Coming from the other direction

I wonder if we've had visitors. As the home system is not stabilising I can't be the first pilot to be here today. But maybe glorious leader Fin was busy earlier harvesting gas. There is no sign of anyone currently in the system, so I launch probes and scan, looking for a K162 as much as our own static wormhole, although I find the latter first. I scan a little longer, hoping to resolve a K162 sooner rather than later, but there are too many signatures for me not to instead get bored and jump through to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system.

The C3 has a Scorpion battleship and a tower visible on my directional scanner, and both are found together, the ship unpiloted in the tower's shields. I start to scan the inactive system, ignoring a couple of sites until I resolve a wormhole. The connection isn't the system's static link, though, but a K162. The dark blue and green colours seeping through make me think it is from a class 2 w-space system, which offers some more interesting hunting ground, but inspecting the wormhole reveals it to actually come from null-sec k-space, which is rather more disappointing. I keep scanning, finding a second wormhole. This one is more interesting, being a second K162 and coming from class 5 w-space. Before I explore that I still have the static wormhole to find, the last signature turning out to be an exit to low-sec empire space. I quickly check the exit system—only five hops from Amarr is a good result—before jumping in to the C5.

D-scan shows plenty of potential activity in the class 5 system. A Thanatos carrier, two Orca industrial command ships, a Proteus strategic cruiser, two Loki strategic cruisers, and three Legion strategic cruisers are all seen, as is an active tower and a bunch of drones. It looks like something is happening. I locate the tower, which also finds me the Thanatos and two Legions piloted, and two unmanned Orcas, but that leaves the other ships elsewhere in the system. I am able to warp out of d-scan range of the tower and all the ships, where I can launch combat scanning probes undetected, move them out of the system, and warp back to start looking for the ships.

Sweeping d-scan around gets an approximate position of the Legion, Loki, and Proteus, and they seem to be at a site. But there are no wrecks and nothing else sharing the d-scan reading with them, and even if I could believe that these pilots would take strategic cruisers mining there are no jet-cans visible. I'll soon find out what they're up to, though, as I position my combat probes at the bearing and range I've gauged using d-scan. I punch the scan button and—yes!—get a 100% hit on the Legion and Proteus, 99.74% on the Loki, and 100% on, oh, a wormhole. My finger was poised on the 'recall probes' command, and my scanning probes are quickly returned to my hold, minimising their time visible to the other pilots. Now I can see what's happening with my own eyes.

I warp to the wormhole at range, dropping out of warp to see the strategic cruisers huddled around a K162 from high-sec. And as I take in the situation the wormhole flares. A Drake battlecruiser appears long before the session change timer ends, making me think he is with the other ships, but the shooting makes me think otherwise. A few volleys of fire are spat between the ships before the Drake jumps out again. Naturally, the cruisers don't follow, not seeing any point in entering Concord-protected space, and it looks like they are simply guarding the unexpected entrance to their home w-space system. A few minutes later the Drake returns, this time with an Armageddon battleship for company. Again, the ships open fire on each other, testing each other's defences before the two interlopers jump out.

There is not much I can do here in my Buzzard covert operations boat. But I can add to the havoc in a Manticore stealth bomber, particularly when recruiting the now-appeared Fin to join me. I make my way homewards, swap ships, and go back with Fin in tow. With a little luck, and some good timing, we may be able to launch co-ordinated bombs against weakened ships and maybe get an opportunistic kill. But we can't be spotted until we're ready, which means we need to be careful when entering the C5 and approaching the wormhole. I've shared all my bookmarks with Fin and, when we get to the C5, agree which direction we'll use to warp to the wormhole. We both pick a different planet to 'bounce' off, which will let us warp to the K162 at a suitable bombing range without threatening to decloak each other.

Getting back to the wormhole finds it relatively inactive, though. The strategic cruisers are still there but the wormhole sits dormant. It's not surprising, there are only so many times you can jump through and test defences before realising nothing is going to break, and it takes a few minutes for Fin and I to make the journey here ourselves. We've probably missed our opportunity. Never the less, we prepare for a bombing run anyway, getting both of our ships on the same horizontal plane as the wormhole and within thirty-five kilometres, close enough for a good detonation but distant enough to avoid most warp disruption effects. And, as we sit in position, all the ships warp away, back to the tower.

Hunting requires some patience, though, and I am content to lurk for a little longer. Nothing is quite as effective at encouraging people to make silly mistakes than having them think they're safe. After a little waiting a Loki warps back to the wormhole and jumps through. I imagine he is scouting, checking the exit for signs of ships on the other side. And, if he is experienced, checking the local communication channel for the pilots who have been poking his colleagues. He jumps back soon after and warps directly back to the tower, without even waiting for the session change timer to end. Warping away so soon is the important part, as it reveals his self-assurance that the wormhole and his home system is clear of intruders. Little does he know.

