Empty ships, empty space

19th May 2012 – 3.53 pm

All would look harmonious at home but for the stray signature that's ruining my zen garden of anomalies. How unpleasant, it's some gas. I activate the ladar site to start its inevitable decay, before leaving it behind me as I jump to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system for today. All that waits for me beyond the static wormhole is a small canister, and that only on my directional scanner. A single planet sits out of range of d-scan, one that thankfully has moons and so the possibility of hidden occupation, so I launch probes whilst out of view and warp in that direction to see if anyone lurks at the edge of the system.

There is a tower in this C3, one that I warp to directly thanks to my notes from seven months ago, but only an unpiloted Orca industrial command ship sits inside the force field. I also know from the previous visit that the system holds a static exit to low-sec empire space. What I want to know is what else there is to find today. The answer is very little! A blanket scan of the system reveals no anomalies and a mere three signatures, which is hardly worth my time resolving. I do, though, and find I am in a home away from home, with the static wormhole accompanied by a lonely ladar site. And, just like home, I'm running away from here.

Exiting to low-sec puts me in the Kor-Azor region, where no other pilots are in the system. Being in Jeni by myself may be ripe with innuendo, but it also means I can find a rat to pop to increase my security status. And as rats are generally puny I can multi-task and scan at the same time. I launch probes at the wormhole then bounce around the rock fields until I come across a rat battleship, resolving the one extra signature in the system to be a wormhole as I do. And even though some punk enters Jeni—fnarr—as I engage the battleship, he's not going to take the battleship away from me. I align out of the asteroid belt as I chew through the rat's armour, and pop the ship thankfully without being interrupted.

I clear the rocks to re-activate my cloak and warp off to take a look at the wormhole I resolved, landing near a dying K162 from null-sec k-space. It's times like these that I wish there was a way I could flush my waste systems manually in to space. There's not much more to do here. Curiosity leads me to find the pilot lingering in this low-sec system, and seeing he is in an active Iteron hauler makes me both tingle with anticipation of a soft kill and fear for my almost-recovered security status. But it seems the pilot is only bouncing between multiple towers, configuring hangars and performing other menial tasks that look fairly tedious. Best of luck to him.

Another pilot enters the low-sec system and I see a Magnate frigate on d-scan briefly. The pilot leaves again, whilst I am watching the Iteron warp between this tower and that, and although I didn't see any probes I have to admit that I wasn't really watching. In the hopes that he scanned and is now in C3a I warp back to the wormhole and return to w-space. Nothing obvious appears on d-scan, where 'obvious' would be a Magnate and probes, so it looks like it's time to collapse our static wormhole. It's just me at the moment, so I take an Orca through the connection whilst carefully watching over my sums, swapping for a Widow black ops ship to finesse the total mass passed through, and manage to kill the wormhole without isolating myself. Behold the power of maths!

Now I start again. There are still no interloping wormholes in the home system, with just the replacement static connection to find, and I am soon jumping in to the new neighbouring C3. Oh, two Iterons, a Magnate, and a Bestower hauler on d-scan all look rather lovely. There's a tower too, but even if they're all there now they may not be soon. I quickly check my notes to see if I have a short cut to the tower, but the one I have listed from eighteen months ago should be out of range of d-scan. I locate the tower the traditional way, dropping out of warp outside the force field—only just, though—to see none of the four ships piloted. That's such a shame, as they really got my hopes up when entering the system.

I calm myself down and back away from the force field, not thinking a five kilometre gap to be good for my continued health, and get ready to scan. It's a little more involved than the previous C3, with nineteen signatures scattered around four anomalies, and discarding rocks and gas from the results isolates a wormhole. A wormhole that disappears on the next scan. That's a bit harsh, dying rather than being resolved, but I press on regardless. My probes reveal more gas and another wormhole, this one lasting long enough for me get a solid hit, and a second—third? whatever—wormhole also appears. The other signatures all look a bit weak to be wormholes, unless there's an outbound connection amongst them. I'll see what I've already got first.

The dead wormhole was probably the system's static exit to low-sec, replaced by one that is so new it has not yet started its cycle of decay, and the other is a T405 outbound connection to class 4 w-space. That'll do for me, and I continue in to deeper w-space. A tower and whole host of ships appear on d-scan in C4a, which is an encouraging start, with an eclectic mix of strategic cruisers, recon ships, stealth bombers, cruisers, battlecruisers, mining barges, frigates, and logistic ships. Thirteen ships in all, and none of them piloted, which I find out when I locate the tower. And all owned by a corporation of only twenty-three caspuleers, too. I'd expect them to be tidier.

Scanning shows the system to be well kept, even if their hangars aren't, with only three anomalies and four signatures here. I resolve rocks, a static wormhole to class 3 w-space, and a magnetometric site. It's not a great result but it connects me to more w-space, and I jump to C3b. D-scan being clear from the K162 is actually a good result this time, being in range of only one planet in the system. Exploring finds a tower but no ships, and although scanning reveals two wormholes, a dying K162 from class 4 w-space is not much fun. The static connection leads out to a null-sec system in the Venal region, where three other pilots loiter with me.

It's a shame I'm not alone in null-sec, as it stops me ratting, particularly as the system is part of a tetrahedron of interconnected systems I could zip around to maximise my security status gains. Then again, it's not really a shame, as it means I don't waste my time flitting between systems tediously popping a single rat here and there. I would like to increase my security status steadily, but I'm far from dedicated to doing so. Anyway, it looks like I've run out of fifty pence pieces, so it's game over for the night. I return to w-space and bounce off still-empty towers, looking for but finding no change, until I reach the home system, where I hide and go off-line.

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Tags: bestower, eve online, iteron, low-sec, magnate, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space, widow

One step behind

18th May 2012 – 5.19 pm

Let's see what's changed since yesterday. Nothing, that's what. The sole signature in the system sits on top of the bookmark I made of yesterday's unopened static wormhole, and although it's been known for subsequent wormholes to appear in the same place it's more likely in this case that the unopened connection has remained unopened. That's a good sign that we're not being stalked. Now to see if I can be the stalker, as I warp to the wormhole to finally open it, and jump through to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system.

My directional scanner is clear from the K162. There's one planet out of d-scan range, so I launch probes, blanket the system, and warp to the distant planet. I see two towers, two Iteron haulers, and a Heron frigate on d-scan, as my probes inform me that the three ships are the only ones visible in the system. The ships all appear to be at one of the two towers, which I locate and warp to in time to see the Heron get swapped for a Drake and warp out. One of the Iterons at the tower is piloted, which could give me a soft target if he decides to collect planet goo, but for the moment I'm more interested in what the battlecruiser is doing.

It's possible the Drake is warping to the single anomaly in this C3, but refreshing my probes, still hidden and covering the entire system, has the ship no longer in the system. I think I'll scan, with no battlecruiser to find and the hauler perhaps not paying attention. Five signatures don't take long to resolve, and I find two wormholes. Two rubbish wormholes. One is a K162 from high-sec empire space, stressed to half-mass, the other a static exit to high-sec that's reaching the end of its life. If I had to guess, I'd say the Drake went through the K162, which probably comes from a more convenient system than their static goes to. Either way, there's no catching a ship easily on such a wormhole.

Just as I think nothing's going to happen here I spy the Iteron on d-scan, out of its tower. I open the system map and point d-scan at the two wormholes, but the hauler is at neither of them. That probably leaves customs offices as the only feasible place to find the ship, so I start sweeping d-scan around and give chase. I spot the Iteron at one planet and warp there to see empty space. He's moved to another planet, but again I am too late to see the ship collect planet goo. I am one step behind, not knowing the next destination, but as I am in a ship that can enter warp a little faster than the Iteron I eventually catch up in time to see the hauler warp away. I'll get you next time, Gadget.

