Cuckoo

Our search for a class 4 w-space system may not be progressing well, today's search ending in an ambush gone awry, but our corporation colleagues in the C5 have made an excellent find. A scout has scanned the w-space constellation and happened upon an off-line tower, one with a corporate hangar and ship maintenance arrays, along with some juicy looking ships floating around. Rather than scan further, opening wormholes to potentially active systems, colleagues from the class 5 home system are called to help steal ships, shoot arrays and defences, and loot what they can.

An Orca industrial command ship is hijacked and filled with modules and other bounty from the broken hangars, piloted back to the home C5 as our own. A Widow black ops ship is a rather fabulous find too, now that I can pilot one. Instead of being an expensive piñata, whacking it in the hopes of the decent fittings surviving the explosion, I can plonk my pod in to the ship and recover it whole, once I get in. Further scanning is currently halted, I have no way to get to the C5 home system, and those that are plundering the C4 are now distracted by a piloted Rorqual that has turned up.

The pilot of the capital industrial ship has no doubt turned up to see what the fuss is about concerning his tower, and is also no doubt rather concerned to see hostile pilots ransacking it. But, for the moment, he wants to get clear of all my colleagues shooting him, which he only manages to do by logging off. Not quite enough firepower can be brought in to the class 4 system before the Rorqual disappears, denying another trophy of the scout's find. But with the Rorqual gone, and all ships recovered that can be piloted, the scout returns to looking for an exit to empire space, and hopefully one I can use to get in for the Widow.

A wormhole is found connecting to a class 3 system, and from there an exit to low-sec empire space is resolved. The exit system is only one hop from high-sec, is a dead-end low-sec system anyway, and is only twelve jumps away, in the same region as I am currently based. Today really is our lucky day. The corporation steals a few billion ISK worth of assets, I am able to get in to help steal a Widow, and by doing so I find myself in a class 4 w-space system with a static connection to a C3. This is just what we've been looking for the past week.

I take my Buzzard covert operations boat out to the high-sec system adjacent to the dead-end low-sec system holding the wormhole, dock, and eject my pod. I leave the station and warp to the stargate, jumping through to be escorted to the wormhole and in to w-space. I am careful to bookmark the wormholes, as my guide warps from one to the next, and soon find myself in the C4, a couple of colleagues sitting next to the Widow as a reference for me to warp directly to it.

It is a simple matter to board the empty and untargeted ship, and my months of training seem suitably rewarded now. The Widow is fully fitted and armed to the teeth, although I will need more skill training before I can fire the Tech II cruise launchers. The Dread Guristas cloaking device and Caldari Navy shield booster both also look rather splendid, and expensive. But I don't gawk too long at the new corporate asset, warping back to the wormhole and making the two jumps out to low-sec, and one hop to high. I dock the Widow, admire its threatening lines and minimal colours once more, then get back in to my Buzzard. Now I will make use of the rather more important find, returning to hide my Buzzard in a safe-spot in the class 4 w-space system I hope to call home.

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Tags: buzzard, eve online, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, rorqual, w-space, widow

Hitting a Hurricane

Local empire space may be lacking wormholes again today. Our base system has nothing to find, and although one jump out finds a wormhole to a class 3 w-space system it is reaching the end of its natural lifetime and is not much use. I resolve only two magnetometric sites in a third system, as Fin flies in to low-sec space to find even less. Rather than leave the magnetometric sites to rot, or be found by other capsuleers, I decide to venture in to them now instead of at the end of the evening when I inevitably end up back in dock. I board my Damnation command ship, suitably configured with analysers and a salvager, and drag Fin with me for the ride.

Magnetometric sites in w-space are particularly dangerous, guarded by significant Sleeper presence, but with good rewards for survival. Magnetometric sites in high-sec empire space, on the other hand, are dreary affairs. The ones I've found have 'no hostiles, no spawn triggers', Fin tells me, checking her intelligence. Lots of armour, lots of firepower, and nothing to shoot. At least I snatch an electronic superiority skill book from one of the cans, but that's all. Suitably disappointed, I return to scanning. But even scanning is disappointing, searching system after system and not finding any signatures. Five systems are completely bare, the sixth only holding an anomaly.

