Escorting, roaming, hauling

The constellation is mapped, leading a merry route four systems to high-sec empire space. I think I'll take my Manticore stealth bomber out for a roam and see what I can find. Our neighbouring class 4 w-space system is compact and empty, letting the directional scanner see all of nothing without having to move from the wormhole. But the empty system turns out to be a good start, as I am asked if I would scout the route to empire space for a Bustard transport ship heading out from the tower. I'm being helpful!

I move on from the C4 and jump through its static wormhole in to a class 5 system, where the safety of the Bustard may not be assured. A Dominix battleship is visible on d-scan, along with some Sleeper wrecks. I start a passive scan for anomalies, my Manticore no longer fitted with a probe launcher, and start to alert colleagues about a possible target, but the Dominix turns out to be another colleague who's not paying too much attention to corporation communications. I briefly consider shooting him anyway, but as he's clearing ladar sites I'd have to swap ships to scan his location. In retrospect, I probably should have realised that a battleship is unlikely to be engaging Sleepers in a class 5 system anomalies by itself.

The system is declared safe for travel. I also now recognise it from my notes as being the system where we pop and pod two gas miners, before putting the defenceless tower in to reinforced mode. Unsurprisingly, the rather temporary-looking occupants have since vacated the system. I push onwards to the next wormhole, which sucks me in to another C5 system, but one where there are lots of big ships on d-scan. There is a tower too, and finding it finds the ships. Two Scorpion battleships, an Anathema covert operations boat, and a Manticore are all piloted at the tower, plenty more ships—battleships, battlecruisers, and a carrier—also sitting unpiloted in the shields. But they seem to be passive enough for the Bustard to pass through unnoticed.

I leave the class 5 systems behind and jump in to a C2, one that is big enough to hide ships from d-scan naturally. Warping around locates a tower holding an unpiloted Raven battleship inertly in its shields, leave the system otherwise clear. I don't bother reconnoitring the exit wormhole to high-sec as there are no warp bubbles on d-scan and any threat from a cloaked ship can be bypassed by simply jumping through the wormhole to Concord-protected empire space. Instead, I leave the Bustard to its own devices and warp my Manticore to the C2's second static wormhole, jumping in to the class 3 system beyond.

The C3 is unexplored. No bookmarks guide my way here, not even for the wormhole leading homewards, so I make sure I do that myself. The system is interesting for containing only two moons across its seven planets, but that's all the system is interesting for as neither of them hold a tower in geostationary orbit. I head back the way I came, jumping first to the C2 and then in to the second of the two class 5 systems. There has been some change in ships at the tower but nothing particularly enticing. And as colleagues shot and popped a Badger hauler in this system earlier it is unlikely that any activity will pick up again soon. Even so, watching one of the pilots swap ships back-and-forth is perhaps as close to action as I will get this evening.

A Crane transport ship gets swapped for a Merlin frigate. The Merlin visits the tower's silos, before being swapped for a Badger. The Badger is swapped back to the Merlin. I'm amazed that after all this I am alert enough to spot the Merlin warping away from the tower. Thankfully, before I was hypnotised by the ship-swapping I checked the relative position of the tower and the two wormholes in the system, letting me realise that the Merlin's vector is taking him towards the wormhole leading to the C2. I follow, if a little behind him—I should be considering aligning to a bookmarked wormhole now that it is possible—and jump in to the C2. The Merlin is decloaked and I try to disrupt his engines, but he warps away before I get a positive lock. Checking his direction shows he is heading towards the exit to high-sec, predictably enough.

I camp the high-sec exit for a little while, hoping perhaps to panic a tourist, but no one comes through to w-space. Instead, I visit high-sec myself, although only after I return to the tower to swap ships myself, in to a transport ship stuffed with ore which I take to Tash-Murkon Prime so that we can get better refining yields than out in w-space. It is a simple matter to get out to high-sec and return, particularly with corporation pilots guarding a few of the w-space connections. But one of our pilots, in a Bustard transport ship, finds the Merlin from earlier. Come back to camp the exit to high-sec himself, the Merlin engages our Bustard, but our pilot isn't concerned.

A few rockets barely make a dint in the Bustard's shields, the pilot instead trying to act vulnerable whilst luring the Merlin away from the wormhole. The transport ship can easily warp away when it pleases, its boosted warp strength an advantage of the class of ship, but acting like it is in trouble by figuratively listing encourages the Merlin to continue attacking. The only real concern is if the Merlin is tackling the ship as a spearhead of a fleet, but it doesn't appear so. And our pilot has been communicating all this to colleagues, who turn up to surprise the Merlin now a little separated from the wormhole, but only a few shots hit his shields before the nippy frigate manoeuvres close enough again to the wormhole to jump out to empire space. Two webs did not slow him down quite enough. Our Bustard gets home safely, and the evening draws to a close.

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Tags: anathema, badger, bustard, crane, dominix, eve online, manticore, merlin, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scorpion, w-space

Finding an exit for isolated pilots

A colleague is stranded in high-sec space. I copy the five bookmarks in the can at our tower and warp out in my Buzzard covert operations boat to explore, and hopefully find a way home for the isolated pilot. The static wormhole is still present and healthy, and I jump in to our neighbouring class 4 w-space system. Another bookmark guides me to the tower in this system, where an Anathema cov-ops boat sits piloted. Nothing else is happening here and I have a bookmark to the system's static wormhole, which I warp to and jump through to continue my exploration.

The next C4 is quite a big system, some 60 AU across, and it takes a bit of time to warp around the planets to look for activity. I was in this system six months ago when there were two towers present, and now there are even more. I don't go looking for them all, merely noting that there remains some occupancy. The trail of bookmarks runs out in this system too, so once I've ascertained that there are no active pilots here I launch probes and start scanning. Only twelve anomalies and nine signatures sit around the nine planets in the system, although the volume of space to cover will slow down scanning a little.

I find two wormholes, both leading to class 5 systems, one an inbound K162 and the other the outbound static connection. I check the static connection first, keeping my forwards momentum as I look for an exit to empire space, entering a system even bigger than the previous C4 but with fewer planets. The fourth, outermost planet is a full 124 AU from the system's star, but knowing that signatures only appear close to the gravitational pull of planets drastically reduces the volume of space I need to scan, and there only being four planets further reduces the number of scans I need to make. I determine the system lacks occupancy and activity, and start to scan.