I follow directly behind the Iteron, hoping that my more agile ship will gain a little advantage in warp, and it looks like I have him at last. I decloak, activate my sensor booster, and lock on to the fragile hauler. Or maybe I don't, as the Iteron slips away from my warp disruptor. He's still not heading home, though, and so I follow again, dropping out of warp with more time than before, but now the Iteron pilot knows someone is chasing him. I try to gain a positive lock once more, and once more the hauler shrugs it off, this time warping back to his tower, perhaps fleeing without collecting the planet goo at this customs office.

My strategic cruiser is left lonely at the planet, no doubt thwarted again by warp core stabilisers. Never mind, but that's the end of the chase, and probably any fun we could have in this system. It's best to collapse our wormhole and look for targets who don't yet know we're watching them. My glorious leader boards an Orca industrial command ship and starts pushing it through our static wormhole, and I help stress it with my Widow black ops ship. The collapse goes like clockwork, just as a Russian-named Helios covert operations boat appears on d-scan in the home system. We have a visitor.

I was going to scan anyway, what with having a new wormhole to find, so I board my Tengu and take a look around. I resolve the replacement static wormhole and Fin is persuaded to stick a ship on the other side, in wait for the Helios, as I find a K162 from class 4 w-space now in our system. Curiously, the Helios is still scanning as I recall my probes. There are only two signatures in the system and the Helios must know one is the K162 he appeared through, so I'm not quite sure what's taking him so long. Still, the probes disappear and... nothing.

And still nothing. The Helios doesn't even blip on d-scan like he's heading home. The question is whether or not I jump through the K162 in to the inevitable waiting ambush. 'I was thinking the ambush was heading my way', says Fin, showing the healthy paranoia we both have about w-space life. At least there are no obvious ships in our home system, so if anyone is going to get ambushed it looks like it will be me. So that the loss will be cheaper, I swap my Tengu for a stealth bomber back at the tower and, having given up on waiting for the Helios, I warp across to the K162 and jump in to C4a.

The wormhole is clear, d-scan is clear. It all looks rather plain. I explore the system, warping across the centre of the system to still see nothing on d-scan, until I reach the final planet, where I see an active tower. No one's home, though, so either this isn't the home of the Helios or he's really not much of a threat. Either way, we can't really ignore him. Not that there is a lot we can do anyway. Fin sees nothing in C3a, from waiting for the Helios there, and poking around further in a scanning boat has the system unoccupied and holding a static exit to null-sec k-space.

Exiting the C3 puts us in the Stain region, with five other pilots in the system and probes visible on d-scan. With another scout active it probably isn't worth scanning ourselves, it's not safe to rat, and there isn't anything we can safely do in w-space. That's okay, as it's getting late. I think it's time to get some rest. We've had a pretty full evening of scanning, chasing, and stalking, even if we have nothing obvious to show for it. But such is life in w-space.

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Tags: drake, eve online, helios, heron, iteron, mmorpg, null-sec, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space, widow

Spanking Sleepers in the home system

17th May 2012 – 5.57 pm

It's a late start for me. I turn up to see my glorious leader also here, but is she really here? Yes, she is. No exploration has been done yet, both of us appearing in the home w-space system within a few minutes of each other, so let's get started. Blanketing the system with my scanning probes shows the stray gas to be gone, bringing sweet relief, leaving us alone with the static wormhole and a whole bunch of anomalies. I think today would be a good day to make some iskies.

We prepare our two Tengu strategic cruisers for Sleeper combat, the Golem staying in the hangar today. The marauder is great for the anomalies in class 3 w-space, but the Sleepers in class 4 anomalies appear farther apart, thwarting the limited range of the Golem's torpedoes, which are already occasionally stretched in C3 sites. The additional and stronger EWAR the Sleepers use in our home anomalies also makes using the Golem a riskier proposition. It's not a problem, though, as our Tengus are more than capable to the task. And even if salvaging is never risk-free, at least we don't have a wormhole getting in the way of us and the safety of the tower.

There's an art to clearing these sites. We don't simply warp in with all launchers firing, although it's not a bad strategy if you have the numbers to swamp the Sleepers. Taking a more nuanced approach, it is necessary to know which ships bring in the next wave of Sleepers, and where they appear, so you can plot an optimal route that lets you maintain a high transversal velocity to mitigate some damage. It is also good to know whether the targets neutralise your capacitor, slow you down with webs, or disrupt your warp drive. Sometimes it is best to pop the scramming ships and bring a new wave in early than be prevented from escaping.

Shoot, pop, align. Burn along a chord to reduce incoming damage, then slow to a crawl and wait for the fast-moving frigates to come to us. If we close the distance to them too soon then the cruisers and battleships are close enough to repair their armour, making the frigates much tougher to pop. If we let them come to us they stray out of range of the repairs and we can pop them like bubble-wrap. Then it's just the cruisers and battleships, which are big and slow enough to take full missile damage, and can't counter the damage with repairs. And that's one site cleared. On to the next.

Argh, bloom of doom! I can barely see anything, what with the cloud of apparently fluorescing gas, combining with our system's star and pulsar phenomenon, all ganging up against my poor eyes. Thankfully, we know what we're doing to the point that we can almost fly on instruments, although we still need to be able to see those instruments above the bloom of doom. Our directional scanners are pretty important, and we can't stop monitoring them just because our eyes are watering. There may have been no errant signatures when we started shooting Sleepers, but that doesn't meant there aren't any now. W-space can change at any moment and we need to keep on our guard.

Two more anomalies are cleared without any panic, or obvious signs of intrusion. We swap the combat ships for salvagers and get to work sweeping up the mess we've made. And despite the nuances of anomaly efficiency, and the changes to salvaging strategy since the Noctis replaced destroyers, salvaging remains the most enjoyable part of Sleeper combat for me. I appreciate the effort it takes to make the wrecks without drama, but clearing up always feels more active, as there is always something to do that isn't just updating d-scan.

Tonight's salvaging is particularly rewarding, in terms of ISK as much as personal enjoyment, as a rather rich haul of salvage returns about as much profit as the loot itself. From the three sites, we bring home almost four hundred million ISK split evenly between loot and salvage, which is a damned good result. That will keep us in fuel pellets for a while, as well as help to feed our expensive habit of getting strategic cruisers destroyed in silly ways. Although we didn't leave the home system, it's been a good evening of profiting from Sleepers.

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Tags: eve online, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, sleepers, tengu, w-space

Eebee blog of the month, and ship naming competition

16th May 2012 – 9.16 pm

Marc Scaurus of Malefactor announced the creation of the Eebees, a 'monthly award that seeks to recognize the valiant pursuits of the Eve Blogging community'. Two awards are given each month, one for the best blog, and one for the best individual post over the course of the month. Naturally, I've been awarded the inaugural EVE Online Blog of the Month award.

Hello to all my new readers! Sadly, the award can only be won by the same blog once in any six-month period, so it will only be downhill from here. I've just been given free rein to relax my standards until November. You really should have been here last month. It was awesome. I know, I got an award for it.

But I'll give you a reason to pay attention for a little longer. I've bought myself a new Loki strategic cruiser, which I will be using for scouting and shooting naive industrialists, and as usual I have no idea what to call my new ship. As it normally takes me a week to think of a name, and then I just randomly choose an obscure cartoon reference, I am giving you the opportunity to name my new Loki for me.

Yeah, that's not much reason to keep reading, I know. However, I have—quite coincidentally—come in to the possession of a PLEX which, as long as I can get the PLEX out of Jita in my Kestrel, gives me some spare ISK. As such, I am willing to offer a 100 million ISK prize for naming my Loki. Reply with your suggestions as a comment to this post, and if you come up with the best name you'll win the ISK.

