Staying safe slaying Sleepers

I'm back in the empty space of the home system. But it's not empty for long, as a minute later my glorious leader appears. Let's get going! The home system is clear of ships and signatures of dubious origins, there being only some expected gas and the static wormhole. The next question is what we want to achieve tonight, because we could either shoot Sleepers at home or head out and hope to find other capsuleers to shoot. We have plenty of anomalies here, but we could stumble in to a system that has its own anomalies, as well as other pilots. I think we'll look abroad.

Our neighbouring class 3 w-space system has a tower visible on my directional scanner, but no ships. I start to head off to explore the rest of the system, but exploration is easy today. Opening the system map shows the farthest planet is a mere 8 AU distant, well within d-scan range, so what we can see is everything there is to see. With no one obviously at home I launch probes and scan. Four signatures and eleven anomalies looks good for shooting Sleepers without dwindling our own supplies, as long as there aren't any unexpected wormholes. Our K162 I know about, which leaves gas, more gas, and, by a process of elimination and indication of signature strength, a static exit to null-sec k-space.

We leave the static wormhole in C3a unvisited for now—even though this doesn't guarantee it being unactivated—and head home to swap to our Sleeper boats. Fin boards a Tengu strategic cruiser and I slide in to a Golem marauder, which we take back to the C3. We send our ships in to the first anomaly of the evening and joke about being a bit rusty. It's been a while since we've regularly engaged Sleepers, and it hasn't been long since I got my replacement Golem, so it feels like we're learning it all again. But we get back in to a groove soon enough. I even remember that I have a shield booster when the shield alarm blares at me, and when I repair all the damage in only a few cycles I then remember I have a very expensive shield booster.

The state of the anomalies remains constant, at least, and we haven't forgotten how to clear them efficiently. One, two, three fall to our combined firepower without drama, and as I pull the last wreck to my marauder and fling Fin towards the fourth anomaly of the evening she spots a Helios blip on d-scan. A covert operations boat hardly seems worth worrying about, but it's where he's come from and who he's with that concerns us. We agree immediately to bug out and head home, if only to determine the threat accurately before continuing. And, as Fin points out, piloting the Golem means that we get home without then having to worry about getting our loot back afterwards. The marauder pays for itself quickly.

I dump our evening's loot—almost two hundred million ISK, by my count—and we swap back to our scanning boats. We should scan the home system and C3a for signs of new connections before assuming that the Helios was a scout local to the C3 waking up. Fin's ahead of me, already having found and resolving a new signature in the home system. It's always much nicer to be able to prove a positive. Fin sits her Tengu outside the K162 from class 2 w-space whilst I, hmm. Actually, I think I'll take a stealth bomber in to the C2. I doubt we'll have much scanning to do and the Manticore adds some decent firepower for relatively little cost.

I take point, in my cheaper ship, and jump in to C2a. I immediately see the shadow of a Falcon recon ship, it looking to cloak as it sees the wormhole flare that announces my entrance, but I definitely saw something. That's good information. Maybe he was on his way to hopefully catch a Tengu and Golem pair engaging Sleepers. And now a Nighthawk warps to the wormhole, after I've moved away and cloaked. But as our Sleeper ships have disappeared from their scout's view in the C3, and my stealth bomber has been seen entering their C2, the command ship has little to do but warp away again.

It certainly looks like we could have been in for a surprise had we shrugged the Helios off as a mere scanning boat. Whether the ECM of the Falcon would have been enough to keep these pilots safe, or the damage of the Nighthawk sufficient to break our tanks, it's hard to say. We definitely could have been in real trouble if there are more pilots and ships available, and curious to see if that's the case I warp away from the wormhole to explore this class 2 w-space system. D-scan is clear from the wormhole but getting closer to the centre of the system throws up two towers, three Orca industrial command ships, the Nighthawk, a Noctis salvager, a Merlin frigate, and Hawk assault ship. There certainly could be greater numbers here.

Both towers are around a single planet, which only has two moons, making finding the towers straightforward. All ships and hangars are at one of the towers, which is well-defended indeed, and I see the Nighthawk still piloted and one of the Orcas having a capsuleer aboard. The Falcon remains unaccounted for, as does the Helios, but I think we can presume them both scouting wormholes for ship movements, being cloaky ships. Nothing is likely to happen here, unless we bait the locals out, and as they have more pilots than us that doesn't seem like a good idea. Either way, I'm happy to have an early night, as is Fin.

As the Nighthawk warps back to the wormhole to unintentionally bid me farewell, Fin lists the main objectives of any evening in w-space. '1. Survive. 2. Make ISK. 3. Find potential targets.' Yep, it's been a pretty successful evening. I make it more successful by managing to ignore the Nighthawk, sitting tantalisingly away from the wormhole, helped by Fin's reminder not to be suckered in to doing anything stupid. To be fair, I gave myself the same warning a minute earlier and Fin's just repeating it in case I'd forgotten or decided that it didn't apply in this situation, and I manage to ignore the command ship and jump home safely. We hide in separate corners of the system, denying our new neighbours any intelligence or indication of our intentions, and go off-line.

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Tags: eve online, falcon, golem, hawk, helios, merlin, mmorpg, nighthawk, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, sleepers, tengu, w-space

Taking on a Tengu

I'm heading forwards. Backwards provided a little entertainment, as podding a capsuleer saw my security status plunge to new lows, but the class 3 w-space system behind a K162 in our home system only holds sleeping pilots. One was doing nothing when I first entered, and two were up to just as little as I came back after ratting in low-sec empire space, to try to mitigate my damaged status. Maybe I'll have more luck at finding targets in the class 3 w-space system through our static wormhole.

An empty directional scanner in C3a is not terribly encouraging, but the system is bigger than d-scan can see, so I warp away to launch scanning probes. Instead, I warp to within d-scan range of a tower, which lets me see a more promising sight of a Manticore stealth bomber, shuttle, and Badger hauler. I locate the tower to have my hopes dashed, seeing all three ships empty, so return my attention to launching probes and scanning. Nine signatures dotted amongst the seven anomalies won't take long to resolve, although I'm only really interested in finding wormholes.

My probes pick up more than just the static exit to low-sec in this C3, but the only extra connection is a K162 from class 4 w-space that is reaching the end of its natural lifetime. A dying wormhole means it was opened many hours ago, which generally indicates whatever activity passed this way is likely to be gone. Not always, but generally. Rather than try to get lucky I head out to low-sec, hoping to get a few more easy rat kills to help my flailing security status. I jump out to where else but Aridia, where I am by myself. Oh good, I can rat without interruption.

Ratting remains remarkably tedious. I make a small circuit of some low-sec systems, picking off a rat or two along my way, before getting horribly bored and returning to w-space. Besides being awfully mean to some poor capsuleer exploring the Black Monolith it looks like I'll not get anything done this evening. In fact, I suppose I've taken a step backwards, as the pod kill was purely opportunistic, not even getting the ship in the first place, so all I've really done is kill my security status. Good job, Penny!

But before I go to bed I'll take one last look in C3b, though the K162 connecting in to our home system. Jumping in to the system has another change of ships, with the Tengu strategic cruiser now being joined by a Noctis salvager. D-scan places the Noctis at the tower, and there are no wrecks visible, so I don't think anything's happening. Still, I warp to the tower to see if anything may happen, only to find the Tengu's missing. He's in the system, just not here.

