Chasing battleships

The Sleepers are going at it like rabbits. There are two new signatures in the home system, doubling what was here yesterday. Actually, maybe the Sleepers are only indirectly responsible for the new signatures, as resolving them reveals two wormholes instead of new infestations. Capsuleers are to blame for my extra scanning effort, I must make them pay. The wormholes also both turn out to be K162s from class 5 w-space, still not giving us an outbound connection from our class 4 home, besides the usual static C247. Rather than explore the class 5 systems now I'm heading to the C247 to find the exit from our neighbouring class 3 system, just in case the situation turns sour.

Jumping in to the C3 sees on my directional scanner a tower, Harbinger battlecruiser, and, oh, some Sleeper wrecks. What a pleasant start to the evening's exploration. A passive scan of the system locates six anomalies, one of which the Harbinger is in, but just as I sweep over the right anomaly with d-scan a pod warps past me and jumps through the K162 homewards. That could easily disrupt my stalking almost before it's begun, and sure enough the Harbinger has already bugged out of the anomaly after presumably seeing the pod appear on d-scan. I'd get uncomfortable too. The pod is no threat in itself but could easily relay intelligence about the Harbinger to other pilots, or simply come back in a suitable ship.

Despite the Harbinger leaving the anomaly unfinished I go looking for the battlecruisr. There are two on-line towers and one off-line in the system, finding all three also finding the Harbinger sitting passively inside the force field of one of the active towers. An Anathema covert operations boat keeps flitting on and off d-scan too, with some probes flying around the system. I assume the Anathema is affiliated with the Harbinger, but I don't manage to see it at any point to confirm this. I watch the Harbinger for a while but it doesn't look like he's going anywhere. I consider scanning until I realise I may be missing an opportunity. A pod heading back to our system must be going to one of the C5s, and as the pod was returning naked it could mean ships are being exported. Maybe I can catch one of them heading back out to empire space.

Returning home has a Manticore stealth bomber on d-scan briefly, but as I have no hope of finding that without it wanting to be found I ignore it and begin to investigate the class 5 systems connecting in to us. But moments before I jump in to one of the C5s a Devoter heavy interdictor appears and disappears on d-scan, and it didn't pass me. I warp across to check the second K162 as a colleague arrives, Shev doubling my firepower and giving a second set of eyes to use. I warp him around to the wormholes in our system so he can bookmark them, without either of us having to decloak, and then we sit and watch.

Somewhat problematically, a Loki strategic cruiser decloaks on the K162 we're watching and jumps through to the C5, an indication that maybe the exported ships are being escorted with sufficient protection. Then again, we can watch both wormholes being used in our system and monitor who jumps, so we shouldn't be completely surprised. And as a Curse recon ship jumps out and isn't followed by the Loki, or any other ship, maybe their escort got bored or hungry and is no longer available. We can watch and find out. I sit and watch the C5 K162, Shev warps to the C247 to see what comes through.

The same pilot who left in the Curse returns in a pod, warps to the K162 I'm sitting on, and jumps presumably home. Now we get ready, as we will need to make a quick decision. We have the benefit of knowing a good portion of the route the pilot is taking and can engage in a few places, but we have no idea what ship will be coming next. If indeed any ship is coming next, as it is possible they've finished moving ships and we'll be waiting for—flare! That was quick, but the ship's appearance isn't. A second flare precedes the Proteus strategic cruiser shedding its session change cloak, accompanied by an Armageddon battleship. They both warp to the C247 and jump out, and we let them pass. The Proteus would be a tough kill in itself, two ships is too much for our own covert boats.

Only one pod returns this time, heading back to the C5 and returning shortly after in a Harbinger. That's perhaps not a good choice for us to engage either, as it could probably tank our damage and, as Shev points out, it is probably fit for PvP combat anyway. We let it pass and continue to wait. An encouraging note is that it has so far been the same pilot each time, excepting the Loki. Just one pilot actively moving ships makes it likely we'll not face much opposition, if any, when we choose to engage, only the ship we ambush. If there were more pilots floating around it would be more of a gamble.

After a short wait the pod comes back again, returning along the same path, as predictable as death. We wait again for the next flare, and when it comes an Apocalypse battleship appears and starts aligning to the C247. There is no escort this time and, after my previous successful engagement of a battleship on a wormhole, I make the call to attack. Shev's already moved from our system to the C3, where he is in a better position to engage a ship heading out, and he decloaks and gets ready. I warp behind the Apocalypse, watching it jump to the C3 before decloaking myself and approaching the wormhole. I hold in the home system for now, in case the battleship retreats, but ready to jump in to help Shev with the kill.

Shev locks the Apocalypse and disrupts its warp engines, or at least tries to. The battleship pays him no mind and merely warps away, leaving my colleague a little baffled. It looks like the pilot isn't taking any chances with her exports and has fitted warp core stabilisers to her ships. That's not really playing fair, but at least we gave it a shot. And we can adapt. Once the pod returns and heads back to the C5 Shev swaps some modules around at our tower, adding more warp disruption strength to try to catch the next ship, and we reset our positions to try again. That is on the assumption that the pilot, after being engaged, will come back. And a flare on the wormhole says she is.

Another battleship is being moved, a second Armageddon, and as it aligns and warps to the C247 I tell Shev to get ready. I watch the Armageddon jump to the C3, Shev locks it and prevents it from warping this time, only to see the Proteus reappear. Shev rightfully disengages, jumping through the wormhole as I reactivate my cloak and move away. Rather than rely on warp core stabilisers our target also adapted and brought a friend to ensure her safe travel this time. They're not stupid. It looks like softly softly won't catchee monkey tonight.

Posted in Gaming | 3 Comments »
Tags: anathema, apocalypse, armageddon, curse, devoter, eve online, harbinger, loki, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, proteus, pvp, scanning, w-space

A little too patient for once

Sleepers are repopulating. Two more new signatures are in our home system and neither is a second wormhole. I activate some gas and bookmark a magnetometric site, before jumping through the static wormhole, characteristically the signature farthest from the planets, to appear in our neighbouring class 3 w-space system. A bubble and can are all that's visible on my directional scanner in the C3, so I launch probes and blanket the system as I warp around looking for towers. I find one, but from looking in my notes instead of straight exploration. Apparently I was here eight months ago when I 'steal arkonor', but I don't remember that. Whatever, the tower's in the same place and there are only two unpiloted Orca industrial command ships floating inside its shields.

Scanning is going to be quick. There are only four signatures to go with the three anomalies, and no other ships. I resolve a wormhole, a gravimetric site, and a radar site, the fourth signature being the K162 leading back home. The static wormhole naturally leads out to low-sec empire space and, with little else to do here, I jump out to continue exploring. The exit leads to the Derelik region, one hop from a dead end but with too many pilots flying around to make me want to use a stargate. I launch probes and scan, finding a healthy eight signatures that turn out to be rather disappointing. A Sansha outpost, some rocks, two Rogue trial yards, and a magnetometric site are all discarded before the final two signatures both turn out to be wormholes. One's interesting to see but not terribly exciting, merely linking this low-sec system with a second low-sec system, the other weaker signature keeping exploration alive by being an outbound connection to class 5 w-space.

