Bugged by a bug

My glorious leader is keen today. Fin's not only escaped our home w-space system but w-space entirely, having jumped out of our neighbouring class 3 system through its static connection to null-sec. I think she's kindly looking for more rats for me to pop, so that I can delay my inevitable slide to being a recognised pirate in the eyes of Concord. Even so, having mapped our neighbouring system Fin informs me that there are more wormholes to explore, leading to low-sec empire space, and class 2 and class 4 w-space systems. That should keep us going for a short while.

I make use of the corporate bookmarks and warp across home to jump through our static wormhole. I don't even pause in C3a on my way to C2a, having adequate time during warp to update my notes about the system now being down to one tower, although I come up abruptly against the wormhole when I see it is reaching the end of its natural lifetime. I ask Fin if the wormhole was EOL when she found it but she can't honestly remember. If it wasn't then I have plenty of time to explore, but if it was it could collapse at any moment. I'm not a good judge of the wobbliness of wormholes, and I am going to trust that Fin would have noticed the wormhole looking sickly and assume it has a few hours of life left, jumping through to see what I can find.

There are plenty of hangars and arrays in this C2, with what looks to be only one force field to keep them all safe. It's my third visit to the system, my previous time here being a mere six weeks ago letting me warp directly to where I listed the tower. There certainly is just the one force field protecting all the visible assets in the system, leaving me to wonder what big and expensive ships could be stowed away, particularly as none are left lying around. And with no one home I warp out, launch probes, and start scanning. I found static connections to class 3 w-space and high-sec empire space on my last visit, and Fin is keen to pick up a new array for our tower, which a connection to high-sec would help with.

I stutter before launching probes. I warp back to the wormhole to do so, a hundred kilometres from it being a relatively safe place to sit in this small system, where I see an Anathema covert operations boat enter behind me from C3a. He pauses, turns around, and jumps right back to the C3. He didn't see my ship, my covert Tengu strategic cruiser staying covert, so perhaps he was simply looking for opportunity through a dying wormhole. I note the capsuleer's name and corporation but ignore him for now, getting down to scanning instead. Ten signatures don't take long to sort through, and exiting w-space even puts me in The Forge. But despite being in the same region as the centre of all New Eden commerce I am in a distant corner from Jita, and Fin considers the journey a little too far to risk the EOL connection.

I return to w-space, hop across C2a and C3a, and explore through a K162 in to class 4 w-space. My directional scanner is clear from the wormhole in C4a but I don't launch probes from the wormhole. As it was opened from this side of space I don't consider it safe to do so, instead warping to a nearby planet so that it isn't immediately obvious what I'm up to. Opening the system map shows that I should be fairly safe from casual observation. The planet closest to the wormhole is 15 AU from the next nearest planet, and 142 AU to the furthest planet. That's going to take a deep breath from the ship's capacitor to warp across, and stretches my scanning probes almost to their limits to cover adequately. I think it's safe to say this system's pretty spacious.

Even at full stretch my combat probes pick up four ships, eight signatures, and fourteen anomalies. It's the ships I'm interested in. I warp off to find the Anathema, Tengu, and two Viator transport ships all sitting piloted inside the active force field of a local tower. The Anathema pilot is familiar, being the same who flashed me in the C2 not long ago. He's not the only active pilot here either, as the two Viator pilots strip down to their pods as I sit and watch voyeuristically. They may even sense I'm here, as the two bare pods tease me further by swapping ships. Back in the Viator and down to a pod. Now in a Hulk exhumer, back to the pod. In to a Covetor mining barge, and out again. And in again, and out again. I'm almost tingling with expectation.

One of the pods boards a Buzzard cov-ops, but does he really board a Buzzard? I can see the pod's gone and the ship appear, but the pilot's name is not associated with the ship like it should be. My updates to Fin try to reflect this but now they are not getting through. Great, I know what's happened, my ship has suffered a systems crash again. This is getting tedious. Not only do I miss a chance of ambushing a high-value salvager recently because of the same fault but now these potential targets will know my Tengu has been watching them. But there's nothing I can do. I have to reboot.

Coming back on-line is almost wasted time, as the local pilots won't want to make themselves vulnerable now, but I have to at least get myself home. And that is the least I do. I can't be bothered to spend my time scouting and stalking if a random event will ruin an evening's fun. I'm heading home to go off-line.

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Tags: anathema, buzzard, covetor, eve online, hulk, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, viator, w-space

To rat or to, uh, sleep?

Fin's just jumped through our static wormhole when I arrive. I warp across the home system to join my glorious leader in seeing what w-space has in store for us today. A familiar system waits beyond the wormhole, it being my fourth visit here, with the last only six weeks ago. Fin is already sitting outside the local tower, ignoring an unpiloted Buzzard covert operations boat to watch a Thanatos carrier, one piloted by a capsuleer who seems familiar to us both but neither of us can place him. We can't have crossed paths directly the last time I was here, as my notes tell no story, so maybe we just watched him doze inside his tower's force field then too.

I warp away from the tower, out of range of the pilot's directional scanner, and launch scanning probes. Blanketing the system reveals four signatures and three anomalies, which perhaps we could steal if the carrier pilot isn't paying attention, and start to resolve the three signatures far enough from the tower for my probes to remain hidden. Apart from our K162, I find a wormhole and a gravimetric site, and as I move my probes to the centre of the system to resolve the final signature the Thanatos goes off-line. I won't need to be quick about this after all. The last signature is a second wormhole, an N968 outbound connection to more class 3 w-space, which makes the first wormhole the system's static exit to low-sec empire space. And that's all there is to find here.

Poking through to low-sec finds me alone in a system in Placid region, which looks dull enough to send me right back to w-space and to the N968. Jumping in to C3b has a tower, Buzzard, and scanning probes visible on d-scan, followed by no probes and two Buzzards. A third update of d-scan has a few probes return and one of the Buzzards disappear, showing the scout to be quite active. Before I'm discovered, I launch my own probes, throw them out of the system, and get clear of the wormhole. I locate the tower and perform a blanket scan of the system, at which point a Russian Tengu strategic cruiser appears on d-scan. As this C3 has an exit to null-sec k-space it's probably best to assume that the Tengu has come from there and that our constellation isn't that safe any more. Fin and I return home to collapse our wormhole and look for a better opportunity.

Getting rid of our wormhole is straightfoward, kind of. I suppose we collapse it without complication, but no matter how many times we do it another one pops up to replace it. Sleeper technology is rather coy, though. The wormhole isn't like those birthday candles that re-light themselves, as the wormhole doesn't flare up in the same place as we collapse it but rather plays hard to get, having us chase the new connection around the system first. I suppose at least when we catch it we get more than a kiss, thrusting our ships right in to the heart of the open and welcoming hole so that it flutters with the sensation. And so we penetrate the milky-grey barrier to enter a new class 3 system.