The occupants may think they're safe from further incursions, but that doesn't automatically mean they'll reveal themselves. They could just go to sleep. But there still is some activity, a Guardian logistics ship and pilot's pod appearing at the tower, as witnessed on d-scan. And, shortly after, the pod warps to the K162 and jumps in to high-sec. Excellent! I strongly suspect the pilot will return, in a ship, and believing the w-space system to be fully in friendly control. He will decloak early and warp to the tower, just as his colleague in the Loki did, which is exactly the kind of opportunity we've been waiting for. I reposition myself and call Fin closer, not wanting to rely on a bomb for this task. The bomb will take too long to detonate and we'll need to be close enough to get a point on the target, and the wormhole could spit out the returning pilot anywhere in a five kilometre radius from it. That's too unreliable for a bomb launch. I will wait for the ship to reveal itself, identify it as quickly as possible, and decloak and point at close range.

The wormhole flares! I get an adrenalin hit and get my systems hot, watching my overview eagerly to see what ship will appear. It's a Prowler transport ship, a good target! I decloak and lock the ship, point hot to prevent it warping. The pilot indeed initiated warp almost immediately after entering the system, so he won't be able to jump back to high-sec for long enough for each of us to get a couple of volleys of torpedoes against him. Except the Prowler is rather agile, and slips in to warp a split-second before my targeting systems get a positive lock, leaving my warp disruption module nothing to affect. 'I suggest we both back off', I say, understanding only too well what will happen next. And, sure enough, a Proteus and Legion warp in to the wormhole. But we're cloaked and moving away, they won't find us easily.

Oh well, so close to catching the ship but it remained just out of reach. It was a good plan, though, and good reasoning based on experience and the pilots' behaviour. We probably don't have much more we can do here now, as the system is back on a high-alert level. We may as well head home, which we manage without being overtly spotted. Fin uses our spare time to take to Amarr a Crane transport ship stuffed with loot to sell, whilst I stay in our neighbouring class 3 system to reconnoitre. Some ship movements are seen on d-scan, suggesting the C5 inhabitants are perhaps checking to see if we came from this direction and not high-sec. After a few more signs and disappearances of ships I warp to the wormhole to see what they're up to, finding out that they were actually collapsing the connection, there now being only empty space at the bookmarked location. They are isolated again, and we are left with a quiet C3. Fin sells the loot, we each get 220 Miskies in profit, and we both return home to get some rest for the night.

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Tags: armageddon, buzzard, drake, eve online, legion, loki, manticore, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, proteus, prowler, pvp, scanning, scorpion, thanatos, w-space

All C3s lead to k-space

'Hey, just in time'. Glorious leader Fin is happy to see me, as always, somehow tolerant to my little foibles and sociopathic tendencies. I ask if we're ready to shoot someone, but apparently not. Fin has, however, isolated the home system's static wormhole from the noise of the forty-one sites we currently are neglecting. The good news is that there are no new sites spawned, which at least keeps us in equilibrium. And I perhaps accidentally activated a second ladar site yesterday, when confusing the 'warp to' and 'ignore result' menu options in the scanner, meaning we have more gas to harvest before it goes to waste.

Fin grabs her mining boat, a Maller cruiser, and warps out to the clouds. I do my best to avoid harvesting more gas and feign status as 'protector', boarding my Tengu strategic cruiser to destroy the Sleepers that will inevitably arrive to protect their resources. I loiter in the ladar site until the Sleepers warp in and jump in to action. Two Sleeper cruisers pop quickly, the other two are gits. The Sleepers are wise to my choice of short-range heavy assault missiles, bringing webbers to slow me down enough to keep themselves thirty kilometres away. I can't get close enough to shoot them, making me a rather poor protector. But I can warp back to our tower, refit with standard heavy missile launchers, and return to mete out malevolent justice.

The two other Sleeper cruisers are popped and Fin is free again to harvest gas. Of course, I'd join her, but the wrecks need to be looted and salvaged, and I may as well use the Noctis salvager to grab all the wrecks at once. And even when salvaging is complete there is still our neighbouring class 3 w-space system to explore, so I swap in to my Buzzard covert operations boat and warp to our static wormhole. Jumping in to the C3 sees a tower on my directional scanner but no ships. The entire system is devoid of activity, in fact, leaving me free to launch probes and scan. Wow, there's nothing here—at all. The only two signatures in the whole system are the wormhole home and the static connection, which turns out to be an exit to high-sec empire space, one that is reaching the end of its natural lifetime.

Even exiting the class 3 system leaves nothing to do, finding myself in the Derelik region and many hops from anywhere I recognise. I suppose I may as well keep Fin company, and harvest gas with her. It has the makings of a pleasant enough evening, as long as we're not hunted, popped, and podded by ruthless pirates for a cheap thrill. I try not to think about it too much as I continually refresh d-scan, looking for ships or probes, and set my Osprey cruiser to harvest gas alongside Fin's Maller. At least we're making iskies, and clearing another site in our overpopulated home.

My mind naturally wanders a little whilst harvesting gas, as there is only so long I can fear a heavy interdictor warping in hot. Every class 3 w-space system we've connected to since moving in to our class 4 home has had a static connection to k-space. Whether it's high-sec, null-sec, or the more common low-sec destination, checking through my records and asking Fin confirms this. I have known for a while that class 2 w-space systems all hold two wormholes, one to k-space and one to w-space, but the unusual consistent presence of two wormholes is a fairly easy attribute to notice. I have not yet heard the notion that all C3 systems lead out to k-space.

