Stalking a Sleipnir

No one follows me in to the class 1 w-space system, and I leave w-space behind as I exit to high-sec empire space. My return to high-sec is brief, however, only long enough to warp across the system to explore through the outbound connection to class 2 w-space I scanned earlier. I get a bit of a start when initially checking my directional scanner in the C2, as seventeen ships are visible in the system, but with a tower also present there is no telling just yet how many of them are piloted. I narrow d-scan's beam and see that all of the ships are coincident with the tower in the system, increasing the likelihood that they are all empty, and I warp in that direction to see how active this C2 is.

As isn't unusual, there are no pilots here. I'm not quite sure why so many ships would be left out of a hangar, particularly as they are all sub-battleship hulls and would hardly take up any room, but an inactive system gives me space to scan and the C2 offers at least one connection to further w-space. A blanket scan of the system shows me no anomalies, only the unpiloted ships, and twenty-five signatures here. It may take a little while to find the wormholes, and judging by all the ladar sites I'm ignoring I think it's safe to say the locals aren't keen on harvesting gas.

The first wormhole I resolve is a connection to more class 2 w-space, which is good enough for me to recall my probes. I don't need to find the second static wormhole here, as it will only lead to k-space, and having entered through an outbound connection there is no guarantee of finding any K162s. Keen to find a pilot making a target of himself I jump in to the second C2. I may be in luck, a tower and lone Iteron hauler appearing on d-scan in C2b, perhaps a pilot preparing to start his planet goo rounds. Or perhaps another empty ship sitting inside the tower's shields. It's back to scanning for me.

A mere eight signatures makes a more thorough scan attractive in this system. The first wormhole I find is a boring K162 from high-sec, the second looks like more class 2 w-space but I see an A239 designation where I expect a D382. Inspecting the wormhole shows it exits to low-sec empire space, which is only slightly more interesting than the K162 I've already found. But the second static wormhole is indeed a D382, and I have another C2 to explore. I recall my probes and approach the wormhole, pausing to punch d-scan one last time and, hullo, a Sleipnir command ship is now in this system.

I brake for Sleipnirs, managing to bring my Tengu to a halt before getting too close to the wormhole for it to disrupt my cloak. A quick adjustment of d-scan reveals Sleeper wrecks appearing now, the Sleipnir out and about and shooting ships that aren't me. This makes him a target, although I don't fancy trying to break the tank of a command ship by myself. My colleagues are fairly distant too, the empire space base I am working out of being in a fairly remote corner of high-sec. If only we were still based in w-space. But with the hopes of a Sleipnir to shoot a small fleet forms and heads my way, leaving me to keep tabs on the target.

Finding anomalies is remarkably easy these days. A single passive scan will pick up every anomaly within 64 AU, all within ten seconds. Of course, I had already launched combat probes and bookmarked the eleven anomalies here on my initial scan, but if I hadn't it would still have been trivial to find the Sleipnir. The bigger problem is warping in to the anomaly without getting decloaked on Sleeper structures. I am familiar with most C3 and C4 anomalies and where their structures are, but not C2 anomalies. Warping in at maximum range is not always guaranteed to land you safely distant from structures, so I try to get as much vertical separation from the anomaly as I can before warping in. And thankfully my method continues to work here.

I watch the Sleipnir finish the anomaly and warp out, looking like he's going towards the wormhole to C2a, but following behind sees no movement through the wormhole and still has the command ship on d-scan. A brief search finds him in a second anomaly, which gives the fleet more time to make the journey. An early scout resolves the wormhole in high-sec empire space, with a little help as I let her know which signature she's looking for, and a second jumps in to C2a to scan for C2b whilst the first swaps ships. She returns to guide the third fleet member to the wormhole, and the two of them jump in to C2a and warp to the scout who is now sitting on the wormhole to C2b. It's all going smoothly so far.

The second anomaly is finished and the Sleipnir has moved to a third. With the fleet forming on the wormhole to this system I warp in to the anomaly to get a good reference to warp to. I bookmark one of the Sleeper wrecks within a few kilometres of the Sleipnir and turn to warp to the K162, to guide my colleagues in to combat, but moments before I warp out the first wave of Sleepers is cleared. A second wave appears, but a short distance from the Sleipnir and it moves to get closer. I cancel warp and hold for a few seconds, waiting for the first Sleeper of the second wave to pop, bookmarking that wreck instead. Now I warp out.

As my warp engines are about to disengage I call for the fleet to jump in and say when ready. The wormhole flares, everyone's happy, we are in warp to the anomaly. Not all our ships are covert, so I drop my own cloak and get my systems hot, not wanting a recalibration delay to cause problems. Within a handful of seconds two covert Tengu strategic cruisers, a Loki strategic cruiser, and Drake battlecruiser surprise the waiting Sleipnir, dropping almost on top of the ship. We lock and point the target, preventing him warping clear, and start raining missiles down on him. It looks like the Sleepers almost beat us to it, and the shield-tanked command ship doesn't last twenty seconds under our combined fire, crumpling far more easily than any of us imagined.

The Sleipnir explodes, the pod warps away cleanly. It is all rather anticlimactic, almost as if we attacked a basic cruiser. But it is a good kill against a combat target, requiring good coordination and scouting. We loot and shoot the wreck, getting a few modules but not much of any value, and leave the remaining Sleepers behind us as the fleet warps back out to empire space. I head to C2c, not having jumped in to the system before spotting the Sleipnir, but a quick reconnaisance finds no ships, and the Quafe Zero is repeating on me again. I need a lie down. I return through w-space the way I came, a couple of minutes behind the fleet high-fiving their way home themselves. We all pass in warp the Sleipnir pilot's pod now comprising the eighteenth vessel in the tower in C2a, answering where he came from, and get back to high-sec without incident.

