EVE mails from the edge

Reprinted with permission

To: Penny Ibramovic
From: Fin Kename
Subject: Wish you were here

I found myself in a rather pleasant class 3 w-space system. It is medium-sized, with one of its planets about 56 AU from the star. It is a fortunate set of circumstances that this outer planet has no moons. Warping out there let me create a safe spot about 20 AU from that distant planet and 34 AU from any other celestial object. This let me park the Orca and board the Buzzard to scan, the Orca remaining hidden from casual d-scanners.

Only three signatures were present in the entire system, which was promising. I believe I have mentioned that this system is occupied. If not, then do forgive my manners.

The first hit I got when scanning resolved to an exit to low-sec empire space. Yes, I know, a static exit to low-sec in a C3, what are the odds? The wormhole dumped me in Jaymass, in the Derelik region, which is rather fortunate too, as it is immediately adjacent to a system in high-sec, which will let me get the Orca out.

Well, it would if I could get back to the Orca, but I seem to have misplaced it. For some reason, and please don't chide me for this, I appear to have deleted the bookmark for the safe spot I created. Yes, the same safe spot where I launched the Buzzard and left the expensive industrial command ship behind.

But, as luck would have it, there are some combat scanner probes in this Buzzard, which surely must let me find the whale of a ship, particularly as I have a good idea where it must be. And, indeed, a quick scan finds me a ship, right where I expect. Sadly, it turns out to be some Gallente junk, an Iteron Mk III.

I doubt the scanning probes are faulty, and warping to the resolved signature indeed finds a vulgar hauler floating in space, and not my ship. Maybe the locals found the Orca, but how? And when? I wasn't gone long, and I made sure the ship was out of easy detection range. But where could it otherwise be?

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

EVE mails from the edge

Reprinted with permission

To: Penny Ibramovic
From: Fin Kename
Subject: Going on walkabout

I've decided to cut my strings from the home system and take time out to wander around in the backwoods of class 3 w-space. I am occasionally looking for an exit, but am not sure when I will want to get back to empire space, let alone return home. I just want to explore!

I remembered to stow a Buzzard in the Orca before I jumped out of the system, so I can park the industrial command ship and use the cov-ops for scanning. The right tools for the job, and all that.

p.s. Wormhole mass calculations are stupid.

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

More quiet profit from Sleepers

The home system is empty, and I am by myself. I refrain from performing a full scan of the system, restricting myself to look only for wormholes. The signatures won't change without interference, and without evidence of external visitors I expect the system to look similar from day to day. I resolve only the one wormhole, our system's static connection, and jump through to the class 3 w-space system. A single tower can be seen on my directional scanner, but no ships, and warping around finds no further activity. I launch probes and scan.

Finding the C3's static wormhole on my first hit seems like a skilful act of scanning, even if it turns out to be a yawn-worthy exit to low-sec empire space. But continuing the scan shows only that signature and two anomalies in the whole system, discounting the wormhole leading homewards. It is almost surprising to see the two anomalies in such a bare system, as they are most easily found and quickest to clear, but maybe they are newly spawned. It would be rude not to keep the system clean for the occupants Or maybe it would be rude to steal loot from their system. Either way, I start thinking about getting my strategic cruiser out of the hangar.

First, I check the destination system through the exit to empire space, bookmarking the wormhole's position on the other side as a standard precaution. There are no other pilots in the low-sec system, which seems only fitting for being in the Solitude region, the complete lack of activity making me feel safer going in to solo combat against Sleepers. I go back home and stow the Buzzard covert operations boat to swap in to my Tengu, still fitted with standard heavy missile launchers for the increased range. I make sure my d-dscan button is responsive, and return to the class 3 system.

The first anomaly has Argos guns shooting at me. They aren't really a problem and can generally be ignored, despawning with the structures once the ships are cleared, but if the Sleepers heavily web me the reduction in velocity gives the guns some heavy hits against my Tengu's shields. On the other hand, as Fin notes, the Argos guns provide a deterrent to pilots looking to ambush a ship in such an anomaly. The guns pack a large enough punch, and are ready to switch targets, that less-protected ships need to be wary. I take the hits from the Argos guns and concentrate on the Sleeper ships, making slow but steady progress.

Reloading my launchers provides an interesting observation. The Sleepers keep their webs on me almost all the time, until my fire pauses for the ten seconds of reloading time. Without any damage inflicted the Sleepers disengage their webs, but once the launchers are ready again and firing the webs re-activate. I doubt this information would let me use my heavy assault missile fitting effectively, but I think it a curiosity worth noting. I clear the first anomaly and move to the second, clearing that too whilst keeping a vigilant eye on d-scan. I have ample opportunity to refresh d-scan, my missiles taking a while to chomp through the armour of the battleships. But eventually all the Sleepers explode.

