Scanning empty space

Gas harvesting is almost complete, what excellent timing for my arrival. It seems like rather a long operation, having left my colleagues gathering gas last night, but I have to admire their dedication. As the last of the gas is sucked in to cargo holds, I scan our home system for today's static wormhole and jump through to explore. My directional scanner is clear of contacts in this class 4 w-space system, only one planet and its moons in range, and I launch probes and perform a blanket scan. Only six signatures and four anomalies are present here, and there is no occupation.

Resolving the signatures finds only the one wormhole, the others all being ladar sites, but the static connection leads to class 1 w-space, which could be good hunting grounds. Jumping in only sees a tower on d-scan, combat probes confirming no other ships being visible in the system. There is also only gas to find along with the single wormhole, much as with the C4, and the exit leads out to a high-sec island in empire space, one hop through low-sec needed to get to continguous high-sec. Mick declares the constellation 'boring' and heads home. I hang around in high-sec to see if I can prove him wrong.

I launch probes and scan empire space, finding loads of hideouts for Angels rats, which could give me something to do if I didn't also have a K162 from class 2 w-space to investigate here. I resolve a second K162 exiting from a C2 but this one is reaching the end of its natural lifetime, and I choose the stable connection as being a better prospect. The C2 seems promising from my notes, my last visit here seeing me pop two Hulks and pod one of the pilots in my Onyx heavy interdictor, but that was fourteen months ago and a lot can change in that time. All I see from d-scan are four towers and an Anathema covert operations boat, which isn't much of a target, and even less of one when I find it unpiloted at one of the towers.

Scanning the C2 gets me a radar and two ladar sites, and the other static wormhole, a connection to another C1. Maybe I'll find activity at last. Or maybe I'll jump in to an unoccupied and empty system, with only two signatures waiting to be resolved, the third being the K162 behind me. A really weak signature turns out to be the system's static connection, an exit to null-sec k-space, and the other is also a wormhole, a K162 from class 5 w-space. There really is nothing to do in this C1, but maybe there are pilots in the C5 and I jump in to take a look.

There is an Orca industrial command ship on d-scan in the C5, which may be interesting if there also weren't a tower visible, making it a good bet that the Orca is simply floating empty inside a force field. I find the tower, shifted one moon across since I was last here ten months ago, showing that capsuleers will do anything to pass the time, and find the Orca indeed empty. I don't bother scanning further, looking for more K162s, instead accepting Mick's earlier analysis. The constellation is boring.

I head homewards, the operation to collapse our static wormhole already in full swing and pretty much just waiting for me to get back. I jump in to our C5 to have Fin follow behind me in her Orca, killing the wormhole. Once more I delete all my precious, hand-crafted bookmarks, no longer valid with the destruction of our link, and this, along with other recent scanning efforts leading nowhere, makes me feel sleepier than the hour would suggest. But Mick's impetus to find pilots to shoot is still strong and he scans for our new static wormhole. I can hang around a few minutes more, if only to see what's in store when we enter the C4.

'Unoccupied and empty', says Mick. The static connection in the C4 leads to more class 4 w-space, but the wormhole is EOL and not worth venturing through. A second wormhole sounds enticing, a K162 from a C5, but if the occupants of that C5 passed through here over twelve hours ago, in order to cause the wormhole to reach its end-of-life state by now, they are probably all asleep. And even if they aren't asleep, as the only ships visible on d-scan are a Phoenix dreadnought and Nidhoggur carrier there's little we can do, although it's likely both ships are in a tower and unpiloted. The briefest of looks through the aging wormhole to the second C4, in the hopes of a quick opportunistic kill, finds an unoccupied and empty system. All is quiet again tonight, I'm heading back to the bivouac to sleep.

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

Scanning in two directions

The bivouac is being taken down, to accommodate a lull in corporate activity, exits permitting. So far, today's scouts have scanned as deep as a class 6 system and are thinking about stopping, a route through deadly w-space not ideal for exporting ships. There's no harm in taking a look, though, and as they jump in for a shufti I grab a copy of the current bookmarks available at the tower and head in the opposite direction. There is a class 2 w-space system connecting in to our C5 and a lack of further bookmarks in that system suggest it hasn't been scanned. That's a little odd, because the C2 should have a second static wormhole leading out to k-space and if we're after a quick route out of w-space I would have thought it was the best place to start looking.

When I mention I'm in the C2 and scanning I am told that it only has an exit to null-sec, which explains why everyone flew off in the other direction, but not why a bookmark to the second wormhole wasn't made and copied to the shared can, particularly as there are only two signatures in the whole of the C2. I resolve the wormhole and bookmark it, at least so we know where it is, in case the locals wake up and use the exit themselves, and then jump out myself. K-space does not have to be an end to w-space, and if we are hitting a dead end in one direction we can still look this way for a route to high-sec empire space.

The null-sec system is in the Spire region, which is populated by drones and uninteresting for ratting, but there are a few signatures to resolve. Amongst them I find a wormhole that connects this null-sec system to low-sec empire space, which is a step up. Not involving stargates on the journey is always handy too. I jump through the wormhole to be back in the Citadel, the Kubinen system being only one jump from high-sec. That's not a bad result from the corporation initially believing the C2 not to offer a viable route.

I launch probes and scan again, happy to have found a path to high-sec but really after some activity to hunt, but there is only a gravimetric site in the system. There are also some ships around, and I easily get a strong hit on a Typhoon battleship meandering around in empty space. I warp in close to his position and alert the fleet, but they are now much deeper in w-space in the other direction, having passed through the C6, across two C5s, a C4, and are scanning another C2. There are ten wormholes between me and them, which is a fair distance to travel even if the Typhoon decides to stay where he is for now.

