Gigs of 2011, part one

I have been remiss in reviewing gigs I've been to for quite a while now. I have wanted to keep them timely and accurate, jotting down notes on my tube journey home to write a review the next day, but external pressures don't always make that possible, nor do I find it particularly easy to review music as such. Never the less, I still would like to keep a record of the gigs I attend, if only for personal reasons, so it occurred to me to review gigs as I do albums, small chunks at a time. I probably won't end up with accurate playlists or a smattering of humorous comments from the bands, but I hope to encapsulate my experiences. I start with the gigs I've been to this year, to date, and hope to extend backwards to gigs I've missed reviewing last year at some point as well.

The Joy Formidable at The Borderline

I'm lucky enough to bump in to Rhydian before the album-launch gig in this tiny venue, and I spend a lovely time chatting with the charming bassist/vocalist for The Joy Formidable. We talk about their supporting Paul McCartney, minor problems with the special edition box-set, and music in general, and it all affirms my impression that The Joy Formidable are an amazing band that are here to create and play music they are passionate about. And I feel lucky to see them play in such a small venue, when they have already played in a stadiums and festivals to huge audiences, particularly as it may be the last opportunity to see them in such an intimate setting. Debut album The Big Roar is released and this is a re-scheduled show to celebrate that, a separate gig prior to a tour a couple of months down the line, and the Borderline is packed with fans. And when The Joy Formidable come on stage and play old favourites and new tracks they could be in a stadium, the energy and power of the performance threatening to rip the venue apart. A genuine band that appreciate their audience and fans, with already plenty of strong songs, The Joy Formidable deserve the recognition they are getting and more.

Kylesa at Camden Underworld

The Power Armoured Beard invites me along to a gig, and I'm not one to turn down new live music, particularly at a venue as intimate as the Camden Underworld. I get past the queue to get in to the venue in time to see the last of the support act, who were ridiculously pretentious and I'm glad I missed them, and meet up with Beardy for the main act. Kylesa are unusual in that they employ two drummers, which is partly why the Beard thinks I'll enjoy them, and I'm pleased to see that they don't simply play the same beat all the time, which was what disappointed me about Beach Buggy's two drummers, oh so many years ago now. They are also really good, not just the drummers but the band too, and they clearly have some dedicated followers here in the UK. It's harder rock than I normally lean towards, but it's good and entertaining, a top evening's live music.

Sleigh Bells at Heaven

Sleigh Bells released one of the most powerful albums of the previous year with Treats, and I'm excited to be seeing them. I'm a little less excited when it's evident early on that the band are relying excessively on backing tapes. I understand that having two members of the band, one singing and one on guitar, somewhat limits what they can do on stage, and that the drum parts will need to be added somehow, but there is so much vocal looping that I don't quite know when or what the singer is actually singing, which is unfortunate when she is the focal point of the performance. The music is great and hearing the Gibson Flying-V growl out some heavy riffs is awesome, but the atmosphere is missing and I don't think the venue is at fault. There should be an element to live music that I can't get listening to a CD at home, and I don't quite get that element tonight. I still love Treats, but Sleigh Bells live are disappointing.

Suuns/Gyratory System at Corsica Studios

It is a pleasant surprise to see Gyratory System supporting at this gig, as I only recently picked up their album. I hadn't much opportunity to listen to it but had played it through a couple of times at least, so should enjoy the gig. It's all a bit odd, though. I like live music for what it offers over recorded music, and that invariably includes some element of performance, either with a singer bouncing around or the band playing their instruments. Gryratory System have two horn players and one man on a synthesiser, which could be interesting if the frontman didn't have his trumpet fed through effects pedals. Although I can see him blow in to the trumpet and watch his fingers move the valves there is a weird disconnect between what he's doing and the sounds he makes, because my brain doesn't expect trumpets to make any kind of noise like that, to the point where I cannot reconcile the performance to the music. Because of this I soon lose interest, however much I actually want to listen to and like the band.

Top of the bill for the evening are Suuns, and this is more like it. Guitars, drums, and singing. I can relate what I'm seeing with what I'm hearing, which is a good start, plus it's Suuns playing. I love the Zeroes QC album and tonight I get to hear most of it, plus some other tracks that although I don't recognise them are played just as emphatically and I get carried along with the performance. The music is great, Suuns are really impressive on stage, and the gig blows me away. I want to see them again.

Yuck at Scala

I am pleasantly surprised by Yuck. Despite seeming superficially like an average indie band their music has a more nuanced feel to it. And their drummer has a killer affro. I'm quite looking forward to their headline set at the Scala, even if I'm beginning to get negative vibes from the venue itself. I get there early, find a nice spot on a raised section near the back with a barrier to lean against, enjoy the support act, and then have some douchebag climb up in front of me and get his stupid big head right in my face. I ask politely if he would mind moving a little, which I consider a reasonable request as he's climbed up on something he shouldn't to get a better view and isn't just standing naturally. But he takes offence, his friend thinks I'm being rude, and they both get in my face for asking a simple question they could have just said no to, making me feel rotten for no reason. They eventually get bored with pissing me off, and I get to watch Yuck in peace. It's just a shame that the incident sours my mood, because although I enjoy the music and was looking forward to the gig I don't get to experience it properly, leaving the gig feeling low.

Bo Ningen/Guitar Wolf at Islington Academy

Bo Ningen released the most exciting debut album of the year and I've been keen to see them live. Playing small-key gigs at awkwardly located venues and touring their native Japan hasn't helped, but finally I get an opportunity to see them, if only as a support act. That's okay, and I aim to get to Islington Academy early to catch their set. In fact, I go even earlier than I initially intended, just in case of delays. I have trouble yet again finding the entrance to the venue, it being signposted as being on the first floor but is actually on the ground floor and just around the corner, which I'm posting here as much as a reminder for myself as anything. And by the time I get inside the band are already playing, and I make my way easily down to the front to catch their energetic performance, guitars wailing and screaming, vocalist wailing and screaming, but always completely in control of the sound. I am completely enthralled, but sadly only for three songs, for despite my punctuality I still managed to turn up half-way through their set. Which promoter or venue puts the support act on stage at half-past seven? That's crazy early. I would be more annoyed, but I caught enough to be invigorated by the band and I also have a ticket to see them perform again in two days' time.