It is simple to return to salvage, my Cormorant destroyer sweeping through the two sites and grabbing all the loot. And that's all there is in the system. The two anomalies are no more and there are no other sites, not even mining sites. Without collapsing our static connection, or a new wormhole opening, there is little potential for ambushes or more Sleeper combat. I could perhaps start mining one of the sites at home, but I am more than content with the eighty million ISK profit I brought home from the two anomalies with no hassles and no interruptions. I store the loot, swap back in to my Buzzard, and go off-line.

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Tags: buzzard, cormorant, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, sleepers, tengu, w-space

Quietly making ISK

Ever closer to having my safety net, I assemble and fit two Buzzard covert operations boats. Constance can't use the cloaking device yet, but I can fit it and leave the boat in the hangar for her to pick up. The cloak will go off-line if she boards it now, but once her training completes, in only a couple of days now, Constance can bring it back on-line and be a fully fledged scanning pilot. If I get podded, or a wormhole collapses behind me, there will remain the ability to scan a route out to empire space for my return. But until that fateful day I can still take my own Buzzard out to scan our local systems.

The home w-space system has changed a little, the anomalies moved around and a new ladar and gravimetric site each appearing. I resolve the new static connection to a class 3 system and jump through to see what's occurring. There is a tower and a couple of ships visible on the directional scanner, which I find easily enough. I was here five months ago and the tower hasn't moved from when I made my notes. The two ships are unpiloted and the system seems inactive. I warp to a distant planet in order to launch scanning probes, only to find a second tower lurking in the outer system. The tower holds a piloted Cheetah cov-ops boat, although I see no probes on d-scan to indicate he is awake.

I warp back to the inner system to launch my probes and begin scanning, returning to the second tower to monitor the Cheetah. Scanning finds little overall in the system, but there are three wormholes present. One is a K162 coming from a class 5 w-space system, the connection reaching the end of its natural lifetime and so not one I want to jump through. There is also a K162 coming in from high-sec empire space. The C3's static is, monotonously, an exit to low-sec space. The only other signatures in the system belong to a lone anomaly, a radar site, and a ladar gas mining site. I bookmark them all for possible ambush opportunities later, then check the destinations of the connections to empire space.

Jumping through the wormholes to empire space is a habit I am trying to maintain, particularly now that I am more self-reliant. The crucial information gained from exiting w-space is not the destination system, but rather the bookmarked location of the other side of the wormhole. It is, of course, possible to scan empire space for the wormhole if the system it sits in is known, but it is much easier just to warp to that point. I may get podded and wake up in a clone in empire space, and although I have Constance to get me home if needed it is far better not to need external help if possible. Exiting w-space and bookmarking the wormhole gives me a full route home.

Today's exits are far from anywhere, low-sec and high-sec both. But the low-sec system is a dead end, and close to a second dead-end system, and the high-sec system is also close to a dead-end system. I always like to gain new dots of exploration on my star map, particularly as w-space can throw me out on different sides of the galaxy, and take a few minutes to explore a few of the less conveniently situated star systems. I visit five systems in low-sec and three in high-sec—hardly a dent in the thousands that are known of, but covering the corners is still important—before returning to w-space and getting back to the tower to take a break.

I bring out the stealth bomber a bit later, taking my Manticore in to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system in the hopes that the bookmarks I made earlier will let me shoot an unsuspecting pilot. But the C3 is quiet, unchanged from earlier. The pilot at the second tower even remains sitting motionless in his Cheetah, despite the passage of time. It is almost too quiet. I'd better make some explosions. The single anomaly is still present in the system, which my Tengu strategic cruiser should be able to chew through. But today I change its fitting from heavy assault missiles to standard heavy missiles. I must compromise a little on the damage for the sake of range, as I don't want to be embarrassed by Sleepers again.

The anomaly in the C3 is the same type where, some months back, two Sleeper cruisers taunt me mercilessly. They web my Tengu to a crawl and keep their distance at thirty kilometres, outside the effective range of my HAMs, without my being able to get any closer. With a second ship running interference it is possible to get closer as the cruisers switch the targets of their webs, but on my own I need the greater range of heavy missiles. And changing the fitting causes me no problems, and I chomp on the Sleepers without worrying about getting close. Only the one anomaly means I am soon changing ships again, swapping to my salvaging destroyer, the Cormorant quick to sweep up the valuable remnants of the wrecks in to my its hold. My combat and salvaging goes undisturbed, letting me bring home sixty million ISK in loot. It's been a quiet day, but productive enough.

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Tags: buzzard, cheetah, cormorant, eve online, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, sleepers, tengu, w-space

Entering the unknown

Oh wow, a shuttle! I get Penny's message that at Jita she has left me a ship and directions in to w-space. I was quite excited to finally board the ship I've spent the past month of intensive training learning to pilot. But I get here to find a lowly shuttle. And a Gallente shuttle at that. Instead of an engine, it probably needs drones to push it from behind.