I jump in to the C5 to take a look around, finding nothing close to the wormhole. A blanket scan reveals no ships, and probably no towers. There can't be many populated systems with so many anomalies and signatures. Warping around indeed finds no active towers, leaving me to scan for wormholes in peace. I ignore a bunch of radar sites, of all types of site to continue to stumble over when scanning, until resolving a wormhole on about the tenth signature. I've found an outbound connection to class 4 w-space and probably the system's static wormhole. It's good enough for me to recall my probes and head forwards, jumping in to the C4 and to see a tower, Orca, and Anathema covert operations boat on d-scan.

This C3 is another system I've been to before, this one from eleven months ago. And the locals are nicely settled, it seems, as the tower remains in the same place, quickly letting me see the Anathema piloted and the Orca not. There are no probes visible on d-scan, though, so I can't tell how awake the Anathema pilot is. I'll ignore him and scan, knowing from my last time here that I'm looking for a static connection to class 3 w-space. Scanning is quick again, no anomalies cluttering up the mere six signatures. Are you outside the edge of the system again, Mr wormhole? You're not even trying to hide even more. My first hit is the C247 to class 3 w-space, and again I am happy to move forwards instead of staying to scan every signature.

Jumping in to the C3 sees an awful lot of ships on d-scan, and thankfully only on d-scan. There are also a smattering of Sleeper wrecks in the system, which is encouraging, but I really need to find the tower to determine how many ships are active and how many pilots are potentially available, otherwise any ambush I attempt could end not in my favour. Luckily I've been in this system before too, and checking one of the two towers finds almost all but two of the ships unpiloted inside the tower. It also finds them to be blue to our alliance, which scuppers any thoughts of ambushing their salvager. That is, if it is a local pilot that will be salvaging. I need to get to the combat site to see if the two Drake battlecruisers are visitors.

I performed a passive scan of the system as soon as I saw Sleeper wrecks, and the results displaying all the anomalies are still available for perusal. Opening up the system map and sweeping a tight-beam d-scan around locates the two Drakes, and warping in to the anomaly finds a lovely sight: neither pilot is allied to our corporation. They are fair game. All I need to do now is wait for their salvager to appear, which could take a while. The only wrecks on d-scan are the ones in this site and the Drakes aren't salvaging as they fight. They could clear a few more anomalies before deciding to salvage. It's okay, I have time, and keep myself entertained as they pop the last battleship here and warp off.

I follow the Drakes to a second anomaly and make another convenient bookmark for myself, but lose them when they finish clearing this site. I warp back to the tower, which is a handy central feature, and keep an eye on d-scan. Here comes the Noctis, and it looks like he's by himself. This could be quick and easy. Or maybe I could be smarter and wait for him to clear most of the wrecks and hope to scoop up some significant loot for a change. I warp in to the first anomaly to watch the salvager at work, fighting my urge to strike now, but thinking of the juicy loot I could snatch if I wait patiently. The Noctis clears the first site of wrecks and, thankfully, warps to the second anomaly instead of homewards.

I'm right behind the Noctis, having aligned so I don't waste any time, but still I am telling myself to wait. He's got one anomaly's load of loot, he could have another half-an-anomaly before I really need to attack. That's the plan, anyway. I hold for a bit longer but can't help myself, and warp in to get closer to the ship. And now my caution has got the better of me, as I am too far from the Noctis to strike quickly, needing me to manoeuvre to get close enough. But I'm just anxious, it looks like I have time. Sure enough, I get within warp disruption range long before the salvaging is complete, and I spring in to action. I decloak, get my weapons hot, and burn towards the Noctis. And I watch as the salvager warps away, a moment before I get a positive target lock.

Perhaps the salvager was alert to my presence, which is why their combat operation ended after only two anomalies when there were many more available. But then an escort ship would be more appropriate than simply being alert. Maybe he had fitted warp core stabilisers to help his escape, but without popping his ship to examine the debris I won't be able to find out. Or maybe I was just a bit slow. If I hadn't been so cautious at the end, going in more positively when the time was right, I could have been on top of the Noctis and given his ship a friendly nudge, knocking him out of alignment and giving me more time to lock his ship. Whatever happened, or didn't happen, I've missed my chance.

Or I could stop pouting and chase him. I don't know if he came from the C4 I passed through but I won't find out sitting dolefully in the empty anomaly. A few seconds late, but hopefully in time, I spur my Tengu strategic cruiser back to the wormhole. I see no Noctis or any flares indicating passage, but I jump through anyway only to see no sign of the Noctis in the C4 either. It's most likely that he simply didn't originate in this system, instead returning through another wormhole connecting in to the C3 that I don't yet know about. And I don't think I'll scan for it. I don't fancy jumping in to an ambush myself and I doubt the pilots will come out to play now they've been poked, not without bringing enough force to ensure my destruction.

Even without the kill I can make the best of the situation. I return to the C3 and warp to the partially salvaged anomaly, where sits a pair of unlooted Sleeper battleship wrecks, and a few cruisers. I loot the remaining wrecks and recover about twenty Miskies for doing so, which is not to be sniffed at, I suppose. Now I turn tail and head home, pausing in the C4 long enough to see a Tengu being chased around safe spots and celestial objects by combat scanning probes, but deciding not to get caught up myself in a chase with a target I probably won't even engage. I poke my nose through the wormhole connecting low-sec to low-sec, finding myself alone in a system in the Metropolis region, but with no more wormholes to find here. And so the evening ends, as I return home to drop more stolen loot in to our hangar and get some sleep.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on A little too patient for once
Tags: anathema, drake, eve online, mmorpg, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space

Pushing deeper for the kill

I start the evening by deleting all the old bookmarks from yesterday. So many anomalies, so much unrealised profit, so sad. But a new day brings new opportunities, and I scan my way through the static wormhole to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system, where a jet-can immediately catches my eye. My directional scanner shows me a tower and Buzzard covert operations boat too, which could put the jet-can snuggled up inside a force field, but the name of the can looks like a time-stamp, from a mere half-an-hour ago. A can named in such a way is normally an indication of a mining operation, and although I can't see any other evidence of mining in progress I am intrigued.

I soon locate the tower, although two off-line towers messy up the C3 a little, and the Buzzard is piloted inside the shields. I still see no other ships around, so I warp to a distant planet where I can launch probes covertly, and perform a blanket scan of the system. A single anomaly sits amongst the fifteen signatures, which suggests the locals shoot Sleepers more than rocks, but mining sites linger for longer than anomalies. I start to narrow down the position of the jet-can using d-scan when a Nemesis warps in to the tower. I saw the stealth bomber briefly on d-scan before he appeared in the tower, so he's probably only just woken up.

