Scanning a chain of class 2 w-space systems

I pause in the home system to activate a new ladar site, the stupid gas delaying today's exploration of w-space. We're keeping on top of our sites, though, ensuring scanning remains manageable. The anomalies are another matter, but I quite like having plenty of them around as honeytraps for passing fleets. And with the minimal maintenance performed, I jump through our static connection to the class 3 w-space system beyond.

My directional scanner is clean from the K162, letting me launch probes at the wormhole before warping away to explore. A blanket scan of the system shows a mere four signatures amongst the many anomalies, making it feel a bit like home, although I rather hope the locals indulge in mining the traditional way. System exploration reveals a tower somewhere, one that is heavily bubbled if d-scan is any guide. It is, but it isn't. There are plenty of bubbles around but none at the tower, placing them either on moons, for some reason, or discarded on now-collapsed wormholes for a false sense of protection. Pilots really should remember to collect their warp bubbles before deleting bookmarks.

I scan, wondering if it would be worth thinking about shooting Sleepers if there turns out to be only the static wormhole here. However, I have concerns about the stability of our ships and the likelihood of multiple restarts being required for even simple tasks, but maybe thankfully they remain concerns and not realisations as all four signatures here are wormholes. It wouldn't be wise to engage Sleepers without first taking a look around the constellation. The wormholes are our K162 home, a K162 from class 5 w-space, a static exit to low-sec empire space, and a rather delicious outbound connection to class 2 w-space.

I pop out to low-sec to bookmark the empire-side of the wormhole, in case of emergencies, and return to w-space to explore class 2 w-space. Three towers and a Buzzard covert operations boat appear on d-scan in C2a. Locating the towers doesn't find the Buzzard, and neither am I quick enough to spot the Sabre that has replaced it, the interdictor having warped away before I got to the active tower. I warp out and launch probes, passing the Sabre as I do but ensuring he's out of d-scan range before I decloak, and return to the tower to see if the Sabre's returned. He has, and he's outside of the tower in an easily-scanned position. But the bastard's blue. I suppose I won't be shooting him.

I should probably announce my presence here, pointing out that we're allied and not to worry about my combat scanning probes, but I'm really not a people person. I'll just scan and move on. The few signatures here are gas and the two static wormholes, leading to more class 2 w-space and another low-sec system. Whether the locals have scouted ahead or not I don't know, but maybe I can get lucky and find a juicy target. There's not much hope of an easy kill in C2b, with just a Viator transport ship and a tower on d-scan. Although the Viator is piloted, which I discover when locating the tower, the ship can warp cloaked and can be quite slippery. His ship is also pointing in a direction that suggests he's already collected his planet goo for the day. I imagine the best use of my time would be if I ignore him and scan.

There are three anomalies and nine signatures in this class 2 system, and I'm only looking for wormholes now. I find two soon enough, leading to more class 2 w-space and high-sec empire space, which is good enough for me. I recall my probes and continue down the chain to C2c, where a Dominix battleship, Armageddon battleship, and Hulk exhumer all appear on d-scan. So does a tower, which is where I find the three ships unpiloted. Such a waste of a good exhumer when I could be converting it to a wreck. I continue my exploration, launching probes to look for wormholes, and finding a handful. Amongst the eleven signatures are a K162 from high-sec, a K162 from even more class 2 w-space, the two static wormholes mirroring the K162s, and an outbound connection to a class 1 w-space system. Surely I'll find some activity amongst this lot.

My first choice of system to visit is the C1, where I hope to find some particularly soft targets. A Rorqual capital industrial ship doesn't quite fit that bill, and as it is the only ship in the system, floating in the local tower's force field, I scan. Well, kind of. There are only two signatures here and I entered the system through one of them, so it takes almost no time to resolve the static exit to high-sec. It's time to back-track and enter roaming mode. There are still a few systems to explore and time is dwindling, so I'll eschew my scanning probes unless I need them and simply warp around looking for targets.

I return to C2c and head in to C2e, through one of the two static wormholes, where d-scan is clear with only one planet our of range. Naturally, that's where the local tower is hiding and, naturally, where there also are no ships. Roaming complete for this system, cap'n! I turn my ship around, jump back to C2c, and head through the K162 to C2d. Or maybe I got myself confused and this is also C2e, because d-scan is clear with one planet out of range, holding a tower and with no ships in sight. C2e or C2d, who cares, roaming is complete for this system, cap'n! And that's it for this end of the constellation. If I'm not scanning w-space for wormholes I'm not heading out to empire space to do it.

I head home, passing through inactive systems. The Viator is long gone, I don't care what the blue pilots may be doing, and I have one last wormhole to explore through in C3a. But the K162 to class 5 w-space is gone when I warp to its location. It didn't look wobbly with old age when I bookmarked its location earlier, so it seems that its collapse was forced. On the one hand, it looks like I managed to avoid the only activity in our w-space constellation this evening. On the other hand, at least I didn't again stumble in to a fleet of big ships inadvertently intent on isolating me from home. I'm calling this a victory! Maybe I'll get a proper victory tomorrow.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Scanning a chain of class 2 w-space systems
Tags: armageddon, buzzard, dominix, eve online, hulk, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, rorqual, sabre, scanning, viator, w-space

Covert Tengu versus covert Tengu, round two

I need to ditch yesterday's stolen loot. I suppose I could claim it wasn't stolen as such, as it all came from wrecks in our home system, but I don't think the fleet that actually shot the Sleepers, and lost a salvager, would see it that way. I didn't stop at our tower to empty my hold at the end of last night, if only to deny the fleet any more information about me, but I really better not explore today's w-space constellation whilst carrying a couple of hundred million ISK in loot. I imagine the fleet has gone by now but I launch probes and scan before visiting the tower, just in case a new fleet has turned up. All looks clear, so I pop to the tower and clear my hold, but there are three new signatures in the system.

I resolve some gas, a new magnetometric site, and a second wormhole, which turns out to be a K162 from class 5 w-space. I jump in to see how safe our constellation is likely to be at the moment, as my glorious leader had a wormhole collapse behind her as she exported some loot the other day. I need to get her back from Amarr space, which will be easier if there aren't dangerous pilots flying around. There is little to see in the C5 from where I appear on the wormhole, but a territorial control unit implies occupation. My notes have two towers listed from three months ago, unsurprisingly out by the TCU, making them easy to find again.

The first tower in this C5 is heavily bubble-trapped and has no ships in it, and the second tower is pretty much the same but acts as the ship store. There are strategic cruisers, dreadnoughts, carriers, battleships, and industrial ships scattered here and there inside the force field, but only a Loki strategic cruiser is piloted. I imagine that ship holds the scout that opened the connection to our home system. It all looks benign enough for now, although I'm aware that circumstances can change quickly, so I head home to explore through our static wormhole.

Oh my. Three Covetor mining barges, an Orca, and two canisters are visible on my directional scanner, which all looks rather like a mining operation in action. All except for the lack of mining drones and there also being a tower on d-scan. I won't assume anything until I find the tower, which is straightforward, and I see all the ships sadly nestled safely inside the force field. They are all piloted, however, which makes me wonder if I was spotted entering the system or if the operation recently came to a natural conclusion. By the way one of the pilots swaps to an Iteron hauler, warps out towards where the two jet-cans appear to be floating in empty space, and returns before I can cluster my combat scanning probes around the vague position I could only guess at from his exit vector, I would think the operation has finished naturally.

I have no miners to hunt in our neighbouring class 3 w-space system, which is a shame. At least it lets me scan, and scan in a relatively empty system when the active pilots go off-line after a couple of minutes. One pilot remains, boarding a Buzzard covert operations boat and scanning, and I think it's safe to ignore him. My probes find the gravimetric site the miners must have been in, which I bookmark in case they come back after a power nap, along with some gas, more rocks, a static exit to low-sec empire space, and the Buzzard sitting on a second wormhole. I warp to see an N968 outbound connection to more class 3 w-space but no Buzzard, and assume the pilot jumped to the other system. He's free to scan there, as I have Fin to get home. I warp across the system and exit to low-sec.