On the one hand, connecting to a system that terminates w-space exploration can make for a fairly shallow experience, as scanning will, in general, be identical one day to the next. Home, C3, exit. We won't even find any other w-space systems of different classes, relying instead on the activity of other capsuleers to open K162s. On the other hand, having a reliable exit to k-space is convenient, even if the exit itself isn't. I remember going many days in our previous C4 home without resolving an exit, even though I scanned my way through half-a-dozen systems each day, which can be frustrating when wanting to buy supplies or a new ship. And although I am quite capable of scanning I don't want it to dominate my w-space experience, so it is beneficial to be 'forced' in to other activities when exploration ends early. Relying on K162s to appear for greater opportunity isn't so bad either, because they are better indicators of activity than finding a tower in our neighbouring system.

I like our new situation. It isn't as involved as in our old C4 home with a static connection to another C4, or in the C5 where a significant fleet was required to even think about warping in to an anomaly. The PvP opportunities are reduced, but I seem to be muddling on just fine stalking miners and salvagers, with the occasional scrap cropping up with an actual combat ship. And the company is the best. Speaking of which, 40% of the larger gas cloud is now in a jet-can and the hour is late, so Fin and I warp out to call it a night. I go back to the ladar site in a Bustard transport ship to haul the gas back to our hangar, before settling down to sleep in my Buzzard. There is more gas to harvest, so we remain at forty-one sites.

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Tags: bustard, buzzard, eve online, maller, mmorpg, noctis, osprey, penny ibramovic, scanning, sleepers, tengu, w-space

One site at a time

Fully fed, I get back in my ship to glorious leader Fin reporting a sighting of a Probe name 'Lost in EVE' on her directional scanner in the C3. Maybe this means a K162 wormhole has opened in to the system, offering more opportunity for exploration and perhaps combat. I take my Buzzard covert operations boat in to the class 3 system to scan again, knowing I can ignore the sites resolved earlier thanks to noting their signature identifiers. There are two new anomalies in the system and one new signature, which looks promising until Fin points out that the signature has the same identifier as the unvisted wormhole. Oops, I suppose I can stop scanning. But the Probe must have come from somewhere, and the only other system connecting to the C3 is our home system. Maybe a K162 has opened in to our C4.

I scan the home system again, seeing how little difference the full system scan from earlier has made in identifying new signatures. An accurate cluster of bookmarks fuzzily orbited by an explosion of red dots isn't much better than an inaccurate cluster of bookmarks fuzzily orbited by an explosion of red dots. But I am determined to find the new wormhole, and begin to ignore all the local sites again until the fresh signature reveals itself. Indeed, I end up effectively performing a second full scan of the home system, confirming each signature present earlier is still present now, and that there are none new. Fin thinks that the pilot really is lost, and perhaps has parked in the C3 waiting for a better exit to appear, which won't be likely in a system that supposedly has a static connection to null-sec k-space.

The Probe has gone, regardless of his origin. In pondering what to do next I am drawn to join Fin. She got bored in being entirely unproductive in hunting a non-existent wormhole a lot quicker than me and has started the quest to reduce the number of sites in our system. And I suppose harvesting gas is technically more productive than scanning the same forty-two signatures scanned only two hours previously. The only problem is that although I have the skill to use gas harvesters I don't have a ship yet. There is an Exequror cruiser in our hangar but I don't have the skills to pilot it. Then again, any cruiser should do, and there is a spare Osprey—a cruiser built for mining—from our ransacking of another corporation's tower. I may as well use that.

I refit the Osprey with a few gas harvester modules, reconfigure the shield configuration slightly, and warp out to collect gas and relax with Fin. Except it isn't relaxing. I've preyed on several gas miners recently, quite successfully too, and now I am in a flimsy ship, sitting passively in the same spot for an extended time, in a site that is relatively easy to resolve when scanning. I can't help but constantly look around, nervously punching d-scan and getting an update every five seconds, waiting for that dreaded moment when scanning probes will appear briefly, heralding the few seconds available to clear the site before we're both brutally and callously murdered and sent back to empire space to wake up in a new clone. Argh, I'm going to die out here!

Thankfully, gas harvesting is uneventful this evening, although it felt rather more intense than PvP, thanks to my stupid brain. The two clouds get sucked in to cargo holds and jet-cans quicker than I thought they would, and the Sleepers that interrupt us are little more than gnats, although big enough gnats that we have to change ships briefly to deal with them. I end the evening looting and salvaging the wrecks, and collecting the harvested gas. I use my Cormorant to salvage, as the wrecks are close enough together that I don't need to move between them, and the destroyer is more agile than the Noctis salvager and able to warp in and out of the site more quickly. For the gas, my Crane transport ship hauls it all in one trip, also being quick to enter warp whilst having the additional advantage of letting me move cloaked. I feel much safer as a result.

Forty-one sites remain.