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

Spooking a transport

I'm not sure my pod goo is as pure as it ought to be. I think I've had some dodgy Quafe Zero—not that I'm convinced there is such a substance as good Quafe Zero—and all sorts of fluids are leaking out of me. As a result, tonight may be a short expedition to look for w-space. A positive start in finding a wormhole in the high-sec mission base system comes to nothing, as the K162 from class 1 w-space is reaching the end of its natural lifetime and there is a distinct lack of ships in the system. I could scan for a further K162 on the assumption that pilots from deeper w-space passed through and opened the exit to empire space, but the dying wormhole discourages me from spending time here on what could be a wild goose chase. I jump back to high-sec and continue my exploration in the next system across.

Three signatures could be a positive sign, particularly when I confirm that the wormholes I resolved here yesterday have all collapsed. But instead of new wormholes I resolve a Gurista Lookout, some crappy drone base, and a second Gurista Lookout, despite all of the sites having the 'unknown' signature type. In w-space those could have been nothing but wormholes, proving once more that empire space is stupid. I move on to another system, where although finding two signatures to resolve doesn't dash my hopes of exploring more w-space it also doesn't raise them. As luck would have it, both signatures lead to w-space.

One wormhole I find in this high-sec system is an outbound connection to class 2 w-space, the other a K162 from a C1. The outbound connection is quite pretty. Although it is less likely to hold occupation or activity than a system entered through a K162, there is a strong element of surprise in visiting a system through a previously unknown connection. I will still check the C1 first, as the wormhole must have been opened by someone and there is a greater chance of finding pilots awake and active there.

The class 1 system itself is unoccupied and currently empty, and as the wormhole leading back to empire space is stable I can take time to look for further connections. There being only two signatures in the system makes scanning simple and I indeed find a K162 leading to deeper w-space. I jump in to the class 4 system beyond but only to see an empty tower on my directional scanner, and still no ships. But that changes remarkably soon, as an Orca industrial command ship appears on d-scan, and as it is a new contact there must be a pilot aboard. I need to find the tower.

A Tengu strategic cruiser and Noctis salvager also turn up on d-scan, and although I perform a passive scan for all the anomalies in the system I do not locate either ship in the single site my scanner returns. Maybe the pilots have been clearing a ladar site of Sleepers, which could be why the Orca is active too, but when I locate the tower all I see is a Bustard transport ship and a Buzzard covert operations boat, the latter no doubt responsible for the deep space scanning probe somewhere in the system.

I can see no signs of the other ships any more and it looks like I missed whatever fun was happening. And even if the Bustard hauls whatever loot they've collected out through the C1 to sell in empire space I won't be able to stop him, the transport ship specially designed to have a stronger warp core strength that my disruptor cannot overcome by itself. Still, the pilot of the Bustard won't know I'm inadequately equipped to tackle him, particularly as it is easy to fit a ship that can stop a Bustard, and acting like you are capable is often enough to make people believe you actually are capable. So when the Bustard warps out of the tower and towards the wormhole, I head that way myself.

I am more agile than the Bustard and reach the wormhole first, decloaking to welcome him as he drops out of warp. Unsurprisingly, the Bustard jumps to the C1, and I follow behind. I decloak early on the K162 and get my systems hot, knowing I can't stop the Bustard but ready to do as much damage as possible as the laggardly vessel aligns to leave. The Bustard has other ideas, holding his session change cloak for as long as possible and, only when the cloak eventually drops, jumping right back to the C4. I'm pretty sure the transport could withstand a few volleys from my launchers, but depending on his cargo I suppose his prudence is sensible.

I jump back to the C4 and again get ready to fail to assault the Bustard, which moves from the wormhole and cloaks. A cloaked Bustard moves slower than a skill queue full of secondary skills and I should be able to intercept him, even in my Tengu, but I simply wasn't expecting this. The best I can do is loiter myself and hope I have time to lock and shoot the ship when it decloaks to warp away, as I didn't really pay attention to where he appeared or move to approach him. He could be just about anywhere, even the minimal space around a wormhole being vast when considering random interactions. As if to prove it, the wormhole flares again and a colleague of the Bustard's appears.

I was expecting maybe the Buzzard to appear, but instead it is a Tengu that decloaks and starts moving. Dive, dive, dive! The strategic cruiser is meters away from interfering with my cloaking device's effects and I move too in order to ensure he doesn't reveal my position. It may seem that this shows how likely a ship is to bump in to another, but in reality it proves how much space there is around a wormhole. The Tengu certainly got close to me but not close enough, and the integrity of my cloak remains intact. It also shows that I'm not going to get a clean shot at the Bustard, and now that the other Tengu has cloaked and we're just a bunch of ships floating around invisibly I think it's time to head back to empire space and take a look in that class 2 system.

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Tags: bustard, buzzard, eve online, mmorpg, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space

All I can do is watch

I wake up in empire space, which is a disquieting sensation. Pilots everywhere, people talking to each other, ships happily jostling around the docking perimeter. I'm glad I made some safe spots even in these high-sec systems, where I can sit by myself to launch probes and scan in as much solitude as I can muster. The mission base system only has a single anomaly to find, though, and I have to move on if I am to see w-space today. Jumping to the next system looks more promising, with two signatures to be resolved. And not only are both signatures wormholes, they are both outbound connections, each potentially giving me more than one w-space system to explore.

One wormhole leads to class 1 w-space, the other to class 3 w-space. I choose to visit the class 1 system first, the lower class hopefully holding softer and less experienced targets, but all I see on my directional scanner when jumping in to the system are a few planets and moons. I launch probes and blanket the system, scan results showing me no ships in the system and ten signatures present. As I have a second wormhole available to me in empire space my time will be better spent exploring through that than sifting through the signatures here. If I find nothing in the C3 then I can return here to scan but, having come through an outbound connection, I am probably only going to find a wormhole leading right back out to empire space.