Not wanting to get such an early night, Fin and I head across the border out of the region, each heading in a different direction that our well-situated base allows for. And now we get results. The first system in the next region has two wormholes to be found, both outbound, both stable, one to a class 3 system and one to a class 2. I jump in to the C3 first, hoping it be more likely to lead in to dangerous w-space. A punch of the directional scanner returns a large number of structures in the system, and I count twelve active force fields, which means twelve active towers. It's no surprise to see a whole lot of silos present. I don't take time to look for the towers, instead warping to the outer system to launch probes, where my attempt to be covert fails as I bump in to three more active towers on the three moons out here.

Scanning the C3 finds a wormhole, but the static connection leads right back to high-sec empire space. I go back the way I came and head to the class 2 system, which at least guarantees a connection in to deeper w-space. Jumping in gives a clear d-scan return, but the system is quite big. Warping around, after remembering to bookmark the wormhole back, locates a tower, with battlecruisers and logistics ships inside, but no pilots. I start to scan as I warp around, resolving an exit to null-sec space, but I notice a Hurricane battlecruiser and a Sleeper wreck on d-scan as I warp through otherwise empty space. I expand the scanning range of my probes and position them to encompass the area where the Hurricane is likely to be, but without putting the probes within his d-scan range, and find just the one anomaly. He must be there, and warping in to the site sees him indeed shooting Sleepers.

I alert Fin to this lone capsuleer in w-space, and she returns to our base system from her explorations to board a suitably pointy ship. She chooses an Onyx heavy interdictor, to stop both the ship and its pod from fleeing, as I bookmark a couple of wrecks and exit the system myself. We'll need more than just an Onyx to destroy the Hurricane, and my Buzzard covert operations boat won't be any help. The problem is that the Sleepers are spread out and the Hurricane moving, and as our base system is a few jumps away, taking us time to get there and back again, I cannot guarantee we can return to land near enough to the battlecruiser to disrupt it. I'll need to return in another stealthy ship, so that I can sneak in to a position for Fin to warp to.

My only choice for a cloaky ship with any real firepower is my Manticore stealth bomber, which isn't ideal but will have to do. I rush back to the high-sec system where the wormhole sits, having shared the bookmarks I have with Fin, and jump back in to the C2. I tell Fin not to be coy and jump in herself, the wormhole being out of d-scan range of the Hurricane, which should save us a few seconds. I warp back in to the anomaly to see the Hurricane still there, engaging a Sleeper battleship. But my position when I warp in is now almost seventy kilometres away from our target, and looking around finds no suitable celestial objects in the system I can 'bounce' off to get closer. I'll need to crawl cloaked to get in to position, and hope that the Hurricane doesn't finish and warp away before then.

It takes a while, but I get close enough to the Hurricane to call in Fin's Onyx. As she enters warp I change vector to get my Manticore out of her impending bubble, to stop myself from becoming a target and position me in to bombing range as a combat option. The Onyx lands, the bubble is inflated, and the Hurricance is trapped. I confirm with Fin that the Onyx can take a bomb before decloaking and launching, remaining at a decent range to start throwing torpedoes at the Hurricane. But its tank looks to be holding quite well, and now the Sleeper battleship has started shooting Fin instead of the Hurricane, and her buffer tank cannot take the combined assault. As the shields of the Onyx drop dangerously low I tell her to drop the bubble and warp clear, but the warp disruption field generator has just cycled and she is just as trapped as the Hurricane, and now in a bit more danger.

The Onyx explodes, thankfully destroying the bubble too to let Fin's pod warp back to the wormhole to empire space. I cloak and watch as the Hurricane warps away, seeing on d-scan it loiter for a while before exiting the system. I take a bit of time to recover the surviving modules of the Onyx, as well as looting one of the Sleeper battleship wrecks, before heading back to high-sec myself. On reflection, we could have used a bit more damage against the battlecruiser, but needing a second effort to reconnoitre the site limited our options. Or, perhaps, my collection of ships limited our effectiveness. Perhaps a Pilgrim recon ship, able to warp cloaked and fitted with energy neutralising modules, would be a good addition to my hangar.

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Tags: buzzard, damnation, eve online, hurricane, manticore, mmorpg, onyx, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space

Flying in circles through wormholes

A host of wormhole connections has already been found in our base system, leader Fin being productive as much as glorious. Sadly, the connections don't lead deeper than class 2 w-space and end up returning to null-sec space. We're not having much luck at getting to a class 4 system yet, mostly getting pushed around the less dangerous systems of wormhole space, but it will happen. I take my Buzzard covert operations boat out of dock to continue the search, heading in to an adjacent system to cover new space for today.