The replacement C3a is empty and unoccupied, all of the system visible on d-scan from the K162. Not much waits for us either, merely five anomalies and two signatures. The second signature is a static exit to low-sec, which naturally leads to the Aridia region. Unsurprisingly, I'm alone in this system and so I launch scanning probes to take a look around. Four extra signatures sound good, but only give me two ladar sites, some ruins full of crappy drones, and a K162 from class 1 w-space that's at the end of its life. I take a quick look in to the C1 anyway, to satisfy my curiosity, appearing in the system in d-scan range of a tower and no ships. I'm satisfied. I jump back to low-sec and look for some rats to pop.

The anomalies in this low-sec system look pretty good. More than my covert Tengu can handle, at least. I need a different ship if I'm to get some decent increases to my security status for a change, so head home and get a Drake battlecruiser out of the hangar. Getting back to low-sec has me still alone and the rats still there, so I get to blowing them all up. It takes a while, but that's okay, as I'll gain status with each quarter-hour I'm here. Well, it's not really okay, as I'm neglecting Fin and her immaculate security status, who has taken the time to check adjacent low-sec systems for interesting wormholes and finding none, and is now sitting back at our tower with little to do.

I'm getting some good ratting done here, even if I'm not hopping between systems to maximise my gains, and there are more anomalies to plough through. But I could be much more productive teaming up with Fin and hitting the Sleepers in w-space. I think I'll have to accept I'll turn pirate one day, with a yellow skull emblazoned to my ship, as I doubt I'll be able to repair the unduly harsh punishments for daring to attack capsuleer-piloted ships in low-sec. I leave the rats behind and head back home, swapping to a Sleeper Tengu to pair with Fin's, and we jump to C3a to make rather more profit than I was achieving solo.

We only clear two anomalies before I start spacing out from the late hour, which is a dangerous state to be in, so we grab a Noctis salvager each and sweep up our mess. We rake in 170 Miskies from the two sites, which makes the few million I made in empire space look pretty pathetic. Yellow-skulled pirate and rich, with kills to my name, or poor and law-abiding, with lots of tedious ratting under my belt. It doesn't seem that hard a choice, really.

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Tags: buzzard, drake, eve online, low-sec, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, scanning, sleepers, tengu, thanatos, w-space

Scanning through w-space

A fresh day brings another chance to look for some fallout. And by 'more' I mean 'our first taste', which isn't quite the same. Getting out to explore is nice and simple in a system with only a known ladar site to act as a distraction from the static wormhole, and I'm soon jumping in to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system to see warp bubbles and nothing more on my directional scanner. I launch probes and arrange them for a blanket scan, but notice on opening the system map that just the one planet with moons lies out of range of d-scan. I warp across as my probes scan the system, landing to see an off-line and already-plundered tower. It's no surprise that I am a day late to this array-popping party.

It's also no surprise to find more than one wormhole in this C3. Whilst class 3 systems seem to attract more than their fair share of connections, the lure of populated towers taken off-line from a lack of fuel pellets has probably motivated many a capsuleer in to opening as many wormholes as possible. It's certainly true of us. I realise early on that I'll find more than the static wormhole here, as the first wormhole I resolve is far too fat to be the expected exit to null-sec k-space. The second wormhole to fall under my probes has the stink of null-sec, though, and even then I find a third wormhole too. Otherwise I'm left with two magnetometric sites, two rock sites, and one gas site.

I leave the null-sec connection alone for now and see what other wormholes I have. I warp to a K162 from class 5 w-space that's at the end of its life, and a K162 from high-sec empire space that has been destabilised to half its mass allowance. Okay, I'll look at the static wormhole, as these other wormholes are doing nothing for me. I exit to null-sec and get my first look at the Cloud Ring nebula from the inside, which is quite stunning. Mind you, I think I prefer being able to see the whole cloud without having to spin around until I'm dizzy enough to puke. Sadly, despite the dozen or so anomalies in this null-sec system that I might like to plunder, there is another pilot here with me. As there are scanning probes visible on d-scan I'll scan too.

All I find in null-sec are three more Serpentis sites, no more wormholes. And despite not wanting to make myself vulnerable in easily found anomalies I probably have time to bounce around the rock fields looking for a suitably big rat to pop, still trying to increase my security status. I find a rat in a battleship at about the same time as a roaming fleet enters the system. I hold my cloak and wait for a minute, watching the passing fleet exit in a different direction, then decloak and turn the rat in to a wreck. I loot the wreck of nothing in particular as a Purifier stealth bomber enters the system, which is nothing to worry about in itself but my meagre mission here is accomplished and I head back to w-space.

There's not much else to do. I poke my nose in to high-sec from C3a, the half-mass wormhole hardly a concern for my cruiser hull, and pop some rats in the Genesis region for a couple of minutes. Now to head home and wait for Fin. Returning to C3a sees an Anathema covert operations boat on d-scan, most likely the scout from null-sec having found the system. That makes this C3 a far less safe place to engage in Sleeper combat, so when Fin arrives we collapse our static wormhole and start scouting from scratch. The new neighbouring C3 has a tower and Crane on d-scan, and locating the tower sees the transport ship piloted but inactive. Warping away to launch probes sees some lonely-looking drones abandoned somewhere in the system but nothing else of interest, and I start scanning.

A signature 6 AU from a planet is a dead giveaway to be a wormhole, and it turns out to be an N968 outbound connection to more class 3 w-space. Fin leapfrogs me in to C3b as I continue scanning C3a, which only gets me gas and an exit to low-sec empire space. Jumping out of w-space lands me in a dead-end low-sec system in the Khanid region, pretty much in the middle-of-nowhere. Naturally, no one shares the system with me, but when I try to pop rats in the two anomalies I detect here I warp in to find nothing but infrastructure. I must have been beaten to the sites. I jump back to w-space and join Fin in C3b, where she has found another N968. It's my turn to leapfrog ahead.

C3c has a tower and Hurricane battlecruiser on d-scan, the ship turning out to be unpiloted, along with some core probes whizzing about the system. I launch my own probes and pass by a gravimetric site to catch a ship sitting on what must be a wormhole. It was, although I was too slow switching to d-scan to detect the class of ship. I resolve the wormhole and warp across to see a K162 from class 5 w-space, from which a second scout must have joined the first, judging by the increase in probes in the system. And, yes, I've accounted for my own probes in my calculation this time. Continued scanning finds the boring exit to high-sec and a T405 outbound wormhole to class 4 w-space. I'll look in to the C4.

D-scan is clear, although there is only one planet in range of the scanner. A blanket scan reveals a lack of occupation, along with seventeen anomalies but only three signatures. I resolve a ladar site and static wormhole to more class 4 w-space. A quick look in C4b shows it to be little different from C4a, it being an unoccupied system with only one planet in d-scan range from the wormhole. The number of signatures and anomalies is inverted, though, and I don't care to sift through so many signatures at this late hour. I'm going home.