I open the system map and swing d-scan around, quickly finding the Tengu in one of the system's anomalies. I warp in to take a look, and see the strategic cruiser flying solo against Sleepers. From experience, I know that this is going to take a while, and even if he salvages the sites immediately after finishing them I could be here for twenty minutes just watching and waiting for my chance to take a pop at the Noctis. If he moves on to more sites I will be sitting around for longer, and it's already late. Then again, I don't have to aim for the Noctis.

Having a static connection to class 3 w-space, I know these anomalies quite well. The next wave is a few cruisers that have no EWAR, which is pretty comfortable to tank. The Tengu is not moving, making him an easy target to track without a scout, and he's even sitting on the cosmic anomaly, making his position trivial to bookmark and warp to. On top of that, he's taken the time to destroy the Argos guns, reducing the threat of damage any ship in the anomaly will have to face. That may be good for him, but it's also good for an ambusher. I think I have a chance of successfully engaging this Tengu.

My main concern is how closely the pilot is watching d-scan, as the wormhole is in range of the anomaly, but I think the worst that could happen is his warping out of the site before I return. I have a slight concern that the Tengu is acting like bait, but this is just general paranoia. I've been through this system and watched the pilots over the course of this evening. I have seen at most two pilots, neither of them particularly active, and almost no ship movements. If they are trying to bait someone, it is with supreme patience.

I'm going to take a shot at the Tengu. I leave the anomaly, jump home, and warp to our tower. Our ship killer Legion strategic cruisers are designed to take down actively tanked Tengus, and that is my current target, so I board Jeff K's Third Prophecy and return to C3b. On the wormhole, I hold my session change cloak after jumping in, as I adjust d-scan to check the anomaly. The Tengu is still there. The Noctis is still at the tower. There are still no new ships. All looks good, so I surge my Legion in to warp, activate my defensive modules, and get myself ready.

I drop out of warp close enough to the Tengu to engage immediately. He remains sitting stationary on the cosmic signature. All that's changed is the Sleeper battleship is now a wreck and the four cruisers of the second wave have appeared. I gain a positive target lock on the Tengu, disrupt his warp engines, and start shooting. Shooting, though, is pretty much ineffective at the moment. My hits barely register on his powerfully boosted shields, but this is why my Legion is fitted with energy neutralisers. I activate the neuts to start sucking the juice right out of the Tengu's capacitor.

My own shields are down, but I'm expecting that. My armour is my protection, and it's holding up just fine, even with the Sleepers shooting me. The Tengu is having problems, though. It has taken a handful of module cycles, but my neuts have bled the capacitor dry. I can tell, because the target's shields are dropping very quickly indeed. With no juice to power the shield hardeners or shield booster the Tengu has pitifully weak defences. I chew through the shields and obliterate the armour, the pilot managing to eject his pod moments before the hull is ripped apart and the Tengu explodes.

I aim to catch the pod but, without a sensor booster, am not surprised to see it warp clear. With the Sleepers still shooting me I approach the new wreck and loot and shoot it. I'm not planning to come back to salvage this one and am happy to see it wasted. Sadly, the Dread Guristas EM shield hardener module fitted to the Tengu was destroyed with the ship and not available to be looted, along with plenty of Caldari Navy missiles. I transfer some decent Tech II modules in to my hold before shooting the wreck, which isn't too shabby, but the prize for me is the kill itself.

It's always good to make one last check of the constellation, even if nothing has been happening all night. It's also good to note what's happening on each pass through a system, such as keeping track of pilot numbers and ship types. And I'm pleased with my Legion's capability. We've tested the same ship and fitting before, but it's good to see it working so effectively against its intended target, particularly one-on-one. It's also a rather splendid end to the evening. I clear the pocket, checking d-scan to see the pilot staying in his pod and not boarding a new ship, and jump home. I ditch the loot in our hangar, swap to my covert Tengu, and hide in a corner of the system to sleep soundly.

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Tags: badger, eve online, legion, low-sec, manticore, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space

Touching the monolith

Like any good hooligan, I'm looking abroad for a fight. But which direction shall I head? There are two wormholes in the home system today, one leading to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system as usual, and another coming in also from class 3 w-space. A K162 is always a sign of activity, even if that activity happens to be long stale, so I first jump to what I shall call C3b. My directional scanner shows me Anathema and Helios covert operations boats, and a Tengu strategic cruiser, along with a tower. There are no wrecks in the system, but as a pre-emptive measure I activate my ship's on-board scanner as I move away from the wormhole and cloak, which returns four anomalies. Bookmarking them may come in useful, depending on who's here.

My notes place me in this system twice before, the last time a mere six weeks ago, which should mean the tower is in the same place as before. I also have a static exit to low-sec empire space listed, so I know what I'm looking for when I scan. Even so, enough can happen in six weeks, which I realise when I notice that the tower in my notes should be out of d-scan range. I think I should explore. I first locate the tower I can see, which holds the three ships and has only the Anathema piloted, then warp out to find that the other tower is gone. And now that I am out of d-scan range of the active tower I launch scanning probes, spreading them to blanket the system.

Five signatures are all that light up my probes, and with the Anathema pilot probably dozing off at his controls I may as well see what's out there. Gas, gas, rocks, and the static wormhole. That was easy. The exit to low-sec takes me to a dead end. The system Dead End, in fact, in the Genesis region, which places me near New Eden itself. I've been here before, of course, but it is always nice to go sightseeing. I'm sharing the system with one other capsuleer, apparently in a Kestrel frigate. Maybe he's sightseeing too, as d-scan places him coincidental with the Black Monolith celestial beacon. I'll warp in to take a look.

The Kestrel pilot is kind of here, in that a pod is here floating next to the wreck of a Kestrel. Being as we're the only two capsuleers in the system, as easily told by the populated local communications channel, and he can't harm me directly in his pod—names will never hurt—I move towards his wreck, decloak, and loot the modules that survived the frigate's destruction. But I think a get a bit too close to the Black Monolith. My ship nudges in to the strange artefact and... and... I hear voices. No, not voices: concepts. Ideas are fed directly in to my consciousness.

Why, I have missile launchers fitted to this boat. I've never noticed before, but they could be used as weapons. I could attack those similar to me who are potential threats to my existence, and prevail to become stronger, fitter for survival! These unfamiliar thoughts and feelings churn and coalesce in my mind until I am locking on to the still-unmoving pod in front of me, and missiles start spewing from my ship. Explosions flare out from the pod until it is cracked open, sending the capsuleer inside out to the vacuum of space, where he becomes a frozen corpse.

Well, that was a curious experience. I don't quite know what came over me. I scoop the corpse in to my hold, now a trophy of the steepest dive my security status has taken so far, and resign myself to ratting for the rest of the evening to try to make up for it. At least I'm in an empty low-sec system, which is a good place to start, and I managed to click through the warnings about engaging pilots in low-sec, so I won't have to worry about that until the next time I have to reset all my settings. As there are some rats in front of me I pop a couple, then continue exploring through the genesis of the New Eden galaxy looking for more rats to help me resist my continuing decline in security status.

Jump, pop, jump, pop, jump, pop. Repeat until bored, either of the monotony of ratting or the tedious design itself. I manage to make the few jumps to get to the New Eden system, and as I have nowhere to go but backwards I realise I may as well scan. I make a safe spot, as there are few places to hide in this system, before launching probes and starting to scan. There are four signatures in the system, which looks promising, but none are wormholes that offer opportunity for exploration. At least I am entertained by a local idiot who enters the system.

