Stalking a system for a salvager

It's getting untidy at home. Some gas has gone but more has cropped up in the meantime, creating a mess that I cannot eradicate quickly enough. I activate the new sites and ignore them for now, jumping to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system. Two towers show occupation but there's no one home, letting me scan the six signatures to find one of each type of site—gravimetric, ladar, radar, and magnetometric—and a weak wormhole that, being the only one beyond our K162, inevitably leads to null-sec k-space. The exit takes me to a system in the Providence region with a handful of pilots who will no doubt stop my trying to profit from the plentiful anomalies here. I think I'll consider exploration complete for now and hide at home chomping on a sammich.

I'm back. 'Anathema, Tengu, Bestower next door', Fin tells me, my glorious leader ahead of me and watching our neighbours. I grab a stealth bomber from our hangar and go to join her, hoping to catch the covert operations boat or hauler being silly. I won't discount catching the strategic cruiser but I'll need a different ship if the Tengu goes anywhere. Anywhere except off-line, that is, the cruiser no longer an option before I even get my ship in to the C3. The Anathema cov-ops changes state too, being swapped for a Widow black ops ship which then warps out of the tower towards empty space. It disappears from my directional scanner, and probably not because it cloaked.

A Widow would be an excellent target to catch, even if it will be tricky to catch and hold, what with it being able to cloak and with impressive ECM capabilities. But if it is heading out to null-sec we could lay an ambush on the wormhole for its return and try to overpower it quickly. The problem is that the direction it warped is not towards the wormhole to null-sec. Fin's in her scanning Tengu and is happy to scan for new connections, finding one that sadly turns out to be a K162 from high-sec empire space. High-sec! We'll never catch the Widow on that connection, with the safety of Concord-patrolled space to jump back to when threatened.

The Bestower in the tower isn't doing anything silly either, leaving us with few options. Our best, we decide, is to collapse our static wormhole and start again, which we do. The new static wormhole takes us to a different class 3 w-space system, which is occupied but currently empty. Scanning reveals nine anomalies and twenty-one signatures, the static exit to low-sec popping up nice and early in our results. The exit leads to the Placid region, in a system one hop from null-sec, with a veritable bevy of signatures to resolve. I don't think I've ever seen seventeen signatures in empire space before, resolving to be radar and magnetometric sites galore. It's a shame there are no other wormholes.

No other wormholes except this one, the penultimate signature weak and puny, looking like a site but turning out to be a nifty outbound connection to class 2 w-space. Fin continues to scan C3a behind me, resolving a K162 from class 4 w-space, as I jump in to C2a from low-sec to see two Drake battlecruisers and Sleeper wrecks on d-scan, with no tower in sight. We have targets. I inform Fin and set my passive scanner running, pulling away from the wormhole and cloaking as I do. There are only two anomalies in the system, the Drakes obviously in one of them. I prompt Fin to prepare a ship to come here, except I don't quite know what yet. I need to see if there is a tower here first and locate it to see what else the locals could bring to any fight we start.

I find a tower, in which floats three Tengus, two Orca industrial command ships, a Noctis salvager, Crane transport ship, Bustard transport ship, and Broadsword heavy interdictor. The ships would be more threatening if more than only the two Orcas were piloted, but that's still two more pilots available who could swap ships if necessary. I check back on the Drakes, warping across the system to the other anomaly, only to see a second tower with even more ships crop up on d-scan. I locate this second tower to find that, thankfully, there are no pilots to accompany the other ships. But there certainly are a lot of ships available to these pilots at short notice. The Drakes are also sweeping through the second and final anomaly pretty efficiently. I know what ship Fin should bring now, as we won't have Drake targets by the time she can get here.

As Fin prepares a Manticore stealth bomber for a Noctis ambush I continue shadowing the Drakes. They finish the second anomaly and warp back to the second tower, the pilots belonging to a different corporation than the Orca pilots in the first tower I found. Maybe that will slow down reaction times. I watch as one of the Drakes is predictably swapped for a Noctis, but the second switching to a Bestower is curious. Maybe they are expecting to recover too much loot for the Noctis to gather itself, but I doubt it. The Noctis warps out and Fin jumps in to the system, but I can't guide one to the other as the salvager must be in an anomaly cleared before I arrived.

I am not going to risk blowing the ambush on scanning for the Noctis when I have two anomalies bookmarked that the Noctis must visit to collect all the loot. In preparation, I guide Fin to the first of the anomalies I saw the Drakes in, on the assumption that the salvager will quaintly sweep up the sites in the order they cleared them, and leave her to wait like a coiled snake as I keep watch on the pilots in the towers. A Buzzard cov-ops at the first tower is new, and as he's launched core scanning probes we are a bit wary that maybe Fin's entrance to the system was seen and we could already be rumbled. But it looks more like a pilot has come on-line and is simply taking a cursory look around the system. The Noctis is still out and about, at a second or third cleared anomaly now, busy as a bee.

And now the Noctis has warped in to where Fin waits. As I hear this I spur my Tengu in to warp to help Fin greet the Noctis, but tell her not to wait for me if she has a shot. And she does. I drop out of warp to see Fin's bomb explode, and even though I decloaked on my way to the site to negate the recalibration delay I don't even have time to lock on to the Noctis before Fin's first salvo of torpedoes reduces the salvager to rubble. My leader hits pretty hard, so hard that even warp core stabilisers couldn't keep the salvager safe. At least I'm in time to help crack open the pod, although I suspect Fin's stealth bomber was rather quicker than my Tengu in locking it and disrupting its warp engines.

We scoop, loot, and shoot the corpse and wreck, before cloaking and heading in different directions. I check the tower holding the podded pilot's companion to see the reaction, which is for the other pilot to go off-line. There's not really anything else to do here, so we head homewards. I pause briefly in low-sec as I see a pilot from the C2 is somewhere in the system, judging from the transparent local communication channel, and make a dash back to the wormhole as the Buzzard pilot seen earlier jumps back to w-space now in a Crane. I'm far too slow to even try to lock on to the cloaky transport ship, though, jumping back to the C2 to see empty space. That's okay, we got our kill, and the Noctis was worth the wait.

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Tags: anathema, bestower, broadsword, bustard, buzzard, crane, drake, eve online, manticore, mmorpg, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space, widow

Mangling Merlins

I have time for a quick poke around, see what's happening. Sleepers are breeding in the home system, adding some infrequent rocks and a bountiful gas site that I activate in the hopes they will go away again soon. I turn my attention to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system, although the two off-line towers visible on d-scan on entry to the system probably don't require much attention. It's my fifth visit here, the last being only four weeks ago when Fin and I chased a Crane transport ship to low-sec empire space, and I got shot by a Vagabond cruiser for loitering too long in low-sec. There's nothing in my notes about a jet-can named 'thx for the loot' but it sounds awfully familiar, either subconsciously remembered from my last visit or we left it there ourselves some time ago. But, no, a little digging through the archives shows the can's not ours. Fin can spell 'thanks'.