The wormhole shows grey colours on the other side, making it no surprise to appear in the dreary nebula of the Lonetrek region. The route from Fin to here isn't great but at least it's not Aridia. There may be another option too, as the second C3 will have another k-space connection. It's worth seeing if that will provide a better route home. I return to w-space and enter C3b, giving me a clear d-scan. If the Buzzard's here he's hiding well, as I can't even see his scanning probes. Knowing the wormhole is known, I warp out to launch probes, which bumps me in to a tower. Warping in the opposite direction bumps me in to a second tower, this one with a host of ships lying unpiloted inside the shields. I'll just launch probes in range of a tower, I suppose.

So many anomalies, so few signatures. I'm glad the ratio is in favour of anomalies, as resolving five signatures is easier than forty. I find rocks, a static exit to low-sec, a neat K162 from class 2 w-space, and some gas. I check the exit system to find myself in far less conveniently positioned system in the Molden Heath region, so return to w-space to explore the class 2 system. That too will have a k-space connection, making it worth exploring beyond exploration itself. Hullo, a Tengu cloaks on the wormhole as I approach it, cloaked myself. I hold for now, waiting to see if the ship will launch probes and start scanning or return through the wormhole. Maybe he scouted through here earlier and was just looking for new pilots, as the strategic cruiser reappears a minute later, jumping through the wormhole back to the C2.

Not long ago I had an opportunity to pit my covert Tengu against another covert Tengu, only to see the other ship warp away most likely because of fitted warp core stabilisers. Today it looks like I have a second opportunity to test my ship. I follow behind the Tengu, decloaking and getting my weapons hot on the other side of the wormhole, pouncing on the other ship as it sheds its session change cloak. I disrupt his warp engines, slow his speed to a crawl, and start slamming missiles in to his shields. His rather buffed shields. This Tengu isn't running, which is good. He's holding his ground and fighting back, which is just dandy with me. It's that he's knocking down my shields quicker than I can deplete his own which is the problem this time.

I keep d-scan updated and see no reinforcements coming. I also keep shooting in the hopes that some hitherto unknown quirk of my defensive systems will kick in and be more effective after a minute of exchanged fire. Of course, no such quirk manifests and my shields continue to drop faster than my opponent's. Thankfully, I have maintained some kind of awareness and haven't been pulled away from the wormhole. Acknowledging defeat, I jump back to C3b to disengage. The other ship doesn't follow and I am free to lick my wounds and consider my fitting. Maybe the other chap has extra shield extenders or hardeners in place of my stasis webifier or sensor booster, which certainly would increase his ship's hardiness. Or maybe he's squeezed an extra missile launcher hardpoint in. Whatever, I am happy with my all-purpose design and probably won't change it just to be better able to deal with the occasional strategic cruiser scout.

Wounds licked, I check my notes for that C2 and see I was there six months ago, which lets me know it holds a static exit to high-sec. That could be useful. Not knowing what waits for me, but hopeful that I could probably evade it, I jump back to the C2 to scan. Nothing sits on the wormhole as I enter, and nothing appears as I warp cleanly away. Launching probes and exploring finds two towers gone and one remaining, right before my Tengu's systems crash outside the tower holding two pilots. I come back to a still-intact ship, at which point scanning finds two anomalies and four signatures. And my Tengu crashes again. I thought I'd fixed this.

I get back on-line to at least resolve the connection to high-sec, to help Fin get home. I exit to find myself in the Tash-Murkon region, which would be much more convenient if Fin hadn't already made her way almost to the Lonetrek entrance by now. Wormhole connections are pretty fickle, so neither of us are particularly bothered by this situation. Fin even dodges past an eight-pilot gate camp on her way to the low-sec entrance, returning home along one route as I return home along another. There are apparently no repercussions planned for my having attacked the Tengu a few minutes earlier, as the wormholes stay clear, and we both get back to the home system without seeing another ship. But with the late hour that's about all we can manage. We park and go off-line at the end of another day.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Covert Tengu versus covert Tengu, round two
Tags: buzzard, covetor, eve online, iteron, loki, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space

Take the loot and run

All looks clear at home, but only for a minute. I cloak, check my skill queue, and take a second look at my directional scanner to see a Tengu strategic cruiser and Drake battlecruiser are nearby. Tweaking d-scan's settings also finds Sleeper wrecks, showing definite signs that these two ships aren't just passing through. But a Drake and Tengu pair seem rather underpowered for class 4 w-space anomalies, so I suppose it's no surprise when another update of d-scan reveals what must be the rest of the fleet. Three Tengus, two Drakes, an Oracle battlecruiser, and Hurricane battlecruiser are now all visible, but only on d-scan. Opening my system map and scrutinising the anomalies here doesn't spot the ships in any of them. How curious, particularly as there isn't a Noctis salvager sweeping up behind them.

I warp closer to the centre of the system to see what else may be happening, and maybe find an answer. A single combat scanning probe is visible on d-scan, probably belonging to the fleet and most likely having detected my coming on-line in the home system before I could activate my Tengu's cloaking device. I would imagine the fleet returned to their K162 with the appearance of an unknown ship in the system, but now I'm cloaked and, presumably, their scout is reporting no new wormholes, which seems to placate the capsuleers. I have yet to regret my decision never to sleep in our tower. The fleet warps back to wherever they were, which being an active anomaly is now easy enough to find using the system map and d-scan. I think I'll shadow them and wait for their salvager to appear.

Stalking people in the home system is much easier than elsewhere. I have a good range of safe spots, at either end of the system and in the middle, as well as above and below the ecliptic plane. Keeping bookmarks for old wormholes that were found either high above or low below the ecliptic plane is really quite handy, as these are points that can't be made any other way and also allow warping in to sites from directions that are far less likely to end in collisions with ships or structures. I use a particularly eccentric safe spot to enter the first anomaly I see the fleet in, which now includes a Scimitar logistics ship. I make a suitable warp-in point for myself, far enough away so I can warp in and out of the site at will whilst still being on the same grid. I find it to be an excellent ambushing point.

I may have the advantage of being at home, but I have to assume the fleet knows I'm here. I'll need to be cautious should the opportunity arise to ambush a salvager, particularly as the fleet has an advantage over me. They know where their wormhole is and I don't, beyond a rough idea of where I can sit in d-scan range of it. This means they can bring ships in and out without me seeing them, except indirectly on d-scan. And d-scan doesn't update automatically, so it will take more updating than I care to do in the course of an evening for me to ensure no cloaky escort comes with their Noctis. That is if a Noctis eventually comes.

The first site is cleared and the fleet moves on. Most of the fleet, anyway. The Hurricane and Oracle stay behind as the rest of the fleet warps away, making me think they will be guarding the salvager. But I see no Noctis on d-scan, and no ship warps in to the cleared site. After a few minutes the two battlecruisers warp out to rejoin the fleet but still no Noctis comes. I may as well rejoin the fleet too. I move in to the second site, bouncing off an appropriate safe spot again, and make a second warp-in point for myself. This time when the site is clear the fleet warps out as one, which makes me realise that the two battlecruisers who stayed before were probably only taking a short break.

Following the fleet is easy. They are staying in ordinary anomalies, which are found using a passive sensor scan, and I see which direction they warp out of the current site to the next. I watch them clear a third anomaly, at which point one of the Drakes warps out early and disappears from d-scan, although I also briefly spot a Heron frigate, which is probably the source of the all-seeing combat scanning probe in the system. The Drake's exit could be him going to get a Noctis to start salvaging, or he could be tired or hungry. I keep updating d-scan to look for what ship replaces him but get bored of that pretty quickly. Instead I continue monitoring the fleet, following them to a fourth anomaly, when a Noctis appears on d-scan. Game on! And off! The Noctis disappears as soon as it appears. I see no salvaging yet.