The newly arrived Nemesis stirs soon after reaching the tower, warping off to what looks like empty space. In fact, it looks like he's warping in the direction of the jet-can I've spotted. The can disappears from d-scan, so the stealth bomber almost certainly warped to it and chomped its contents, ending the mystery of the missing jet-can. Even so, I have pilots to watch, even if all the Nemesis does when getting back to the tower is kick back and have a drink. A third contact appears after a short while, this pilot arriving at the tower in a Brutix battlecruiser. Hopefully he'll indirectly explain the origin of the jet-can and go out to collect some more gas, but he doesn't look to have gas harvesters fitted. I'll just have to watch and wait to see what all the pilots do.

The Buzzard blinks out of existence, which is a shame. The Nemesis follows a little while later, and the Brutix is apparently content to sleep or decompose in his pod. I'm not, I need to do something, and as there doesn't appear to be anyone actively paying any attention I may as well scan this system for wormholes. I don't bother resolving any mining sites here, ignoring them as they are identified instead, because I am beginning to doubt the locals will do anything and I don't want to waste my time. I find mostly rocks, with three ladar sites and two wormholes as well, all without the Brutix budging an inch. The wormholes are a dreary exit to low-sec empire space and a K162 from null-sec k-space. It doesn't inspire the explorer in me.

Despite the lacklustre connections I jump out to low-sec, appearing in The Citadel region and only one hop to high-sec. I don't care how close I am to high-sec, though, and simply launch probes to continue scanning. It takes two scans to cover this vast system, which only find one extra signature. Thankfully it's a wormhole, a K162 from class 3 w-space like the one I warped away from. Jumping in shows a clear d-scan result, a blanket scan finding six signatures amongst thirteen anomalies. Two towers sit on the outskirts of the system, with zero activity present. I sift through the signatures, hoping for a K162 and finding one, connecting class 3 w-space with class 3 w-space.

The third C3 I visit tonight is as sleepy as the second, a tower on d-scan but no ships. Unlike recently, I am thorough with my exploration and find a second tower, but it too has no ships or pilots in it or nearby. Scanning finds another six signatures to resolve, one of which must lead back out to k-space and perhaps further opportunity for exploration. Or maybe I'll even find a K162 from class 1 w-space, which looks very nice to me indeed. I resolve the static exit to low-sec too, but I ignore that to explore the C1 instead, hoping for some soft targets. A Loki isn't exactly 'soft', but it looks to be a target in the C1. The strategic cruiser sits lonely on d-scan, with no tower in sight, but there are also no wrecks or jet-cans visible, which makes his presence a curiosity.

I move away from the wormhole in the C1 and cloak, hoping the Loki doesn't see me, and perform a passive scan of the system. There are plenty of anomalies here, and rather than bookmark them all I just keep them sitting safely in my scanner's results. The Loki could be in one of them but there are still no wrecks, and a strategic cruiser should be massacring Sleepers in a low-class w-space system. I sweep d-scan around on a narrow beam and confirm the Loki is not in an anomaly, so I'm supposing he's sitting on a wormhole. And when he is joined by a Legion strategic cruiser, Absolution command ship, and—oh joy!—Noctis salvager, I think his sitting on a wormhole is a safe assumption to make.

I don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to say the ships are here to plunder the anomalies, the combat ships shooting Sleepers and the salvager sweeping up behind them. Sure enough, all the ships disappear from the tight d-scan beam and I find all but the salvager in a nearby anomaly. But if the salvager isn't on the wormhole or in the anomaly then he may be somewhere obvious, if he hasn't made a safe spot yet. I think I have his position on a planet and warp to try to catch him before he even gets near a Sleeper wreck, but it looks like he's bouncing between planets whilst his colleagues engage Sleepers. That's fairly sensible. What isn't sensible is to warp in to the anomaly before it has despawned, and to be left alone in such a state.

I can understand why the pilots are choosing to fly this way. Rather than going through the tedious task of bookmarking and individually labelling each anomaly, then the laborious process of sharing the bookmarks with the Noctis, the fleet is clearing Sleepers from an anomaly and then calling for the Noctis to warp to their position. That saves a lot of overhead. And the combat ships are leaving the Noctis alone because they can chew through Sleepers so quickly that it would be startlingly ineffecient to sit and wait for salvaging to complete. It would probably halve the profit they could take home. Then again, leaving a salvager unguarded in an active anomaly may mean they take home no profit at all.

I've already located the first anomaly the ships cleared, as well as made a convenient bookmark I can use for quick access. With the combat ships moved on and the Noctis in and salvaging I warp in behind to reconnoitre the site. It all looks too easy. The Noctis is pulling wrecks in close to him, whilst almost sitting on top of the cosmic signature. The other ships are off shooting Sleepers somewhere. I will need to be ready to warp out quickly, depending on reaction times and the fleet's willingness to come to the aid of their Noctis being attacked by my Tengu strategic cruiser, but it looks like I have a good shot. I warp in from my vantage point to get close to the Noctis, decloak, and get my weapons hot.

The recalibration time finishes on my targeting systems and I have the Noctis locked. I disrupt the salvager's warp drive and let loose my missiles, which slam hard in to its shields and armour. No help is arriving yet, and I expect I have a few more seconds before a ship realistically can drop out of warp in reaction to my appearance. A few more volleys of missiles spew from my launchers and the Noctis pops to produce a beautiful fireball and an alluring pod. I am a split-second away from preventing the pod from escaping but it evades my grasp. I take the pod's exit as my own cue to leave, warping and cloaking before I get caught myself.

Out of the site safely, I turn around and warp back in to see the reaction. The command ship of the fleet warps in to where the Noctis was, and its wreck now is, but he is the only ship that does. Absolution is too late for this salvager. I keep watching as the ship potters around for a bit and warps out, d-scan showing me the two strategic cruisers disappearing from the system, the Absolution soon after them. Job's a good 'un! I routed the fleet all by myself, and it looks like they didn't get a single ISK of profit. The wreck of the Noctis even looks unlooted, which is a bit of an oversight by the Absolution. I go back and claim the spoils for myself, getting not much at all, unsurprisingly for a C1 anomaly and having assaulted the salvager almost as he started, but it's mine.

I'm glad I scanned our neighbouring C3 when I did, ignoring the potential for action there. Of course, it could have worked out differently, but my patience has its limits. And, as it happened, my timing on entering the C1 seems to have been perfect. I imagine the Loki I first saw was not really actively monitoring the system but simply waiting for his colleagues to arrive, which let me get in and cloak covertly. His presence also discouraged me from launching scanning probes, and had I got there sooner and had the probes flying around any visitors would have been wise to the danger. And now I have my kill I head back the way I came, through inactive systems, noting that even the Brutix has disappeared from the first C3, until I get home. I dump the meagre loot in our hangar, more trophies for me, and I kick back to get some sleep.