I resolve a wormhole soon enough, but the static conenction to a class 5 system looks smaller than I expect. Checking further reveals the wormhole to be on the verge of collapse, almost dead from the mass passed through it. At least I noticed the state of the wormhole before recklessly jumping through, although it is unlikely my Buzzard's tiny hull would cause the connection to choke. I leave the sickly wormhole alone, heading back in to the C4 to jump through the K162 to the other C5. My directional scanner shows nothing but celestial objects from the wormhole, but it doesn't cover the whole system from here. And I note that the wormhole I am moving away from is the system's static, so there is unlikely to be another route out of here.

There is a tower in the class 5 system but with no one home, and the whole system is as inactive as the others. It is a short expedition today, the continuing route having a wormhole sitting on the verge of collapse. Unless, of course, I venture through the dying wormhole anyway. But it may not be useful for bringing home my stranded colleague, and when I find out that we actually have three people stuck in empire space I think that perhaps we don't want another isolated from the tower, should the wormhole collapse behind me. Then again, there could be a good reason why the wormhole's mass was reduced, it having been intentionally disrupted by capsuleers not wanting to be disturbed. I could refit my Manticore stealth bomber with a probe launcher to take a look, hopefully allowing me to surprise some pilots.

Not only does my Manticore get a probe launcher but I rig it with scanning modifications, some sitting spare in the fittings array and other rigs having questionable value on a stealth bomber. Even if the wormhole closes behind me I will be able to scan my way out of w-space, whilst I retain the siege launchers to help me shoot innocent miners. I'm ready, here I go! Actually, maybe I should load some torpedoes first. Stripping the bomb launcher meant unloading the bombs, the silly mechanics stopping me from moving them directly from the launcher to the hangar, causing me to clear my cargo hold so that both bombs can be moved at once. But with the torpedoes replaced I'm ready, here I go!

The critically disrupted wormhole surives my Manticore's entrance, and I move away from it and cloak. I punch d-scan and checking the results makes me think that perhaps one stealth bomber isn't quite enough firepower. One Loki, two Legion, and eight Tengu strategic cruisers are visible along with a Bhaalgorn battleship and Revelation dreadnought. And although they are all to be found at the tower also seen on d-scan they are not inside its shields, as it doesn't have shields. The fleet is assaulting the off-line tower, the gunboats floating at optimal range and launching broadsides, the Tengu missile boats passing the time by circling the tower as a train.

I think I'll put this system down as 'unoccupied' in my notes. And despite lacking any kind of chance to pop any of the ships I am sorely tempted to launch a bomb, if only to see if I can cause a bit of panic. I resist the temptation, though, and it's for the best. The only panic I would have caused would be my own, when I remember I refitted the bomb launcher for a probe launcher and my devastating attack would be to decloak and throw a scanning probe a hundred metres from my ship. Instead, I simply watch the powerful w-space fleet shoot the tower for a bit before returning home. I get my Manticore refitted with its bomb launcher, load some bombs, and take a break.

A little later, I return to find the static wormhole has been collapsed by now-awake corporation colleagues. Scanning finds the newly spawned static wormhole and our four-pilot rescue group jumps in to the neighbouring class 4 system. A tower and no ships in the C4 lets us scan in peace, and we find the system's static connection to a C3. Four Heron frigates are unpiloted in a tower in the class 3 system, which is inactive but for our scanning efforts. The small system makes a pleasant change from earlier, 8 AU probes in a standard configuration just about covering all the planets at the same time, letting us find the static wormhole quickly. An exit to low-sec empire space is a good result, giving our isolated pilots a route back to our tower. And with the mission accomplished and the hour getting late I head home myself to get some rest.

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Tags: anathema, bhaalgorn, buzzard, eve online, heron, legion, loki, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, revelation, scanning, tengu, w-space

Pop and plunder

I'm sitting at the tower, watching the ships come in and then go back out again. A new exit to high-sec space has been found in a connecting w-space system, and although it is nineteen hops from Jita it is convenient enough for some capsuleers to want to use it. I'm content to laze about for now, more interested in learning what a scout finds in the class 4 system that connects in to our own. And he appears to have found some activity, an Iteron hauler looking like it's about to move out of a tower. I get my Manticore stealth bomber warping to the K162 and jump in to the C4.

The scout reports that the Iteron has warped to a planet and that he has its location, and I warp to join my colleague. As I drop out of warp I see my colleague's stealth bomber, the wreck of an Iteron, and a capsuleer's pod. Before I am back under normal engine control I drop my cloak, activate a sensor booster, and get the warp disruption module hot. Once my warp engines have cut out completely I am locking on to the pod and snare it, the primed warp disruptor activating automatically on a positive lock. The pod disappears, replaced by a rapidly freezing corpse.

We loot the wreck of the Iteron, scoop the corpse, and go our separate ways. I head off to reconnoitre the tower in the system, my colleague elsewhere. Having just shot the only pilot seen at the tower there probably isn't much more to see, but I just want to make sure. One object catches my eye at the tower, a canister nestled within the defences outside and above the shields. It is not a secure container and so free for anyone to open, so I think I'll make a fly-by to see what the can contains. I bookmark its location and warp out and back in to get in to a better position to start my approach, not wanting to linger for too long because of the active defences of the tower.

I start to approach the can when a Helios covert operations boat warps in to the tower. It looks like someone else has woken up, perhaps as a consequence of the recent death of his colleague. I stop my approach to see what the new pilot does, and then I back off slightly as the Helios moves directly upwards, as if heading for the can himself. I manoeuvre my Manticore so that it is aligned to the can and at the optimal bombing range, and wait. The Helios crawls along slowly, only gaining a burst of speed once outside the shields that probably comes from a fitted micro-warp drive. The Helios is indeed aiming for the can that piqued my interest, and am now lined up to.

I hold my position until the cov-ops boat has reached the can, and only once it has come almost to a halt do I decloak and launch my bomb. The pilot is taken unawares but he is not oblvious to my appearance. His Helios surges back towards the tower's shields, racing against the ponderous bomb heading his way, and it looks like he's going to make it. The ten-second flight time and fifteen kilometre explosion radius of the bomb means he has to exceed 1·5 km/s in a straight line, which he may achieve with an MWD fitted.

But even though an MWD can give a ship the speed it needs to escape a bomb, the corresponding increase to the signature radius makes any explosion much more damaging. Indeed, a single bomb probably shouldn't destroy a covert opertions boat, but this one does. Mere metres from the safety of the shields the Helios pops, caught on the edge of the bomb's explosion, damage intensified by the active MWD. The ejected pod flees, warping away to some distant position. Getting the pod away safely like that seems eminently sensible, not trusting moving normally even the short distance left to the shields, but I can't say I think the capsuleer is sensible or wise. After all, he was accessing a can outside of the tower's shields.