I keep updating d-scan to look for the Noctis starting to salvage but see nothing, not even any escort ships surreptitiously entering the system and cloaking. The fleet are in the fifth anomaly when the Noctis reappears and persists on d-scan. It's trivial to locate him in the first anomaly I have bookmarked, and I warp to my monitoring point there. I note with interest that the fleet has the final wave of Sleepers to deal with in their current anomaly, which, despite their speed, should remain an immediate distraction for me to take a clean shot at the Noctis. I just have to hope there isn't a cloaky escort sneaked in to the system to thwart my nefarious plans.

I warp to the Noctis, decloak a few seconds before my engines cut out, and get my systems hot. I get a positive target lock and activate all offensive modules, disrupting the salvager's warp engines, slowing him down, and throwing volleys of missiles his way. The Noctis appears to be faster at salvaging than looting, with a handful of jet-cans littered around his ship full of Sleeper loot. I have little else to do at the moment—shooting the Noctis will take care of itself, and the fleet is in d-scan range already so my early warning consists solely of their ships appearing on-grid—so I take the opportunity to make some iskies whilst I hope I can break the Noctis quickly enough. I open a few cans and transfer the goods to my hold, getting only frigate loot but loot all the same.

It's not long before the Noctis explodes. I may not have had much influence beyond ensuring I keep shooting, but I kept an eye on the shields, then armour, then hull of the salvager as I was looting the cans. Everything was depleting nice and steadily. All I really wasn't sure about was whether I'd catch the pod or not. And I don't. He warps clear almost the instant the Noctis disintegrates. But that's okay, as it turns out, because it takes only a couple more seconds for the fleet to start warping in to the cleared site, now missing a Noctis. I am already cloaked—actually, mid-cloaking—and aligned to my monitoring point, which I return to safely to watch the response.

The fleet mills around in the site for a minute or so and apparently decides there is nothing for it to do there, and warps out again. They aren't giving up on our system, though, as they have warped back to the anomaly they were in. Two items need to be noted here. One, I am highly unlikely to take a shot at any second Noctis that comes in, as it will be guarded one way or another, and I really hope I've learnt my lesson about taking on prepared capsuleers. And two, the fools left the wreck of the Noctis unlooted. I'm having that.

The fleet has definitely gone, so I warp close to the wreck, approach it, and take a look inside. Mmm, sweet sweet bounty. It's not much loot, as the high-value salvage was destroyed, but I count about 66 Miskies of Sleeper loot now in my hold as I pop the wreck and return to my vantage point. Leaving the Noctis wreck unlooted was a sloppy move by the fleet.

With nothing else happening here I warp back to watch the fleet in the fifth site. They clear the site and one Tengu warps out, quite predictably going to get an escort for their next salvager. Then again, I say 'quite predictably', but it should have been predictable as soon as my ship appeared on their probes. On the one hand, I only glitched on the probe, I didn't appear at the local tower, and the scout probably sat on the wormhole reported no ships passing him and a lack of new wormholes in the system. On the other hand, a fleet of nine capsuleers could probably have spared one ship to act as an escort, even if it was just disposable tackle to hold an ambusher in place for the fleet to arrive. And, going back to the first hand again, when do probes ever glitch?

For the sake of engaging Sleepers slightly more efficiently, the fleet has lost a 60 Miskie Noctis, about 200 Miskies in salvage, and 66 Miskies in loot. That's probably worth one pilot not shooting Sleepers and potentially being bored protecting a Noctis. Sure, he'll whine about there being no one to protect the Noctis from, but that's the effect of deterrence. And although I'm not going to take a shot at this second Noctis that's appeared it looks like their loss is costing the fleet even more ISK. I spot an Enyo assault ship appear on d-scan at the same time as the Noctis. The specialist frigate is a curious escort by itself but it's not just the Enyo protecting the new Noctis, as the whole fleet is sitting guard now. Yes, instead of shooting Sleepers and creating more profit to reap, they are sitting idle and boring everyone instead of the one escort they could have afforded from the start.

I almost make a mistake here. With the fleet aware of me and effectively if really inefficiently guarding their salvager I think about scanning, either to find their K162 or our static wormhole. But that won't accomplish much. Instead, I can cost the fleet even more ISK for their foolishness. I realise that the site they are salvaging is out of d-scan range of one of the other cleared anomalies. I can steal some loot, if I'm careful. I warp across the system, confirm I'm out of d-scan range of any of the ships, and start picking my targets clean. I aim only for the high-value wrecks, the Sleeper battleships, and make use of my monitoring point and micro warp drive to move quickly between the wrecks. I manage to empty all six battleship wrecks of their loot a few seconds before the fleet warps in to start salvaging, at which point I'm am cloaked and a healthy distance away from them.

The fleet doesn't seem particularly stirred by my piracy. Maybe they don't realise that each battleship contains 7·5 Miskies of Sleeper loot, netting me 45 Miskies from just those six wrecks. 45 Miskies that they are not going to get. Maybe they are venting about it to each other, but they aren't doing anything about it. What can they do, you may be asking. They can send ships to the other cleared sites is a pretty good answer, because that's where I'm going. The fleet looks to be salvaging in a predictable manner, in the order they cleared the sites, and I always say that being predictable is bad for you in w-space. I pick the last cleared site and work backwards, giving me the most amount of safe time to pluck more battleship wrecks clean.

I clear the final site of battleship loot and manage to grab the contents of two battleship wrecks in the fourth site before the fleet finally catches up with me. That's okay, I am cloaked and pointed towards my monitoring spot, ready to bounce out and in to the next pair of wrecks, so I simply warp out and watch as they salvage. So that's fourteen wrecks in total that I loot without direct threat, making me 105 Miskies richer. And that makes the fleet poorer by about 430 Miskies in total, not counting time wasted, all for disregarding my ship appearing on their scout's probe. I have to wonder why they go to the effort of having a combat scanning probe monitor the system if they're only going to ignore it. Then again, I don't really care. I made out like a bandit! On top of that, I've not had a single systems crash. Now we just need to get Fin's connection stable again and we'll be copacetic.

Posted in Gaming | 6 Comments »
Tags: drake, enyo, eve online, heron, hurricane, mmorpg, noctis, oracle, penny ibramovic, pvp, scimitar, tengu, w-space

Scanning signatures and watching ships

Ah, back to normal. I hope. I'll need to replace the Legion strategic cruiser I lost, in order to get back to where I was, but with any luck all should be tickety-boo as far as flying in space. And getting a new ship pretty much depends on the kindness of w-space, which is a pretty capricious mistress at the best of times. I ought not to make specific plans to get the replacement Legion, or I'll doom us to find exits to Aridia for the next month. As always, the evening starts by scanning the home system, where two new signatures resolve to be some more rocks and a K162 wormhole from class 5 w-space. My glorious leader, suffering intermittent connection problems herself, spies a Legion on her directional scanner whilst my probes are busy on the other side of the system, and it could be from the C5.

I have to decide which way to look first, either in to the C5 or through our static connection to class 3 w-space. The Legion is probably from the C5, but I can't tell whether he went back there or passed through to the C3, where he could be scanning or even shooting Sleepers. I think I'll press on to the C3 to get a better idea of what the Legion's up to before heading backwards. Jumping through our static wormhole sees a tower on d-scan along with an Onyx heavy interdictor, bringing up different possibilities for tonight's activity. I was in this C3 sixteen months ago, when it was a silo system, and although the occupation has changed the static wormhole will remain an exit to high-sec empire space. It's possible the Onyx is sitting on the wormhole, warp bubble inflated, looking to trap pilots hoping to warp to a safe exit.