Headliners Guitar Wolf have a reputation, probably. I have to admit I know little about them, but there is quite a crowd here to see the rockers. Personally, I think they're trading on their reputation now, as they seem to be stuck in the 80s, their slicked hair, leather jackets, and <gasp> spitting really not have any shock or cool value left to them, and neither does holding a single note on a guitar whilst sneering like you're hard as nails. No doubt fans of the band are thrilled to hear the songs they recognise and like, but through new eyes as mine Guitar Wolf are anachronistic and unexciting.

Bo Ningen/Part Chimp as part of the Raw Power Festival at Corsica Studios

Corsica Studios are holding a mini-festival, which is really all the venue can do when situated under some railway arches, and not particularly tall ones at that. But all credit to them, three stages have been set up with bands filling all of them, bands staggered across the two mains stages to have continuous live music for over ten hours. It's almost good to see Cate le Bon still going, if only because I can go to another stage to avoid her, and there is plenty of new music and relatively obscure bands to discover here, although not much really catches my eye.

I'm here to see two bands, and not only do I miss neither of their sets but they play back-to-back on the same stage. First is Bo Ningen again, a couple of days after seeing only half a support set from them. I bump in to the band as I wander around the rest of the venue and have a chat with singer Taigan, who is exuberant and friendly, happy to say that they will be on stage for longer tonight, which will let them be even more energetic than Friday night's performance. He's not wrong, and the psychedelic rock that Bo Ningen assault us with is mesmerising and thrilling, a good fourty-five minutes of brilliance, exciting the whole audience. I love this band.

Part Chimp are next on the bill and although I am dubious that even a firm favourite of mine can top Bo Ningen they come out and play louder than I've ever heard them play. What's good about Part Chimp is that the louder they are the better they are, they aren't trying to compensate for a lack of anything, the noise just helps the music to reverberate deeper in to your body. We are treated to mostly new songs, with some older ones thrown in for good measure, and I am blown away yet again by this amazing band. A chat with guitarist Iain after the set suggests maybe another gig in London before the end of the year, and before the band split up, so I'm looking forwards to that.

Posted in Audio | Comments Off on Gigs of 2011, part one
Tags: bo ningen, borderline, cate le bon, corsica studios, gig, guitar wolf, gyratory system, heaven, islington academy, kylesa, part chimp, scala, sleigh bells, suuns, the joy formidable, underworld, yuck

Empty space is empty

We're not at war, how disappointing. Maybe the angry pilot decided not to waste his iskies on declaring war on a w-space corporation, where all space is lawless space and we're unlikely to bump in to each other again through random connections, or he calmed down a bit. Either way, it doesn't really matter. I get back to the routine of scanning for an exit, even if I don't know what I'll do with an exit when I find it. Look for more w-space, probably.

Looking for targets! I remember what I'm doing out here. Making iskies and shooting other ships, although both activities seem to be sparse in opportunity at the moment. That won't stop me looking, so I start scanning. The home system has been drinking hot chocolate, it seems, as it has a build-up of gas. I activate the two ladar sites to provide relief for the both of us, leaving me with just the one wormhole to resolve. I jump through to our neighbouring class 3 system in the vain hope of seeing pilots acting foolishly.

My directional scanner shows me two towers but only one active force field. I was here five months ago and the active tower is the one I have listed in my notes, and finding the off-line tower sees it to be stripped of all items of value. There's no looting to be done here for me. There is also no hunting, as a blanket scan of the system reveals no ships, and there are only eight signatures to scan for more connections. One of the signatures looks to be an obvious wormhole, and indeed it is. Not many sites appear so far outside of the system and away from the ecliptic plane.

The wormhole I find is a K162 that looks like it comes from class 2 w-space, but the colours are only suspiciously close and not exact. Looking at the information for the wormhole shows that it actually connects from low-sec empire space, making it less interesting. I keep scanning, a couple of magnetometric sites cropping up before two more wormholes, after which there are only two radar sites to ignore. One of the other wormholes is the static exit to low-sec, the other a K162 from class 5 w-space that is critically unstable and not worth risking jumping through. I'm going to low-sec.

The C3's static exit leads out to Bleak Lands, where an incursion is in progress but entirely without appeal. The only other pilot who passes through the system whilst I scan merely gets irritated by his forced inclusion in the incursion communication channel, which no doubt pops up in an undesired position on his display much as it did on mine. Scanning the low-sec system finds two more wormholes, one a boring K162 from null-sec that's almost dead anyway, the other a K162 from more class 3 w-space which interests me rather more. I jump in to take a look.

All but one planet is in range of d-scan from the wormhole in the C3, and I see nothing and nobody. Checking the outer planet reveals a tower but still no ships, and once I confirm the location of the tower I head back out to low-sec, not wanting to scan the w-space system for possible K162s. Besides, I have an engagement soon and my time is limited. I make a quick check of the other exit to low-sec from our neighbouring C3, putting me in the less painful Aridia of the North that is Black Rise, yet still a mere three hops from contiguous high-sec space.

A quick scan of this low-sec system finds nothing but the wormhole I'm sitting on, giving me no more space to scan without using a stargate. My work here is done. I jump back to the still-silent C3 and warp homewards, changing in to some fancy clothes in preparation for the invitation-only early viewing of an art exhibition. A painting or two will look good in my captain's quarters.

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

Inciting incidents

There are seven signatures at home today, which means new sites or extra wormholes. Or both! How exciting. I activate a new ladar site, hoping for it to pop but instead giving it a slow puncture, and drop out of warp in front of a K162 from class 5 w-space. That's nice, but I'll look for the exit through our static wormhole first. I jump to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system to see a tower, ships, and scanning probes visibly on my directional scanner. Yes, probes are in the system but I'm not rushing back home to stick an interceptor on our wormhole. For all I know, the scout is from the C5 and is heading outwards himself, so I'm not about to waste my time waiting for no one quite so early in the evening.

That's interesting. Adjusting the range of d-scan to see how close the scanning probes are to our K162 shows a Drake to be oustide of the local tower. There are no wrecks in the system that I can see, and further adjusting d-scan puts his ship apparently around a planet. I warp across to see the battlecruiser floating inertly at the planet, making me wish I had a ship that could kill it. But maybe my Tengu can, even if the strategic cruiser is configured for covert operations. Checking the details of the pilot shows him to be young, certainly young enough that he won't be able to fit a Drake with its normally formidable tank. Now all I need to hope is that the ship isn't bait, like the previous day's Myrmidon battlecruiser, as I decloak and lock my target.