I don't quite understand the strange popularity of storing cans outside of the tower, a habit I'm encountering more of lately. The tower's shields make anything inside invulnerable even to being targeted, let alone shot, and there are no restrictions to accessing cans. The only benefit to having a can outside the shields that I can see is so that pilots without clearance to enter the shields can still access the can. But if that's needed it makes more sense to place the can in a safe-spot in the system, where it cannot be found except by being guided there. It also makes more sense to use a secure container rather than a standard can, which limits access rights, although I can't find out what was being stored in the can any more as it too was destroyed in the explosion. A giant secure can would have survived. I wonder if I've just destroyed both the locals' current bookmarks and their scanner.

Pondering aside, I have a wreck to loot. The Helios popped right on the border of the shields, which will make recovering the loot a little more tricky, as proximity to the shields will interfere with my cloaking device. Rather than rely on re-activating my cloak I burn towards the wreck, loot it, and warp out. It takes me a while to align but the tower defences don't lock on to me, and the Helios pilot's pod returns to the tower to see my Manticore escape with a covert operations cloaking device and some Sisters core probes. The bare pod then starts to on-line defences, which I think to be a reaction to our attacks but my scouting colleague looks with keener eyes. He notices that almost no defences are actually on-line at the moment, and it is possible that the tower is just being set-up. He even considers the Iteron was warping to the nearest planet so that it could warp back to the defences, making the trip outside the tower quicker than under normal velocities.

That's a point, the unanchored defences can simply be picked up by anyone at the moment. And only one defence can be brought on-line at a time, and it takes a few minutes for each. I take the Manticore home and swap it for my Crane transport ship, just as stealthy but trading weapons for cargo space. I bookmarked the position of one of the unanchored defences before I left and, back in the adjacent system, warp to within ten kilometres of it. It is a simple matter to guide my agile transport ship close enough to scoop a couple of closely clustered gun batteries before cloaking again. Not being able to carry more I warp back to the wormhole connecting to our home system, but also not wanting to be polarised by quick multiple trips I jettison the gun batteries on the wormhole and return to the tower for more looting.

I am able to scoop four guns and two defences before the pilot gets frustrated enough to call in help, a Tengu strategic cruiser appearing as a show of force. The Tengu could probably lock on to my Crane quickly enough such that it deters me from taking any more defences, instead switching back to my Manticore to line him up for second bomb launch. A single bomb will only graze the Tengu, and although I hope to get more pilots to increase the damage there is no one around. Nor are they needed, as the Tengu gets bored and wanders off within a few minutes, letting a colleague in another hauler continue collecting defences.

We end up snatching all but one of the defences above the tower, leaving the owners' once symmetrical configuration looking decidedly lopsided. All of the defences dropped at the wormhole are picked up by a suitably capacious hauler, letting us claim them all as our own once recovered to our tower. A couple of kills and stealing defences as the owner can do nothing but watch, piracy is such a lark!

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Tags: crane, eve online, helios, iteron, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, tengu, w-space

Tackling a Tengu

It's getting to the point where I don't even see the bookmarks. I just see an active static wormhole, an exit five hops from Jita, an incoming connection to a class 4 system. Colleagues inform me of some earlier PvP in the C4 that connects in to us, and that they are going to rub salt in to the wounds by taking strategic cruisers in to the system to clear their anomalies. But as the fleet forms a foreign Buzzard appears in our home system, the covert operations boat scanning. It perhaps has come from the class 6 system that connects in to the C4 incoming to our own home system, but I won't strain myself trying to explain w-space connections, not when there's a pilot to hunt.

I launch my Malediction interceptor and speed to our static wormhole, presuming that the Buzzard has entered through the K162 and is looking to progress. A colleague gets her Onyx sitting on that K162 in case the pilot turns tail, but he indeed moves onwards. The Buzzard warps to our static wormhole and jumps. I send my interceptor after him, and on the other side of the wormhole deftly get my micro-warp drive active and Malediction pulsing towards the cloaking cov-ops. I get the bump, my warp disruption modules hot as I lock the Buzzard as soon as it re-appears on my overview, its covert cloak cut. But the Buzzard is aligned, warping out a split-second before snared by a positive lock.

My companion in the Onyx heavy interdictor is now on the opposite side of the wormhole in our home system, ready for the Buzzard's return, but I am warping again. I land on the newly scanned static wormhole to a class 1 system, where I am not left waiting for long for the same Buzzard. We dance a second time, doing the jump and bump, but I am left a wallflower on the wormhole in the class 1 system. I consider my next move. A corporation scout ahead has a Tengu, Drake, and Prophecy engaging Sleepers in a C2, the single strategic cruiser and two battlecruisers making an alluring target for our growing numbers and current fleet configuration. I forget about the Buzzard.

A couple more pilots join the fleet and a second scout comes out to scan the entrance to the C2, so that our spearhead can maintain contact with the new targets. My Malediction impatiently thrums on the wormhole to the C2, joined by the Onyx and a third pilot in a Tengu, our second scout returning home for a more appropriate ship and collecting another capsuleer ready to fight. The targets have almost wiped out the Sleepers in their current site and look ready to move on, our spearhead giving the command to jump and warp to his position. I waste no time in doing so, confirming my actions only after making sure they are done.

'What an idiot', says an unfamiliar pilot in the C2's local channel as I am in warp. The targets were about to warp out of the site as our scout in his highly inappropriate Anathema cov-ops decloaks to engage the three combat ships. It would seem like an act of stupidity, but he's probably eating those words when the fleet drops on top of his position and the Onyx's warp bubble prevents their escape. The Tengu is our primary target, called before we enter the system, and my Malediction immediately locks and points the ship, settling in to a comfortable high-speed orbit around the strategic cruiser.

I think I am stopping the Tengu from fleeing, but I'm only half-right. The cruiser has its reheat on, or maybe a micro-warp drive, and is burning away from our ambushing fleet. I don't really notice because my interceptor has speed to spare, keeping up with the Tengu, hot exhaust trailing in a helix behind us. We are now out of the Onyx's warp bubble, and indeed were after only a few seconds of combat, which is not true of the other ships. The Tengu gone, the Prophecy battlecruiser is targeted first, soon falling to focussed fire. The Drake is next, but the Prophecy's death and pilot's podding gives the second battlecruiser time to clear the warp bubble, warping away.

