In pursuit of planet goo

Hooray, no scanning today! A bookmark labelled with our static wormhole is waiting for me in the shared can, letting me warp right out to get a jump on exploration. Except I drop out of warp in empty space, the bookmark being a day old, and I need to scan after all. At least the latest round of site depletion has taken effect, another dozen bookmarked locations can be removed from my system map, no longer interfering with finding wormholes. Glorious leader Fin appears as I resolve the static wormhole amongst a thinned group of signatures, and she warps to my position to bookmark the connection directly.

Fin jumps in to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system as I prudently make a quick check for any other connections, too often assuming that the static wormhole is the only one present. And I find a second wormhole, too. With Fin scouting the C3, finding a few towers but little activity, I jump through the K162 to further class 4 w-space. My directional scanner reading is interesting, seeing nothing but celestial objects and a Bestower hauler. The hauler may well be collecting planet goo from customs offices, making him a target! Oh, if only I weren't in my Buzzard covert operations boat.

My Buzzard has a warp disruption module and is armed, so technically could prevent the Bestower from warping as well as shoot it, but the single rocket launcher would take a while to whittle down the ship's defences. Without knowing what other ships are elsewhere in the system that could come to the hauler's aid I may end up only revealing myself and leaving no more than a gnat bite on the Bestower before being swatted away. On top of that, the Buzzard's targeting systems will suffer a recalibration delay on decloaking, giving the Bestower pilot time to react, and perhaps long enough to escape before I can stop him.

I should have brought my stealth bomber in here. Regardless of relying on foreknowledge of the presence of targets, jumping through a K162 has the distinct possibility of landing in a dead end, with no other wormholes leading out that require scanning. A prelimary check in a cloaked combat ship negates the need to swap ships for a simple ambush against a salvager or hauler collecting planet goo, whilst providing a good enough tool to reconnoitre larger combat ships. It may be too late now, but I jump home to swap in to my Manticore, knowing that I'll have to wait a few minutes for polarisation effects to dissipate before I can head back to the C4.

Idling at the tower I can check my notes, showing that this is my fourth visit to this particular class 4 system. My last visit was six months ago, when it was unoccupied, so it is possible the Bestower was just passing through, but the customs offices visible on my overview suggest some kind of occupation, which could be hidden around the planets out of d-scan range from the wormhole. Polarisation problems avoided, I jump back and warp away from the wormhole to explore, finding a tower easily enough, where there are two Bestowers and a Buzzard piloted, along with an empty Prorator transport ship. I have probably missed my chance at catching the Bestower.

My hopes are raised when the pilot of the Buzzard swaps to a Badger industrial ship, making me think there is some tag-team planet goo collection occurring, but this is merely a feint. A Bestower warps out of the tower instead, and it looks like he's heading to a customs office. I try to get a bead on his exit vector and make a quick guess as to which office he's aiming for, sending my Manticore in the same direction, but the angle is narrow and there are several planets close together in the inner system. As my ship enters warp, and I am powerless to stop it, I realise I am heading towards the wrong customs office.

I drop out of warp at the first planet and fling the Manticore towards the second, but I am too late, the Bestower has moved on. I swing d-scan around, looking for the hauler's next collection point and rush towards the third planet, dropping short of the customs office to see what looks like the Bestower landing here too. I am short of the customs office but close enough to disrupt the Bestowers warp drive. Even so, I don't engage immediately, wanting to be sure the hauler isn't moments away from entering warp, which would likely evade my point whist simultaneously revealing my ship. I am happy to see my target remain stationary, so I decloak, lock, and start shooting.

Industrial ships are pretty flimsy, this one being no exception. My torpedoes rip through its shields and armour in no time, which is why I chose not to waste an expensive bomb when none was needed. But maybe I should have used a bomb, as it would have destroyed the ship even more quickly, perhaps disorientating the pilot long enough for me to trap his pod as well. But the three volleys of torpedoes alerts him enough to align and get his pod out a split-second before my warp disruptor stops him, leaving me with nothing of significance to recover from the wreck. That's not to say nothing was in the hauler, as judging by the debris it looks like a hefty load of planet goo was destroyed in the explosion. That's not much consolation to me, as it is all lost profit, and I simply shoot the wreck and warp cloaked back to the tower to monitor the reaction.

There is a little scouting performed by the local pilots. An Anathema cov-ops warps to the static wormhole leading to our home system, but it doesn't look like he jumps. Fin comes back from the rather less interesting C3 to plant her Crow interceptor on the K162 at home, ready to catch any ship that comes through, just in case. But it looks like the locals just want to know where I came from. Scanning probes are launched and ships warp in and out of the tower, but to no locations I can easily discern. If I didn't know any better I'd say that there was another K162 here, this system being used as a bridge for a different corporation elsewhere, but even when Fin comes in to take a good look around there are no other wormholes to find.

I would guess that the locals are simply being vigilant in checking for new connections themselves, which is wise. I have seen enough pilots assume that the active connection they know about is where my ambush originated, not taking time to consider that I opened a second connection in to their system. I think these pilots are showing good practice by not simply assuming I am from their neighbouring C4. We even get a welcome in the local communication channel from the director of the corporation, apparently not too bitter at losing the Bestower. But there is no further activity of note, at least nothing we can shoot, so we head home to continue exploration in the other direction.

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Tags: anathema, badger, bestower, buzzard, crow, eve online, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, prorator, pvp, scanning, w-space

Finishing what others start

Everyone's here already, but I'm told our neighbouring system is boring. The class 3 w-space system has four anomalies, one ladar gas harvesting site, and a static exit to low-sec empire space. There is a tower, too, but no activity. Sounds okay to me, we can make some iskies to replenish our wallets after the recent losses. We all have strategic cruisers we can use. I have my Tengu, Mick can use missing Mak's Loki, and Fin can pilot Riyu's Tengu. At least, she can once she works out its fitting.

Loki and Tengu jump in to the C3 to start the evening's Sleeper combat, Fin following in behind when comfortable, and we settle in to a comfortable groove. Fin and I have been fighting C3 Sleepers for a while and the anomalies are quite familiar, and adding a third pilot makes each site pass more quickly. Before we know it all four anomalies are behind us with only wrecks left in them, and not wrecks of our own ships this time. It's time to salvage.