I could put some rules here, like three entries maximum per person, preferably in the same comment, but you probably wouldn't listen anyway. But it must be a comment. E-mails, EVE mails, or threatening phone calls in the early hours won't count. And please put your character name in your comment entry, or if you win I'll just get lots of spam from everyone claiming to be Spartacus and I won't know the difference.

The competition will be open until midnight (BST) Friday 25th May, with the cut-off determined by the timestamp generated by my journal. After that date I'll go through the entries, pick my favourite, and announce the winner.

EDIT: The first entry includes a prudent reminder that the length of ship names is limited. Thanks, Ty! Please keep names to twenty characters and below, or we'll all be disappointed.

Posted in Gaming | 42 Comments »
Tags: competition, eve online, loki, mmorpg

Picking on a piddly Probe

16th May 2012 – 5.32 pm

Let me start again. I've already scanned our static wormhole, jumped to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system, and spotted scanning probes whizzing around the system. A Cheetah covert operations boat blipping on my directional scanner caused me to jump home and plant an interceptor on the wormhole, which generally turns out to be a waste of time, and this is no exception. At least I give up waiting and return to my scanning Tengu before our wormhole enters its end-of-life stage. It may not have been a complete waste, though, if the Cheetah has since guided a fleet in to the C3 to engage Sleepers, giving me a shot at a Noctis on my return. Of course, that's the best-case scenario. Worst-case is that I was spotted and he's brought a fleet in to ambush me.

Neither circumstance turns out to be the case. D-scan in C3a remains clear, which leaves me free to locate a tower that's been brought on-line since my last visit six months ago, and confirm that the tower I knew about is now gone. There is no sign of the Cheetah, scanning probes, or any other ships, so I launch my own probes to take a look around. A nice balance of eleven anomalies and ten signatures warms up my exploration bones for the night, although one of the two wormholes I resolve dissipates to be empty space by the time I reach it. The other wormhole is the static exit to high-sec empire space. Or maybe it's the same wormhole, just a different generation, and that the Cheetah was local, going off-line when finding his static connection to be EOL. He certainly didn't come in through a K162.

Whatever the source of the absent scout, I have little to do here but visit high-sec. I exit w-space to appear in Fora, where I expect there to be many trolls and flames, but instead see only five rather quiet capsuleers in the system with me. Three hops to Amarr is pretty convenient, but I stocked up with fuel recently and so I'll simply scan. Scan and rat. Rat and scan. I pop some Sansha rats in an anomaly whilst I resolve a weak wormhole, which promises to be nifty, but breaks that promise when it turns out to be a connection to null-sec, and EOL too. Not even the True Sansha frigate in the anomaly makes up for this disappointment, although that may be because it was only carrying some faction ammunition in its hold.

It looks like my best option is to take the time to collapse our static wormhole. Then again, I am in high-sec and stargates are hardly dangerous here, so I press onwards and make one hop to the next system across and scan again. This time I get lucky, resolving the sole signature to be an outbound connection to class 2 w-space. This gives me another system to explore, and one that will contain a wormhole to even more w-space, making it a good find. Jumping in sees nothing on d-scan, and a blanket scan confirms a lack of ships. Still, my notes indicate I'm looking for a wormhole to class 1 w-space, as well as one to null-sec, so I bookmark the two anomalies and start sifting through the ten signatures. This is when the lack of ships in the system changes slightly.

A Taranis interceptor is picked up by my combat probes, which d-scan confirms, before disappearing. Unsurprisingly, I resolve a wormhole near where the interceptor was, which turns out to be a K162 from class 1 w-space. That's interesting, but with a Taranis potentially on the other side is probably a bit too dangerous for the moment. I keep scanning, resolving an unexpected outbound connection to class 5 w-space, the expected wormhole to null-sec, and whittle down the rocks and gas to get to the last signature, which will be the, uh, ladar site? That was meant to be the second static connection to class 1 w-space. I must have got my notes wrong the last time I was here. Okay, I'm heading to the C5. It's my turn to leave an interceptor waiting for nothing on a wormhole.

Now this is a curious system. Only the star and first planet are within d-scan range from the wormhole, which doesn't strike me as odd until I open the system map. The second planet doubles as the farthest planet, as well as the only one that holds any moons. At least I know where I'll find any towers here, although I doubt I'll catch any industrialists collecting planet goo, as there can't be much to harvest. It doesn't look like the locals are that enamoured with their system to be terribly active whatever they do, with twenty-four anomalies and ten signatures concentrated around the two planets. Scanning is simple, though, made simpler by finding a connection to more class 5 w-space straight away. That's good enough for me, and I recall my probes and press onwards.

This second C5 has two towers visible on d-scan from the wormhole but no ships, and as it's starting to get late this lack of obvious activity is enough to turn me around. I head back through C5a to C2a, and out through the connection to null-sec to a dead-end system in the Cloud Ring region, where a couple of other pilots passively convince me not to look for rats. I return to C2a and wonder if perhaps I've been gone long enough for the interceptor pilot to have got bored and wandered off. Let's find out.

If the Taranis had waited for me he's nowhere to be seen now, not even on d-scan. What I do see is a tower, Vexor cruiser, Thanatos carrier—in a class 1 system!—Drake battlecruiser, and Merlin frigate. D-scan shows me that the Merlin is near the tower but not in it, and before I manage to locate which moon the tower's anchored to a Noctis salvager is brought out. That's pretty sweet, but I'm not sure what a little Merlin could do here that would then need a Noctis. Maybe a ladar site has been cleared of Sleepers. That could give me a soft target, but to find it would need me to scan for the site. I locate the tower, see that all ships but the carrier are piloted, then warp away to launch probes.

A blanket scan of the system shows me the five ships I know about, as well as an impressive nineteen anomalies—making me wonder what the carrier is used for here—and nine signatures. I don't do anything else with my probes for now, and simply warp back to the tower to watch eagerly for movement. And I see some, but only the lazy orbits two of the ships make around the tower, staying within the shields, whilst the other two don't even care to pretend to be active. I don't know what was just happening but it looks to have finished, which seems to be confirmed when one of the pilots goes off-line. Then again, he's replaced suspiciously quickly by a new contact in a Probe frigate. Maybe something will happen after all.

The Probe appears at the tower and bounces out immediately, looking like he's headed to the wormhole to C2a. I follow behind, a little slowly after having to orientate myself with the wormhole, to see the Probe jump through to the other w-space system. I move towards the wormhole, slowed by my cloak, until the Probe is well and truly out of this C1, then decloak and burn to the wormhole, to jump through myself. The delay in my following has worked as I had hoped. The Probe is a little distance from the wormhole, tangled in a mess of scanning probes, which will keep him from cloaking as I attack from behind.

I decloak, lock on to the Probe, and let loose every offensive system I have fitted. The frigate can't warp, is slowed to a crawl, and is being pounded by my missiles. Explosives be damned, I think the kinetic force of the missiles is enough to jolt the Minmatar ship to bits. As the Probe disintegrates, I lunge for the pod, snagging it too. A few more missiles later and I have another corpse for my collection. I scoop, loot, and shoot, wary of other ships coming through the wormhole behind me but knowing the sound of the flare would give me some warning. But no ships come, and it's probably because I've just croaked another disposable clone.

I popped a basic frigate, fitted so minimally that it doesn't even have a cloak—so surrounded by probes or not, it didn't have the option to vanish when I appeared behind it—and another empty-headed clone. ISK loss to the corporation is well under a million, which probably won't even register. It probably cost me more in missiles. Never mind, my blood lust is sated, and you never can tell what you're up against until you see the results. This is still my victory. I warp away leaving the untouchable probes scattered around the wormhole, heading back through high-sec and our neighbouring C3 to get myself safely home for the night.