We are now seventy kilometres from the action, the Tengu and me, and increasing the distance. The extra corporation pilots turned up quickly, the Navy Comet frigate and Curse recon ship helping to kill the Prophecy, and now the Curse comes to quell the Tengu. The strategic cruiser refuses to be confined, continuous fire of heavy assault missiles cracking around my craft. The high speed of my interceptor confounds the missiles, as they skip and twirl trying to catch my spinning ship. I am taking damage but mostly just shrapnel, my puny defences absorbing the heavily mitigated attacks. I watch as my shields deplete, but ever-so slowly, amazed that I am surving the full onslaught of a Tengu with HAMs.

My colleague in the Curse has the tools to slow the Tengu. He just needs to get in range to do so, and we're speeding directly away from everyone. By the time his warp drives engage, move him, and disengage, we are tens of kilometres from where I was when he warped to my position. But our man is smart. He picks a celestial body ahead of our trajectory and warps to that, returning from that opposite direction aiming to drop short, so that the ground we make up puts us directly in his path. It takes a couple of attempts but the Curse manages to lock and engage the Tengu too, his energy neutralisers shutting down the strategic cruiser's reserves, forcing the micro-warp drive to disengage from being starved.

Reduced to a crawl, the Tengu loses its edge. The fleet behind us, now a hundred and seventy kilometres away, finishes off the Scorpion battleship that the Drake pilot decides would be a good idea to bring back to the battle, and warps to my position to turn on the Tengu. Deprived of capacitor energy the Tengu can no longer escape, nor can it power its shield booster, and our combined firepower obliterates the Tech III cruiser. The pod flees, being sensibly aligned from the moment he fled, our Onyx not quite caught up to encapsulate him. Wrecks are looted, corpses are scooped, and the sacrifice of our scout, now returned and in a Harbinger battlecruiser, is acknowledged. His Anathema will be replaced on the corporate account.

What a thrilling encounter! It is my first strategic cruiser kill, and I didn't even fire a shot. I am impressed with my Malediction again, being able to hold the Tengu and withstand its concentrated fire for around five minutes, and although my shields were below 8% at the end I still had all my armour to use before needing to worry. The fight was challenging and a great team effort, the fleet easily co-ordinating to defeat the Prophecy and Scorpion, followed by excellent intuition from our Curse pilot to bring the Tengu to a halt. And, in recognition of his insight to give his ship so that the rest may fight, the scout is awarded the Sacrificial Lamb decoration.

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Tags: anathema, buzzard, comet, curse, drake, eve online, harbinger, malediction, mmorpg, onyx, penny ibramovic, prophecy, pvp, scorpion, tengu, w-space

Catching a coincidental Curse

My Malediction interecptor is launched, I board it and warm up its systems, then plunge it towards our static wormhole. A new connection has opened in the w-space constellation, bringing with it active pilots, and the hunt is on. I warp through our adjoining class 4 system to the connection to a C2, where I join fleet members in a Curse recon ship and Navy Comet frigate. We have a scout inside the class 2 system scanning for the new wormhole, which he finds, a K162 from a C5.

The scanning probes of an unknown scout in the C2 disappear, increasing out alert level. The class 2 system is unoccupied, which means that the pilot will need to jump to make some sort of progress, the only question is where he will go. Apart from the two K162s—the one coming from our neighbouring C4, and the new one from the C5—the C2 holds wormholes leading to another C5 and exiting to null-sec space. Normally we would wait for the cloaked ship to make itself known before revealing our own force, but we haven't been quiet up to this point. An earlier fleet engaged Sleepers in this C4 and I have already thrown torpedoes at a Tengu strategic cruiser.

As we suspect the scout in the C2 is either the same pilot or affiliated with the one from earlier, and so knows about our activity already, I jump my interceptor in to the C2 and warp close to our own scout as he sits near to the new C5 K162. Doing so lets me bookmark the wormhole for reference, instead of only our scout knowing its location, before warping to cover a different wormhole. Now the exit to null-sec space is the only wormhole we aren't monitoring, which should let us spy which way the scout moves.

I loiter on the C2's static connection to a class 5 system, but not for long. The wormhole flares and I get my systems hot, ready to engage. A Wolf appears! I target, lock, and tackle the assault frigate, moving to enter a rapid orbit around it. But the Wolf is fast, its guns ripping apart my shields in a couple of shots before I reach optimum speed. I need to warp out or my Malediction will pop long before support can reach me. The agile interceptor evades the Wolf and enters warp without fuss, and as the wormhole disappears behind me I also notice a second ship, even if I hadn't noticed the second flare. A Guardian logistics ship accompanies the assault frigate, information I share with my colleagues.

The Wolf and Guardian pair warp away from the static wormhole to appear at the K162 to the C5. Our own scout sees them arrive and jump in to the class 5 system, and follows. I am back at the K162 leading back to our neighbouring C4 system, the other side of which the rest of the fleet waits patiently. Hearing our scout call for assistance brings everyone through the wormhole to the C2 side where I sit, and the earlier contingency now shows its value. Ensuring a second pilot had the new wormhole bookmarked lets me warp the fleet to its position, rather than having us flounder with scanning ships or sitting stupidly helpless. In quick time we are at the K162 and jumping through to help our colleague.

The Wolf is on the wormhole shooting our scout's Loki strategic cruiser. With our reinforcements the assault frigate should be in trouble, but he is surviving and shooting, his companion in the Guardian providing plenty of repairs to keep the frigate intact. The logistics ship has moved to a good position seventy kilometres from the wormhole, too far for us to engage but easily within range of his own systems. We should be able to kill the Wolf, but removing the Guardian will make it easier and seventy kilometres isn't so far for an interceptor to travel. I burn towards to the Guardian at five kilometres per second, covering the space between us in little time, locking his ship and counting the seconds before I can get a point on him. The logistics pilot unsurprisingly turns tail and runs, realising my threat soon enough to let him warp out.

Without repairs the Wolf simply cannot withstand our damage, his ship popping shortly after his Guardian support has gone. Despite chasing the Guardian away my Malediction is able to turn back and return to the wormhole in time to lock and point the Wolf pilot's pod, giving him a couple of seconds to feel the fear of death before waking up in a new clone in a station in empire space, his fresh corpse floating in front of us in w-space. My Malediction finally has blood on it. And as we relish the small victory a lone Curse recon ship warps in to our position on the wormhole to offer a second target.