I jump back to C4a, then to C3c, at which point I divert briefly to poke my nose in to C5b. Just as I approach the wormhole so does a Cheetah cov-ops. I can't resist taking a shot, so I decloak and try to engage, but he just keeps calm and carries on, jumping through the wormhole. I follow the Cheetah and am thoroughly unsurprised when I fail to snag it in the C5, at which point I cloak and punch d-scan just in case I am about to get a surprise. I kind of do, but only by a second cov-ops jumping in behind me, this one a Buzzard.

The second cov-ops boat warps off too, without my even trying to engage him. That's partly because I am not likely to catch him but mostly because I already cloaked and will suffer a recalibration delay that will see the Buzzard warp clear long before it ends. I was heading home anyway, and now that I've given away my presence for no discernible gain it's probably for the best. I warp back across inactive systems to meet up with Fin in the home system, where we settle down for the night.

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Tags: anathema, buzzard, cheetah, crane, eve online, hurricane, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, purifier, scanning, w-space

Rolling rampage

Today is a perfect day to go on a rolling rampage. Fin and I have been looking forward to it for a while, and now it's time explore systems quickly and systematically in a hunt for newly off-line towers. I'm keen enough to get started that I get on-line early, only to see Fin not only here first but already ahead of me in our neighbouring class 3 w-space system. A system that has an on-line tower, sadly, but also one that holds more wormholes. I jump through our static connection to join my glorious leader and warp to the exit to low-sec empire space to see what I can find.

There's nothing out here in low-sec. I jump back to w-space and warp across to our best prospective wormhole so far, a T405 outbound connection to a class 4 system. Entering the C4 has my directional scanner show me little of interest, so I launch probes and perform a blanket scan. One anomaly accompanies seven signatures, and there looks to be a tower on the other side of the system. I warp across to see the tower on-line and empty, though, so I turn my attention to scanning. My probes pick up mostly gas here, with just the one wormhole to continue the constellation. The static connection leads to more class 4 w-space, but is reaching the end of its natural lifetime. I'll need to be quick.

The wormhole is stabilising as I try to jump through, meaning that no capsuleer has been in the system for hours, which today is a good sign. I try again and this time jump in to the system, a system with a dash in its J-number! That's pretty neat. I've been in a dash system before, twenty-two months ago, and Fin tells me that she thinks there's only one anyway. It's still fun to see it again, particularly if its unique. Despite its curious number the system hasn't attracted any occupation, as it remains as empty today as it was the last time I was here. Rather than get myself isolated from the wormhole behind me collapsing I jump back to C4a, then to C3a, and through a K162 to class 5 w-space.

I've been in this system before too, a couple of months later than the dashed C4, and I'm not expecting my notes to be current. All I can find is a tower that has already been looted, although I can't tell how recently. If there are any more K162s here I can only assume that other off-line towers would be similarly looted by now. It's time to collapse our static wormhole and start again, pausing only to quickly pop a random rat in high-sec through another K162 in C3a. Now it's home and replacing our wormhole, which collapses when enough Orca industrial command ships are pushed through. That's an easy enough task. The tricky bit is calculating the jumps so that we both end up in the home system. Tricky enough that instead I'm left in an Orca in C3a.

I told Fin I'd reveal a dirty secret about her if I got isolated, but it really doesn't matter. Accidents happen, and as accidents go this is pretty benign. I point my borrowed Orca to the K162 to high-sec, warp across C3a, and jump out to the safety of Concord-protected space. I am even close to our old corporation headquarters, where I have a Drake docked and forgotten about, so I'll go there, blow the dust off the battlecruiser, and go looking for rats. The few hops to the base don't take long and I soon find that my Drake, Excession, is really quite old indeed. I'm sure it was used in w-space operations from when we first started exploring and brought out during a move, at which point I left it behind. My skill training has advanced a lot since then and I could probably do with upgrading the fitting.

The local market doesn't offer much in upgrades, so I try the aged Drake as fitted in an anomaly I find in the system. As my basic launchers cycle so tediously slowly with each launch I ignore the rats and point myself towards Amarr, where I buy better equipment to prevent my going doolally. Now I get my atlas out and find a neat collection of just about high-sec systems nearby that I can trawl for rats, and go out looking to increase my security status. I bounce from system to system, popping a rat here, a rat there, as Fin scans w-space. She finds another disappointing class 3 neighbour, collapses our static wormhole again, and starts a third time. Another neighbouring system, another on-line tower, but at least this system has a static exit to high-sec, one which leads to a system also near to our old HQ.

I take my Drake back to base, swap in to the Orca, and head home after a peaceful diversion. The tower in the current C3a is far from the wormhole, the w-space system vast in itself, and I get from empire space back home without interruption. And the first order of business on getting back together is staying back together whilst collapsing our wormhole again. All goes according to plan, as it usually does, and we're soon scanning the home system for the fourth time this evening. The next class 3 neighbouring system we jump in to has a tower with a force field visible on d-scan, along with a Drake, Devoter heavy interdictor, and Arazu recon ship. Only having been here a month ago I warp directly to the tower given from the location in my notes to see the three ships unpiloted, and scanning the system has only the one wormhole from four signatures, which is an exit to low-sec.

The exit leads to a system in the Devoid region, a suitable name for a system devoid of interest. Man, I must be the first capsuleer to make that joke! I scan to look for more wormholes, finding an outbound connection to class 3 w-space that could lead to treasures, but instead I only find yet another unfortunately on-line tower. A quick scan shows a mere three signatures amongst the eight anomalies, tempting me to resolve them. I find a magnetometric site and the static wormhole, also heading to low-sec space and this time our favourite region of Aridia. I've gone far enough from home for now and head back, narrowly missing the opportunity to pester an Anathema covert operations boat that found the X702 in Devoid system a few minutes after me. Never mind, I'm heading home for one last collapse of our wormhole.

Fin's already stressed the wormhole to critical condition by the time I get my scanning boat home. All she has to do is jump the Orca home behind me and we're isolated again. But not for long. I scan, resolve the new static wormhole, and fling us both to whatever riches await. I jump in, punch d-scan, and see pay dirt! So many hangars, so many arrays, so many big ships! I giggle with girlish glee and call Fin in. 'What shall I come in?', she says. How about a crushing sense of disappointment, I tell her, as I realise I've somehow reordered my d-scan results and, only now, see the active force field that protects all the goodies from my lustful grip. That's it for tonight, as I'm clearly getting giddy from the galloping gallivanting. We've explored a dozen systems and come up dry, not getting the riches some others have reaped. But that's the way it goes. Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes he eats you.