I recall my apparently useless combat scanning probes, which clearly didn't help at all in resolving those four sites, and head back along the string of low-sec systems the way I came, ratting as I go. Despite all the ratting I've done recently, which admittedly may not amount to more than a few hours in total so far, my security status had not by today recovered from shooting a mere two capsuleer-piloted ships. I don't really expect it to go anywhere but down, particularly when I apparently can't resist the temptation of easy kills, but I may as well do what I can to slow my inevitable decline. Or I can try to shoot more pilots.

I get back to Dead End and return through the wormhole to w-space. The Anathema pilot in C3b is now in a Tengu strategic cruiser and has been joined by a new contact in a Prowler transport ship, but neither of them is moving and it all looks as dull as I left it earlier. I loiter for a few minutes, wondering if the transport will leave the tower to collect planet goo, or maybe head to low-sec, but not even a rivet moves. That must be the second-steadiest Minmatar ship I've seen. I may have missed whatever activity has happened here, so instead of waiting any longer I jump back home and warp across to look beyond our static connection.

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Tags: anathema, eve online, helios, kestrel, low-sec, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, prowler, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space

Getting fuel and more fuel

Simplistic scanning again today, with our static wormhole sitting alone in the system once more. There's not much to do here but resolve the connection and jump through. And there seems to be little to do in our neighbouring class 3 w-space system too, as my directional scanner shows me nothing in range of the K162. A sole planet out of d-scan range gives me some hope of finding activity, but before I warp out to explore I launch scanning probes and blanket the system. Thirteen signatures and nineteen anomalies light up my probes, but no ships and no occupation. There are, however, lots of warp bubbles, which I find to be around a derelict tower. It's all rather uninteresting.

I start sifting through the signatures, resolving rocks, rocks, blah, blah, whatever. I think I already mentioned that it's all rather uninteresting. A chubby wormhole teases me in to thinking it could be a K162, offering opportunity for finding targets, but it turns out to be the only wormhole in the system and so can only be the static connection. Like many static wormholes in class 3 w-space, this one leads to low-sec empire space. Unlike what seems like many, the wormhole doesn't lead to Aridia, but the Domain region instead. In fact, I'm only seven hops to Amarr, albeit with four through low-sec before Concord-patrolled high-sec can be reached.

Before I start thinking about logistics there are options in this low-sec system. First, there are scanning probes visible on d-scan, which appear to be converging on the K162 I'm sitting on. An Anathema covert operations boat appears on d-scan, but that looks to be a new pilot entering the system through a stargate. That pilot leaves, the probes disappear, and another pilot leaves. I presume he was the scout, as there is only one other capsuleer in the system and he looks to be actively piloting a Talos battlecruiser. As the scout didn't come past me and the Talos doesn't appear to be a direct threat, I would say all is clear for me to scan.

That Talos pilot is sarcastic. There is one additional signature in this low-sec system, an Outgrowth Rogue Drone hive, and the battlecruiser is coincidentally sitting in it. It doesn't sound like a wormhole, so I'm not interested. I jump back to w-space, warp across C3a, and return home. Ditching my scanning ship I swap in to a Crane transport, load up with loot and salvage, and point myself Amarrwards. I pass by some ship wrecks and a corpse on one of the stargates in low-sec, but the systems are relatively empty and the gates clear, letting me reach the market hub without problems.

Sell, sell, sell! Or melt and reprocess and sell! Or repackage and sel—ok, repair and s—ok, I have to repackage after repairing. Yes, I remember you mentioning that, but I asked you to do it first. Can't you remember that? Anyway, it's repaired and repackaged, so sell! And with a nice and plump wallet I buy some fuel pellets for our tower. I stuff the Crane with as much as it can hold, leave dock, and head back home. I pass through low-sec simply enough again, and although the system holding the K162 is a mite busier none of the ships are on the wormhole itself, which is nice. I get home and add the fuel to our tower. A measly two days' worth of fuel.

That really wasn't worth the effort. Stupid bulky fuel blocks. Still, low-sec seemed clear, so I could probably risk taking the less-agile, more visible Bustard transport and bring back over five times as much fuel in one trip. With everything looking quiet, that's what I do. I exit w-space without breaking a sweat, and start hitting the stargates. A couple of systems in sees a peak in traffic, but none of the ships are on the stargate with me or seem to be at the one I want to use next, so I press on. Amarr comes quickly, and I stuff even more fuel pellets in to the giant secure containers in my hold, somehow warping space-time to increase my cargo capacity by 30%. Futuristic cardboard boxes are pretty neat.

Going home gives me a bit of a start in one system, as I jump in behind a fleet. Thankfully, the fleet is in the process of warping away, giving me the briefest glimpse of their exhaust ports, and I'm heading in a different direction again. It can be nice sometimes to live off the beaten track. I bring the Bustard home safely and fill up the tower with fuel pellets, with a few more to store in the hangar for now. And with that, I think I'll get an early night. I may not have shot anyone, but after a few days of having convenient connections and not doing much with them its good to have done some logistics.

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Tags: anathema, bustard, crane, eve online, low-sec, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, talos, w-space

How to hunt in w-space using d-scan

There was once a time when I didn't know about my directional scanner. I had little use for it when running missions in high-sec empire space, and I probably only found out about it when the corporation made its first tentative steps in to w-space. Even then, I used it purely defensively, set to full range and angle, showing me all that was out there that could be seen. I used it to give me warning of when to run away. At some point I read a guide showing how d-scan could be used to locate ships in space with surprising accuracy, so that scanning probes became precision tools used only for the final cut.

Such use of d-scan impressed and intrigued me. But, to be honest, it should have scared the crap out of me. The local channel isn't populated in w-space, so you have no idea who's in the system with you, and if you only need one scan to find any ship in the system then you really can sneak up on other pilots unawares. Sitting in a site or empty space, a skilled pilot can find you. But now I'm a hunter and really appreciate what d-scan can do for me, so it's all cool.

I wish I could remember where I first saw that guide to using d-scan. Not only could I give credit to the capsuleer who showed me how to realise the power of d-scan, but I could also link to the guide directly and not have to write my own. Still, here goes.

For this exercise I shall use a friendly Retriever, with the hopes that the mining barge will make my killer instinct kick in. And it is an exercise, not a live hunt. I don't want to lose a target because I'm too busy trying to take a bunch of illustrative screen grabs, and if I do lose the target then the series of images will be left unfinished. Even though it is an exercise, however, no steps will be fudged.

I need to park the Retriever in empty space so that I am forced to use d-scan to find it, so I create a safe spot that looks suitably impossible to find by chance.

Of course, I can't keep the bookmark to the safe spot, otherwise the hunt would be reduced to pointing d-scan at and arranging probes around the bookmark, so I delete it. Let's hope I can find our ship again.

Time to pretend!

I've jumped in to a w-space system and punched d-scan. Oh look, there's a Retriever in the system, but I bet it's sitting safely inside the shields of the tower that's also visible.

I locate the tower and—what's this?—the Retriever is still on d-scan but not at the tower. The hunt is on!

Now to glance over the initial few steps that hopefully are already known. These should be obvious enough not to require a pictorial guide.

• Launch probes out of d-scan range of your target and, preferably, any towers.
• Send the probes far enough out of the system to be out of d-scan range of anyone in the system by moving the probe boxes far above the ecliptic plane and hitting 'scan'.
• Get within a comfortable range of your target.