Posted in Gaming | 6 Comments »
Tags: absolution, brutix, buzzard, eve online, legion, loki, mmorpg, nemesis, noctis, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space

A destabilising presence

There are two signatures in the home w-space system today, how thrilling! Sadly, it looks like a new site has spawned and there isn't a second wormhole to accompany the first. And it's curious to consider that I would expect any second wormhole to be a K162 connection opened by capsuleers from another system. Even though I encounter a fair number of random outbound connections in the w-space constellations I explore, I don't recall ever finding such an outbound connection in the home system. I don't know why that would be, so I'll just note it as a peculiarity for now, bookmark the new radar site, and jump through to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system.

A tower is visible on my directional scanner from the K162 in the C3, along with a Nighthawk command ship and Noctis salvager. It's perhaps a little optimistic to expect the Nighthawk to be popping Sleepers and the Noctis clearing up behind it, and indeed there are no Sleeper wrecks visible in the system. I perform a passive scan of the system anyway, bookmarking the six found anomalies, before warping off to find the two ships empty inside the tower's shields. Never mind, I warp away, launch probes, and start scanning, once a blanket scan confirms a lack of activity in the system.

Radars, ladars, and a wormhole, oh my! And there's a second wormhole too, and although it seems to me that the signature has only just appeared it can't have been opened by another pilot, as resolving and warping to it shows it's a T405 wormhole to class 4 w-space. Look at that, a random outbound connection, just not in our home system. I finish scanning the C3 to find the static exit to low-sec empire space and a third wormhole, a K162 from more class 4 w-space. The K162 looks most promising for activity, so I jump through that first.

I was last in this C4 some twenty-eight months ago, so it probably doesn't matter that notes tell me I saw 'capitals on d-scan' back then, even if I'm also less impressed in general with simply seeing capital ships these days. A blanket scan of the system reveals no ships or occupation, with only seven signatures to search through to find another K162. Hello Mr hiding-at-the-edge-of-the-system, could you be more obviously a wormhole? The answer is 'nope!', as I resolve a K162 to another class 4 system. Maybe I'll find a source of activity in this system. Or maybe I won't, as the wormhole is stabilising, a clear indicator that no pilots have been active in the system on the other side for a while.

I head back to the C3, through the wormhole that is now reaching the end of its natural lifetime, another indicator that any action here happened some hours previously, and warp across to the T405. Jumping in to this C4 has a bunch of giant secure containters floating lonely on d-scan, which looks to me like the flotsam of an exploded tower. Sure enough, there is an off-line tower with the cans floating nearby, and I doubt there is anything left to salvage here, except the GSCs themselves, so I leave them alone. The off-line tower is the only sign of occupation and I don't quite fancy sifting through another twenty-six signatures to look for the next wormhole, so it's wonderful for glorious leader Fin to turn up and, on hearing my sitrep, suggest collapsing our static wormhole. Good idea! This is why she gets paid the big iskies.

Collapsing our wormhole is nice and smooth, and jumping in to the new neighbouring system has little ISK signs appear comically in my eyeballs. Nineteen anomalies are in this unoccupied C3, ten of them the easy ones that we can storm through, giving us an easy half-a-billion ISK or so in profit we can sweep up, if only we had enough time. And if there are no pirates waiting to shoot us, so we need to scan the system for additional wormholes before we get cosy with the Sleepers here. One wormhole is expected, a second makes Sleeper combat potentially awkward, and finding a third and fourth makes it almost suicidal. We're going to have to reconnoitre at least the connecting systems to look for activity before we can shoot Sleepers safely, although if we find some activity we could hopefully shoot that instead.

The first wormhole is a K162 from class 4 w-space, which Fin volunteers to jump through to scout. I bounce across the C3 to see what other wormholes I resolved, including another random outbound connection, this one an N968 to class 3 w-space, the static exit to low-sec empire space that leads out to a system in the Kor Azor region ominously filled with pilots known to our corporation, and a K162 coming in from more low-sec. I scout the second C3 for activity, finding none and beginning to scan as Fin reports ships in the C4. Two Hurricanes are flying around somewhere, Fin suspecting the battlecruisers to be harvesting gas. She calls me across to help scan their position.

Jumping in to the C4 to join Fin in hunting the Hurricanes begins awkwardly. The wormhole is in d-scan range of the gas-collecting ships, which could let the pilots spot my ships as I move away from the wormhole and cloak. And as the pair disappear almost immediately when I move I would say they've seen me. Regardless, I warp to the other side of the system to launch probes covertly, before heading back to scout their tower, as found already by Fin. The battlecruisers aren't there, and my combat probes aren't picking up any ships in the system, at least not on their first scan. A second scan has a pair of ships, but these have bigger hulls than battlecruisers. The two ships warp in to the tower and I see a pair of Widow black ops ships, which is simply a beautiful sight.

Two Widows is perhaps not so beautiful when considering they would chew me up, or jam me to death with their ECM, but they are undeniably good-looking ships. Their appearance could mean the locals are looking to collapse the wormhole, which could be why they disappeared briefly. It definitely means they have stopped what they were doing before, unfortunately. One of the pair swaps ships for a Manticore stealth bomber, and then scouts the wormhole and the C3, but neither Fin or I are in a good enough position to engage it, and all we can do is monitor its movements. The Manticore returns to the tower and the pilot gets back in to a Widow.

If these two pilots in their Widows are planning to collapse the wormhole there is still perhaps some interference we can cause. Fin goes back to the home system and brings an Orca industrial command ship back with her, safely sending the massive ship through the wormhole a couple of times to destabilise it and make any calculations the pair have made redundant. I think it's a neat little plan that may isolate one of the two ships, but it probably won't catch them by surprise, and definitely not if they aren't actually collapsing their wormhole. And so far neither Widow has budged a space inch. There's not much else we can do. It's too late now to clear any anomalies of Sleepers, and I managed to scare away the only activity we found, so we head home to get some rest. We won't even get to see if our wormhole-mass shenanigans sow any confusion.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on A destabilising presence
Tags: eve online, hurricane, manticore, mmorpg, nighthawk, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space, widow

Wrecks are a salvager's worst enemy

Scan, resolve, jump. It's like any other day, except for the Nidhoggur carrier and its fighters appearing on my directional scanner in our neighbouring class 3 w-space system. I occasionally see a carrier floating unpiloted in towers in lower-class w-space, somewhat overkill for the Sleeper infestations they must face, but today one is out and seeing action. He's not in an anomaly, as the passive scan I complete only finds one in the system and that is out of range of d-scan, but there are some Sleeper wrecks scattered around. I'll need to launch probes and scan properly to find the site the Nidhoggur's in.

A distant planet lets me launch scanning probes covertly. At least, I hope it does, as returning to the inner system and locating the tower here sees a Buzzard covert operations boat appear. And as I can see combat scanning probes on d-scan that aren't mine I can only assume that it's already game over, man, as the Buzzard will see the new wormhole opening in to their system and put the locals on alert. I leave the tower and warp to the K162 home, sitting a safe distance away to see if the Buzzard jumps through to explore, as I try to locate the Nidhoggur. There are only four other signatures in the system, besides our wormhole, which I suppose doesn't actually make him easier to find but is good to note anyway.