It's a bit too simple to check where the Onyx is. A quick sweep around the planets with d-scan on a narrow beam shows the HIC to be coincident with the tower. And although it's possible the K162 I'm on, the tower, and the static exit here are all sitting on a straight line with each other the odds of that being the case are slim. I warp to the planet, locate the tower, and indeed find the Onyx to be sitting inside the force field, unpiloted. The C3 seems to be inactive, with no sign of the Legion either. I warp out, launch probes, and start to scan. Returning to loiter at the tower now sees some core scanning probes mingled on d-scan with my combat probes. Maybe the Legion is here after all. Either way, I can ignore a cloaked and scanning ship as I also sit cloaked and scanning.

Two anomalies and twelve signatures is not much to sort through. I resolve the static wormhole to high-sec and sit there instead of outside the tower, hoping to catch sight of the Legion investigating the exit system, but finding a second wormhole draws me away. As interesting as a K162 from class 2 w-space is, that it is reaching the end of its lifetime makes it less likely a scout has come from there, or a scout will go there, and so back I head to the exit wormhole. A third wormhole also takes me away from the exit to high-sec, but again I only find a connection at the end of its life, this one from class 3 w-space, and so not likely to tempt a scout through. And that's all there is of interest in this system, the rest of the signatures being mostly pockets of gas.

The other scout is still scanning, his core probes floating around the inner system, so I jump to high-sec to reconnoitre the exit. Erk, I'm in Gallente space! I suppose I'm not far from Dodixie, but I could be much further away if I tried. I jump back to w-space and wonder what to do next. Oh, I know. I could take a look through the EOL wormholes here, as I have a convenient route through high-sec back home should the connections collapse behind me. With any luck, I'll find a pilot or two collecting planet goo or mining under the misguided impression that wobbly wormholes make them safe from incursions.

I find little in C3b, although my notes from nine months ago comfort me in showing this system also has a static exit to high-sec. I have time to look around, and if I get isolated I should have a pretty easy trip home. The tower I had noted has expanded to cover three moons now instead of one, if it's the original, but no one is home. I don't see much point in scanning, so I return to C3a through the still-present wormhole and warp across to look in C2a. My last visit to this class 2 system was also nine months ago, one day after I was last in C3b in fact, although I appear to have noted the wormhole connections incorrectly. That's okay, my notes are mutable. What surprises me, though, is not the coincidence of my previous visit dates but the five Orca industrial command ships on d-scan. Sure, there's a tower and Chimera carrier too, but I see plenty of them. I don't think I've seen so many Orcas in one place before.

It's no surprise to find all the Orcas and the Chimera sitting unpiloted in the local tower, although warping around to explore finds two more towers and another unpiloted Orca. I'm not quite sure what they would do with them all. Even so, I still haven't found any pilots, and the second static wormhole here will only lead to empire space and not w-space, so I head back to C3a again. And now I find pilots, as an Orca and Legion are now on d-scan. Not only that, but a pilot pipes up in the local communication channel, a blue pilot too. Blue is friendly, so I say hello back, then get to working out where he is and where he's come from. That bit turns out to be easy, as he is sat in his Orca in the tower here, so he's local. Another chap who says hello is neither blue nor local, but he also doesn't belong to the corporation the allied Orca pilot mentions. There is more to discover here, particularly with a couple of pods blipping on d-scan. I think I need to visit the C5.

Ignoring the blue pilot I jump home and warp across our system, stopping short of the K162 from class 5 w-space. I update d-scan to see a pod somewhere in the system, so I hold my position as, sure enough, he lands on the K162 and jumps through. It looks like the C5ers are exporting ships. The question is whether they will export one I can engage. I suspect not, particularly as there is confirmed activity in C3a, which will give the C5ers reason to guard their more fragile ships, and there is the possibility that the Legion is still around and perhaps providing such an escort. Either way, I'm going to take a look in the C5, once I leave enough time for the pod to clear the other side of the wormhole. And it's good that I wait, as the wormhole flares as I approach.

I turn my ship around from the K162, not as a panicky defence but to align to our static wormhole. If this is a juicy target I want to give chase. Naturally, it isn't, the Absolution command ship being a rather tough nut to crack for me, but at least I was ready. I watch the Absolution warp away and then I approach the wormhole again, this time jumping in to the C5. There's a tower on d-scan in the system, but the Rapier recon ship, Cynabal cruiser, and Ares interceptor also on d-scan are precisely the kinds of ship I rather didn't want to see. Any of them pose a credible threat to my own ship, perhaps not by themselves but as a way to keep me in place until reinforcements come. And, as if by magic, the Ares appears.

The interceptor lands on the wormhole as I am interpreting my initial d-scan result. I don't do anything stupid, though, and merely let the session change cloak hold for now. Thankfully, the Ares jumps through the wormhole, letting me move away from the wormhole and activate my module cloak so I can be permanently hidden if I so desire. Even so, I remain in the C5, potentially with an interceptor covering my return home, and I am not going to put a dent in any of the ships I've seen so far. As if to prove my vulnerability, a Loki strategic cruiser lands on the wormhole and jumps to our home C4, followed seconds later by a Purifier stealth bomber. Now, the stealth bomber may be a target, but only if it reveals itself and it won't do that without support. All I'm really seeing is more pilots.

I think I'll just head home, hide in a corner, and let this corporation export their ships to high-sec. And that would be a really good idea if I hadn't taken time to jot down that thought on my notepad, because in the time it took the Cynabal has moved from being visible on d-scan to being visible in front of me. The fast cruiser is now sitting on the wormhole with me and doesn't look like he's planning to jump. I want to, though, as I'm not sitting here doing nothing all night. I should be able to evade the cruiser, but what's concerning me is what ships are waiting on the other side. I really hope the Loki and Ares have been exported and are not looking for opportunistic scouts like me. I have little choice, so I approach the wormhole, decloak, and jump.

The session-change timer is meaningless at times like this. Either I get away from the wormhole safely or I don't, and moving as soon as possible actually gives me an advantage, as the reaction times of the Cynabal pilot come in to play. I don't think he was actually expecting to see a ship, to be honest, as I get ten kilometres from the wormhole before he appears behind me. I would like to say I was worrying about nothing, but I can only know that in retrospect. Still, I'm home and safe. I open the system map and pick a safe spot out of d-scan range of both wormholes here, where I plant myself for the night. And I've had no crashes so far.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Scanning signatures and watching ships
Tags: absolution, ares, chimera, cynabal, eve online, legion, loki, mmorpg, onyx, orca, penny ibramovic, purifier, rapier, scanning, w-space

'Default' should be a viable configuration

It's time to bite the bullet. I'm hitting the reset button on all my settings, come hell or high water. Actually, I'm kind of expecting hell to come, as I am about to commit every element of the interface be back to its horrible default position and size. Thankfully, I managed to restore most of my communication channels yesterday, before reverting for the failed ambush attempt on a salvager with Fin, so my display doesn't look truly horrible. It's mostly the interface and information windows that I'll need to reposition from their dreadful and short-sighted default position of the middle of the display.

I open a whole bunch of windows that I will likely use. I have no idea whose bright idea it was for them to sit in the centre of the display, where each and every one covers the ship you are piloting, the focal point of your vision. I move every single screen is away from the centre before resizing it, but that's a step I really shouldn't have to make. Considering the overview, comms channel, and ship controls all appear at the edges of the screen it seems some designer realised that the ship should remain visible, but the process went wrong after that. And it's our job to put it right every time our settings are reset. It's dumb and annoying.

I get my windows mostly in position, once I remember to adjust the window-snap distance before the Penny-snap function overloads. I work on the lines that if I can't tell a window is in the wrong place or the wrong size then it doesn't really matter and move on to the next. Only a little tweaking is needed for column widths and a couple of pane tweaks in the scanner. I import my overview settings, saving me a lot of wasted time and headaches, but it's still not quite right. Some settings aren't saved to the exported file, it seems, as the display order of status icons is the default, and I really need that order to be better. I once nearly shot an allied pilot because his yellow pirate skull obscured his blue alliance icon.