Only Fin and I are able to salvage, as our niche skill training has seen us fit all our salvaging ships, Noctes and destroyers alike, with Tech II salvager modules, which Mick cannot use. But that's okay, his Loki can be used to guard us as we sweep up. We're not expecting trouble, but few capsuleers do. We whizz through the sites, collecting loot and salvage, and return home safely with a healthy two hundred and twenty million iskies in profit. Now we can collapse our static wormhole and start again.

Collapsing our wormhole is straightforward this time, Orca industrial command ship and Widow black ops ship combining with the incidental passage of the strategic cruisers and Noctis salvagers to cause the connection to disappear with no additional nudging. The home system is scanned, the new wormhole resolved, and we are jumping in to another class 3 w-space system. And this time there is activity, not because there is a tower and ships visible on the directional scanner, but because of the Sleeper wrecks I can see.

The tower here is easy to find, it being anchored to the sole moon around one of the planets, and warping there lets me quickly tell that there are two active pilots. A Drake battlecruiser and Hyperion battleship are on d-scan but not local to the tower, making them busy fighting Sleepers. I start a passive scan and see five anomalies nearby, one of which looks to have the two ships in it. I warp in at range, narrowly missing a rather large rock, to see the Hyperion shooting Sleepers but the Drake gone. He's back at the tower, it seems, switching to a Raven battleship before rejoining the Hyperion.

I don't see the Raven come back to the anomaly, as I am already warping homewards, fresh wreck bookmark in my nav-comp, as Fin readies her Legion stragetic cruiser. The Legion is one of our pair, and I board the second when I get back to the tower, getting ready to disturb the capsuleers' combat with some of our own. We are both well aware of the loss of two strategic cruisers within the past couple of days, but we are ready to jump right back in and risk it again. The Raven is called the primary target and we warp to our static wormhole in preparation for the strike.

Fin holds on the wormhole and I jump in, checking d-scan to confirm the ships are still in the anomaly before fully committing. The Hyperion is there, the Raven pilot is not. One battleship is enough of a target and I call Fin in, at which point I warp us both to the Hyperion's position. Systems are hot, temperatures are rising, our Legions are about to get their first proper fight. But dropping out of warp only sees Sleepers, the Hyperion gone from the anomaly too. Whether he saw us coming or is swapping ships again isn't clear. We hold for a while, hoping the Raven is warping back in and can't stop, but no one comes.

There may be no capsuleers here but the Sleepers have taken exception to our interruption, incoming fire forcing us out of the anomaly for self-preservation. It is also a good indicator that perhaps we have compromised the tank on the Legion a little too much if we are expecting to fight other capsuleers amongst Sleepers, as the w-space denizens seem to pick on newcomers more often than not. At least we learn this in what turns out to be a benign test, and can harden our systems for future use.

Back at the K162 leading home we don't jump out, merely loiter and keep an eye on d-scan. The two pilots clearly have noticed our presence and are not returning to the anomaly. Nor are they changing ships, either to meet our strategic cruisers or scan for the connection. We may as well finish what they started. Fin holds on the wormhole and I jump home, stowing the Legion to board my Tengu, getting back to the C3 as Fin jumps home to do the same. Warping in to the anomaly sees it despawned, though, for whatever reason, leaving nothing but wrecks. And the two pilots appear to have given up on home defence and simply logged off.

Instead of her Tengu Fin first brings a Cormorant destroyer to loot and salvage the wrecks the locals have left behind. Mick comes in to scan, finding an extra anomaly, leaving five active in the system now, and a ladar site to accompany the static wormhole. We were looking for more to do and, despite missing the juicier targets, we now have more to do. Rather than be satisified with the remains of this one anomaly, and with the local pilots gone, there are five more anomalies for us to profit on.

Back in to a Loki and two Tengu configuration we bounce from anomaly to anomaly, leaving smouldering Sleeper wrecks in our wake. The anomalies are more varied in this C3 than the two pairs in the previous, and we get the joy of having a single frigate web, scram, and neutralise our ships, whilst being the trigger of the first wave in a Solar Cell. But it's a minor inconvenience, at least as long as we aren't interrupted, and we are quick enough to sweep through all five anomalies, leaving the locals with nothing for their return.

Salvaging the C3 is again a simple affair with two Noctes. We feel safe enough bringing them in, not seeing any kind of resistance from the locals in the form of cloaked ships or any new pilots. Mick even stops guarding us and tries to refit one of our stolen destroyers with recovered salvager modules, being able to scrape together a suitable ship to help with the odd anomaly. A further three hundred and fifty million ISK is brought home, putting our total for the evening above half-a-billion ISK. That should help pay for some replacement ships.

We are becoming a little menace, in our own way. I remember being equally intimidated when powerful or skill-intensive ships intruded in to our old w-space homes looking for a fight, and the time was when I would hide in the shields and hope they went away. It never occurred to me back then that putting up a struggle may actually turn the tables, although little by little we overcame our carebear tendencies to grow more experienced and daring. It's good to notice the changes too, the path we've taken and hurdles overcome. Remembering who we once were helps cope with the losses, as much as celebrate the wins.

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Tags: cormorant, drake, eve online, hyperion, legion, loki, mmorpg, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, raven, sleepers, tengu, w-space, widow

Picking on a Probe

Our w-space neighbours don't seem too upset with us shooting them. In fact, they are almost pleased about the attention, noting that they are alone out here and could use some allies. We are the first to attack them, and they seem to appreciate that. As Fin negotiates with them Mick goes out to scan the class 3 system more fully, not having looked beyond the site where we ambushed two Drake battlecruisers and came away licking our wounds. In his scanning Mick finds a K162 coming from class 4 w-space, and not our own. I take my Buzzard covert operations boat in to explore.

My directional scanner shows me two towers and a bunch of ships. I also see that the system has a magnetar phenomenon, increasing inflicted damage, and that there is a corpse floating somewhere here, which is interesting. A static exit to low-sec empire space and little else of note is found back in the C3, and Mick jumps in to join me in the C4. I find the two towers here, along with a third that was out of range of d-scan initially, seeing pilots in only a Cyclone battlecruiser and a pod out of all the ships in the towers. But there is another ship on d-scan that is unaccounted for in the towers, a Probe frigate lurking somewhere in the system.

