec out of the dozen signatures, with a second wormhole feeling like the static exit also to high-sec. We're spoilt for choice for high-sec access today, if we only needed it. I check the exits to appear in the Kor-Azor region through the static wormhole, which has two extra signatures in the system, but only a magnetometric site and a K162 from null-sec that's at the end of its life.

Going back and crossing C3a takes me out to Tash-Murkon Prime, and even closer to Amarr than I was in Kor-Azor. But I'm not doing logistics now, and the evening is late enough without my moving haulers around. I'll restrict myself to scanning, which with thirty-one anomalies in a 0·9-sec system is far from restrictive. There are only two other signatures, though, which makes resolving what turn out to be two more wormholes fairly speedy. Both results are interesting too, one being a Z971 outbound connection to class 1 w-space, and the other a V283 wormhole to null-sec. I'll be sticking to w-space, and hopefully a system with some soft targets.

I see a tower and two Drake battlecruisers, an Anathema covert operations boat, and a pod on d-scan from the K162 in C1a. There's also a canister, but no wrecks. And also no corporate hangar array, which probably means something about the tower here, and as I won't know what until I find it, that's what I do. Looking for the tower shows the can to be elsewhere, but with nothing else to accompany it the can loses much of its interest. The ships at the tower are curious, however, as is the tower itself. It's owned by a one-member corporation, whose one member is in the Anathema. So who are the others? One Drake and the pod are in an Amarrian state corporation, and the other Drake is a member of Ivy League.

The affiliations of the pilots here are curious, but not terribly compelling. A passive scan of the system reveals over twenty anomalies, but the ships don't warp out to engage Sleepers. I loiter for a little while to see if the ships are doing anything, like configuring the tower or hauling in supplies or new pilots, but they're not. And as I know from a previous visit that the system's static wormhole leads to high-sec I imagine that any hauling would involve that, and little opportunity to disrupt it meaningfully. That's okay, I've had quite a full evening. I leave these dozing pilots to their catnap, and head home for the night.

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Tags: anathema, drake, eve online, heron, ibis, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space

Easily distracted

I've popped a hauler without even knowing where it's come from. That seems a little impolite, so I'm heading the way it was, before it fled my unwanted advances, to see if I can rectify the situation. I assumed this class 4 w-space system was the end of the constellation, as it leads to a class 2 system that itself leads to our own home system and high-sec empire space, but apparently not. I didn't scan earlier, but now I will. Still no one local is home, and the pod of the hauler is nowhere to be seen, so it's just me and my probes. At least, until I resolve a K162 from class 3 w-space. Maybe I'll find a capsuleer or two through there.

Hello! A Tengu strategic cruiser, Legion strategic cruiser, Dominix battleship, Abaddon battleship, Navy Apocalypse battleship and Drake battlecruiser is more than a capsuleer or two. That's a fully fledged fleet, and without a tower in sight! It's also too much for me to handle alone, but with all the wrecks visible on my directional scanner, after a minor adjustment, I imagine this fleet will have a salvager flying in their wake. I can wait for him. All I have to do is move away from the wormhole, activate my cloak, and run the on-board scanner to find all the anomalies here. All two of them. Hmm.

The fleet isn't in either anomaly, which means I'll have to scan their position in whatever magnetometric or radar site they're in. I warp out, launch probes, and head back to where I know the fleet is, now with added Thrasher. I suspect the destroyer is the salvaging vessel, which is rather an old school method of sweeping up. It's also harder to catch and pop than a Noctis salvager, as well as cheaper, which I hope makes up for the hassle of salvaging the hard way. The bigger, combat ships are warping away, which I realise as I start to get a bearing on the site. That's both good and bad. It's good that the fleet isn't guarding their salvager, but bad in that my probes won't have any particularly massive ships to lock on to. I'll have to be more accurate with my scanning.

As I try to locate the site using d-scan I occasionally spread the beam wider. A Tengu is loitering somewhere, as is a Helios covert operations boat. A Manticore enters the system, and I think that the Thrasher will have protection, particularly when the stealth bomber apparently warps in to the site with the destroyer, but I'll find out soon enough. I call my probes in to scan and get a solid hit first time on the Thrasher, giving me a coordinate to warp to and bookmark, even if the radar site and Manticore remain quite fuzzy. The Thrasher is salvaging, unsurprisingly, but it looks like the Manticore is hacking the Sleeper databanks. Okay, I didn't expect that, but I'm cool with it.