I find nothing in the C3. There is a tower but no ships, and, as is typical for class 3 w-space systems, the static wormhole connects back to empire space. At least there were only four signatures to check, and now I can get back to the C1, even if it's probably only to get the same result as here. Or maybe the C1 is a relative beacon for Sleeper technology, as the four wormholes I instead find suggest. Two connections are K162s from high-sec, one of which I used, and the static wormhole leads out to low-sec empire space, but the fourth wormhole comes from class 2 w-space and gives me more to explore.

Jumping in to the C2 finds activity at last, even if it is just probes whizzing around the system on an otherwise empty d-scan. I add my own probes to the system, hoping the other scout is concentrating on his scanning pane, and soon have a magnetometric site and two wormholes bookmarked, nothing else to be found. I warp to each wormhole, one being the C2's second static connection and giving me another route to high-sec, the other a K162 from class 4 w-space. By now the other probes have disappeared and it seems reasonable to assume that the scout came from the C4 and has moved on to the C1, so while the cat's away I can play. I should have time to explore his home system and scan it for any sites of interest by the time he returns, maybe letting me set up an ambush.

My plans only really work if my assumptions hold, which this time they don't. The Buzzard is back here in the C4, along with some buddies in a Raven battleship, Machariel battleship, and Prowler transport ship, all sat stationary in a tower with some other unpiloted ships around them. But even if I can't sneakily bookmark some mining sites here I have found activity. And I mean 'activity' only if today is opposite day, as the ships look about as keen to move anywhere as I am to wait here watching them do nothing. I warp back to the C2, as I really don't think I'll find a K162 in this C4, and back across to the C1. The systems remain empty.

Rather than returning to high-sec I take a look in low-sec, exiting through the C1's static wormhole. Curiously enough, I am only twelve jumps from the entrance to the C1 I used, and in the same region. I launch probes and scan, resolving a cluster of ECM drones that are probably the result of a minor engagement that ended without a kill, and two wormholes both connecting to class 3 w-space, one a K162 and the other outbound. I check the K162 first and am giddy with the thought of planet goo piracy when I see two Badger haulers on d-scan, only to have my hopes dashed when I find them both unpiloted in the local tower.

The second C3 is not much better, also having ships present but unpiloted inside a tower's shields. I resort to scanning again to find someone to shoot but only get yet another connection to high-sec empire space. This one's even reaching the end of its natural lifetime, perhaps giving me a sign that I should give up for the night. I turn my ship around and head back the way I came, diverting in the C1 to check the other leg of w-space for changes. The C2 still sits quiet, but the C4 is alive with fighter drones. A Chimera carrier is on scan and apparently active.

A passive scan from the wormhole easily locates the anomaly where the Chimera is engaged with Sleepers, helped by two Machariels and the Raven. They aren't salvaging as they fight either, so there is actually a chance a salvager will fly in behind them and right in to my sights. I watch the missiles fly, the drones bounce between targets, and the time drag by—it always is slow when watching, Mick pointing out—until finally no Sleepers are left. The Chimera warps out of the anomaly and, with a couple of wrecks bookmarked, I follow back to the local tower. To my delight the pilot swaps to a Noctis salvager and heads back, but to my disappointment his colleagues in the battleships don't leave him unguarded.

It's quite possible that I could strike the Noctis and escape even with the attentions of a battleship or three sitting nearby. They wouldn't lock me too quickly, probably aren't fitted with warp disruptors, and my covert Tengu strategic cruiser can take a few good hits before exploding, certainly likely to last long enough for me to pop the Noctis. Unfortunately, the locals have brought a Cynabal out here too. The agile cruiser may not have a point fitted either, but I'm not going to gamble my Tengu on it, and I would definitely be toast if he snares me and keeps me in place to be shot by the heavier artillery.

As if to confirm the cruiser's fitting, the battleships all warp out to leave only the Cynabal shadowing the Noctis. There is no point in removing your threatening ships from protecting the vulnerable one, unless your actual threat remains. I've got no shot here, all I can do is watch as the wrecks get chomped by the Noctis until the site is clear, and he and the Cynabal warp out. Oh well, not every night can be exciting. I head back through the C2 and C1 to high-sec, and return to our mission base to get some sleep. Maybe tomorrow will offer better opportunities.

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Tags: badger, buzzard, chimera, cynabal, eve online, machariel, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, prowler, raven, scanning, sleepers, tengu, w-space

Leaving w-space again

I need a new clone. Or maybe I don't, I'm not entirely sure how it works. I'm reaching another skill point boundary and need to ensure I retain them all on the likely event of my death, which means upgrading my clone. But I suppose it doesn't matter whether the medical centre will flush out the existing lump of admittedly gorgeous flesh and replace it with a better model, or just plug in a memory upgrade to the existing clone. Either way, I need to get to empire space to make the arrangements. That sounds like an excuse to go scanning to me!

I can piggy-back my way to our static connection, which saves a bit of time, and then we are tag-team scanning our way through w-space from there. Or maybe we are stopping in the neighbouring class 4 system, it being unoccupied and empty making it ripe for making iskies. Scanning finds no extra wormholes and plenty of anomalies, and ISK always comes in handy, so we head home and, well, look for some boats to pilot. Stripping down the tower and exporting anything not already stolen by scumbag thieves has surprisingly limited our options. We scrape together a fleet composed of a refitted scanning Tengu, a second Tengu strategic cruiser fit-for-purpose, and a Raven battleship, and head out to obliterate some Sleepers.