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Tags: cheetah, drake, eve online, merlin, mmorpg, noctis, null-sec, penny ibramovic, probe, pvp, scanning, taranis, tengu, thanatos, vexor, w-space

Disposing of a Retriever

15th May 2012 – 5.02 pm

After yesterday's poor show, I'm keen to see if I can find another capsuleer I will actually engage today. Scanning is simple, with just me and the expected signatures, so I'm off to a flying start in resolving our static wormhole and jumping through. I could be pessimistic and say that it all grinds to a halt when all I see is a tower and no ships on my directional scanner, but this is just the first step on the evening's exploration. I'm sure there is so much more to see! I hope so, anyway, particularly in a class 3 w-space system with a span of 90 AU. I warp out to launch probes, blanketing the system as my ship makes the long warp back to where the tower should be. My probes reveal a scant four anomalies and five signatures, and I drop out of warp at a tower still in the same place from five weeks ago.

There's not much here. Rocks, gas, the static wormhole. That's it. My prospects are looking bleaker, but I still have a system in low-sec empire space to continue my exploration. I exit w-space to appear in the Metropolis region, in what looks like a faction warfare constellation, which means I probably won't find any rats to pop as a result. I can still scan, so I launch probes to see what's here. Three extra signatures could be lucky for me, and I resolve a spiffy K162 from class 2 w-space, a pretty nifty outbound connection to class 1 w-space, and an interesting if unnecessary inter-low-sec wormhole. That's a good result, and I jump to C1a to continue my roam for soft targets.

A well-stocked tower shows up on d-scan in the class 1 system, all the ships no doubt safely stowed away in the numerous hangars available. But no visible ships means no obvious pilots, and so I return to scanning. Another relatively bare system of three anomalies and four signatures doesn't take long to scrutinise, and I am left with rocks, gas, and a static connection to high-sec that is reaching the end of its life. Okay, I'm finished here. I head back to low-sec and across to the class 2 system, where d-scan shows me just a tower again. Another scan shows a few more signatures, eight of them scattered around the four anomalies here, although at least this time I have another w-space connection to find.

My probes uncover two wormholes, in fact. The second static connection leads to more class 2 w-space, and a K162 also comes in from null-sec k-space. I could go ratting through the K162 once I've exhausted my options here, but I'm not quite there yet. I continue my exploration in to C2b, where I'm greeted with a clear d-scan result for a change. I've been in this system before, too. The tower has gone from six months ago, but I know there are connections to class 4 w-space and high-sec to be found. Warping away from the wormhole finds a new tower on the edge of the system, and scanning through the six anomalies and healthy fourteen signatures finds an extra pair of wormholes.

The additional wormholes are interesting, as is a Hurricane appearing at the tower as I finish scanning. I hold and watch the battlecruiser for a minute, seeing a Prowler warp in as I do, the transport then warping away immediately. The ship doesn't head in the direction of a customs office, and without blipping back on d-scan he may not have gone to the connection to high-sec either. Not that I know which wormhole is which yet, so now seems like a good time to reconnoitre them. The two static wormholes hold no surprises, but an outbound connection to class 1 w-space is alluring, and the K162 from class 5 w-space could hold activity behind it. I bounce off the tower to check on the Hurricane, who hasn't moved, so I think I'll take a look in C1b.

Now the Hurricane moves. I get to the wormhole and make a final check of d-scan to see the battlecruiser out of the tower, before disappearing. All I can say for sure is that he didn't enter the C1, so I may as well continue with my plan and jump there myself. It seems like a good plan too, as I see on d-scan a Heron frigate, scanning probes, a Bestower hauler, and a tower. I think I'd better locate them, which turns out to be pretty easy as both ships are at the tower and piloted. Sadly, the Bestower looks like he's completed his planet goo collection, so I may be left trying to catch the Heron when he warps out to investigate wormholes. Or maybe he'll ignore them and do nothing.

The Bestower drops to a pod, the Heron swaps to a Bestower, and the pair do nothing for now. It's possible the second pilot will want to go on his own planet goo rounds, but it's just as likely that he'll head out to empire space through a wormhole I don't have scanned. In fact, he potters towards the tower in a way that suggests he's refuelling it, which is about as lacking in vulnerability as a hauler can get in w-space. It's not terribly exciting to watch, but it's a hobby. Mick is apparently watching his own hauler in a different w-space system, the Mammoth not doing much either. 'It's like bird watching', he says, 'except you kill them. So bird hunting?'

The pod in the tower I'm watching warps off, and I don't even bother to see which direction it went. The good news is that the tower appears to be fuel of lego now, as the Bestower returns to the hangar. And he switches ships to be in a Retriever mining barge. Say it ain't so! Maybe my luck is changing, or my patience is paying off. Mick's still watching his unmoving Mammoth as this Retriever warps out of the tower. I'm tingling! At least, I am until I realise there is nowhere out of d-scan range of the Retriever where I can launch scanning probes. Then again, it looks like the pilot bounced out of the site, maybe to warp back to be in mining range of the rocks, which actually gives me the space to launch probes away from the tower and pilot's attentions, and hopefully time.

I launch probes and throw them out of the system, re-activating my cloak as soon as I'm clear. I then warp back closer to where the Retriever was to see the barge and mining drones on d-scan. The hunt is on. I narrow down the Retriever's position and range using d-scan, getting a good bearing on him, and position my probes around the volume of space where I gauge him to be. All looks good, so I punch 'scan'. Nothing appears under my probes. That flusters me a little, but I retain the presence of mind to throw my probes back out of the system, there not even being an obvious refinement to make.

I pause and reflect on what just happened, and realise that I cocked up the range conversion from kilometres to astronomical units. I placed my probes 1 AU further away than they should have been. That was a silly mistake, but it may not have cost me. The Retriever continues to mine, its drones still on d-scan, so I reset and start locating his position again. This time I make sure I get the range right, and go for a second scan. A 100% hit on the barge, site, and drones is a bit of a better result, and I recall my probes as I surge my Tengu forwards.

I drop out of warp to see the Retriever acting like he's in high-sec. I break the illusion by locking on, disrupting his warp engines, and shooting him. The Retriever doesn't last long and explodes to eject the pilot's pod in to space. I lunge for the pod and trap that too, cracking it open to reveal a freshly frozen corpse. I scoop the corpse, and loot and shoot the wreck. I pop the jet-can of ore, because I'm mean, and leave the poor drones to decay in space, before cloaking and warping out.

I'm heading homewards. All this scanning and watching of the Bestower has chewed through my time this evening, and I'm happy to have this kill to end on. Even so, Mick points out that the mining barge was fit with basic modules, and the corpse had an empty head, making the loss barely top fifteen million ISK. It's possible this was a disposable capsuleer, relying on a steady supply of cheap clones to make enough ISK between the occasional ambush to keep the operation profitable, all without the stress of continually having to watch d-scan. It would be one way to live in w-space, I suppose.

Going home with a corpse in my cargo, I can't resist a quick poke in to C4a. As all I find is an empty and inactive system I find it easier to then resist taking a look through the K162 to C5a. I leave C2a through a now-wobbly wormhole to low-sec, where a last look in C1a sees no ships, which means no loitering Penny. I jump back to low and across to C3a, whose static connection to low-sec is also now reaching the end of its lifetime, which is probably why the system itself remains quiet, given that the wormhole was opened around twelve hours ago. I get home safely, add the new corpse to our collection, and go off-line.

Posted in Gaming | 3 Comments »
Tags: bestower, eve online, heron, hurricane, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, prowler, pvp, retriever, scanning, w-space

Chasing a chase

14th May 2012 – 5.50 pm

I wonder what delights await beyond our static wormhole today. A K162 connection to class 2 w-space in the home system has already given me a direct line to Amarr for logistics, a missed crack at a Vexor cruiser because of those logistics, and also a missed engagement with a weakened Myrmidon battlecruiser because of my sluggish reactions. That's a lot for our static connection to compete with, but I'm confident it can do us proud. We don't need to rely on no stinking K162s for entertainment. And as soon as I jump in to our neighbouring class 3 system the situation looks promising, with a Tengu strategic cruiser, Prowler transport ship, and tower all visible on my directional scanner.