The Drake's shield drops nice and quickly, and although the battlecruiser's systems automatically return my target lock the pilot doesn't return fire. Instead he ejects from his ship and warps off, a second before I lock his pod. The pilot may have escaped but I'm popping this Drake. There is no way I'm going to risk recovering the ship myself and I'm not letting the pilot have it back. I earned this kill, I'm going to take it. And pop the Drake does, in the kind of happy not-me explosion I haven't seen in what seems like quite a while. I loot and shoot the wreck, and find out why the piloted bailed out so quickly. The probes I saw here belong to this unconventional scanner.

The battlecruiser's configuration may have been compromised to fit the probe launcher but I didn't—couldn't—know that before my assault. I even attacked before reconnoitring the rest of the system. I took a risk and it paid off this time, giving me a good kill. And maybe there will be more action here, as a Nemesis appears on d-scan briefly, suggesting the stealth bomber is coming out to look for me. That's cool, I can take a bomb blast, but I see nothing more of him, probably because I re-activate my cloak to take a look around.

I find the tower and see the Drake pilot swapping between a second Drake and a Bestower hauler. Surely he can't be that silly to collect planet goo after a Tengu shot his Drake, and thankfully for him he doesn't stray from the tower. A Retriever mining barge is also piloted at the tower, a Badger hauler sitting empty nearby, but I doubt I'll see any more action from these pilots now. I warp away, launch probes, and scan, bookmarking five anomalies and ignoring the three known ships before starting to resolve the handful of signatures here.

It doesn't take long to resolve a radar site, two magnetometric sites, and the exit to low-sec empire space. As I do, a new contact appears, a piloted Buzzard covert operations boat turning up at the tower before slow-boating out of the shields to launch his own scanning probes. If only I was in a stealth bomber, I may have a second kill tonight. I ignore the scanner for now and head out to low-sec, finding myself once more in the Placid region and not feeling comfortable about the route to high-sec. I don't need to use stargates to scan, though, so I launch probes and see what else there is for me to find.

Eight signatures seems like quite a bounty out in empire space. I scan a ladar site, a K162 wormhole from class 1 w-space, a Serpentis annex, another ladar site, a magnetometric site, another ladar site—what is this, w-space?—and some dumb drones. I jump in to the C1 to take a look around. D-scan is clear, which is unsurprising when only the outer planet of the system is in range, and blanketing the system reveals three signatures, one anomaly, and five ships. All the ships look to be at a tower, warping out to the distant planet finding a Drake and Bestower piloted at one tower, and two Velator frigates presumably at the second tower. The Velators are newbie ships and I don't bother warping across to see if they are piloted. The Heron frigate I saw on d-scan as I approached the towers is now missing.

I quickly scan the C1 system whilst I'm here, resolving a gravimetric site, and a K162 from high-sec space that would be more interesting if it weren't nearly dead of old age. The piloted ships here look asleep so I head back to low-sec and then in to the—hello, there's a pilot from the C1 corporation in the low-sec system, and scanning probes are visible on d-scan. I think I know where the Heron went. I really could use my stealth bomber now, the Tengu not quite as useful at catching smaller ships. I jump back through the C3, seeing no change, and then home, swapping ships to my Manticore before heading back out. I stop on the exit wormhole in the C3 to loiter with intent, hoping the Heron pilot will inquisitively jump in to take a look around.

The Heron doesn't jump in, of course, leaving me waiting for nothing again. I jump back out to low-sec just in time to see the pilot disappear from the local communication channel, showing that I've missed my chance at catching him. Whizzing across to the C1 and shadowing the pilot has her change in to a Drake and jump back out to low-sec, apparently to engage in some action out here. I could probably use my Tengu, particularly as this pilot is quite young too, and now I'm kicking myself for not resolving and bookmarking the sites out here.

Wait a second, d-scan is showing me a ship name I recognise for some reason, a ship name attached to a Bestower. And there in the local channel is the pilot of the Drake I shot earlier in the C3, the one who swapped to a Bestower. This is too good to be true, but I warp across to the K162 to the C3 as fast as I can, moments after the pilot disappears from the system, in case he really is that foolish. I jump back in to the C3, see the Bestower just off the wormhole and aligning for warp, and spring in to action again. I decloak my bomber, gain a positive lock almost immediately—this being a major benefit of the bomber—and get my launchers hot. The flimsy hauler with an inexperienced pilot in control pops with only one volley of my torpedoes, and the pilot's pod is caught by my fast-locking systems to give me a corpse to scoop.

I loot and shoot a second wreck this evening, boggling a little to see some Sleeper loot stuffed in to the Bestower. Even after I shot his Drake the pilot thought it safe to haul his profit around in a defenceless and unescorted industrial ship. Oh, I suppose I am a little evil for taking advantage of him twice, but I am not hunting him specifically, both kills being quite opportunistic, the first one a little risky and the second a result of paying attention and remembering details. The pilot probably ought to have known better, and if he didn't maybe his does now. Or maybe he will vent at me for being mean and nasty to him, sending me a mail to tell me just how he feels.

I don't know what to say. My first wardec! I'm so proud. I take a couple of minutes to reply, hopefully managing to be diplomatic, before getting back to seeing what the Drake in low-sec is up to. She's there, but not for long, swapping back to her Heron and scanning low-sec again. I manage to jump out of the C1 in time to see her frigate drop out of warp seventy kilometres from the wormhole and cloak, me still with the session change cloak active. I have to move away and cloak at some point, and she is bound to see me, so I head back home and let her know I am doing so in the local channel. I've had an interesting evening, I'm not about to play the who-can-wait-the-longest game now. And that K162 from class 5 w-space will remain unvisited. There was too much happening in the other direction to bother with turning around.

Posted in Gaming | 4 Comments »
Tags: badger, bestower, buzzard, drake, eve online, heron, manticore, mmorpg, nemesis, penny ibramovic, pvp, retriever, scanning, tengu, velator, w-space

Hounding and hounded

We rejoin our hero after she's already seen the signs of a trap and avoided taking the bait, and navigating dangerous low-sec space and taking evasive action to avoid a gate camp, all to get her colleague home. Our hero, in case you're wondering, is me. Don't rush to praise me, it's all in an evening's work. I'm back in our home system now and ready to hit the sack, but I realise that I travelled backwards through w-space to find the exit, through a K162 at home, and only briefly poked my nose through the static connection to our neighbouring class 3 system. I think I'll take a closer look at what's there.