Despite having only been here under a month ago the active tower that was then is now thoroughly off-line, which is a little sad. The system sitting fallow has brought Sleepers back in force, with twenty anomalies and twenty-one signatures returned by my probes on a blanket scan, which I start sifting through to look for the static exit to low-sec. I find it easily enough with some broad scans, letting me ignore a dozen gravimetric and ladar sites at the same time, but I won't stop with just the one wormhole. Continued scanning finds a weaker wormhole, probably outbound, and a third and fourth. That's enough for now, I don't want to appear greedy.

I jump through the static exit to appear in Aridia, hooray! There are no anomalies in the system, though, and I'm not going to scan when there are systems still to explore behind me. I return to the C3 and warp around my bookmarks, revealing a T405 outbound connection to class 4 w-space that's sadly reaching the end of its lifetime, an N968 to class 3 w-space also EOL, and the fourth wormhole is dead on arrival. No, hang on, it's my systems that have given up the ghost. I switch my ship off and on again, and drop out of warp next to a second EOL T405. So much for w-space exploration.

I leave the dying C3 behind me and head back to low-sec, where this time I launch probes and scan. Seven signatures is a healthy result, even if the first is a site full of rocks populated with dumb drones. The second and third signatures are both X702 wormholes to more class 3 w-space, another wormhole simply connects this low-sec system to another low-sec system, a fourth wormhole is a dying K162 from class 3 w-space, and some Blood Raider rats complete my scanning collection. I think I have plenty to be getting on with.

I choose one of the X702 wormholes, name it as leading to C3b, and jump through. I see warp bubbles and probes on d-scan, then only the bubbles. I loiter on the wormhole for a minute, hoping to see a hapless scout warp on top of me, but none comes. A single moon sits out of range of d-scan, so I warp out to look for occupation and find it, a tower holding a Probe frigate and Rupture cruiser. Neither ship is piloted, though, and there is no sign of the scout whose probes I detected. With another C3 connecting from low behind me I decide to leave this system alone for now.

C3c is familiar to me, having been here four months ago. I noted a static exit to high-sec then, not that I care about that now, and the location of two towers. I can see two active towers on d-scan and two Merlin frigates, but nothing suggesting activity. My time is running low and I turn around to get a Drake battlecruiser to pop some low-sec Blood Raiders when one of the Merlins blips off d-scan only to return a few seconds later. That's interesting, as I assumed both ships would be unpiloted in a tower, as they are fairly useless for w-space operations. But unpiloted ships don't tend to move.

I spin d-scan around on a tight beam to interrogate the two planets supposedly holding the towers, and they still do, but the Merlins aren't there. I keep spinning d-scan, glancing off all the obvious celestial objects until I find them coincident with a planet. Or maybe a customs office. I warp to the customs office on a hunch and, yes, there they are. What they are doing there I don't know, but they appear to be the only ships in the system, at least until I decloak. I stop thinking about why and start locking on to the ships, disrupting the warp engines of one and hoping the other isn't paying attention.

The first Merlin pops pretty quickly, although he takes a spunky shot back at my strategic cruiser which may have inflicted some damage, it's hard to tell. The pilot's ejected pod warps clear, so I turn my attention and warp disruptor to the second Merlin, who is amazingly still in my sights. A few more missiles reduces his ship to a beautiful wreck too, and his pod also warps free before I can stop it. I loot and shoot the wrecks, not getting much loot but not expecting it, and reactivate my cloak.

I'm none the wiser about why the Merlins would be here, less so when I realise both pilots are in the State War Academy. Maybe they found an apparently inactive w-space system and decided to duel here. If they did, they really should have made a safe spot and not just warped to an easily found position. But that's still speculation on my part. And time really is running short now. I try to pop a few rats in my Drake to end the afternoon, and even though I manage to convert a high-value battleship in to a gain in security status I can't do much more. It's a bit of a shame, as it is the most promising system and site for ratting I've found in a while. Never mind, more opportunities will come my way.

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Tags: drake, eve online, merlin, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, probe, pvp, rupture, scanning, tengu, w-space

Scanning, scouting, and Sleepers

Here is clear, what's there like? I'm off to find out, jumping through our static wormhole to a class 3 w-space system. My directional scanner only reaches out far enough to show me the ninth planet in the system, which has two moons, a customs office, and little more of interest. My last visit here, some twenty-one months ago, noted 'seven towers!' in the system. Ah, how inexperienced I was then to think the exclamation mark was needed.

I launch probes and blanket the system, revealing four ships somewhere, as well as three anomalies and four signatures. Warping to the centre of the system finds two towers, one with no ships and the other with a Nidhoggur carrier, Probe frigate, and Hoarder hauler, all unpiloted. The fourth ship remains elusive, and indeed has disappeared from my combat scanning probes too. It's best to ignore it for now, so I scan the scant signatures here.

I resolve wormhole, wormhole, wormhole. Neato. Warping between them shows me a K162 from class 5 w-space, the static exit to low-sec empire space, and a K162 from null-sec k-space. I jump to low-sec to get the exit system, appearing in the Heimatar region next to the notorious Amamake system, before heading in to the C5 to explore deeper in w-space. There is a tower visible on d-scan from the wormhole but no ships, so I warp out, launch probes, and scan. There are more anomalies than can be counted—twenty-seven of them—and five signatures, which turn out to be rocks, gas, gas, and a wormhole. I warp to the connection to find it to be a second K162 from class 5 w-space. If I keep going maybe I'll find the disappeared ship.

This could be the missing ship, a Loki strategic cruiser visible on d-scan from the wormhole. I also see nine towers with plenty of silos attached to them, but thankfully the towers are dotted around the system and not clustered to the moons of one planet, making the Loki relatively easy to find. The cruiser is piloted but inactive, potentially a sign of a scout returned home, and without wanting to locate all the towers here, or scan for another potential K162, I leave him alone and head back towards C3a. I travel across our neighbouring system only to leave it again by jumping to null-sec. I find myself in the Impass region with a bunch of pilots who look to be ratting. I'd like to join in but I doubt I'd get a warm reception, so head back through C3a to low-sec.

Scanning the low-sec system shows it to hold only one extra signature. Crossing my fingers doesn't help with my luck in finding a wormhole, instead the signature resolving to be a radar site. It's looking quiet tonight. But a radar site is still some simple ratting, so I head home, swap my scouting boat for a Drake battlecruiser fitted with a codebreaker, and return to low-sec. My glorious leader turns up as I'm on my way back out and kindly offers to provide some cloaked ECM protection in case of trouble.

There is no trouble in the low-sec radar site. I pop some rats, hack some cans, and bring back a slight increase in my security status and around fifteen Miskies in profit. Now we collapse our static wormhole to start the evening again, looking for more opportunity than a suspiciously empty w-space constellation connecting to a couple of potentially dangerous C5s. Fin's an expert at over-stressing our C247, and a couple of Orca industrial command ships make light work of the task.

Scanning again, the only new signature in the home system is the new static wormhole, taking us to a properly empty C3, this one without any occupation. It is also almost without anomalies, there being only two along with a dozen signatures that will probably only be boring rocks and gas. We sift through the signatures, finding a magnetometric site hiding away in a corner of the system, and an exit to low-sec that is near death's door. That suits us, as we generally only manage a couple of anomalies and a magnetometric site before running out of steam anyway.