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Tags: buzzard, cormorant, crane, eve online, exequror, mining, mmorpg, osprey, penny ibramovic, probe, sleepers, w-space

Mapping the home system

A lazy afternoon seems like a good time to complete a full re-scan of the home w-space system. I could go hunting through our static wormhole but it is getting more difficult to isolate the new wormhole signature from the few dozen bookmarks I have, and it will be good to trim the now-inactive sites from my growing list. I won't be stupid about re-scanning each site, though. I'm not about to delete all of my bookmarks and resolve each one again. Instead, I launch probes and create a normal scanning configuration, but one using a tight range. Now I sweep over the pins denoting bookmarked sites and see which bookmarks still correlate to active signatures. Any that match I move to a temporary holding folder, and any that don't are deleted.

I know that adding the signature reference to a bookmark's description can be an aid for future scanning, but now I realise how useful it is to have a unique identifier for each bookmark. When there are half-a-dozen 'ordinary perimeter deposit' sites, for example, in the system, and there is no way to gauge the distance to the bookmark like it is possible with scanned signature results, having a unique name helps to identify the right bookmark. I must remember to do the same with anomalies from now on. The signature identifiers change daily, with each galactic reboot, so I can't simply match each site from a blanket scan, but giving each bookmark an individual name will let me keep track of sites over longer periods.

I sweep the probes around the system, gradually identifying each bookmarked site as either present or defunct. The last few I have to whittle down by visually searching for the bookmark on the system map, where the unique name also is necessary, and eventually I have a complete and current scan of the system. It wasn't terribly time-consuming but I don't want to make a habit out of performing the thorough scan, which probably means taking more interest in clearing sites at home. A couple of sites are gone, but a handful more have spawned, giving us forty-two in total. The Sleepers are getting out of control!

My scanning and resolution of all the new signatures naturally finds the static wormhole too, and now that my scan is complete I can explore external to the home system. There isn't much to find, sadly. Our neighbouring class 3 w-space system is empty of other capsuleers, and scanning finds only three anomalies and four other signatures. Three ladar sites and a wormhole in an inactive system is not terribly exciting. I leave the wormhole unvisited for now, in case when Fin turns up we want to abuse the Sleepers in the anomlies. I'll just head back through the wormhole home and grab myself a bit to eat. Corporation colleagues talking about sammiches has made me hungry.

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

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Don't go to Arathi Highlands! It's not dangerous, just the same old zone and a stark reminder of how tolerant you once had to be to get anything done in Azeroth. I move on from Westfall to Redridge Mountains, but immediately get a quest asking me to visit the mayor of Darkshire in Duskwood. I was expecting that and am happy to take a stroll, but I end up collecting quests in Darkshire and don't actually return to the mountains. I'm quite happy to adventure in Duskwood. The quests are familiar, but updated. I no longer have to wander from one side of the region to the other on the whim of an NPC, and even the embalmer is being considerate having moved just outside the town.

A major improvement is the culmination of the embalmer's quests. Before, the final encounter seemed to be when the embalmer woke his corpse bride and you were to defeat her, after he gives you a cryptic note to take back to the mayor. But the real danger referred to in the note was from Stitches, the abomination sent to Darkshire as part of the embalmer's revenge. The problem was that the abomination had to make his way between the cemetery and Darkshire, lumbering along the road where he was inevitably stumbled upon by other adventurers, who either were crushed underfoot or killed Stitches themselves. If Stitches ever made it to Darkshire, chances were you weren't just sitting on your hands but had gone on to more adventures, and you may never have been aware of Stitches or, at least, the connection between it and the embalmer. Now, the embalmer not only calls Stitches directly in to the town, which uses phasing to make sure you get a personal fight, but also rides the abomination's shoulder. Seeing cause and effect in this way makes a stronger connection between your actions and the consequences, and is an excellent change.

From Duskwood I am asked to pop in to Stranglethorn Vale, historically a lengthy grind from top-to-bottom. I am game to give it another look, though. And it is game I will be seeking, with the hunters' camp still wanting adventurers to prove their worth by killing local wildlife. I accept the quests and start a local one for tigers, at least to see what has changed. I am pleased and impressed when the dynamic quest tracker upgrades me from one quest to the next without having to revisit the camp, but I'm not sure I want to wade through so many mob kills again. Instead I head northwards to seek further change. But what a mistake.

My running takes me through Dun Morogh and to Loch Modan, where there are interesting changes to investigate, but examining the damage to the Stonewrought Dam only makes me fall through immaterial solid stone. My ghost then does the same to confirm it is stupid design and not flailing fingers, effectively putting an end to exploring the loch, and so I wander Wetlands, which are even wetter now. Progress is again visible but nothing really grabs my attention as markedly different. It mostly seems that NPCs and mobs have been relocated slightly, but that probably similar quests as before are available. I suppose that's not bad, as I found out in Duskwood, but my level places my ambition higher than can be sated here. I double-back slightly to investigate the Twilight Highlands, but when it turns out to be a high-level zone that I ought to avoid my destination becomes Arathi Highlands.

Haven't we taken Stromgarde Keep back yet? The Alliance forces disappointingly remain out in the cold in Refuge Point and ask me to do the same quests I remember from every other visit, which I accept if only to see what improvements have been made here. None, apparently. I fight my way through Duskwhisper Gorge to pluck crystal fragments off kobolds, but I run out of rats by the time I get to the stone at the end of the quest and am still several shards shy. I have to run out again to wait for respawns, which are quick in coming but only mean that I have to then fight my way back in to the stone through more respawns, before fighting through them all again to get out of the horrid cave. The drop rate for the quest item is as low as it ever was, hunting for the rats is tedious, and getting out after completing the quest is frustrating. It is a reminder of how much of a grind questing used to be, and sits starkly in comparison to the updated quests I've experienced so far.