This being my third visit to the C3, the last one just under six months earlier, it looks like I'll find this tower easily enough. Two are listed in my notes, with only one being in range. The other is—holy cow, it's 95 AU to the farthest planet from here, and that's not the diameter of the system either. No wonder d-scan isn't showing me much beyond the closest planet. If the ships are piloted, it's almost bad luck that the wormhole has opened up in range of this tower. I warp to the location in my notes to see the tower still here and that the Tengu and Prowler are indeed piloted, which gives some hope of activity. I'd better check to see if the other tower is still there too. Give me a minute.

The second tower in my notes is no longer anchored in the system, but at least being all the way out here gives me a chance to launch scanning probes without being spotted. I blanket the system and scan, whilst warping back to the active tower to keep watch on the two piloted ships. Two anomalies and five signatures isn't much to be dotted around a normal system, so seems positively homeopathic in a C3 this vast. But one benefit to having so much space between planets is that I can resolve all these signatures without my probes coming in range of the tower, which covert scanning would probably be more meaningful had a Tengu tourist from high-sec empire space probably not already been less than subtle in here a little earlier.

Maybe little will happen here, if the locals have been alerted to active scouts already, which makes it good that I resolve two wormholes in succession, particularly as one of the wormholes is too weak to be a K162 or U210. I think I've found an outbound connection to more w-space, and just as the Prowler goes off-line. Or maybe he warped, as he reappears as I resolve a third wormhole. Either way, I'll check to see what I've found. The U210 exit to low-sec is obvious, a K162 from class 2 w-space is pretty neat, and the Prowler on d-scan tells me I've missed chasing him collecting planet goo. I need to pay more attention. The third wormhole is an outbound connection to class 5 w-space, which despite extending the constellation will probably only lead to my exploring several more class 5 w-space systems.

I loiter at the local tower for a bit longer, willing the Prowler to continue his planet goo collecting, but he was just teasing me earlier. I'll see what the C5 has to offer, steeling myself for some drawn-out scanning. Instead, I see a Prorator transport, Oneiros logistics ship, Moros dreadnought, Loki strategic cruiser, and pod on d-scan, along with a tower. Perhaps there's not really much I can take a shot at, but pilots don't have to stay in the same ships and any activity is potential for my own activity, so it's worth finding out who's around. And all the ships are piloted, which is interesting for the few seconds it takes for it to register that the tower is bare of defences.

A few unanchored batteries inside the force field indicates that the tower is being configured, and although I like the idea of catching a transport moving defences I don't like the thought of a nippy Loki catching me. I could scan, but there's nowhere to hide in this small system—quite a contrast to the C3 behind me—and as there's still a C2 to explore in the constellation I think I'd rather look there before committing myself here. There's nothing much happening with the tower at the moment anyway. I return to C3a and warp across to the K162 to C2b, jumping through the wormhole to see more action again. W-space is busy tonight.

Hello! Four Tengus, a Legion strategic cruiser, Absolution command ship, and a Noctis salvager all appear on d-scan in C2b. A tower is also visible, but as wrecks and drones litter d-scan it looks like I've found bona fide activity. It's such a shame that this is the time that my system transition lands me under a kilometre from the wormhole. Mind you, the Broadsword heavy interdictor rather spoils the view a little, though, as that seems out of place for a fleet engaging Sleepers, so all may not be as it appears anyway. I move away from the wormhole and cloak as best I can, at which point a Cheetah covert operations boat blips on d-scan along with some scanning probes, and it already looks like the jig is up. Either the fleet knows I'm here and are looking for me, or they will see the unfamiliar Cheetah and its probes themselves and go on the defensive.

I've scanned the system using my on-board scanner to fill my system map with green triangles, but I can't place the fleet or the Noctis in any of those anomalies. A bit more work with d-scan shows the salvager to be bouncing between planets, as are the fleet, and I'm no longer entirely sure if all the ships are affiliated with each other. I chase the Noctis, always one step behind, only getting close enough to see a Tengu in its wake, which I am still assuming to be part of its guard or escort, but could also have the same intentions as me. That would explain the Broadsword's presence in the system.

Whatever dangerous game the ships are playing I have to wonder why I'm joining in. If I catch the Noctis, whether the fleet wants to protect the salvager or not, I will be caught myself. Good point, Penny! Let's go home. An Ashimmu cruiser enters this C2 as I leave, thankfully not through the same wormhole, letting me take a last look through the rest of the constellation before retiring for the evening. C3a has the two ships gone from the tower, a poke in to C5a has no changes visible on d-scan, and jumping home and through the K162 to C2a sees no more tourists from Amarr making obvious targets of themselves. Okay, it's time to get some sleep.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Chasing a chase
Tags: absolution, ashimmu, broadsword, cheetah, eve online, legion, loki, mmorpg, moros, noctis, oneiros, penny ibramovic, prorator, prowler, scanning, tengu, w-space

What's mined is ores

13th May 2012 – 3.30 pm

SynCaine of Harcore Casual writes about not wanting to mine in w-space. His corporation's previous mining operations in high-sec space were 'easy and allowed for a more relaxed, social environment'. But in w-space, needing to store the exhumers in a hangar, having to haul the ore out of w-space or suffer 25% waste when refining at your tower, and the unviability of taking ships out of the home system to find a gravimetric site makes mining less attractive an option. For reasons I am unclear about, SynCaine thinks this is a 'problem ... somewhat unique to mining'.

It is apparently 'easy enough ... to roam in to a different WH to farm their Sleepers', but 'we can't take a few Hulks and an Orca in to another WH'. When asking in comments why they feel they can't move mining boats, I find that they have a static exit to low-sec, and need to scan that low-sec system for another wormhole. It's easier to take combat ships through the wormholes than an Orca, SynCaine explains. Yes, it is, but the Orca only needs to be taken on a single round-trip, which the wormhole should be able to manage easily enough.

It looks like SynCaine is living in class 3 w-space (which he confirms in a comment of a much more positive post about w-space mining), making his static wormhole a U210. That's a hefty wormhole, allowing 50% more mass through than our own C247, 3,000,000,000 kg compared with 2,000,000,000 kg, and ours already takes several mass-increased Orca round-trips to collapse it. We can certainly run logistics trips out to empire space and back using the Orcas without being in any danger of getting ourselves isolated. The U210 is more than capable of having an Orca going out and returning through it.

Now, granted, you're not then taking that Orca in to class 1 w-space, but you can't do that via an intra-w-space wormhole either, because of the single-jump mass limit. And outbound connections to class 2 or class 3 w-space, which have R943 and X702 designations from low-sec, won't be too happy about the Orca, allowing a total mass through of 750,000,000 kg and 1,000,000,000 kg respectively, but it could work. And K162s from class 2 w-space, the A239 wormhole type, allow 2,000,000,000 kg, and I've already noted the capability of the U210.

The Orca is fairly massive, at 250,000,000 kg, although Hulks and the cheaper Covetors are only 40,000,000 kg each. Let's take a trip.

Ship used	Ship mass (million kg)	Direction	U210 wormhole mass (million kg)	U210 wormhole status
			3,000	Stable
Orca	250	Out	2,750	Stable
Exhumer	40	Out	2,710	Stable
Exhumer	40	Out	2,670	Stable
Exhumer	40	Out	2,630	Stable

That's an Orca and three exhumers taken through the U210, and it's hardly breaking a sweat. Take them in to another C3, through its K162, and you'll still be safe. As long as the wormhole is not stressed to half-mass when you use it, there is no danger of it collapsing from your own passage. But, SynCaine says, 'even if we could [take the Orca and Hulks], the hauling needed would be silly'. I don't see how the hauling would be any different than moving the ore from the gravimetric site in your own system to the tower. All that changes is a wormhole or two needs to be jumped through. That's hardly onerous. It also won't stress the wormhole, as long as you don't try to use the Orca to haul. After all, you wouldn't do that in your home system either, or you'd lose the mining bonuses that the Orca is there to provide, right?