A quick sweep of d-scan puts the Probe near the third planet in the system, and warping to the planet sees him actually sitting at zero at the planet, and stationary. That's just asking for trouble. I'm not in my stealth bomber, though, and my Buzzard's systems will need time to recalibrate after decloaking, giving an alert pilot time to escape. Of course, if he's truly alert he wouldn't be sitting here uncloaked and vulnerable, but there are varying levels of alertness.

I decide to bounce off a moon, decloak on the way back, and drop on top of the Probe with my systems hot. There is a short discussion about what method is best to use, as I will be visible on d-scan for longer, and still appear on the overview for several seconds without being able to lock, as I drop out of warp. But I find it much easier to time my systems becoming available when dropping out of warp, where I can monitor my speed and distance before the engines cut out, than trying to judge the recalibration delay which has no obvious visual cues to work with.

I bounce off the moon, decloak on my way back, and land close to the Probe. My weapon systems are hot, my timing is perfect, and I lock and disrupt the Probe with no false starts or fumbling. Rockets slam in to the frigate, damage magnified by the magnetar, and Mick decloaks his cov-ops to add to the attack. The Probe pops in beautiful blue flames. The ejected pod doesn't get clear either, locked and pointed by the two of us, and we are quickly scooping the corpse, and looting and shooting the wreck. There isn't much to recover, but we at least get another trophy of a successful kill.

It's a smooth, swift, and successful operation. After the big loss earlier I wonder if maybe I should stick to small fry like this, but I'm just a little deflated. We have been aiming for bigger targets for a while, and we have some learning to do. The soft targets will help to keep me engaged, if nothing else. And there doesn't seem to be any repercussions to our attack, the Cyclone remaining stationary in its tower. We make a routine scan of this C4, finding only two anomalies and five signatures, none of which turn out to be more wormholes. There's no more obvious activity, and it's getting late, so we head home for the night.

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Tags: buzzard, cyclone, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, probe, pvp, w-space

Mighty ducks

I'm already in my Manticore and heading to our static wormhole. The connection was scanned a short while back and a scout has found a Cheetah covert operations boat. The cov-ops is just out of the shields of the tower in the neighbouring class 3 w-space system, which is why I am taking my stealth bomber in. Fin isn't far behind me, and scout Mick is coming back to get his own. A trio of bombs should sufficiently surprise the Cheetah pilot. We synchronise our movements to approach from different directions, so that we don't decloak each other, but the pilot's spider-sense must have tingled, as he moves back in to the shields before we are ready.

Missing the Cheetah looks less like an opportunity lost and more a bigger opportunity gained when the pilot swaps in to a Drake battlecruiser, to join a second pilot also in a Drake. The pair warp out and we start to look for them. I run a passive scan in my Manticore from my position at the tower, but they are not in the single anomaly that is returned. I sweep my directional scanner around to get a bearing on the two ships, then adjust the gate to determine the range, seeing them to be close enough for my passive sensors to pick up any anomaly they would be in. They must be in a magnetometric or radar site, and we will need to scan them directly.

Mick returns in his scouting Helios cov-ops, bringing his expert skills to locate the Drakes. I leave the system to get a combat ship ready, choosing a Tengu to go with Fin's, as the C3 holds a pulsar phenomenon that is friendly to the strategic cruiser's shields. Of course, the pulsar will boost the Drakes' shields too, but we have plenty of firepower to inflict on them. We could also take three ships in, if scanning goes well. Our scout is thinking about returning to bring a ship in for combat too, rather than warping the two Tengus in to the site immediately upon resolving it, which seems like a good idea. And with him choosing a Loki strategic cruiser it seems that we have too much firepower, and I swap to my Onyx heavy interdictor instead, to make sure we catch the pods for maximum destruction.

One scan is all it takes to get a positive hit on the Drakes, and our scout gets his probes off d-scan and jumps home. He swaps ships and warps to our wormhole, where my Onyx and Fin's Tengu sit ready. Fin jumps in to the C3, holds her session change cloak, and checks d-scan for the Drakes. Seeing they are still in the site the two of us follow in to the C3 and Mick warps us towards the Drakes, ready to give them a shock. We drop out of warp on top of both of the battlecruisers, mid-combat with the Sleepers, and my warp bubble comfortably encapsulates the two of them. The Drake most hurt by the Sleepers is our first target, and we start shooting.

The Drakes break in different directions. As I follow our primary target Fin swaps her point to the one heading the other way, so that we can keep him for seconds. Except the first Drake's shield isn't dropping anywhere near as quickly as expected, or indeed much at all. Not only is the pulsar a major boost to the passive shield tank of the Drake but the Sleepers stopped shooting him almost the moment we got in to the site. The w-space denizens' new target is Fin's Tengu, and she's in trouble. My choice of the Onyx seemed reasonable before the fight, now it's trapping my partner, preventing her from getting free. It seems my rescue of the Tengu was only temporary, as it explodes on the edge of my bubble.

It's game over for us. One strategic cruiser is down and the damaged Drake is still not below 50% shields, not looking like he's hurting. I drop my bubble, for my benefit mostly as Mick's Loki is already outside its effects, and burn over to Fin's wreck. I loot and shoot the wreck, salvaging what I can from the operation, before warping out behind the Loki. I actually wondered if the Onyx would be the weak link in our assault, relying on its passive tank to last the duration of the combat, but I could have stayed there all day. The tank of the Onyx is similar to but heftier than a Drake's, and I was recharging more quickly than it could be damaged.

I don't think we will underestimate the significance of a pulsar on a passive shield tank again. A Tengu is a big loss to learn that lesson, though. But, as Mick says, we can't win if we don't fight, and if we fight we might lose.

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Tags: cheetah, drake, eve online, loki, manticore, mmorpg, onyx, penny ibramovic, pvp, tengu, w-space

Black ops in the home system

I'm hit with a barrage of information as I return to our tower. A wormhole from a class 2 w-space system has connected in to our class 4 home. A Drake battlecruiser is on the K162 of that wormhole. A Harbinger battlecruiser is on the other side of the wormhole, in the C2. Three Tengu strategic cruisers sit piloted at a tower in the C2, but it is doubtful whether they will mobilise. Mick is in his cloaky Loki strategic cruiser keeping an eye on the Harbinger, Fin is in her Tengu strategic cruiser trying to lure the Drake away from the K162 in to a battle it is less likely to win.