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Tags: anathema, arazu, devoter, drake, eve online, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Spotted planning an ambush

It's a beautiful but mysterious process. I see scanning probes in the home system, leave for a few minutes, and return for them to have metamorphosed in to a rampaging fleet of destruction. It's nature's wonder, really. This time, the fleet consists of seven Tengu strategic cruisers and a single Loki strategic cruiser, but the Loki blips off my directional scanner before too long. Maybe he's a stray scout or, heaven forbid, the fleet's salvager. Either way, my decision to export our loot by taking a stealth bomber out to empire space is starting to look good now. Without having to warp in to our tower and reveal myself and my intentions to the fleet, I am in a much better choice of ambushing ship than my scanning Tengu. All I need to do is find the site where the fleet is engaging Sleepers and wait for my opportunity.

The fleet is not in a plain anomaly but a radar site, which suits me nicely. I was thinking that we should get rid of those sites soon, as they are starting to clutter up the system, but they work well as honeytraps. I warp in to the radar site to see the seven Tengus and Sleeper drones lob dozens of missiles backwards and forwards. I get myself in to a suitable spot to watch the combat and wait for a salvager and hacker, a comfortable distance away from all the action, only to have my ship become completely unresponsive. That's just great. My stealthy reconnaissance is going to be ruined as I am forced to power-cycle my ship's systems, deactivating the cloak and letting the invaders know my Manticore is here and watching them. Call me pessimistic, but that doesn't bode well for an ambush.

I get my Manticore back on-line and responding to my inputs, cloaked and waiting in the radar site, in time to see the last Sleepers being destroyed by the Tengus. There is a Heron frigate now on d-scan but no sign of a Noctis salvager yet. The Heron warps in to the site and starts hacking in to the Sleeper databanks, the Tengus milling around for a bit before warping away. Despite thinking I'd be spotted for sure it looks like I have a shot on the hacker ship. I may as well wait until the Heron has looted a few more cans, as unlike salvagers the hacker's path can be easily predicted, the immovable databanks needing to be visited instead of tractored to the ship, and it will need to be stationary for at least a handful of seconds at each stop in order to hack in to the can. That makes the ship nice and vulnerable.

I keep watching d-scan and note that one of the Tengus has left the system. Maybe he's gone to get the Noctis, but it seems a little odd that he'd engage in combat in the first site only. It would make more sense to blitz through all the sites and send more than one salvager out afterwards. Anyway, I have my sights set on the Heron, and I warp closer to the databanks to line up my shot. I haven't loosed a bomb in quite a while and I don't want to make an embarrassing mistake. Damn, maybe I should hold off for now, as a Taranis interceptor has appeared on d-scan, warping in to this cleared radar site with the expected Noctis salvager. This doesn't look good at all.

I must have been spotted. I doubt the fleet would sacrifice a strategic cruiser in firepower in order to provide protection for their salvager otherwise. I curse at the glitch that required the power-cycle, as I was already thinking of going for the double-kill. I had the Heron in front of me and all I was waiting for was the Noctis to appear on d-scan. I could have waited a few beats, popped the Heron, then pounced on the Noctis as it inevitably warped in to the site. Now I don't stand a chance. I know what interceptors can do to stealth bombers, which has led me to protect a Noctis with an interceptor in the past, scooping the corpses of two stealth bomber pilots on one occasion. It would be suicidal for me to attack in my own stealth bomber with an interceptor guarding the Noctis. At least I have the experience to realise this, rather than gaining such experience today.

The Heron is only being protected by the interceptor tenuously, but the distance between the frigate and salvager is far too small for me to consider engaging. The interceptor could cover the distance in the blink of an eye. I'll have to let this one go. At least for now. The site is hacked and salvaged, the ships disappear out again, probably to their K162 that must have appeared here since I scanned earlier. I track the Tengu fleet to a second radar site and watch the combat again. This site actually looks promising for me, as the fleet is sitting far from the databanks and the Sleepers are moving to the Tengus. All the wrecks are clustered around the fleet and not near the databanks, which may separate the Heron sufficiently from the Noctis/Taranis pair to give me time to attack.

It's not enough to hope for a good shot. We make our own opportunities. I survey the site and manoeuvre my Manticore, using various points of reference to bounce around, until I feel suitably situated. I think I have the perfect spot to loiter. I am within bombing range of the databanks but on the far side of the structure from the wrecks, increasing the separation between me and where I think the interceptor will be, as well as having a planet almost directly ahead of me to give a convenient reference for a speedy exit. I don't just make this up as I go along, sometimes I really think it through. Now I wait as the site is cleared.

The Heron warps in first again and the Tengu fleet warps out. The Heron warped to almost where the fleet was and now burns hard to get to the databanks. He is followed by the Noctis and interceptor, who do indeed land in the heart of the wrecks and far enough away from me to allow a decent shot at the Heron. It seems like an oversight to have the hacker vulnerable for a fleet that is protecting its salvager, but I suppose a simple frigate collecting Sleeper datacores is hardly an expensive loss, particularly when compared to a Noctis looting and salvaging Sleeper wrecks. Either way, I'm going to blow it up.

The Heron is hacking the databanks ahead of me. I align to the planet, decloak, and launch a bomb. I hold my position, pausing in the site to gain a positive lock on the Heron. The bomb has a ten-second flight time and doesn't do as much damage to smaller hulls. I feel I need to disrupt its warp engines and activate my target painter on the ship in order to stand a good chance of getting the kill. And, just for good measure, I launch a volley of torpedoes a couple of seconds before the bomb detonates, but I don't need them. The Heron tries its hardest to burn away from the bomb, perhaps even attempting to warp clear, but he is caught in the explosion and his ship pops. I am tentatively aiming to snare the pod even as I engage my warp drive, survival instinct taking priority over my learnt predatory instincts. The interceptor may have been over seventy kilometres away when I decloaked, but it could be on top of me in seconds.

I warp clear, leaving the site behind me and cloaking as I do. I bounce off the planet and get back to my safe monitoring position to see a curious sight. A new Sleeper battleship has appeared in the supposedly cleared radar site. It's definitely the site I just left, as the wreck of the Heron floats near the battleship, but I don't know why a new Sleeper has appeared.

The anomalous Sleeper battleship has scared off the Noctis and Taranis, though. Even better, the site despawns as I watch amusedly, taking the Sleeper with it. Now completely clear, even of structures, I warp to the Heron wreck and loot and shoot it, grabbing over a hundred datacores and a handful of decryptors as trophies. It's a low value kill, but picking off the Heron under the nose of an interceptor, even if he wasn't specifically guarding it, makes it high in satisfaction.

I think about looting some of the Sleeper wrecks in this empty site, as each battleship wreck could net me over seven million ISK, but before I get myself entangled amongst the wrecks the six Tengus warp in. I suppose they came back to shoo away the anomalous Sleeper, so seeing it gone they have little to do but warp away again and signal the site safe for the salvager. I also spot an Arazu recon ship on d-scan, showing that the fleet won't accept any more losses. That's okay, I've had my fun for tonight. I've also had my fair share of stupidly risky second attempts to know that they are really not advisable, saved each time only by mistakes made by the target, and this time I will take my own advice to not try again in the face of prepared countermeasures. I warp across the system to hide in a safe spot, out of d-scan range of the fleet, and go off-line.