The Buzzard appears some distance from me at the K162, but doesn't approach to jump. Instead he launches some core scanning probes and cloaks. I don't know what he's up to but the Nidhoggur hasn't stopped shooting Sleepers, so I continue looking for him. I think I have his position and put my probes around where I think he is, and hit 'scan'. Carriers are big ships, and although I don't get a positive result for the magnetometric site he's in I resolve the Nidhoggur in a single attempt. Now I watch and wait to see what reaction I get. I warp in to the site to take a look at the Nidhoggur, and it doesn't look like he spotted my probes. The wrecks are also being left by the carrier, so I may even get a chance to surprise a salvager soon.

I've thrown my probes back out of the system instead of recalling them, so I can continue to blanket the system and look for additional contacts, but so far it seems to be just the Nidhoggur and Buzzard. That bodes well for a potential ambush, although when the Buzzard is swapped for a Drake and is warped in to the magnetometric site I wonder if maybe the battlecruiser will salvage instead of a squishy ship. But it looks like the Drake is brought in just to take care of the Sleeper frigates, as he doesn't touch any wrecks and as soon as the frigates pop he warps back out, leaving the Nidhoggur to take care of the final Sleeper battleship.

Wanting to keep eyes on the second pilot, keen to see if he swaps back to the Buzzard or in to a Noctis salvager, I follow him back to the tower. I am a little tardy in my decision to follow so d-scan shows me the Noctis before I get visual confirmation, and I feel a kill coming my way soon. And then I fly directly in to the tower, decloaking my ship right in front of the piloted Noctis. What a lapse in concentration, and what a time to make it! I didn't pay attention to my own bookmarking convention and now all I can do is warp out and cloak, leaving the Noctis to take a good look at my Tengu strategic cruiser as I head back to the wormhole home. I don't think I can pretend he hasn't seen me either, as he says hello in the local channel.

How embarrassing. My cover is blown, my stalking apparently coming to naught, but at least I have the presence not to warp directly to the wormhole when I flee the tower. I drop short, letting my cloak hold, and I wait in the system to gauge the reaction. I may not be getting a Noctis kill but I can see what the locals do and maybe scan my way further in to w-space, or out of it, to continue tonight's adventure. Sure enough, the Nidhoggur leaves the magnetometric site and the pilot swaps to a Rapier recon ship, which may not be a threat in itself but when paired with a second ship will no doubt mean curtains for my Tengu should it catch me. The Rapier warps in the direction of the site as the other pilot has abandoned the Noctis for his Buzzard and warps away to cloak somewhere.

I don't think I'm in trouble yet, but I also don't think there's much else to do here. I continue lurking, if only to see if the Rapier shows itself, to make sure I can get home safely, but all I see is the Drake return to finish off the Sleeper battleship in the magnetometric site. It takes me longer than perhaps it ought, but I realise this isn't the same Drake pilot. It was flown by the Buzzard pilot before, but now it's the Nidhoggur/Rapier pilot aboard, which means the Rapier is no longer a threat and that all there is for me to worry about is a Buzzard. I like that. Even so, it looks like the Drake is brought out not just to clear the site but to protect the salvager, the Buzzard reappearing on d-scan and warping in to the site in the Noctis shortly afterwads. Or, um, maybe the Drake will warp out of the site, leaving the Noctis alone with a hostile Tengu in the system. Okay.

Maybe the Drake's pilot is going to swap back to the Rapier, or another pointy ship, which means I may have to act quickly. I have at least the time it takes for the Drake to warp to the tower and warp back, which should be long enough to pop the Noctis, as long as I can get to him. Luckily, I am sitting at a range where I can warp directly to the Noctis, if only I had a suitable point for my nav-comp to lock on to, like a wreck, perhaps. The Noctis is pulling wrecks right up to itself so it can salvage them, which are wonderful beacons to use for an ambush. I pick one of the wrecks currently being salvaged and warp in, decloaking as I get close and getting my systems hot. The Noctis has no chance to escape.

My missiles slam in to the Noctis, taking chunks out of its shields and then armour, as my warp disruptor prevents the ship from fleeing. All the pilot can do is eject early in a bid to keep his current clone, which he does. I have been refreshing d-scan during my assault and I have a chuckle when I see the Drake swap not to a prickly ship but to a Buzzard, letting me pop the Noctis easily and loot the wreck almost at my leisure. There's not much in the way of spoils, having hit the salvager early, but anything is good. I move away from the wreck and cloak, waiting to see what happens now.

The pilot now in his pod swaps to a Rook recon ship and returns to the magnetometric site to wander around aimlessly for a bit. The other pilot boards a Broadsword heavy interdictor, which is suitably threatening, but he doesn't do much in it apart from test its bubble outside of the tower's force field. I'm happy with my kill and it doesn't look like the locals will be analysing the artefacts now, so I turn my Tengu around and head homewards. Jumping through the K162 sees combat scanning probes in our system, so I loiter by the wormhole and wait for the Buzzard to get bored looking for me and for him to jump back to the C3 before I warp to our tower to drop off the loot. Let's keep him guessing where I am, keep the paranoia levels high.

It seems like an odd choice to press ahead with the salvaging operation once a hostile presence has been confirmed in the system, and they definitely saw me. I can only suppose that the pilots thought they were safe in the magnetometric site until they at least saw scanning probes trying to find it. I think it's safe to say I proved that a dangerous assumption to make, having scanned the site with the Nidhoggur in it earlier without being spotted. What is a more curious choice is to have the Noctis salvage without support, when a second pilot was clearly available. I can't say I know why these pilots made those choices, but I'm glad they did. Their mistakes trump my own, and I'll sleep soundly tonight having notched up another Noctis kill.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: broadsword, buzzard, drake, eve online, mmorpg, nidhoggur, noctis, penny ibramovic, pvp, rapier, rook, scanning, tengu, w-space

Sticking to ships I can shoot

Scanning remains simple with just the single signature at home. I resolve the static wormhole and jump in to a class 3 w-space system I visited only a month earlier. The last time I was here I watched and thankfully ignored a Myrmidion battlecruiser successfully baiting a local Hurricane battlecruiser in to an spiky ambush. It's maybe good news that I am back in this system so soon, as the locals are willing to take risks and put up a fight, but that only works if they are still here. Warping to one of the towers in my notes sees it stripped of everything, leaving a bare tower anchored around the planet, whereas the second tower, owned by a different corporation, is fully operational. There may have been a takeover here.

Whatever happened in this system in the past few weeks there is nothing happening now. A blanket scan reveals no ships, and only the one anomaly to go with the ten signatures that I start to resolve. I ignore gas and rocks, rocks and gas, find the static exit to low-sec empire space, and ignore rocks, rocks, and gas. It's a simple enough start to the evening, but it sucks up some time and all I have to show for it is a connection to low-sec. I'd better make use of it.