Finally, I have most of the interface squared away. I swap to some commonly used ships and open the cargo holds to reposition them, form a fleet to get that window looking right, and open as many other containers, hangars, and other miscellaneous windows so that I won't be frustrated by them when actually needing to use them efficiently. I'm sure the occasional window will pop up in the wrong place over the next fortnight or so, just to annoy me at the wrong times, but I'll just have to take a deep breath. Oh, right. And there is confirmation box after confirmation box treating me like a new player that I'll have to agree to ignore, which I'm not sure if there is a way to bypass or not. That will be fun when shooting someone in low-sec for the first time and not having my warp disruptor activate until I sign the disclaimer. I always like to give my targets a chance to run whilst I'm sorting out paperwork.

Right, I think I'm ready to explore. Ah, no I'm not. My scan filters are gone and have to be recreated. Yep, lots of little bits like this will frustrate me for a while, when I just want to have fun. This had really better fix the crashes I've been experiencing, because I don't want to go through all this for nothing. Okay, my scan filters are in place, let's see if I can salvage something like an evening out of this session. Launching probes sees that apart from a dozen anomalies there are only four signatures at home. I'll ensure I can resolve each of them, for practice. I find gas, a magnetometric site, the static wormhole, and more gas. I activate the two ladar sites before warping to the wormhole and jumping to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system.

Six little ducks again. I remember being in J222222 before. My directional scanner looks clear from the K162, so I move away from the wormhole, launch probes, and cloak. And cloak. And... move away from the... move away from... away. Holy buggering shit, every setting defaults to something stupid. My 'keep-at' distance has reverted to one kilometre, which I correct to be something my cloaking device finds more agreeable, and then I do the same for my default 'orbit' distance, before I actually have to use it. I'm glad this C3 is clear from this position, or I could have got myself in trouble with my first jump.

Now that I am actually moved away from the wormhole and cloaked I can check my notes. I was indeed here about three weeks ago. I warp off to find the listed tower in the same place, empty of pilots and ships, before blanketing the system with my probes to see a rather untidy system. Fourteen anomalies and twenty signatures are scattered around, and although I pluck a wormhole out as my first choice it is only the system's static exit to low-sec empire space. Further sifting finds a second wormhole, which makes me think scanning wasn't a waste of time until I see it is merely a K162 from null-sec k-space. There's nothing else interesting in this C3.

Still thinking about repairing my security status, I make the obligatory nose-poke out to null-sec. It would probably be a good idea to make a few more jumps and maybe even pop a rat or two just to test the stability of my ship's systems too. I find myself in a system in the Detorid region, sharing it with one other pilot. I see a Reaper frigate and Machariel battleship on d-scan, along with a whole load of rat wrecks. As there is also a tower visible on d-scan I imagine I'll find the lone pilot retreated there in his faction battleship, more scared of me than I am of him. Sure enough, there he is, no doubt waiting for me to leave the system before resuming his ratting.

The scaredy-Mach and populated local communication channel should make it relatively safe for me to pop a suitable rat for security status gain, particularly if I wander the asteroid fields out of d-scan range of the tower to keep the other pilot ignorant of what I'm flying. So I warp out and bounce across a few rock fields until an Angel rat in a battleship warps in to greet me. I give him a warm welcome with some missiles until his ship pops, at which point I warp out, cloak, and check my atlas.

I am in a dead-end system, with a short string of systems ahead of me. But I don't think I'll bother ratting through other systems today. Getting my interface in order has burnt through a lot of time. I think I'll just head home and get some rest. There's only so much maintenance I can do in one day before all the fun is sucked out of piloting a spaceship.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on 'Default' should be a viable configuration
Tags: eve online, machariel, mmorpg, null-sec, penny ibramovic, reaper, scanning, w-space

Bumbling a bombing

'Reset to factory defaults?' I'd rather not, no, but I'd also quite like to fly in space without suffering blackouts either when stalking or actually in combat, thanks. I'm not looking forwards to adjusting every single information panel, communications channel, and other associated windows again, but it looks like it has to be done. At least I have my overview exported to a file, as I know that is the most painful configuration to recreate from scratch. But I also know that some windows can't be configured until their specific circumstances crop up, like salvaging a wreck, for example. Having to adjust the window to be in a sensible position and not in the middle of my display—where my ship is, and so obscuring it, quite stupidly—is not an action I want to take when trying to loot a Noctis with its colleagues warping in to kill me. But I suppose I have to suck it up and do it.

I boot in to the least usable interface ever designed by man and finally manage to remember the names of the comms channels I used to be party to when I see that Fin is half-way through a conversation with me. My glorious leader noticed I had come on-line but not that I wasn't in the channel. After all, why wouldn't I be? And this is the perfect time for her to be shadowing a Noctis salvager flying behind a fleet of two Drake battlecruisers and a Tengu strategic cruiser clearing anomalies in a class 3 w-space system two jumps from home. I would like to join her and blow the living crap out of the salvager, but instead I have two dozen windows to move and resize, plus others that will pop up in the wrong place to surprise me at inopportune moments. Sod it, I'm reverting to a back-up.

My systems reboot to familiar settings, albeit with the threat of unscheduled down-time hanging in the vacuum of space. I know what is where, though. I warp to our tower and swap in to a Manticore stealth bomber, which I gauge to be the best choice in salvager destruction, and head towards Fin. I mapped the constellation earlier, my bookmarks leading Fin to the second C3 in our small chain of w-space that holds the fleet she's following. It's simple to retrace my steps and get to the wormhole leading in to C3b. I ask if it's safe to jump in, and am told that the wormhole is in range of the fleet's directional scanner, but to jump in anyway. Sure thing, boss.

I move away from the wormhole and cloak, hoping that I wasn't spotted, and then coordinate with Fin to get in to the right site at the right distance. The right distance for me is far away from the combat, so that I can monitor progress without fear of bumping in to capsuleer or Sleeper ships, as well as allowing me to warp directly to any of the wrecks. Without knowing where the Noctis will arrive I prefer to hedge my bets and wait for the salvager to warp in before committing my own ship. It is not long before the site is clear of Sleepers, my turning up in the system as the last wave is started, and Fin and I wait for the Noctis to appear. Hmm, and so do the Drakes and the Tengu. 'This is normal', says Fin. 'The Tengu will leave but the Drakes stay.' That's okay, that's little defence for a Noctis against the two of us.

The Drakes don't leave, as predicted, but neither does the Tengu. I suppose one more combat ship that is probably not fitted with a warp disruptor is not that much of a threat, particularly against two bombers. Except I didn't realise Fin was in a bomber too, I thought she was in a covert Tengu. Okay, I'd better get in to bombing range now. I was holding back as I didn't think Fin would want to risk a half-billion ISK strategic cruiser to pop a guarded Noctis. Two of our bombs will probably destroy the Noctis outright, though, and Fin's already in position.

I warp closer in to the site, some thirty kilometres from the wreck I bookmarked where the Noctis warped in initially. The Noctis has moved since then, putting me over forty kilometres away. That's fine for a bomb but puts me out of warp disruption range. Even so, Fin's ready and waiting, and I don't want to spoil this chance of the kill. I close the range and say I'm ready, hoping that the Noctis won't react quickly enough to our appearance, and Fin counts us down. We both decloak, launch bombs, and align out of the site. Unfortunately, the Noctis warps out before either of us. The Drakes and Tengu start locking on to us just as quickly as the Noctis fled too. I warp out before a volley of missiles gets close to me, and although Fin takes damage her ship survives to clear the pocket.