Standard stealth bombers aren't normally much of a threat by themselves. But if the Manticore has a warp disruptor fitted and has friends nearby for assistance I could be in trouble if I ambush the Thrasher. The Navy Slicer now on d-scan doesn't help my nerves. As a ship, it's still not much direct threat to me, but as an interceptor-like fast frigate it could hold me in place long enough for the big guns to arrive and easily pop me. Still, nothing ventured, nothing destroyed in a fireball.

I warp in to the Thrasher, decloaking when I am close, and get a positive lock. I disrupt his warp engines and web the ship to what I hope is a crawl. As I shoot the Thrasher the Manticore locks on and shoots me, but he's not stopping me warping clear yet. I concentrate on the destroyer, aligning back out to my safe spot nearby in case trouble warps in, and watch as my missiles wear through the shields, armour, structure. The Thrasher's thrashed and explodes. The pilot's pod warps clear almost immediately, but I can stay a bit longer. I transfer my point and launchers across to the Manticore, as I notice that my vector out of the site happily coincides with the ex-Thrasher's. I'll be grabbing the loot whilst I'm here.

I examine the wreck and—woo!—I may have hit the jackpot. Lots of Sleeper loot has survived, all of it scattered around. I select it all, scramble to deselect the metal scraps, and transfer it across to my hold. Two seconds later, the Manticore stops shooting me long enough to pop the wreck of the Thrasher I've just looted. It looks like he saw what I was doing and wanted to deny me my spoils. And as I left the metal scraps behind the wreck wouldn't look empty to the Manticore pilot, making him think he was successful. Nope, denial denied! I got it all, thank you.

Thinking his job is done, the Manticore turns and flees. Still aware that help could warp in at any moment, I think about fleeing too. But, somewhat against my better judgement, I turn back towards the Manticore and get my micro warp drive hot, burning in his direction to close the gap. He is still caught by my warp disruptor and clearly started moving to get out of its range. But I'm faster. I close to within ten kilometres and get my web on the stealth bomber, at which point he can kiss his ship goodbye. A few volleys of my assault missiles rips his tiny hull apart, and this time I nearly catch his pod. He gets clear, though, and so do I.

I warp back out to my monitoring point, cloaking as soon as I can, and wait to see what happens. Actually, I'll count my loot, the loot that the Manticore thinks he denied me. Oh, that looks much better when stacked, particularly as I can now see the salvage that also survived. A hundred and twenty-one million ISK in loot, a hundred and twenty million ISK in salvage. That's beautiful, so very beautiful. And it's mine. If only that damned Slicer would disappear off d-scan I'd go back for the Manticore wreck, particularly once the site despawns after a few minutes of inactivity.

The Slicer didn't exactly come to the aid of either ship, and I have no idea where the fleet is, but I saw a Purifier stealth bomber appear on d-scan when I was shooting the Manticore, so I can't be entirely sure it's safe to loot the remaining wreck. I'd like to think the fleet would send another ineffective stealth bomber at me, but most of my targets wise up after the first attack. And it looks like these are no exception. A Drake entering the system piques my interest, as do the host of Sleeper wrecks still floating around somewhere that I have been oblivious to so far. I suppose once I found all the ships I didn't think to look for anything else, nor did I need to in the end.

It looks like the Drake is acting as salvager, which seems both sensible and probably more than my solo Tengu can pop. And here's the Slicer, warping in to the now no-longer radar site. And there he goes again. What a twonk. Quite why he left the Manticore wreck alone is beyond me, but now seems like the best time to loot it myself, so I warp in, grab the datacores and decryptors the Manticore had recovered from the databanks, and shoot the wreck before warping out again.

That's another little chunk of ISK for me, thank you. Seeing a pair of Rifter frigates on d-scan helping the Drake makes me think it's time to leave. I can happily ignore them.

Rule 1: Never go back.
Rule 2: Definitely never go back with a quarter of a billion ISK in your hold.