We go home, swap in to our Sleeper Tengu strategic cruisers, and storm through the C3 sites. One anomaly is our favoured type but the other not, which gives us a nice change of pace. All stays sleepy whilst we shoot Sleepers, and once cleared we return with boats to salvage, analyse, and generally sweep loot in to our holds for later sale. By my reckoning, we bring back a healthy 150 Miskies, plus the average artefact haul, making it a fair evening playing with the Sleepers.

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Tags: drake, eve online, hoarder, loki, low-sec, mmorpg, nidhoggur, orca, penny ibramovic, probe, scanning, sleepers, tengu, w-space

Executing an ambush

My expectation for today is to indulge in a little light ratting, nothing more, but I'm willing to be offered a different opportunity. Maybe some sightseeing first, as our neighbouring class 3 w-space system sports a wonderful example of a magnetar phenomenon. The w-space anomalies are all quite impressive, but perhaps none so much as the magnetar, not even the the three-star systems of a cataclysmic variable, maybe because of the magnetar's influence that boosts damage and so makes it as deadly as it is pretty. And I may have some ships to shoot here, or at least watch from a distance, as there is a Tengu strategic cruiser, Cyclone battlecruiser, and Cheetah covert operations boat all visible on my directional scanner.

I imagine the three ships are all sitting inside the tower also visible on d-scan, if only because there are no Sleeper wrecks to betray combat in progress. I locate the tower easily enough and find the ships there, but even though they are surprisingly all piloted a passive scan of the system returns no anomalies. There may not be anywhere local for these pilots to make themselves vulnerable. Even so, the Cheetah warps out somewhere, and I watch his vector to get an idea of where he's heading. As I can't do much else without scanning, I warp out—catching sight of a second Tengu warping in to the tower as I leave—launch probes, and blanket the system, which at least shows me four signatures here. It's not much, but I can continue exploring through the static wormhole, once I've found it.

The Cheetah is back when I return to the tower, but not for long. He warps out again, followed by a Tengu. Not only do I get a bearing on their exit but, thanks to the Tengu remaining in the system, I get a range too. When the Tengu returns to the tower I scan where he had been and, sure enough, resolve a wormhole. It's not the system's static connection, though, but a K162 from class 2 w-space. I imagine the Cheetah is scouting that system, either for sites or targets. I'll leave him to it and resolve the other two signatures here whilst the pilots may not be paying too much attention to home.

The other two signatures are a magnetometric site and the static exit to low-sec empire space, which leads to Aridia, our favourite region. There are plenty of anomalies in the low-sec system and enough pilots to deter me from ratting, but one less pilot when a shuttle zooms past my cloaked Tengu and jumps in to the C3. I give him a minute and follow behind, warping back to the tower to see the shuttle swapped for a Legion strategic cruiser. Now the Legion and both Tengus warp out, but not towards the C2 for some anomalies but to the local magnetometric site. I like the look of that, as it means Sleeper combat, which will likely result in a Noctis salvager being deployed.

I bounce off a planet, to get some decent separation from having separate warp-in points, and head in to the magnetometric site. I watch them shoot Sleepers, patiently biding my time until the site is cleared, and wondering if they'll make use of the spare pilots to guard their salvaging boat. Apparently not. All three ships warp out of the site as one, which is a positive sign, although that doesn't mean they won't bring back a guardian or two. I keep track of ship changes using d-scan, seeing the Legion get swapped for an Executioner frigate, and the Tengus for a pair of cov-ops boats. Those are curious choices indeed.

The Executioner warps in to the magnetometric site and starts analysing the artefacts. The other two ships drop off d-scan. Maybe the connected class 2 system is unoccupied and riddled with signatures, their scout in the Cheetah asking for help. It makes sense, but still leaves their loot vulnerable. Now I have the choice of hitting the frigate or waiting to see if he returns with a Noctis. The Executioner is small and nippy, but he's collecting the more valuable loot. And I think he's missed an artefact, which he realises after he's plucked the others clean. This gives me an excellent shot, as I know exactly where he's headed and have a perfect reference point where I can bump right in to him.

I wait until the frigate is within a few kilometres of the remaining artefact, so that he'll be slowing down and distracted by analysing and looting, before warping in to land nearby. Seconds before my warp engines cut out I decloak, hoping to soak up some of the sensor recalibration delay caused by my active cloaking device, and get my systems hot and ready to snare and shoot the frigate. I start to target the Executioner, burn towards him, and watch him warp cleanly away. Damn. What I probably needed was my stealth bomber, with its lack of recalibration delay on decloaking. I probably could have gone home to get it too, considering the lack of awareness shown from the locals when I scanned their system.

Missing the analysing ship also probably means I won't get a shot at the salvager either. I warp back to the tower to see what reaction my failed attack will provoke, and kick myself for not having done so immediately. The Executioner warped out of the magnetometric site directly to his tower, which just happened to land him in one of their own warp bubbles. The frigate is forced to crawl slowly through the bubble to get back to the safety of his tower, and I know from recent experience that I probably have enough time to pop a frigate stuck in a bubble without having the tower's defences attack me. If only I'd reacted quicker.

I couldn't realistically have known my target would get trapped in his own defence. And even if I had spotted it sooner I may not have been able to get close enough in time to help him out of his predicament. My vantage point at the tower puts me too close to warp in to the bubble, and too far to cross the distance cloaked, and bouncing off a suitable planet may have taken long enough for the Executioner to get untangled anyway. Still, I get a good chuckle out of watching him so inconvenienced.

And I see what reaction I've provoked too. The cov-ops ships return to their tower from wherever they were lurking, one of them swapping to an Arazu recon ship. That's a fairly dangerous ship in the right hands, and I don't care to find out how skilled this pilot may be. I turn my ship around and head home, happy to have had another an entertaining evening, even if I didn't get a kill.

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Tags: arazu, cheetah, cyclone, eve online, executioner, legion, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space

Ship spotting

I'm going to take a poke around w-space, once I've determined which way is 'up' in the home system. I seem to be pointing in a rather curious orientation and I never can find our star quickly, but I get my bearings and launch probes to see the Sleepers starting to repopulate again. One new anomaly is present, and a new ladar and radar site each are resolved. I activate the gas then warp to today's static wormhole, jumping to the neighbouring class 3 system once I bookmark the connection for reference. My directional scanner shows me a tower and a bunch of ships in the C3, but there are no wrecks to indicate activity as such. Locating the tower confirms the lack of activity, there being no pilots here. So much for the carriers, battleships, heavy interdictor, electronic attack ship, and stealth bomber d-scan showed me.

I warp out, launch probes, and scan. I ignore the ships confirmed at the tower and bookmark the fifteen anomalies, leaving twenty-three signatures to be resolved. I don't think the locals get out much, and maybe just keep their tower as some kind of presentation garage for their collection of ships. I start sifting, as there must be something out there to find. Yep, two wormholes is a fair result, the first being the system's static exit to low-sec empire space. I jump out to be in the Genesis region, the system a dead end and empty of other pilots. A passive scan reveals a single anomaly and I take this quiet time to pop a few rats for another slight gain in security status.