Weapon systems lock and fire again, the luckless Curse getting pummelled by a fleet still fuelled by adrenalin from a seconds-old kill. The Curse jumps through the wormhole in an attempt to flee, but is only followed and finished in the C2. At least he is able to get his pod away cleanly. But the pod remains in the system and visible on our directional scanners. It is possible he only has that one wormhole bookmarked, particularly as he doesn't seem to be a colleague of the Wolf and Guardian pilots. Indeed, piecing together the events looks like we interrupted a hunt by coming between two skirmishing parties, our presence a surprise to all involved. The Curse probably warped to our position expecting to see only the Wolf and ending up getting more than he bargained for.

The pod is vulnerable and has only one way home, blocked by a fast-locking interceptor. He sensibly starts warping between celestial bodies, and we start trying to find him. Although he does not move continuously the pilot has plenty of time to see our ships drop out of warp at his location to spur his tiny pod to fly off in a different direction before our drives even disengage. We enlist a new pilot's help, asking for a stealth bomber to be brought in to the system. The bomber can warp whilst cloaked and has no targeting delay when decloaking, which combined may let us sufficiently surprise the pod pilot. But a Tengu strategic cruiser is seen briefly on d-scan, which the pod seems to rendezvous with as both vessels disappear from the system.

I suspect the Tengu has been called to help guide the pod home. Assuming that the ship is a w-space occupant I warp to the C2's static connection to the C5, where I see the Tengu as it warps away, almost directly upwards. Without checking my navigation systems I warp to the C5 K162, thinking that's where the Tengu is headed, dropping out of warp as the strategic cruiser jumps in to the C5 past a colleage lurking on that wormhole. I follow a second later, just long enough to let the Tengu cloak on the other side. Flinging my interceptor in his general direction doesn't bump our ships and decloak him, and it seems that he warps away cleanly. I ask my colleague on the other side of the wormhole if he saw the pod jump through, but as he saw neither the Tengu nor myself jump just now I cannot rely on his answer.

I imagine the pod was guided back to the wormhole, where it jumped and headed homewards. The lack of a pod on d-scan in the C2 suggests this is the case and that the action is over. The hunt was exciting, the execution was excellent. Successfully using my Malediction in anger finally makes me glad I have one, too. Happy with the evening's events I head home to down a Quafe and relax.

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Tags: comet, curse, eve online, guardian, loki, malediction, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, tengu, w-space, wolf

Stumbling in to a scout

Another day, another wormhole collapses like a punctured lung. I scan for the fresh static wormhole that will let me venture beyond our home system to explore the new w-space constellation. The class 4 system connecting to our own is unoccupied, as it was four months ago, and as a result is full of anomalies and signatures. I start sifting through signatures, ignoring rock and gas mining sites, until a static connection is found. Jumping onwards brings me to a class 2 system, also unoccupied and lacking targets. But a C2 holds two static wormholes, so even finding an exit to empire space won't end my exploration early. I just need to find the wormholes in the system.

There are loads of gas and rock sites to ignore. At least I only need to identify them as such, needing just a 25% signal to do so, and the mining sites are generally fatter signatures in the first place. But nothing looks like much like a wormhole here, except for the K162 leading homewards. Plan B is to resolve the weakest signatures which, after a radar site, finds a static connection to a class 5 system. Wormholes leading to C5s always seem really weak, except in C5s themselves. There is another wormhole waiting to be revealed and I continue scanning, finding the exit to null-sec space as the last signature in the system. I managed to approach it from both ends of the signature strength scale in a masterful display of bad judgement.

I'll have a quick peek in to the null-sec system, for a red dot of exploration, before continuing deeper in to w-space. Pushing my Buzzard covert operations boat through the wormhole sends me to RF-K9W in the Delve region, where I sit alone. The lack of other pilots in the local communication channel is informative in k-space, conveniently telling me no one else is in the system. I use the certain isolation to consult my atlas, seeing I am close to a dead-end system. I consider visiting it whilst I am here but the calm of empty space changes abruptly with a spike in local. Two more pilots enter the system and I start to feel claustrophobic, my hand wavering over the controls to send me back to w-space, but the pilots leave and I am alone again. I bookmark this side of the wormhole and warp off to visit more systems.

Stargates take me to E3OI-U, T-J6HT, and R5-MM8, seeing only one pilot on my brief excursion, a ratting Raven battleship visible on my directional scanner, before I use the more familiar wormhole to return to w-space. I pass through the C2 and jump in to the C5, another unoccupied and empty system. Even with fewer signatures to scan the static wormhole is resolved quickly, the signature strength of a C5 connection in a C5 not being attenuated as it is in the lesser classes. And this new class 5 system holds occupation at last, a tower and two Myrmidon battlecruisers on d-scan. I start to locate the tower and ships using a narrow d-scan beam but get distracted when I find a couple of gun batteries sitting by themselves, on-line and active despite there being no tower nearby.

I shake off my confusion and locate the tower, seeing both Myrmidons sitting unpiloted inside the shields. Only seven signatures in here encourages me to continue to scan, despite the system having an 80 AU radius, and a corporation fleet of strategic cruisers forming to engage Sleepers in our neighbouring C4. I appear to be avoiding other people, both accidentally and intentionally. Scanning finds a K162 leading in from null-sec space and the system's static wormhole, the connection to class 3 w-space looking like a target itself. But jumping in to the C3 finds a tower and no ships, a dead system too far from home to make me want to scan further.

I head back, poking my nose out of the C5 to visit D-PNP9 in Esoteria, where a Raven sits a few kilometres from the exit wormhole. I don't know if he's paying attention but he doesn't follow me back to w-space, although a battleship trying to catch a covert operations boat would be a lesson in futility. I start moving closer to home, pausing in the C2 when a habitual use of d-scan reveals probes in the system. I linger long enough to determine that he is scanning the wormhole I just passed through, and that after finding it he continues to scan, before continuing homewards where I swap in to my Manticore stealth bomber. I quietly warp past my colleagues shooting Sleepers and return to the C2.

I don't stray far from the homewards connection, hoping the scout will fly to me and let me shoot him, but when the probes disappear from the system nothing happens. With three wormholes to choose from I may just be unlucky, and I warp to the other two to look for signs of activity. Even jumping in to null-sec sees the transparent local channel empty and I give up my feeble hunt, heading home again. I jump back to the neighbouring C4 and as I move away from the wormhole it flares, a second ship jumping in behind me. I prepare my combat systems and ready for the ship to reveal itself, only to remain hidden behind my cloaking device as a Tengu strategic cruiser appears.