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Tags: arazu, eve online, heron, loki, manticore, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, pvp, taranis, tengu

Scouting and selling loot

The first step in exploration is getting out of the home system. That's pretty easy to accomplish with two wormholes here, our static connection to class 3 w-space and a K162 from class 4 w-space. I'll go backwards, hoping to run in to activity early in the evening. A Noctis salvager, Iteron hauler, Hulk exhumer, and Anathema covert operations could all provide me a tempting target, although with no wrecks, jet-cans, drones, or scanning probes on my directional scanner to accompany the ships I imagine they are all sat inside a tower. It just so happens that d-scan is showing me one of those too. Locating the tower is pretty easy today, what with a territorial claim unit lighting the way, and the TCU isn't even ensconced in a warp bubble to make it even vaguely threatening.

I drop out of warp safely outside the tower to see the Anathema and Iteron piloted, but not for long. The Iteron pilot swaps ships, boarding a Viator transport ship and warping away. The transport warps to empty space, which a quick check confirms to be in the general direction of their connection to our system, but a bit too late for me to think about catching the ship. Not only is it faster than me but it can warp whilst cloaked, making it a slippery catch. Well, slippery for my Tengu strategic cruiser, perhaps less so for a stealth bomber, which is more agile, doesn't suffer recalibration delays when decloaking, and has a higher scan resolution for quicker targeting. All I have to do is wait for the Viator to return.

Waiting for a ship to return from wherever it went to is a pretty tedious lack of activity, which is why I'm not going to do that. At least, not right now. I may as well head back home and scan our neighbouring class 3 system, as that gives me more to explore and greater opportunity to find other capsuleers. And if I find the route the Viator has taken, presumably to empire space, I will be able to pursue the transport earlier and for further. With all that in mind I jump home, warp across the system, and jump to C3 to take a look around.

There are lots of core scanning probes in this C3. My notes put me in this system a mere month ago, where I listed a tower's position and that the static exit leads out to low-sec empire space. I warp away from the wormhole, launch scanning probes ready for a blanket scan, and then swing past the tower. It's still there but no one's home, so I'm probably better served by sitting on our K162 to watch for further movements, and specifically the Viator's return. I am just about to start sifting through the fifteen signatures here, having bookmarked six anomalies, when a Proteus strategic cruiser appears a few kilometres from me, inspecting the wormhole.

The Proteus is acting a little inexperienced. He's decloaked and not moving, as if bookmarking the wormhole's position, which makes him really easy to spot and rather vulnerable, neither circumstance being a good trait for a scout. I sit and watch as he deliberates and then jumps in to our home system. Despite his somewhat careless behaviour I am not about to pit my Tengu against his Proteus and I get back to scanning. Two wormholes jump out at me, being in rather obvious wormhole-like positions in space, but before I get any further the K162 flares ahead of me. I throw my probes out of the system and wait. The ship holds its cloak for a long while then reveals itself to be the Proteus again. Curiously, he jumps back to our home system. Maybe he got lost, or scanned this wormhole and accidentally thought it a different one. I don't know.

More poking around the C3 with scanning probes finds a third and fourth wormhole, which will do for me. I recall my probes and see what I've found. The N968 outbound connection to class 3 w-space is interesting, the U210 static exit rather less so, although it could be the route the Viator used. As I land on top of the exit wormhole I use that as an excuse to see where it leads, which turns out to be Aridia. I doubt the transport came this way after all. Jumping back to w-space reveals the third wormhole to be a K162 from class 5 w-space, which I also land on top of and so jump through immediately. Inside the C5 I see a lot of ships, big and dreadnoughty mostly, which I find all unpiloted a tower, thanks to my notes from eleven months ago still being relevant. It doesn't look like anything is happening here, so I head straight back to C3a to check that last wormhole I resolved.

The fourth wormhole in C3a is a K162 from class 2 w-space, which is nifty. I bet the transport came this way, heading through the C2's second static exit for a more convenient connection to empire space. I jump in to find out, seeing a whole load of drones on d-scan as I do. I ignore the drones, there not being any ships or wrecks to accompany them, and warp away to explore. A local tower holds some impressive ships for class 2 w-space, with two marauders and two strategic cruisers floating inside the force field, a Vargur and Proteus piloted. It's the same Proteus I saw scouting earlier, so I've found his home. There are no anomalies in this C2 so I'm curious to see if the two pilots will hit the C3 for some Sleeper action, but they may be nervous to do so with so many wormholes connecting in to it, and rightfully so.

I scan this C2. Six signatures don't take long to resolve, and I stop once I resolve a wormhole and confirm it's the second static connection. The exit heads to high-sec, and so do I as I jump through, ending up in the Kor-Azor region. This is much more convenient for logistics runs. In fact, I should make one myself. I meant to convert our loot and salvage to iskies yesterday but ran out of time. Now I have the time and the route. I head home, swap boats, stuff the hold full of loot, and make my way to empire space. Now, I realise that putting almost a billion ISK of loot in to a stealth bomber is perhaps not the wisest decision I could make, but the route looks clear, I can warp cloaked, and I'd quite like to roam once our loot is sold, which would be easier to achieve and more covert if I don't have to make a second stop at our tower. It will probably work out just fine.

Hmm, core probes are on d-scan in the home system. I may have been spotted swapping ships, but never mind. I'd rather be productive than stalk shadows, but as a precaution I warp out of the tower in an arbitrary direction before heading across to our static wormhole. That should keep anyone watching guessing. Travelling through w-space is simple and empty enough, and high-sec is even easier. I don't even need to cloak. I find buyers of loot and buyers of salvage, unloading all of our accumulated wealth to make our wallet look healthy again, and notice in the system a couple of pilots from the C4 connecting to us. One disappears, perhaps the Viator making the trip home before I am ready to chase it, but that's okay. Lots of iskies is better than a fruitless pursuit.

I head home too. Choosing the stealth bomber has worked out okay, thankfully. Maybe I won't do that again, though. I get back to w-space, bounce off the tower in C2a to see a complete lack of change with the two pilots there, and travel backwards through C3a, home, and in to C4a. Home looked quiet, with the probes having disappeared, and this C4 looks just as quiet. Only the two unpiloted ships remain on d-scan. A bit of exploring, neglected earlier when I tried to follow the Viator, reveals a second tower in the system. A Golem marauder, Orca industrial command ship, and Mammoth hauler are all piloted here, the Rorqual capital industrial ship and Buzzard cov-ops empty. I watch the Mammoth for a minute but from his attitude it looks like he's completed his planet goo collection. That's bad scouting, Penny, maybe we could have ambushed him earlier. The pilots here aren't doing anything and, by association, neither am I. I'm heading home.