'You're not quite ready yet', the note reads, 'to operate a covert operations cloaking device, and there's no point risking the Buzzard and all its fittings. I've taken it ahead with me, and you can follow in the shuttle. It should be safe enough'. It seems that she doesn't want a hunk of metal to be turned in to a molten hunk of metal, in preference to my survival. Then again, I supposedly am now immortal.

I understand that I have a clone in a vat somewhere, ready to take on my existence when I... well, die. It's the discontinuity that worries me. How do I know that I'll wake up, and not just someone like me? But if I am to live the capsuleer life I'd better get used it it. That is, if anyone really does get used to horrible deaths in the cold vacuum of space. Brr.

I board the shuttle, with fewer weapons than even the mining laser of my Ibis frigate, and copy the directions in to its nav-comp. I suppose I should be worried about those low-sec systems I'll be passing through, but I'm rather more concerned about the last few hops. Not only is it null-sec, lacking entirely in any security, but the systems aren't on any celestial map yet. They aren't linked by stargates, there are no stations... are there even any populated planets?

It's best not to think about these niggling doubts right now. I know Penny wouldn't go anywhere particularly threatening, she never was one for too much danger. I undock and start following the route suggested by the autopilot, set as suggested to ignore security status.

There are a couple of moments where I don't feel particularly safe, as some red skulls flash on my display on a low-sec stargate. There's a fresh wreck too, but it looks much larger than my shuttle and I don't think the pirates are interested in me. At least, I hope not. Luckily, this ship can align and enter warp quickly, and I think I see what Penny had in mind now.

Reaching the destination system ends the autopilot's suggestions, now I rely on the bookmarks. There is only one highlighted in my display and I warp to that, soon finding myself sitting outside a wormhole, grey colours bleeding from what must be the system on the other side. Here goes nothing.

I jump in and reorientate myself. This isn't the home system, there is one more jump to make. There are no ships around me, but the directional scanner shows a couple of Maelstrom battleships somewhere in the system. Maybe I should mention that to Penny, if they don't catch me first. I warp my shuttle away from the wormhole and to the next, jumping through to the astounding sight of a pulsar.

'Don't warp to the tower directly', Penny's voice crackles over the comm channel, 'I've not yet got you accepted in to the corporation. If you try, the tower defences may blow you to pieces'. I couldn't ask for a better reception. 'Get your ship away from the wormhole and in to the safe spot I made. I'll sort out the paperwork and get you here as soon as I can.

'Oh, and welcome to your new home.'

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Tags: constance sokolov, eve online, mmorpg, w-space

Salvaging empty space

Today seems like a good day to bring Constance in to w-space. I am by myself and opportunities for profit or mayhem are reduced, but this way I can still make myself useful. I don't think Constance is quite ready to act as an emergency scanner but getting her in sooner is probably a wise plan. After all, her training can finish whilst in w-space, and once in the system she becomes the anchor I need. But first I must find a way out to rendezvous with her, which probably means using the inevitable low-sec exit our neighbouring class 3 system will provide us with.

The static wormhole I scanned in an otherwise inactive day yesterday is still present, indicating a pleasant lack of visitors. It also precludes my having to scan the home system, which saves a little time. Jumping in to the C3 sees an easily found tower on my directional scanner, and no ships in the system. An initial scan of the system provides a bunch of anomalies, that I bookmark as a reflex action, and my first hit is the static wormhole. Naturally, I am guided out to low-sec empire space, where I find I am only two hops to high-sec and eleven from Jita, which is a good result. The eleven-hop route takes a scenic path through five low-sec systems, but that's no bother.

I go back to the tower in our class 4 w-space home and swap in to my Crane transport ship, heading out to empire space and Jita. The journey is uneventful and quick in the Crane, docking in Jita soon enough. I hit the bustling market to buy a couple of Buzzard covert operations boats, and some basic fittings for both of them. Each boat will have an expanded probe launcher, covert operations cloak, reheat, and nanofibre internal structure fittings, and I have made sure that Constance will have the skills to use them, at least at the most basic level. If I need her to get me back in to w-space then I had better make sure Constance has a high chance of survival herself.

Ships and fittings are bought and stuffed in to the hold of the Crane, now I give Constance directions. I have the bookmarks for the systems and positions of the current wormholes leading to our home system, which I copy to her, along with the location of our tower and a few safe spots in the system. It wouldn't do to guide Constance to our home system then have her wonder where she can park. And with that done I turn my Crane around and head back to the low-sec entrance to w-space. I'll take the Buzzards with me, as I know Constance cannot yet operate the cloaking device, and there's no point risking her in a sub-optimal boat. Instead, I give her a shuttle I have sitting in Jita dock, one of the few ships that Gallente designers got right.