I resolve a magnetometric site and a wormhole in the neighbouring high-sec system, the wormhole an outbound connection to class 1 w-space of the type I found yesterday. I jump through the wormhole to take a look around. The system is occupied, a tower appearing on my directional scanner along with a Nidhoggur carrier. Why anyone would want or need a carrier in a class 1 system is beyond me, but there it is, sitting inside the shields of the tower along with a bunch of other ships. There are no pilots around, though, and I start scanning the system. I only find one wormhole, the system's static connection leading out to low-sec empire space, and head back to high-sec to try a different system as a starting point.

My second scan of high-sec space for the night rewards me with an outbound connection to a class 3 system. A second wormhole in the same system comes from a C2, which is also good, as it should have a second static wormhole connecting further in to w-space. Either system offers opportunity, and I pick the C3 first hoping it will lead to more dangerous space. And it kind of does, as I consider low-sec empire space rather more dangerous than a class 4 w-space system, but again I run out of w-space surprisingly quickly. I generally seemed to have much more trouble than this finding empire space when I was looking for an exit from w-space.

I go back to high-sec and jump through the K162 in to the class 2 system. D-scan shows me four towers, along with another Nidhoggur and an Archon carrier. Maybe capsuleers are simply attracted to big ships, but they are certainly restricting their options by building carriers in systems they can't be moved from. I don't go looking for the towers, as it will be time-consuming and relatively unimportant at the moment, instead concentrating on scanning for wormholes. And I find one, hardly hidden in a system kept clear except for one anomaly and the two static wormholes, leading to a class 3 system. I find another tower—this one too high-class to have a carrier floating nearby—and a likely-looking signature turns out to be a wormhole, but only a K162 coming from null-sec space.

A bit more scanning resolves a second K162, from a C2, and the static connection heading back out to low-sec empire space. I make a quick check of the class 2 system, although a check I assume is futile, as I am passing backwards through its static connection to w-space and will probably only find the second static leading to k-space. Which I do, the empire connection heading to high-sec space. There is no more w-space to explore in my current set of connections and I return the way I came back to the base system in empire space, dock my Buzzard, and get some rest, ready to try again tomorrow.

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

Plundering a class 1 w-space system

Trying to find wormholes in high-sec falls flat again. There is nothing in the base system, or any wormholes one jump in either direction, only puny anomalies to be found. Looking in one more system gets some luck, although not quite what I'm after. An outbound connection to a class 1 w-space system cannot be used for moving massive ships through, which would make setting up a tower much less convenient, but the system lacks occupation and is stabilising on my entry, which indicates that no one has visited the system recently. Intelligence suggests that the static wormhole will lead to null-sec space, so I don't look for that but instead note the dozen or so anomalies available to be plundered. Looking for a home system can wait, tonight I will make some iskies.

Glorious leader Fin turns up as I am back in empire space and warming up my Tengu. One strategic cruiser in a class 1 system is probably overkill, two would be a whole lot of fun! But for efficiency Fin decides to follow behind me to loot and salvage the destruction, although doing so highlights that she doesn't have a salvaging boat to hand. As Fin buys and fits a simple Cormorant destroyer I start engaging Sleepers, making the assumption that the most profitable anomalies will be the rarer, and warping to the least prevalently named sites first.

Having seen some other capsuleers deliberately ignore the Sleepers' Sirius guns before, for them to despawn a few minutes after no ships are left in the site, I do the same. The guns shoot continuously and hit quite hard, but they leave nothing that can be looted and offer no salvage, essentially making them a waste of ammunition, if they can be tanked. And it is easy enough to ignore their damage in the lowest class of w-space systems. Even so, I try not to be too blasé about the Sleepers, as it would be embarrassing to lose a Tengu here. I also keep a vigilant watch on my directional scanner, because even though there is likely no active connection besides the one to empire space another one could open up at any time.

I clear three anomalies by the time Fin's salvager appears in the high-sec system, and I warp back to the wormhole to guide her in and give her bookmarks to the wrecks. The wormhole connecting us to empire space breathes a sigh and reduces in size as we both enter the class 1 w-space system, indicating its mass allowance has been reduced by half. That's interesting, and I start calculating the implications. I first think that between us we surely haven't passed that much mass through the wormhole yet—Mak isn't with us, after all—and that maybe I was not the first pilot to discover this wormhole. And if that's the case maybe the static connection to null-sec space has been opened too, and I need to be more cautious.