Jumping out of w-space puts me in to Molden Heath, where unsurprisingly I see a few pirates in the system. Ignoring them I launch probes and scan, finding two additional signatures to resolve. One turns out to be the insalubrious-sounding Angel's red light district, the other a chubby wormhole, an X702 to more class 3 w-space. I jump in to this second C3 in the constellation to take a look around, finding only another occupied but inactive system. A blanket scan shows the locals like to keep on top of their anomalies, with none in the system, but don't really care about other sites. Eighteen signatures is a lot of mess; try to keep it tidy, people.

Sifting through the signatures in this C3 finds a lot of gas and the static exit to low-sec. A second wormhole is more interesting, particularly as it flares as I drop out of warp to bookmark its location. An Anathema covert operations boat decloaks in front of the K162 from class 4 w-space and warps away. I get a look at the direction he's heading and follow behind, as I note that he's not heading towards the tower here. Exiting warp at a distant planet has the Anathema launching probes, but his navigation systems sent him to one of the moons. I find the moon quickly enough, sweeping d-scan around until I see his ship, but by the time I've warped to his position his ship is once again cloaked, leaving only a cluster of probes that will soon be whizzing around the system.

Whilst the scout is here I can explore what could be his home system, and I warp back to the K162 and jump in to the C4. D-scan is clear from the wormhole, with only one planet out of range. I don't launch probes yet, instead waiting to see if the system is unoccupied before looking for more wormholes leading backwards, and warp out to explore the distant planet. Getting in d-scan range shows me two towers and some ships, and finding the towers sees two Tengu strategic cruisers, a Rattlesnake battleship, and a Jaguar assault ship all piloted at one of the towers. Perhaps the Anathema is out looking for targets for his colleagues, either capsuleer or Sleeper.

I'm not going to threaten the ships here and there isn't likely to be another K162 to find in this C4, so I head back to the C3 and exit through its static connection to another low-sec system. The system in the Kador region is empty of other pilots, and although the only other signature to be found may be a wormhole it is only a K162 from null-sec k-space and not terribly interesting. I pass a little time popping some Blood Raider rats in the sole anomaly here, looking for some pocket money and a minor increase in my security status.

Just as the last of the rats explodes a pilot enters the low-sec system, d-scan telling me he's in a Drake battlecruiser. A second pilot in the same corporation soon follows, at which point the Drake's ship name changes to 'Bait'. I'm not that stupid, chaps. Exploration has finished, and I've done all the shooting for the evening that I'm likely to be on the winning end of, so I'm heading home to get some sleep.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Sticking to ships I can shoot
Tags: anathema, drake, eve online, jaguar, low-sec, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, rattlesnake, scanning, tengu, w-space

Null-sec rats and Sleeper artefacts

There is still just the one signature at home, I'm liking this ease of scanning. I'm not enjoying quite so much being the only pilot out here, but I never really got the hang of the whole socialising scene. It puts me in a bit of a dilemma, not wanting to be alone but being uncomfortable in company. Now's not the time to dwell on it, I have scouting to perform and maybe other pilots to shoot. Seeing an empty tower on my directional scanner in our neighbouring class 3 w-space system makes me think that maybe I won't have much luck hunting here, and a blanket scan of the system confirms no ships. I locate the tower and drift outside its shields as I sift through the untidy sixteen signatures.

I'm not going to bookmark a bunch of rocks and gas when there are so many signatures in the system. There's no guarantee any pilots will show up, and even if they do they may not even go mining. My time is better spent ignoring the sites for now and concentrating on resolving wormholes, of which I find two. The first is the system's static exit to high-sec empire space, the second a nifty outbound connection to more class 3 w-space. My attention is grabbed by a third wormhole, until I realise it's the K162 heading home, and I finish scanning by ignoring a couple of radar sites and bookmarking a magnetometric site. I jump in to the second C3 to continue exploring.

I've been in this C3 before, some six months ago. Whoever settled here has gone now, and cleanly too. There is no sign of the tower where my notes have it listed, so it doesn't look like the locals were ousted by any visitors coming through their exit wormhole to null-sec k-space. But an unoccupied system means lots of signatures, and I now have another twenty-nine signatures to scan. I'd best get to it if I want to find any action, and I launch probes and get a lucky first hit on a wormhole. The connection is a K162 from class 5 w-space and could be worth scouting if it weren't reaching the end of its natural lifetime. I leave the wormhole alone and start ignoring rocks and gas at best speed.

The second wormhole in C3b feels like the exit to null-sec, and I leave it alone for now. A third wormhole is chubbier, but even though it looks like the K162 comes from class 2 w-space it actually originates in high-sec, which is less interesting. Not finding any more wormholes in this system I jump out to see where I appear in high-sec. It's goram Tash-Murkon. No, wait, the system is Goram in the Tash-Murkon region. I launch probes and scan, finding no anomalies and only one more signature, which I resolve to be a Sansha hideout. How dull. I head back to C3b and warp across to the other exit, jumping out to null-sec.

The null-sec system in Immensea is empty of other pilots, scanning finding four signatures. Dumb rocks appear out here too, but also an Angel fortress and an X702 wormhole, another outbound connection to class 3 w-space. Continuing in to w-space sees three ECM drones on d-scan but nothing else, although a blanket scan sees five ships. The scan places all the ships together, so I am not surprised to find them all unpiloted inside a tower's shields out of d-scan range, and I only have two extra signatures to resolve here. One is a ladar gas harvesting site, the other the system's static exit to low-sec. Hello, Aridia! How lovely to see you, particularly as I have two choices of exits to high-sec behind me, as well as an almost preferable exit to null-sec.

I scan the low-sec system anyway, still looking for action, finding nothing but a blood raider anomaly. I have a choice of what to do, but not really a good ship to do it in now that my Tengu strategic cruiser is fitted for fleet operations. I head home, through still-inactive systems, and tinker with a PvP Drake I have sitting in the hangar, boosting its shield a little at the expense of a warp disruptor module, and head out to null-sec to see what the Angel rats are up to. They are all huddling behind a couple of acceleration gates, apparently, maybe already routed here by other capsuleers. I also manage to shoot the wrong target and get the attention of all the ships in the area, so I concentrate on popping the warp-disrupting frigates before moving to the bigger ships, at which point I need to retreat to recharge my shields.

Fin arrives! Now we have options, and we choose to clear these rats out of the empty null-sec system, for a change of pace from Sleepers. I head back, w-space stays quiet, and we board our Sleeper Tengus for my return to null-sec. We engage the rats again and keep a close watch on the local channel, a much more responsive guide to local population than d-scan, and cautiously align out of the site when a visitor arrives in the system. I return to relying on d-scan and see that the pilot is only in a Bestower, the hauler not a threat, and the pilot is soon gone again from the system, having passed through. Of course, he could let other pilots know we are here, but we'll have time to flee should more ships turn up. None do, just the Bestower a second time, and we clear the site of all the Angel rats, popping them pretty easily.