The homewards journey is fine for me, zipping through low-sec systems and returning to w-space without being bothered. But d-scan in the C3 shows me an interesting situation, a Maelstrom battleship and Drake battlecruiser apparently engaging Sleepers. I take care to move away from the wormhole and cloak quickly, getting home as quietly as possible, where I swap ships again, this time for my Manticore stealth bomber. I can't engage the two combat ships, but a more vulnerable pilot may well follow behind them salvaging.

I return to the C3 and sweep the system with d-scan, using the system map and my earlier-made bookmarks of the present anomalies to find where the two ships are. I find one anomaly cleared of Sleeper ships, only wrecks remaining, but the combat ships have already moved on. I bookmark a well-positioned wreck for later reference and warp to the next anomaly, where I find the Maelstrom and Drake. There seems to be only two of them, and they are not looting or salvaging as they go, getting me tingling in expectation of engaging their salvager. But the galaxy is apparently going to disappear briefly, an unscheduled jolt, and it doesn't look like the salvager will appear before then.

The Maelstrom and Drake finish shooting Sleepers in this second anomaly and, instead of calling in or swapping to a salvager, they move to a third. They must have seen the warning of the interruption to the space-time continuum, I'm not sure why they are continuing. But they do. I bookmark a wreck in both the second and third anomalies, watching the combat ships warp away and leave the system—through a fresh wormhole I don't know about, it seems—with a couple of minutes to spare, after which I do the same.

I come back soon after the galaxy is stable again. The home system needs to stabilise before I enter, the familiar sign of a system that hasn't had a capsuleer pass through it since an interruption. I warp back to our static wormhole, curious to see how far its locus has shifted because of the jolt and ready to update my bookmark, before considering whether to jump in to the C3 or not. I know that if I enter first then the other capsuleers won't see the message about the system needing to stabilise, which could alert them to my presence. But I don't think they are yet experienced enough to realise this nugget of information. I jump in, taking two attempts as indeed the system needs to stabilise.

As I expected, the Sleeper wrecks have disappeared. The reset of the galaxy has wiped the presence of any temporary object, denying the other pilots of their loot. Still, they had the time to recover it and chose to continue shooting instead, hopefully making this a lesson to remember. But it hasn't necessarily denied my opportunity to shoot their salvager, which is why I am here. If they didn't know the wrecks would disappear they may well send in the salvager now, before continuing with combat. And, by the appearance of a Cormorant destroyer on d-scan, I may well be right.

I warp to the first anomaly that the pilots cleared and loiter with deadly intent, refreshing d-scan regularly to see the Cormorant still in the system. After a minute or so I wonder if the salvager is actually warping to any of the sites, and switch to my system map to sweep d-scan over my bookmarks to see. The Cormorant is in the second anomaly, a tight five-degree beam showing the ship coincide with my bookmark. I warp to where the wreck once was, not aiming to drop short, unsure where the Cormorant will be in the site. Although I bookmarked a wreck I personally considered to be conveniently placed, it may not coincide with another's opinion. As luck would have it, I drop out of warp almost on top of the Cormorant.

I get my warp disruption modules hot, drop my cloak, and start to get a positive lock on the salvager. As my targeting systems spring to life I get my torpedo launchers hot and wait for the explosions, but all I see is the Cormorant warping away a split-second before I snare him. Damn. Maybe I shouldn't have paused to take the screen grab. I re-activate my cloak and move away from my current position, watching d-scan as the Cormorant disappears from the system. And then a Loki strategic cruiser enters the system, before dropping off d-scan himself. It's probably a cloaky Loki, an intuition that is magnified when the Cormorant returns, for no reason whatsoever—in a system devoid of wrecks—except to bait me.

The Cormorant reappears in the second anomaly and acts innocent, but I am not an idiot. I merely watch as he dangles his worm unpalatably in my general direction, warping away again a couple of minutes later after I refuse to be hooked and caught by a strategic cruiser. The Cormorant once again leaves the system, seen indirectly on d-scan, through a wormhole I still don't know about, and I doubt he's coming back soon. There are no wrecks and, on top of that, they will be expecting an ambush. I may have missed my window of opportunity, but I came surprisingly close to popping a salvager considering there was nothing to salvage, and I managed to cause some consternation at least. For now, I head home and wait for Constance to arrive.

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Tags: buzzard, cormorant, crane, drake, eve online, jita, loki, maelstrom, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Hunting in w-space

I scan our home system as the tower gets stronger. Fin is anchoring some more guns around the perimeter, to deter any unwanted attention. I resolve the system's static wormhole but keep it closed, although Fin assures me she doesn't need to go outside of the shields any more. I also note the appearance of two more anomalies, and a couple of new signatures. One of them is a second wormhole, the fatter signature looking more like a K162 than the previous wormhole I resolved. The other signature turns out to be a third wormhole, again looking less like the static wormhole and more a K162. As the K162s must already be active I decide to visit them to see where they come from.