I continue to shoot Sleepers as I consider the wormhole's mass, keeping an eye on d-scan and getting in to a decent groove. I don't know the triggers for each wave of Sleeper drones when I enter the anomalies but after a few sites I am getting the feel for a kill order. Getting it wrong is hardly a problem, as the Sleepers in the low-level anomalies are barely scratching the Tengu, but it is still satisfying to do it 'right'. Fin's Cormorant fills up with some adequate loot and rather more impressive salvage, and she heads back to empire space to drop it off at a station, reducing the risk of carrying it through all the anomalies.

On her way back to the C1 Fin notes the precise designation of the wormhole and corrects my guess at what I'd seen. I though it was a different type, not really paying attention to it at the time, and now it is clear that the wormhole can only pass a hundred million tonnes of mass through before collapsing, a fifth of what I had assumed. It is understandable why the wormhole destabilised earlier, as two round trips with the Tengu alone is enough to do that. The Cormorant is smaller, but not to the point of being insignificant. And although we are more likely to be alone in this C1 I am able to conjure up a new concern, that of another pilot coming in from high-sec and accidentally collapsing the wormhole so that we can't get out again. I really ought not to worry so much.

We spend a bit more time in w-space, clearing seven anomalies in total. The Sirius guns do indeed despawn with the anomaly once the Sleepers are gone, saving time and ammunition, although I still fired seven thousand missiles this evening. With shooting complete I loiter at the wormhole as Fin salvages the remaining sites, where I notice that the connection is now reaching the end of its natural lifetime. It has definitely not been twelve hours since I found it, so I wasn't the first capsuleer to find the wormhole! You really can't assume anything. But we remain safe and we both exit the system without a problem. A quick estimate of the plunder puts our profit at about seventy-five million ISK each, which is a good result for the evening. I can search for more w-space, and perhaps a new home, tomorrow.

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Tags: cormorant, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, sleepers, tengu

Scanning in and out of w-space

W-space waits for me somewhere out there, I just need to get to it. Scanning the base high-sec system is a good start, resolving two wormholes leading to unknown space. The first is a K162 connection coming from a class 1 w-space system, but the other is more promising, an outbound wormhole to a class 2 system. Any outbound connection from empire space holds promise, but a C2's two static connections guarantees a second link to w-space for me to follow. I jump through the wormhole in to the class 2 system to continue my search for a new w-space home.

My directional scanner shows me two towers and lots of ships in the system, but there are no wrecks or any jet-cans to indicate activity. A more refined d-scan search and some warping around finds nine unpiloted ships at one tower, two more at the second. There is no activity. I launch scanning probes and start looking for more wormholes, quickly resolving a static exit to high-sec empire space, moving on to find the second static wormhole leading in to a class 3 w-space system, which I jump in to. D-scan is clear, letting me launch probes whilst moving away from the wormhole, but warping around finds a tower at an outer planet. A Rattlesnake faction battleship sits unpiloted inside the shields, the only ship I can see in the whole system.

The C3 is kept clean, only a few cosmic signatures showing up when scanning. It is easy to find the static wormhole here, disappointingly leading me back out to high-sec empire space so soon. I have one more option, but the prospects are slim. I head back through the C2 to my base system in high-sec space and jump in to the class 1 w-space system. The K162 is probably the C1's static wormhole, but it is possible that a scout entered the system from deeper w-space, leaving me a route to find. But only the briefest of scans shows this not to be the case, with two anomalies and just the one signature in the system, the signature being that of the wormhole I jumped through.

There is a piloted Bestower hauler in the system occupants' tower, and the tower has no defences protecting it, but I am not particularly interested in camping an exit to high-sec space at the moment. I return to empire space, but before I get that far a Drake and Hurricane pique my interest by sitting on the wormhole out. Having warped to zero on the wormhole, and thus decloaking myself, there is not much I can do about the battlecruisers except avoid them by jumping out of the system. But even the limited time I spend in the company of the two ships makes me think they are camping the wormhole, even if I can't linger long enough to gauge their motives.