Sites will be within 4 AU of a planet, so unless he's sitting in a safe spot there should be no reason why you can't get within 4 AU of your target. You can use d-scan to determine this using methods similar to those below, but with coarser settings. It only needs to be rough at this stage.

Once you have probes launched, and are cloaked and near to your target, you can start to use d-scan to hunt him. Note that d-scan works in the system map just as it does normally. Centre the screen on your ship, by selecting whatever planet or bookmark you're sitting at, and whatever your view points towards is what d-scan will report back when updated.

1. Get an approximate bearing on your target by reducing the angle of d-scan. You can start at 90° or even 60°, but to save a bit of faffing around I've already narrowed down the position of the Retriever to within 30°.



2. Bring your probe boxes in to the system, but don't scan.



Probe boxes can be moved as much as you like without the actual probes moving, until you hit scan. This datum probe is ultimately necessary for a successful hunt, but don't actually scan until everything is ready.

3. Select one of your probes to be a datum point. Move that probe's box to where d-scan currently indicates your target to be.



Don't worry about range yet, but don't place the probe either too close or too far from your current location, or positioning it becomes awkward.

Don't use one of the probe's arrows as the datum point. It is tempting to use the arrow because the point seems less fuzzy than the box, but if you zoom your view in and out at all then the arrow becomes unreliable.





Use the probe box itself as the datum point. Although it may feel less accurate, zooming the view in and out does not affect the reliability of the box as a datum.





With the datum probe in place, the target's position can start to be refined.

4. Reduce d-scan's angle by one step and find the target again.



Don't worry if your target disappears initially. This is only to be expected as you refine your search.



5. The utility of the datum probe should be obvious now. With the datum probe showing the last best guess of where your target is, you can use it as a guide to refine your guess. If you get a bit muddled, you can also always return to the last best guess, increasing the angle of d-scan again, to confirm that the target is still there and resetting to a known good position.

Nope, not there.



There you are.



6. Once the target is found again, re-align the datum probe to the target's refined position.



Now to repeat the refining process.

7. Reduce d-scan's angle by one step and find the target again.



Searching...



Searching...



There you are.



8. When you have your datum probe aligned to the target in a 5° d-scan beam, you can start refining its range. Probes use astronomical units (AU) as their ranges, and d-scan kilometres, so you need to convert. I use 150,000,000 km for 1 AU as an approximation. I know it's not precise, but a couple of million kilometres will make no difference here, and multiples of 150 are easy to calculate quickly. I start the range search at 1 AU.



9. The target's not within 1 AU, so I increase the range gate to 2 AU, at which point the target appears.



Had the target not appeared, I would have increased the range gate to 3 AU, then 4 AU, and worked back from there. In this example, I don't have to reach out too far.

10. Now I need to work out roughly where in-between the two major units the target sits. I don't need to know with any great accuracy, perhaps 0·25 AU being enough precision for me to position my probes.



Closer.



Closer.



Too close!



Okay.



Well, I was curious about just how close to 1 AU I managed to park the Retriever from this planet. The proximity of the ship makes hunting it with d-scan relatively easy, and probe placement much easier, but the techniques used apply to all such hunts. Practice will still be required.

I have the target's bearing and range known to about the best accuracy I can manage without actually using scanning probes. Now I can use scanning probes to get his precise position in space.

11. Select a second datum probe, which will be used to determine the range of the target. Adjust the scanning range of the probe to give a suitable range increment based on how distant your target is.



In this case, the target is 1 AU away, so I am setting my probe's range to 1 AU. Remember that the probe's range is the radius of the sphere, not the diameter. I position my range datum so that the edge of its sphere touches my position in space.

12. Now position the range datum so that it aligns with the bearing datum probe, keeping the edge of its sphere still touching your position in space. This may take a few attempts, much moving your view, and several adjustments to get right.



It's best to set the bearing datum probe to have a different range than the range datum probe, simply so that you can tell the two apart when aligning the range to the bearing. Moving the wrong probe now would cost valuable time.

13. I end up with both the range and bearing datum probes being aligned to the same point in space, with the range datum probe giving me information on the approximate range I'm aiming for.



In this case, with the target a smidgen over 1 AU away, the range datum probe's box should be pretty much incident with the target, so I have little else to do. For other ranges, more adjustments would be needed. For example, were the target 1·5 AU distant I could now adjust the first datum probe to have a range of 0·5 AU and move it so that the edge of its sphere touches the box of the 1 AU range probe—remembering that both probes now act as a bearing datum. The box of the 0·5 AU probe would now be 1·5 AU distant from my position and in-line with the target, giving me my target's position. Other probe arrangements, using different range increments, can be made depending on the circumstances, with the same process being used to keep at least one probe as a bearing datum.

14. I have a good idea where my target is and a probe box that I believe is pretty much sitting on top of him. So now I move the other probes in around the central probe's position to form my standard scanning cluster.



15. After one last check to see my target's still in the same place, and my probes are in the right position, I'm ready to scan.



16. Hit scan, and watch as your probes fly in from out of the system and get to work.



In a live situation, this should be the first time your target will be able to see your probes, so you need to have good reactions.

Because the position of my Retriever is close to me and I am under no time pressure to locate it, I get a solid hit with the first scan. Naturally, the target is close to where I estimated his position to be with d-scan, but even I'm impressed with how close I was.

17. Recall the probes and warp to your target, remembering to bookmark his position for reference.



If you don't get a solid hit on the first attempt, some quick adjustments may need to be made. Make them, and make them quickly, performing a second scan as soon as you can. Your target may spot your probes if they stay out too long and bug out, but this is always a risk, even with a perfect scan. Don't fret. The more you practice the better you'll get, until you only need one scan to find your target.

18. One scan and quick recall leaves little time for the target to see your probes. He hasn't warped out, so lock on and start shooting.



Oh, right. This is our ship. I'd better stop shooting. Force of habit, you know.

And that's how you hunt using d-scan. With a little practice and a modicum of skill, you can locate and resolve a ship with a single scan of your combat probes, giving your target only a few seconds to spot your probes. If they don't pick the right seconds to check d-scan, they'll never see you coming. How you engage the ship, either solo or with a fleet behind you, and if you shoot to kill or are looking for a ransom, you will have to work out for yourself.

Posted in Gaming | 9 Comments »
Tags: eve online, pvp, scanning

Ignoring a small issue can make it grow

Burn, baby, burn. Three gas sites and two rock sites have all evaporated in to the vacuum, which should make scanning simpler now. And indeed it is, with just the one signature in the whole system. I like this. I resolve our static wormhole—for it can be nothing else—and jump through to start exploring. Immediately my directional scanner shows me two combat scanning probes, along with a small canister that by itself is less interesting. The probes disappear shortly after I enter the system, although they are unlikely to have missed the appearance of our K162 in to this class 3 w-space system. Depending on the alertness of the scout and the abundance of signatures in this system, I may already have been passively spotted.

I have a tower listed in my notes from four months ago, along with the presence of a static exit to low-sec empire space, but the tower should be in d-scan range. It's all change here, so I warp out to explore. There's no new tower that I can see, but two Myrmidon battlecruisers and a Guardian logistics ship are somewhere in this C3. I activate my on-board scanner and reveal, cor, twenty-four anomalies. That is plenty to keep this small fleet busy, but it would help my finding them if they were actually in an anomaly, and with combat scanning probes whizzing around I doubt I can launch my own probes with any pretence that I won't be seen. Then again, I don't think it really matters, as the absence of wrecks on d-scan suggests the fleet is salvaging as they fight, so I may not have a salvager to wait for.