I return to the C3 to investigate the second resolved wormhole but stall when I spy scanning probes on d-scan. I assume they belong to the Legion also on d-scan, which they do and don't, as the number of probes doubles before the Legion disappears. It looks like there are two scouts here, at least one in a covert strategic cruiser. I note their presence but ignore them for now, warping to the other wormhole to find a K162 from class 2 w-space. That could even be the source of the new scouts, who are now hopefully far enough away from the wormhole not to notice me. I jump in to take a look.

All looks clear in the C2, a blanket scan finding one anomaly, seven signatures, and some mining drones, but no occupation. With no tower to monitor I sit on the wormhole to scan, which soon flares to signal the entrance of the Legion to the system. He launches probes and vanishes, and is followed by a Buzzard covert operations boat from the same corporation also launching probes before cloaking. Those would be the two scouts I saw in the C3. It looks like we're all here scanning, and I resolve a wormhole as the Legion and Buzzard warp to it, their ships appearing on my combat scanning probes on top of the wormhole. I warp there to see an exit to high-sec but no ships, until the Legion returns from high-sec and warps away.

It's possible this will become a route to export loot, or import fuel, and that a squishy industrial ship will come this way. I probably ought to scan C3a for a new K162, to map the entire route, and as there may be a few minutes before any ships head back this way that's what I do. The new signature is fairly obvious and resolves to a K162 from class 5 w-space, and rather than heading in to explore I sit on the wormhole for now. I can identify a ship here and follow it across C3a to C2a, where I can still engage in w-space before it can warp to the exit to high-sec. That is, if any ships actually come, and it doesn't look like they will.

I wait a little longer but still no ships come from the C5, so I head out to low-sec and scan properly, using probes this time. Six signatures are in this dead-end system, only one of which is a wormhole. The outbound connection to class 3 w-space is good, though, and I jump through to see a tower and no ships on d-scan. It's my fifth visit to the system, the last being a mere two months ago, so I warp across to the tower in my notes to find that it is no longer there. The tower I see is new and I have to locate it the long way to keep my notes up-to-date. A blanket scan of the system reveals plenty of anomalies and far too many signatures for me to care about when there are radar and magnetometric sites in low-sec to plunder, so I ignore w-space for now and return home to swap to a ratting Drake battlecruiser.

I am a bit wary of the C5 capsuleers. I haven't seen them since they scouted, but if they are not moving ships they could easily be in a position to intercept my Drake and cause me problems. It's worth a peek in the C5 to gauge the risk. I jump in to the C5 to see a tower and no ships, which looks innocent enough and I don't care to poke any deeper, although I realise it's possible this isn't the home system of the pilots seen earlier. But I can still check C3a and C2a, as well as visiting the high-sec system to check the local communication channel. But I don't quite get that far, in one of those wonderful coincidences, as the wormhole to high-sec flares as I crawl the last few kilometres towards it, bringing one of the pilots back in to w-space.

The pilot doesn't hold his session change cloak, and as he's in a shuttle I'm not surprised, the tiny and agile ship able to avoid most threats that don't involve a warp bubble. A second flare from the wormhole brings a rather better target, a Bhaalgorn! The faction battleship is a rare sight, and probably a bit too much ship for my covert Tengu to engage successfully. I watch wistfully as it warps across C2a towards C3a. It looks like the pilots are indeed using this high-sec connection to bring ships in. All I hope now is that they bring in a ship I feel my strategic cruiser can cope with.

An Anathema cov-ops is no match for my weapons, but it could easily evade my targeting systems and I let it go. Well, it goes, I don't suppose I had much choice either way. A shuttle passes back out to high-sec, bringing hope that more ships will come my way, and I settle down for what could be an evening of waiting. Another cov-ops and shuttle head out to high-sec, all from the same corporation, making at least four pilots hauling ships back-and-forth. More pilots means more trouble, but also hopefully shorter waits. A flare from the wormhole has an Anathema return, no doubt scouting ahead of another ship, but what? A second flare and a Proteus strategic cruiser appears. Okay, I'll let that ship pass too.

I wait longer, watching a pod go out to high-sec, followed a minute later by a second pod going the same way. I'm just watching ships here, I should be productive elsewhere, but the lure of a kill is keeping me here. I'm not going to get it with a Sleipnir coming back from high-sec, the command ship potentially being a tough cookie, and it is followed a few minutes later by a second command ship, this one an Astarte accompanied by a Helios cov-ops. The final straw is the Vindicator faction battleship coming from high-sec, another big and expensive ship I have no chance of destroying, one I don't even recognise by name initially. I've clearly wasted enough time here and there is not going to be a slow and squishy ship heading my way. I'm going home. Oh well, some days you get lucky, others you don't. At least I've seen some expensive and rare ships today.

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Tags: anathema, astarte, bhaalgorn, buzzard, eve online, helios, legion, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, proteus, scanning, sleipnir, tengu, vindicator, w-space

Breaking a Drake

Home's really empty now. There are only two anomalies and two radar sites, along with the static wormhole. It's good to be able to check for incoming connections quickly, and satisfied that there are none today I jump to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system. A clear return from my directional scanner coupled with a small system makes this C3 unoccupied and inactive. A previous visit lets me know I'm looking for a static exit to null-sec k-space, which could be the opportunity I've been waiting for to increase my security status. It could take a while to realise the opportunity, though, as there are over thirty signatures scattered around the system. K346 wormholes also have relatively weak signatures, making them time-consuming to find, particularly amongst radar and magnetometric sites.

Then again, at least I know what type of static wormhole I'm looking for and its signature type. My spider sense tingles and I pluck the wormhole out of the noise on a first attempt. Excellent, I think I can stop there too. I jump through the connection to a system in the Providence region, but one that has other pilots present, which makes ratting in anomalies rather inadvisable. I suppose I'll have to wait for the next opportunity before I can take advantage of the good quality rats to be found in null-sec space. I return to w-space and, as glorious leader Fin is now here, consider collapsing our static wormhole to start exploration from scratch, but there are scanning probes in the C3. Maybe there is another wormhole to find. I launch my own probes to find out.

I'm not as lucky at finding the wormhole this time as I was with the K346, to the point where I don't think there is one to find. And even though the last signature in the system is revealed to be of 'unknown' type it is far too weak to be a K162, and warping to it shows the wormhole to be an N968, an outbound connection to more class 3 w-space. That's odd, as wormholes need to be opened from the originating side, so this N968 couldn't have brought a new pilot in to the system. That is, unless a fleet came through this C3 earlier, opened the connection, then collapsed their own static wormhole, which is elaborate but possible, and could explain why there are only nine anomalies in a system with so many other signatures.