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Tags: anathema, buzzard, eve online, golem, hulk, iteron, mammoth, manticore, mmorpg, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, proteus, rorqual, scanning, tengu, vargur, viator, w-space

Well-connected w-space

All hail the glorious leader! Fin has collapsed our static connection in my brief absence, isolating us from the previous neighbouring class 3 w-space system where a bit of light ambushing occurred. Now we can start again. Scanning finds the new static wormhole easily enough, and we jump through to explore the C3 beyond. A Stiletto interceptor visible on my directional scanner looks a bit threatening, a Cheetah covert operations boat less so, although they may well both be at the tower also visible. Locating the tower is easy again, my last visit to this system being only three months ago, and I find both ships to be floating unpiloted inside its force field. That's fairly unthreatening.

My notes list this system as having a static connection to null-sec k-space, which is what the Iteron hauler was trying to use when I destroyed it, and its cargo of moongooium worth 750 million ISK, the last time I was here. I doubt I'll see that type of mayhem again today, but perhaps the exit to null-sec could be useful for some significant ratting. And blanketing this small and inactive C3 with my probes reveals three anomalies Fin and I could clear for some pocket iskies before heading out to null-sec. So we have a plan, and we know how those have been working out lately. We only need to ensure that the eleven signatures aren't riddled with wormholes like the system we just isolated ourselves from.

Two wormholes appear under my probes almost straight away, which isn't the best start to ensuring a quiet system. A third, fourth, and a fifth wormhole pretty much put an end to our tentative plan to earn ISK and gain security status. I suppose at least we can explore, but we need to decide where to go first. We have the choice of the static connection to null-sec, a K162 from class 4 w-space, a K162 from class 3 w-space, an outbound connection to class 3 w-space, and an outbound connection to class 4 w-space. That's a pretty good selection, I have to admit. It's just a shame that we isolated ourselves from one super-connected system to land in another.

I'm sitting on the T405 wormhole when we decide there are no more connections to be found, so I may as well jump through this outbound link to C4b to start with. D-scan is clear on the K162. I launch probes and blanket the system, warping off to explore as I do. My probes show me anomalies and signatures, d-scan an off-line tower. The system is unoccupied and inactive, and my notes tell me there is a static connection to more class 4 w-space to be found. I think my time will be better spent diving through a different wormhole than scanning here. I head back to C3a and jump through the K162 to C3b.

Again d-scan is clear after jumping through the wormhole, this time with only one planet out of range of my scanner. Warping away to investigate reveals nothing of interest, merely some off-line towers. I've been here before too, noting that this C3 also holds an exit to null-sec. There is probably another wormhole to find here, a K162, but scanning reveals twenty-four signatures dotted amongst the thirteen anomalies, and I don't care to sift through so many with other options still behind me. It's possible I could find a K162 here but experience tells me that w-spacers tend to be more active in their neighbouring systems than at home, so any system I find is unlikely to have potential targets.

I jump back to C3a and head out to null-sec, where Fin has kindly found me a rat battleship in an asteroid field. If only there weren't active pilots in the system, one zipping around in a Sabre interdictor, I could get another soul-drainingly minor gain to my security status. As it stands, the risk outweighs the lack of reward, so we abandon the rat for now and explore more w-space. There's enough of it today. We jump back to C3a and head to C4a, through the K162. D-scan is clear, but my blanket scan reveals three ships. Warping around sees two Hurricane battlecruisers somewhere, but not at a tower. I wonder if maybe they are harvesting gas but a check of their range from my position shows them to be much too far from a planet to be in any type of site. I have no idea what they are doing.

The Hurricanes are also too far away to get a good bearing on their position using d-scan. A distance of 11 AU can introduce some significant azimuth errors even on a tight five-degree beam. I bounce between planets, making bookmarks as I do, to try to get closer, only to see a Tengu strategic cruiser appear on d-scan. One of the Hurricanes has moved too, as there now only seems to be one in deep space. I warp out, launch probes, and get them out of the system for now as I try to get a bearing on the lone battlecruiser. And it looks like the other Tengu is doing the same. Being rather more brazen about it, the Tengu looks to have found the Hurricane and joined him, but when I try to get a more precise scan I manage to find nothing at all. Expanding the scanning range on my probes doesn't help, which d-scan explains by the ships apparently having warped out from where they were. No wonder my probes couldn't find them.

I look for the second Hurricane and find him in a more mundane position, although still quite distant from a planet. He's undoubtedly now on a wormhole. My probes must have been seen, so I rather less carefully position them near the battlecruiser and successfully scan his location, which indeed coincides with a wormhole. I warp across to see the Hurricane sit on top of a K162 from more class 4 w-space, and he is sitting right on top of it. That's some nifty manoeuvring, sir. But there's not much we can do here. If we were to engage he could jump back immediately, and if we followed it would likely only be to see empty space or an ambush. And the evening is getting late anyway. I think it's time to go home. A quick diversion back to null-sec finds a different rat battleship to pop, thanks to Fin again, which stops the evening from being entirely unproductive, but sometimes there is simply too much space to explore to get anything done.

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Tags: cheetah, eve online, hurricane, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, sabre, scanning, stiletto, tengu, w-space

Bringing back the Sleeper salvage

I'm out for some early reconnaissance again, looking for opportunities now to create mayhem later. I may not need to look far soon, as the home system is getting crowded and may well attract a passing fleet to cull our Sleeper population growth, but today I have to scan my way to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system. And getting in to the C3 has an interesting sight appear immediately on my directional scanner. A Noctis salvager apparently alone in space, with only a jet-can to accompany it. Of course, this is the time I'm spat out under one kilometre from the K162, giving me quite a distance to speed across before I can cloak again, but this is one reason why I fit a micro warp drive. I burn away from the wormhole and cloak, performing a passive scan of the system once hidden again.

My scan reveals eleven anomalies in the system but I can't find the Noctis in any of them. In fact, the Noctis has disappeared from d-scan completely, which at least makes it piloted but has me wondering if I was spotted. I can do little else but explore until I get another sighting of the Noctis. I warp to a distant planet to see a tower on d-scan along with an Exequror cruiser and Impairor frigate, but before I find the tower three Tengu strategic cruisers and a Drake battlecruiser warp nearby, as picked up by d-scan. They are not at the tower but in a nearby anomaly. So I've found the fleet, which may mean the Noctis is salvaging elsewhere, but nowhere I can see. If I can't find him directly I'm best served following combat.