There is still the quest to intercept the Forsaken Courier, curiously named 'Just Like Old Times', which I can't decide is supposed to be a nod to nostalgia or dire warning to leave this zone. I wrongly guess nostalgia, although am glad to see that at least the four bodyguards are no longer present. The same enemies in Stromgarde Keep need to be defeated and, unlike previous updated quests, I have to stuff their heads in my bag to carry as proof of their demise. I can't face any more of this out-dated drudgery. Despite its familiarity the deficiencies in adventuring here after experiencing the revamped content are too much to bear, and I am thankful to get a request to report to the Hinterlands, leaving this sorry region behind me.

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Tags: azeroth, cataclysm, jelica, mmorpg, warlock, world of warcraft

Profit after piracy

A Cyclone is spotted in our neighbouring class 3 w-space system. Glorious leader Fin spies it idling in the local tower, and I follow in to take a look for myself. At first, it looks like the Cyclone is active, but Fin's right. It is merely circling the tower slowly, at a distance that will never put it outside of the safety of the shields, so it won't suffer the same fate as the Bestower hauler from earlier. The Cyclone has an active module, though, and being a battlecruiser it could be a warfare link, which suggests it is boosting fleet activity elsewhere in the system. Warping around finds nothing but empty space, making the Cyclone's activity an anomaly. I ignore it as irrelevant for now and go to make myself a sammich.

Fin and I return a bit later, fed and full, and the Cyclone is still in the tower's shields, although now it is bumping on a silo or two on its lazy circle around the tower. What is more interesting is the core probe scanner also in the system. Only one can be seen from the tower on my directional scanner and warping around shows it to be the only probe in the system. Maybe the scout only dropped one probe to look for anomalies and left it behind, but even if he did there is still the question of where the scout came from. A new wormhole opening in to this system will lead to more exploration and opportunity, and I ask Fin if she would come to scan this class 3 system for any changes. She kindly agrees, scanning not taking long in the otherwise empty system, and there are no new signatures. 'We can blame low-sec goofs', she says about the errant probe, and I agree.

We may as well collapse our static wormhole, not really wanting to steal anomalies in a system with an active if distracted pilot, and one where I killed a capsuleer earlier. The big ships are brought out and the mass of the wormhole is disrupted according to plan, the connection collapsing as the Orca industrial command ship is brought home. The new static wormhole is quickly resolved and we warp out to explore the class 3 system it connects to. The system is unoccupied and empty, and the twenty-six anomalies are enticing for making some profit. We may as well bring our Tengu strategic cruisers in here to shoot some Sleepers to end the evening.

The C3 is a black hole system, though, which decreases missile range significantly. That's not really a problem for heavy missiles in a class 3 system, as the Sleepers don't appear too far away and the missiles have considerable range to start with. But my heavy assault missile configuration will suffer a little. Or, rather, a little more than usual. Hopefully the added velocity also offered by the black hole phenomenon will help me close the range between my Tengu and the Sleepers quickly enough to negate the disadvantage. We can only try, and if it is too burdensome we can simply jump home and shoot the Sleepers there.

My missile range is approximately nineteen kilometres, which really isn't far at all, but the extra speed indeed helps with getting close enough to hit the Sleepers. The overall effect is not much different from normal, although even Fin has to be careful about keeping some of the more shy Sleepers in range of her heavy missiles. In the end, only three anomalies are cleared of Sleeper presence before fatigue sets in, but at least we both get another chance to get our Noctis salvagers out of the hangar, and this is glorious leader Fin's first chance to use one in anger.

Plonk the Noctis roughly in the middle of a field full of wrecks and put yourself in to salvaging mode. Targets are locked, wrecks are pulled in at impressive speed, and salvaging cycles complete quicker than normal. Fin's reaction sums it up, saying simply 'yeah, wow', after her first experience. The difference in efficiency is marked, compared to flying around in a destroyer, even with the same number of tractor beams and salvager modules. The Noctis is a salvaging machine, although that is more of a design requirement than straight compliment. Bringing back the loot is superfast, over a hundred and forty million iskies of profit returned to our tower, which isn't bad for our short time in C3 anomalies. Now we sleep.

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Tags: cyclone, eve online, mmorpg, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, sleepers, tengu, w-space

Bombing a Bestower

I can't be lucky two days in a row, but let's see what's in our w-space constellation today anyway. Or I would, if our home system weren't getting swamped with Sleepers. This is supposed to be space, vast and empty, but we have so many ladar sites we almost have a breathable atmosphere. The number of bookmarks denoting sites of specific Sleeper interest in the home system is beginning to make spotting the new signature extraneous to any pin rather difficult. I shall have to re-scan the entire system soon, hopefully to delete any erroneous bookmarks pointing to defunct locations. But, for now, I slog through a few wrong guesses until I resolve today's static wormhole, and jump through to the class 3 w-space system beyond.