We still have a bit of time. We head back to w-space and our neighbouring C3 where we warp in to the magnetometric site I bookmarked for a more challenging encounter. Three capacitor-neutralising Sleeper battleships focussed on one of our Tengus is rather more of a threat to our survival than a bunch of rat battleships and cruisers, and they take a lot more damage before popping, even in mere class 3 w-space. We cope, it's nothing we haven't encountered before, but we have to concetrate a bit more, as well as constantly ping d-scan to try to detect any new ships. And I see something new, just not a ship. I realise that my scouting has been substandard again, too keen am I to scan for wormholes, and there is a second tower in this system that I overlooked earlier. I need to be more thorough.

Sleeper combat passes uneventfully, leaving us with wrecks to loot and salvage and artefacts to analyse. We split our efforts, Fin piloting a Noctis salvager and me in an analysing cruiser, and we sweep up all the profit in to our holds. No one is watching, or if they are they don't engage, and we get home safely with around a hundred and thirty million ISK in loot, and probably more than that in Sleeper artefacts. Having only got a few measly million ISK bounties and a handful of interesting looted modules from the null-sec rats I can only think we're doing something wrong out there, but that's okay as w-space is our home. And having explored through several systems, shot some Sleepers, and made a decent profit it's time to hit the sack.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Null-sec rats and Sleeper artefacts
Tags: bestower, drake, eve online, mmorpg, noctis, null-sec, penny ibramovic, scanning, sleepers, tengu, w-space

Slow for a scout

An empty home system sends me scuttling in to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system to explore. An Anathema and Orca are visible on my directional scanner, along with a tower, and although my last visit was ten months ago and apparently too long for my notes to remain pertinent, finding the location of the new tower is simple enough. Dropping out of warp outside the force field shows me the covert operations boat is piloted and the industrial command ship isn't, just as a Buzzard cov-ops boat appears on d-scan. The other ship doesn't warp in to the tower but instead appears as a blip on d-scan, making me think he's not local and I'll have more systems to explore. That's good. I warp away to launch probes so that I can scan the system.

It seems the Buzzard has the same idea as me. As I get to a distant planet and punch d-scan to ensure I'm out of range of any watchful eyes I see the Buzzard and a cluster of probes appear. He has warped to one of the moons here to launch probes, cloaking and moving his probes promptly enough that I don't catch him. Warping to a planet instead of a safe spot is a fair sign that the ship isn't local. I warp to a different moon and launch my own probes to scan, which won't take long, there being only three signatures along with three anomalies, and I already know about the K162 heading home. If I'm quick I can perhaps try to catch the Buzzard as he continues scouting, so I get to work.

The first of the two signatures to resolve stinks like a static exit to null-sec, and I leave it alone for now. The other isn't a wormhole, which I'd expect if the Buzzard is a visitor, but a ladar site. Maybe the Buzzard has come in through the null-sec connection, which narrows his options to continue exploration in to our home system. That suits me, as I see his probes are still out, and I dash home to swap my scanning boat for an interceptor, planting myself on the wormhole in wait for the Buzzard. And I wait, and wait, and wait.

I really should stop doing this. Sitting in an interceptor and waiting for a scout to jump in to my clutches simply doesn't work. For a start, almost no one comes. I can't even tell if the scout is coming my way or not, because I have to sit in a different system and, by myself, have no way of telling if he's still scanning, has gone through a different wormhole, or has left a jet-can for me with a present inside before logging off. And even if the occasional scout jumps through the wormhole I tend to fly off at maximum speed in a direction mostly unrelated to where the ship sheds its session change cloak. But I suppose that also means I need the practice. It would be nice if I could tell if someone was heading my way, though.

I give up on waiting for the scout to come and swap back to my Tengu strategic cruiser to continue exploring through the C3's exit wormhole. Jumping in to the C3 again sees the Buzzard still around, and still not at the tower, before disappearing again. I ignore him and warp to the wormhole, or, rather, I warp to empty space, the wormhole already gone. That's peculiar, although I won't pretend that I am the first pilot to discover any wormhole, particularly in occupied systems. It feels like quite a coincidence that it died so soon after I scanned it, but it's possible. I'll need to scan for the new wormhole now.

A thought occurs to me and I warp to the tower. I hope I didn't miss the Orca collapsing the exit to null-sec! Arriving outside the tower sees the industrial command ship thankfully still unpiloted, so it's unlikely to have been moved recently. I imagine the wormhole simply died of old age. I warp out, relaunch my probes, and resolve the new connection, it being the only new signature here. The static connection indeed leads to null-sec k-space, and I jump out to find myself in the Outer Ring region. I scan here too but find no other signatures, only one anomaly. I consider popping a few rats whilst I'm here, but pilots hopping in and out of the null-sec system, at least one in an agile Dramiel frigate, discourages me from making a target of myself. I simply head back to the C3.

Checking for activity again in w-space finally triggers some neurons, as I notice that the number of hangars doesn't tally with those I've seen at the tower. Sure enough, a better look at d-scan reveals a second tower in this system, which I find easily enough now I know it's here. The Buzzard's appearance can now be explained, as he may well be local, particularly as his scouting coincided with the death of the wormhole. He turned up at about the time the wormhole collapsed of old age, couldn't care about the K162 to our C4, and scanned the new exit to null-sec before disappearing in that direction. It makes sense, even if I can't verify it. That was sloppy scouting by me and I need to be more careful. But it still leaves me with no one around and nothing more to do, so I head home to get an early night.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Slow for a scout
Tags: anathema, buzzard, dramiel, eve online, mmorpg, null-sec, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Scanning, fuel, and Sleepers

It's so much easier to know you're isolated when you only have to count up to one. The sole signature picked up on my scanning probes in our home w-space system must be the static wormhole, confirming I'm by myself again. It's lonely out in space, as a famous man once spoke over another famous man's music. I should find someone to shoot. Exploring beyond the light-grey yonder in to our neighbouring class 3 system sadly doesn't help with that mission, with a tower and nothing else visible on my directional scanner from the wormhole.

Launching probes and performing a blanket scan of the C3 finds nothing of interest. The single anomaly and eight signatures indicate tonight's exploration could be rather dull indeed. I locate the tower and sit outside it as I scan, hoping for a pilot to make an appearance. It's mostly rocks and gas out there, of course, accompanied by one radar site and one wormhole. Today, the wormhole is the last signature I resolve.

The exit from the C3 leads out to high-sec empire space, and I jump through to find myself in The Forge. How cosy. I'm still ten jumps from Jita, but being in the same region somehow makes me feel closer. It's probably worth a trip to the trade centre of New Eden, as my recent fuel run forgot that we also need CPU food, my scribbled note on my dash only reminding me how much of each type of power grid fuel I can cram in to a Crane transport ship. I make a similar calculation for CPU fuel and head back home for the Crane, one trip probably enough to keep the tower running for a while longer.

I could probably take some Sleeper loot out to sell too, to defray the cost of the fuel, but I need a Fin to help me price the salvage and artefacts. Or I could forget about Sleeper loot entirely until I exit w-space again and decide to simply head forwards to market. I also find out that this high-sec system is a one-system dead-end island, the only stargate available leading to low-sec. At least it's just one jump through low-sec to get to contiguous high-sec, and I'm in the Crane, so it's no problem. Not only that, I find some heavy water for sale closer to me and cheaper than Jita, with only a couple of low-sec hops standing in the way. Easy peasy, I'll go there.