I wonder, though, if this is a good opportunity for some safe sparring. The wormhole borders Concord-patrolled high-sec empire space, which means that safety is almost guaranteed as long as a ship can jump out of w-space at a moment's notice. And I would like to see what sort of damage my Widow black ops ship could do, particularly to another capsuleer's ship. I mull over the implications of jumping in, engaging the battlecruisers, and either forcing them to flee or escaping myself, before realising that the connection in to the class 1 system is not big enough to allow a battleship hull through, and my idea fizzles before it has barely started. It's probably for the best, though, as it stops me embarrassing myself in a ship worth over half-a-billion ISK.

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Tags: bestower, drake, eve online, hurricane, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, rattlesnake, scanning, w-space, widow

Calling on a camping carrier

I'm going back to w-space, but only roaming in my stealth bomber through the local wormholes I've found. The class 3 w-space system is my first destination, earlier not looking to be too threatening, but as I drop out of warp the wormhole flares, signalling passage of a ship. I keep my w-space habits, warping cloaked to the wormhole and dropping short to reconnoitre the connection first, so I hold my position to see what ship appears in this high-sec system. It's a Tengu strategic cruiser, Korean-made if the name is to be judged, but it doesn't warp away. I watch it for a short while but it doesn't move, so instead I do, warping to the K162s from class 2 w-space systems also present.

The wormhole that was reaching the end of its natural lifetime has died since I found it earlier, leaving me one more wormhole to check. The other C2 K162 is present and stable, and I jump in. There is no activity from the occupants, nor is there any sign of capsuleer life in the connecting class 4 system, or in the C3 one jump further. All is quiet, so I head back to empire space and warp again to the wormhole that had the Tengu on it. It's still there, although he moves a little when the wormhole flares a second time. A Maelstrom battleship appears from w-space, although I can't say what his intentions are.

The Maelstrom moves back towards the wormhole and the Tengu finally warps off. Maybe the battleship came out to shoo the strategic cruiser away, and successfully. The wormhole is now clear on this high-sec side, and I note that the Tengu pilot has left the system. I wait a few minutes then jump in to the C3 myself to see what's happening. Oh, hello Mr Chimera. The carrier has its fighters out and almost makes me miss the Dominix and Navy Issue Scorpion battleships also sitting on the wormhole. It looks like the locals have woken up, but I am perhaps a little underpowered in my stealth bomber to engage these ships. I merely wait for the session change timer to expire and jump back out to high-sec, leaving the ships with only a brief glimpse of my brilliance.

I decide to go out scanning again, checking systems adjacent to our impromptu base. One hop away finds only a single anomaly in the whole system, whereas a nearby low-sec system in the other direction holds a wormhole, this one another K162 from a class 3 w-space system. I jump in to find a tower but no pilots, and I launch probes to scan. It looks like this C3 has been used as a bridging system, as I resolve a wormhole along with the static link I entered through, but the lava red pustule of a connection to class 6 w-space is not terribly welcoming. But this C6 may also simply be a bridging system for other capsuleers, and I jump in to find out.

There is a tower in the class 6 system too, again with some ships but no pilots. And scanning reveals only a ladar, gravimetric, and radar site; no more wormholes. I head back to high-sec space again, looking for wormholes in one more system but finding none. With a little time to spare I end the night piloting my Damnation command ship in to a radar site I resolved in high-sec, hoping to get some treasures after the disappointing magnetometric site of earlier. There are no rats, and hacking the cans doesn't alert any to attack me either, and although two cans are empty one holds a decryptor that I snatch. It's worth a few million ISK on the market, which isn't bad for a high-sec exploration site, and I stuff it in to a container in a station as I dock for the night.

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Tags: chimera, damnation, dominix, eve online, maelstrom, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scorpion, tengu, w-space

Scanning and sites in empire space

I spend a quiet night moving ships. Two wormholes led to two systems, luckily only six stargate passages apart, and my ships get split between two stardocks. It isn't far to collect the ships, although it takes some time to do so, and my thoughts of training for a Charon freighter to help haul the ships around are perhaps a little audacious for the task. It would only take a few hours extra skill training, but half-a-billion ISK for the freighter, and its ponderous aligning and warp times, won't really save me much effort in this case. I get five ships moved over individually anyway, mostly combat ships that would be handy to have near to any discovered w-space, leaving six more to collect another time.