The other probes in the system disappear but I see no ship, making me none the wiser about where the pilot came from. I ignore him and jump to C3b to continue exploring. The second C3 holds little of interest, a tower with no ships on the outer planet and one anomaly to accompany four signatures. I resolve rocks, gas, and the static wormhole, this one leading to low-sec empire space, a system in the Domain region. A couple of piratical-looking capsuleers are warping between stargates in the low-sec system but soon leave, at which point I scan and find no more wormholes but a couple of sites to plunder. I could still gain some security status here, and Fin is happy to help by bringing out a ship fitted with a codebreaker module for us to make a handful of iskies too. But as she warps across C3a to join me Fin spots a Drake battlecruiser in the system.

Not fitted with a cloak, Fin jumps out of C3a to keep herself as concealed as possible, although ending up rather conspicuous should the inhabitants of C3b wake up. I ignore low-sec and head back to see if we can get the jump on the Drake, a far more rewarding target than a few rats. Considering that C3a is unoccupied the Drake pilot can't be local, and it looks like he's come in from null-sec. It's likely he's the source of the earlier probes too, because he's not in one of the anomalies yet Sleeper wrecks are on d-scan. I wish I'd taken time to bookmark some of the magnetometric sites now. I can still find him, but I'll need to use combat scanning probes. Ironically enough, the only place in this small system where I can launch probes out of range of the Drake is at the wormhole to null-sec, his entrance to this system potentially being his downfall. Even so, launching probes is merely the first step.

I warp closer to where the Drake seems to be and start narrowing down his position using d-scan. I note with interest that the number of Sleeper wrecks doesn't seem to be increasing, making me wonder if he's being peculiar and has come to w-space to harvest gas in his battlecruiser, but when a small wreck is replaced by a medium wreck I realise that he is salvaging as he shoots, a self-contained profit-making machine. At least that could keep him occupied enough to not notice my probes on d-scan once I'm ready to scan for him. And I am ready. I've got good bearing and range information, and have positioned my probes in a standard pattern around where I think he is. I warp back to the N968, where Fin waits on the other side, and tell her to jump in and hold the session change cloak.

I call my probes in, they scan the volume of space I've assigned to each of them, and I wait for the results. And I start to tense up. It's not just that I am hoping for an accurate first result, but I know that I have to react quickly to whatever result I get. If I get a solid hit I want to recall my probes immediately, so that they spend as little time in space as possible. If I don't get a solid hit I'll need to make an adjustment and scan again. I don't want to recall my probes if I haven't found my target, as doing so will mean having to relaunch and, more importantly, reposition them all over again. Both likelihoods require a different reaction, both requiring a quick and accurate assessment of the scan results and an action performed on the probes. Interpreting the scan results is almost as important as the result itself.

The result is good. The magnetometric site itself is a little fuzzy still, which is only to be expected for such a weak signature, but the Drake is lit up by my probes, giving me a solid hit. I recall the probes, bookmark the Drake's scanned position for reference, and warp our two ships in to the site. I decloak my Tengu strategic cruiser as we are in warp, not wanting the recalibration delay to cause problems once I am there, particularly considering that only my ship has a warp disruptor module fitted. Fin's borrowed Loki strategic cruiser may have had its warp disruptor removed when I asked for the codebreaker to be fitted. I hope that request doesn't come back to bite me. And as the Loki isn't cloaky Fin will be visible on d-scan to the Drake, so my being cloaked won't give us an edge.

We drop out of warp to see the Drake still shooting Sleepers and salvaging wrecks, and not far from his scanned position. Even better, there is only a single Sleeper cruiser currently in the site that could cause us problems. We pounce on the battlecruiser, my Tengu disrupting his warp engines, and both of us start shooting. The hunt is effectively over and we have been successful. Now we are fighting, and we have a different challenge to overcome. The Drake is renowned for its passive shield tank, and it's possible we won't have the combined firepower to overcome it. Seeing that the Sleepers have so far barely scratched the Drake, the battlecruiser having 95% shields or so when we engage, is not encouraging.

Our own firepower is rather more devastating than a few Sleepers, though, and the Drake's shields drop steadily, if not quickly. I keep updating d-scan to see if the Drake is calling for and getting any help from null-sec, but no other ships appear in the system. It remains just the three of us. But we reach the point where we have to decide how we become two ships. If we can overcome the optimal recharge rate of the shields then we can destroy the Drake, leaving me and Fin with a kill. If we can't, we'll have to let the Drake go free. Both of us overheat our weapons systems to increase the rate of fire, piling on the damage as the shields waver around the 30% mark, watching as the heat degrades our systems and the Drake's shields barely change. But there they go, dropping below 30% and continuing to fall. We have broken the battlecruiser.

Once the shields are down there is little left to protect the Drake, and its armour and hull are disintegrated in a few volleys. The pilot realises this is the case too and ejects before the battlecruiser explodes, but just barely. I try to snare the fleeing pod but he is quick enough to warp clear and make it back to null-sec safely. That's okay, hunting and destroying his ship is a decent achievement for us and we're both really pleased with the result. We loot the Drake, noting the full complement of Tech II shield extenders and rechargers, getting a bit of Sleeper loot too for our efforts, before shooting the wreck and warping clear ourselves.

That was a good fight. It could have gone differently had the Drake shot my Tengu instead of concentrating on Fin's Loki, but he couldn't have known our fits. I was passively tanked and covertly configured, more likely to be broken than the Loki and fitted with the sole warp disruptor between our two ships. But he saw the Loki as a more viable target, and if I had been in an actively tanked combat Tengu he probably would have been right. The Drake could also have popped the remaining Sleeper cruiser to bring in a new wave of ships, assuming there was another wave to come, which would then just as likely target us as him and perhaps force us to disengage. But maybe he didn't realise this, not being a w-space denizen.

Fin returns home as I warp to the wormhole to null-sec. I sit cloaked watching the connection for activity, but none comes. It looks like the Drake was working alone and simply wanted to take advantage of w-space for to generate some ISK. Satisfied that no one else will make an appearance I head home and join Fin at the tower, where we both repair the heat damage on our modules, ready for the next fight. That will be another day, though.

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

Caught in a bubble

Another day, another chance to repair my security status. Scanning out of the home system finds a class 3 w-space system with an exit to low-sec empire space, which leads to the Domain region. One pilot shares the system with me, replaced by another, but then I'm alone with some anomalies and I start popping a few rats. Another pilot enters the system within a couple of minutes, though, and I move on. Today I'll loop around low-sec, as the region seems quiet. I manage to get a minute or two by myself in a few systems along my route that lets me pop some rats here and there, but I eventually run out of steam, either with pilots in the system making me too cautious to enter anomalies or a lack of anomalies forcing me to move on.

I make my way home with a fair few small increases in my security status, but still far short of where it was before destroying a single cruiser in low-sec. I'm not impressed with how much time and effort it is taking to gain security status compared with how quick and easy it is to be penalised. And whilst exiting to known space may offer different opportunities occasionally, I know I'll be much more wary about engaging ships there because of the hit my security status will take, compared to the freedom of action available in w-space. If I had to shoot Sleepers for a week for every capsuleer ship I popped, I'd not be doing either. I go off-line for the day having achieved little.