The fleet should know about the Tengu's presence and I alert them to its entrance. As the cruiser drops some scanning probes I become daring and decloak, locking and launching torpedoes. My flimsy ship doesn't stand a chance of surviving against the weapons systems of even a covert Tengu, nor will my torpedoes do more than tickle the ship's shields, yet it flees. Escaping is probably wise, though, particularly as the pilot has no doubt consulted d-scan to see a fleet of strategic cruisers engaging Sleepers and cannot be sure that they will not come to my aid. The scanning probes disappear from d-scan, no doubt recalled by the Tengu pilot, and I wait cloaked on the wormhole for his return.

Having the Tengu flee from my tiny Manticore tickles me. When the strategic cruiser returns the way he came, jumping through the wormhole back to the C2, I follow. It can't end well as I attempt to gain a positive lock and disrupt the ship's warp drives, but the ship's cloaking device activates and confuses my targeting systems. I still manage to chase off a Tengu in my Manticore a second time. I try to give chase but don't find him at either wormhole, yet the Tengu and now a Buzzard remain in the system for a while longer before vanishing. I again return to our tower, and again I shan't be staying. D-scan put the ships separate from a celestial body and the known wormholes remained clear, which suggests another wormhole has opened in to the class 2 system, bringing with it active capsuleers. A new fleet forms, one hunting more than Sleepers.

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Tags: buzzard, eve online, manticore, mmorpg, myrmidon, null-sec, penny ibramovic, raven, scanning, tengu, w-space

Missed communication

Three of us wait for the wormhole to die. Rather than forcing more mass through it than it can handle the wormhole is about to collapse of old age, and we just watch. I have performed a pre-emptive scan of the system, and when the wormhole dissipates to leave no trace a second scan finds the home system's sole signature. There was hardly a pause between the collapse and new wormhole spawning, making me reflect during the short time resolving the signature about the possibility of a planck limit on anomaly spawns. Perhaps anomalies, wormholes, and other phenomenon can only spawn on certain 'ticks', the time between being void, and in this case the wormhole's collapse happened a moment before the next tick, prompting a new connection almost immediately. And then I am warping to the wormhole and my mind regains its focus on the exploration at hand.

As my colleagues initiate warp to my last-known position I jump through to the new neighbouring class 4 system. I spy on my directional scanner a tower and Tengu strategic cruiser in the system, locating them both together and the cruiser piloted. A Cheetah covert operations boat warps in to join the Tengu at the tower as my colleagues enter the system, but there doesn't seem to be any further activity as we begin to scan. Only three signatures makes scanning quick, the static connection to another C4 found simply. I leave the idling pilots in their tower and move onwards to the next system. I was only in this second C4 four days ago, noting it to be unoccupied and holding a static connection to a C1, the lack of occupation still true and the wormhole found without fuss amongst the bare five signatures.

All the excitement is happening behind me, though. The third signature in the first class 4 system turns out to be a K162 from C2, which my two colleagues decide to investigate only to find a Purifier stealth bomber loitering on the other side. I hope to find occupation in the C1 but it turns out to be dormant, a couple more ships sitting unpiloted in a tower, and more connections only lead to a similarly quiet C2 and high-sec empire space. I abandon my tenacious scanning, no longer able to resist the reports coming back of destroying anchored warp bubbles only for the bubbles to be replaced a minute later, to join a fleet looking to engage other capsuleers for control of the w-space constellation.

I return to our tower and swap the Buzzard covert operations boat for my Onyx heavy interdictor, jumping back to the neighbouring C4 to join a Curse recon ship and Vagabond cruiser. On the other side of the connecting wormhole a Manticore stealth bomber engages a friendly Tengu, launching a bomb towards the ship that has been destroying their warp bubbles. The Tengu naturally survives a single bomb and easily locks, points, and pops the ambitious pilot's Manticore. And a scout of ours inside that system lets us know that there are now stirrings at the local tower. No doubt lured by a potential lone strategic cruiser as a target, ships are being scrambled.

A command ship and heavy interdictor appear to be heading our way, both of which can cause trouble when combined with other combat ships. Reconsidering our overall position I offer to swap my HIC for a Falcon recon ship, its ECM perhaps being more to our benefit, and the small fleet agrees. I head home again and make the change, warping back to the fleet on the wormhole at range, ready to jam the systems of any hostile ship that enters the system. But it looks like the action won't be occurring in this C4, but in the C2 instead. I ask for clarification of where my Falcon is needed but get none. I am left confused.

I know the Falcon will be useless at close range, which is why I didn't warp directly to the wormhole and also why I don't think it wise to jump through to join any action. An ally has experience in losing Falcons this way and I would be foolish not to learn from his mistakes. I thought that agreeing to get the flimsy ECM boat would mean we would engage at favourable distances, but it seems we still field enough variation of ships and configurations that more precise communication is needed. Indeed, I don't even see the command to jump but the fleet slips through the wormhole to the C2 whilst I still try to find out where I should be.

I start moving my Falcon towards the wormhole. I decloak and burn the reheat to get there faster, but a flare on the wormhole causes me to stop and re-activate my cloak. An enemy coming through could easily destroy my ship in seconds and keeping my presence concealed would still give the fleet an advantage. But it is a colleague returning, I don't know why. I decloak and move again, but there is a second flare and again I stop and cloak, moving away again in case I need my ECM. But it is another colleague. I have no idea where I am needed, where I should be, or what is happening, and asking is getting no answers. By the time I get a positive response—told to jump in to the system, an action I have already considered would be suicidal in my current ship—I have retreated away from the wormhole to the optimal range for my ECM modules.

Frustrated, I warp to the homewards K162, jumping and warping to sit in the tower as the fleet records its biggest victory to date. Two Abaddon battleships, a Devoter heavy interdictor, Guardian logistics ship, and Catalyst destroyer all are obliterated for no loss, three pods also spilling corpses in to vacuum. I am bitter about the miscommunications and try to make myself feel useful by going out to empire space, contracting bookmarks to a new recruit who needs the current route to our w-space tower. It doesn't help, just as my mood won't help the continuing combat operation. I return to hide at our tower, turn off all non-essential systems, and get some sleep.