There's more to consider about a battleship sitting in low-sec with a red-skulled pilot in it. He could be waiting for an aggression timer to end, or loitering mid-system until tacklers in his fleet call him in to blow the crap out of a hapless target. I'm beginning to learn how to perform some basic intelligence, checking the local channel to see five other members of the Typhoon's corporation present in the system. This is a basic check that we can't do in w-space, the local channel keeping you hidden until you decide to speak, so thinking to do this doesn't come naturally to me. But knowing that the Typhoon has reinforcements nearby, which could be safely assumed given his and the system's security status, as well as the class of ship he's in, means I am best served just watching the battleship align out and warp away.

Heading home has one pilot in the null-sec system now, making it less safe to pass through ourselves, but at least we would not be using the stargate. Even so, and with no activity anywhere along the w-space constellation, the other corporation directors decide to shoot some gas for now to make some iskies. I pass the time by trying to fit a Crow interceptor half competently, given the lack of fittings for frigate-hulled ships in our hangars, so that I can sit on the K162 in our system to wait for no one. A Probe frigate was spotted in the tower in the C2 whilst the gas harvesting operation was starting up and hopefully he'll come out exploring again, but all he does is slump drunk in his pod and go back to sleep. That was predictable. I leave my colleagues hoovering space dust as I head back to the tower to sleep.

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Tags: crow, eve online, low-sec, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, probe, scanning, typhoon, w-space

Trying to stay safe

There's some activity today, but sadly only in a w-space system far away. One of our colleagues has got himself isolated and is passing the time by ninjaing Sleeper loot from under the noses of a couple of dreadnoughts. At least, he is until Sleeper frigates get hold of him, disrupting his warp engines and leaving him a sitting duck for just about everyone in the escalated anomaly. Causing trouble to the end, he jettisons the loot he's already stolen and shoots it, to prevent the locals getting it back. Riyu really knows how to make enemies. As he steels himself to face the one-way suicide trip to a clone vat in high-sec, I turn my attention back to our home system.

Mick and Fin are out scanning in our neighbouring class 4 w-space system but before I head out to join them I take time to update my bookmarks of the local sites. It doesn't take long, we keep a clean system, and I can confirm there are no new wormholes connecting in to us. I jump next door to a C4 with three towers, an Archon and Thanatos carrier sitting unpiloted in one, a Chimera carrier unpiloted in the second, and the third holding an empty Orca industrial command ship and Rorqual capital industrial ship. If that's what they have just floating around I imagine the locals have plenty of hardware stowed in their hangars. But for now the system remains inactive, unlike the class 3 w-space system this C4 connects to.

A Buzzard covert operations boat is spotted loitering on a wormhole in the C3, and Mick gives it a poke. It's a pretty hard poke, cracking the ship to get a Sisters probe launcher, and smashing the pod to scoop a fresh corpse. Interrogating the Buzzard's systems shows it to belong to the corporation in the C4, so either the system will stay quiet, now that we've podded the only active pilot, or it will wake up, now that we've podded one of their pilots. Either way, scanning is completed quickly, the C3's static exit leading to null-sec k-space and there being no other wormholes, and with a minimal constellation we find we have little to do. There is a single anomaly in the C4 which would be profitable, and we tempt fate by forming a fleet to steal Sleeper profit our neighbours.

I have to borrow a stinky Tengu strategic cruiser to participate, which doesn't sit well with me. I am far from good at fitting ships but I have ideas about what works for me, and piloting another capsuleer's ship makes me feel uncomfortable, like staying in a hotel room. It's pleasant enough, but it's not my own. You never know what fluids the previous occupant has leaked all over the place. Never the less, we get four Tengus up and running and blast our way through the Sleeper ships as if they weren't there. Combat over, we need to salvage, and rather than send out a vulnerable salvager and assume he'll bring home the bacon safely, we keep a Tengu or two available for protection.

As the salvager salvages, I scout the local towers. They are out of range of the directional scanner from the anomaly, which afforded us some arguable protection from easy detection, but also prevented us from seeing new ships arriving. As I get in to d-scan range of the towers I see a Purifier new to the system. I warp between the towers to get an eyeball on the stealth bomber, finding him stationary in one of them, but not for long. The bomber stirs in to action, warping away in a direction that could be the cleared anomaly. I warp to my colleagues and remain cloaked, ready to pounce on the bomber should he decide to strike against our Noctis, but either its Tengu escort discourages the Purifier from taking a shot or he didn't come here in the first place.

We get our Noctis home safely with our loot, making me some iskies from Sleepers for the first time in quite a while, and start to collapse our static wormhole. A Helios cov-ops boat is spotted on the wormhole but whether he jumps or warps away is not determined. Throwing an Orca through the connection to destabilise it flushes out the Helios soon enough, sending him back to the C4 and leaving us alone again. Or mostly alone, as Mick has an Arazu recon ship on d-scan in the C4. I take my covert Tengu back in to take a look around, this time seeing piloted a Guardian logistics ship and Dominix battleship at one of the towers, a Proteus strategic cruiser also appearing on d-scan there. It looks like the system is waking up.

Any danger that could currently be thrown at us doesn't look insurmountable. The remote repairs of the Guardian could be mitigated by my cloaky Tengu sneaking up on it unawares, and with that out of the way the Proteus and Dominix could be countered by our own ships. The Arazu's finglonger could present a problem but one perhaps not so dangerous if we have a wormhole to jump home through. But our wormhole is already stressed and a more prudent plan would be to complete its collapse, and we press ahead with that. Even so, just because we want to collapse the wormhole doesn't mean our neighbours will let us, and the Proteus, Dominix, and Guardian all warp there to greet Fin's next trip in the Orca. No doubt the Helios has imparted intelligence on our ship movements and numbers to his own fleet.