Fin succeeds, pulling the Drake away from the wormhole to attack, only to have the Harbinger jump through and engage, and all three Tengus warp from the tower in the C2 to jump through the wormhole too. The Drake has a micro-warp drive fitted and easily catches up with Fin's Tengu, scrambling her warp drive. Unable to flee, and with four more ships adding their focussed firepower towards her, Fin's in trouble.

I need to make a quick choice, and a good choice. One way to shake an attacker off its target is to present greater force, and I have a ship or two I could use to persuade the Drake to disengage. But I know what to do, I have the perfect ship to help here, and it will be the culmination of what even I viewed to be plenty of vanity skill training that hopefully will save our ships. I board my Widow black ops ship—my second Widow, recently recovered, in fact—and warp to the wormhole at range.

There are no warp bubbles, so I drop out of warp far from the threat of the Tengus, although the Harbinger is approaching. The main threat is the Drake, though, and I have to shake it off Fin. I lock the battlecruiser and start firing beams of ECM awesomeness towards the scramming ship, getting a positive jam immediately. Fin's Tengu is no longer pointed, and feeling she is no longer in any great danger Fin continues shooting the now-retreating Drake. I may as well add my cruise missiles to the fray, as I also lock the advancing Harbinger.

Fin may be free from the Drake's tackle, but this is my first time using the Widow's ECM abilities. With suitable training it should be more formidable at holding jams than the Scorpion battleship it's based on, at least at short-to-medium range, but there is no guarantee of maintaining the jam, nor gaining one when it may be critical. I tell Fin to flee, and she does. Mick's Loki hangs around, seeing the apparently wayward Harbinger now taking some abuse from my missiles, as the Drake has retreated to the wormhole.

The Harbinger's armour is being depleted, slowly but surely, and it doesn't look like it is being actively repaired. Even so, I only feel safe because I am far from the wormhole where the four other ships sit, all throwing missiles, and can dictate my own range comfortably enough. The Harbinger is a tempting target, though, and we go for the kill. But the Loki's defences, once overcome, crumple much more quickly than anticipated, and the strategic cruiser explodes in to hundreds of millions of little iskie shards.

Our man's pod warps out unmolested, but the Loki is still a painful loss. Only I am left fighting against the intruders now, and they switch targets to me. But whereas my cruise missiles have reach all the way to the wormhole the heavy missiles used by the Tengus and Drake fall far short of me, leaving my Widow unscathed. I am cautious to watch my range but, whilst in this position, continue firing against the Harbinger. The battlecruiser is below half armour but doesn't seem too bothered, taking time to loot and shoot the Loki's wreck, before retreating to the wormhole and disappearing. And, with that, all the ships jump out of our system.

I'm still in a pretty good ship for the situation, despite the departure of all the hostile ships, although I have to be reminded that I can cloak and monitor the wormhole, which I eventually do. Maybe other ships have similar functionality that I could have used, like my Falcon recon ship's ECM capabilities, but the Widow is imposing as well as effective, with firepower and defences along with ECM and cloaking. I'm glad that I was able to save Fin's Tengu. Losing one strategic cruiser is unfortunate, two would be careless.

There is some activity at the wormhole, but it is awkward to see at the range I'm sitting. A Heron frigate appears from somewhere and none of us really knows whether he's a scout from the C2 or a different system. The combat ships don't make a second appearance for a while, until the Drake pokes his nose through, perhaps to get an update on the situation. I don't fancy getting closer, or encouraging anyone to jump through blindly, and I imagine our opponents are simply happy to have their kill, particularly a strategic cruiser, and will leave us alone as long as we make no threatening movements in their direction.

Satisfied with this assessment, after a period of uneventful monitoring, I align towards our tower, decloak, and enter warp. And as I warp the Harbinger decloaks on the wormhole, perhaps suspecting my re-appearance as a threat. Maybe he doesn't know that my ship cannot warp cloaked, and his persistence on d-scan suggests he is acting as a deterrent for incursions in to their C2, but I pay him no mind. I'm back at our tower and heading for my bed.

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Tags: drake, eve online, harbinger, heron, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, tengu, widow

Testing a Drake's shields

Our w-space neighbours are hunting intruders. Not us, I might add, at least not specifically. Although we certainly sparked off the initial hunt, by stealing loot from anomalies they cleared, there appear to be other unwanted pilots now in their class 3 system. And it looks like the increased activity will offer us an opportunity or two for an ambush. An Anathema covert operations boat, seen briefly on my directional scanner, may not be an easy target, as he can warp cloaked. A Magnate frigate, on the other hand, has no such capability, making his appearance on d-scan more interesting. Even without those external ships, the pilots at the active tower are making themselves accidental targets.

One of the locals stows his strategic cruiser in favour of a Cheetah covert operations boat, incautiously crawling out of his tower's shields to launch probes, presumably to look for ships or new connections. It's a shame I'm on the other side of the tower, watching the activity as it unfolds, as the complete lack of defences on the tower makes catching ships wandering outside its force field much more attractive. But there is a planet almost directly oppposite my position and where the Cheetah is. I know the range to the cov-ops boat and so, with a bookmark to my current position, bounce off the planet to drop out of warp as close to the Cheetah's position as I can.

Naturally, the Cheetah has cloaked by now, and my meandering course changes are unsurprisingly ineffective at trying to bump in to the other ship. Even a small volume of space is surprisingly large for two ships to occupy without noticing each other. I bookmark my new location, though, in case the Cheetah foolishly reappears here. And, now that I am on this side of the tower, the Magnate seen only on d-scan so far appears on the other side of the tower. He cannot warp cloaked, as mentioned, so he has to make himself known when reconnoitring the tower, dropping out of warp and cloaking as soon as he lands.

There isn't a convenient planet to bounce off this time to get next to the Magnate, but I can get fairly close. And as he'll have to drop his cloak to initiate warp I may only need to get close enough, not right on top of him. I reposition my Manticore stealth bomber to be as close as I can estimate to the Magnate, and wait. The locals have also seen the frigate appear and look to want to either decloak him or catch him when he has to decloak to leave. One of the two Drake battlecruisers at the tower moves out of the shields, by just a few kilometres, and sits waiting.