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Tags: abaddon, buzzard, catalyst, cheetah, curse, devoter, eve online, falcon, guardian, manticore, mmorpg, onyx, penny ibramovic, purifier, pvp, scanning, tengu, vagabond, w-space

Following fellows' footsteps

Late-night scanning by colleagues has made some bookmarks available, giving me a choice to roam or scan. A time-stamp has been manually added to the bookmark for the home system's static connection, a convention we have adopted to better gauge the life of the wormhole, and it suggests the wormhole is about to enter its end-of-life stage. Out of safety, I decide to take my Buzzard covert operations boat out to scan, knowing I can return for my stealth bomber if required.

The neighbouring class 4 w-space system is unoccupied, as it was four months ago, and inactive. But maybe it wasn't dormant earlier, as a bookmark points me towards a K162 in the system. The incoming connection is enticing as my next destination but warping there leaves me floating in empty space, the wormhole having collapsed since the bookmark was made. I move instead to the system's static connection, leading in to a C2.

Jumping in to the class 2 system finds nothing of interest, not much having changed from my last visit three weeks earlier, although there are three wormholes to investigate. The two static connections of this C2 lead to null-sec space and a class 5 w-space system, the third wormhole being a K162 from a C3. Again, the incoming connection is my first choice to explore. It looks like my colleagues didn't venture this way, though, as there are no bookmarks for the system. Even the return wormhole hasn't been bookmarked, which I also note is not the system's static connection. I register the location of the outbound wormhole in my nav-comp and warp away to explore.

I have been in this w-space system before too, when I bomb a bubbled barge as bait six months ago. But the only sign of occupancy now is an off-line tower, anchored where my notes list the on-line one was, the rest of the system devoid of activity. Despite there being another wormhole in here I don't start to scan, instead heading back through the C2 to the already bookmarked C5 connection. My thoughts of not having to scan evaporate after I jump, though, finding the C5 to be unexplored too. I bookmark the K162 and warp off to look for activity, only the outer planet currently visible on my directional scanner.

There's nothing to see in this C5, it is unoccupied and dull. I launch probes to have a quick scan, and it will be quick with only six signatures and two anomalies present, ignoring a ladar and radar site to find a static connection to a class 3 system. This could be promising. Entering the C3 even finds occupation, a tower anchored to a moon nearby, although no ships are to be seen. Scanning reveals little else, the system holding no anomalies and only six signatures. I soon resolve two wormholes almost on top of each other, a static exit to high-sec empire space and an outbound connection to a class 4 system.

The wormhole heading further in to w-space is my best opportunity to find any activity, but jumping through puts me in to another unoccupied and empty system. I'm now five jumps away from home and don't fancy delving any deeper. I turn around to head home, diverting only briefly to get a red dot of exploration for the SNFV-I null-sec system in the Catch region, apparently forgetting about not having looked for the static wormhole in the earlier class 3 w-space system. But I have explored far enough for now. I copy in to the can the updated bookmarks I have made and take a break.

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

Salvaging a wreck

The Sleepers have knocked us down but we get right back up again. A standard anomaly in our neighbouring class 4 w-space system tempts us to launch strategic cruisers, to enact some revenge against the Sleepers as well as make back some ISK lost from the destruction of the five battleships and two logistic ships. But I don't think we should go back in to the radar site, we just need to admit defeat and recover what we can. Of course, it's difficult to loot and salvage whilst five Sleeper battleships remain, but it's not impossible to simply loot.

As a small fleet of strategic cruisers viciously strikes against a lesser Sleeper threat I request a colleague boards one of the Zephyr prototype ships we have available and return to the radar site. Sleepers fail to register the Zephyr as a threat, perhaps because its lack of any weapons systems. But unlike a capsuleer's pod, which Sleepers also refuse to attack, the Zephyr has a minimal cargo hold, which is big enough to collect the loot that remains in Sleeper wrecks. It may take a while to move between them, but use of the Zephyr will allow us to collect the millions of ISK in profit—okay, maybe not 'profit' at this point—that sits in the decaying wrecks.

The anomaly doesn't take long to clear of Sleepers and a salvager boat sweeps us swiftly behind us, as the Zephyr looting operation continues. And there is more we can do. The Zephyr cannot hope to recover modules dropped from the wrecks of our own ships, the ten cubic metre cargo hold too small for many individual weapon or repair systems, but there are other ways. A cloaked ship won't register on any systems, Sleeper systems no exception, and it is possible to navigate to a wreck, loot it, and warp away before a positive target lock can be acquired. I've done it quite a few times myself, although mostly in a stealth bomber or scanning boat where the small hulls take longer to lock on to. To recover our modules will need a stealthy ship with a more capacious hold.

My Crane transport ship seems ideal for the recovery operation. The Crane can fit a covert operations cloak, has a big enough hold to carry multiple ships' fittings with ease, and is agile enough to enter warp quickly. Its bigger hull and relatively flimsy frame makes this a risky endeavour, one where I am positively tempting fate in a radar site that has already claimed seven of our combat ships, but I am willing to stake my piloting skills on being successful. I board my Crane—Tigress III, as a reminder that the first two are already lost—and warp to the radar site as a preparatory exercise for the first live run.

In the radar site I can bookmark the wrecks of our battleships and note the relative positions of the planets. Unfortunately, the radar site is outside the orbits of all planets, which means I cannot warp in from one to drop short of a wreck and then warp out again in the same direction. I will need to change directions in the site, which adds time and difficulty. But I should be okay, I just need to line up my approach more carefully.

I pick my first wreck and warp in at twenty kilometres, careful not to get too close to any object—or Sleeper battleship—which would drop my cloak prematurely. I manoeuvre so that the wreck is somewhat between my ship and a planet and start my approach. I need some deft manipulation of my controls now. The wreck needs to be selected so that I can open it when in range, which is shortly before my cloak is forcefully dropped by proximity, then I need to transfer all the loot from the wreck to my hold as I also attempt to flee the site as quickly as possible by selecting the appropriate planet and entering warp. It's a bit fiddly but the first wreck is emptied of modules and my Crane warps away and cloaks again without a Sleeper shot fired.

A colleague has the same idea as me and chooses a frigate to help with the effort, affording him a bit more time to recover modules and perhaps quicker alignment times. We seem to be salvaging the disaster until the fiddly process befuddles me and I loiter for too long on a wreck. My approach is good, I get to the wreck, and I prepare to warp, but I prepare to warp before opening the wreck and am disconcerted to find that I cannot loot a planet. Trying to switch back to the wreck is more fiddly when wrecks and planets are on separate overviews, and my heart jumps when I hear the familiar sound of my systems returning a positive lock from an external threat. I slam my fist on the warp button and send my Crane hurtling out of the site as incoming fire from five battleships evaporates my shields and pounds in to my armour, but thankfully my Crane exits the site without adding to our losses.