The wormhole doesn't destabilise critically on Fin's jump, leaving us unsure whether it will collapse on her return. She cloaks the Orca to try to remain safe as we organise a suitable ship to go through to add some more mass, but the hostile fleet aims for the space they saw the Orca disappear, hoping to bump it, and Fin is forced to return. The wormhole shrinks as it destabilises critically, but it doesn't collapse and that isn't good enough. Naturally, the hostile fleet doesn't follow, understanding well enough the folly it would be, but they loiter on the other side for long enough to see Mick's Loki jump out to give the wormhole one last push. The push works, but sadly on the way out, to leave our colleague stranded from our home system yet again. At least his strategic cruiser is a scanning boat and we already have an exit out to null-sec, which he is able to use once the hostile fleet is easily evaded.

We have a new wormhole to find, a new constellation to explore, and two colleagues to bring home. The wormhole leads us to a class 4 system with four ships sitting empty inside a tower and almost two dozen signatures to sift through. Resolving those signatures reveals two wormholes amongst the rocks and gas, one the static connection to another C4, the other a K162 from class 2 w-space. The C2 sounds interesting and, as usual, I opt for the interesting path, albeit with an excuse that the C2 will also have a connection to k-space. Sadly, the C2 is a little too interesting.

I initially see an Anathema cov-ops boat and a Proteus on d-scan, along with five small Sleeper wrecks, and expanding my results sees three active towers. A passive scan reveals five anomalies but the Sleeper wrecks are not in any of them, which means I may be looking for a gravimetric or ladar site and will need to scan. I warp away from the wormhole to try to launch probes covertly, which I only manage to do once I have avoided the three other towers on the edge of the system. Scanning with combat probes reveals two more towers, making eight in total in here, with piloted ships spread across nearly all of them.

It could still be possible to scan for the mining site, if the Sleeper wrecks are there and the miner goes back to shooting rocks or sucking gas. But when a colleague decides to try to steal from a container outside an occupied tower the locals show they are paying attention, swapping from their benign Iteron hauler and Buzzard in to a Manticore stealth bomber and Celestis cruiser, and a new contact appears in a Stabber cruiser. It looks like any action occurring here will now be weighed against us, and trying to keep track of multiple pilots across several towers is bound to cause problems for us. It's also late, and although we have colleagues to get back home my help will have to wait. I'm heading home to get some sleep.

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Tags: anathema, arazu, archon, buzzard, celestis, chimera, dominix, eve online, guardian, helios, iteron, loki, manticore, mmorpg, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, proteus, purifier, rorqual, scanning, sleepers, stabber, tengu, thanatos, w-space

Hunting a Hoarder

There's no one here. I'm used to that from our lesser populated class 4 w-space home but I thought our second tower in the rather more demanding class 5 system would have a little more bustle to it. I could hide somewhere too and get an early night for a change, but it would be rude not to at least see what's happening in the neighbouring system. The single bookmark in our shared can points towards the static wormhole but no further, so I even have some exploration ahead of me. I shouldn't be long.

My directional scanner shows me nothing on interest from the K162 in the C4, and I warp away to launch probes and perform a blanket scan of the system. I check my notes in warp to find this is my third visit to the system, my last being six months earlier. My probes show me six ships present, all of which I find at the tower, once I locate its new position and update my notes. The larger ships are all empty but a Hoarder hauler has a pilot, and an active one too.

Before I can get my camera drones to focus on it the Hoarder is warping to a customs office. Thankfully—for me—it is the customs office around the planet where the tower's located, making it really easy to identify. It still takes a few seconds to get my Tengu strategic cruiser turned around out of and back in to warp, and my lagging behind the hauler makes me cautious. Instead of decloaking during warp, to negate the recalibration delay that prevents targeting, I hold my cloak to make sure the Hoarder is not efficient in collecting planet goo. If he is already warping out by the time I get there and he sees me, my ambush will be foiled. But I am too tentative this time, it seems.

I try to ensure the Hoarder isn't aligning out to his next port of call before I decloak, but my own drifting speed is confusing my poor brain. I stay cloaked until I am sure, and I am only sure when a few seconds later I finally see the ship turn to align out. Now it really is too late to decloak and try to get a positive lock. What I have really been hoping for is to follow him to his next destination and get a better jump on the hauler before he can react. But instead of a second customs office the Hoarder returns to the tower. That's okay, he could be cautious and taking care to drop off each collection before continuing. Or he may have finished and just sit stationary in the tower for the rest of the evening.

Watching the Hoarder do nothing gives me enough time to kick myself about being over-cautious and to analyse what I could do better next time. And, as if the pilot has just been giving me thinking time, all the better to catch him, the Hoarder starts moving again. I am looking directly at the ship so I can see where he heads, but this far out on the edge of the system gives little angular separation for most of the planets and I have to make a fair guess as to which one he's aiming for. But having them all in roughly the same direction means that my general alignment towards the star, already calculated as being a beneficial vector to sit on, lets me enter warp and follow quickly.

It looks like I got a good bearing on the ship, or made a good guess. Either way, I drop out of warp to see the Hoarder sitting once more at a customs tower. No caution for me now, I decloak as soon as I confirm his presence, before my warp engines even disengage, and as haulers can't turn on a sixpence I am able to get a positive lock and start firing my launchers. The Hoarder explosively disintegrates and throws the pilot's pod in to my warp disruption module's clutches. A few more missiles are fired and I scoop the corpse, and loot and shoot the wreck. Job's a good 'un.

The system is quiet now, giving me time to scan. I don't get far before a Hound stealth bomber appears at the tower, and I quickly resolve the wormhole that I've found before throwing my probes out of the system. I try to work out if the Hound is a response to my aggression or a coincidence, but as the Hound stays at the tower and all the signatures in the system are over 50 AU away I am able to continue scanning, keeping an eye on the stealth bomber as I do. I find only two radar and two ladar sites, completing my scanning, and the Hound hasn't even twitched. I leave him behind to explore the class 3 system beyond the wormhole.