It looks like the fleet spotted us. Probably me, when entering the system. Even so, we could have got the kill. I was badly positioned when Fin was ready and had no good way to get in to an ideal position quickly enough to ensure the Noctis couldn't escape. Had I known Fin was in a second stealth bomber sooner I would have been better prepared, closing the distance to get a positive lock on the Noctis and attempting to get a point of disruption on it at least until the bombs detonated. And finding out the information late is not Fin's fault.

The repeated crashes I've been experiencing forced me to reset all my settings, which meant I missed out on the first part of Fin's conversation. In effect, despite not actually crashing, the crashes have cost us this kill too. I'm past being officially fed up about this. I am going to have to ignore being productive or having fun and spend however tediously long it takes to rebuild my interface after a complete reset, regardless of what's going on around me. I simply can't operate otherwise. And that had better fix the problem.

As for this evening, the Noctis returns to the site cleared of Sleepers and Wormhole Engineers and finishes salvaging whatever wrecks weren't destroyed by our bombs, and the fleet disappears. Unsurprisingly, the fleet isn't local, but we're not sure where they are from. A bit of poking around C3b and C3a sees some battleships appear in C3a, and not at the local tower. We see Ravens and a Megathron blip on and off d-scan, but they don't seem overtly threatening. I imagine the fleet is collapsing their static wormhole connecting to our constellation. I get my scanning Tengu back in to C3a and launch probes when I think there's no one looking, but the best I can achieve is to see the new signature that must be their wormhole on one scan only to have it disappear on the second. I think that's our excitement over for the night.

We collapse our static wormhole to look for more excitement, but end up in an occupied and inactive class 3 system stuffed with anomalies and signatures. Sorting through the mess resolves a static exit to low-sec empire space but nothing else of interest, and the exit only leads to Aridia. I do, however, get some pleasure from having corporate bookmarks again, as I realise that they mean newbs like me don't have to scan our own K162 after forgetting to bookmark it. I can instead simply warp to the one Fin remembered to make, getting me safely home. I'd better sleep well tonight, as tomorrow will be a day of frustration, I'm sure.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Bumbling a bombing
Tags: drake, manticore, megathron, noctis, pvp, raven, tengu

Ratting is tedious, however efficient

A patch has been released, so I'm applying it to my ships and hoping for the best. I'm not convinced the patch will help, as it is to reduce instability when jumping through stargates, whereas my ship crashes have occurred arbitrarily in space, but I can hope. At least I am back in space. I choose an early hour to test my systems, letting me explore and do some preliminary scouting whilst hopefully not risking too much should my problem not be fixed. The alternative is to revert my ships to their factory defaults, and I don't quite want to go down that route if I don't have to.

All is clear at home, giving me a smooth start, and I resolve our static connection and jump through to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system, where I see on my directional scanner an Orca industrial command ship and a tower. Opening my system map for a broader look around shows me that the C3 has seven planets, only three of which hold moons, and the entire system to be too small for me to warp away in order to drop off d-scan and launch probes. I'd best find the tower first. But with it being the only ship visible it's no surprise to find the Orca's in the tower and unpiloted, letting me launch scanning probes without being noticed anyway.

There's not much here. Four signatures plus the Orca show up under my combat probes, which includes our K162 wormhole. Resolving a ladar site and two wormholes takes no time at all, giving me a nifty N968 connection to more class 3 w-space and the system's static exit to low-sec empire space. I pop out to bookmark the low-sec side of the wormhole, as a safety precaution, finding myself in the Black Rise region. That's about as much as I care to note at the moment, as I'm rather more keen to see what lies in C3b. I jump back to w-space and warp across C3a so I can take a look.

C3b is much like C3a, holding a tower and no ships. I suppose that's only to be expected at such an early hour, and the lack of activity is why I'm here. Scanning could bag me some good ambush points for later too, so I launch probes, bookmark the eleven anomalies, and resolve the five signatures present. Gas, wormhole, magnetometric site, wormhole. I have another static connection to low-sec, and a K162 that would be more interesting were it not coming from null-sec k-space. Even so, I pop out to null-sec to see what's there, appearing in Goonswarm space in the Deklein region.

There is one pilot in the null-sec system with me, deterring me from ratting, but checking my atlas shows me that I have exited w-space to be in a rather convenient pocket of null-sec. This system and four others form a kind of double-pyramid shape of space, all interconnected so that travelling around this pocket of null-sec will keep me within one jump of all the other systems at any time. I think I should at least hop around and see if I can find an empty adjacent system or two for some ratting.

My first jump gets me results. A rat battleship sits on the other side of the stargate in an empty system. It's not the safest place to pop a rat but the populated local channel and activation of the gate should give me enough reaction time to flee if another pilot happens to come by. I grasp this opportunity and pop the battleship, uninterrupted, and move on to the next system. I'm alone again, and without a rat sitting on the gate as a welcoming party I'll have to warp around the asteroid belts looking for trouble. It's easily found, and I pop another battleship for some more gain in security status before moving on again. Shooting the rats is pretty quick, too, now that I have a selection of ammunition in my hold after the previous aborted attempt at taking down a Guristas battleship in null-sec.

My crash troubles aren't resolved, it seems. I try to loot a wreck of a popped rat only to get confused when nothing happens. It takes me a few too many seconds to realise that, in fact, none of my systems are responding and that I need to reboot my Tengu. Thankfully, when I get my ship back on-line I am still alone in the null-sec system and haven't managed to lose a second strategic cruiser to ill-fortune. I'll need to perform a factory reset when it's convenient, which it never is. For now, I complete my circuit of this double-pyramid of systems, ratting as I go. I am not alone in a couple of systems but get good battleship kills when I am. And as the expedition is going well, I extend my circuit to include some more distant systems, although I turn around rather sharply when I hit a well-populated dead-end system.

I start a second circuit of the null-sec systems when I see the security status I'm raking in, but stop when it looks like more pilots are waking up. I also remind myself that this is more of a chore than actual enjoyment. I like that I am getting some good gains in my status but it is false pleasure. I don't actually want to be doing this, and wouldn't need to if I wasn't so harshly punished for daring to shoot ships in low-sec in the first place. I'm not going to make an afternoon out of ratting just because I can. I'll enjoy my time better elsewhere. At least I got some of my security status back and, unfortunately, realised that my crashes have not been fixed by the patch. I head home through empty w-space to the home system, where I hide myself away and contemplate having to reconfigure all my settings again.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Ratting is tedious, however efficient
Tags: eve online, mmorpg, null-sec, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, w-space

Scanning and crashing

I need to update my skill queue, that's the only reason I'm here. But seeing as I am here, it would be churlish not to take a look around w-space. Sure, my ship will probably suffer a systems failure and crash, requiring a reboot that will almost certainly be at the most inopportune moment, and maybe I said I wasn't coming back before a patch had been released that supposedly fixes this problem, but the lure of space is strong. And I can't really get in to too much trouble scanning, although I look forward to that being tattooed on my new clone's arse when the words come back to bite me.

I probably won't do anything stupid in the home system today, as there are no incoming wormholes to taunt me in to engaging innocent scouts. The Sleepers are returning, though, with a new radar and ladar site to be found, giving us three sites in total. The clean system was nice whilst it lasted. Even so, it is hardly a chore to pick the static wormhole out of four signatures. I resolve the wormhole, warping to it and jumping through to see what wonders I will find in our neighbouring class 3 system. Drones. Ooh, be still my beating heart.

Six drones are visible on my directional scanner, and nothing more. It's an odd number and an odd mix, three combat drones and three shield bots, making me almost vaguely curious as to what happened here. Not that curious, though, d-scan lacking any ships or wrecks, and I simply turn to my notes to warp to where I expect a tower to be. My last visit here was five months ago and in the intervening time the locals have moved out. There is no trace of the tower where I last saw it, nor is there any other tower in the system, making it empty and inactive. I'm a little more curious as to how the drones got here now.