My only concern now is getting out of the system safely. I have to expect that the fleet knows of the T405 wormhole back to the class 4 system, but pointing d-scan at it shows there to be no ships obviously waiting for me. I warp across, jump, and get clear on the other side without any threat. Maybe there are more wormholes to find in that C3—although that would make shooting Sleepers a pretty risky proposition in the first place—or maybe the fleet is merely guarding its route home. Hang on a second, that's reminding me of something. Ah! I was looking for the Badger's home system. Meh, I don't really care any more. I got myself two good kills and am a quarter of a billion ISK richer. Bye, chaps! We should do this again sometime.

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Tags: abaddon, apocalypse, dominix, drake, eve online, helios, legion, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, purifier, pvp, rifter, scanning, slicer, tengu, thrasher, w-space

Catching a capsuleer coming home

I enjoyed hunting the Heron yesterday. Maybe I can find more to shoot today. A new signature at home is a start, and a positive one, as it isn't a dull mining site but a second wormhole. The K162 comes from class 2 w-space, which is tempting enough for me to ignore our static connection for now and jump straight through. All I see from the other side of the wormhole is that I'm in a pretty good safe spot, some 6 AU from the nearest planet, and outside the edge of the system, otherwise I only have notes that are almost two years old. I can be confident that the second static wormhole still leads to high-sec empire space, but I'll have to confirm any current occupation.

It's not just occupation that I find. I warp across the diameter of the system, passing a tower that I see thanks to my directional scanner, to drop out of warp in range of some Sleeper wrecks. The only problem is that I don't, and didn't, see any ships at all. The active anomaly is straightforward enough to find, and warping in sees the wrecks looted but (obviously) not salvaged, along with a Sleeper battleship and two cruisers. Combat occurred within the past couple of hours, but it is stale. Maybe a high-sec tourist came in and nabbed a few quick kills before deciding he'd had enough. I dunno. I've not much else to do but make a note of this, find the tower, and scan, whilst I wait and hope for the activity to resume.

Please, people, tidy up. There may be only seven anomalies in this C2 but there are twenty-six signatures, and I doubt they're all wormholes. Still, I resolve two wormholes with only a little interference from rocks and gas, giving me two K162s, one from high-sec, the other from class 4 w-space. They're both neat for their own reasons, but I prefer w-space and jump in to C4a. A tower with no ships on d-scan is a disappointing result, but pretty standard. A passive scan reveals thirteen anomalies, with none out of range, so beyond locating the tower for reference I'm not staying here, not even to scan.

I return to C2a with nothing still happening, and head home. But as I drop out of warp near the wormhole a Badger appears on d-scan, halting my plans and having me scrambling to get a bearing on the hauler. He looks to be on the exit to high-sec, but is he coming or going? The Badger drops off d-scan soon enough, and I turn around to check the local tower, far out of d-scan range, but see no Badger there. I suppose he was going. Now I just need to know where he was going from. I could perhaps scan this C2 more thoroughly, but with so many signatures and an unknown distance between the exit and a trade hub I don't know how much time I have. I'll assume the Badger came from C4a and head home to swap my scanning boat for a stealth bomber.

No, no stealth bomber for me. It seems a trade hub must be close, because the time it took me to warp to the tower and back, admittedly a fair distance, as well as consider my options, has the Badger reappear on d-scan. I take a chance, which is pretty much my only option anyway, and warp to the K162 from C4a. Unlike the Badger, I'm in luck. The hauler is slowing out of warp on the wormhole as I get there, and jumps through. I decloak and burn hard to the wormhole myself, following the Badger, happy to see my Tengu and micro warp drive responding well.

The Badger hasn't cleared the wormhole by the time I appear in C4a, giving me enough time to decloak, gain a target lock, and disrupt his warp drive. The hauler has little option beyond exploding, and jumps back to C2a. Now he's polarised, and although I will be too I return to the class 2 system to finish the slaughter.

I catch the Badger a second time and quickly reduce it to debris, but only to see the pod warp away, leaving me to loot what is essentially an empty wreck. It seems that the Badger took loot out of w-space to sell, and I can only have missed him in the C4 by a couple of minutes.