The next day I have another look for wormholes in high-sec, hoping to find a suitable home system in w-space. I launch my Buzzard covert operations boat from dock and start scanning in the base system again. As one wormhole spat us out here I am inclined to see how likely it is for other wormholes to spawn in this system. My scanning finds two anomalies, a magnetometric site, and three wormholes, making me wonder if I'm sitting on a wormhole nexus of some kind. All three wormholes are type K162, opened from w-space in to this high-sec system, two from class 2 systems, one from a class 3, but one of the C2 wormholes reaching the end of its natural lifetime. All of the wormholes lead to 'unknown parts of space' but it is easy to distinguish the class of w-space from the colour seeping through.

I leave the EOL wormhole alone and investigate the C2 system with the healthy wormhole first, as the system will have a second connection, where a class 3 w-space system may only have the exit connection that I have essentially already found. As I am looking for a deeper w-space system I need to rely on further connections to get me anywhere interesting. I jump in to the C2 to see a tower on my directional scanner, with no ships, no defences, and some silos. Warping around finds a second tower, and then two more on an outer planet. It's a fairly big system, and holds many silos for reactions but is otherwise unsurprisingly inactive. The system is kept fairly clean of signatures, though, and scanning isn't a chore, the second static wormhole resolved and found to be a connection to a class 4 system. This is promising.

Sadly, the C4 is occupied, the tower holding a Rorqual capital industrial ship, Chimera carrier, and two Iteron haulers, but no pilots. Scanning finds a static connection to a class 3 system which makes this C4 look quite attractive, but I doubt we'd be able to displace the current corporation with its big ships. Scanning also finds a signature I don't think I've seen before, being unrecognised even when fully resolved. A line of question marks is all my systems can show me and, interest piqued, I warp to see what awaits. Empty space, apparently. A second similar signature is the same, and maybe I'm looking at w-space echoes. Whatever the cause, I already look at enough empty space, and jump onwards in to the C3 system.

The class 3 w-space system is rather dull, holding an off-line tower, another scout scanning, and an exit to null-sec space. My expedition ends quickly again and I head back to my high-sec base system. I may as well go through the K162 to the C3 system, just to see if there is a deeper connection available, but all I find are two towers around the only two moons in the system and a couple of gravimetric mining sites. I jump back to high-sec and dock my Buzzard, ending this evening's exploration and instead taking out my Tengu strategic cruiser to enter the anomalies and magnetometric site in empire space.

I'm not quite sure what to expect, but I'll be amazed—and rather distressed—if my Tengu isn't able to best whatever rats lurk in the scanned sites. The first anomaly is rather easy, consisting only of wrecks, their yellow colour indicating that a capsuleer of a different corporation destroyed the former ships, and I move to the second anomaly. My Tengu makes short work of what turn out to be rather puny rats found in high-sec empire space, pop pop popping each one whilst barely taking any damage. The magnetometric site is even easier, only a few frigates standing between me and the cans, making combat rather anticlimactic. I may as well analyse the cans to get what's inside.

I dock the Tengu to change for my Damnation command ship. It isn't really an analyser boat but as I have used it as one in the past I have a fitting already established, and I want to get back to the magnetometric site in case it despawns as quickly as the ones in w-space. My Damnation reaches the site soon enough and I move to the first can to analyse it, only to be told that I need a salvager module to access the contents. Okay, then, I dock the Damnation and get my salvaging Cormorant destroyer out to the site, where I recover some basic salvaging parts, which I hardly think befits a magnetometric site. And moving to the other two cans frustrates me further, as these two need an analyser to open.

I dock again, switch ships back, and warp to the site. I get the dialogue box for the magnetometric site, letting me know it is still active, but by the time I am out of warp it has gone, taking the cans with it and leaving only the wrecks. I get no good loot for my troubles. I swap ships again and salvage all the wrecks. But empire space is beginning to weird me out, I need to get back in to w-space where everything makes sense.

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Tags: buzzard, charon, chimera, cormorant, damnation, eve online, iteron, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, rorqual, scanning, tengu, w-space

Scanning high-sec for wormholes

It's time to start looking for a new w-space home. I haven't scanned my way in to w-space from empire space before, only looking for exits previously. Finding one specific system via randomly spawning and connected wormholes is a lesson in futility, which is why I never tried finding my way home when isolated and waited instead for a guide. Now I am looking for just a class of system, with a suitable linking connection, although it may still take a while. I don't know how often outbound connections open in empire space, nor how likely it is for a K162 opened from a w-space system to appear in any given empire system. I suppose I'll start collecting data on that soon enough.