I'm not quite sure what the Drake's hoping to achieve, with the missile flight time and lack of warp disruption effects at that range making his ability to target the Magnate, by being out of the tower's shields, rather ineffective. A second Drake is being more active in his efforts. He warps out of the tower, in the opposite direction at first, making me wonder what he's up to, before warping back to sit around thirty kilometres from my cloaked ship. Our guesses seem to be close enough to each other that one of us should be able to catch the Magnate, but I don't fancy my chances when the Drake could equally catch me.

The Magnate decloaks and warps, me not keen to decloak in front of the Drake, the Drake probably not quick enough to stop the frigate from leaving. He changes his own position, apparently guessing that the Magnate came from low-sec empire space, through their static wormhole, and warps to loiter on the connection. I don't think he's right, as the Magnate warped in a different direction, rather suggesting that a new wormhole has opened in to the system. At least it leaves the first Drake alone, still sitting just outside the tower's force field.

There's not much I can do alone, but Fin and Mick are around and have their stealth bombers at the ready. A trio of bombs may put a big enough dent in the battlecruiser that a quick pounding with torpedoes will finish it off. We need to get in position first, and the lack of defences on the tower actually helps them, not providing us with convenient references to bookmark and warp to at ideal bombing range. We also need to be careful for our bombs not to detonate inside the shields, which I have learnt absorbs all the explosion damage. But we only need one pilot to be in position for the others to get close, and Mick gets there pretty quickly.

Our ambush ends before it gets started, the Drake called away just as the other two of us are warping to get in to position. He only goes as far as the exit to low-sec, though, where warping to his position finds the Drake circling the wormhole. We all have this connection bookmarked, making it a better spot to launch an assault, even if it provides just as easy a means for the Drake to evade attack. We are here, ready, and willing, we may as well give it our best shot. We all warp to the wormhole from different directions, dropping out of warp to be in a good bombing range. A little adjustment to individual positions, and making sure we're aligned, and three bombs are launched towards the battlecruiser.

All bombs detonate and the explosions slam in to the Drake's shields. The effect isn't quite as devastating as I was expecting, though, not even knocking the battlecruiser's shields below half, let alone to the peak recharge point for the passive systems. He's not running, either, giving us a target for our torpedoes, and we try to punch the the point home. The Drake launches his drones and targets each of us in turn, as his shields soak up more damage. We are taking him down, but slowly, and Mick has to warp away first to save his Hound. I am targeted next, holding but aligning away as my shields drop quickly. I warp out as I take armour damage and see the second Drake jump back in from low-sec, to add his weapons to the defence of the first. Fin is the last to leave, warping out soon afterwards.

We took our shot, but the Drake was hardy and ready to fight. We got his shields down to about 30% by the end, which is pretty good, even if he would have simply jumped through the wormhole had he been in any serious trouble. We wouldn't have followed in our fragile ships, not being so foolish to get close enough to do so even if we wanted. So we don't get the kill, which was unlikely, but we also get out with no losses and have a bit of a scrap. At the very least it is a good exercise. But now I have other responsibilities to take care of, and jump home to take a break.

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Tags: anathema, cheetah, drake, eve online, hound, magnate, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, w-space

Stealing from the neighbours

'There may be angry poppets next door', says Fin, as she has to dash off for a while. I launch my Manticore stealth bomber to take a look for myself, a bookmark pointing to our static wormhole waiting for me in our shared can. Jumping in to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system puts me in directional scanner range of only one planet, with nothing else visible, which is good for covert operations. I move away, cloak, and warp to the tower I've been informed about. Two Drake battlecruisers, a Proteus strategic cruiser, and Armageddon battleship all sit piloted in the tower's shields, but more interestingly I see a Wreathe hauler and Noctis salvager are elsewhere in the system.

Looking for the two missing ships reveals a second tower, easy to find around the inner planet's only moon, but only the Wreathe sits inside its shields and the ship is unpiloted. The Noctis remains unaccounted for. Assuming it is out salvaging I start a passive scan of my ship's on-board sensors, hoping to catch the Noctis salvaging in an anomaly before it has despawned. But out of the many anomalies picked up by my scanner I cannot isolate the Noctis in any of them. I start a second scan from a different point in the system, getting closer to the Noctis, knowing the short-range limitation of the on-board scanner, but again I cannot find the salvager.

Eventually I locate the Noctis, but it's not difficult when he warps back to the active tower to drop off the loot he's collected. A Loki appears too, making me wonder if the strategic cruiser has a cloak and has been protecting the Noctis or if he's only just arrived. If he guards the salvager my ambush will be short and probably end up with the wrong ship exploding, so I may need to be careful. Of course, care only needs to be taken if the fleet goes out to fight Sleepers again. If they merely stay at the tower then I won't even get the opportunity to throw my ship at a Loki. My passive scans revealed another twenty anomalies here, and an active scan would probably find more, so I may get my chance.

The Loki moves out of the tower, slowly, and launches a scanning probe. Only the one probe is launched, which suggests to me that he's searching for anomalies, or maybe new signatures. But if he's looking for new signatures it doesn't show, as after I loiter for a little longer the fleet warps out. Mind you, they are heading in the rough direction of our K162 home. I send my Manticore to the outer planet and confirm that they haven't found our wormhole before starting another passive scan, picking up three anomalies and placing the fleet in one of them.

I warp in to the anomaly to get a decent bookmark, narrowly avoiding a rather large rock decloaking me, and alert our newly returned colleague of this increased activity. The size and composition of the fleet against this class of Sleeper makes combat quick, and they are soon warping out again. I follow and find them in a second anomaly, back near the centre of the system. There is no sign of a Noctis going out to salvage, and considering the limited pattern I've seen so far it looks like salvaging will be completed after combat, which makes a guard more likely. Then again, a second bomb from an additional stealth bomber may pop the Noctis without needing to hang around, so we may still be in luck.

We have to wait for the fleet to stop shooting Sleepers first. Although they are sweeping through the anomalies quite quickly there are enough sites for them to be kept busy for a while. A third anomaly puts us closer to the K162 again, as I shadow the fleet from site to site, and I get a different idea. These anomalies at the edge of the system are almost out of d-scan range of the tower, and definitely out of range of many other anomalies. If the fleet isn't going to salvage behind them, maybe we can do it for them.