A warp bubble pops up on d-scan. I'm sure it wasn't there a moment ago. Why would the fleet be anchoring bubbles? Sod it, I'm launching probes. I warp far away from the centre of the system, to at least give myself a chance of not being spotted, and launch probes to blanket the system. A mere four signatures are in the system along with the three ships I've already spotted. I think it's safe to say that any competent scout will have seen our K162 appear in this sparse system. Still, I may as well hunt the three ships, even if I am not going to catch them, as it will be good practice for future live events.

I warp back to the centre of the system to get close to the fleet, checking my range to ensure as little angular error creeps in to my scanning. I appear to be in a good position, as the ships are roughly 1·5 AU distant. And now there are drones out and more wrecks. Oh, this hunt is surprisingly easy, as the ships are in a plain anomaly now, one that my on-board scanner has already detected. It's not really practice after all, but I warp in to the site to see that the fleet are indeed salvaging as they go, the Guardian pulling wrecks to his ship to loot and strip them for scrap. Maybe I didn't spot them earlier because they were planting bubbles as a response to my presence. And if they know I'm here I may as well scan properly.

I resolve a ladar gas harvesting site and two more wormholes in this C3. The static exit to low-sec is bubbled, with a jet-can placed presumably to decloak any ships caught by the bubbles but placed in a position that does not line up with any other object in this system. I was expecting it to be placed in line with our K162, at least. And I would also expect this second wormhole, a K162 from high-sec, to be bubbled, and maybe even our wormhole. I'm not quite sure what this fleet hopes to gain from bubbling that one wormhole, and not even the most dangerous one in the system!

The bubble on the wormhole to low-sec may not be a particularly effective deterrent, but three ships against my puny self is working. So, what to do, what to do. I pop out to high-sec to see where the wormhole leads, appearing in The Forge and only a few hops from Jita. The system is populated with a dozen or so pilots, but none from the same six-member corporation that the fleet in the C3 belongs to. I suppose they think they are pretty safe for some reason, perhaps because they've only seen one ship. They are almost right, if rather over-confident, because a single ship is often just a scout for a larger force. Today I may get that force behind me.

I consider ignoring the fleet and taking a Bustard transport ship to Jita to sell loot and buy fuel, but Aii appears and is coming home, and Mick has found a decent connection that can get him and a new recruit to the C3 before too long. All praise to corporate bookmarks! I jump back to the C3, head home, and swap my scanning boat for a rather more dangerous Legion strategic cruiser, returning to the C3 to start shadowing the fleet properly. I have all the anomalies bookmarked and have scanned the system thoroughly, so I shouldn't get any surprises, and now I can see how the fleet operates.

The Guardian and Myrmidons are sharing repair systems across their ships, but not capacitor juice. If we neutralise the Guardian, suggests Mick, we should be able to drop him quickly and turn our attention to the battlecruisers. The only trouble is how we drop on to them, as the Guardian's salvaging takes him away from the Myrmidons. But, first, we need to get everyone in to position. Aii jumps in to the C3 and warps home to get a Scorpion battleship, for some dastardly ECM support, and although his Tengu strategic cruiser appears on d-scan briefly the fleet continues engaging Sleepers. A few minutes later has Mick and Cuervia enter the high-sec system and warp to the wormhole. We're ready, now I need to spot the right opportunity.

Aii's on our static wormhole and ready to jump. Mick's on the wormhole in high-sec and ready to jump. Cuervia's entered the system to avoid Concord, the damned pirate. I'm watching the ships. The current anomaly has been cleared and one Myrmidon has warped away, so now I have to make the call as to engage the ships now or wait until they enter the next anomaly. Engaging them now means we have no Sleepers to contend with, but as the site is cleared they may warp away to the next one if I get my timing a little wrong. Then again, with one Myrmidon gone it is possible the fleet is about to stop for the night. We can't have that. I warp in to the cleared site from my monitoring point, decloak, and call for everyone to warp to my position.

I gain a positive lock on the Guardian and disrupt its warp engines, as I start sucking its capacitor dry and doing what damage I can with my pair of lasers. The two pilots still seem pretty confident that they know what they're dealing with, as the Myrmidon drops a warp bubble and starts anchoring it. They probably think its still just me, although Mick's Astarte command ship warping in should give them second thoughts. And Aii's Scorpion warps in seconds later to pile on the pain, shortly before Cuervia's Manticore stealth bomber decloaks thirty kilometres away and starts launching torpedoes.

Still, the warp bubble being anchored, although not yet active, is a little unsettling. Maybe we have not set the trap but waltzed in to one? I keep updating d-scan, as the Guardian starts taking serious armour damage, but see no changes. It's still just us and the Guardian and Myrmidon. Now it's us and a Myrmidon, as the Guardian explodes and its pod flees. The Myrmidon is going nowhere, Mick having called point on it as he dropped in to the site, and we wear it down more quickly than the Guardian. The battlecruiser explodes and its pod flees too, probably rather grateful that we were ruthlessly efficient and didn't wait for his warp bubble to activate and trap his pod here too.

This was a good pair of kills! Communication brought us together, and Mick's appraisal of the situation helped us defeat the pair of ships whilst taking minimal damage ourselves. But I can't help feel the targets were a bit too blasé about threats in w-space. It seems they saw our K162 appear, and probably my ship at least once, and all they did was bubble a wormhole that I had no use for. Leaving our K162 untouched, as well as the very convenient wormhole from high-sec, doesn't really make sense. And, as I mentioned, ignoring one ship often leads to dealing with a fleet. But, in this case, we really don't mind.

We loot the wrecks, chase the pods around w-space for a bit, and Mick borrows a destroyer from our tower to salvage the wrecks, getting us some extra loot. The pods remain one step ahead of us and my scanning, bouncing around from one safe spot to the next, until I eventually get bored and leave them alone, which is pretty much at the same time as they go off-line. Aii and I head back through the K162 to our home system, where we repair the minor damage to our ships, and Mick and Cuervia jump to high-sec to make the return journey to their class 5 w-space home. It's been a good evening.

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Tags: astarte, eve online, guardian, legion, manticore, mmorpg, myrmidon, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, scorpion, tengu, w-space

Iterons galore

Scanning new rocks and a new wormhole is not particularly exciting. A second wormhole on the outskirts of our home system being a K162 from class 2 w-space is rather more interesting, though. And it gets better, as jumping in to the C2 sees a tower and Iteron hauler on my directional scanner. I move away from the wormhole and cloak, and get to locating the tower to see if I can catch the industrial ship being careless. I drop out of warp outside the easily found tower to see the Iteron piloted and unmoving, but hopefully that just gives me time to get settled and ready to pounce.

A second contact appears in the tower, also in an Iteron, but this one smaller than the first. Judging from his vector, this pilot's just returned from collecting goo from planet out of d-scan range, which either means I have already missed my opportunity or I am about to see him warp to his next destination. But no, instead the larger Iteron warps out of the tower. He doesn't head towards a customs office, though, but empty space. A wormhole, I imagine. Now, do I scan for that wormhole or keep watching this smaller Iteron? Scan, I think. I have a good idea of where the wormhole will be in space, as I watched the Iteron leave, so maybe scanning will be quick.