I warp in to the anomaly where the fleet is engaging Sleepers, making myself a suitable point to monitor their progress. It's all rather straightforward, and quite quick, the Sleepers eradicated from this site by the time I've warped back to my monitoring point. There's no sign of the Noctis yet, either in the site or on d-scan, and although I wonder if the combat ships are loitering in the site to guide their salvager here they warp out before the Noctis can be seen. It's not long before the site despawns, leaving just wrecks in space. Juicy. I bet this is what the Noctis has been waiting for. A despawned site may not actually assure no one is waiting in it, but it at least means new visitors won't be able to find the site without using combat probes to scan for the salvaging ship directly. I'm already here, though.

The Noctis appears on d-scan and I get ready. I align my ship towards the wrecks and watch as the salvager warps in. Picking a wreck close to the Noctis's landing point I engage my warp drive and surge forwards, decloaking shortly before landing ten kilometres from my target, getting my weapons systems hot. I lock on to the salvager, disrupt its warp engines, and start shooting. Amusingly, the Noctis continues to salvage as I'm ripping through his fairly sturdy shields, so rather cheekily I open a wreck or two as they pass my Tengu and transfer the contained loot to my hold. This is proper piracy. The Noctis holds out for a short while but inevitably pops, the pod bursting from the wreck in a shower of blue sparks. I'm aligning back to my safe spot as the ship explodes, watching for the fleet to reappear and shoo me away, and I try to stop the pod escaping. The pod flees, and the fleet doesn't return.

If no one's coming to teach me a lesson I have time to look in the wreck of the salvager. Oh, that's lovely. I transfer around a hundred million ISK of Sleeper loot to my hold, popping the Noctis wreck after having done so, making this a better than average kill for me. Judging by the booty it looks like the Noctis was carrying maybe six sites' worth of loot, which is a fair amount to lose. Sadly, also lost was the bulk of the salvage, almost two hundred million ISK turned to dust. Still, it wasn't mine to start with, and you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette. There are also some wrecks left behind, which could net a small profit, and it doesn't look like the fleet is going to claim them with force. I'd better make sure, though.

A Tengu blips on to d-scan briefly, maybe trying to gauge if I am still around, but that's all I see of the fleet. Another site that they were blasting through is clear of Sleepers but otherwise untouched, which leaves even more wrecks for the opportunistic salvager. I launch probes and scan, looking to see how safe it is for me, and resolve five wormholes amongst the fourteen signatures. One wormhole is a K162 from class 4 w-space that's at the end of its life, another a K162 from null-sec k-space that is also EOL. The third wormhole is the static connection to low-sec empire space and quite healthy, and the fourth, a K162 from class 5 w-space, is perhaps the source of the fleet, as it has been destabilised to half-mass already. The fifth wormhole is a stable K162 from null-sec. I'm surprised that a fleet would choose to clear anomalies in such a connected system.

If the fleet scouted and saw all the wormholes they won't know where I've come from, and probably won't even suspect a new wormhole opening in to the C3. And as the fleet is refusing to return, and I am left alone with a couple of despawned sites, I think I'll salvage after all. I jump home and grab a salvaging destroyer from our hangar, favouring agility more than the bonuses of the Noctis, as I won't be able to use tractor beams on the yellow wrecks. I warp to the site of the ambush and sweep up, pathing a course between the wrecks and burning point-to-point reminding me of times before the Noctis. I clear the site of my ambush, and the other site the fleet abandoned, with no sign of any ships, and take home a respectable fifty million ISK of piratical gains, which is pretty good for a reconnaissance jaunt. Now it's time for a celebratory sammich.

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Tags: drake, eve online, exequror, impairor, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space

Hindering a hauler heading home

I'm out for a short, preliminary scouting session. Of course, I've said that before and it's not worked out that way, but you've got to start with a plan. And it may not be quite so simple today, as one of the two new signatures at home is not more Sleepers but a second wormhole. The K162 comes from more class 4 w-space and seems like a good direction to scout to start with, so I jump through to take a look around.

All looks clear from the other side of the wormhole, according to my directional scanner. I warp away from the wormhole as I check my notes, happy to see that my arbitrarily chosen destination is where a tower was located when I was last here seven months ago, but I drop out of warp next to a bare and off-line tower. I'll need to explore further. I launch scanning probes at the anchored tower, thinking it to be as good a place as any to do so, and perform a blanket scan. There are four anomalies and twelves signatures but no signs of occupation, so maybe there is another K162 to find here. I manage to resolve a wormhole quickly, a K162 from another class 4 system, which is good enough a result for me to recall my probes and move on.

This system looks clear from the wormhole too. I warp away from the wormhole again, not wanting to launch probes there as it's not a K162 I opened from the other side, and so potentially monitored or about to be visited by a roaming fleet. It's perhaps unlikely to happen but still possible, and I've watched enough ships pass me on wormholes whilst I've been cloaked to realise that feeling safe is often an illusion. I launch probes elsewhere and scan the system, still not finding any occupation. I start sifting through the twenty-one signatures, knowing how C4/C4 systems can continue for a while, wondering if the occupants of the originating system have collapsed their own wormhole in disgust yet. I'm guessing not, as a Hurricane piloted by a red-skulled capsuleer passes me, jumping in to C4a through the wormhole I returned to.

I don't follow the battlecruiser, as I don't intend to engage it and don't want to give away my presence. My time is probably better spent finding the originating system, which is a bit tricky when I can't quite locate the wormhole that must be here. Ah, here we go. I warp to a K162 from class 5 w-space, and although jumping in to the system has d-scan show me empty space again a bit of exploring reveals a tower with ships and pilots inside its force field. An Orca industrial command ship floats imposingly next to a tiny Cheetah covert operations boat, one of them unlikely to make himself a target and the other unlikely to be a target I could catch. Warping around to launch probes and explore more finds nothing else of interest, although my probes pick up a new ship at the tower.

I warp back to see a red-skulled pod, which could be the Hurricane pilot returned from his jaunt to presumably empire space, but as I didn't catch the pilot's name on his way out I can only assume so much. If it is the same pilot, he's not keen to take any other ships out of the system, and the other two pilots are equally quiet. And this was only meant to be a quick jaunt for me. Rather than scan here, which would likely not show any further wormholes, I'll head back homewards and take a poke around our neighbouring class 3 system for today. Warping across empty systems is as interesting as it sounds, and once home I send my scanning Tengu strategic cruiser to the preliminary bookmark I made of our static wormhole when scanning. But crossing our system has an unfamiliar ship appear on d-scan.

I'm sure we don't have a Mammoth sitting unpiloted in our tower. The hauler's got to be external, and as I didn't see it leave the C5 it's got to be heading back that way. I have get to the K162 again, tout de suite! I turn my boat around and enter warp, seeing the Mammoth linger on d-scan as I travel, and drop out of warp to see the hauler jump to C4a. I decloak and burn to the wormhole, jumping as soon as I can, but appearing in the system only in time to see the Mammoth enter warp. This is why I scout. I know his route, I can follow him. I enter warp too, aiming for the next K162 in the constellation, shirking my cloak for the ability to lock faster, and land on the wormhole on top of the Mammoth.