But there's more going on here. I was wondering why I didn't see the pilot in the C4 when I was there, and although it possible that he comes on-line, stuffs a hauler full of loot, and uses corporate bookmarks to head straight to high-sec in a matter of minutes, there is a simpler explanation: he's not from C4a and I've got more to find. First, I loot and shoot the wreck, for what it's worth, and consider the pod. He's polarised and stuck in this C2 for a few minutes, but wanting to get home, wherever that is. Had I been smarter, I'd have gone to our tower and grabbed an Onyx heavy interdictor to make his life, well, over, but by the time I think about this the polarisation effect is what's over. I'll only miss the pod and have to swap back to my scanning Tengu. I think my best option is to return to C4a and scan for more wormholes. I get a suspicion I'll find one, although I am also thinking that I won't catch any more pilots, and probably just put myself in danger. Ah well, such is w-space life.

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

Sticking to one system to hunt

The gas is gone again, only to replaced by more gas. Not much more, just a token pocket of gas, to give the impression we're more industrial than we actually are. And we have two wormholes again. I like that, and going with the change of pace I ignore our static connection and jump through the K162 to class 5 w-space. The J-number of this C5 seems familiar, but I don't think one visit two years ago really strikes a chord with me. I'm just seeing patterns, which is about all I'm seeing. I don't think anyone's been this way for hours. I'll take a look around all the same, but apart from a tower on a distant planet there's nothing in the system. I won't scan, just head home and through our static connection after all.

Two canisters are on my directional scanner from the K162 in C3a, which are probably related to the two off-line towers. And as the single planet out of d-scan range doesn't hold an active tower, I launch probes and scan in this desolate system. Two rather obvious wormholes resolve from signatures more than 4 AU from planets, and a couple more subtle connections appear in the middle the of system. For those playing at home, that's four wormholes. I have a K162 from high-sec empire space, a static exit to low-sec, a K162 from null-sec k-space, and—oh, what larks!—a K162 from deadly class 6 w-space. There is one of each security level of space, and the w-space version is a C6.

My options may be limited to leaving w-space or entering the C6, but before I make my choice I am reminded of the option of staying here, when a Heron appears on d-scan and launches probes. I don't see where the Heron starts his adventure, as I am in the system map orientating myself to the various wormholes I've resolved, but I should be able to track him across this C3 now. That is, once he finishes scanning. There may be only seven signatures here, but the Heron is a simple scanning frigate. The ship itself lacks some of the more sophisticated equipment for quicker scanning, and the pilot probably isn't fully trained yet either. I could be waiting a little while. But I'll wait, even for a pop at a Heron.

La la la, the probes come and the probes go until, finally, the Heron decloaks. I spin d-scan around and detect the frigate at the exit to low-sec. I throw my Tengu strategic cruiser in to warp, hoping I can be quick enough, but land by the wormhole with no Heron in sight. I work d-scan again and have the Heron near the C6 connection. Again, I give chase, but now I'm thinking I should have just stayed still. I am one step behind the Heron as it surveys the wormholes its resolved, and I should just stop and sit. The Heron visits the null-sec connection as I wonder which wormhole he's likely to jump through after visiting them all. He perhaps wants more w-space, and as the C6 is more scary than our own C4, he'll probably use our K162 first. I'll wait there.

The Heron drops off d-scan, so either I'm wrong or he's gone to reconnoitre the K162 from high-sec, which is quite distant. Sure enough, a minute later the Heron's back on d-scan and dropping out of warp on our K162. Good choice, sir. Madam, even. She's close to the wormhole and looking to jump, but maybe not quite close enough. Perhaps she bookmarked the cosmic signature from the scan result, not realising it differs from the locus of the wormhole itself. That works to my advantage, so I decloak, lock on to the Heron, and start shooting. She's clearly flustered, as a probe is accidentally pooped out of a launcher, but even a webbed frigate can cover a kilometre or two soon enough. She jumps through the K162 as I'm stripping her armour. That's okay, I can follow.

I jump to the home system and shed my session change cloak immediately, getting all my systems hot and waiting. The Heron bides its time. But she has to decloak eventually. Sensibly, she tries to run here, rather than jump right back and be in the same position but also polarised, and evades my targeting systems by cloaking. But I point my ship towards her last known position, pulse my micro warp drive, and bump in to her. Her cloak de-activates and I start to target as, aligned in preparation, she warps away. I see where she goes, and make a mistake in following her.