Jumping in to the C3 immediately sees activity, a Hound stealth bomber visible on my directional scanner. There is no on-line tower within d-scan range of the wormhole, although an off-line one is nearby, and as the Hound is not cloaking I'm not surprised to have d-scan show me the ship and tower together. Warping to the moon of the off-line tower finds the Hound shooting some defences left behind, happily orbiting one of the guns and loosing volleys of torpedoes its way, and it's a pilot I recognise, if not actually remember. The rest of the system looks clear from here, at least for now, giving me time to take a shot at the bomber. I get the feeling I'll enjoy shooting this pilot, even if I'll only find out for sure who he is afterwards.

I warp closer to the tower, putting me almost in range of the Hound, but his relatively fast orbit carries him away immediately. It's a simple matter to wait for him to come around again, such is the predictability of an orbit, and I manoeuvre to get more within his path. As he burns towards me, unknowingly bringing him ever close to my covert strategic cruiser, I decloak and get my systems hot. It's time to rain fiery doom on the Hound. Unfortunately for me, the Hound was paying enough attention to get his ship cloaked a second before I can get a positive lock, and the stealth bomber disappears from my overview.

I was already approaching the Hound when he cloaked, so I light my drives and burn towards his position, hoping to bump in to him and interfere with his cloak. My ships surges forwards for a bit but no Hound appears, and I take the prudent action to cloak my own ship, changing vector as I do. It understandably then takes me a little by suprise when the Hound and I collide, decloaking each other. The Hound engages my ship, I return the positive lock, and we share missiles. I can soak up his damage easily enough, although his tiny hull is avoiding the worst of my missiles' explosive damage. But even though it looks like I'll win this engagement I get the feeling circumstances will change.

The C3 remains unexplored. All I've seen is the off-line tower in this corner of the system, so there may well be occupation elsewhere. Indeed, I doubt the Hound would be here shooting defences if it weren't his home system. And when we bumped in to each other he didn't try running but actively attacked my bigger and stronger ship. It wouldn't surprise me if the Hound tried to decloak me, and the only reason he didn't engage me initially was to buy himself some time. I'll wager he has friends on their way. I'm already updating d-scan as often as it will allow me, and as a precaution I am burning away from the Hound to get some separation between our ships. He is disrupting my warp engines and I may need to break his hold on me quickly.

Here they come. The Hound's not calling on any old pilots, the first ship I see on d-scan is an Onyx heavy interdictor. They're planning to kill me properly. I recognised and acted upon the need to get some distance between my Tengu and the Hound just in time, as I get clear of his warp disruptor and align and bug out as the Onyx drops out of warp with a Hurricane battlecruiser for company. I cloak as I enter warp and hit d-scan again to see a Crow interceptor and Legion strategic cruiser following behind. I was very nearly toast. Tonight makes me glad I splashed out for a faction micro warp drive, the only one with low enough powergrid requirements to fit on my ship.

I warp to the wormhole home, not caring to stop to explore the system more fully. The Onyx may not be able to stop me, but an interceptor could. I jump home and immediately move away from the wormhole and cloak, stopping only a safe distance away. I hold my position and see the wormhole flare. The Hound has followed me, appearing in our C4 and sitting obviously on the wormhole. These capsuleers must think I'm stupid. I was savvy enough to avoid their counter-attack, before it even happened, so I'm not sure why they think I'll fall for obvious bait. They really should read my previous journal entries. I leave the Hound alone, warp across the system out of d-scan range, and get some rest. Still no kill for me for a while, but I suppose no losses is a fair result, considering the recent circumstances.

Posted in Gaming | 3 Comments »
Tags: crow, eve online, hound, hurricane, legion, mmorpg, onyx, penny ibramovic, pvp, tengu, w-space

Avoiding one camp for another

I'm ignoring the Myrmidon. The battlecruiser is fairly obvious bait, confirmed when I see the trap sprung, strategic cruisers decloaking to pop an unfortunate victim local to this class 3 w-space system. I'll continue my scanning, looking for an exit so that I can guide an isolated Mick back to the home system. I resolve a wormhole and get ready to recall my probes, but have to stay my hand when I drop out of warp next to a K162 from deadly class 6 space. That's not quite what I was looking for, and makes me wonder if the ambushers are actually from this system and not the class 4 system also connecting in to this C3.

I saw the Myrmidon jump through the K162 from the C4, but it could be that the pilots first set a trap there before moving in to this C3. It's kind of a convoluted idea, though, and moving to loiter on the other K162 sees a Proteus allied with the Myrmidon jump to the C4, presumably returning home. It's simply coincidence that a C6 also connects in to this system, but that doesn't make it look any safer. I continue scanning and resolve another wormhole, this one a random outbound connection to more class 3 w-space, still leaving me the system's static wormhole to find.

The Myrmidon is still in the system and acting as bait near the farthest planet, probably seeing my combat scanning probes and hoping to get another bite. I tease him a little, moving all my probes near to his position, but I only do so because I suspect the wormhole I'm looking for lies out there. And it does, the battlecruiser coincidentally sitting close to the static exit to low-sec empire space. The connection is reaching the end of its natural lifetime and cannot be relied on to stay around for long, so I leave it alone. I don't give the Myrmidon and friends the satisfaction of popping my covert Tengu strategic cruiser, instead recalling my probes and disappearing through the outbound connection to C3c.

A Drake battlecruiser and tower are on d-scan in this class 3 system, and the lack of wrecks suggests the Drake isn't active. I locate the tower to see the Drake piloted but doing nothing, and simply launch probes to scan for the exit to low-sec. That's not a guess, I was here ten months ago and found such an exit on my last visit here. The small system leaves nowhere to hide, making the decision to scan openly easy. And scanning itself is relatively simple once I ignore the twenty-one anomalies and sift through the nine signatures, finding the static wormhole and jumping out to see where it leads.

I'm in the Placid region, close to the null-sec border, but also a mere two hops from the safety of high-sec. This looks like a good enough route to get Mick home. I head to high-sec to dock and contract the bookmarks to my colleague, only to stumble past a gate camp on my way there. Some speedy cruisers and powerful battlecruisers are sitting on a choke-point to low-sec, looking to catch unwary travellers, and despite my cloaky configuration I am still a little concerned about being caught. I make it to dock in high-sec without difficulty, contracting the bookmarks Mick needs to get home, along with a warning about the gate camp and bait Myrmidon, but it's getting home that worries me. I could probably evade a simple camp, but only if luck is on my side. If the stargate throws me in to the system too close to one of the camping ships I could be toast.