I warp out, finding a second tower on the edge of the system which the smaller Iteron may have come from instead of collecting planet goo. I ignore it for now, with no other ships visible on d-scan, and launch probes. And as I launch probes I note a Buzzard covert operations boat appearing on d-scan. My timing's off again tonight, it seems. Never mind. I have probes out and I blanket the system, revealing fourteen anomalies and sixteen signatures, which won't be trivial to sift through. But what I also notice is that the wormhole leading to our home system lies in the direction that the Iteron warped, so it could be that the hauler is passing through our system to use the exit in our neighbouring C3. As the smaller Iteron has now been swapped for a Thanatos carrier, and is less of a target to me now, I think I'll investigate a possible secondary route to empire space.

I jump home, warp across the system, and enter C3a. D-scan shows me a tower, a Heron frigate, and an Iteron hauler, but the Iteron is smaller than the one I'm looking for, even if it's larger than the other one in C2a. Iteron hulls come in a variety of sizes. I have the location of the tower listed from a visit eight months ago, but not the type of static wormhole to be found, and as a sweep of d-scan shows the Heron not to be in the tower I think I'll look for him first. Ah, that was easy. He's warped back to the tower after launching scanning probes. Mission accomplished, albeit without punctuated by an exploding ship, I launch my own probes to scan.

I bookmark four anomalies and resolve a ladar site, wormhole, and, oh, that's it. There's not much here. The static connection leads out to low-sec space in the Khanid region, which either means that if the Iteron did indeed come this way then the second static wormhole in C2a leads to null-sec k-space—which seems unlikely—or deepest Aridia. Despite the Heron scanning a mere three signatures, the Iteron being piloted, and a new contact in a Buzzard warping in to the tower, it really looks like nothing's happening here. I'll go back to C2a to see what the other static wormhole really is.

C2a is sleepy when I enter. The Thanatos has gone from the first tower and the second remains empty. I launch probes and start sifting through the sixteen signatures, finding a wormhole that rather coincidentally lies along a similar vector from the first tower to that of the connection to our home system. So the Iteron didn't pass through our system and did use a different wormhole, one that I find to be a static connection to high-sec. That's disappointing, as I'm unlikely to catch a ship unawares there. It's almost as disappointing as finding a second wormhole only for it to be a K162 from high-sec, which I do, but at least the third wormhole in the system makes up for it, as I've found another K162 to class 2 w-space.

Jumping in to C2b has a tower and Myrmidon battlecruiser on d-scan, where my notes place me in this unremarkable system seven weeks ago. I have the location of the tower listed, as well as the static connections being to class 2 w-space and low-sec empire space, one of which I've found already. I warp to the tower to see the Myrmidon piloted but, as seems typical this evening, inactive, so launch probes and perform a blanket scan of the system. There being only three anomalies and seven signatures encourages me to take a poke around. I'm not expecting to find anything, which is good as the static connection to low-sec is reaching the end of its life, and another K162 merely comes from high-sec. But a third wormhole is nifty, partly because it's an outbound connection to class 1 w-space and partly because the Myrmidon is now sitting on top of it.

The question on my mind is whether my covert Tengu strategic cruiser could successfully engage the Myrmidon. I may be in a much more expensive ship but its combat capability is compromised for being covert and fitted for exploration, and although the pilot may only potentially be confident in tackling class 1 w-space Sleepers he could also be pretty competent in flying battlecruisers and more than a match for me. It's hard to say. Either way, I would be foolish not to follow behind even if just to reconnoitre the situation, so I wait for a minute, to give him time to clear the wormhole, and jump in to the C1.

Ah-ha. I suspect the Myrmidon is not here for the Sleepers but to escort home his colleague in, yep, an Iteron, both ships appearing on d-scan with nothing else nearby. With the battlecruiser flying escort it looks like I'll get to see how my covert Tengu will fare against it, and I'll have to decide quickly. The Iteron drops out of warp on the wormhole and jumps. If I go back I'll be polarised and unable to jump back here to evade any unwanted attention, but if I don't follow the Iteron the vulnerable hauler will go free. So I jump, a second or two after the Myrmidon lands on the wormhole himself. This could be interesting.

The Iteron decloaks back in the C2 and I pounce. I lock, point, and shoot. Phew, that ship's made of tissue paper and good intentions. Or it was, as three volleys of missiles rips it to shreds. I aim to catch the pod too but it warps cleanly away, leaving me with just a wreck to loot and shoot. Actually, that's a good point, as I am left with just a wreck. Where's the Myrmidon? Even after looting the wreck and cloaking I don't see the battlecruiser coming to his charge's aid. Maybe I overlooked one advantage of flying a Tengu, covert or otherwise: they have a certain reputation. It's possible the Myrmidon thinks strategic cruisers are all-powerful, all-capable ships, not realising their true strength lies in their flexibility, and simply didn't want to face one. That's fair enough, I'm sure we've all felt that way about a ship class before.

After a minute or so the Myrmidon jumps through the wormhole back to the C2, perhaps after he's counted down his polarisation timer, and he warps away to his tower. I remain cloaked. Maybe the battlecruiser pilot doesn't think he stands a chance against me but I'm not about to prove him wrong. The wormhole flaring a second time is interesting, though. Is another hauler coming home, the Myrmidon's second charge? I go for broke and decloak, getting ready to engage—oh, whoops—a Proteus strategic cruiser! I attempt to gain a target lock anyway, planning to dash through the wormhole at the first sign of competence, but the Proteus merely cloaks and warps away. That's pretty funny, as that could have ended badly for me.

The Myrmidon sits at the tower, the Iteron's pod now looks to have gone off-line, and the Proteus pilot swaps ships to be in a Nemesis stealth bomber. And looking at the loot I plucked from the wreck shows me an interesting collection of parts. There are the usual expanded cargoholds, but also a bomb skill book, bomb launcher, warhead rigs, a ballistic control system, co-processor, and sensor booster. They all look like parts for a Penny-special stealth bomber. I have some more spares for the extra Manticore I have yet to collect from Dodixie.

Maybe because I stole these stealth bomber parts the Nemesis doesn't look like he's coming out to play, so I leave these pilots alone. I return to C2a and check the high-sec exits, both of them today being close to Amarr—one in the Tash-Murkon region being five hops from Amarr, the other in Domain and two hops out—and although later I think maybe I should have used one of them to collect some more fuel for our tower I simply ignore the rather convenient connections and head home to get some sleep.

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Tags: buzzard, eve online, heron, iteron, mmorpg, myrmidon, nemesis, penny ibramovic, proteus, pvp, scanning, tengu, thanatos, w-space

Stacking up the stealth bombers

Maybe today I'll go out exploring. Yesterday's static wormhole was already in its death throes the first time I warped to it, stopping me in my tracks. Although it collapsed whilst Fin and I were Sleepering, ostensibly creating a new wormhole in its place waiting to be found today, the health of the wormhole all rather depends on what other activity may have passed through our home system. It all looks quiet. New rocks, new gas, new wormhole are all my probes resolve, and with only one wormhole it looks like no one has passed through today. But—ha ha, so funny!—this bastard's at the end of its life too. None of our anomalies are missing again, though. Do we have a nomad in our system who's opening our static connection fourteen hours early just to irritate me?