Warping to the planet is a fair idea, giving chase to my prey, but the frigate is faster than me. If she thinks I'm following she could feasibly bounce off the planet back to the wormhole and jump through before I'm half-way back myself, and so easily evade me through my own impetuous nature. I kick myself, turn around, and warp back to the wormhole. There's no Heron here, so I jump. There's no Heron here either. I wait for a minute but she's not holding her session change cloak as a bluff. She could be cloaked and pulling away from the wormhole until I can do nothing to her when she decloaks, or, more realistically, she bounced off the planet in our home system to another planet, not the wormhole, and is still in the C4. That makes more sense.

What also makes sense is the Heron being from low-sec, which is where I first placed the frigate when it was warping around the wormholes. Warping to visit the K162 from high-sec would have been unnecessary too had she come from there. So rather than wait on our K162 for the Heron to return I think my best plan is to sit on the U210 and surprise her there. All I have to do is wait a bit longer. And after a bit longer the Heron is back on d-scan. I narrow the beam and point it at our K162, but the Heron disappears. A wider d-scan beam has the Heron still in range, so it is warping somewhere, just not on a direct line to this wormhole. I point d-scan at the C6 K162 and see the Heron appear there. Okay, I'll go there.

The Heron is gone by the time I reach the K162 to C6a, but rather than make another mistake I simply sit C3-side. The Heron didn't see me on our home K162, nor on the C6 K162, so is probably thinking she's shaken my tail. That should work to my advantage. And it's not long before the wormhole in front of me flares. I decloak, get my systems ready, and realise I have decloaked my half-billion ISK cruiser in front of a C6 K162 with no real idea of what's just jumped through. I'm hoping it's the Heron, and thankfully it is. I gain another positive lock and start shooting again, this time with the frigate at half shields and armour, and probably polarised for another minute and unable to escape through the wormhole.

Popping the Heron is the inevitable result of my getting hold of her in this situation. And I catch her pod as it is ejected too, vicious pirate that I am turning her in to a corpse. Maybe I should feel guilty, particularly as there is an astrometric pinpointing skill book in the wreck, and I pitted my strategic cruiser against a frigate, but I don't. That's how I hunt in w-space. I scanned, reconnoitred, made good use of d-scan, and was patient. For my efforts I got an interesting and rewarding hunt, along with a new corpse for my collection. I scoop, loot, and shoot.

And with a bit of time left in the evening decide to see what the Heron found in the C6: two towers with a couple of dreadnoughts, a carrier, and some shuttles floating empty inside the force fields. Also like the Heron, I go back the way I came, but without someone waiting for me on the other side of the wormhole. I head home and bed down for the night, after a satisfying evening.

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

Hunt, shoot, rat

Hey, w-space, how about throwing a hauler my way today? A bookmark to our static wormhole is a help, thank you mystery scout, letting me get to exploring the constellation with little delay. But jumping to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system has nothing visible on my directional scanner, and nothing out of range. Adjusting the settings finds an off-line tower floating somewhere, which makes me suspect the system holds a static exit to null-sec k-space. There's one way to find that out.

Launching probes and blanketing the system suggests no one has been in this C3 for a while, with twenty-four anomalies scattered around. There are only eight signatures, though, and those turn out to be mostly wormholes, with four resolved in a row before they give way to rocks and a touch of gas. Reconnoitring the wormholes gives me a static exit to low-sec empire space, not null, although the second and fourth links are K162s from null-sec, one reaching the end of its life. My first choice is the third wormhole, an N968 outbound connection to more class 3 w-space.

In C3b d-scan shows me a Thanatos carrier, Noctis salvager, and a tower. With no wrecks around I doubt anything is happening, but I perform a passive scan of the system anyway, just in case, to reveal a single anomaly 42 AU away. As there's a Noctis somewhere, and time is generally of the essence, I think it best to warp out and look for a fleet before confirming the salvager is piloted, but getting to the edge of the system sees no other ships. Whilst out here, I launch probes and blanket the system, which shows me the two ships I know about, the anomaly my on-board scanner revealed, and four signatures. Now I'll find the tower.