A clear d-scan welcomes me to the C3, and I launch probes and scan. There is a tower here, which you wouldn't know from the mess of anomalies and signatures also present, over forty of each cluttering up the system. There is a piloted Buzzard covert operations boat at the tower, apparently inactive, and although I could scan further a newly arrived colleague of mine zipping past me straight to the exit to high-sec empire space discourages me somewhat. Apparently the whole constellation was mapped earlier and I've been effectively stumbling in the dark because the bookmarks weren't copied in to our can. Never mind, I got myself a new corpse for my collection, I can call this a successful evening and still get a relatively early night.

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

Stopping salvaging and ganking gassing

'The wormhole's being stubborn, it's refusing to die.' And so starts another potentially dull night in w-space. There are, apparently, 'no other signatures, anomalies, or anything' in our home system, and there's little point venturing out through a wormhole on its last legs unless I relish the adventure in waiting for someone to contract me bookmarks to the inevitable new constellation I'll need to use to get home. So we wait. Thankfully, it isn't too long before the wormhole snuffs it and a new one pops up, looking rather more vital than its predecessor, and we can go out looking for trouble again.

Our neighbouring class 4 w-space system number looks familiar, and I have indeed been here twice before. I have nothing interesting to note of those past two occasions, though, only that I was last here fully a year ago. It looks like we have a pilot present too, as the Exequror cruiser initially seen on my directional scanner has now turned in to an Orca industrial command ship, and that's a tricky misidentification to pull off. I locate the tower in the system, landing in the middle of a bubble, to find no trace of the Orca. The C4's a big system and the Orca could be out collecting gas or planet goo, but if I were that lucky I'd have my own unicorn and I rather suspect the pilot's made a coincidental exit upon my arrival.

Launching scanning probes reveals two ships, neither being the Orca. Both the Hoarder hauler and Vigil frigate are sitting inside a second tower on the outskirts of the C4, where again I end up inside a bubble. This time, I'm even decloaked by the bubble itself, and the Vigil at the tower is piloted. If he's paying any attention at all, which he should given his ship class, I have been spotted. Still, plenty of pilots sit in the safety of their tower's force field whilst making sammiches, so I could still be an unknown presence. Mick and I scan, restricting ourselves to the inner system where our probes won't be detected by the sole pilot here, and we each resolve a wormhole from the eleven signatures.

Mick's resolved wormhole is the C4's static connection to class 2 w-space, whilst mine is a K162 from a second C4. We swap locations to bookmark each other's find and I jump in to the C2 to explore, with Mick heading to the C4. I warp around to find a Scorpion battleship, Rifter frigate, and Bestower hauler all sitting unpiloted in a tower's shields, which is fairly unexciting, and the C4 is not looking any more active for Mick. There are two towers in the second C4 but no pilots, the only ship in the system being an Imparior frigate abandoned on the fringes. He leaves it where he finds it, there not even being any point in shooting the ship, and we continue exploring.

The two static wormholes of the class 2 w-space system are easily found, scanning being quick in an inactive system, and we have new connections to class 1 w-space and high-sec empire space. I jump out to get the destination system in high-sec, whilst Mick continues along in w-space to the C1. I grab the bookmark in the Citadel region as Mick reports the first activity we have seen today, a Legion and Proteus visible on d-scan with Sleeper wrecks, and a Catalyst destroyer no doubt following behind the strategic cruisers to salvage their mess.

I head back to w-space and across to join Mick, but the K162 in the C1 is in d-scan range of the combat ships. We probably can't engage two active-tanked strategic cruisers in our scouting boats, but the Catalyst is a prime target and we don't want to spook him unnecessarily, so I stay on the wormhole to the system for now. The destroyer cloaks when he isn't salvaging, adding to the difficulty of engaging it, but Mick follows it in to the next completed anomaly, the strategic cruisers moving on to attack more Sleepers, and he has a shot he can take. Rather than risk losing the opportunity I tell Mick to pop the Catalyst solo, which he does easily, podding the pilot too, but he isn't able to loot the wreck before the Proteus drops in to see what's happening and he has to leave behind a few tens of millions of ISK in Sleeper salvage.

I watch the wormhole connecting the C2 to the C1 and, soon enough, it flares a couple of times. The Proteus then Legion decloak, and a third ship too, a Magnate frigate, and all three warp to the tower in the C2. The Proteus then heads out to what looks like high-sec, either to look for us or to buy a new salvaging destroyer, leaving the system inactive again. That's okay, on his way home Mick has found a Covetor in the C4 behind us, which offers exciting prospects of slaughtering a miner. I jump back to the C4 and take up watch at the tower too, willing the pilot of the Covetor to mindlessly shoot some rocks, but he stubbornly refuses to believe in telepathy.

What I notice whilst sitting outside the tower in the C4 is that the Exequror cruiser is back in the system, but not in the tower itself. I go out looking for him and, with some refinements to d-scan's beam width and range, position him a little under the tower. It seems odd for him to be sitting there alone and, warping to get closer, after covertly launching combat scanning probes, I place him just over 1 AU away from the tower, which is too far to be a mere off-grid safe-spot. Mick enlightens me as to the capacity of the Exequror's cargo hold and, as a result, its suitability for harvesting gas without needing to jettison a can often, and it looks like we have a second target.

Mick is in the home system and able to bring a heavy interdictor to the static wormhole, waiting for me to get my probes in to position. Being so close to a known position makes it relatively easy to get a good bearing on the gas miner—at least I think it does, as I suppose I won't find out until I hit 'scan'—and I cluster my probes around where I think the Exequror is sitting. Satisified with the position of my probes I warp back to our K162 and instruct Mick to jump in, as I start the scan. I get a 100% hit on the first attempt, both ship and ladar site fully located, and warp the two of us to the target ship's position, recalling my probes at the same time.