A tower and a couple of ships are visible on my directional scanner in the C3. Finding the tower finds the ship, both the Hoarder transport ship and Probe frigate unpiloted inside the shields. The wormhole I passed through and tower are both on the outskirts of the system, though, possibly leaving activity masked in the inner system. Warping to a more central point finds there to be a complete lack of activity, and launching probes and scanning finds there to be not much to do either. Only three anomalies are present, and the two signatures are the wormhole homewards and the system's static connection. Naturally, the static connection leads out to low-sec empire space, and checking the exit places me in the desolate Aridia region.

It doesn't look like much is going to happen today, unless we collapsed our own static wormhole, and I'll need glorious leader Fin to turn up to accomplish that. For now, I'll just head home and take a break. Or I would, if taking one last look at the tower in the C3 didn't now hold a piloted Drake battlecruiser. It may be worth hanging around a bit longer, but not in my Buzzard covert operations boat. I go home as planned but only to swap in to a Manticore stealth bomber, returning to the class 3 system and loitering by the tower to see what the Drake pilot does. I note that this is a pulsar system, much like home, and that shields are boosted, which will make the Drake rather more formidable, at least from a defensive standpoint. I am quite pleased, then, that the pilot changes ships, boarding a Magnate frigate instead.

I am getting more interested now. The Magnate cannot fit a covert operations cloak, which will make catching it much easier than a cov-ops capable scanning boat. But if may be even easier than I imagine, not having to wait for the ship to warp to a wormhole, as the Magnate starts moving under normal engine power towards the edge of the tower's shields. I am about fifty kilometres from the edge of the shields myself, which is too far to launch a bomb or to disrupt the warp engines of a ship, and so push my Manticore forwards to close the range, generally aiming to intersect the Magnate's path. I get within thirty-five kilometres of the shields when the pilot changes his mind and turns around, which is a bit of a shame. He then jumps in to a Bestower hauler, and starts moving in the opposite direction.

We are at the edge of the system and there are no celestial bodies I can warp to and return, to 'bounce' back in to a favourable position on the other side of the tower. But my magnetic personality exerts its invisible pull, the Bestower turning around and again the pilot crawling to the edge of the tower's shields. The hauler pops a giant secure container, but it doesn't stop moving. I start to move closer, preparing for the opportunity I don't expect I'll get to launch a bomb, and still the Bestower moves further from the tower. And now it is out of the shields, and still moving. I'm in range for an attack but I hold for a few more seconds, letting the Bestower get a little further out of the shields to make its retreat slower. Now is the time.

I decloak and launch my bomb, locking the target and manouevring closer so that I can disrupt its warp engines. Wary of the active tower defences I let loose my first volley of torpedoes too early, seeing them vaporise in the bomb's explosion, ending up costing me time. But the bomb hits, and hits the Bestower hard. I have burnt towards the hauler and now have a point, and as subsequent volleys of torpedoes successfully hit the soft target I align away from the Bestower and towards the wormhole home. I'll hold as long as I can but want to be ready to flee should the defences start firing.

The Bestower pops and ejects the pilot's pod in to space. My Manticore has a sensor booster fitted to help try to capture pods, which is no easy feat, and I must have really disorientated this one. I get a positive lock, disrupt its warp drive, and start shooting. The pod doesn't last long and the poor, unsuspecting pilot is thrown in to the harsh vacuum of space, only a few kilometres from the safety of his tower's shields. Except he's a she, sorry madam. I simultaneously warp away and cloak, somewhat surprised and relieved that the defences didn't engage me.

I head back to the tower, creeping under cover of my cloak towards the wreck, despite the defences not seeming to be set to shoot unallied pilots on sight. I scoop the corpse, and loot and shoot the wreck before cloaking again for safety. I recover three shield extenders, two cargohold expanders, and a prototype cloaking device. Analysis of the wreck shows that a probe launcher and scanning probes were destroyed in the explosion. I assume that the pilot was moving out of the shields to launch the probes and scan the system in the Bestower, although that's a curious choice given the availability of the more suitable Magnate. Not only that, but manoeuvring under manual power so slowly out of the tower is a poor choice.

I often say that predictability is dangerous. Repeated movements are the easiest to interrupt and, in the same way, an unchanging path is the easier to follow. I have no doubt that crawling out of the shields to launch probes worked fine every day for the past six months, and that it was sheer luck that put me in the right place at the right time, but had the Bestower warped to an arbitrary point in the system, or even on the same grid, I would not have been able to be in the right place at all. It is not possible to eradicate all predictable actions, but you can militate against many threats by adopting simple safeguards.

The class 3 system is deadly quiet again, and I don't suppose it will be waking up any time soon. I jump home, drop the loot and corpse in our hangar, and take a relaxing break.

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Tags: bestower, buzzard, drake, eve online, hoarder, magnate, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, probe, pvp, scanning, w-space

Looking after the leap

I forgot about the second tower. I saw it, and avoided it to launch probes, but for some reason I simply disregarded it entirely instead of considering it the home of the miner. The tower I saw first, with the Tengu strategic cruiser sitting unpiloted inside, caught my attention and I focussed on that, but second tower was just as important to monitor. That was a serious mistake when hunting the miner, but luckily one that didn't cause me problems. I'll have to do better next time.