Thankfully, space is more connected than a simple linear path, and although it is a bit of a detour I decide to take the scenic route home. I have my atlas in front of me and there is an eleven-hop path back to the low-sec system with the wormhole, and I think I'd rather go that way than run headlong in to a gate camp. Then again, better then devil you know than the devil you don't. My first few jumps in to low-sec in the other direction are suitably quiet, until I hit the choke-point in this direction. Rather than a few cruisers vaguely blocking my path I have seven or eight ships, all piloted by red-skulled pirates, and dozens of drones floating around ready to interfere with any cocky cloaky ships. This doesn't look good.

I'm lucky this time, far enough away from any of the ships for them to pounce effectively, and I initiate warp and cloak with no troubles. I wonder if I would have been as lucky heading the other way, because if so I would be home by now instead of having another eight hops to make through low-sec. At least the rest of the journey goes smoothly and I am jumping back in to w-space soon enough. The Drake in C3c remains inert in its tower and there looks to be no change in C3b, where the Myrmidon was bait. Out of curiosity I pay it another visit, only to see the pilot has switched to a Drake now.

I would think that if the ambushers really wanted to catch more unwary ships they probably ought to get rid of the wreck of the ship they caught earlier. Having it sit next to their bait is rather a sign that something untoward has happened here. Ah, I see. The Drake is actually here to dispose of the wreckage, activating salvagers to do so profitably rather than simply shooting it. And once the wreck is gone so is the Drake, the pilots no doubt having got bored of waiting for me to fall for their trap and gone home. I go home myself, making one more jump through a wormhole and heading back to our tower for the night.

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Tags: drake, eve online, low-sec, mmorpg, myrmidon, penny ibramovic, proteus, scanning, tengu, w-space

Caught in a trap

Oops. Leaving our wormhole in a critical condition last night worked out well for me and Fin, but Mick took a stroll later on and had the connection collapse behind him. At least we now know it would have only taken one more jump for us to complete the operation, but it also means Mick is isolated. I need to scan an exit for his return. It looks like our static wormhole remains the sole extra signature in our system, and I resolve it and jump in to our—hey, that's a K162. It may be from class 3 w-space, but it's not the C247 I was expecting. I either need to be more thorough in my scanning or work out how to count up to six. I relaunch my probes to find the actual static wormhole and, as I am now sitting on top of the connection, jump in to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system.

Oh dear, there are combat scanning probes visible on my directional scanner. They even appear to be converging on the K162 I'm on, which only tempts me more in to swapping to an interceptor and sitting on the other side of the wormhole. Of course, that's what I do, but I still can't work out why. I'm ever the optimist, I suppose, hoping that someone will actually jump through the wormhole whilst I'm waiting and that I'll be able to catch them. But no one comes. I swap back in to my Tengu and head the other way this time, jumping through the K162 to explore C3b instead. This time there are no probes for me to get unnecessarily excited about, and although there are also no ships there is a tower on d-scan.

I launch my own probes as I locate the tower, which turns in to two once I find it, and a blanket scan reveals that these occupants need to take better care of their system. Eight anomalies and twenty-one signatures makes the place look untidy. And there are core scanning probes here, I just couldn't see them from the distant outreaches of this C3. An Anathema covert operations boat appears briefly on d-scan but I'm not going to wait for him not to jump through the wormhole home, and simply start scanning this C3 myself. I suspect there's another K162 somewhere, which I find at the same time as a strategic cruiser appears there. My combat probes pick up the ship as I am scanning the wormhole, which means he's seen the probes and there's little point trying to hide them, so I continue to resolve the connection he's on.

It looks like I spooked the pilot of the strategic cruiser, which is a bit of a shame. He may have been coming here to shoot some Sleepers and I changed his mind. I loiter by the K162 from class 4 w-space he came through in case returns, but I doubt he will. A wormhole flare, however, suggests I'm wrong. I throw my probes out of the system to make it appear that I've got bored and left, which is a pathetic ruse but the best I can muster right now. It's not the strategic cruiser that appears on the wormhole, though, but a Myrmidon battlecruiser, who warps off in an apparently arbitrary direction. Perhaps he's here to harvest some gas and I try to determine his position using d-scan. As I do, a Loki decloaks on the wormhole and launches scanning probes, no doubt the strategic cruiser I saw earlier who apparently didn't leave after all.

The Myrmidon's position is odd. I have his rough location and distance, but he's almost 12 AU from me, and about the same from the farthest planet, which places him much too far away from where sites normally spawn. The battlecruiser disappears from d-scan. Warping out to the distant planet finds him again, this time in a more obvious position. He seems to be in a safe spot directly between two planets, and in fact only 0·5 AU from the closest planet. This is much easier to scan successfully, and despite my reservations about attacking this Myrmidon solo, with what looks to be a colleague of his in a Loki nearby, I scan his position and warp in to take a look.

The Anathema from earlier was back on d-scan briefly, and after scanning the Myrmidon I appear not to have thrown my probes far enough out of the system to be out of sight. The battlecruiser is now moving slowly in an arbitrary direction, apparently unconcerned about any combat scanning probes, including those of the Anathema, or a Proteus strategic cruiser appearing briefly on d-scan, so I'm not entirely sure what's going on here. What am I saying? Of course I know what's happening! The Myrmidon is bait. He moved from a difficult position to scan to one that is trivial to locate. He's moving to put some distance between whoever scans him and warps in, the time spent in warp changing the Myrmidon's absolute position from where he was scanned, so that he's not completely vulnerable. And the Loki and Proteus are somewhere here waiting to spring the trap.

And here comes a Hurricane. The battlecruiser warps in to where the Myrmidon was a few minutes ago, and the ship looks local. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the pilot of the Anathema. He certainly isn't a colleague of the Myrmidon, or the Proteus and Loki wouldn't decloak and attack him, both the strategic cruisers sitting sensibly in the wake of their bait. The Myrmidon turns around too and the Hurricane is completely overwhelmed. His ship explodes and the pod warps clear, the combat over in seconds and before a second Proteus and a Drake battlecruiser come in from the class 4 system to join in the ambush. They aren't needed but it is a clear sign of the firepower the ambushers have in store for anyone daring to engage their ship.