Let's take a transport ship through the wormhole to see the effect. A Bustard, which itself is almost twice as massive as an Iteron Mk V hauler, has half the mass of an exhumer. That's handy!

Ship used	Ship mass (million kg)	Direction	U210 wormhole mass (million kg)	U210 wormhole status
			2,630	Stable
Bustard	20	Out	2,610	Stable
Bustard	20	In	2,590	Stable
Bustard	20	Out	2,570	Stable
Bustard	20	In	2,550	Stable

And so on. An expanded Bustard carrying GSCs will haul more than a jet-can's worth of ore, which means we can bring around 30,000 cubic metres of ore per round-trip. So, with another twenty-six(!) round-trips by the Bustard before the wormhole definitely is stressed to its half-mass value of 1,500,000,000 kg, we've brought back a whopping 840,000 cubic metres of ore. Phew! I hope you have somewhere to store that. This is, of course, assuming minimal trips made by other pilots, but taking the Bustard backwards and forwards will give a really good idea of when the wormhole reaches half its mass allowance, making subsequent maths pretty straightforward. And remember that any ship that is within the single-jump mass-limit for the wormhole will still be able to pass through, however little mass allowance a wormhole has left. Keep mining, bring the exhumers back, and then the Orca, which can also be stuffed with ore for its return. It really isn't any more difficult than taking combat ships to a different system, and with those kinds of figures I imagine you'll complete your mining operation long before the mass of the wormhole becomes an issue. Or you'll get ambushed.

Yes, security is an issue. SynCaine points out that 'combat ships running sleepers require a far bigger force to disrupt than a mining fleet'. Right, in exactly the same way that they do in the home w-space system. And remember that even in a system with no current wormholes connecting in to it—'the hole secured', as SynCaine puts it—that can change at any minute. A new wormhole opens, lets a scout in, and hunts you down without your realising. But I think I am seeing the essence of his complaint with w-space mining particularly after I suggest that, if he's worried about the Orca's mass stressing the wormholes, he could leave it at home. SynCaine replies that the 'Orca is a serious boost to yield', and 'at some point, the risk/reward/effort stops being worth it'. I think it's clear his argument isn't that mining is unviable in w-space, just that it's become more hassle than he's used to.

Considering we are only recently coming out of the latest Hulkageddon, there has been plenty of discussion about staying safe when mining. Hulks were being specifically targeted in empire space by gankers, who would combine firepower and destroy the exhumers before Concord could intervene. Some commenters suggested miners should simply wait for Hulkageddon to end, but the canny capsuleers realised that you just needed to sacrifice some efficiency, or bring escorts in combat ships, to survive the initial attack. And the same is true in w-space: when you're vulnerable, you don't fit purely for efficiency. The only difference is that in w-space every day is Hulkageddon.

SynCaine is new to w-space, and it looks like he's never lived in null-sec. His 'Sunday night mining Ops' in high-sec must have been pretty casual and easy. Take some boats to a belt, kick back with a drink, and shoot the breeze whilst enjoying the Orca-boosted efficiency of the best mining ships that are optimally fitted to extract the most ore with each module cycle. This may come as a shock, but w-space ain't high-sec, sir. The real problem is not how w-space operates, it's your expectations of how it should operate. No, you can't expect to mine as efficiently, or haul as much as easily, or refine above 75%. You can't expect to take Hulks out to a different system and have them come home unscathed, any more than you can expect your combat ships or salvager to survive, showing that it's not a problem somewhat unique to mining. And the solution is not to change w-space, but to change your expectations.

W-space mining works just fine. SynCaine may not be 'at all surprised most WH Corps don’t bother with Grav sites', but he's simply wrong that they don't. It may be the case that not as much mining happens in w-space than empire space and null-sec, but without seeing normalised figures I can only assume that's because there just aren't as many pilots in w-space. It's a rarefied atmosphere, even for space. Look at the statistics CCP Diagoras posts. For example, 'PVP ship losses so far this month by sec group: High sec (31,585), Low sec (37,886), Null sec (65,105), Wormhole space (8,532)'. Well, it looks like most wormhole corporations don't bother with PvP either, right? Don't be silly. There is less overall activity in w-space only because there are less pilots in w-space.

I suspect SynCaine is averse to mining in w-space not because it's a poor choice of activity, but because he's not an industrialist. Ask a true w-space industrialist if he'd rather mine some ore, shoot some Sleepers, or go on a roam, and I'm confident he'd want to mine. I assure you, mining continues to occur in w-space, even if it's just a disposable miner in a Retriever, whatever someone new to w-space life would have us think. Maybe they aren't major, Orca-boosted operations, but that's because these pilots have adapted to w-space.

Posted in Gaming | 14 Comments »
Tags: comment, eve online, mmorpg

Newbie blogger initiative: how I got started, and some general advice

12th May 2012 – 3.04 pm

The Newbie Blogger Initiative is intended to offer advice and encouragement for anyone considering starting a blog but perhaps not quite knowing where to start. It may seem a little presumptuous to assume I can inspire new bloggers, but, to be fair, so is thinking I can tell anyone how to scan. Besides, writing about me is my favourite subject, so of course I'm going to participate. I present the why and how I became a blogger, and a few tips that I hope will be of some use.

Why I started blogging

After each weekly Dungeons and Dragons session, our little group would stand around outside and chat about what happened and what we might do next. Most of the time the conversation drifted, and some of the time we'd end up reminiscing about previous adventures, characters, and the bizarre situations we got ourselves in to. And one night I realised that all of our stories were only as good as our memories, yet we all got pleasure out of recounting them again and again. I thought we could do better, particularly with the internet allowing content to be made available to anyone. So I decided to record our anecdotes more permanently, and write down new ones as they happened. I didn't realise the significance at the time, but with the creation of Slain by Elf I was becoming a blogger.

I kept Slain by Elf going without realising that many others around the world were using the internet for the same purpose, but I eventually joined the ranks of Livejournal to have a more generic blog about me and what I got up to. When there was some uncertainty over Livejournal's future, I created a second blog of my own and started recording there what would have gone on Livejournal. As I became more aware of the blogosphere surrounding gaming, and MMORPGs in general, I naturally started including updates to what I was playing and what progress I had been making. Being on a Mac limited me a little, but I still had enough options to keep myself entertained and find subjects to write about. Then two things happened.

EVE Online was ported to the Mac, and I updated my old machine to be an Intel-based Mac, which was required to play EVE Online. I am more of a sci-fi fan than fantasy, although I enjoyed World of Warcraft for a few years, so EVE Online appealed to me. I opened a trial account, got hooked, and subscribed. My blog tended towards more updates about EVE Online than other games, as it was becoming my main focus in gaming, and its open nature allowed a more personal narrative to be told than in more NPC-driven games. As I got more involved in EVE Online, and my corporation pushed in to w-space, I found more opportunity to tell my story.

As the content of my blog evolved I realised I ought to give it room to do so. I moved the blog from a subdomain to being hosted on a domain of its own, which had been sitting dormant for a while. Tiger Ears was born. I continue to write and post about my time in EVE Online as it lets me scratch a writing itch that I have. I like language, words, writing, and being able to turn my small adventures in to stories keeps me feeling creative and productive.

My motivations for blogging are varied. For a start, I write because I like writing. I want to keep records of the fun times I've had, as well as some of the bad times so that history is less likely to repeat. And I also want to contribute to the blogosphere, to be a creator as much as a consumer. When my feed runs dry, I can write. These motivations are important, because they are what it takes for me to continue writing and posting. You don't need the same motivations, but you will need to be motivated in some way.