Maybe it isn't a night for making iskies after all. Our compromised fleet is compromised, who could have predicted that? Despite clearing one anomaly without loss it is not smooth sailing, and continuing looks like more trouble than it is worth. We turn around, get a salvager out here to grab what we have already earned, and continue with the original plan of exploring deeper in to our w-space constellation. I take my covert Tengu through the static wormhole in this C4 to a second class 4 system, my directional scanner showing me more hangars than would suggest a mere two on-line towers to be present. But I locate the towers and indeed find a couple of dozen hangars stacked like lego in one of them.

I suppose with all those hangars available it's no surprise that there aren't any ships floating unpiloted at the tower, and launching combat probes confirms a lack of ships in the system. Five signatures take no time to sort through, even though the static wormhole is the weakest signature here and the last I resolve, and I am soon jumping in to a class 2 w-space system. A Thanatos carrier, Tengu, and tower all appear on d-scan from the K162, along with a single combat scanning probe. It's possible the probe is being used by a pilot engaging Sleepers to detect new signatures or ships as an early warning monitor, or it could be the only one of a set of probes that is in d-scan range and the pilot is scanning the whole system. If the latter, and there are plenty of signatures, I may have been lucky and entered the system covertly. If the former, I doubt I'll see any action here.

It turns out that it doesn't matter what the probe was being used for, as locating the tower reveals the occupants to be blue and allied to our corporation. Although it means we have no targets, it also allows us to scan quickly and travel safely through here, and a more diplomatic member of the fleet opens a conservation to ensure that we are not mistaken as a hostile presence. Scanning is indeed simple, again only five signatures to resolve, and this C2 is a junction. All five signatures are wormholes. There is the K162 we came through, an outbound connection to class 4 w-space, a second but dying outbound connection to class 2 w-space, a K162 from high-sec empire space, and an exit to high-sec.

I am keen to see if there is any activity in the connected w-space, poking my nose in to the class 2 system, but on seeing no ships at all I realise that the hour is getting late and we have a choice of connection to high-sec. Considering that the tower is torn down, and we can't even form a fleet to shoot Sleepers with what remains, it seems like a good time to leave the bivouac and operate from empire space again. Despite us all thinking more-or-less the same way I manage to blithely jump to high-sec and get half-way to Jita before realising that my colleagues are taking time to export the last of our loot, and I could be acting as escort. I need to pay more attention. At least I remember to get to a clone vat and pay for the upgrade I was after before I hit the sack, which should keep my mind safe for a little longer.

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Tags: eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, raven, scanning, sleepers, tengu, thanatos, w-space

Titanic exploration

Our tower's looking awfully sparse. There's only an unanchored hangar floating near a couple of haulers and I'm sure we had more infrastructure than that here. The good news is that we haven't been hit by a master thief and that the strip-down of our tower is nearly complete. It looks like I'll be back to being a wandering mendicant soon enough, but for now the few of us left in the class 5 w-space system can use the other tower here, belonging to an allied corporation. In my inimitable stubborness, I ignore the other tower and start scanning my way out. The system's static wormhole doesn't stay hidden long and I jump to the neighbouring class 4 system.

Three towers show up on my directional scanner, but no ships can be seen. I last visited this system about two months ago and I have the locations of the towers listed, and I know I am looking for a wormhole leading to class 3 w-space. I open the system map to look for somewhere out of range to launch my probes, and now I remember the system from before. My notes tell me there are three towers and where they are, but not that there are only three moons in total in the system. That's a detail that won't crop up often. Nowhere to hide, but no one to see me, I launch probes and scan the seven signatures amongst the four anomalies, ignoring mostly gas to resolve the wormhole.

Core scanning probes and a Buzzard covert operations boat are visible on d-scan in this black hole C3. As there is also a tower I assume the Buzzard is sat safely nestled inside the force field scanning at his leisure. Before I find him I warp out of range of his d-scan, launch my own combat scanning probes, and perform a blanket scan of the system. One ship, three signatures, that's all. The Buzzard disappears, off to sleep by the looks of it, and I am left alone to resolve a gravimetric site and an exit to null-sec k-space.

Not deterred by leaving w-space I jump out to find myself in the Malpais region, sharing the system with one other pilot, who looks to be ratting in his Golem marauder. He holes up pretty quickly when my mug appears in the local channel and he asks me, in Russian, what I want, but I ignore him to launch scanning probes to continue my exploration. Two signatures in the system doesn't look promising, particularly as one is the wormhole I just jumped through, but that still leaves the other. Sadly, it turns out to be a gravimetric site, full of boring rocks.

The Golem pilot is getting agitated by my silence, it seems, and there doesn't appear to be anything left to find, so I turn my boat around and—and where's my explorer spirit? I check my New Eden atlas and find that this system is in its own little corner of null-sec, forming a ring of five systems, and there was a time when I would simply jump between them to get red dots of exploration on my galaxy map. Great days, and with little else happening I certainly have time to stop and take look around, in the words of the great prophet Bueller. 'Don't die', Mick tells me, also a source of good advice.

Travelling around a ring doesn't sound difficult but I still keep my atlas handy to make sure I keep heading in the right direction, apparently concerned that aiming for the stargate more than twelve kilometres away is not a big enough clue in itself. As in my other limited experiences the travel between systems is far from perilous. I suppose getting out here is the real trick, wormholes letting me bypass choke points where the effective gate camps are formed. I jump to the next system to find a Tengu strategic cruiser and drone wreck on d-scan, leave that behind me for a Zealot heavy assault ship and Exequror cruiser stacking up the rat wrecks in the following system, and jumping again to see, hullo, an Erebus and two Avatars.