Fin's returned and rather than get her in a third stealth bomber I request she pilot a salvaging destroyer. She boards an old Catalyst we have lying around, not seeing much work since the arrival of the Noctis, and warps to our static wormhole and holds position. I keep shadowing the fleet, and with colleague Mick shadowing me for bookmarks he can guide Fin when the time is right. The fleet takes a short pit-stop at their tower but is soon warping off to another anomaly, this one out of range of the distant sites, full of wrecks. I call Fin in, Mick warps her to the first anomaly, and we start stealing loot.

Popping Sleepers in a strong fleet is quicker than salvaging yellow wrecks, and the fleet warps to another anomaly with Fin still having two wrecks to clear. The new anomaly is in d-scan range of the first anomaly and the fleet must see Fin's Catalyst on d-scan, as they bug out immediately, although only to return to their tower. This change in behaviour gets me calling for Fin to head home, which she does, with a nice little haul for no combat. The fleet sends out a scout, who launches combat scanning probes whilst the other ships remain inside the tower's shields. It is a fair reaction to an unknown ship appearing in their system, although a little canny use of d-scan may have keyed them in to what was occurring.

It's possible we could have got another Noctis kill, but there was no telling when the salvager would arrive, nor how well it would be guarded. We could also have got a bigger haul had we been more cautious about staying off d-scan, but I think we did quite well considering the circumstances. And it looks like our timing was unintentionally better than expected. Even though the fleet gets an all-clear signal from their scout and warps back to continue in their fourth anomaly they warp right back out again, as a second unknown ship appears on d-scan. It looks like another capsuleer has come in to scout the system, sending the fleet home as a precaution. They did all the work, we got some of the profit. And unless the unknown ships can be repulsed the remaining loot may end up perishing in space.

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Tags: armageddon, catalyst, drake, eve online, loki, manticore, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, proteus, w-space, wreathe

Collapsing wormholes

I have a new mail waiting for me today. It seems the pilot I podded, after popping her Manticore stealth bomber, has added me as a contact with terrible standing. Aww, that's so sweet, to know someone out there cares so much. 'We've reached out and touched a fellow capsuleer', says Fin, having received a similar mail. I would be amazed if I haven't made other such enemies already, but what makes this time special is the extra single-click to select 'inform the other person' of the status change. It's the personal touch, the intimacy of the anger and hate, that makes me feel I've finally made a difference.

As one capsuleer hates us, another returns to the fold. A former director of Wormhole Engineers, gone rogue for a short while, is tempted back to a simple w-space life, at least for now, coming to join us in our little class 4 pulsar system. He's quietly sleeping in his pod at the moment, so Fin and I scan our home system to look for activity we can shoot, Sleeper or capsuleer. We both find the static wormhole in our system at the same time, warping and jumping through it to greet our class 3 w-space neighbours.

There are two planets visible on my directional scanner and nothing else, making it convenient to launch probes and move them out of the system in preparation for hunting pilots or sifting through signatures. Opening the system map shows that having two planets on d-scan is actually quite coincidental, given the system is around 120 AU in radius. I even have trouble trying to zoom out my view to see the whole system at once, which I can only do if I minimize some other windows. My notes tell me I've been here before, too, some eight months ago when I jot down that there is some occupation but apparently don't bother to find the tower.

A blanket scan of the system, my probes just about managing to do so, finds fourteen anomalies and three ships. I bookmark the former and go looking for the latter. Oh, hullo, I spy fourteen towers on d-scan when I start warping around. This a silo system, maximising the reactions that can be performed in null-sec space by cramming as many towers in to a single system as possible, all with a convenient, if changing, exit to empire space. No wonder I didn't look for all the towers last time I was here, and I'm not going to do so now. I'll find the ships and leave it at that.

There only appears to be one tower of interest, which doesn't surprise me. A Rorqual capital industrial ship and Dominix battleship sit piloted in what must be the centre of operations, an Anathema covert operatons boat elsewhere seemingly warping between other towers, perhaps configuring or maintaining the silos. Not much is happening here, even when a Noctis salvager appears at the Tower of Interest. There is curious activity at home, though, as combat scanning probes are seen by Fin on d-scan. We consider our options for a while, either looking for the new wormhole that connects to us or setting an ambush with an interceptor, until we realise that it is merely our returned colleague who has woken up and is taking an inventory of the many signatures we have in the home system. Silly us, we're not used to company.

Our best option is to collapse the static wormhole and hope for a more interesting connecting system. It seems that the overall mass of our wormhole, depleted bit-by-bit with each passage of a ship, is rather more variable than it has been, and generally more massive. We are having to push an extra ship or two through to ensure the connection's collapse, although it isn't a particular problem as such. The collapse goes smoothly still, it simply takes a few minutes longer and a bit of care. With a preliminary scan-and-ignore completed the new static wormhole is found immediately, and we are jumping in to another class 3 w-space system.

A Zealot heavy assault ship and tower are both on d-scan from the wormhole, which looks promising, despite there currently being no wrecks visible. But finding the tower shows the Zealot to be unpiloted, and there are no other ships in the system. Scanning reveals six anomalies and nine signatures, the static resolved to be an exit to low-sec space, heading out to the Sinq Laison region and eight jumps to Jita. There are no further wormholes in the C3 and no sign of any activity, so we can either shoot Sleepers or collapse our static connection a second time in the hopes of a hunt.

The collapse is smooth again, even with a similar extra push required, and scouts go scouting. This next C3 is like the previous, though, with a tower and no ships, along with a static exit to low-sec space that leads out to Sinq Laison. The only noteworthy feature is the tower, as it wasn't there on my last visit a month ago. We've collapsed our wormhole twice so far, a third time won't hurt, particularly as we have some momentum going. But the capricious nature of wormhole masses strikes, erring on the lighter side this time and leaving our colleague stranded in the C3 in a battleship. At least we have the exit wormhole scanned, letting him take the easy way to empire space.

We have a new exit to find, and a colleague stranded so soon after returning. The new C3 has a drone on d-scan, which would be more interesting if there were some ships or wrecks to go with it, but there aren't, only a tower with no one home. I locate the tower—and there turn out to be two—whilst Fin scans and resolves a K162 wormhole coming in from low-sec. The exit is in the Domain region and rather far from our stranded battleship, though. The class 3 system's static wormhole is an exit to null-sec k-space, and not much use for us, even if it weren't reaching the end of its natural lifetime.