We drop out of warp on top the unsuspecting Exequror, Mick inflating his HIC's warp bubble to stop it escaping. I've already dropped my cloak and am locking the cruiser as soon as my warp engines cut out, which makes this a rather simple affair. The Exequror crumples under our combined fire and the ejected pod, with no way of getting clear, suffers the same fiery fate. We scoop the corpse, and loot and shoot the wreck. Smooth and efficient, like a well-oiled machine. That's one for each of us this evening. Happy with the results of our exploration and hunting we turn our ships around and head home for the night.

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Tags: bestower, catalyst, covetor, eve online, exequror, hoarder, impairor, legion, magnate, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, proteus, pvp, rifter, scorpion, vigil, w-space

Let wormholes guide me

I turn up to find not much happening, mostly some corporation colleagues taking advantage of an exit to high-sec empire space to do some shopping. I have nothing I need to buy and our static wormhole is reaching the end of its natural lifetime, but it should have a couple of hours left before collapsing and I'm in a scanning boat, so I head out to take a look around.

The neighbouring class 4 w-space system is occupied but empty, the most interesting aspect currently being the connection to class 1 w-space. I jump onwards to the C1 and see a tower on my directional scanner, where I imagine the Wolf assault ship, Manticore stealth bomber, and Buzzard covert operations boat also in the system are probably all sitting. Locating the tower, I'm happy to be surprised to find the Wolf and Manticore piloted, but it comes as less of a surprise that they are doing nothing but watching a refinery run. It may well be a quiet day today.

I jump out of the class 1 system to a high-sec system in empire space, which looks like the end of the w-space constellation. But my recent operations have taught me that empire space does not have to mean an end of w-space, and I launch probes to scan. Unlike many other high-sec systems, there are quite a few signatures here. I resolve a radar site, a gravimetric site, four drone sites, three magnetometric sites, and a Blood Raider lookout post, the final signature in the system being the only other wormhole here. New Eden has a flair for the dramatic sometimes.

As if being teased with finding the wormhole last wasn't enough, it turns out to be a disappointing connection between high- and low-sec empire space, no w-space to be crossed. I jump through to take a look anyway, as I prefer wormholes to stargates and it gives me a new system to explore. I pop across to the Genesis region, where I launch probes and scan once more. Only three signatures need to be resolved this time, one of which is the K162 I exited through. More Blood Raiders are here and a second wormhole, the connection a K162 from class 3 w-space, but one that is in its EOL stage.

I'm happy entering the C3 through a dying wormhole. Since suiting up in my covert Tengu strategic cruiser I have the scanning capability and firepower in a single ship to keep me entertained even if I get isolated from wherever I'm currently calling home. The worst that can happen is I have to scan my way out of the system and get guided back by a colleague, which is a responsibility we all share at one time or another. Jumping through unstable wormholes can also catch the locals off their guard. But, in this case, the unpiloted Vexor cruiser and Nidhoggur carrier at the local tower don't seem terribly startled.

I scan the C3 anyway, wondering if perhaps the exit wormhole was opened by pilots living deeper in w-space, but only turn up a single gravimetric and ladar site each in the system. It looks like I've reached the end of the wormhole constellation at last. I turn my ship around and head back to low-sec, then to high-sec, and back in to w-space the way I came. The Wolf and Manticore are both gone, and there is still a distinct lack of anything in the class 4 system, leaving me little else to do but jump home. Space is boring tonight, but at least I didn't die stupidly.

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Tags: buzzard, eve online, manticore, mmorpg, nidhoggur, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, vexor, w-space, wolf

Tengu versus Imicus

The fleet returns home from the Prophecy debacle, where its thin-as-a-rake hull evaporates before we can get a heavy interdictor on top of it. We travel at different speeds, though. The combat ships head directly back, warping wormhole-to-wormhole, whereas the more stealthy amongst us dawdle to look for further activity, stopping by reconnoitred towers along the fairly long chain of w-space systems in today's constellation. Mick finds new contacts first, having taken point, and is stalking an Imicus moving out of its tower. He isn't close enough to engage, but bouncing my covert strategic cruiser off a planet puts my Tengu almost on top of the frigate. At least, it would, if he hadn't initiated emergency warp seconds before I get there.

I hold my position, waiting for the return of the Imicus, as we watch the other pilots in the tower for activity. A Viator transport ship and Mammoth hauler turn up, but perhaps these pilots communicate rather more than others we've encountered, sharing information about seeing our combat ships zip across they system, as neither ship leaves the tower to collect planet goo. The Mammoth disappears, to be replaced by a Hulk exhumer, but all this ship does is bounce off a hangar for rather longer than would suggest intelligence. The Hulk finally makes a manual course correction, moves to a can, then logs off. It is with some excitement, then, that the Imicus returns.

The frigate drops out of warp almost on top of my position. I have already deactivated my cloak and am preparing to engage the Imicus when Mick warns me not to engage, but as I have now shown my presence I consider it too late to try to hide, and target the ship in front of me. I almost get a lock, then my targeting systems drop, but a second attempt snares the Imicus and my warp disruptor activates to prevent its escape. And then it all goes horribly wrong.

I am aware that I have limited time for the engagement before the tower's defences lock on to me and start shooting, but I am confident my Tengu can absorb a fair bit of damage. Even so, I try to align my ship for a quick exit. When doing so only succeeds in increasing the distance between me and my target I turn back to stay in decent attacking range. It looks like the Imicus may be burning away from me, so I pulse my micro warp drive to keep up, but it could just be that my own vector made the speed differential look greater than it was. This happens twice—horribly wrong—and my signature radius flares larger than trousers from the 70s, giving the tower's defences a much quicker lock time.