The first K162 has been opened from a class 5 w-space system, the second from a C3. I jump through the wormhole to the class 3 system, hoping to find softer targets than may be present in the C5, noting on my arrival in the system that the wormhole is a random outbound connection and not the static wormhole for the C3. There is a territorial claim unit visible in the system, and a tower can be seen on my directional scanner. Pointing myself towards the TCU locates the tower too, a piloted Pilgrim recon ship sitting passively inside the force field. The system is otherwise inactive, and I don't feel compelled to scan for the static connection just yet, as there is still the K162 from the C5 to investigate.

I jump home and warp to the second K162, confirming my intuitions about the relative strengths of the signatures when scanning. Entering the C5 and hitting d-scan gets my pulse pumping, as I see a pair of gas miners. It is an instinctive reaction but, as I pull up the system map to find the most distant planet to warp to, I realise it is the right conclusion. A pair of cruisers, a Thorax and Moa, are on d-scan along with four Sleeper wrecks. The two cruisers could not possibly be effective against Sleepers in a class 5 system, but their configurations are good for mining gas. And only four wrecks suggests the combat took place in a mining site, where only a few Sleepers protect the resources found in w-space.

I'm looking for a ladar site. First, I must launch probes covertly, which is why I have warped to a distant planet. Another check of d-scan confirms that I am out of range of the two cruisers, and I launch scanning probes before moving them dozens of AU out of the system as a precaution. I warp back to the inner system, where the gas miners can be found on d-scan, and start narrowing my beam to locate them. My probes are now far out of d-scan range, but I can still manoeuvre their virtual positions without moving the probes themselves, which I find most useful. Sitting in the system map I centre the view on my ship and sweep around with d-scan until I find the cruisers. I then position one of the probes' boxes in line with my ship and the scan result. The angle of d-scan can then be reduced and I can narrow down the position of the two ships, with the probe's box acting as the reference point, a handy point to return to where I know I can 'see' the ships using a certain d-scan setting.

With several refinements of the d-scan angle and re-positioning of the reference probe I get a good bearing on the cruisers. Determining the range is easier, and simply a matter of adjusting a variable and seeing when the ships appear and disappear between two points. Using an approximate value of one hundred and fifty million kilometres for one astronomical unit makes this process quicker. What is difficult is translating this distance in to a position for the probes, particularly in three dimensions. But I have managed to work out that a probe's AU range has that AU radius, not diameter. A second probe box is used to get the range. I can swing my view around in the system map to help position the probe's box the several AU away from me that the cruisers are, then swing back to my reference box to align the range probe's box to be along the right vector. Keeping the two probe boxes different sizes helps distinguish them.

I have a good bearing and range, and one of my probe boxes is sitting approximately where the cruisers look to be. Now I move the rest of the probes in to a standard scanning configuration around the locator probe, taking care not to move my carefully positioned reference by mistake. As I am using a centrally position reference probe I have launched five probes in total, to keep the central probe in place and have four others around it. This configuration also lets me drop the range, and increase the scanning strength, of the central probe without compromising the effectiveness of the probes in the cardinal points around it, which will give me a stronger hit on any signature found. Now it's the moment of truth, to see how good my d-scan locating has been.

I hit the 'scan' button and see my probes warp in from far out of the system, then count down as they scan the area. I get a good hit, but not quite good enough. But at least I have been accurate enough to get a single point, and not a ring or sphere. A quick adjustment to the probes' positions and I hit 'scan' again, the second result coming back with a 100% strength on the ladar site. Just as quickly, I recall the probes, hoping that I was lucky and found a twenty second window where the two pilots were not monitoring d-scan. I warp to the ladar site to within a hundred kilometres, holding my cloak, and see the Moa and Thorax huddled around a conveniently bookmarkable jet-can. I hold my position for a few seconds, and am pleased to see the two ships continue to mine obliviously. We've got them!

I warp back to the wormhole and jump home, returning to the tower to see Fin in an Onyx heavy interdictor, ready to capture both the miners and their pods. I've been relaying my information to her as I've progressed, so there is no surprise or rush. All we need to do is work out what I'm piloting. My Tengu strategic cruiser or Widow black ops ship both seem too expensive for the task, as well as being somewhat overkill for two probably unarmed cruisers, and I settle on taking my Manticore stealth bomber. It is quite flimsy, but the torpedoes and a fitted target painter will be more than enough to wreak havoc. Choice made, I board the Manticore and we warp to the C5 K162.

We jump in to the class 5 system and enter warp directly, knowing that the ladar site is in d-scan range of the site. As we drop out of warp it doesn't look like the miners are expecting us at all, and the Onyx's warp bubble activates with both the Thorax and Moa inside. Both ships are quickly targeted and missiles start pummelling the Thorax, called as the primary target before entering the system, the pilot's pod soon ejected in to space as the ship disintegrates. My torpedoes make quick work of the pod, also trapped by the bubble, before I turn my attention to the Moa that Fin is shooting. The second cruiser is just as quick to explode, ships fitted for mining not known for their defences, and the pilot is corpsified with his colleague.