I recognise those names, they're titans. Three titans. I've never seen one titan before, although I have seen images. I think I'll risk fate and locate them, purely out of curiosity and a sense of awe. And as little I know of null-sec operations I spot a cynosural beacon on my overview and presume that's how the ships entered the system, and initiate warp to it, at range of course. Moments later the beacon is gone, but d-scan confirms the titans remain. And a few more moments later I am seeing the most amazing sight I have experienced since becoming a capsuleer.

The three behemoths are attacking a tower that they dwarf. Even from this range, even with an artificial sense of depth perception, I can tell just how magnificently huge the ships before me are. I am completely dumbstruck by the sheer size of these titans. There is a cruiser in front of one of the Avatars that would really give a sense of scale if it were actually a cruiser. It's not, it's a dreadnought. Just as a cruiser would look small next to the Moros, the huge Moros looks pitifully weak next to the titan, and rightfully so.

I watch at my safe distance as the ships destroy the tower in short order, then two ships that were inside the force field are destroyed and the pilots podded. And once the wrecks are looted by tiny scouting ships there is nothing left to be done here, and one-by-one the titans blink out of local space to presumably wherever they are needed next. I have no idea what just happened, or what politics were involved, but I am really glad I decided to make a short run around these null-sec systems. What luck to get a chance to see these ships!

The titans are gone, so I continue my journey, still a little awed. I make the circuit, warp back to the wormhole, and return safely to w-space. Our wormhole is being collapsed, my colleagues conscientiously waiting for my return before completing the operation. Scanning the new constellation finds little of interest, just a couple more empty or inactive systems, and although there is another exit to null-sec that leads to a clump of dead-end systems it is a routine trip to get another six red dots of exploration. But I went out and took a look around again, because you never know what you're going to find. Like the prophet said, life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

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Tags: avatar, buzzard, erebus, eve online, exequror, golem, mmorpg, moros, null-sec, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, w-space, zealot

Reduced to flipping cans

Another thief strikes our corporation, stealing an Orca industrial command ship and escaping through a now-collapsed wormhole. It's just not cricket. There's nothing much we can do about it now, although it prompts another discussion about how to partition assets better, given the rather coarse tools at our disposal in w-space. And with the wormhole gone we have more exploration available to us. Mick's already in our neighbouring class 4 system and has found wormholes leading to class 3 and class 2 w-space. I jump in to join him in that system, am guided to both of the wormholes there, and pick the C2 system as my next destination.

A Tengu strategic cruiser, Noctis salvager, and Mammoth hauler are all visible on my directional scanner in the C2, but there are no wrecks to be seen. My notes place me here twice before, the last time only five months ago where my Manticore apparently missed catching a Mammoth collecting planet goo. Maybe I can do better this time, but not when there are no pilots. But a lack of capsuleers is good, as it means no one spots my supposedly covert Tengu bumping off the tower's force field and having my cloak dropped. At least now I remember this system and why I missed catching the Mammoth last time.

Scanning is super quick in the C2, which it would be even without Mick's expert assistance. He's come this way because the C3 was empty and the connecting wormhole was reaching the end of its natural lifetime, reducing our options in that direction. We don't have many options here either, only three signatures in total being in the system, a gravimetric site and exit to high-sec empire space found in addition to the already known wormhole back to the C4. That's scanning done, I may as well head out to high-sec to take a look around.

What a mistake. I find myself out in Gallente space, surrounded by pilots desperately trying to find their way to cooler regions. Scanning only finds the one signature, that of the wormhole I just jumped through, showing the even Sleeper technology sensibly tries to avoid the Gallente. Mick tries to convince me that I could find other wormholes in the next system across, but that shows him as the Gallente philistine he is, expecting me to use a stargate! This isn't the 80s any more, we've moved on. Instead of scanning I decide instead to harrass some miners.

There are some mining barges on d-scan, easily found in one of the several asteroid belts in the system. It doesn't take much to encourage glorious leader Fin to come out and steal their ore, seeing if we can goad them in to unwisely shooting at our Bustard transport ship as my cloaked Tengu sits nearby, ready to pounce. The plan goes a little awry right from the start, when I warp in closer to the mining barges only to find that my cloaking device decided to deactivate. It was probably made by a Gallente industrialist who somehow found his way to Jita. Or maybe I was too close to the wormhole when I initiated warp. Either way, I try to act nonchalantly and warp off to another belt, hoping that I simply look like a rich idiot ratting in an expensive toy.

I head back to the belt, cloaked this time, and manoeuvre to get close to the miners and give Fin a reference point to warp close to the jettisoned canisters of ore. Fin warps in, steals the ore, and warps out again, loitering a little in the hopes of aggression but getting none. One of the miners decides to take his operation elsewhere, but the other three, all in the same corporation, keep going. When a new can is jetted Fin returns and chomps it in to her cargo hold, and takes that chunk of ore back to the wormhole too.

'If they say anything', she says, 'tell them we have an Orca to build'. It's a good excuse but I still feel a bit more evil than I expected to. I am doing this just to be disruptive, rather than finding legitimate targets, and my actions aren't sitting right with me. The mining operation pauses but only an Iteron hauler warps away. He returns soon enough, drops a giant secure can which he labels 'get lost, poacher', and the operation resumes. It seems we've forced them to be more circumspect, as they are now moving the mined ore from the barges to the GSC, from where the hauler transfers it to his hold. There's no more stealing to be done here.

And our guilty consciences make us give back what we have stolen, Fin bringing the Bustard back in to the belt to jettison the ore already taken, apologising by way of labelling the can. Can flipping is simply an underhand way of getting soft kills from naive targets. I prefer getting soft kills from unsuspecting targets in lawless space, personally. And you can't prove that I hung around for a few minutes to see if the miners took back their ore, which would essentially be flipping our own can and making them legitimate targets in the process. Leaving the innocent miners behind us, Fin and I head home to w-space to rest for the night.