The niggling doubt is removed when I take my Buzzard covert operations boat back in to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system to scan more thoroughly than just the single ladar site. I locate the second tower and see the Orca industrial command ship from earlier now joined by a Prowler hauler, both ships piloted. And both pilots could have come to the assistance of the gas mining Stabber cruiser, in different ships though, and my attack could have been costly.

I wonder if the Prowler was getting ready to collect the gas, and if he knows that I already picked it up in my Crane transport ship. I would hope the pilots here aren't foolish enough not to check first in a cloaked boat, but capsuleers are always surprising me. Then again, I already got my kill and I don't want to sit here waiting for an action that is unlikely to occur, so I warp away, launch probes, and begin to scan the C3.

There is only one anomaly in the whole system, accompanied by a magnetometric, radar, and three gravimetric sites, with the ladar site of stabbing pain completing the set of cosmic signature types here. I resolve the system's static wormhole and, quelle surprise, it leads out to low-sec empire space. I swap to my Manticore stealth bomber to check the exit system, not needing my scanning boat any more and not wanting to be at a disadvantage should I catch any movements.

Exiting the C3 puts me in the Heimatar region, two hops from high-sec and nine to my stored Retriever. I don't want to risk bringing the mining barge in through two low-sec systems, and merely make a bookmark of the empire-side wormhole before heading back to w-space. There is no change in the inner system of the class 3 system, the unpiloted Tengu remains the only ship at the first tower, and the Orca and Prowler are both now gone from the second tower. All is quiet, and I head home to get an early night for myself.

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Tags: buzzard, crane, eve online, manticore, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, prowler, scanning, tengu, w-space

A Stabber stabbed

There's no one here but me, I think I'll hunt in the class 3 w-space system next door. Of course, that means finding the home system's static wormhole first, but that's a formality. Jumping in to the C3 sees a tower and a Tengu strategic cruiser on my directional scanner, and locating them both is easy enough as the Tengu is sitting unpiloted in the tower's shields. And having warped away from the wormhole to find the tower has put me close enough to now spy the Stabber cruiser, Hurricane battlecruiser, and Sleeper wrecks elsewhere in the system. I'm in luck.

I punch my on-board scanner in to life, not wanting to waste time launching probes if I don't have to, but the ships don't appear to be in an easily-found anomaly. A jet-can also visible on d-scan, and the minor Sleeper wrecks, instead suggests that the ships were interrupted whilst mining. Let's see if I can continue that trend. The Hurricane disappears and a Noctis joins the Stabber, and there is no way I will be able to catch the salvager before it grabs the few wrecks of ladar site guardian Sleepers, but I can still resolve the site being used for their continuing mining operation.

I warp away from the inner system to the outer planet, where my hope to launch probes discreetly is scuppered by the presence of a second tower. An Orca industrial command ship looks to be there too, but I ignore it for now so that I can concentrate on the target. Luckily, there is another planet I can use that is out of d-scan range of both towers and the mining Stabber and friend. I launch probes and move them out of the system quickly, warping myself back to a planet close to the miners so I can trace their position.

Only the Stabber remains in the site with the jet-can, but I am able to narrow down his location in space using d-scan. I get the ship in a five degree d-scan beam and gauge its range to be between 2 and 2·5 AU away, and not far off the ecliptic, letting me place my scanning probes confidently. I pause for a second, getting myself ready, priming my reactions to the results of the scan, and call my probes in. The first scan is perfect, a 100% hit on the ladar site! I recall the probes immediately, bookmark the site, and warp in to drop only a little short.

My ship doesn't fly through the gas clouds and decloak, letting me see the Stabber mining by itself. The pilot uses a jet-can for convenience, letting him store all the collected gas which won't fit in his cargo hold. The can also lets me create a bookmark of the ship's approximate position, although I really should have been prepared with combat probes so I could resolve the ship's position directly, negating my having to warp in to the site like this. But at least I can confirm that the Stabber hasn't seen me, not that he had much opportunity this time. I was pretty quick. And, if he has only just had to fend off the Sleepers, he has probably only recently started mining and will be here for a little while longer.

I warp out of the site, briefly stopping to check the tower and seeing only the unpiloted Tengu still, and jump home. I board my Onyx heavy interdictor, which looks like the best choice of ship today. The wormhole connecting our systems is also out of d-scan range of the mining Stabber, which will let me get in to warp before potentially being spotted, and give me a few extra seconds leeway. I swap out the second bubble, probably not needing the scripted point for assaulting a single ship, instead fitting another heavy assault missile launcher for maximum firepower. I want this to be quick.

I return to the C3, now in the HIC, and quickly check d-scan. Not seeing the Stabber sharing space with the tower, suggesting it is still mining, I warp to my bookmark of the jet-can. The Stabber is indeed still there, gas harvesters active, as my Onyx drops out of warp to engulf it in the fearsome warp bubble. My launchers fire and start pounding on the shields of the cruiser, as I keep a watch on d-scan in case the Hurricane and salvaging pilot from earlier reappears, but it's the Stabber that catches my attention again. He's shooting me. Granted, they are only light missiles, and my HIC can regenerate the damage quicker than he can inflict it, but he's not going down without a fight. Even so, he's going down.