I launch probes and start scanning. There's not much to find, only nine anomalies and eight signatures. A fat-signatured wormhole on the edge of the system clearly isn't the static exit to null-sec k-space I'm expecting to find, but the weaker signature almost directly below has the stink of null-sec surrounding it. Another signature in the inner system, far below the ecliptic plane, becomes another obvious wormhole. That leaves two magnetometric sites and two ladar sites. Checking the wormholes has one die before I can reach it, and legitimately too. I have to make sure I'm not experiencing a systems failure and am almost pleased to see that the wormhole has indeed died and not my ship, but it still means one less wormhole to explore through.

Ignoring the static exit for now, the other wormhole is a K162 from class 4 w-space, and stable. I jump in to take a look around, finding a tower but no ships in the C4. I scan to see if there's a second K162 leading further back in the constellation to activity, but it's possible the locals scouted C3a with its connection to null-sec and then gave up, not knowing how to collapse their wormhole. But that's not being particularly generous. For all I know, they wreaked havoc through two-dozen anomalies in the C3 earlier, and I'm just too late to see it. Anyway, there are no obvious K162s amongst the fourteen signatures in this C4 and I'm not about to waste my time looking for random outbound wormholes. I jump back to C3a and head out to null-sec to see what's happening there.

I exit w-space to appear in the Pure Blind region, which happens to give me a pretty view of the cloud ring in the background. There are times when I wish I could zoom out so that I can appreciate the nebulae from a grander perspective, but I suppose the trouble with looking at phenomena parsecs away is that zooming out your view another couple of hundred kilometres doesn't really accomplish much. Still, not being able to arbitrarily change your field-of-view doesn't stop space from looking beautiful. Other capsuleers in the system do that.

So many anomalies are picked up on my scanning probes, but only the one signature for the K162 I'm sitting on. If only there weren't null-seccers absently sitting the system somewhere I could get some ratting done. Then again, the overpopulated local communications channel drops from two other pilots to one, and although I still wouldn't feel safe entering the anomalies I could bounce between asteroid fields looking for a rat battleship to pop for a gain in security status. And I find one. Two, rather, but popping one will be enough. I decloak, start shooting, and keep an eye on d-scan in case the local isn't actually asleep in a station.

This Gurista battleship has some hefty shields. Or I'm shooting it with the wrong type of ammunition. Either way, it's taking a long time to wear down its defences. But I'm getting there. At least, I was getting there, now I'm making no progress, which is perhaps explained by my launchers cycling but not depleting their loads. Yeah, great, a systems failure at the most inopportune moment of the evening. I reboot my exploration Tengu and, when the strategic cruiser is back on-line and returned to the asteroid field, get back to shooting the rat battleship. Or not. The systems failure has seen the rat's shields recover to 80% or so, and I'm not going to whittle that down again with no guarantee of no more crashes.

I should listen to myself sometimes. I don't even learn from tonight, as my stubborn nature wants that rat to pop. I head home, grab a bunch of different missiles, and head back to null-sec to finish the job hopefully a bit quicker this time, only to find that there are new pilots in the system. New and alert. One of them engages me in a conversation, which I'm happy to reciprocate as it doesn't happen that often, but even with his reassurances that he's only checking on planet goo whilst sitting in a station, and his security status potentially reflecting his carebear nature, I'm not about to make myself a victim.

Talk is just that, and pilots don't suffer drops in security status for ruthless ambushes in null-sec, just as in w-space, so I can't trust passive information about this capsuleer. I merely remain courteous before deciding I'm not going to accomplish anything this evening, jumping back to w-space and returning to, um, to... suffer another crash before I can jump home. This is a pain. I can't sit myself in the C3 and still have a way home the next time I come on-line, so I need to reboot my Tengu just so that I can jump through a wormhole I'm sitting eight kilometres from. Stupid buggy crap. I'm waiting for that patch.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Scanning and crashing
Tags: eve online, mmorpg, null-sec, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, w-space

Disco may not be dead, but it kills me

I'm a glutton for punishment. Having suffered through repeated but unpredictable ship failures, requiring a systems restart each time, and even though there have been no released patches to correct this, I am still hopeful that I can make it through this evening without problem. I should be fine as long as I stick to attacking defenceless industrial ships, which is pretty much all I do anyway, so I'm really only expecting to feel some frustration and make hollow threats of rage-quitting. It's just another day in w-space.

It's not quite just another day in w-space, as there are core probes in our home system. It should only be me here at the moment, so the probes are from an external pilot. Luckily, or foolishly, they are core scanning probes, which lets me warp out to a distant safe spot and launch my combat scanning probes without much risk of being detected by the scout. A blanket scan of the home system picks up four signatures. One of them is presumably a K162 but that still leaves another unidentified. I assume the scout will be concentrating on his scanning and so I bring my probes in to the system to resolve the unknown signatures.

I resolve two wormholes and a ladar gas harvesting site pretty quickly. Certainly more quickly than the other scout does. I warp to both wormholes, identifying our static connection to class 3 w-space and the K162 as being from class 5 w-space, all before the scout's core probes disappear from space. I place myself on our static connection, expecting the scout to continue his exploration away from home, and wait to see what ship passes me by. Of course, it's possible that he'll go home and report our C4 being ripe with anomalies to clear, but that's fine too. I'm okay waiting for a Noctis full of loot to pop.

The scout's continuing to explore. An Anathema covert operations boat decloaks near the wormhole and jumps to the class 3 system beyond. I know I have almost no hope of catching the tiny and agile boat, but I'll give it a go anyway. It feels like it's been a while since I've seen another ship to shoot. I follow behind the Anathema, get my systems hot in the C3, and wait for the cov-ops to reveal itself. He's being cautious, definitely waiting for the session change timer to end before moving, and when he does move it is not with as much grace as I'd associate with the boat. Although I watch as the ship warps away from the wormhole and cloaks, I nearly got a positive lock before it did so. That was closer than I expected.

I'm pretty sure I scared the Anathema, at the very least. In my judgement he won't start scanning the C3, which would actually be one of the safest options for him, but will probably want to run back home. That's fine with me, but I should get a different ship. Spooking pilots may be good for laughs but it doesn't break pods open. I warp back to our tower and stow the Tengu for my Malediction interceptor. I may not have that much luck snaring cov-ops in the Malediction but it is far more suitable for the task than my covert strategic cruiser, and if the Anathema pilot is as clumsy moving away from the wormhole a second time I may well catch him.

I drop my interceptor on to our static wormhole and wait, watching my directional scanner all the while. I check d-scan on my way to the wormhole to see if I miss his return, and whilst I sit on the wormhole to see if he's called for protection. And it looks like he has, as an Ishtar heavy assault cruiser appears after a few minutes of nothing happening. Updating d-scan can feel pretty dull most of the time but it keeps a Penny safe. I warp back to the tower before the Ishtar makes its physical presence known, where I consider my options.

Normally my options are to ignore a fair fight, as I would probably lose. But I wonder about my image sometimes, mostly going for unarmed industrial ships and pods, and this is dangerous thinking. I don't know much about the Ishtar but it is only a heavy assault cruiser. Maybe my Legion strategic cruiser would be more than a match. I don't often fly head first in to danger, as it's too dangerous, but maybe if the other pilots brought an Ishtar to a covert Tengu fight they may not be expecting a more formidable ship. I go against my better judgement and board the Legion.

I keep checking d-scan and still see just the Ishtar, although the Anathema has apparently made it back in to the system. Assuming that he only wanted an escort to get him home safely I warp to the C5 K162 in a bid to intercept the Ishtar, but he's not there. I'm not about to jump blindly in to a system when I am already being reckless, not having scouted the C5 yet, so with the Ishtar still on d-scan I warp back to our static wormhole. Yep, he's still there, or thereabouts. The HAC has scooted fifty kilometres away or so and is anchoring a warp bubble, no doubt to try to catch me should I warp directly from our tower. I inadvertently outsmarted him this time. Now we lock horns.

