Mass-representative battleship

All the wormholes are nearly dead, but we only need to kill one of them. Collapsing our static wormhole ahead of time will isolate us from the scanned w-space constellation and offer a new one to explore. I grab one of the Raven battleships available to add its mass to the operation.

I refit the ship to add a micro-warp drive, which adds even more mass to a ship when activated, and I see why our earlier engagement with the Tengu and Nighthawk ended so quickly. This Raven is configured horribly for anything but operations supported by Guardian logistics ships, sporting a buffer armour tank where I would expect an active shield tank. It is little wonder the two targets blasted through the shields so quickly and why our fleet couldn't recover for the second assault.

The configuration of the Raven is not a failure as much as an indication that the corporation really needs better support for different fittings for specific situations. We shouldn't expect capsuleers to pilot sub-optimal ships in to combat, whether the targets are Sleepers or other capsuleers.

Regardless of the Raven's fit, its mass is suitable to help the corporation collapse our static wormhole smoothly. A few scouts head out to scan the new w-space constellation but, despite finding a K162 to a class 3 system with piloted ships inside a tower, there is no activity to report. The exploration ends with an exit to low-sec empire space, at which point I take my leave to get some rest for the evening.

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

Temporarily trapping a Tengu

Some systems seem simply neglected. Jumping in to our neighbouring class 4 w-space system for today brings me to a system I last visited six weeks ago. Not only was it unoccupied then and remains unoccupied now but there are dozens of signatures scattered around the system. My scouting colleague and myself keep the system neglected and instead scan for wormholes, sharing the task of sifting through the signatures. I am able to discount a dozen sites of rocks and gas, and ignore artefacts and databanks, to find a wormhole with the K162 designator. This is a wormhole opened from another system and exiting here, and the colours seeping through suggest the system beyond is a C2. My colleague finds a second wormhole, the system's static connection leading to a C4, and we both jump to scout our different routes.

The class 2 system has a couple of towers, owned by different corporations in different alliances, and one with a sorry excuse for a ship that is an Impairor frigate inside the shields, but there is no sign of activity in the system. Scanning reveals only four signatures, which are easy enough to resolve, finding me a wormhole leading out to high-sec empire space. Jumping through puts me only five hops away from Hek and with little happening elsewhere—my companion scout needing to take a brief break—I make a short diversion to buy some better combat scanning probes and a skill book for a colleague. I return soon enough and travel through the C2 and across our neighbouring C4 to jump in to the connecting class 4 system.

I am thrust in to the system over seven kilometres away from the wormhole, but that's okay because it lets me cloak more easily so that I don't spook the Nighthawk command ship and Tengu strategic cruiser accompanying Sleeper wrecks I spot on the directional scanner. I warp out of d-scan range of the two ships and launch a single probe. I set an initial scan running with the probe set to maximum range, which keeps it out of d-scan range of the targets whilst still quickly locating every anomaly in the system. But the complete lack of anomalies means the ships are fighting Sleepers in a magnetometric or radar site. It is time to put my new combat probes to good use. I swap to and launch the combat probes and then hunt the two ships using d-scan. It takes a couple of attempts but my probes resolve the active magnetometric site and I warp in, only to see the Nighthawk warp out, followed by the Tengu half a minute later.

This C4 is unoccupied so the Nighthawk and Tengu must come from a different system. I keep scanning, hoping to find the wormhole the ships are using, but not before the ships drop off d-scan, probably having left the system. Slow scanning of the ships has blown it again, I just hope I'm at least getting better. I press on scanning the system and find a wormhole, but as it is the system's static connection I disregard it as the source of the targets. I am more likely looking for a K162. A little more scanning finds me the K162, coming from a class 3 w-space system, but I don't need to jump through to find the ships as they are apparently back in the system. With no more wormholes to find in this system, and a fleet forming and almost ready back at our tower, I think I have enough information gathered for us to form a plan. I head home to change ships and join the fleet.

I swap the Buzzard covert operations boat for my new Onyx heavy interdictor, adding its warp bubble to the firepower and utility of the Dominix and two Raven battleships. Bookmarks are shared and the fleet moves out. A discussion of tactics leads to a cunning plan. We assume that the Nighthawk and Tengu have already been alerted to my scanning and are now probably watching d-scan quite alertly. So instead of trying to ambush them directly we will send the battleships in to the site whilst my Onyx warps to the C3 K162. If the targets run they will meet me on the wormhole, where I can trap them in my bubble, on either side, and have the rest of the fleet to join me. It sounds rather sneaky. The fleet is ready, the command is given to jump!