Our operation is over as the wrecks finally disintegrate in space, two hours after they were converted from battleships, but we have recovered most of the surviving modules. Although we lost a good number of ships the site didn't end up being the complete disaster it looked to be. The evening even ends on a positive note. Our static wormhole is collapsed smoothly and the new adjoining C4 is unoccupied—as it was eight months ago, probably because its static wormhole connects to a class 6 system—and is rife with anomalies to plunder. We don't look for the static connection to the C6, keeping it closed, and instead take our strategic cruisers out again for more Sleeper culling.

The combat is more enjoyable by virtue of making it a race, the two pilots unable to fly Tech III ships salvaging behind us trying to clear the wrecks faster than the four strategic cruisers can make them. It's close and both groups run at similar rates, sweeping through eight anomalies in good time before I head home to sleep, handing over command to a second officer to finish the remaining four. I make a hundred million ISK from those eight cleared sites, those staying for longer no doubt making more, and ending the day in profit from an enjoyable sortie is a good boost to everyone's morale.

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Tags: crane, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, sleepers, w-space, zephyr

Losing to Sleepers

I need to get some ECM quickly. Returning to hear that 'this is the biggest fail of the year' is not encouraging. Colleagues have gone to a radar site in our neighbouring class 4 w-space system and rather than heading back with boat-loads of loot are instead encountering difficulties. But just as I get a Scorpion battleship out of the hangar and aligned to our static wormhole I am told that it's too late. I can't stop the ship from warping, though, and land on the connection in time to see pods jumping back in to the system.

Three battleships and two Guardian logistic ships are lost. I can't remember the last time we had an entire fleet wiped out by Sleepers, and I am curious to learn how it happened. I am told the radar site is the type that culminates with four Sleeper battleships, which helps explain the loss. The alpha strike of the final wave is significant and can easily catch pilots unawares if they lack the specific experience. I know that when I pilot the Guardian in this situation I need to de-activate all my remote repair modules, breaking the otherwise standard procedure of keeping a 'safety' repper on the other Guardian or ECM boat, and react to the battleships' choice of target quickly. Holding back even a single repper can cause a ship to be knocked in to structure damage, and a slight delay in repairs on the final wave could destroy one friendly ship and perhaps cause a chain of events that wipes out the fleet.

The squad leader is not to be beaten by the Sleepers. Current w-space logistics won't let us visit empire space and bring back replacement battleships, the connection to the class 1 system being too weak to allow such massive ships through, but we can squeeze in a new Guardian to pair with our spare. We have extra battleships and plenty of fittings in our hangar anyway, letting us rebuild the fleet. And now I am available to add the Scorpion's ECM to the fleet, which should mitigate the damage down to more easily manageable levels. But whilst we wait for the replacement Guardian to be brought in from high-sec I take my stealth bomber out for a roam, looking for any activity.

All the systems I scanned my way through earlier remain quiet, although I find a pod sitting on a wormhole. It is a capsuleer of the devastated fleet, having warped to the wrong wormhole—leading from the C4 to the C1 and not the K162 leading home—and gone AFK for a couple of minutes. Sitting AFK on a wormhole is rather more dangerous than on a celestial body; even though wormholes need to be scanned, and celestial bodies are on the overview and directional scanner, anyone jumping in to the system will immediately find you with no detective work required. Much as I did, in fact.

I am promoted to wing commander of the squad which allows me to warp the hapless colleague's pod safely away from the wormhole. I bookmark an arbitrary point in space between the wormhole and a planet and warp him to that point, which is not the best safe spot that can be made but off-grid space is certainly better than where he was. I can think of an even safer place, though, and offer to get my still-absent colleague back to high-sec empire space. In to the safety of a station, in fact. The squad leader is unsure about my suggestion, noting that you can lead a capsuleer to a wormhole 'but you can't make him jump'. But he soon understands the innuendo and forbids me from shooting the pod. Spoilsport.

A new Guardian is bought, battleships are launched and fitted, and I return from my quiet roam to pilot the Scorpion. The fleet is ready to return to the radar site. Once more unto the breach, my friends, or collapse the hole with our broken ships. The squad leader's defiance is clear and we are going to exact revenge against the Sleepers. We have an extra ship and foreknowledge of what awaits. Except an escalation occurs from warping in the extra ship, me in the Scorpion. Instead of the four Sleeper battleships that caught my colleagues off-guard we now face five.

My aim is still to jam a couple of the Sleepers and let others engage the ones still able to shoot, and it starts well. I gain a positive lock on the battleships and activate my ECM modules, jamming three of the Sleepers immediately. The incoming damage drops to a relative trickle and the situation is under control, at least until the first failed ECM cycle. It may seem ambitious to jam three ships with six ECM modules, particularly as Sleepers get vengeful when they break through the ECM and target the source immediately, but even switching all modules over to two and then one battleship still results in no successful cycles. My Scorpion feels the force of five focussed fire battleships and, unsurprisingly, doesn't last long.

The bulky Scorpion battleship bolstered with armour plates doesn't even last long enough to align and warp out of the site when my armour starts to drop dangerously low. The blare of warning alarms only adds to my increased sense of impending doom, not actually helping the ship accelerate any faster. On the other hand, my pod flees without my intervention as the squad leader abandons this second attempt at clearing the site and tries to get everyone clear. All but my Scorpion and an unfortunate Abaddon gets out of the radar site intact, the Sleepers claiming two more of our battleships. And I call it 'my Scorpion' but I have merely borrowed it from an absent colleague, as were many of the other ships lost today. Next time I think I should adopt the safe practice of aligning for a quick exit prior to one being needed.

What should have been a standard Sleeper engagement has been thwarted by complacency and bad lack. None of us wants to admit the Sleepers have won, but the escalation to five battleships now loitering in the site and us now lacking an effective ECM platform means we have to retreat. Looking for the silver lining, the imminent move of our operation to a class 5 system has become simpler now we have fewer massive ships to transport across w-space. But the mood is clear, as one colleague says, 'everyone type /clear and never speak of this day again'. And so I share this sad day only with you, my journal, as I know my thoughts and deeds remain private between the two of us. The embarrassment goes no further.

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Tags: abaddon, eve online, guardian, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scorpion, sleepers