Schwoop. The wormhole collapses ten minutes after I find it in its wobbly state. I've been catching up on some reading in the meantime and the distinctive sound of a wormhole's death pulls me back to my controls. That was actually pretty quick, as the EOL stage lasts four hours, give or take. Maybe tonight will be good after all. I relaunch my scanning probes, find the replacement static wormhole, and warp to the healthy connection to jump through to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system. On the other side of the wormhole my directional scanner is nice and clear, letting me launch scanning probes. A blanket scan of the system is far from clear, though, with plenty of ships lighting up. They appear to be concentrated in two packs, which either means there are multiple towers here or a fleet is out causing havoc. I warp around to find out which.

A Rapier recon ship, Orca industrial command ship, Heron frigate, Ferox battlecruiser, and two Drake battlecruisers are near one planet holding a tower, and a Tengu strategic cruiser, Raven battleship, and second Orca are near a second planet holding two towers. The Tengu, Raven, and Orca are all piloted in the second tower once I find it, but all the other ships are empty at the first. The towers are owned by different corporations too, which is interesting. To make spotting new contacts easier I ignore all the ships on my combat probes and scan again. Right away I pick up either a new contact or a swapped ship, and warp back to the second tower to see only two ships and pilots at the tower, although a third still showing on my probes. And gone.

The ship probably left the system, so I should think about scanning for wormholes. I resolve a fairly dull K162 from high-sec empire space amongst the three signatures out of d-scan range of the pilots, and I leave the other two signatures unresolved for now so that I can be more confident I've not yet been spotted. I jump home, steal borrow Fin's Manticore stealth bomber, and head back to C3a to lurk by the K162 from high-sec. The ship that was missing from the tower was the Tengu, but it must have been swapped for a different ship for the same pilot to be picked up by my probes after ignoring the Tengu, so maybe he's taken a hauler out to high-sec. I am hoping that the devastating firepower and quick-locking times of the Manticore, combined with sluggish reactions from the returning ship, will let me catch an unwary pilot returning from market. Otherwise, I have no idea what I'm doing lurking by a connection to high-sec.

I may have been rumbled already, regardless of the futility of my current plan. Some scanning probes are whizzing around the system, although I'm not sure why they are scanning the K162 I'm sitting on if the locals already know about it. The probes disappear and, after a while, a Buzzard covert operations boat blips on d-scan. The only other wormhole I know about within d-scan range of here is our own K162, so maybe the Buzzard went there. I take my Manticore across to take a look, loitering on our K162, and, sure enough, a couple of minutes later the Buzzard jumps back. I don't try to engage but simply watch where he goes, a little disappointed to see him warp towards one of the towers here. I was quite hoping he'd investigate the K162, jumping out and then back in quickly enough to be polarised, which would give me a better chance of catching him.

I'm not really achieving much. Rather than wait for someone to essentially self-destruct in front of me I think I'd better get back in my Tengu and scan the remaining two signatures here. I return to the C3 to find a Basilisk logistics ship now at a tower and even more scanning probes in the system. The corporations apparently live here harmoniously but without sharing information. How peculiar. Anyway, I launch my own probes and resolve two more wormholes, one a boring static exit to high-sec, the other an outbound connection to class 4 w-space. A local Tengu used the static wormhole as I was loitering outside the tower, and I think I'll head the other way. I jump through to C4a.

D-scan is clear in this rather bare system. Ten planets, only three with moons, and only five moons in total, all within d-scan range of the wormhole. My notes have me here ten months ago too, when I found a static connection to class 5 w-space. I don't fancy scanning through a convoluted chain of w-space tonight, not with time now running low, so simply turn around and jump back to C3a without even launching probes. Now there are two Tengus and the Orca at the active tower, but still nothing happening. At least, nothing that I can see. There are ship changes and the occasional jump to high-sec, but it all looks a bit humdrum. I may as check where the K162 leads.

Exiting w-space puts me in The Forge, which I perhaps could have guessed from the dreary grey nebula visible through the wormhole. Being in The Forge makes me naturally curious to see how far I am from Jita, and it turns out the market hub is a mere eight hops away. Dodixie, on the other hand, where a Manticore waits for me, is seventeen hops distant. That's typical. If I had waited a day I could have got the replacement ship home through a safer connection and probably cheaper, instead of leaving it unassembled and lonely. Never mind, I'll pick it up one day. Hey, maybe that day is today after all, as there is another connection to high-sec in this C3. I warp across the system to the static wormhole and jump through to the grey dreariness of The Forge again, only now I'm three jumps from Jita.

Sod it. I won't collect my replacement Manticore, but I will take advantage of being this close to Jita to get a new one. I take my Tengu home, strip to my pod, and head out to high-sec. Oh, bloody typical. The locals do next to nothing all evening, but when I warp my pod to their static wormhole they've all of a sudden got a Hulk exhumer and Orca sitting there to watch me go. Never mind. Onwards, ever onwards.

I jump out to high-sec, not really having another option, make the short trip to Jita, and buy and fit another replacement stealth bomber. This time I also manage to assemble it and pilot it home. However, I eschew the connection I exit w-space through and instead head to the other high-sec connection, so that I don't run right back in to whoever may be waiting for me, or even just watching. If the C3ers are getting active I would rather use the Ewok tactic of surprising them by the back entrance than knocking on the front door.

I am feeling the benefits of thorough scanning. I happen to pass through the system I exited in to and see several pilots from the C3 in the local communications channel, but I pass right through without visiting the wormhole. I continue a few more hops and warp across a less-populated system to a different wormhole, which sends me back to C3a just as effectively as the other connection. My Manticore sneaks in to the system with no one obviously seeing me, and as I am far out of d-scan range of the static wormhole and tower I happily feel I've fooled the locals who may be watching for my return.

I warp across to see what's happening, and ships are coming and going to the static connection, being swapped around in the tower's hangar, but generally still not really doing anything. I watch the movements for a little longer, really hoping one of them will be actually productive instead of looking busy for the boss, but only end up wondering why I'm still here. I leave this system behind and head home for sleep, which seems like a better use of my time. At least I have a Manticore again.

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Tags: basilisk, buzzard, drake, eve online, ferox, heron, hulk, jita, manticore, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, rapier, raven, scanning, tengu, w-space

Making back some iskies

I've suffered more losses than got kills recently. Or it feels that way, anyway. Maybe they haven't been entirely unexpected, what with flying in to waiting fleets or engaging obvious bait, and I have mitigated each loss by flying what I know I can afford to lose, but I still feel a little reckless of late. I think I need to settle down, regain my composure, and rely on patience and timing to select the right targets. And with that in mind, I launch probes to start scanning. Hopefully I can find a nice soft target or two that I can explode to make me feel better.

Yesterday's fleet has gone from the home system, as has the ladar site I initially found them in. Neither result is surprising, as w-space is ephemeral that way. The drones the fleet scattered over the ladar site's cosmic signature are still here, though, and two new ladar sites have popped up overnight. The stupid gas just won't dissipate. I bookmark and activate the new sites, then cautiously collect the discarded drones. I'm a little paranoid that a cloaky ambusher is waiting just for this moment. No one is, but at least thinking so keeps me alert.

Now I can warp to our static wormhole, jump through, and explore our neighbouring class 3 system. Or I could, if the wormhole weren't wobbling all over the place like a Minmatar frigate fresh off the production line. Our connection is already reaching the end of its natural lifetime, opened by a scout unknown at some undetermined time. I could still explore through the wormhole but I have no guarantee it would remain open long enough to see my return. It looks like I'll be hanging around waiting for the connection to die of old age before I'm doing anything.