I note the location of both towers and the system's sleeping status as Fin finds a third wormhole, a second K346 exit to null-sec. It could be interesting, but I would put iskies on the previous wormhole instead having collapsed. I warp out to the bookmarked wormhole and end up in empty space, confirming the collapse of the EOL connection. It must have been at death's door as we found it. There doesn't seem like much more to do. Neither of us wants to collapse our static wormhole a fourth time, only to have to scan yet again, so it looks like it's time for bed. Our colleague will have to spend another night in space dock. I quickly poke my nose through the new exit to null-sec, appearing in the Geminate region for another red dot of exploration, before returning home to get some rest. So many systems, so little activity. Such is w-space life some days.

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Tags: anathema, dominix, eve online, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, rorqual, scanning, w-space, zealot

Manticore versus Manticore, Manticore wins

Fin's home, but she's left a bit of her brain back in Tash-Murkon. Maybe it's an implant, I'm not paying that much attention. I'm still feeling a bit fuzzy after being thoroughly flummoxed by a subspace scout, as well as ruining a chance of catching a hauler collecting planet goo. Luckily for Fin she doesn't need to retrace the meandering trip she took in her Orca industrial command ship to get home, as I eventually found two more exits to high-sec empire space, one of them actually in the Tash-Murkon region. Of course, if I'd found them before flinging ships in to force fields she wouldn't have had as far to travel, but that's besides the point.

I am pretty much ready to call an end to the night but I hang around, spinning my ship at the tower, as Fin travels through our static connection. Our neighbouring class 3 w-space system holds the most convenient exit for Fin, and is the system where the Buzzard covert operations boat evaded me using black magic, and the activity of earlier makes me want to ensure Fin is safe. She sees a Manticore stealth bomber on d-scan, which is a change to the pod I last saw in that system, and some scanning probes. As Fin relays this information to me the Manticore drops out of warp at our K162 and jumps in to the home system. I recognise the pilot's name too, she's the Buzzard pilot from earlier.

I quickly warp my own Manticore out of the tower and towards our static wormhole, if only to activate my cloaking device and disappear from d-scan. I don't get to the wormhole in time to see the other stealth bomber move away, but hopefully she didn't see me either. I position my own Manticore close enough to the wormhole to decloak and jump through quickly, as Fin continues to watch our K162. The scanning probes in the C3 converge on the K162, then disperse. This is curious activity, as the Buzzard pilot, now in the Manticore, obviously scanned the system earlier—definitely finding our wormhole, or how else could she use it now—so I'm not sure what this new scout is looking for. Maybe he's a tourist from empire space. For now, we ignore him.

The Manticore in our system reveals itself, but only to jump back to the C3. I decloak and follow, updating Fin as to what's happening. I decloak myself on the other side of the wormhole in order to get my systems hot, particularly my sensor booster, and get ready for the Manticore's appearance. She decloaks and moves, I get a positive target lock and disrupt her engines, activating my launchers to send volleys of torpedoes her way. But she's moving quicker than me, much quicker. She must have a micro-warp drive fitted, which will get her out of range of my point before my torpedoes will pop the ship. But I have more than torpedoes at my disposal.

The Manticore is rushing away from me, but I am following and aligned for the chase. Before she is more than a few kilometres away I launch a bomb, knowing that its unguided systems will send it along my current path for ten seconds, at which point it will detonate. And, if my hunch is correct, that will put my target right in the heart of the explosion. I continue firing torpedoes, making little dents in her shields, and Fin swoops in to action to add her warp disruption effects. And just as the Manticore reaches the edge of my point, boom, the bomb explodes and there's no more Manticore!

The signature radius bloom of the MWD made the frigate-sized hull look much bigger to the bomb's explosion, reducing it from almost intact to a smouldering wreck in a single blast. I'm so surprised at the effectiveness of the bomb that I almost forget to lock on to the ejected pilot's pod. But I am perhaps less disorientated than the other Manticore pilot, as her pod doesn't warp away from the wreckage, instead being caught by both me and Fin, and she is turned in to a corpsicle quickly enough. We scoop the corpse, and loot and shoot the wreck, getting three bombs and a covert opertions cloak for our troubles.

That was a fabulous kill, and makes up for the earlier disappointments. Perhaps I should fit an MWD to my own Manticore, so that I can keep up with some ships. But my situational awareness and clever use of what I had fitted got the kill regardless, and excellent teamwork with Fin ensured the Manticore wasn't escaping quite so quickly. All that's left to do now is work out who owns the scanning probes in the system.

A little bit of loitering sees the probes disappear and a Tengu strategic cruiser appear. A Helios also appears, the pilot swapping from the cov-ops boat in to a Hurricane battlecruiser. Fin and I monitor their activity for a little while, easily determining that they are either setting up an ineffectual camp on the exit to high-sec or waiting as protection for their colleague's new clone to come to w-space. There isn't much we can do about ships that can jump out to the safety of high-sec when threatened, so leave them alone. Fin goes to Amarr to collect her brain, and I go back to our tower to finally get some sleep.

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Tags: buzzard, eve online, helios, hurricane, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, tengu, w-space

Bumbling about in w-space

There is only one Orca industrial command ship parked outside our tower, Fin must still be stuck in empire space. Poor glorious leader Fin, I must find a way home for her. I scan for wormholes, looking for today's static connection to a class 3 w-space system, whilst I also declutter a little. I warp around to almost a dozen mining sites, chosen for their low specific value, to activate them such that they will disappear in a few days' time. If we really want to mine ore or harvest gas there will still be plenty around, and of high-value, we simply don't need so many sites in our system. And, in my warping around, scanning reveals three wormholes at home. I'm quietly confident not all of them are our static connection.

The first wormhole I investigate has the signature identifier of 'HFU', which sounds marvellously ominous, and turns out to be a K162 coming from class 3 w-space. The second wormhole is our static connection, and the third another K162, this one from class 2 w-space. This is a rather splendid collection of wormholes, as they will all have at least a second connection leading out to k-space, and the K162s are likely to contain activity. I take a look in the class 2 system first, hoping for softer targets to ease myself in to the evening.