Warping back to the inner system has a Helios covert operations boat in place of the Noctis on d-scan, and locating the tower shows neither the Helios nor the Thanatos there. Curiouser and curiouser. I'd better hunt them, not that there is much I can do about a carrier by myself. I use d-scan to get a good bearing and range on the ships, and arrange my probes around their position, knowing that I can be quite rough when aiming for a ship as massive as the Thanatos. I'm ready to scan for the ships, just when they both warp in to the tower. That's disappointing.

What's more disappointing is both pilots going off-line shortly after their return. My probes are still in place, so I hit 'scan' and see what they were up to. Nothing, apparently. It looks like they were in a safe spot, maybe checking the configuration of the carrier, so it's a shame I wasn't a minute quicker in scanning for them. Then again, now that I can scan the system completely, there are only three signatures. I think the carrier was gassing. There's still nothing I can do about it, so I scan the signatures that remain, resolving a K162 from class 5 w-space and the system's static exit to low-sec. As the K162 is EOL, this looks like the end of the constellation.

I exit through C3b's static wormhole to appear in the notorious Old Man Star system in Essence, and with a dozen pilots in the system I think I've seen enough here. I backtrack through C3b to C3a, and out to a different low-sec system. Aliette—gentille Aliette—is in the Sinq Laison region and feels rather more laid back than Old Man Star. I've even been here before, as evidenced by having a safe spot bookmarked, which I use now for launching probes. There is a Noctis and some wrecks somewhere, and I'm keen to look for them. I'm less keen when the Noctis looks to be at a tower, but keen levels rise again when I notice that the tower doesn't have an active force field.

The tower is being anchored as I watch, the Noctis nearby but inert. A check of the other pilots in the system shows a colleague of the Noctis nearby, but a closer look at the pilot sees that he's only a few days in to space. There can't be much such a young capsuleer can do to me, I would hope. And even though it's not a hauler, nor is it w-space, but it's a soft target in low-sec, so I warp in to say hello to the Noctis. The explosions of my missiles are quite a warm welcome, right until the pilot's pod gets launched in to chill of space from a disintegrating ship. I let the pod go and loot the salvager, finding nothing of value inside. The colleague of the Noctis leaves the system, my security status goes down, and a Helios is scanning. It's just another day in New Eden.

Aww, man. My security status has gone negative again. I foresee more dullness in ratting in my future. Before I see if null-sec behind me holds any opportunity for tedium, I scan low-sec, finding a Serpentis Annex, radar site, magnetometric site, and a wormhole. The wormhole is a K162 and EOL, but as it comes from class 1 w-space I think it's worth a quick peek. Jumping in sees a tower on d-scan, along with a load of bubbles that I have to filter out to see the Noctis, two Iteron haulers, two Hulk exhumers, Drake battlecruiser, and Damnation command ship. There are no wrecks visible, so I'll locate the tower to see how empty the ships are.

I think I've found the bubbles that are the source of noise on d-scan. There are one or two—actually 137—protecting the tower from, um, their own paranoia maybe. I feel mostly safe in my interdiction-nullified strategic cruiser, but with such a mess around the tower I'm not sure I can get closer for a better look. But thanks to the tactical overlay I see a clear path that lets me get a good view of the ships, with all but the Noctis and one of the Iterons piloted. Maybe I should have a look for an operation in progress. I warp out, launch probes, and blanket the system, but all my probes show me are the ships in the tower. Nothing's happening here, and I should probably leave whilst the wormhole lives.

I return to low-sec, then C3a, and head out to null-sec through the healthy K162 to appear in a system in the Impass region by myself. I'll be ratting, I suppose. I eschew cruisers in the first few rocks fields and, amongst some fresh wrecks, pop a rat battleship. I am in a dead-end system in null-sec and think about pushing back a few systems, even though there appears to be another pilot or two ratting around here. Well, if I'm going to be shooting war criminal Noctes in low-sec I ought to make the effort to keep my security status healthy. And hopping through stargates sees an occasional pilot, but nothing to stop me popping a handful of rat battleships in different systems. I even manage to get my security status positive again by the time I get back to w-space. But still nothing interesting is happening.

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Tags: damnation, drake, eve online, helios, hulk, iteron, low-sec, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, thanatos, w-space