There is no better place to start looking than where you are, so I undock my Buzzard covert operations boat, warp to a nearby planet, and launch probes to start to scan in our new ad hoc base system. One good aspect of scanning in empire space, which I quickly find, is that most activities have defined locations, whether they are stargates or pockets of deadspace for missions, vastly reducing the number of signatures in any given system. Only one signature is currently in the base system and it turns out to be a wormhole, a K162 from a class 2 w-space system. I warp to it cloaked, preserving some habits from w-space, but also helping my presence remain undetected initially should any ships be loitering on this side of the wormhole. It looks clear, the wormhole is stable, and I jump in.

I see a tower and some ships on my directional scanner, and trying to narrow down the tower's location reveals that a Bestower hauler is flying free somewhere in the system. It could be collecting planet goo from the various customs offices, but my puny Buzzard won't be able to stop it. I need a pointier ship! Most of my ships are still six hops away from the base system, a division arising from using two exits to leave the corporation's class 5 w-space home, but I am still thankful that they remain this close and are not some twenty jumps away in Gallente space. Glorious leader Fin is close, and she is ready to bring in a suitable ship for shooting a hauler. I just need to show her the way in to the system.

I exit the C2 to return to empire space, where I can leave a copy of the bookmark to the wormhole for Fin. With that done I go back to w-space and try to find the Bestower, but his presence eludes me. It looks like he has finished whatever he was doing, so instead I go looking for the tower, as Fin brings in a scanning boat to help. Locating the tower finds the rest of the ships on d-scan, as well as positioning me in range of a second tower in the system. There remains no sign of the Bestower, although some ship swapping is being performed at the first tower. I disregard it as unimportant and begin looking for the second static wormhole here, class 2 w-space systems having two static connections and the first here being the exit to high-sec empire space I came through.

I resolve a wormhole soon enough, the system kept fairly clear of extraneous signatures. It is not the second static wormhole, though, instead a K162 from high-sec empire space. I need to keep looking before I resolve the static connection, which leads to to a class 3 system. Jumping in gives me a clear d-scan reading, only celestial bodies visible, so I bookmark the wormhole, launch scanning probes, and warp off to check the outer planet. Bubbles, dreadnoughts, and carriers, oh my! A piloted Tengu strategic cruiser and a nekkid pod sit nestled amongst Phoenix, Moros, and Naglfar dreadnoughts, and a Nidhoggur and Chimera carrier. Fin calls them 'pansies' for having so much firepower in the fairly weak class 3 system, as we start to scan for the next wormhole.

A static connection heading out to null-sec space is found, one reaching the end of its natural lifetime. Our expedition in to w-space has ended quickly, although scanning in to low-class systems is more likely to spit us right back out again more often than not, I suppose. A quick check on the locals back in the C2 has them moving, a Drake battlecruiser warping to the static exit and jumping to high-sec. Maybe more ships will follow, or maybe the Drake will return. Either way, it could be a lark to plant an Onyx heavy interdictor on the wormhole in the C2, which is what we do. Fin pilots the HIC, and I get my Widow black ops ship primed to provide back-up, sitting cloaked on the high-sec side of the wormhole to spot any incoming activity and ready to jump if required.

But we've been made. The pod of the Drake pilot undocked as we were shuffling ships ourselves and perhaps was vigilant enough to discern our direction of warp, seeing us head towards his wormhole home. The pilot opens a communication channel with Fin letting her know they've seen the Onyx, and my Widow, removing any element of surprise we may have had. But we're not deterred, we have nothing better to do right now. Besides, with at least two strategic cruisers and a recon ship spotted at their tower they have the resources to chase us off the wormhole, and we'd prefer a fight to nothing. We loiter whilst chatting, but even if we may be stopping inter-system movement it doesn't look like the C2 inhabitants want to deal with any aggravation. Never mind, it's starting to get late anyway, so we head back to space dock to get some sleep.