As I suspected, my Tengu is barely being scratched by the guns of the tower, as it's pretty robust. Mick is calling for me to escape but the Imicus is hurting and I want to finish it off. A couple more volleys pops the frigate and, although I try to stop it, the pod warps clear. Now I can leave. Except I can't. The guns aren't doing much to me, but the warp disruptor battery has a solid grip on my ship. That's okay, I'll burn away and get out or range of the battery so I can warp clear. Except I can't. An energy neutralising battery has sucked all the juice out of my capacitor. That's bad news, but not the end of the world. I can move out under standard drive, easily absorbing the damage, and eventually get out of range. Except I can't. At least, not for three hours or so, as the webbing batteries have slowed my Tengu to a crawl a freighter would mock. It's gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Even if I had three hours spare, and despite the rather angry tower only scratching me, the two Dominix battleships now boarded in the tower could overtake me and easily pulverise my Tengu. I've been spamming the warp button since getting in to this predicament, in case of a gap in the defences' activation cycles, but I am well and truly scuppered. I see no hope of escape and don't see the point of waiting for my ship to explode around me, so I eject and warp my pod clear. My poor Tengu cannot be recovered whilst the tower has it locked as a target, so all anyone can do is help it on its way to being a wreck, and it's not long before the insurance commision offers me a few million ISK for my half-billion ISK ship. But, hey, at least I got the Imicus, right?

That was pretty dumb. At least now I realise the potency of a well-configured tower's defences, and the vulnerability engaging outside one whilst piloting a strategic cruiser. I've been used to piloting a stealth bomber in similar conditions up until this point, its small signature radius giving me more leeway and the higher agility a better chance of escaping. And it doesn't cost quite so much to replace should the situation go horribly, horribly wrong. I also learn that even if my colleagues are getting good kills against strategic cruisers and battleships I shouldn't press for any combat situation to try to prove my worth. Sometimes you have to pass up an engagement.

I have a replacement ship to buy. As I am warping my pod to the convenient exit to high-sec empire space and across to Jita I get a conversation request. It's from one of the pilots witness to my stupidity, and I accept the request. He's rather incredulous at first. 'Seriously?' Seriously what? 'A Tengu for an Imicus? Seriously?' Well, yeah. I explain that it was purely opportunistic and that I really didn't expect the tower defences to be quite so crippling, and when the capsuleer sees no tears and no bitterness we share a bit of banter about the absurdity of the engagement. I even suggest that for the future he sets his tower to 'passive-aggressive' mode, where if they are attacked the defences just give a stern look and expect the pilots to know what they've done wrong.

Our little conversation is all rather civil, probably because, like I say, I have no tears to shed. I still grow attached to my ships, particularly the exotic ones or those I have had for a while, but I also recognise them ultimately as tools. I don't think I'd last long in w-space if I didn't. But what's the opposite of 'tears'? I ask because a colleague of the pilot I'm pleasantly chatting to finds our corporation's public channel and fully douches it up within seconds. He immediately launches in to a tirade about how stupid I am, how hilarious that was and, well, probably lots of other embarrassingly juvenile comments. I don't actually know, as I only commented on how much of a prick he was compared to his colleague before giving focus to a different comms channel and ignoring him.

Lots of attention is given to capsuleers tears, the outbursts when a pilot loses a ship and abuses the attackers for normally absurd reasons, made more bizarre when the loser was engaged in a particularly foolhardy enterprise. But what about the opposite? Is there a term for being overly boastful, and even hostiley arrogant, about a victory, particularly one where the loser pretty much welcomes doom with open arms? I can't say I was happy with losing my Tengu, but I took it gracefully and accepted my loss, and when given an opportunity I was courteous and, I like to think, charming when talking to one of the (indirect) victors. I don't really see how abusing me, and everyone in our public channel, was justified or could be considered civil behaviour. If we vilify tears, then surely we should do the same for these 'anti-tears'.

Whatever else is said in our public channel, I pay it no attention. I make the trip to Jita, buy and fit a replacement Tengu, and head back the way I came to return to the class 5 w-space bivouac. I should think about making back some of these iskies, as my stupidity can be expensive.

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Tags: dominix, eve online, hulk, imicus, jita, mammoth, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, tengu, viator

Resolving the Prophecy

Chomping down a sammich makes the rumblings in my tummy as quiet as those in w-space currently. Roaming through our scanned constellation finds our neighbouring class 4 system empty, and the C5 next along the route quiet, as a new Tengu strategic cruiser appears at the tower only to log off again within a couple of minutes. The second C4 in our constellation has a pilot awake, and even though he's tantalisingly piloting a Covetor mining barge this system has been fully scanned already and there are no gravimetric sites to be found. I suspect this Covetor's going nowhere for now. A second pilot arrives, boards a Scorpion battleship, and, well, sits there doing nothing. I'm moving on.

I've caught up with Mick on his own roam, and we share the scouting duties between us as we pass through empty class 2 w-space to another boring C4. We scan the system, having reached the previous limit of our exploration, and a wormhole to more class 4 w-space is resolved. Jumping in finds a tower but no ships, and we easily scan through the four signatures to find another static connection to a class 4 w-space system. We continue jumping through today's chain of wormholes to be presented with empty space again, but only within directional scanner-range of the K162. Performing a blanket scan of the system reveals three ships amongst a large number of anomalies and a bunch of signatures.

Warping around locates the three ships, an Iteron hauler sitting unpiloted at a tower along with two piloted Covetors. I keep eyes on the ships as Mick discreetly scans for mining sites and wormholes out of d-scan range of the tower. He resolves one of each, the wormhole being the system's static connection to class 3 w-space. The Covetors aren't moving, so we will, jumping in to the C3 to see a tower, Hurricane, Prophecy, and Noctis salvager on d-scan. There are no wrecks within range, so it doesn't seem likely that the two battlecruisers are shooting Sleepers, but they both drop off d-scan, putting them elsewhere in the system.