My glorious leader arrives and starts collapsing our static wormhole. ...with my knowledge, I should add, not to get rid of me. Our neighbouring system is dull and the operation to collapse a wormhole can take a little time. I get back with the Crane, transfer some water to the tower to keep the CPU running and the rest in to storage, and then swap in to my Widow black ops ship to finish the wormhole off. Fin does a bit of maths and calculates one set of jumps between us should be enough, and it is. The wormhole collapses with both of us home, safe and sound.

A quick scan confirms that there is still only one signature in the home system, the new static wormhole, and we leave it unvisited. There are a few profitable anomalies we can clear here before we need to look abroad, and better we make ISK from our home system than tourists. We both board our Sleeper strategic cruisers and sweep through three anomalies easily enough. We then sweep through them a second time in Noctis salvagers, looting and recovering the wrecks, bringing back a decent haul of a third of a billion ISK in profit. Even with a lack of targets, it's been a pretty good and varied evening.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Scanning, fuel, and Sleepers
Tags: crane, eve online, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, scanning, sleepers, w-space, widow

Minor spoils

The Drake has left the system. My assault was looking strong until the battlecruiser loosed some ECM drones on me, breaking my lock and letting it warp to safety. Now the ship has dropped off my directional scanner and is probably back in empire space, as it wasn't local to this class 3 w-space system. I sit and watch the remaining Sleeper pop the abandoned drones in the magnetometric site, cloaked and at a safe distance. I think I've seen the last of the Drake, but it reappears on d-scan. Surely it can't be returning to the site, not after being attacked by a strategic cruiser. At least, not without some assurance that it could evade me a second time.

My first thought is that the pilot has picked up a new flight of ECM drones, but that would be a rather simplistic strategy. The Drake could have called upon some allies to watch her back, but that is an unlikely circumstance with the pilot being in a state-owned corporation. Maybe she simply thinks I've had my shot and gone my own way. It's a dangerous assumption to make, but I've seen pilots make worse decisions. For now, I'll just watch what she does. The Drake warps in to the magnetometric site, on top of the cosmic signature, and engages the Sleeper cruiser.

Before the sole Sleeper pops the Drake warps out again, which is odd. I would have thought a Drake with recharged shields would be able to withstand the fire from a single Sleeper cruiser. Indeed, it must have before, when facing more ships. I don't quite know what's happening until the Drake reappears and heads towards the artefacts. It looks like the pilot warped in the first time only to get a better reference in order to warp directly to one of the artefacts, instead of crawling to them slowly. She's come back to claim her loot, not wanting it to be lost to the vacuum. That is good enough motivation to explain her actions, I'm heading in for another shot.

I warp deeper in to the magnetometric site and manoeuvre closer to the Drake, as the Sleeper continues to shoot the battlecruiser and the battlecruiser continues to analyse the artefacts. I drop my cloak, lock on to the Drake, and fire my launchers. The Drake starts shooting too, but not me. She's firing at the cruiser, which has now started picking on me. But's it's just one cruiser, hardly a problem, at least until the Drake rips apart the remnants of the structure holding the Sleeper together, and now it's clear what the Drake's plan is. The cruiser pops, the Drake having worn it down almost to destruction before my attack, and the next wave of Sleepers warps in. Two battleships, two cruisers, and two frigates arrive, and they all go for me.

I could probably take the damage from the Sleepers for a while, perhaps not long enough to destroy the Drake but hopefully long enough for them to switch targets to the Drake, but these Sleepers are not merely damaging my shields. Two of the ships are draining my capacitor, which is dropping pretty rapidly. I may rely on a buffer tank but my warp disruption module and shield hardeners both rely on capacitor juice to keep them running, and without them the Drake can escape and I will take significantly more damage. And without capacitor juice I cannot warp away either, regardless of the state of my drives. I decide discretion is the better part of valour and warp out.

The Drake's plan to bring Sleepers to her rescue is cunning, and she's rightfully pleased with herself, but it is also self-defeating. I don't quite warp out of the site but only to my bookmark a couple of hundred kilometres away, and watch cloaked as the Sleepers change their focus to the Drake. I have been shooed, certainly, but the Drake won't get any of the profit it came back for. It's not long before the battlecruiser also has to exit the site, no more artefacts analysed, and she drops off d-scan once more. I don't see her return.

Excitement over I can finally scan this class 3 w-space system, although exploration has gladly taken a back seat to hunting so far. I'm keen to see where the Drake came from, at least. Along with a ladar and gravimetric site I find the expected two wormholes, but they don't turn out to be the types I expected. The first is the system's static exit to low-sec and as stable as any U210 I've seen. The Drake can't have opened this connection from the other side, and the wormhole looks too pristine for it to have been active since I entered the system. I assume the Drake came from the other wormhole but that is a connection to a class 4 system, and an outbound connection at that.

I have no idea how the Drake got in to this system. It's possible that the wormhole it used has died or been forced closed, although that would be quite the coincidence. Whatever the case, the Drake is gone and I have a C4 to explore, so I leave this C3 behind and jump onwards to dangerous w-space. The system looks familiar, perhaps because I was only here a week ago. My notes don't look like they offer any interesting insights, unsurprising given my rather dull expeditions of late, except that the C4 has a static connection to class 1 w-space. As this system is occupied and empty, much as I found it last week, I launch probes and scan. Once again the wormhole is hiding on the outskirts of the system and I recall my probes once I see it is the P060, as that is all I'm really interested in here.

I jump in to the C1 and, with a clear d-scan, launch probes to perform a blanket scan. There are no anomalies present but two ships somewhere, and I warp off to a distant planet. A Maelstrom battleship and Hurricane battlecruiser appear on d-scan, along with three towers, and I land outside one of them. My suspicion that the ships are unpiloted is unfounded, the Hurricane in this tower certainly having a pilot, but they are blue to our corporation and allies. I don't look for the other two towers or the Maelstrom, merely noting the blue occupation here in my notes as reference for any future visit.

There is no activity in the systems on the way home, the C4 deader than A-line flares with pockets in the knees, and the Drake not having returned to the C3. I warp across to the magnetometric site on my way back to our home system anyway, just to confirm that it has despawned naturally after the Drake poked the cans, and it has gone. But six Sleeper wrecks remain unsalvaged, five unlooted. I could grab that profit for myself.

Just in time glorious leader Fin arrives. She jumps in to a stealth bomber and I a Catalyst destroyer, and I guide her to our static wormhole so she can fly protection to my salvager. The Drake doesn't come back, perhaps because it didn't come from anywhere in the first place and it was all a figment of my imagination, but the loot is real. I recover just over twenty million ISK from the wrecks and get home safely after another night of w-space life.

Posted in Gaming | 7 Comments »
Tags: catalyst, drake, eve online, hurricane, maelstrom, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space