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Tags: bustard, eve online, hulk, iteron, mammoth, mmorpg, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu

Slaughtering Sleepers for a change

Another strategic cruiser is lost by the corporation. Mick's Loki is attacked by another Loki and, as victim of the ambush, is on the back foot. At least he put up a good fight instead of helplessly ejecting when crippled by a tower with a bad attitude. But it also means that our neighbours may be a little on edge because of the fight. I copy the bookmarks currently available and make my way out to see how aggressively our w-space constellation is being monitored. Jumping in to the class 4 system next door sees a clear wormhole, with a Moa crusier and Buzzard covert operations boat on my directional scanner.

I have a bookmark to the local tower, where I find only the Buzzard piloted and the Moa suspiciously missing. Consulting my notes shows I was here only two months ago, when I found four towers in total, confirmed by a closer inspection of d-scan, and warping around finds the Moa piloted in a different tower. There doesn't appear to be anything particularly threatening or overtly hostile here, and launching scanning probes reveals only two signatures and two ships, so I have seen it all. I warp over to the other signature, the system's static connection to more class 4 w-space, and jump through the wormhole.

This second C4 is unoccupied and empty, and quite uninteresting. I pass straight through it to the next C4 in our constellation, Mick warning me to be careful, as 'it's where I died'. He makes jumping in to an empty system seem exciting. The ambushing Loki has cleared the pocket, apparently not one to linger in wait for a larger retaliatory fleet to come looking for him. But I am being misleading, as the system isn't entirely empty, just the space around the wormhole. Even so, I suspect that the Archon carrier, Thanatos carrier, and Rorqual capital industrial ship are all unpiloted in a tower somewhere, and those are the only ships on d-scan. I don't bother looking for the big ships, heading home instead as our wormhole is being collapsed for better prospects.

Everyone stays on the right side of the wormhole when it is strained beyond its limits, and we scan again and jump in to our new neighbouring class 4 w-space system. D-scan is clear, and launching probes and performing a blanket scan shows the entire system to be devoid of ships. The system remains unoccupied since my last visit three months ago, making Sleeper combat a good possibility. We scan for wormholes and magnetometric sites, skipping over rocks, gas, and an occasional radar site to find one of each. There are no other connections leading in to this system and none of us visit the static connection, hopefully keeping it closed. We return home to swap in to a Tengu-RR each, although the 'RR' stands for 'remote repair', sadly not making them the Fireblades of strategic cruisers.

Look at me making iskies! I think I made some recently but it has been a long time since I routinely engaged in such profit-making excursions. I could probably get used to it again, particularly if it means I can buy more expensive ships. Mind you, getting webbed, neuted, and scrammed by four Sleeper Safeguard battleships is a cause for concern, but thankfully we all survive and whittle down the ships to more manageable levels before getting back to the comfortable slaughter of indigenous life. We end up clearing one anomaly and the magnetometric site, which doesn't sound like much but the loot, salvage, and artefacts from the two of them adds up to a little over half-a-billion ISK in profit. We get home safely, stuff the loot in to our hangar, and head off to bed.

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Tags: archon, buzzard, eve online, loki, mmorpg, moa, penny ibramovic, rorqual, sleepers, tengu, thanatos

From scout to battleship

There's a Buzzard at large in our w-space constellation. Mick got eyes on the covert operations boat, and the pilot looks carefree enough that we may be able to catch him. I just need to get there. The constellation is quite complex at the moment, expanded slightly by my scanning in low-sec empire space to find a further class 1 system we can travel to without using a stargate, and I have five systems to cross before I can get to the other side of the wormhole Mick's on. By the time I get my covert Tengu there the Buzzard has already jumped through, and I can do little but watch him warp away.

Watching the ship warp has its benefits, though. I see the direction the Buzzard warps, check my system map, and push my strategic cruiser in the same direction. It looks like the ship warped towards the sole class 6 w-space system in our constellation and, although dropping out warp sees no ships, jumping through the wormhole finds the Buzzard. The cov-ops boat isn't being covert at the moment, nor is he speeding in to warp, even with the wormhole flaring with my entrance, giving me a simple target to engage. I gain a positive lock and start shooting, Mick still catching up behind me, and the Buzzard uses its only escape route and jumps back through the wormhole to the class 5 system.

I try to give chase to the Buzzard but I was quick in attacking, my session change timer still active and preventing me from returning through the wormhole so soon. Even when the timer ends my hull is polarised, as I rushed this way to get to Mick in the first place, and I have to wait another minute before I can jump to the C5 and see a distinct lack of targets. Mick got a brief look at the ship before it disappeared, interrogating its systems to learn that the pilot is from a null-sec alliance, which probably means we've lost his trace, as we can't follow him back to his w-space home. But just as we think the chase is over I jump in to the next C5 in our constellation to see scanning probes launched over a hundred kilometres from the wormhole.

I update Mick and he comes to sit on the opposite side of the wormhole, ready to try to catch the Buzzard should he turn tail again. I will try to flush out our prey. It looks like the pilot burnt away from the wormhole before dropping probes, or maybe warped to the star and back at range to do so, and if he stayed on that line I can maybe bump in to his ship to disengage his cloak. It's a long shot but I give it a go. I fling my Tengu around, alternately bouncing off the wormhole and the star at various ranges, and crawling along the appropriate vector to see if I can get lucky and bump our target, but I see nothing.