A new day in w-space has evidence that a fleet has passed through the home system. All but one anomaly has been vaporised, leaving little profit for us to realise. If only I could spend iskies to increase my security status, I'd have been out here shooting the Sleepers myself instead of looking for crappy empire rats. Never mind, the fleet has come and gone, not even leaving their K162 to find, so I'm once more jumping through our static wormhole to the neighbouring class 3 system. Hullo, lots of ships and ECM drones could indicate activity, even if they share my directional scanner with a tower. Marauders, battleships, mining barges, and industrials are all visible, but also all coincident with the tower, according to a narrow d-scan beam.

Locating the tower indeed finds all the ships and no pilots, the ECM drones scattered amongst the tower's defences teasingly. Oh well, I'm back to scanning. Launching probes, I bookmark the lone anomaly and poke through the thirteen signatures, which are mostly radar and magnetometric sites, their weak signals making scanning time-consuming today. I find just the one wormhole, an exit to low-sec, and jumping through it puts me in a rather busy system in the Metropolis region. That it is a low-sec island surrounded by high-sec perhaps explains the traffic, but I won't be doing any ratting here.

I make a safe spot in the low-sec system, launch probes, and scan. Ignoring the three anomalies gives me five signatures, four of which are of the 'unknown' type. Whilst in w-space this guarantees finding a wormhole I know that empire space is a cruel mistress, and I resolve three Angel rat bases before finally coming across another wormhole, a K162 from class 2 w-space. That's a good result, as the second static connection in the C2 will lead to more w-space, continuing the constellation further. And I need it too, as the C2 itself is occupied but empty, but thankfully kept tidy. Scanning the six signatures doesn't take long and finds me a connection to more class 2 w-space amongst the rocks and gas.

I jump in to C2b to a clear d-scan result. I launch probes and perform a blanket scan of the system, warping to a distant planet as I arrange the probes. I find the sole ship in the system by serendipitously landing outside a tower moments before my probes give me the same result, the Helios covert operations boat sitting stationary inside the force field. Except it's not inside the force field but far outside of it, and for some reason lodged in a warp bubble. This is convenient, as I warp to the bubble to get close to the Helios, but it is also dangerous, as I am probably in range of the tower defences and I know what happens when a tower gets its grip on a strategic cruiser. But a sitting duck is too tempting to ignore.

I move towards the still-stationary Helios, not concerned about getting trapped in the warp bubble myself, because of the interdiction nullifier subsystem on my Tengu. However, I remain cloaked and cautious, as I don't want to use my micro warp drive and have my signature radius flare up to make my ship easier to lock-on to. I manoeuvre close enough to the Helios before decloaking so that my normal speed will have our ships bump together and prevent mutual cloaking, and wait what feels an age for the recalibration delay to dissipate before locking on to the smaller ship. It still refuses to move as I start shooting, but I'm moving. I pull back from my target, now that the positive lock prevents it cloaking, so that as soon as the poor pilot is thrown in to space I am far enough away to cloak again.

Cloaking breaks any current attempt to lock on to my ship, which I am expecting the automated tower defences to be doing, but it only needs to be for a moment. Lock attempts broken, I decloak again, wait a second time for the recalibration delay, and set my sights on the pod. I get a positive lock and the pod sits nice and still for me whilst I crack it open to get to the frozen corpse inside. I suspect the pilot may have tried to flee but was flummoxed by being in a warp bubble. Now she's ready to be scooped, once I cloak again to keep my Tengu safe from the tower's defences. I make a second approach and scoop the corpse, and loot and shoot the wreck to complete my assault.

That was a pleasant diversion, and I'm glad I was able to avoid the ire of the tower defences. Now I have the ire of my combat scanning probes, as they show me twenty-three anomalies and twenty-seven signatures. A quick look for wormholes finds a nice static connection to class 1 w-space, which makes me forget the rest of the signatures and recall my probes. There's no one to find in the C1, though, and a quick scan only finds two connections to high-sec empire space, one a K162 reaching the end of its life, the other the system's static wormhole. I jump through the static connection to be in the Genesis region, where scanning reveals no more wormholes but a Blood Watch site, where some rats are waiting for me to pop them.

A podding and an increase in my security status, that sounds like a good afternoon to me. Even better, on my way home I spot a canister on d-scan in C2a labelled with a request to contact a specific capsuleer. That's intriguing, I wonder if he's lost and wants help, or is looking to extort the locals for ISK or he'll attack their tower. I think it's worth starting a conversation and seeing what he wants. Nothing, apparently, except for me to shoot the can. 'Friends' of his planted the canister in the system ages ago—in a pretty distant safe spot too, one I have no hope of finding—and he continues to get occasional messages to this day. From people like me, I suppose. He's good natured about it all, at least, so I apologise and let him get back to his business, and I continue on my way home.

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

Settling for high-sec ratting

Hunting or ratting, either will suit me today. I'd still like to repair the hit my security status took when I accidentally blew up a wreck of a ship I accidentally blew up whilst it mined ore in low-sec empire space. Or, at least, get a comfortable enough buffer so that I can do it again. Accidentally, of course. I imagine I'll be ratting, if only because the hour is early, so I launch probes and start scanning, looking to find the limit of the w-space constellation and exit to known space.

The home system is quiet, and jumping in to our neighbouring class 3 system sees only a warp bubble and off-line tower on my directional scanner. One planet sitting out of range of d-scan holds a tower with an unpiloted Orca industrial command ship, making the system look currently inactive. Scanning will be quick, there being no anomalies and a mere five signatures, and I soon resolve gas, rocks, and two wormholes, a U210 and N968. I get the exit system first, through the U210 static connection to low-sec, ending up in the Lonetrek region, before returning to C3a and jumping through the outbound connection to C3b.

A warp bubble and off-line tower on d-scan greets me in this second class 3 system, much like it did in the first, but this time there are three planets out of range of d-scan. Another tower lies hidden on the outskirts of the system, also with no one home, and I find myself scanning again. A signature on the edge of the system is a wormhole, what a shock, and the nine other signatures present provide the usual rock, gas, and radar sites, along with three more wormholes. I've found an N968, a second N968 that is reaching the end of its natural lifetime, a K162 from low-sec, and the system's static U210.

Normally I wouldn't mind finding so much to explore, but I was rather hoping for a simply terminated constellation so that I could get on and be productive somewhere. I suppose I could ignore the extra systems, but the lure of finding capsuleers being careless is too strong to ignore, and I jump through the stable N968 to C3c. No warp bubble and an on-line tower on d-scan makes a pleasant change here, but still there is no one home. Despite being here only three weeks ago it seems I have to find the tower manually, as the one noted before has already gone, but that's a simple matter and I am soon scanning. Four anomalies and five signatures resolve to give only one wormhole, another exit to low-sec, which looks like the end of the constellation.