It is a quick and smooth operation, much as it should be for slaughtering two gas miners. The wrecks are looted and corpses scooped, and now we think about collecting the mined gas. Fin reminds me that I haven't even fully checked the system for towers yet, which is rather negligent of me. It is possible that a battleship fleet was sitting ready to engage Sleepers and could have been called by the miners to repel us. Thankfully that isn't the case, but I could have been more cautious instead of geting excited so quickly. There is indeed a tower in the system, in the opposite direction from where I warped to drop probes earlier, and there is no one home, neither ships nor pilots. Learning this, I call Fin back in to the system, now in her Bustard, to haul the gas home to claim as our own.

Hauling the stolen gas is straightforward, as I keep an eye on the tower in my cloaked Manticore. Fin even comes back to salvage the Sleeper wrecks in the ladar site, but we get nothing interesting as a result. A Viator transport ship is on d-scan briefly in the C5, and some scanning probes are seen as I exit, perhaps a pilot searching for a way for the miners' new clones to get back in to w-space. But there isn't much point in turning a good position around to potentially become targets ourselves. Fin and I have had our excitement for the night and decide to get some rest.

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Tags: bustard, eve online, manticore, mmorpg, moa, onyx, penny ibramovic, pilgrim, pvp, scanning, thorax, viator, w-space

Bringing the Orca back home

It's time to get Fin home. Having stranded her in an Orca industrial command ship in our neighbouring class 3 w-space system I feel somewhat guilty, the wormhole having collapsed behind me. Hopefully I will be able to find an exit to empire space through our new static connection and help get her back home safely. I complete a full scan of our home system quickly and warp to the wormhole, jumping through to the C3 beyond. I've been in this system before, and five months is long enough for a corporation to have moved in and planted a tower around a distant planet. But no one's home and I am free to scan the system, ignoring many rock and gas mining sites to be less-than-astonised to finally resolve an exit to low-sec empire space.

The exit system is pretty good, for low-sec. It is a fair distance from our base system in high-sec—a nexus of wormhole activity, Fin coming out of the class 3 system close enough to repair there—but only one hop from high-sec. And as far as low-sec borders go this one is pretty safe, with three high-sec systems feeding a separate stargate in to the system, completely negating any bottleneck effect and making gate-camps far less likely. I feed the system data to Fin and go back to our tower as we coordinate tonight's movements. With some time to spare I swap to my Crane transport ship to take to market the loot piling up in our tower.

As I jump back in from low-sec to the C3, in the Buzzard covert operations boat I use to scan, the wormhole flares a second time behind me. It looks like someone followed me in. I have already moved away from the wormhole and simply hold my cloak, waiting for the other pilot's cloak to fade, even if only for a moment, and am glad to see only another Buzzard appear. It, too, cloaks and I no longer can get any sensor readings on it, but I was primed and have the pilot's information called up on my systems. He doesn't look like a threat, and is not from the corporation occupying the C3, so he may just be a tourist.

I ignore the Buzzard for now, not thinking it to be much of a threat, and stuff my Crane full of loot. I warp out and make the jumps in to low-sec space, ready to find a buyer for the Sleeper components and contract the salvage to a corporation contact, only to have a Proteus strategic cruiser decloak as I exit w-space. I am confident my Crane can evade this threat, simply by activating my cloaking device, but I hold my session cloak anyway. There seems little point in risking eight hundred million unrealised ISK when a more cautious approach would give me a secondary escape route back in to w-space should anything unexpected occur. The session change timer ends, and I move away from the wormhole and cloak, the Proteus unable to get a positive lock on my ship. I watch the cruiser briefly, before warping off to a stargate.

The Proteus wasn't a problem coming out, and probably won't be a problem on my return. But I am rather hoping that he'll get bored and wander off before then, and with Fin absent and my pod in a Crane I don't mind spending a bit of time on a joyride through space. To help our contact pick up the salvage more easily I pick a relatively close market hub to hold the contract, which means heading away from high-sec space and swooping through several low-sec systems. I know I am concerned about the relative worth of my cargo but the Crane is designed for this kind of travel, and I find low-sec to be quiet in general. It's not long before I am docked and pumping value in to our new wallet division, finally getting to see how good our plundering sessions have been.

We tax our sales to the corporate levels and transfer that to the main wallet division, before Fin divvies out the profits. I'm not quite sure what I'll use the ISK for at the moment, not having any grand plans for my next ship—and not planning to lose any of my current ones—but after buying the Widow black ops ship, and then the faction tower for our new home, it is good to see my wallet rise again. And with the loot sold I am at my leisure. There are still a few supplies to buy, as we are light on expanded cargoholds and have no nanite repair paste, and as travel in the Crane is fast I simply point my nav-comp Jita's way and start hopping between systems.