Locating the tower in the C3 finds the Hurricane returned from wherever he has been, with the Prophecy still at large. I sweep d-scan around to get a bearing on him, soon placing him in apparently empty space. There are no wrecks and a canister hasn't been jettisoned, and even though he may be harvesting gas he could just as well be camping a wormhole. Either way, to get to him I will need to use combat probes to scan his position, and checking the system map shows the C3 to be too small to get out of d-scan range of both the Prophecy and the tower. But the Hurricane pilot has swapped to a Cheetah covert operations boat and has disappeared, and as the K162 we entered through is out of d-scan range of the Prophecy but not the now-empty tower I warp there to launch probes.

With my probes thrown far out of the system I can get to the task of positioning their virtual boxes around where I think the Prophecy is. I return to get as close to the battlecruiser as the planets will allow and start refining my d-scan search for the ship. He warps out at one point, back to the tower, where Mick confirms the ship has gas harvester modules fitted. It looks like we have a target. As a Tengu is boarded to swat the ladar site Sleepers, Mick heads homewards to collect a couple more colleagues who would like to join in with slaughtering a gas miner. The three ships start making their way towards us, but as we have scanned ourselves deeper in to the constellation since the earlier bookmarks were copied Mick has to guide them from the half-way point.

It's a fair few jumps between this class 3 w-space system and the C5 bivouac, which takes some time to traverse. Thankfully, this time lets the Tengu clear the Sleepers for the Prophecy to return to sucking gas in to his hold. We also can talk strategy. We know there is a second pilot available, and we know that if we all drop on top of the Prophecy the second pilot won't dare come to engage us, particularly as we will have a heavy interdictor for trapping pods. But if I hit the Prophecy alone in my scanning Tengu then maybe we'll provoke a response. It's not likely, which is why I'll be calling the fleet to jump in and warp to my position when the Prophecy hits structure, so we can bubble the ship and ensure a podding today.

We have our plan, the fleet is sitting on the wormhole, and my probes are positioned. I punch 'scan', my probes give me a lovely 100% hit, and I warp in to greet the battlecruiser with missiles. The Prophecy is snared, not breaking my warp disruption effect and not shooting back. This looks like it will be easy, although it takes a bit of shooting to break through the ship's armour. The Tengu doesn't come to the pilot's aid, however, which is a little disappointing, and as the Prophecy's armour drops below 10% I call the ship as being in structure, signalling the fleet to jump and warp. But it's too late.

The Prophecy's armour may be strong but its hull is made of paper. One more volley is all it takes to blast completely through the structure and shower my ship with debris, and despite trying to get a lock I watch impotently as the pod warps away from my clutches. All I can do is apologise to my colleagues, but they are good-natured about the situation, happy with the kill and more disappointed that we once again couldn't lure out a bigger target. We loiter for a bit but only get a verbal response, and I have to rely on my translator to understand the Russian. 'Run now and wait for revenge', I think is directed our way, which it looks like we're doing, but with no more targets there is little else to do but head homewards.

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Tags: cheetah, covetor, eve online, hurricane, iteron, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, prophecy, pvp, scanning, scorpion, tengu, w-space

Exploring behind combat

Curse my timing. In trying to moderate my time in space and be a more rounded capsuleer I have managed to miss out on colleagues popping not only a Loki strategic cruiser engaging Sleepers but also a Crane transport ship out collecting planet goo. Hopefully I haven't missed all the action, as my colleagues tell me that stealth bombers could be out and about looking for them, and I grab the bookmarks for today's w-space constellation from our shared can and head out to take a look around.

Jumping through our static wormhole puts me in the class 4 w-space system where the Crane was caught. And despite a Proteus strategic cruiser, and a Scorpion and Nightmare battleship all piloted at the local tower it doesn't look like they are planning a counter-attack. I imagine I've missed all the action here. I continue onwards, happy to infer from the number of bookmarks that even though the class 2 system next on the route has had activity quelled from the death of the Loki it remains unscanned, which at least gives me something to do. But before that there is even a K162 leading to class 5 w-space in this C4, which also needs exploring. I'll go there first.

The C5 has a tower but no ships visible on my directional scanner, and trying to get out of range of the tower to launch probes covertly only gets me closer to two more. There are ships coincident with these two towers, a Fenrir freighter at one and a small collection of combat and industrial ships in the other, all unpiloted. A lack of pilots means I can be blasé about launching probes, and I scan the system to find but one anomaly nestled amongst the five other signatures and eight accounted-for ships. What is interesting are the drones also in the system, warping around letting d-scan show me they are all ECM drones. I consider scooping them to claim them for ourselves, but change my mind when they turn out to be in a barely started magnetometric site.

Further scanning of the C5 resolves a K162 wormhole coming in from null-sec k-space, and I'm guessing that's where the drones came from. At least, indirectly. I imagine some null-seccers came in to the C5, fancied themselves capable of taking on a few measly Sleepers, but perhaps didn't realise the step in difficulty between normal rats and w-space denizens. Even the few mere cruisers that initially defend this particular type of magnetometric site look to have caused enough troubles, the flights of ECM drones launched to let the capsuleers escape with their ships. And with Sleepers still shooting the ECM drones this must have been recent.

I doubt we'll see more from the null-sec pilots for now and I head back to the C4 to warp across to the C2. But before I enter warp I hold my session change cloak on the K162 in the C4, as I have found one of the stealth bombers looking for my colleagues. The Nemesis decloaks shortly after I enter the system, launches his bomb, and makes his escape almost as it detonates harmlessly on the wormhole. I break my cloak to try to lock and snare the stealth bomber but he's in warp without trying to follow up with torpedoes, and I end up merely shadowing him back to the local tower. I suppose the locals think my colleagues came from that C5 earlier and were looking to exact some revenge, not even thinking to scan for new wormholes.