So much for softer targets. My directional scanner shows me a Chimera carrier in the C2, along with two towers. My last visit here was six months ago, where I note the presence of five towers, but not where they are, and nothing else of interest. Assuming no one is in the carrier, the only ship on d-scan, the system looks inactive, at least from my current position, and I launch combat scanning probes to take a look around. The carrier is indeed the only ship in the system, and there is only one anomaly to accompany the two signatures. The signatures are obviously the two static wormholes, one of which I've already passed through, and with no one else around I may as well resolve the second.

Whilst scanning I locate both towers that I have so far seen, confirming the carrier to be unpiloted, but I almost warp directly in to the shields of the other tower. I take care to move away from the tower and make a more appropriate bookmark prevent that happening again. I resolve the second static wormhole here, finding it to be an exit to high-sec empire space that leads out to the Sinq Laison region. The exit system is not exactly close to anywhere, but it is high-sec space. I make a note of high-sec side of the wormhole and head back to w-space, through the C2 to the home system, and on to explore beyond the K162 from C3 space.

A Reaper frigate, Machariel battleship, tower, and some cans litter d-scan in the class 3 system. I warp off to locate the ships before I launch probes, finding a bunch of decloaking cans in warp bubbles around the tower, although none in the bubble I land in, which seems like an oversight. I move away, make a bookmark to avoid the bubble, and take a look around. The Reaper is at the tower, unpiloted, but the Machariel isn't. In fact, the battleship no longer appears to be in the system. For reference, I make a quick scan of this C3, bookmarking twelve anomalies but happy to ignore the many signatures for now, in preference of believing the Machariel has made itself a target elsewhere.

I jump home and check d-scan, but there is no sign of the Machariel. I head onwards through our static connection for the first time today but still don't see him. I imagine he either went to empire space or logged off. The C3 isn't empty just because the Machariel isn't here, though, as I see a Covetor mining barge and an Orca on d-scan, along with core scanning probes. I explore the system, finding a relatively safe spot between the various towers here to launch probes, and perform a blanket scan. Another dozen anomalies are in this C3, and five signatures will make finding a second exit to k-space quicker here than in the other C3. I locate the towers, finding the two ships to be unpiloted, before the lure of a scout distracts me. Scanning probes on d-scan and few signatures to resolve tempts me in to jumping home and planting my Malediction interceptor on the wormhole in wait.

The scout should have jumped in to my ambush by now, as it doesn't take this long to resolve five signatures. Even a dozen anomalies only take a few seconds to bookmark, maybe a couple of minutes if the signature identifiers are also noted. Some scanners are simply insensitive to their unknown stalkers. Indeed, the flare of the wormhole rather catches me by surprise when it finally comes, and looking back up to my display throws me in to a whirl of confusion. A Buzzard covert operations boat is sitting in front of my interceptor, although the flare of the wormhole has barely subsided. I've been checking d-scan every so often here, so that I am not ambushed whilst waiting, but a Buzzard can warp cloaked. I assume he's come from a different direction, as there is no way he'd be visible so quickly after a jump, and has jumped through to the C3. I give chase and follow behind him. Or do I?

Back in the C3 there is no sign of the Buzzard, even after the session change timer must have elapsed and the cloak broken. Some weird effect has just happened, and it looked to be offering me a free shot at a Buzzard in our home system, one which I skilfully ignored by jumping away from it. There's not much I can do but wait a bit longer for the cov-ops to return this way, which thankfully isn't as long as the wait for it to appear the first time. My weapon systems are hot, I'm ready to zoom across and bump the ship to decloak it, but it doesn't even need to decloak to evade my target lock. The Buzzard simply warps away in the direction of its tower. This is very strange.

Never mind. The Buzzard had luck on its side, or maybe I was hallucinating. I can still see the Buzzard on d-scan and no ship changes are made by the pilot, so after a couple of minutes I jump home, swap to my Manticore stealth bomber, and roam in the C2 to see if anyone has woken up. Fin has woken up, which is good, and I give her the system in Sinq Laison that she can use to bring the Orca back home and through the C2, giving me further incentive to ensure no one is active there. Fin starts jumping, I enter the C2 and hit d-scan. A Probe frigate is now visible along with the Chimera, the frigate quickly becoming a Mammoth hauler. I have activity, and activity I may be able to shoot.

I warp to the tower to see the Mammoth bouncing off a hangar, looking like it is trying hard to enter warp and failing. I guess that it is about to warp away to collect planet goo from its customs offices and, gauging the general direction it is pointing, warp my Manticore to intercept it. I manage to choose the wrong customs office, though, and a second attempt to catch the Mammoth has me arriving too late, and d-scan places the hauler now back at the tower. Hoping he is simply dropping off one load before resuming collections I warp back to the tower to see what he does. Except I warp back to the moon and not my bookmark, the bookmark I specifically made to prevent myself bouncing off the tower's force field.

Not only does my Manticore land right on the border of the force field and decloak, I don't notice for ages, too intent on spotting the Mammoth's next move. Luckily, the tower doesn't open fire on me, but the Mammoth pilot has clearly seen my ship. He disappears in a puff of disconnection smoke and leaves me alone in the C2 once again. That was a pretty careless move I made. But at least the system is now officially empty, ready for Fin to bring the Orca home. I jump out to empire space, contract the bookmarks for her, and swap back to my Buzzard to scan the two class 3 systems after my bungling attempts at ambushes.

A pod is visible on d-scan in the C3 through our static connection, that of the Buzzard pilot I ineptly let escape. I pay it no mind as I launch probes and scan. The wormhole is really easy to find here, the other signatures being far too weak to be anything but radar or magnetometric sites. And we get a second exit to high-sec empire space, a rarity. 'If it's in Amarr I might cry', Fin tells me, after making plenty of jumps in the rather ponderous Orca. I pop out to take a look, and the exit system isn't in Amarr, it is a whole three hops away. Maybe I should have been more thorough in scanning first.

The C3 connecting in to our home system remains devoid of activity, and I start sifting through the many signatures here. I resolve a wormhole amongst a wealth of gas, a third exit to high-sec. Fin's return home today is blessed, it seems. This exit leads out to the Genesis region, not exactly close to any of our assets but not overly far either. If only we needed to collect any. Fin's already come through the C2 and got home safely, and that is all I need. Despite the opportunity to visit empire space my general incompetence makes me want an early night, so I head home to the tower and get ready to sleep.

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Tags: buzzard, chimera, covetor, eve online, machariel, malediction, mammoth, manticore, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, probe, pvp, reaper, scanning, w-space