I jump out of this latest U210 to look at getting some tasks done, finding myself alone in a system in the Devoid region. Looking for a skill book finds one sold only a couple of hops away, but in a low-sec system. Docking to pick it up should be okay if the system's quiet, and making short detour finds no one around. I buy the book, dock, and exit back to space without interruption. Now I want to find some rats to pop, which I won't be able to do here, as this and the surrounding systems look like faction warfare space. I return to C3c, jump to C3b, and exit through the U210 to a system in The Forge, where there are some Guristas to shoot but also some other pilots in the system that could cause me problems.

I go back to C3b and warp across to the K162 from low-sec, jumping to a system in the Sinq Laison region. It's just me and some anomalies full of Serpentis rats, but not for long. I pop a single frigate before another pilot appears in the system, frustrating my efforts again. Never mind, I am a single hop from high-sec, I may as well jump safely between Concord-protected systems and pop rats as I go, which I do. Then again, rats in high-sec anomalies are pretty pathetic, almost exploding when I warp in to the sites. I would quite like another null-sec connection, as the rats there put up enough of a fight to be worth an increase in security status.

A little persevering in one anomaly sees a Shadow Serpentis Chief Watchmen warp in at the end, which is a nice surprise for high-sec. He's still not exactly a challenge, and the faction ammunition he drops is hardly worth a fortune, but his bounty is a couple of orders of magnitude greater than the standard rats, which should give my security status an almost noticeable boost, unlike the other rats. But that's about the highlight of my high-sec ratting. I make a circuit of systems and return to low-sec, finding the system empty again, but again not for long. Rather than continue playing hide-and-seek with other pilots I bring my adventure to a close, heading home to settle down for now.

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Tags: eve online, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Chase the whale

Glorious leader Fin has arrived; what to do, what to do. Well, what to do once I've got all the excitement of two Hulk exhumer kills out of my system. And talking about getting out of the system, I leave the scene of the crime and jump back to the first class 4 w-space system, warp across it, and jump to our neighbouring class 3 system. The unoccupied system remains clear but even though my targets and their colleagues have gone off-line we cannot ignore the incoming connection to this C3 that makes it less safe. Rather than collapse our static wormhole, and deny us the null-sec exit and the ratting possibilities this C3 promises, we decide to collapse the connection between C3a and C4a, taking two Widow black ops ships outside of the home system.

The operation sounded good to start with, but once the wormhole destabilises to half-mass I realise that we are collapsing a wormhole in rather expensive ships, neither of which are fitted with scanning probes, without a guaranteed escape route should something go awry. It seems we've not entirely thought through this plan, giving it the Penny hallmark. Even so, the actual collapse is going to plan, which is a good indicator that Fin is behind the practical aspect of the operation. With one final return trip planned I head home for a scouty Tengu, the strategic cruiser hopefully providing a safety net should the final jump go wrong. Thankfully it doesn't, and we both end up in C3a with the connection to C4a now severed. We can look for the exit to null-sec k-space now and make some ISK and security status gains.

I launch probes and start sifting through the signatures, ignoring rocks, gas, seeing a Probe frigate—that's weird. Actually, no, what's weird is that it's now an Orca industrial command ship. That's quite a transformation. And it's gone. I think I've got a touch of the space madness until the Orca reappears, but I can't pin down the ship as it seems to be in continual warp. I haven't so far tried to hide my probes, being caught somewhat unawares initially, and no doubt the pilot has seen them and is keeping on the move so that I can't interrupt... whatever it is he's doing here. The C3 is unoccupied, only an off-line tower on the outskirts of the system, and as far as I can tell there are no new signatures that would indicate a new wormhole has opened.

The Orca is on and off my probes, in my d-scan boresight and gone. Maybe this capsuleer is a nomad and is wandering system to system, or perhaps has set himself up a floating platform in the Orca for a simple planetary interaction base. I guess that he's perhaps collecting planet goo and stalk one of the customs offices, choosing not to warp between them in a fruitless pursuit this time, and an alerted Fin is back in the system and in a stealth bomber around a different customs office. But my probes have probably worried the Orca in to delaying his plans, as he continues to warp from safe spot to safe spot, the Probe frigate making an occasional appearance, along with a jet-can.

My waiting at the customs office is not going to bring the Orca to me. I bring my probes back in to the system and make a best guess at where I've seen the big ship so far. One scan gets a rough position, a second scan finally gets a 100% hit on the massive Orca, and I get rid of my probes once more as I warp in. The pilot must have seen my probes converge on his position again, as I drop out of warp to see only an abandoned jet-can. Then again, I have found one of his safe spots, and one with something left behind. I remain cloaked, as does Fin, now joining me by the canister, and we can wait here to see if the Orca returns. If he does, we can strike.

Of course, the Orca doesn't return. We can't be that lucky. It appears on d-scan again, giving me a chance to get a good estimate on its bearing and range from d-scan, and although I hope to use that information to use my probes to scan a second safe spot of his the Orca disappears and this time is gone for good. It's quite possible the Probe also seen remains in the system cloaked somewhere, and without a capsuleer name we can neither confirm nor deny that, but he won't be seeing much information either as both Fin and I remain cloaked. Well, I do. Fin's curiosity gets the better of her, and with the Orca looking to be well and truly gone she takes a peek inside the jet-can in the found safe spot. 'Helium. 51,000 units of helium.' That's worth nicking.

We wait a few more minutes, during which I pass the time by finally finding the static exit to null-sec, and Fin heads home to get a Crane transport ship. She returns to the C3, warps to the canister, and transfers the helium to her hold, claiming it as our own. As Fin hauls the twenty million ISK of goods home I poke my nose out to null-sec, finding myself in a system in the Stain region with one other pilot. There are even a few anomalies in the system, but it's all a bit late to do much now. I can't complain. I destroyed two Hulks and chased an Orca. It's been an exciting and productive evening.

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Tags: crane, eve online, manticore, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, probe, scanning, tengu, w-space, widow

Two Hulks, one point

Look at all of these anomalies. It looks like we are due a passing fleet any day now. Until then, I'll be my own passing fleet of one, scanning my way out of the home w-space system and in to our neighbouring class 3 system. There's not much to see in this C3, with two warp bubbles on my directional scanner and only an off-line tower to discover floating around the planet out of d-scan range. It's my fifth visit to this system, each time it being unoccupied, making me unsurprised to learn from my notes that it holds a static exit to null-sec k-space. I suppose having a regular connection to null-sec isn't good for your survival, but having the occasional connection available could be good for my security status.

Ten anomalies and eleven signatures should be quick enough to sift through, but a K162 sticking out like a sore thumb makes me recall my probes and go exploring backwards through wormholes. It being the first signature I resolve will make picking up scanning where I left off a simple matter, should I hit a boring dead end and come back this way. I jump in to the class 4 system to see core probes on d-scan and I cloak and hold position to see what comes my way. But an adjustment of d-scan shows the probes to be quite distant, so I ignore them and warp away to explore. There are lots of warp bubbles scattered around the system but no occupation to account for them. Assuming there is another K162 to be found I launch my own probes and start scanning. Once again, I pluck a wormhole on a first attempt out of twelve signatures, and recall my probes to continue my rapid exploration.