I buy what we need in Jita before rendezvousing with Fin in our base system to give her the bookmarks for the route home. I then head homewards, Fin tying up a few more loose ends before starting to follow. With the Proteus threatening, the Orca will not be brought back, but I am hoping the strategic cruiser has long gone. The seventeen jumps pass uneventfully, even if I have trouble identifying low-sec from high-sec on the 0·5 sec borders, and I cautiously warp back to the wormhole leading to the C3. I note that there is only one pilot in the low-sec system, and he's not the pilot of the Proteus, and I jump to w-space confidently.

No one ambushes me and the C3 seems quiet, not even any wrecks to suggest that the Buzzard/Proteus pair came in to fight Sleepers. But, again, the wormhole flares behind me shortly after I enter. This time a Brutix battlecruiser appears, not waiting for the session timer to end, and so probably not aware of my presence, and he warps away. Getting the pilot's name makes me recognise his corporation, and I am fairly sure he has just warped home to his tower in the C3. I follow cloaked in my Crane to see the Brutix at the tower, where he sits passively. With no activity in low-sec and none in w-space Fin turns her Falcon recon ship around to bring the Orca back after all.

To provide security for the Orca I swap the Crane for a Pilgrim recon ship back at our tower, adjusting the fitting slightly so that I can power the cloak. Should any hostile activity occur it is probably easier to neutralise the ship's systems and get clear than to destroy the ship, and the Pilgrim is good at neutralising. I jump back in to the C3 and monitor the Brutix at the tower, sitting patiently as the speed-fitted Orca jumps homewards. All is quiet, and the only sign of trouble is when Fin sees a pilot in low-sec I recognise as that of the Buzzard I saw earlier. But no one waits at the wormhole, the Brutix pilot has probably gone to sleep, and Fin is able to get the Orca home safely. She even brings presents, transferring my Damnation command ship and Falcon from the Orca's hangar to the tower's.

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Tags: brutix, buzzard, crane, damnation, eve online, falcon, jita, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, pilgrim, proteus, scanning, w-space

Stealing other's anomalies

I have more to explore. The home system's static wormhole has been scanned, but no further, saving me some time and giving me at least a class 3 w-space system to investigate. I warp out and jump through the wormhole, finding myself in a system I visited only two months ago. My notes indicate occupancy, as does my directional scanner's return of a tower and ships, but it has been all change here. The off-line tower has been torn down, and the active tower is no longer where it was, if it is indeed the same one. I soon locate the tower, using d-scan, and update my notes to reflect the changes. I also see that I am looking for a wormhole leading to low-sec here. What a surprise.

The tower in the system holds an unpiloted Impel transport ship and Anathema covert operations boat, and there is no activity to be seen elsewhere. A quick initial scan reveals a dozen signatures, but also five anomalies that are ripe for picking. Fin suggests we clear the anomalies quickly, before anyone in the C3 wakes up, then collapse our wormhole to isolate ourselves again. It sounds like a good idea, so I bookmark the anomalies and jump home, going back to the tower to swap to my Tengu strategic cruiser. Fin joins me in her own Tengu and we jump in to the class 3 system to start today's plundering.

Sleeper combat begins smoothly enough, not that we are expecting problems, but we both alert each other at the same time to the presence of a Harbinger battlecruiser appearing on d-scan. I spin my view towards the planet holding the tower and narrow my d-scan beam, noting the Harbinger's lack of presence on that scan. If he's not at the tower he could be returning from empire space, through the system's static wormhole, but we haven't found that yet and cannot quickly check this theory. Before long the Harbinger appears to have returned to the tower. His ship disappears again, but we don't know where he's gone, and we have to assume that he saw us. We are safe from one battlecruiser for now, it's whether he returns with friends that is a concern.

We continue shooting Sleepers until a more tangible threat appears. Unfortunately, the second anomaly we warp to is out of d-scan range of the tower in the system, denying us intelligence as much as any of the occupants. I check my system map, holding the bookmarks I have of the anomalies, and seeing that one more anomaly is also out of d-scan range of the tower I decide to send us there next. The fourth anomaly lets us again keep tabs on the tower in the system, albeit passively with d-scan, and a Nemesis stealth bomber appears to be on-line now. I keep my d-scanner pointing towards the tower and stay alert for any changes, as Fin and I maintain good separationg of our ships to mitigate any threat from bombs. This is another reminder that I really need to refit my Tengu with longer-range heavy missiles.

There is still no sign of active aggression from the C3 occupants and we move to the fifth and final anomaly here. The Harbinger reappears at the tower but still there is no relative movement. It is feasible that our two strategic cruisers are sufficiently threatening to these pilots. But salvaging is still a concern, as a more fragile destroyer can be ripped apart quickly, and we don't have a battlecruiser to use instead. We're not without ideas, though. The last anomaly is cleared of Sleepers and we warp home, swapping our ships for our salvaging configuration. I board my Cormorant destroyer, hoping that my Tech II salvager modules will reduce the time I am in the pocket, and Fin swaps to a Pilgrim recon ship, which should be able to neutralise, and perhaps even destroy, the threats we have seen so far.