I warp my HIC directly to the C3 wormhole, the rest of the fleet towards to the magnetometric site. As suspected, the targets are prepared for an ambush and clear the site easily, but they are not prepared for my Onyx. A previously unseen Pilgrim recon ship warps to the wormhole but disappears, cloaking quickly, before the Tengu arrives, and I activate the warp bubble to prevent him from leaving as I lock and start shooting the strategic cruiser, calling the rest of the fleet to my position. The Tengu jumps in to the C3 and I follow, re-activating the warp bubble on the other side and again engaging the him. He's trapped. The fleet jumps in to join me and the Tengu looks to be overpowered. He jumps back through the wormhole to the C4 to try to flee and I follow, but I am a second too late in getting my systems activated again, the warp bubble inflating just as the now-polarised Tengu enters warp. 'That was close', the pilot playfully says in the local channel. Yes, it was, and they are still isolated from their home system.

Our fleet guards the C3 K162. My warp bubble is activated, a configuration I personally don't think wise. I am told to keep the bubble up to prevent the ships from using the wormhole but I think it is key to let them reach it and trap them after jumping, using the polarisation effect to our advantage. Keeping the bubble up only means that any ship warping to the wormhole will end up on the outskirts of the bubble and will be able to turn to warp away again. But I keep the bubble activated. The Tengu can be seen on d-scan warping between celestial bodies making him unlikely to be caught. We ponder our options, including collapsing the C3 K162, but after a while both the Tengu and Nighthawk warp at range to the wormhole, avoiding the bubble, and engage us directly. Later reflection makes me suspect that the cloaked Pilgrim crawled away from the wormhole to provide a suitable warp-in position for the two ships to avoid the warp bubble.

The Nighthawk and Tengu target our battleships and fire from medium range. We fire back but our ships are fitted for closer combat, and the strong tanks of the targets combined with their capable firepower forces us to warp away from the wormhole. My Onyx is only scratched but I am no match alone for the two ships and warp away myself. I pick the closest celestial body to warp to and return immediately to the wormhole, moments before the Nighthawk and Tengu land at zero distance and jump through to their home system. I follow and activate my warp bubble, trapping them in what I conisder the ideal position. If they jump back I follow and bubble and the polarisation effects mean they are trapped, and if they don't jump back they are still trapped in the bubble. The fleet warps back to the wormhole and jumps through to continue the attack. But the previous assault by the two targets has vapourised the shields and weakened the armour of our battleships, and it doesn't take much more damage to convince our big ships to retreat.

Everyone jumps back to the C4 again, our battleships to try to flee and the two targets to push their new advantage. The wormhole can hardly take the stress too, our combined mass destabilising the connection to put it on the verge of collapse. In a way we're lucky that we don't isolate any ships in the C3 system but that the targets follow us back cause the destruction of our Dominix in the C4. The pod escapes cleanly. But our ships have all fled and the Nighthawk and Tengu jump home once the polarisation effects dissipate, joined by their Pilgrim. No targets are left in our system but the unstable wormhole and our battered ships stops us following. We lose one ship for no kills.

I feel we lost the fight when the Nighthawk and Tengu warped at range to the wormhole and attacked us. They turned the fight around by being in their optimal range and out of ours. After that, our damaged ships were unable to engage the targets effectively. I still think our best option was to offer the targets access to the wormhole and use the HIC's warp bubble and the wormhole's polarisation to good effect. Indeed, out two best opportunities occurred under those conditions and we were floundering at every other time. Even so, our initial plan was cunning and very nearly caught the Tengu, and it was certainly an exciting fight! Now we head home, repair the battleship damage, and I get some food to replenish my sugar levels.

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Tags: buzzard, dominix, eve online, mmorpg, nighthawk, onyx, penny ibramovic, pilgrim, pvp, raven, scanning, tengu, w-space

Volcanic activity in space

Opportunity for exploration looks promising. Opening our bookmarks can shows only locations noted for our static wormhole, with the next connection along listed as 'inactive'. I copy the bookmarks to my Buzzard's nav-comp and warp the covert operations boat to our system's wormhole, jumping through when I get there. I have been in our neighbouring class 4 w-space system before, a month ago, and it remains unoccupied. More importantly, there is no one from the corporation in this system shooting Sleepers or mining, which lets me explore further without endangering an operation. I could keep the wormhole inactive in case a corporation fleet wants to plunder this system but the lack of activity suggests it won't happen soon. I warp to the system's static wormhole and jump in to the class 5 system beyond.