I'm glad I wasn't totally fooled by the Myrmidon bait. I was a bit slow, I must admit, but I noticed the signs before I did something stupid. After watching the Hurricane meet its fiery end I warp to the K162 from the class 4 system to see if the ambushers leave the system. Apparently not, although they disappear off my probes. Maybe they saw my scanning probes as distinct from those of the Anathema and are hoping for another capsuleer to bite their hook. It won't be me, not today. Instead I keep on scanning, looking for an exit to get Mick home.

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

Stealing Sleepers from the neighbours

I'm back to find glorious leader Fin copying in to her nav-comp the twenty-three bookmarks I made earlier. That should keep her busy for half-an-hour, I may as well take my stealth bomber out for a roam. I'll probably be able to see the constellation remains quiet by the time Fin's copied the bookmarks, at which point we can collapse our wormhole and delete them all. Such is the way of w-space. And indeed our neighbouring class 3 system shows no signs of activity, which isn't surprising given that the locals dropped a can of bookmarks for all their sites for me, and jumping in to low-sec empire space and then to another C3 connected from there also finds nothing of interest.

As the other w-space systems I explored earlier were unoccupied to start with I don't think I'll bother even looking in them now. But I can use one of the wormholes to our advantage, the K162 from high-sec connecting to the low-sec system being a neat bridge that lets me bypass any dangerous stargates. I stow my Manticore back at the tower and head to high-sec in my Tengu, refitting one of the subsystems to match that of Fin's strategic cruiser so that we can start making profit again by shooting Sleepers. To get back in to the swing of Sleeper combat one of the bookmarks indirectly given to me is for a magnetometric site, and there are also some anomalies to clear in the C3. If the locals are happy for us to clear the combat sites, maybe only wanting the mining sites for themselves, it would be rude not to do so.

Tengu and Tengu jump in to the C3, and we aim first for our favoured anomaly type. It's been a while since we ran Sleeper operations, we probably ought to limber up to start with. Before entering warp, though, I spot on my directional scanner the Prorator transport ship I saw earlier, and it appears to be at the local tower. That's okay, I think we can ignore it. We warp to the anomaly and start shooting Sleepers only for the Prorator to be replaced on d-scan by a Nemesis stealth bomber, which promptly disappears. Maybe the bookmarks weren't left for me by a local, but by an external scout seeding discord between our two systems. That's fine, I suppose, and a lone stealth bomber shouldn't cause too much trouble for us. Except, I suppose, when we try to salvage.

We finish the anomaly but decide not to continue in to the magnetometric site. We have plenty of anomalies at home to plunder, there's no point adding unnecessary risk to our operations. There are still the wrecks to loot and salvage, as it would be silly to leave them behind, but we can be smart about how we collect it. Fin refits a Noctis salvager to be resistant to the Nemesis, and plans to stay at long range and aligned to our wormhole. I jump back in my Manticore and loiter cloaked in the despawned site, hoping the Nemesis will reveal himself so I can spring a counter-attack. But nothing happens. Fin loots and salvages, and warps home safely, all with no sign of the Nemesis.

Now we can collapse our wormhole to isolate ourselves, so we can continue raking in the profit. One trip with Orca and Widow puts us a little ahead of schedule, the wormhole destabilising on my way out, and Fin recalculates the maths. Rather than both doing a second trip only Fin's industrial command ship heads out, leaving my black ops ship sitting on the wormhole defensively. Fin returns and the wormhole becomes critically unstable, but doesn't die. It can get a bit tricky judging the state of wormholes in critical condition but a cunningly fit heavy interdictor can mitigate the risks of giving the wormhole a final push.

Fin takes an Onyx for a spin, making a couple of trips to try to kill the connection but without seeing it collapse. Rather than try further we accept the wormhole's fragile state and get back to shooting Sleepers. We have plenty of anomalies in our home system, and we clear two of them in good time and with little drama. The loot from our higher-class sites is much better than from the C3 too, although the time-to-ISK ratio is similar. In all, we bring back three hundred million iskies of sleeper loot and salvage to our tower, including that from the lone C3 anomaly, which should keep us stocked with fuel and running in w-space for a bit longer. We need to make more ISK, though, as there are always new and replacment toys to buy.

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Tags: eve online, manticore, mmorpg, nemesis, noctis, onyx, orca, penny ibramovic, prorator, sleepers, tengu, w-space, widow

Getting a gift

Unlike yesterday I have loads of time today. I aim to make the most of it by turning up early like this for some preliminary scanning and reconnaissance, so I can take advantage of having a mapped w-space constellation later. And, with any luck, I won't make any silly mistakes today. Scanning the home system is nice and easy, the fifth signature above the four bookmarked sites being the static wormhole, and I jump in to our neighbouring class 3 system to explore.

I was in this C3 a year ago and now there is at least one new tower. I can't tell much more from the wormhole because only the outer planet is within range of my directional scanner. As there are no ships in view I launch probes and perform a blanket scan whilst warping to explore the inner system. I find only the one tower in the system, along with seven anomalies and eight signatures, and no ships. There are no visible ships, at least, the core scanning probes here suggesting there may be a sneaky scout hiding somewhere. And now there's a Prorator somewhere in the system.

I warp back to check the tower for the transport ship but it is nowhere to be seen. I am perhaps looking for a K162 here, the C3 acting as a bridge from some other w-space dwellers. I start scanning, ignoring the other scout but bookmarking rocks and gas, along with the system's static exit to low-sec empire space and, unsurprisingly, a second wormhole. The extra connection is a K162 from null-sec k-space and reaching the end of its natural lifetime, and it's possible the Prorator left the system this way.

It looks like the other scout here is resolving the wormhole connecting to our home system, judging by the probes converging on the K162 and, despite not having quite completed a full scan of the C3, I jump home and plant an interceptor on the wormhole to try to catch him. It's worked so well for me up until now, I see no reason not to sit and wait for no one to come once more. And indeed no one jumps through the wormhole to be startled but ultimately unthreatened by me, although swapping back to my covert strategic cruiser to continue exploration and returning to the C3 shows they visited the K162.

I'm not going to take such obvious bait. Not yet, anyway. I leave the can alone and, bouncing off the tower to see a refinery now running for a few hours, head out to low-sec to continue scanning. I appear in the Molden Heath region and have an encouraging six signatures to resolve, an impressive four of them turning out to be wormholes. I resolve an outbound connection to class 3 w-space, a K162 connecting from high-sec empire space, an EOL K162 from class 1 w-space, and a lovely-looking outbound connection to class 2 w-space.