I would suggest not being motivated by recognition or fame. Unless you are charismatic, have good connections, or know how to promote yourself well, the odds are that you'll be just another blogger. There's nothing wrong with that at all, but blogging can feel like a thankless task at times. When you put a lot of effort in to a post and get no comments, no links, and none of the fabled e-mails or in-game recognition that others boast, you may wonder why you bother. But with the right motivation you will keep on writing, and the creation process will be its own reward. Each comment, mention, or link will then make blogging that much sweeter.

How I started blogging

I didn't know much about blogging at the time I started, not even being aware of any blogs in existence, and even though I owned a domain I thought I'd better get one with a better name for my Dungeons and Dragons blog. I also knew some tools existed, such as Movable Type, but most of them cost money and I didn't want to splash out on software that I wasn't sure I'd continue to use. Luckily I was turned on to Wordpress. I downloaded the latest version of the software, made a few mistakes regarding PHP and databases before realising my hosting service took care of that side of the installation, and managed to get Wordpress 1.2 installed on Slain by Elf.

It wasn't easy, in part because Wordpress itself was still quite new and not entirely straightforward, but I got it all configured and I was ready to write. I also knew a bit about HTML, because of writing my first web pages before many tools were around, and I managed to update myself with a little CSS knowledge when that became standard. As such, I don't mind tinkering a little with the files behind the scenes, although I really can't do that much with it. But I can mostly understand what happens and why, which made it easier for me to work with my own installation.

I kept my Wordpress installation up-to-date, so it was natural to install the same software when I migrated my personal journal from Livejournal. It was essentially the same installation when I moved everything to Tiger Ears from the subdomain. But there are more options for blogging, and none with any great cost. Wordpress now offers its blogging software and hosting in one package, along with self-updating features, so that you don't need to undertake much in the way of installation of maintenance. Blogger is much the same, but with a different interface. I'm sure there are other services too, like Tumblr, but I can't say I am particularly au fait with any of them. Essentially, it is now simple to start blogging. You don't need a domain, host, or much technical knowledge, just an internet connection. Pick a service, create an account, and start writing.

As for writing itself, I kept notes. Even though we often recounted our D&D tales to each other, there must have been many more forgotten. Rather than rely on my memory to create the posts, particularly as the D&D sessions finished late at night and the earliest I could draft them would be the next day, or even the weekend, I took a notebook along to the sessions and jotted down funny or interesting situations. The notes would be simple and brief, enough to remind me of what happened, with the occasional quote should it be the funny part of the story. The punchline, if you will. I would then turn the notes in to posts. I carried this process forward when blogging about gaming and other issues, and I have filled up quite a few pads with notes from which I've created a significant number of posts for Tiger Ears so far. In fact, this just happens to be my 1,600th published post on this site.

What's in a name?

Before I installed Wordpress I needed a name for my blog. That was pretty easy, as it was a Dungeons and Dragons blog and I was a fan of Scottish indie band Urusei Yatsura, who wrote a song about D&D called Slain by Elf. It's a good name, and it fits, but it is specific to what I'm writing about.

Specific is good, surely. Yes, and no. A blog with a specific name will resonate more freely with readers, is probably more likely to be navigated to in a page of links or search results, and gives an immediate sense of identity. But a specific name can limit what you write about. You may start playing EVE Online with an idea of being a pirate, and give your blog a low-sec piratey name, but then get swayed by industry or an entirely different game. Before you know it yarrlowsecpiracy.wordpress.com is all about market trading or My Little Pony Online. What once drew readers to your blog may now turn the new audience away before they even visit.

Another option is an irrelevant name. A good example is Killed in a Smiling Accident, taken from an A Bit of Fry and Laurie sketch. You would not know what the blog is about from the name, as it is entirely irrelevant to the content. But whether they are discussing MMORPGS like Lord of the Rings Online, Warhammer Online, City of Heroes, Rift, or World of Tanks; single-player games like Skyrim or Mass Effect; writing thoughtful posts about the meta-game and game design; or poking fun at the absurd side of the industry; the name is equally as irrelevant to any of the content. And it's a name you'll remember, you will find it easily in a search engine, and you won't confuse it with someone else.

Be positive

Everyone will have their own writing style, even if it is probably modelled to some extent on others, so the best piece of advice I can offer is simply to find your voice. But there is one specific titbit I shall offer, and that is to be positive.

I suppose what I really mean is 'don't be negative'. Don't say sorry for not updating more often. Don't start a post by writing 'I don't generally write about X, so bear with me...'. Don't add unnecessary caveats, like 'unaccustomed as I am to public speaking'. Let me give an example.

Below is the first draft of my introduction to the Newbie Blogger Initiative:

As some will probably be aware, Syp of Bio Break is arranging a Newbie Blogger Initiative. The idea is for established bloggers to encourage and help new and aspiring bloggers along, with advice and encouragement though articles and links.

This is just a short post to announce that I will be participating and will publish a post detailing why and how I got started with blogging, and any tips that I think may be helpful for new bloggers. I have ideas, and the Newbie Blogger Initiative itself is offering more, but if anyone has specific questions they would like to see addressed, please feel free to ask it as a comment here.

It seems okay. And it should. It uses natural language, normal phrasing, and has a typo in the last sentence of the first paragraph. But it doesn't feel right. Let's see how I changed it:

Syp of Bio Break has announced a Newbie Blogger Initiative. The idea is for established bloggers to encourage and help new and aspiring bloggers along, with advice and encouragement given with articles and links.

I am participating and will publish a post detailing why and how I got started with blogging, and any tips that I think may be helpful for new bloggers. I have ideas, and the Newbie Blogger Initiative itself is offering more, but if anyone has specific questions they would like to see addressed, please feel free to ask it as a comment here.

That reads much better, thanks to a couple of minor changes. It doesn't matter whether some people already know about the initiative or not, what's important is the initiative itself. And there's no need to point out how short the post is, because that seems apologetic and detracts from the fact that I'll be participating. I stripped out the fluff and got straight to the point, creating a stronger post as a result.

It's not easy to spot how to make your writing tighter. You won't have even noticed the directness of my edited post, or registered that it was particularly short, without having the draft to contrast it against. And this is another thankless aspect of blogging. If you get it right, and your writing is good, most people won't notice because there's nothing wrong with it. But if you get it wrong, you can bet your readers will notice, and potentially judge the rest of your writing unfairly.

Recognising fluff will come with practice. Writing is a skill and needs to be learnt. Read other blogs, articles, books. See what you like about particular authors or posts, try to dissect them to find out what it is you like, and then use that knowledge to sharpen your own writing. And this leads me nicely in to the next section.

Read your own work

You must read what you write. I know that I often feel a pang of self-consciousness when I read back what I've written, but it's important to do so. First, if you can't read what you've written, you cannot expect others to do so. Second, reading what you've written lets you spot mistakes, and editing is as important a skill as writing.

The mistakes you find may be typographical errors, which hopefully your spell-checker will pick up; use of a homonym instead of the desired word; a factual error; a broken link; a missing word; or the flow of the writing doesn't work. Whatever doesn't look or feel right in your writing, reading back what you've written does a surprisingly good job at finding it.

As much as people like correcting others on the internet, few will go out of their way to point out a spelling mistake or grammatical error. You have to find those mistakes yourself. Keep an on-line dictionary open in a browser tab and use it to check words you're unsure of, not just the ones you definitely don't know, both for spelling and meaning. Remember that there's no better way to find a typo than hitting 'publish'.