I don't jump ahead of the hauler. I think he's waiting to see if I'll impetuously press ahead and through the wormhole on the assumption that he'll continue to flee, at which point he can turn around and leave the way he came. It's a canny move, but I'm not jumping until I see him jump. Instead, I lock on to his ship and start shooting. That makes him jump. I follow through the wormhole in to C4b, where it is an easy matter to continue my assault on the sluggish ship, ripping his hull to shreds in seconds. The Mammoth pops and the pod warps away, evading my clutches. I loot the wreck of some more expanded cargoholds for my collection—the damned ship was empty—and shoot it, to leave no trace of the assault.

That was a good spot and a decent reminder to keep a vigilant eye on d-scan. I could easily have warped right past the hauler on my way to the next system. As it was, some decent scouting and a bit of luck gets me another soft kill. That's not bad for a preliminary session. And it's all I'm going to get for my early scouting, too. I explore our neighbouring C3 to find the newly unoccupied system inactive, jumping through its static exit to low-sec empire space to see two C5 occupants in the system, probably docked and wary of travelling at the moment. A break of a couple of hours has me come back to the same situation. A quiet w-space constellation and those two C5 pilots still in the low-sec system. I hop around a few systems ratting for a bit, but get bored quickly and head home for an early night.

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Tags: cheetah, eve online, hurricane, mammoth, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, tengu, w-space

Dullness in scanning

It's just me and my Tengu. I'm going to see what I can get up to in a covert strategic cruiser today. Two new sites appear in the home system for a start, but neither of them are interesting and I merely bookmark them and move on. Our neighbouring class 3 w-space system looks much more exciting, with a tower and Covetor mining barge visible on my directional scanner! My excitement is short-lived when a tighter d-scan beam places the Covetor coincident with the tower, and although it's possible a gravimetric site could be in the same five degree vector warping to the tower finds the barge unpiloted and inactive. It could have been beautiful in flames.

Opening the system map shows this C3 to be small, too. There is nowhere to hide and so no activity, leaving me free to launch probes and take a look around. No anomalies pop up on my probes, and the seven signatures are mostly gas harvesting ladar sites. A single magnetometric site could provide some profit later, and the two wormholes give me a static exit to null-sec k-space and a K162 from low-sec empire space. Heading to low-sec puts me in a system in the Genesis region by myself, and with an anomaly. My continuing and painfully slow quest to gain security status can progress. But maybe it can progress more quickly if the null-sec system is as kind to me. I head across C3a and out to null-sec to find myself alone in the system and with loads of anomalies! If only the anomalies weren't full of stupid drones, I may actually have gained some meaningful security status today.

Ignoring the drones here, I scan the null-sec system to find just the one other signature which resolves to be Radiance, whatever that is. I don't care to find out, so head back to low-sec to pop some rats there. Except by the time I get back to the low-sec system there are two other pilots there, one in an Ishkur assault ship with drones out. He skedaddles when I launch probes to scan, no longer having an anomaly to plunder, but the other pilot remains and forces me to resolve a gravimetric site and second wormhole. I warp in to the mining site to see if there are any incidental rats, but only stumble in to space stonehenge—with rotating centre!—and so warp away to investigate the wormhole I resolved. It's a lovely K162 from class 2 w-space, where the system beyond will hold a second static wormhole to more w-space. I can keep exploring.

D-scan shows me a tower and no ships in this C2, which is a fairly standard result. I locate the tower and prepare to launch probes when a Helios covert operations boat lets its presence be known, warping to the tower but not inside its shields. I am 150 km away from the uncloaked ship, and I could try to crawl that distance but suspect it would take far too long, so go with my previous plan and warp away to launch probes covertly. If the Helios stays uncloaked where it is now I can easily get a solid hit that I could warp to using my probes, and if he doesn't then I am ready to scan. Of course, he doesn't stay still, or visible, as it is a rare occasion when I get that lucky, and I catch sight of him only once more, still out of the force field, before he cloaks. I choose to ignore him. I can scan and find someone else to shoot.

I bookmark twelve anomalies, if only because it doesn't take long to do, and sift through seven signatures. A signature high above the ecliptic plane turns out to be a wormhole, quelle surprise, and the second static connection is the only other unknown wormhole I find. Warping to the wormhole shows it to be a connection to more class 2 w-space, giving me continued exploration again, and I jump in. D-scan is clear in C2b, so I launch probes, fling them out of the system, and warp away to explore as I configure the probes for a blanket scan. I find occupation but no activity on the edge of the system, leaving me free to scan the seven anomalies and six signatures here. It's a simple matter to resolve a super-stable static connection to low-sec and a second wormhole I bookmark from the scan results but leave unvisited for now. I want to see if low-sec has any rats for me to pop.

I appear in a system in the Derelik region, where I remain alone just long enough to find the two anomalies full of Sansha rats using a passive scan before a couple more pilots enter the system to spoil my plans. The pilots look to cross the system and leave again, so I warp in to the first anomaly and pick the biggest rat there, which is still piddly, and manage to pop it before I am once again sharing the system with other capsuleers. Ratting safely here is a lost cause, I think. I head back to w-space and warp to the second static connection, which is, oh, a K162 from high-sec. I think I'll be scanning again. With the safety of high-sec to jump to I sit on the K162 and launch probes to resume scanning, trying to remember which signatures I previously ignored.

The second static connection is rather easy to find, being in a wormholey position in the system, making me wonder how I missed it the first time. The connection leads to more class 2 w-space. This chain could continue for a while. But jumping in has d-scan light up with fifteen towers, plus a Buzzard cov-ops and a Tengu somewhere, along with plenty of scanning probes, but surprisingly no silos. A refresh of d-scan some seconds later shows all that plus a new pod appeared, showing more activity but none that I really care to find. Trying to work out where each ship is and which towers are active will take more time than I have spare for what will likely be no gain beyond more comprehensive notes about this system. A quick check shows eight anomalies somehow surviving in this overpopulated system and a lack of wrecks, so I turn tail and head homewards.

I pause on my return journey to see where the K162 from high-sec comes from. Hello, dull grey mist of Lonetrek! You really got shafted when the designers were handing out nebulae. But I have a fondness for one of my old mission regions, and there is a nice ring of systems I can zip around looking for anomalies to improve my security status. There are no anomalies in the current system, though, so I jump to the next where I find no anomalies, so I jump to the next where I find no anomalies, so I jump to the next where I find no anomalies, and now I'm wondering why I don't just use copy-and-paste for this. The first anomaly I find is eight systems away, which in a ring puts me two systems from where I started. And it's the only anomaly I find during the complete circuit. It's pathetic. I'm doomed to be a pirate. I pop the few rats I find and return to w-space, warping across quiet systems until I reach home, where I hit the sack.

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Tags: buzzard, covetor, eve online, helios, ishkur, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, w-space