I try to jump in to the C2 to get a jump on the locals but the system is stabilising, which means no one is home. I instead turn around and poke my nose through to the C1, hoping to see some action before the wormhole dies, but despite there being a tower on d-scan there are no ships and I decide not to linger. The class 3 system connecting from low-sec doesn't need to stabilise but it is as inactive as the C1, with two towers and no ships present. I scan the system looking for more connections and find two, but they both connect back to low-sec. One is a super-stable static exit to low-sec, the other a K162 that is also in good condition. But there's nothing else to find.

I go back through low-sec to explore the C2, knowing that I'll have another connection to w-space to keep myself going. I am greeted by an empty and inactive system, a blanket scan showing the two dozen signatures and anomalies indicative of an unoccupied w-space system. I wade through them to resolve static connections to null-sec k-space and a class 1 w-space system, continuing my journey through w-space hoping to find activity in the C1 but finding none. It is another unoccupied and empty system that is null terminated. At least that lets me know when I've reached the end of the constellation.

I jump through the various connections to empire space I found, ending up in Genesis and Metropolis in low-sec, Genesis again in high-sec, and I do the same for the final exit to null-sec I encounter, putting me in Outer Passage. Exploration has all been a bit boring and I'm not keen to scan this null-sec system for more disappointment, but I see that I am in a dead-end system and there is a short ring of null-sec I can warp around for a few more red dots of exploration.

I'm amused and far from surprised to see the stargate in this dead end to be thoroughly bubbled, but it doesn't stop me. There isn't even anyone else in the system to see me. I continue along my route, a Ferox battlecruiser jumping past me on a stargate but otherwise encountering no one, and I even pause to shoot a few Sansha rats sitting on a stargate in another system empty of capsuleers. I keep a watch on the local channel and listen for the stargate activating whilst I shoot the two battleships and three cruisers, but space remains quiet as I increase my security standing a little.

The rats are dead, I make it back safely to w-space and head homewards. I check each system in turn for signs of life as I pass through them, finding none, and only pause when I get to our K162 in the C3. The jet-can is still there, still addressed to me, and it surely has been long enough that it can't be a trap. My curiosity is piqued, and I take a look inside. Aww, isn't that sweet, the other scout has left a set of bookmarks to all the sites and wormholes in this C3. How thoughtful. I'm not quite sure why he did it but, before jumping home safely, I gobble up the bookmarks for reference. Maybe they'll come in handy.

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Tags: eve online, ferox, mmorpg, null-sec, penny ibramovic, prorator, scanning, w-space

Going after gassers

My time today is short, but not so short that I can't take a quick look around for a soft target. Scanning at home should remain simple enough, with five registered sites and, um, five signatures. Either we don't have a static wormhole today or one of the sites has decayed. Luckily, it doesn't take long to check the presence of five bookmarked sites and delete the errant one from my records, the extra signature resolving to give me a way out of our home system.

The neighbouring class 3 w-space system has a tower visible on my directional scanner, where I find the also present Orca industrial command ship inevitably unpiloted. Scanning has plenty of anomalies, all of which I ignore today, and a dozen signatures. I skim over the rocks, gas, and radar sites to get to the static wormhole, an exit to low-sec empire space and the only connection in the C3. I may have limited time but I'm not going to stop here. I jump to low-sec and scan for more wormholes.

Scanning the low-sec system in the Domain region finds three extra signatures, two of which are wormholes and one is a dirty site, whatever that is. I've found two K162s, one from class 2 w-space and one from class 5 w-space. With my time running out, scanning never that quick, I'll limit myself to roaming the two systems, looking only for ships to shoot and not wanting to scan any deeper. Picking the class 2 system first I jump in to see a tower and three ships on d-scan, although a Megathron battleship, Arazu recon ship, and shuttle are a curious combination.

As I suspect, the three ships in the C2 are all empty and floating inside the shields of the tower. My notes also help me here, letting me know that the system has static connections to low-sec and more class 2 w-space. The second C2 is tempting to look for, but I don't want to waste my time scanning when I already have another system waiting to be explored. I jump back out to low-sec, warp across the system, and jump through the other K162 to class 5 w-space. And I appear to have found activity.

A Tengu strategic cruiser and Nighthawk command ship are both in the system, no towers in sight, and Sleeper wrecks on d-scan. But no sooner have I entered the system than the two ships disappear, leaving only a handful of wrecks. It looks like they were vigilant with d-scan and caught sight of my Tengu as I was moving away from the wormhole. Or maybe they were only clearing a ladar or gravimetric site of Sleepers for a mining operation, which would explain the small number of wrecks left behind and the Noctis salvager now appeared.

I performed a passive scan of the system when the two combat ships were present, and the wrecks are not incident with any of the anomalies here. But, in a serendiptious moment of discovery, I've managed to narrow down the location of the site to be on a five degree d-scan beam directly between the wormhole and a nearby planet, and only a smidge over 1 AU away. This will make finding the site almost trivial, as long as I can find somewhere safe to launch probes.

A distant planet sits out of range of any ships and towers, repeated refreshes of d-scan revealing no occupation on my way out here, despite my notes having a tower nearby only three months ago. The static connection is also listed as leading to class 4 w-space, so the exit to low-sec must be random. But I'm getting distracted, and now that I'm out of warp I can launch probes, get them clear out of the system, and warp back to the wormhole to monitor the Noctis.

I return to the wormhole simply as a convenient landmark, and to confirm that my d-scan placement of the wrecks was accurate and I wasn't imagining it. The Noctis is still there, and although I'd rather wait for it to leave before I scan the site the appearance of a Myrmidon and Ferox on d-scan makes me think I won't get an opportunity to scan whilst there are no ships around. Perhaps impetuously, spurred on by a ticking clock, I decide now is the best time to scan, whilst the ships are hopefully talking to themselves and getting in or out of the site.

I position my probes, and I really can't remember having an easier site to scan. I move all my probes as one, so that they are in a direct line between the wormhole and the planet, the edge of the probes' 1 AU radius scan range scraping the wormhole. Now to adjust the scan ranges for the probes to their minimum and spread them out in to a standard scanning pattern. I hit 'scan' and get a 100% result on both the Noctis and the ladar site it is in, recalling the probes the moment I get the positive result. If only all scanning could be this easy.