Ah, here's Fin. And my glorious leader keeps on being here, which is a positive sign, considering all of the disconnection issues we've faced recently. With an EOL wormhole, no other connections, and a couple of dozen anomalies in the home system, this seems like an excellent opportunity to make some iskies. But maybe I spoke to soon, as Fin makes an unscheduled exit. She returns a minute later and is keen to get involved in w-space activity, so we form a fleet and hope that the first disconnection was anomalous.

A second disconnect doesn't bode well, particularly as it occurs before our Tengu strategic cruisers are refit and ready to tackle the class 4 anomalies, but Fin returns and we keep calm and carry on. Continually punching her directional scanner seems to keep Fin's connection alive, and doing so is good practice when engaging Sleepers in w-space anomalies, so let's give this a go. I warp the pair of us to the first anomaly, not entirely coincidentally the closest to the tower, and we start poking Sleepers with explosive warheads.

Fin is amazed that 'we are still here, still connected, and not dead', and rightfully so. It seems like ages since we last engaged Sleepers, or even spent any amount of time together. Long may this continue, as w-space is lonely at the best of times and having my partner absent for so long only compounds the emptiness. Tonight, combat is smooth. The first anomaly is cleared without any drama and a brief pause back at our tower gives me enough time to salvage the site, gaining us around eighty million iskies in loot and salvage from wrecks that are white for a change.

We surge in to a second anomaly, then a third, pause to restock on ammunition before continuing in to a fourth, and then break out the Noctis salvagers. We sweep up one site each and combine forces to salvage the remaining one, bringing back a pretty decent haul. Including the first site, our total profit for the evening is around 450 million ISK. That doesn't quite cover the loss of my Tengu, and we still have tower pellets to pay for, but we're pushing the wallet in the right direction again.

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

Buying a ship and leaving it docked

I need a new stealth bomber after recklessly losing it to obvious bait. Um, I mean, heroically protecting the home system from invaders intent on stealing gas that we were never going to harvest anyway. Buying a new Manticore shouldn't be a chore, though. All I have to do is hit the local trade hub, dock, and spend a couple of minutes draining our corporate wallet. Oh, wait, I'm in w-space, where nothing is ever easy and we have no market hubs or space stations. I suppose I'll be scanning.

Before I take my covert Tengu strategic cruiser out on a suicide run I'll check to see what the hostile fleet is up to now. I'm pretty sure I mentioned I only lost my Manticore a few minutes ago, to a fleet prepared to catch my Tengu and pod, and that they are still in the home system. I warp to my monitoring point in the fated ladar site to see the bait Moa cruiser continue to harvest gas—dangerous buggers sometimes, these industrialists—and a Hurricane battlecruiser pluck what few modules survived the explosion from my Manticore wreck. The other ships aren't here, but my directional scanner shows them still to be in the system.

I warp to the K162 from class 5 w-space that brought the fleet here, dropping nicely short to see the Sabre interdictor and Armageddon battleship, shortly followed by the looting Hurricane. As I watch, the Hurricane jumps back to his system, then the Sabre jumps back, then the Armageddon. A few minutes pass and the Helios covert operations boat appears and jumps to the C5. By my reckoning, that leaves the Moa and Manticore in the system, although the hostile stealth bomber could have returned home when I was looking in the other direction. I think it's time to scan.

I already have the location of our static wormhole, but everything beyond that remains unexplored. I send my Tengu to the C247 connection, with the Manticore appearing on and off d-scan, ordering a full stop when the ship appears in front of me at the wormhole. He jumps to the C3, and I foolishly follow a little too soon. Not soon enough to try to engage, or get caught, but soon enough to give away my position. Silly Penny, I expect I'll be coming home to a warm reception. Still, I'm here now, I may as well take a look around.

A tower and Onyx heavy interdictor are visible on d-scan in this C3, which could be a bad sign but for the Onyx turning out to be unpiloted inside the tower's force field. Apart from a wandering Manticore the system looks clear, so I launch probes and scan. A blanket scan of the system reveals no anomalies but ten signatures, and I whittle them down quickly enough to find a static exit to low-sec empire space and a K162 from class 2 w-space. Poking my totally cute nose in to the C2 sees nothing in range of d-scan from the wormhole, and although exploring the system reveals three towers there is no one apparently home.

Scanning this class 2 system couldn't be much easier, with five anomalies and only two signatures. The signatures will be the two static wormholes, and I passed through one of them to get here, so I only have to resolve one. It takes a JIF to do, the signature identifier guiding me to an exit to high-sec empire space. That's nifty, if it means I could get my replacement Manticore now. Wherever the exit leads, though, the hostile Manticore blips on d-scan as I jump through, so the C5ers probably know about this route too, making it somewhat less secure. But I end up in a system four hops from Dodixie—with cops on the wormhole even—and cannot resist the temptation to bring the replacement ship home within an hour of losing it.

Of course, I could also lose the replacement Manticore within an hour of losing the original, but that's not the point. The point is progress! Rather impetuously, I decide to buy the ship and its fittings now, with the plan to drop off my Tengu back at our tower and return to pick up the stealth bomber in my pod, somehow forgetting that plans involving w-space are as solid as the hard vacuum they're written on. The ship is bought, fittings are bought, and I head home through a clear class 2 and class 3 w-space system, before pausing to take a breath on our K162 and wondering what waits for me on the other side.

What's waiting for me is an Ishkur assault ship, Armageddon battleship and... Damnation command ship? Maybe they know me by reputation and hope to distract me with the spaceship equivalent of ponies, but it won't work. What might work is my appearing under two kilometres from the wormhole, but being a mere hundred metres short is nothing for a pulse of my micro warp drive. I move away, cloak, and check that the now-sweeping ships aren't getting close to me, as a Sabre warps in and inflates a warp bubble, soon joined by an Enyo assault ship. It's getting a little busy here so I warp away—whilst still in the bubble, ha ha!—and bounce back to the wormhole to see what happens next.

Whatever happens next doesn't really matter, I suppose. I'm not getting my replacement Manticore today. Even though the bomber has stealth in its name my pod does not, and I'd have to strip naked at our tower in order to bring the Manticore home, or else strand a different ship in Dodixie. The fleet will see my pod early enough to trap me with the Sabre, so that's no good, and swapping one ship for another isn't a good deal either. And the fleet won't just see my pod on d-scan. They've all moved away from the wormhole and, looking for them, I find them outside our tower. They're not shooting it, instead staying far enough away from our defences for them to remain safe whilst anchoring some warp bubbles presumably to make it difficult for me to get home.

Naturally, I watch this activity somewhat bemused from a safe spot outside of the tower. It's cute that they think I'll warp directly to the tower with a known hostile fleet in the system, that I have no indirect route to the tower via safe spots made in my own home system, that I wouldn't even think of bouncing off a planet or moon, that I am not communicating this to the rest of the corporation, and that they have a quaint notion that the tower is actually our base of operations. I give them props for commitment, setting up drag bubbles between our tower, the wormhole, and another spot I don't care to triangulate, but it's not going to catch me. I'm heading to a dark corner of ours system to go off-line and sleep.

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Tags: armageddon, damnation, enyo, eve online, helios, hurricane, ishkur, manticore, mmorpg, moa, onyx, penny ibramovic, sabre, scanning, tengu, w-space