Another warp bubble greets me on the other side of the wormhole, and I don't need d-scan to show me this one. The bubble has been planted on top of the connection, making it fresh. Well, either fresh or an amazing coincidence. The warp bubble doesn't concern me, partly because there is no one obviously monitoring it, and partly because my Tengu strategic cruiser has the interdiction nullification subsystem and can warp through bubbles as if they aren't there. I cloak and move away from the wormhole, checking d-scan to see four big ships and a tower. Another repeat visit, I was last in this system about sixteen months ago and have no notes about occupation. I need to start from scratch.

Locating the tower is straightforward enough, made easier by only one planet being in range of the wormhole, where I find a Thanatos carrier, Orca industrial command ship, and Chimera carrier all floating empty near a piloted Rorqual capital industrial ship. The piloted Rorqual is interesting and makes me wonder what may be elsewhere in the system, an Occator transport ship warping in to the tower and back out again making me more than curious. I follow the Occator as best I can, warping my Tengu to a planet along the transport's general vector, where d-scan shows me the beautiful sight of two Hulk exhumers and two flights of mining drones sitting in space. The hunt is on.

The hunt stalls. I have nowhere safe where I can launch scanning probes, which I'll need in order to find the Hulks in their gravimetric site. The Hulks are in range of all but one planet, and the one planet that is out of range holds their tower, where the Rorqual pilot sits and the Occator is pinging back-and-forth. I'll have to take a chance with launching probes quickly and hoping no one notices, and my best chance is out of range of the Hulks, even if it is in range of the tower. I would imagine the Hulks are more concerned with their safety than the Rorqual, and with any luck the locals have placed far too much trust in the bubble 'protecting' their wormhole.

I warp away from the miners and launch my combat scanning probes, flinging them out of the system and reactivating my cloak as soon as possible. I return to get close to the Hulks, monitoring them indirectly with d-scan and happy to see the mining drones not being recalled. That's a fair sign that the launch of my probes has gone unnoticed. Now I need to scan their position. I have a fair idea of where the Hulks are after watching the Occator warp out, presumably to haul back some ore, and I start narrowing down their position using d-scan, stepping-down the angle of the scanning beam and using a probe's box as a datum point for each refined search. Once I get the Hulks' position within a five degree d-scan beam I adjust the range gate to gauge how distant they are. And with both bearing and range estimated I position all of my probes around where I think the Hulks are. It's time to scan.

My probes are called in from far out of the system, guided to the boxes I've carefully positioned, and set scanning. The results are good, as I get a 100% hit on the Hulks, their drones, and the gravimetric site. It's essentially a perfect scan. I recall my probes and warp directly to the Hulks, not waiting to see if they react, if they've seen my probes on d-scan. Even if I have been spotted, Hulks are slow to react and I still may have a chance of catching one if they decide to recall their drones and warp out. I haven't been spotted, which is good but gives me a new dilemma. I have two Hulks in my sights and only one point of warp disruption in single module.

One module can't simultaneously prevent two ships from warping, as it can only be active on one at time. I have, however, mused on this before, in the quiet times in space, and I think I can hold these two ships with a single point, thanks to also having a web module fitted. As a ship needs to reach three-quarters speed to enter warp and a web module reduces a target's speed, my theory is that, against sluggish targets, I can cycle the web and point across each target, slowing them down enough so that they never get a chance to reach warp speed. But I'll need to be careful. To prevent web modules acting as inadvertent warp disruptors, a web reduces a ship's speed by reducing its maximum speed, so that it still has facility to reach its three-quarters speed needed for warp. It is in this way that it is possible to slingshot ships in to warp more quickly, by webbing them at the right moment, such that a ship's current speed instantly becomes greater than its maximum speed. And it is this effect I must avoid.

My theoretical holding of two targets with one point is as follows. I point and web the first target. I deactivate the web, and then the point, and then point the second target, followed by webbing the second target. The first target is sufficiently slowed that it needs to accelerate up to warp speed before escaping, and whilst the first target accelerates I am preventing the second from warping and simultaneously slowing it. I remove the web then the point from the second target and return them both to the first target, the second now slowed and needing to accelerate to warp speed, as the first is brought back down to a crawl. I repeat this tactic for as long as necessary. At least, that's the theory. I must get the activation and deactivation order correct, or the web will slingshot a Hulk in to warp, and I can't dally with the changeover, or even a sluggish Hulk will accelerate to three-quarters speed. And I have little time to consider this further, as I have both Hulks in front of me. I need to put theory in to practice.

Pointing and webbing the first Hulk is pretty easy, and I start shooting missiles in to its shields. I am not entirely convinced my theory will work but I remove the web and then the point and transfer them to the second Hulk, as I still shoot the first. If my theory goes wrong now at least I should still have the second Hulk as a target. But the first stays as I cycle the two modules back to it. A couple more cycles of switching back-and-forth and the first Hulk explodes. I ignore the pod and concentrate on keeping the second ship in my sights, this time keeping the point and web on it as I shoot. I make a slight error in trying to snare the Occator too, forgetting that the transport ship has increased warp strength and is essentially immune to my warp disruptor, but luckily I don't lose the second Hulk during that lost cycle. The exhumer soon explodes as did the first. This time I try to catch the ejected pod, but the pilot has had plenty of time to get used to the idea of losing his ship, and he warps away cleanly.

That was beautiful. Using the point and web gave the Hulks no chance of escape, as neither ship was physically able to accelerate fast enough to enter warp. They were both pinned in the gravimetric site and at my complete lack of mercy. Of course, a second point instead of the web would have been just as effective, and less hassle, but the web is a useful module to couple with the point in different situations, and the utility of having both fitted outweighs the rare occasion when I encounter two feasible targets. I am really happy to see my theory work in practice, even if I realise that it will only really work with ships that are slow to accelerate.

Now I need to tidy up. I shoot both Hulk wrecks and cloak, not even bothering to see what they have dropped, as mining gear and ore tends to be voluminous in a way my Tengu's cargo hold isn't. Only after I cloak do I realise there are still two jet-cans floating nearby, no doubt holding even more mined ore. With d-scan clear of all but one of the Hulks' pods—and I don't bother trying to find or chase him, knowing he can easily warp away before my Tengu finishes dropping out of warp—I decloak and pop both cans, destroying what was inside, if only to be brutally efficient in my assault. Cloaking again, I wait for the reaction to my destructive attack. And here it comes. The Chimera warps in to the gravimetric site, soon followed by the Thanatos and a Dominix battleship. An overreaction is a wonderful sight indeed.

There is not much two carriers and a battleship can do against a cloaked ship, any more than my covert Tengu can do against two carriers and a battleship. I sit quietly and I watch. It looks like the big ships are there mostly to look big, as a Viator warps in and collects the drones left behind, which is all that remains of the mining operation. Once done, the ships warp out until none remain, and the pilots start going off-line. I leave the system behind me, heading back the way I came through the ineffective warp bubble on the wormhole, and reflect on what a thoroughly satisfying start I've had to this evening.

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Tags: chimera, dominix, eve online, hulk, mmorpg, occator, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, rorqual, scanning, tengu, thanatos, viator, w-space