Not wanting to waste any time I warp in to the site at range to reconnoitre the gas clouds and hopefully get a good reference for the two incoming battlecruisers. Sadly, in my haste I am careless, and my Tengu flies in to one of the clouds and decloaks. Had I been in less of a rush I would have bounced off a suitable planet to give me less of a vertical vector in to the site, which would have avoided the gas clouds. It also seems like I picked the wrong time to scan and should have waited until the gassers were more settled, because it looks like my probes were spotted. If they hadn't been seen the two ships should either already be in the site or in warp to it now and too late to turn around, but I see no ships on d-scan.

I've been rumbled, and it's my own fault. I'll never get to be a dread pirate if I keep making silly mistakes like this, almost being handed soft targets on a plate yet not getting the kill. It doesn't help that I've spent more time recently avoiding hostile fleets than engaging them, but that's not much of an excuse. All I can do for now is kick myself as I head home through empty systems, and try to learn from my errors of the past couple of days.

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Tags: arazu, eve online, ferox, megathron, mmorpg, myrmidon, nighthawk, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, w-space

Noodling with a Noctis

I'm going home. Scanning has unconvered a fair few w-space systems but has taken its toll on my time. I leave behind the Bestower hauler I'm watching, who still doesn't look like moving, to jump backwards through a couple of class 5 w-space systems. I am ostensibly checking for activity as I make my journey but as the systems are unoccupied it is an unsurprisingly futile endeavour. That is, until I reach the class 3 system one jump from home. Two Tengu strategic cruisers are in the C3, along with a number of Sleeper wrecks. That many wrecks means they aren't salvaging as they go, giving me at least a chance to stalk a salvager, but it seems that they are being vigilant with d-scan, as one of the cruisers disappears. I've probably been spotted.

I warp to the K162 from class 5 w-space where I suspect the Tengus are from, the only other system in today's constellation where I saw any ships, to see the second Tengu loiter on the wormhole for a while before jumping out himself. It is possible that the pilots coincidentally finished their operation shortly after I entered the system and that they'll be back with a salvager, but checking the sites they were in suggests otherwise. The Tengus were clearing the magnetometric sites in this C3, and one still has Sleeper ships in it. I spooked them.

Hold on, the wormhole flares, and a Noctis appears. The salvager warps away and I can only conclude that he's heading to the finished magnetometric site, probably assuming that it won't be trivial for me to find, unlike basic anomalies, giving him a chance to spot the scanning probes required. He'd be right, but not entirely. I came through this C3 at the start of tonight's exploration and, thinking that maybe Fin and I would shoot some Sleepers ourselves, resolved and bookmarked the magnetometric sites here. I have, in effect, already found him.

I warp in to the site to see the Noctis casually salvaging Sleeper wrecks, probably updating his directional scanner to look for probes, probably unaware I am looking over his shoulder. I'm just a little far away to poke him but that's okay, I bookmark a wreck close to the ship and warp out. Bouncing off a planet I warp back, getting ready to engage the hapless ship, but I make an elementary mistake. I forget to check which direction I'd be warping in from, merely picking the closest planet for the shortest travel time. Warping back in to the site sends me straight through the Sleeper structure, inadvertently dropping my cloak early.

I can't complain too much at flying through the structure, as it saves me having to drop my cloak manually and waiting for my warp engines to cut out soaks up the sensor recalibration delay. My systems are hot, I'm ready to, uh, why am I cloaked again? By the time I've decloaked a second time and my sensors have recalibrated the Noctis is in warp out of the magnetometric site. I'm even too disorientated to think to follow the ship, knowing where it is running, until all I can do is jump in to the C5 to see it warp safely back to its tower. I could easily have engaged it on the wormhole if I'd been a few seconds quicker. That was a debacle.

So what went wrong. My best guess is that I didn't realise the structure decloaked me until after I deactivated the cloaking device manually which, as it is a toggle, reactivated it instead. What a mistake to make, and my evening looking for a target has gone to waste. Then again, that depends on how bold I'm feeling. After checking the other connecting systems in this C3, and finding no activity still, I realise that spooking the salvager probably means he isn't coming back, and there's no one else around. There is, at least, all those lovely Sleeper artefacts to analyse for some free iskies. I head home, swap my Tengu for an analysing boat, and jump back to the C3.

I warp in to the magnetometric site and start analysing the first artefact. I grab a couple of low quality wrecked items and move to the next, when the Noctis reappears on d-scan. I'm actually surprised to see him return to the system. The Noctis is completely unarmed and my Blackbird cruiser is safe to continue analysing, but I have to assume that the salvager has some support either cloaked or on its way, and I bug out of the site after having analysed just the one artefact. If I thought the salvager was coming back I would have returned in my Manticore stealth bomber, which is a much better ambushing boat. Hey, maybe I should do that.

I dump the puny loot at our tower and board my Manticore, jumping back to the C3 to see the Noctis still alone on d-scan. I warp in to the site and see he's taking precautions, knowing there is a hostile ship around. The Noctis is far out of the site, relying on the bonuses to tractor beam range to pull the wrecks to him and keep him away from harm. The salvager is also aligned to a planet for easy escape should a threat appear. That's good practice, but I can see which planet he's aiming for and I align my stealth bomber there too. He finishes a cluster of wrecks and warps out, no doubt to return at range from another cluster, and I warp right behind him.

The Noctis drops out of warp at the planet, shortly before I do, and he's in range and looking like a fat target. I decloak, can target him without delay, and get all my systems hot. But whilst the Noctis looks chubby this one is pretty agile, it turning on a sixpence and warping out before my warp disruptor can stop him. Maybe he's come prepared with warp core stabilisers, but it more looks like I'm simply out of practice at flying my stealth bomber. I'm pressing buttons and pulling levers, but nothing's happening as it should! How embarrassing. I warp back to the site and watch the Noctis again, seeing him align to a different planet, but now he's even more cautious and has called in a Cerberus heavy assault ship for support.

I've had my chances, two good ones, and blown them. I could even have continued my analysis of the artefacts to get some profit. I am even tempted to engage the Cerberus, as it looks like it is just the two pilots who are active, and the Noctis can't go to its aid, but I'm not sure what ship would be best to throw at it. I really need to familiarise myself with my ships again, or I'll just keep making silly mistakes. For now, I think I'll just go home and get some sleep.

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Tags: blackbird, cerberus, eve online, manticore, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, pvp, tengu, w-space