The Nemesis doesn't look like he's going to venture out of the tower again, so I press on unfazed to explore the C2. One anomaly and twenty signatures can be found in the class 2 system, which will probably keep the owner of the other combat scanning probes here busy too. The first wormhole I find is a K162 from more class 2 w-space, which is rather splendid, the second being a static exit to high-sec empire space. The third wormhole resolved is a K162 from more class 5 w-space, reaching the end of its natural lifetime and already stressed to half its mass limit. The fourth is dead on arrival, no doubt replaced by the fifth, which is the second static connection that leads to class 4 w-space.

I jump out the last resolved wormhole to the C4, putting me in a system where I got a lucky kill before, but that corporation has since moved out. There is still occupation, though, a piloted Anathema covert operations boat sitting dormantly in a tower. But Mick behind me has actual activity, picking up a Magnate on d-scan. The scanning frigate cloaks, making locating him a little trickier, but I suspect he's from the next C2 outbound. I warp to the wormhole at range in time to see the Magnate decloak and cloak again, kindly but probably accidentally showing himself to be blue to our corporation. Light blue, but still blue.

I presume the presence of the blue pilot on the wormhole makes the C2 behind him blue too, which halts scanning for now. I'm not going to scan a blue system, and my tummy doesn't want me to delve deeper in to w-space through the C4, so I turn around and head home to make a sammich. Maybe all this preparatory scanning has set me up to find a ship to destroy later.

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Tags: anathema, crane, eve online, fenrir, loki, magnate, mmorpg, nemesis, nightmare, penny ibramovic, proteus, pvp, scanning, scorpion, w-space

Comings and goings

I've left the boring class 3 w-space system behind me, but not w-space itself. Back out in high-sec empire space I wake up to see a contract waiting for me. Inspecting and accepting the contract gets me a set of bookmarks that looks like they'll take me to our class 5 bivouac, which is convenient and much appreciated. Not only that, the contract was made only one jump away from where I docked for the night. I don't even have far to travel to rejoin my colleagues. At least, not far in empire space, as the seventeen bookmarks could present a somewhat labyrinthine journey through wormholes.

My first jump, having collected the bookmarks, is in to a class 2 w-space system. An almost-handful of ships can be seen on my directional scanner, along with a tower, and my notes remind me that Fin and I were here only two months ago, when we popped a Scorpion battleship collapsing a wormhole. Good times. I locate the tower to find only the Anathema covert operations boat piloted, and with no probes in the system it looks like he's inactive. I leave this C2 behind and take a dekko at the other static connection in here, which leads out to class 3 w-space. The C3 is empty and inactive, though, and as getting home is more of a priority than roaming I jump back to the C2 and warp to the K162 leading in to a class 4 system.

Jumping in to the C4 gives me a clear d-scan, with only one planet with moons out of range of the scanner. As it happens, that planet's moons hold a tower, although there are no ships or pilots to go with the signs of occupation. I continue to head backwards through the chain of systems to another C4, and find a Thorax and Moa cruiser, Brutix battlecruiser, and Orca industrial command ship all participating in a gas mining operation. A can has been jettisoned to hold the gas and there isn't a tower in sight, making the ships all wonderfully tempting targets, if they weren't corporation-owned. I calm down my colleagues when their vigilant scanner notices my Tengu strategic cruiser appear, and the system settles down again.

One more jump gets me to the C5 bivouac, and I just make sure it's the right system before turning around to go roaming more properly. The C3 still needs scanning, and I have four apparently phantom bookmarks for wormholes in systems I haven't passed through. Maybe I can find them, or confirm that they are not needed. I travel back through the two class 4 systems in to the C2, where some core probes can be seen on d-scan. The Anathema isn't in the tower any more either. A bit of loitering sees the probes go and a Stabber cruiser appear, only to disappear again moments later. He could be a tourist from high-sec and I warp to lurk near the exit wormhole, but I get antsy quickly and decide to scan the C3 to be active instead of sitting still.

Nine anomalies and eighteen signatures are in the unoccupied class 3 w-space system. I soon find the static exit to low-sec, and shortly afterwards a second wormhole, this one a K162 from more class 4 w-space. Sadly, the C4 is probably the origin of the pilots Mick mentioned he scared away when he jumped in to this C3 earlier. I take a look anyway, seeing a bunch of ships on d-scan but all seemingly at a tower. Of all the cruisers and haulers available, the only ship piloted is a Noctis salvager, which is a curious choice for a solo endeavour, particularly with no wrecks visible on d-scan. I check the rest of the C4 but turn up no other pilots, and scanning only reveals three signatures and one anomaly.

Even when a Tengu turns up at the tower there is nothing happening, unlike with my tummy, which is rumbling along like a warp engine. I turn my ship around and get back to the C5 without event, taking a break to get some food. When I get back, a fleet of ours is tackling Sleepers in our neighbouring C4. I should join in, as it has been a while since I made some iskies, but I don't feel the urge. I take a look around our constellation first, pretty much just an excuse not to shoot Sleepers, but find the second C4 empty, the C2 quiet, the C3 dull, and a pilot asleep in a Noctis at the tower in the furthest C4. Even the exit to low-sec in the C3 leads to Aridia, devoid of other pilots and other wormholes. I go back to join the corporation fleet.

Rather than shoot Sleepers I take a more protective role, launching combat scanning probes and making sure we are the only obvious ships present and confirming a lack of new connections in to the system. I also resolve a handful of magnetometric sites for the fleet to get more lucrative profits, hoping for a finder's fee for myself, but time pressing on so that only one of the sites is completed on top of the anomalies already cleared. And although w-space has been quiet I've got back to the bivouac, and the eight hundred million ISK in Sleeper loot my colleagues looted means it has been a productive evening on average.

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Tags: anathema, brutix, eve online, mmorpg, moa, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, stabber, tengu, thorax, w-space