I save every post I write as a draft and preview it as it would be seen on the site. I then schedule the post for a future time, and often a future date. Even if it could be published now, I'll schedule it thirty minutes or an hour ahead, because I know that when I walk away from the keyboard I'll remember a note I wanted to add, a better way to link two subjects, or realise I've made a grievous spelling mistake in the subject line. Of course, posts can be edited after publication, but a polished first effort will give a better impression.

Sell yourself

Even if you're writing because of personal motivations, it can feel good to be appreciated. You need to get your name out there. Read other blogs and comment, but keep comments relevant to the post. Your name and blog name are generally included as part of the comment, and your goal is not to irritate other people but to show appreciation for the efforts of others.

If you're writing about an MMORPG then there will likely be community forums dedicated to the game. Post in the relevant section about your new blog, and maybe occasional updates for posts you are particularly pleased with.

There will also be communities outside of the official website where fans share information, like reddit, which has its own EVE Online sub-reddit. Look out for them and submit your own links and contribute to discussions.

Tell friends interested in the same hobbies as you about your new blog, in person or by e-mail, as well as those players in your guild, corporation, or whatever social grouping your game uses. If those players are included in your posts, all the better to get them involved.

Add a blogroll to your site, showing others what you like to read. This will also propagate information to the blogs you link to, which can increase awareness of your own site. You can also create a reply to another blogger's post, where linking to that post will also raise visibility of your post and blog.

Or, if you are starting a blog as part of the Newbie Blogger Initiative, go to the forum and introduce yourself.

Posted in Gaming | 14 Comments »
Tags: blog

Missing mugging a Myrmidon

11th May 2012 – 5.27 pm

I'm feeling a bit under the weather. I'd worry that this will affect my decision-making, but it would probably only help given my recent record. Either way, feeling a little sluggish won't matter unless I find some activity, and to do that I first need to get myself out of our quiet home w-space system. A few new signatures suggest that maybe it isn't quite so quiet after all, with a second wormhole snuggling up to a pair of ladar sites. Our static wormhole is joined today by a K162 from class 2 w-space, which looks pretty neat. I jump through to see if it looks just as nifty from the other side.

A tower is visible on my directional scanner in the C2, but no ships. The system feels fairly dead too. I locate the tower for reference and potential stalking, and warp out to launch scanning probes and take a look around. Three anomalies are bookmarked and five signatures resolved in no time, bagging me some rocks, a radar site, and a static exit to high-sec empire space. There's nothing too interesting here, until I leave w-space for high-sec and appear in Amarr. That's a pretty convenient connection.

I should get some fuel. Hauling goods between w-space and empire space can be dangerous and tedious in equal measures, but today it looks like we have a single quiet system to cross to access a market hub directly. It doesn't get any better than this, particularly not when living in a class 4 w-space system, so I want to take advantage of the situation. I consider taking a Bustard transport out to Amarr to fill with fuel, as I already know a Crane transport's worth of fuel is barely worth the trip. But an Orca industrial command ship full of fuel would be even better. An Orca stuffed with a Bustard better still!

I swap my scouting boat for the bulky Orca, throw the Bustard in to its hangar and loot in to its hold, and head towards the C2 and Amarr beyond. I make it to market without seeing another ship before the docking ring. Modules are melted down, loot is sold, and our wallet plumped up to healthy levels, moments before thousands of fuel pellets are bought to lose our new-found wealth almost immediately. Easy come, easy go. I release the Bustard from the Orca, stuff it full of pellets, and learn an important lesson about carrying cargo-laden ships in a bigger ship's hangar. Top tip: you can't.

Never mind! I have two large ships full of fuel ready to be taken home, and I only had to make the one trip out of w-space to get here. That's still a gain in efficiency, and now I am pretty much forced to make a second trip back here to collect the Bustard, or not see it again for potentially weeks. First, I'll get the Orca home. Warping to the K162 in Amarr shows the wormhole to be clear, but jumping back to w-space has activity on d-scan. A Vexor cruiser is here, and not at the tower. He's also not on the wormhole home, which is good, but it's a pity that I can't find and engage him at the moment. The best I can hope for is that he'll not see the Orca warp across the system but hang around for long enough for me to get back again.

I warp home and don't even bother dumping the fuel before reboarding my Tengu strategic cruiser and rushing back to the C2. But all I see is empty space again. Maybe I've got another touch of the space madness. Still, onwards with my plan. Rather than ditch my Tengu and hit high-sec in my pod I may as well take the Tengu out and come back for it after bringing home the Bustard, which is what I do. I didn't expect the wormhole to halve in mass as I leave this time, but I suppose I'm not the only capsuleer who has been taking advantage of the connection to Amarr. I dock, board the Bustard, and get it home without interruption this time, where I fill the tower with fuel and store about ten days' worth of overflow in our hangar. Job's a good 'un, even if I missed the Vexor.

Now I take my pod out to Amarr, where I collect the Tengu. And bringing it back in to the C2 has activity once more, this time a Tengu launching scanning probes. I loiter on the wormhole for now, wondering if the Tengu entered this way or through a new wormhole, only for the connection to flare as I sit on it. The Tengu didn't jump cloaked, but instead a Myrmidon appears from Amarr and warps away immediately. He went straight up too, where I didn't find a wormhole. There's only a gravimetric site and anomaly that way, and I suppose it's no surprise that I find the battlecruiser in the anomaly. But the probes of the Tengu are quite visible on d-scan, so are these pilots in the same corporation or are they both being somewhat oblivious of each other's presence? With a connection from Amarr I can't rule out either circumstance.

The probes disappear, and the Myrmidon's drones are recalled. The two actions seem related but I think they're coincidental. The Myrmidon warps back to the wormhole to high-sec and stays there a minute, whilst the Tengu appears on d-scan and looks to jump through the wormhole to our home system. The Tengu is exploring deeper in to w-space, the Myrmidon is having trouble surviving against the Sleepers. That's okay. That's better than okay, in fact, as the Tengu moving on may let me take a shot at this struggling Myrmidon. I just need to catch him at the right moment. I wait and watch the battlecruiser warp away again, to the same anomaly, and follow behind. His drones come out to play and he engages the Sleepers a second time.

I've set myself up in a monitoring point just outside the anomaly as usual, as the Myrmidon isn't salvaging as he shoots. Up until now, I've ostensibly been waiting for a salvager to appear, which would explain why I am ineffectively sitting a couple of hundred kilometres away from the Myrmidon when he recalls his probes again, probably when his tank is once more coming under pressure. I should be much closer to him, shadowing his movements, waiting for precisely this moment before striking. I warp in to the anomaly, getting close enough to engage, but think it perhaps too late. I will need to decloak and suffer several seconds of sensor recalibration before I can gain a positive target lock, and if the Myrmidon is already aligning out of the site all I'll do is show my ship and intentions. I just sit and watch as the battlecruiser warps out of the anomaly.

I should have got myself in a better position sooner, realising that this is a different situation to ambushing a salvager and adjusting my tactics as a result. I already knew I was looking for the drones to be recalled before making my move, I was simply in the wrong place to make that move. And, sadly, I won't get another chance this evening, not against the Myrmidon, as the ship disappears off d-scan, presumably back to Amarr. A Loki strategic cruiser appears on the wormhole to high-sec, but does nothing but sit there for a while.

I have to admit that I don't really know what's happening here any more. My best guess is that a pilot came here in a Vexor, got spanked by the Sleepers, and returned in the Myrmidon only to suffer similar troubles. That would explain why my Orca went apparently unnoticed. A second pilot found the wormhole independently and, too keen to explore some w-space, ignored or didn't see the Myrmidon making a target of himself. What the Loki came in for will remain a mystery. I warp to the wormhole too late to see that strategic cruiser, although I linger long enough to see the scanning Tengu come back this way and return to Amarr. It's all gone quiet again.

Posted in Gaming | 1 Comment »
Tags: bustard, eve online, loki, mmorpg, myrmidon, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, vexor, w-space