Fin flies out first, jumping in to the C3 and warping to sit cloaked off the tower in the system. She notes that the Nemesis and Harbinger are still sitting passively inside the shields, allowing my destroyer to jump in and warp across the system. I appear on d-scan for perhaps a few seconds as I now take advantage of the distant anomalies to stay undetected, as I salvage those two sites first. Now we will see if the occupants will do anything, as I warp to the first site we started, in full view of d-scan from the tower. As a precaution, Fin aligns her Pilgrim to the bookmarked site, allowing her to react quickly to any other ship movements, whilst her visual contact with the tower will give me enough warning to evacuate the site.

Salvaging three sites is completed without any threat of an encounter. I return home briefly to dump the currently recovered loot, not wanting to risk losing it should an attack occur, coming back to salvage the final two sites. Fin and I coordinate our movements, keeping the Pilgrim aligned to my approximate position, and when a third pilot turns up at the tower Fin points out that fully three quarters of the four-pilot corporation can now be seen. Whether the pilots saw Fin's Pilgrim enter the system or not, my Cormorant remains unmolested as I complete salvaging the final wrecks, and both of us return home safely. But not before I leave a little 'thank you' message.

Now to collapse our wormhole, using the Orca industrial command ship and my Widow black ops ship, so that we get a fresh connection. Unfortunately, my Widow is rather bulkier than a normal Scorpion battleship, even if it feels more agile, and I manage to trap Fin in her Orca in the C3. Fin saw my duplicitous manoeuvre coming and fitted a probe launcher so she can scan her way out of w-space, but it will still leave her in low-sec empire space. To try to make amends I look for our newly spawned static wormhole in the hopes of finding a new connection to empire space that can be used to return home. I resolve the wormhole and jump in to a C3 with eighteen anomalies, a bounty that I have to ignore as I scan yet another exit to low-sec space. And the exit system is in the ever more familiar Aridia region, making it unlikely to be useful for the Orca. Fin parks in a relatively safe spot in the class 3 system to get some sleep, looking to exit tomorrow. I follow her lead, although I rest in the safety of our tower's force field.

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Tags: anathema, cormorant, eve online, harbinger, impel, nemesis, orca, penny ibramovic, pilgrim, scanning, sleepers, tengu, w-space, widow

Clearing a class 3 w-space system of Sleepers

The home system is empty and quiet. I scan all the signatures again, keeping track of the changes, and noting that we have a new ladar site. There is only one wormhole in our home class 4 w-space system, though, keeping us free from visitors so far today. I warp to the wormhole, our system's static connection, to jump through and explore our neighbouring C3.

My directional scanner shows me a tower in the system, but no ships. I locate what I think is the tower only to drop out of warp near one that is off-line, although I definitely saw a force field on d-scan too. I realise that my sweep of d-scan, looking for modules coinciding with a single moon, was a little hasty, although it reinforces the point that it is easier to check active towers by checking for force fields than tower names. A second sweep of d-scan finds the active tower easily enough, which I bookmark for reference.

Scanning the class 3 system is simple, and enticing. Only four signatures are present, resolving to a ladar and gravimetric site, and two wormholes. One wormhole is the K162 leading homewards, the second must be the system's static connection, which means there are no further links coming in to the system. In that case, I don't visit the static wormhole, as the ten anomalies I also find when scanning are ripe with profit and can be best exploited without interruptions from other nosy capsuleers.

As I jump home to get my Tengu strategic cruiser Fin turns up, bringing as much company as firepower. I update my cohort with today's status report and warp out to begin shooting Sleepers in the class 3 system, Fin following behind in her own Tengu. Her ship needs a refit, though, with one of the low-slots compromising her tank a little. Fin returns to our tower to swap out modules after the first anomaly is cleared of Sleepers, as I continue in to the second.

My reliance on short-ranged heavy assault missiles and the Sleepers' heavy use of webbing effects becomes painfully apparent in the second anomaly, as the cruisers are able to keep their distance beyond my range. At least my warp engines are not disrupted and I simply warp to a different anomaly to continue, Fin returning shortly after I do. We blast through the class 3 anomalies easily enough, my HAMs and Fin's heavy missiles ripping through the Sleepers.

And a second pilot is all it takes for the anomaly that stymied me to be cleared as well. The Sleeper cruisers not being able to keep out of range of the heavy missiles, and when they divide their attention between the two of us I can even close the gap to get in my own weapon range. Nine of the ten anomalies in this system are cleared in total, both of us salvaging to bring home easily enough loot to cover a month's tower fuel with plenty of profit left over. Having a static connection to a C3 looks like working well for us.

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