I move in to engage the Ishtar, and he moves to engage me. Well, he doesn't so much move as launch drones and let them do his dirty work, the stinking Gallente scum. I need to get closer to be in range of my missiles, but as I approach a new contact appears. A Loki strategic cruiser decloaks a short distance behind me, which looks to me like a better target. It's completely in range of all my offensive systems and is higher value, so I switch targets and start pounding against the Loki's shields. Of course, what it should have looked like was that I had stupidly taken the bait and waltzed in to a counter-ambush. It's okay, I don't have long before the penny drops, as when a third ship appears I realise I'm in trouble, and that's before the Anathema reappears to add its own disruptive effects.

My secret weapon is my glorious leader. Fin arrives shortly after the Loki appears. I try to update her quickly and call for some more offensive capability to come my way, corrected ten seconds later by politely but urgently requesting some ECM support. As Fin sorts out a Falcon recon ship from our hangar and gets her bearings I'm burning back to the static wormhole. I can still try to shake the hostile ships the old-fashioned way, although I suspect my rather bulky, armour-plated ship won't be able to pull many fancy evasive manoeuvres. Even so, I jump through the wormhole to C3a and try to warp clear.

The tactic doesn't work. The return of the Anathema was a shrewd move on behalf of the attackers. It may be small and flimsy but it can lock quickly and hold me in place before running clear once the bigger ships have me in their grasp. I'm easily caught on the K162 in C3a, giving me nowhere to go. I was pretty much expecting that, although warping clear would have been a good result too. But what I've done is buy Fin time to get the Falcon from our tower to the wormhole and let her reconnoitre the situation a little. My Legion's nearly on fire as I turn it back around to the wormhole, where I can jump home and hopefully have Fin's ECM let me warp clear. Or I could, if this wasn't the time that I suffer my first ship systems failure of the evening.

I command the Legion to approach the wormhole but still I continue to glide away from it. I repeat my command, not quite believing that my ship's agility is quite so compromised from the single armour plate fitted, but the best I can achieve is to come to almost a full stop some eight kilometres from the wormhole. That's too far for me to jump through, but already I know I've lost my ship. Communications aren't getting through to Fin, d-scan isn't updating. Nothing is working. Of all the times I could lose control, now is the worst.

I force a restart of the ship's systems, knowing that I won't be returning to a ship. My main concern is wondering what will become of my pod. I don't know if it will warp clear as an emergency procedure or if it will be prevented from warping for being in combat. It takes about a minute for the systems to load and interface appear, and although I am pleased to see my pod safe I am bitterly upset concerning the loss of the Legion. I have no qualms about foolishly flying in to a well-executed trap, and that I was likely to lose yet another strategic cruiser by myself—apart from apparently never learning my lesson—but I knew I had a chance to save it. Fin turned up just in time and we could have brought the Legion home. If only some random bug wasn't continuing to cause me problems.

I orientate myself in C3a, ask Fin to check the home side of our static wormhole, and, hearing it to be clear, head back. I jump through the connection and warp to the tower, frankly impressed by the efficiency of the hostile fleet. There is no sign of my Legion or its wreck, no ships loitering in the pocket, and even their anchored warp bubble near the wormhole has been scooped. They deserved the kill. But they deserved a clean kill. The instability of my ships is more than just an irritation now, it is too much. I'm heading off-line to get drunk, and probably won't be back until the problem is fixed.

Posted in Gaming | 11 Comments »
Tags: anathema, eve online, falcon, ishtar, legion, loki, malediction, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space

Sleepers and system failures

I'm back in space and hoping to keep it that way. I'd rather not see any more systems failures in my ships, requiring tedious reboots at unpredictable and arbitrary times that may lose me my third ambush this week. An unresponsive ship is a liability. I can only stalk if I find targets, though, so I get to the task of getting out of the home w-space system. The lack of signatures here hasn't lasted long, some new rocks drifting in presumably from the Kuiper belt, and I swing past to activate the site before jumping through our static wormhole.

The neighbouring class 3 system looks clean from the wormhole, according to my directional scanner. I launch probes and perform a blanket scan of the system, revealing six anomalies, twenty-four signatures, and a lack of occupation. Maybe when my glorious leader arrives we can make some profit here, but if we decide to do that I'll need to make as sure as possible now that we won't be interrupted then. I sift through the signatures looking for wormholes, positive indicators of activity in themselves.

Rocks, rocks, rocks, rocks. It's like Star Trek V in this C3. There are no obvious K162 connections in the system, which bodes well for simple Sleeper slaying, and the strength of the remaining signatures suggests I'm going to find a static exit to null-sec k-space. I keep digging down to resolve a radar site, a wormhole that could be the static connection, and more, rarer rocks. And more, and more, and that's it. Thank goodness. And here's Fin!

I'm asked to check the static wormhole, opening the connection so that a colleague can potentially get back home if he becomes available, exiting w-space to be in a system in the Insmother region. There are eight juicy Angel anomalies here but one other pilot in the system too, so I can't really risk ratting. But all that was required was to bookmark the null-sec side of the wormhole, which I've done. This has also given Fin time to refit one of our Sleeper Tengu strategic cruisers with a local shield booster, which means I can take the new Golem marauder out for combat. Oh yeah.

The Golem and Tengu pairing may actually be a bit weaker defensively than two remote-repair Tengus flying in tandem, but we're pretty much expecting the Golems offensive capability to more than make up it. On top of that, the marauder is designed to loot and salvage in combat, rather than requiring a third pilot to follow behind us or a second sweep through the sites with a salvager. With my torpedoes ripping the battleships apart, Fin's missiles taking care of the frigates, and the wrecks being cleared up as we fight, Sleeper combat should become much more efficient. It's all coming back to me.

There was some concern that the overhead of having to lock on to, tractor, and loot and salvage the wrecks would be too much for me to cope with along with my usual tasks of keeping track of the anomalies and marking targets. It all seems okay, though. Marking targets only needs to be done at the start of each wave, and that's when there are the fewest wrecks. I am kept busier during combat, I can't deny that, which means Fin is doubling up d-scan duty for the both of us. Even so, having Tech II tractor beams and salvagers gets the job done smoothly enough that I can still poke d-scan occasionally myself, just for peace of mind.

The first anomaly is a little shaky in parts, particularly when being webbed by three frigates at once, but our tanks survive and we get a better idea of what each of us can do to improve for the next site. If only both of us could reach it. The Golem drops out of warp to see only empty space, a sure sign that its systems have crashed and need restarting. And I don't even get half-way through the second anomaly before needing a second restart, which is pretty pathetic. The only saving grace is that we're not hunting, or being hunted, or the failures could be catastrophic.

A third systems failure in the second site begins to wear me down, but I want to continue if only to get some decent salvage. Two sites clear and barely any salvage worth an iskie. We may not be raking in the profit, but 'at least d-scan is clear', says Fin. That's a good point and it's probably worth pushing in to more anomalies whilst the space remains empty. A third anomaly is cleared and so we continue past our favoured types in to those lesser known to us, as demonstrated when we end up dealing with three waves of Sleepers at once in one of them. It is challenging, and a good demonstration of our adaptability and capability, both of our ships and ourselves.

One more systems failure of the Golem gets us in to and through the sixth and final anomaly in the system. Combat has been smooth on the whole, even if stability hasn't, and it has been a real joy to pilot the Golem in to combat again. It really takes chunks out of the battleships with each volley of torpedoes, speeding up the normally slower waves. The salvage from the sites stays poor until the end, although it isn't dreadful. Without having to get a Noctis salvager out of the hangar, we bring back 270 million ISK in loot for the evening. Getting home, Fin suggests collapsing the wormhole and starting again. I help in destabilising the static wormhole before I go but I'm off for an early night. Having to restart every so often takes its toll on me.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Sleepers and system failures
Tags: eve online, golem, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, sleepers, tengu, w-space