Mick jumps in to the system to try to provoke a reaction, and he kind of does. The Buzzard has scanned the wormhole leading out to low-sec empire space in this system and appears there, probes recalled, to leave w-space. The two of us orbit the wormhole eagerly expecting his return but it doesn't look like he's coming back. He could be waiting for the polarisation timer to end, giving him an option to jump out again if that irritating Tengu of mine is still looking for him, but even after a few minutes there is no return. Mick exits to see the pilot in the local communication channel in low, and no doubt he sees Mick too. The exit leads to our favourite low-sec wasteland of Aridia and although I doubt the pilot wants to make his way home from there he isn't going to return to w-space either if he thinks we're still around.

I'm feeling a bit like Truman Capote, getting desperate for a brutal and probably unnecessary death so that I can end my story. Without it there is no closure, yet I cannot exert influence outside of my control. I have little choice but to head homewards and get some sleep, lest I become a shade of my former self. And just as I bid my colleagues a good night Mick runs in to a Sacrilege assault ship passing through a wormhole between class 5 and class 2 w-space. He misses the opportunity to engage it, but before too long a pod returns only to push a Harbinger battlecruiser through the same connection. In his measured view, the pilot is exporting ships to high-sec, the C2 holding such an exit. Okay, I can stay up a few more minutes.

It's five jumps out to the C5 where the exporting pilot is based, Mick warning me not to engage the pod if I see it coming back. No problem, I know we're after a ship as much as I know a pod is almost impossible to catch without a warp bubble. The reminder is unnecessary anyway, as it takes me long enough to make the journey that by the time I am in the C5 the pilot has returned and has boarded an Armageddon battleship. That's more like it! Big and a little bit scary. 'He probably won't even be able to hit us', Mick reassures me, as I follow his instructions and jump to the C2 and hold on the wormhole, decloaked and systems hot.

Predictably enough, the Armageddon warps from the tower towards the wormhole and jumps. Mick follows behind in warp but stays in the C5 for now, in case the battleship jumps right back. I don't believe I'm quite that scary. Never the less, at the first sight of the Armageddon shedding its session change cloak I am targeting it and disrupting its warp engines, loosing volleys of missiles as soon as I have a positive lock. The battleship finds it cannot flee and 'red boxes' me, my HUD indicating aggression from the target ship. Mick takes his cue with the Armageddon opening fire and jumps in to get his fill of the combat, and now we have two covert strategic cruisers, Tengu and Loki, against the battleship.

As Mick suspected, the battleship is having a hard time hitting our smaller ships. I am taking damage but it is minimal, particularly compared to that we are dealing to the Armageddon. Its shields are evaporated and the armour is dropping if not quickly then steadily. With half its armour remaining the Armageddon makes a bid for freedom, jumping back through the wormhole to the C5, although in retrospect this could merely have been the pilot waiting out a polarisation effect. I was anticipating this, as it is an obvious enough manoeuvre, and although shooting the battleship I had the wormhole selected on my overview. I follow behind and easily regain my target lock and point on the sluggish Armageddon, and the assault continues.

I am a little wary now. We are back in the target's home system and Mick spotted another pilot at a second tower here, so I am punching my directional scanner regularly to check for any extra contacts heading our way. But none come, and the Armageddon explodes in a beautiful explosion. The pilot's pod gets clear, warping back to his tower, which is probably a good enough reason for jumping home even if you think you won't survive, and it gives him the opportunity to show a little regret in the local channel.

I almost feel like apologising to him for our attack, but resist the temptation. We loot the wreck of all but a few capacitor boosters, getting nothing of much worth, and shoot the wreck because we can. Now I have my kill, my ending, I can head home to get some rest.

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Tags: armageddon, buzzard, eve online, harbinger, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, sacrilege, tengu, w-space

Getting ahead of a hauler

I'm back and fed, but there doesn't appear to be anything new to see. Colleagues are continuing with the tear-down of our tower in the class 5 system, taking ships out to empire space along the shortest route, which leads out to low-sec but is conveniently only one hop to high-sec. I take my covert Tengu strategic cruiser out to reconnoitre the route, pretending I am being useful as a scout but really just shirking my responsibilities. I think it is because I've treated the C5 system as a bivouac, only having brought the single ship with me, that is causing my ambivalence. It hasn't felt like home, I haven't made myself comfortable enough here, and without having 'moved in' I can't get excited about moving out.

It's all just excuses. I should be helping with moving ships, it's part of my responsibility, but instead I travel through our neighbouring class 4 w-space system, exit the C5 to low-sec, and start scanning. New Eden is helping keep me distracted today, offering a K162 from class 1 w-space for me to explore. I jump in and see two towers on my directional scanner, along with a Badger hauler. Hoping for someone to shoot mercilessly, I search for the towers and Badger, to see if the ship is piloted, but by the time I am floating outside one of the towers the Badger has disappeared from the system. I check to see if there are planets out of range of d-scan, wanting the Badger to be collecting planet goo, but none are. At least the hauler was piloted, I suppose, but it looks like I was a little too late.

I ask if any colleagues are currently out in the low-sec system, but Mick is the closest to being there and he is a couple of jumps out. By the time he reaches the system there is no sign of a Badger, so I don't even know if the hauler went out to market. But with the C1 now empty I can scan the system for further wormholes, or sites for ambushing no one in particular, and all I find are two ladar gas sites to accompany the sole wormhole I already know about. There's no more exploring to be done. I jump out to low-sec and, well, wait on the wormhole for the Badger to come back. For all I know the pilot has taken a nap, and I really should be helping move ships. I'm a bad person.

Waiting goes according to plan, time passing with nothing happening, when a change in the number of pilots in the local channel shows me my target. I hadn't got eyes on her before but I have made members of the corporation occupying the C1 readily obvious, and a Badger is now visible on d-scan. I estimate I have maybe twenty seconds before she appears on-grid with the wormhole, and ten more until she jumps home. Even though we are in low-sec, and the Badger will be a valid target either side of the wormhole, I spring in to action. I decloak and jump through the wormhole before the Badger gets close enough to see me, and I lurk beneath a session change cloak.