The Stabber explodes and the pilot's pod makes a break for the edge of my warp bubble. As I manoeuvred my Onyx to hug his cruiser the pod has quite a distance to run, and I lock and shoot even as I move to follow. He doesn't really have a chance, but I admire the tenacity, unwilling to accept his fate and no doubt hoping I'd make a stupid mistake. The pod pops and I scoop a fresh corpse in to my hold. I loot the Stabber and destroy its wreck, then clear the pocket quickly. It's another smooth kill.

My use of d-scan was good as before, but my probe positioning has never been better. Getting a positive hit on the first attempt was excellent and saved valuable time during which the probes would have been visible to the pilot. I am a little lucky with my choice of ship, as using the Manticore stealth bomber in this case may have seen me flee from returned fire, although I'm not sure how much the light missiles would have damaged the smaller ship. A bomb would also have destroyed the jet-can, though, whereas it now remains, letting me return in my Crane transport ship to collect it stealthily.

I'm not sure at first what happened to the Hurricane and Noctis pilot, but the Stabber's continued presence in the ladar site offers a suggestion. I think the pilot ejected from his cruiser when the Sleepers appeared, preventing the ship from appearing as a threat to the w-space rats, and the miner swapped to the Hurricane to shoot the Sleepers and then the Noctis to salvage them, before returning in his pod to board the Stabber and continue where he left off. It's only a guess, though. He could also have used a puppet for the task, and wasn't able to call them back whilst under attack from another capsuleer and trying to flee.

It only takes one trip to the ladar site in my Crane to haul all the gas back, although I fit the Crane with expanded cargohold modules and giant secure containers. But, like I say, if the Sleepers had only just appeared he perhaps hadn't been mining for long. I return safely to the tower with 1,500 units of fullerite C70, and 1,560 units of C60, which seems like a decent haul. I drop it in our hangar and take a few minutes to enjoy the remnants of the thrill of the hunt still coursing through me.

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Tags: crane, eve online, hurricane, mmorpg, noctis, onyx, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, stabber, tengu, w-space

Another Noctis for our hangar

The Sleepers are at it like bunnies. Scanning the home system finds two new frontier barracks anomalies the day after we clear three of them. It would be a iskmine if we could keep up with the pace. I also find an additional gravimetric and ladar site, which makes it look like the situation is getting out of hand. So to deal with the building number of sites at home I put my hands over my ears, chant 'la la la, I can't hear you', and jump through the static wormhole to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system.

As is becoming common, a tower and no ships are on my directional scanner, and searching the system finds it to be devoid of activity. I launch probes and scan, resolving ten anomalies and a handful of signatures. Two of the signatures turn out to be wormholes, leaving me no real opportunity to leave the static connection unvisited and inactive, as it probably has already been opened. One wormhole is a K162 from null-sec space, and reaching the end of its natural lifetime, the other is the static connection leading out to low-sec empire space, and is in pristine condition. I don't suppose any null-sec pilots will bother us, and the low-sec exit may be useful if it leads to a convenient system. Otherwise, there are only three radar sites to be resolved in this C3.

I pop out through the static connection and check my relative position in New Eden. More specifically, I check the market for any Noctis salvager ships for sale, as Fin got a little jealous over yesterday's use of it in clearing the barracks so efficiently, and now understandably wants one for herself. There are plenty for sale, the closest being five hops away, and the bigger market of Amarr ten hops from here. The exit doesn't seem terribly convenient, but it isn't in the Aridia region either. And it is good enough for Fin, who takes her pod out to buy a shiny new Noctis for herself.

Fin lets me know that the exit is only two hops from high-sec space, which I neglected to check myself, but that a Raven Navy Issue battleship is sitting on the gate connecting from low- to high-sec space, which will be a threat when bringing the Noctis home. I am happy to volunteer to scout, and perhaps provide a deterrent, and choose a cloaking ship that may be of some use. I select my Manticore stealth bomber, which isn't exactly a match for a Raven, but hopefully I'll just need to monitor the gate and not actually engage. Refitting with remote sensor damper modules beguiles me in to thinking I could irritate the Raven, but he would have to be particularly inexperienced to ignore a fat Noctis target to swat a gnat like me, particularly as the gate guns would act as fly spray for him. And out I go to defend glorious leader Fin!

I see the Raven Navy Issue sitting on the gate, now joined by an Abaddon battleship too. But soon enough the Raven jumps out of the system, followed a little while later by the Abaddon as Fin's shopping list increases as I remember modules I should be buying myself, getting her to fly to Amarr after all. But the delay for the extended journey may be beneficial, as my sheer force of personality and keen hatred of other people slowly but surely empties the low-sec system of hostile presence. By the time Fin returns, the gate is clear and her new Noctis warps across the two low-sec systems and through w-space without another soul in sight. And that's about all for tonight. I fit the rocket launcher II modules I can now use to my Vengeance assault ship and Malediction interceptor, curse at not being able to fit the siege launcher II modules to my Manticore, and thank Fin for bringing them all back with her, before retiring for the evening.

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Tags: abaddon, eve online, manticore, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, raven, scanning, w-space