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Tags: bestower, chimera, drake, eve online, moros, naglfar, nidhoggur, onyx, penny ibramovic, phoenix, scanning, tengu, w-space, widow

A low-sec distraction

To take my mind off the inactive skill queue Fin and I head to low-sec. Fin has fitted a couple of Drake battlecruisers to be agile and hard-hitting, sacrificing most of the passive tank as a compromise, and we're going to look for trouble. Roaming around w-space can be quiet, as scanning is required to find other pilots and there are still many empty systems, but hopefully we can bump in to some targets easily enough in empire space. We set out from our new base system and activate the stargate to throw us in to the closest low-sec system.

We jump through the gate to absolutely nothing. No one is loitering on the gate, hoping for high-sec suckers to appear, and there is no one but ourselves in the system. But this should probably not come as a surprise, as checking my atlas indicates that the system is part of a three-system chain of low-sec separating high-sec space. It is unlikely that many, if any, low-sec denizens would come wandering through looking for a fight. But low-sec proper is only a few more jumps away, and a couple more empty systems pass us by quickly enough on the journey.

Once actually in low-sec the prospects for a fight look better. Ten pilots are in the local channel, but closer inspection shows they may all be in dock and not in ships. At least we have as much low-sec space to roam through as we need now and simply move on to the next system, navigating from stargate to stargate, no need to scan for wormholes. In the next system there is still nothing on the stargates, which is where we are expecting the most trouble, but it looks like there are some ships elsewhere in the system. I go looking for them whilst Fin acts as gate bait.

Fin's pretty good as acting as bait, some Russian ships jumping through and engaging her Drake whilst I am looking for activity mid-system. I respond to her call that she's dying by warping back to her position, loyally but foolishly turning up to see a battlecruiser wreck orbited by a Cerberus heavy assault ship and Fleet Issue Stabber cruiser. As the active ships starting to blink in my HUD I'd better start shooting one of them.

I pick the Cerberus as my target and engage, seeing it warp off almost immediately, forcing me to switch targets. It is only after a Cynabal cruiser jumps through the gate to join the fight that I realise switching targets also means re-activating my launchers, although it honestly doesn't look like it would have made a difference to the outcome. My shields are gone, the Drake's armour is dropping rapidly, and the stargate is refusing to let me jump. Low-sec is weird.

My ship explodes around me and I warp my pod away to safety. Rather than linger in the system I simply head back to high-sec, making a detour from our base system to pick up my Buzzard covert operations boat, stored along with some other ships of mine in the other exit system we used. I'll use the Buzzard to start scanning for wormholes tomorrow, because I think I had better get myself back to w-space sooner rather than later.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on A low-sec distraction
Tags: buzzard, cerberus, cynabal, drake, eve online, low-sec, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, stabber

Welcome to space

I get a call from an old friend, someone I never thought I'd hear from again. Capsuleers are like that, thinking themselves immortal and above us normals. You'd think that space pilots would understand there is no 'up' or 'down' in space, but there you go. It's nice to hear from Penny, and she makes me quite the offer, one I find hard to refuse. To become immortal myself.

The seventy-five million ISK casually transferred in to my account isn't needed to sweeten the deal, but apparently it isn't meant to. When I am told it is there to be spent I damn well nearly faint, it being more than I would make in five lifetimes planetside, but then I am given strict instructions on what to buy. A bunch of books doesn't sound expensive, but these are special, apparently. They'd better be at almost five million a pop!

I get all the books, accidentally buying one more than once, although that doesn't seem to matter. I also buy a bunch of implants, but I'm not sure quite what they are used for yet, or where they might be implanted. I am left with almost ten million ISK, which I can't even picture but am told is not even enough to buy the ship I am training to fly. And then the training starts.

Cybernetics is first, information flooding in to my mind, learning almost too quickly what is to happen next. Training finishes, briefly, as the implants I bought get 'plugged in'. What a lovely euphemism for slicing open your skull to jam electronic circuits in to your brain. At least I now have plugs, so hopefully any other implants aren't gained quite so traumatically. And I feel smarter.

The implants are just the beginning. Intensive training with the books I bought increases my capacity for learning, my intelligence markedly increasing along with my memory. It's all so quick, but I am sure I am taking it all in. What a buzz! There is more to learn, so much more, but even round-the-clock assimilation has its limits, the information fed to me only as quickly as my modified neurons can accept it.

I am brought out to space for one purpose. I am made capsuleer to safeguard my old friend. And what a gift I'm given in the process. I will learn to pilot a covert operations scanning boat, I will be the beacon that guides her home.

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Tags: constance sokolov, eve online, mmorpg