Sure enough, the wormhole flares roughly twenty seconds later. My session change cloak still holds, making me invisible and unknown, without impeding my targeting systems with a recalibration delay when I choose to show myself. And, as expected, the Badger, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, breaks her session change cloak immediately to warp to her tower. I pounce! I drop my cloak and lock the Badger, disrupting it's engines before it can enter warp, and start slamming missiles in to its hull. The flimsy hauler doesn't last long, certainly not long enough for the session change timer to end to enable her to jump out to low-sec to try to escape, and the ship explodes.

The ejection of the pod starts another session change timer but the pilot is savvy enough not to try to flee through the unaccepting wormhole, keeping her wits enough to safely warp away to her tower. I am left with a wreck full of liquid ozone, the hauler obviously having gone to market to stock up on some tower fuel, which I can only carry a small portion of. I stuff what I can in to my hold and shoot what remains, keeping in tone with my whole 'bad person' image, and exit the system. I'm happy with my quick kill, as well as the keen implementation.

The timing was important, because had I jumped in to the system too late the Badger could have seen me on-grid and decided not to follow. But too soon and my session change cloak would have dropped and the edge it gave me lost. As I say, it didn't really matter in this instance, as I could have followed and engaged the pilot out to low-sec, but had the wormhole been in high-sec I could have used the same tactic to get the kill in w-space. Hanging around in empire space waiting for the pilot to appear in the local channel gives more warning and preparation time than having to react to the flare of a wormhole too. But it is still just a simple hauler kill, nothing special in itself.

I leave the C1 behind me, if only because ship evacuations have stopped and Mick has spotted a Buzzard covert operations boat perhaps making a target of itself in the main body of our w-space constellation. I'm heading his way to continue my roam.

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

Ever-shifting w-space constellation

The whole corporation has turned thief! Entire hangars have been cleared of ships and modules, and no one is batting an eyelid. I'm told it's part of the process in tearing down the bivouac and my colleagues aren't really stealing every ship in sight, but I'm going to keep a close watch on everyone. Bookmarks are available today and the constellation is a complicated one, so after I spend half-an-hour waiting for my nav-comp to load the data I head out to see if I can make sense of the convoluted connections.

Starting my roam seems simple enough, jumping through the only wormhole in our home to the neighbouring class 4 w-space system. The C4 is empty and inactive, and again holds just the one connection. So far it all looks rather straightforward, and jumping in to the next w-space system only puts me in an empty C5 with wormholes to a C6 and low-sec empire space, even if the connection to deadly w-space is naturally threatening. I continue onwards through w-space to see an Orca industrial command ship and Providence freighter unpiloted in a tower in the C6, and bookmarks guiding me either to the static connection to class 5 w-space or a K162 to class 2 w-space. I pick the C2 to explore first.

Jumping in to the C2 gives me no more relevant bookmarks, not even for the wormhole I'm sitting on, making this system unexplored. I may only have a connection to k-space to find, but there is also the possibility of further K162s, or even activity, to uncover. I cross activity off my list of exciting possibilities in this system when I open my map to find there is only one planet orbiting the star, making there really nowhere to hide here. I launch probes and scan, resolving the second static wormhole to be an exit to null-sec. It's perhaps no surprise this system remains unoccupied, with its one planet, seventeen moons, and static connections to deadly class 6 w-space and null-sec k-space. It would be pretty hardcore to live here.

My scanning reveals no other wormholes to find, presumably whoever opened their static connection to the C2 being rather aghast at the options ahead of them and collapsing their wormhole pretty quickly. Speaking of collapsing wormholes, there has been some activity ahead of me. Mick spotted some battleships sitting distant off a wormhole and wondered what they were up to, until they warped as a fleet and promptly stressed the connection until it could take no more. Our link to the already bookmarked constellation is severed, but at least it gives us more to explore and, hopefully, more opportunity.

Mick has resolved the replacement wormhole to the new class 5 system, which I get to through the C6 and across the second class 5 system in our chain. This C5b not only connects to C5c, but has another class 5 system connecting in to it, as well as exits to both low- and null-sec, making it something of a crossroads at the moment. We ignore the known connections and jump in to C5c to see where we are led. D-scan is clear on the K162 in C5c, and launching scanning probes reveals a couple of ships amongst the ten anomalies and eight signatures. It doesn't take long to find the ships, both the Drake battlecruiser and Bestower hauler piloted but inert inside the shields of one of the two towers here.

I watch the Bestower as Mick scans the inner system, but the hauler gives up on even doing nothing, disappearing as the pilot drinks himself in to a stupor at the lack of action in w-space currently. I know that feeling. Two wormholes are found here, one coming in from low-sec and the system's static connection leading to class 2 w-space. Leaving the Drake behind, I find myself in a system I visited nine months ago, now with the tower moved one moon across. Maybe the view is better here, but it's all just empty space still. The static wormholes to class 3 w-space and high-sec are found, and by now my vigour is failing me.

Mick jumps ahead to see four ships on d-scan, but even his enthusiasm is palling. There is a small rush of excitement at the thought of activity as a Bestower on d-scan is swapped for a Broadsword heavy interdictor, but on finding the tower Mick sees all four ships there to be unpiloted, including the HIC. I think it's a lack of glucose that's causing blurred vision and recommend heading back home to get some food. Mick's good with that, noting that there is 'so much empty space today'. Yes, opportunity has felt sparse for a while. We get home still without bumping in to anyone, and take a break for food. To entertain myself on such a quiet day, and to remind me where I'm going later, I take the time to make a map of our constellation as it currently stands.

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Tags: bestower, broadsword, drake, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, providence, scanning, w-space