The C5 is unoccupied and quiet. Launching probes finds loads of signatures, maybe making this system better for later fleet operations should more pilots turn up soon. In the meantime I start sifting through the signatures looking for wormholes. I find an exit to null-sec space by accident and it doesn't look like the system's static connection, so I keep looking. I manage to confuse myself and select 'ignore result' instead of 'ignore other results' when trying to clear some anomalies from the list of signatures, and I don't remember the designation of the signature I just mistakenly ignored. I could clear the entirety of the ignored list but it has grown quite large already. The signature was the only one around the planet I'm scanning, so I leave it for now and if I fail to find the static wormhole I'll clear the whole list later and only look here.

I finally resolve the system's static wormhole. It turns out to be only around 2 AU from the K162 heading homewards, which makes my comparative method of scanning for wormholes look like a failure. Warping to the connection reveals another C5 system to explore, and I jump through the wormhole. This second class 5 system is much like the first, with no occupancy, no activity, and a bunch of signatures to resolve. I even find another exit to null-sec space, although this one is a K162 and thus was opened from null-sec. I resolve the static wormhole a bit more easily than in the previous system and warp to see the red haemorrhoidal throbbing of the wormhole's sphincter that heralds deadly w-space. Undeterred, I jump in to the class 6 system.

As I reorientate myself I actually get a bit dizzy instead. Instead of seeing a J-number of w-space on my HUD I have an actual name instead. I wonder if I somehow misinterpreted the wormhole and have jumped in to null-sec space instead of a C6 w-space system. I double-check my systems and I am indeed in w-space, my location unknown, but I am also staring at a named planet. Then the name hits me and I scan the planet. It's a lava planet. I sense some Icelandic shenanigans in it being named Eyjafjallajokull but at least it now makes sense, and my directional scanner confirms that planet's name is unique and the rest of the system has a normal w-space locus signature. It was simply chance that the wormhole ejected me closest to this planet in the system.

My orientation recovered, there are two towers in the system but no ships. I would suspect a volcanic dust cloud has grounded them all but I'm not having any problems myself, even resolving a wormhole on my first scan. The wormhole is an exit to low-sec empire space. More scanning picks up a second wormhole, another exit to null-sec space, and a third leads further in to w-space to a C5. But I am already four jumps away from home and don't fancy travelling any further even if I find some activity. I visit all the exits I have found to get red dots of exploration for 21M1-B in the Oasa region, 9OO-LH in Vale of the Silent, FV1-RQ in Cobalt Edge, and some lame low-sec system, before returning home to our tower.

I kick back and relax at our tower for a while before another warm body appears. Another quick check of our connecting systems finds them still empty of activity, giving the two of us the opportunity to take our strategic cruisers to the neighbouring C4 to shoot Sleepers. The C4 holds a magnetar phenomenon, its bonus to damage making combat faster than normal. But it is getting late and we clear only two anomalies, even at the more efficient pace. A second salvaging battle is staged, each of us sweeping one of the cleared anomalies, but my colleague's Catalyst destroyer has its micro-warp drive off-line and he doesn't notice until having left the fitting services of the tower. I jump the gun a little and finish salvaging first, but it wasn't a fair competition this time. Even so, we bring home a good chunk of loot and each get over a hundred million iskies in profit, making it a good end to the evening.

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

Mangling a miner

I'm back in my Buzzard and scanning. Our neighbouring w-space system has been purged of the mining menace and is again safe to patrol, allowing me to explore further afield in my covert operations boat. My probes are launched and being used to look for wormholes, but I am bookmarking all the sites I find, instead of ignoring them, in case the occupants are foolish enough to come out of their tower again this evening. I eventually find a wormhole, the system's static connection that leads in to another class 4 system.

Jumping onwards puts me in to a system I've visited before, only two weeks ago. No one has moved in since I was last here and the system is devoid of activity. Scanning reveals only a few signatures and it is a simple matter to resolve a wormhole, a K162 connecting in from a class 2 system. I keep looking and resolve a second wormhole, this one the system's static connection to a third C4, but it is reaching the end of its lifetime. The presence of the K162 is more promising of activity and I jump through to visit the C2.

The inner system of the C2 has an off-line tower floating inertly over a moon and the outer system has a very much on-line tower. The sheer number of defences looks familiar and makes me wonder if I've been here before, but my notes suggest this is my first visit. Somewhere inside the myriad armaments is a Bustard transport ship, the overview showing it unpiloted, and it looks to be the only other ship in the system. I warp away from the blowfish of a tower to launch probes and begin scanning, again finding only a few signatures to resolve.

C2 systems typically have more than one static wormhole so even though I entered through a K162 I am confident in finding another wormhole in here. I manage to find two more wormholes, one an exit to high-sec empire space that some colleagues could perhaps use to return home and the other another K162 from a class 2 system. I check the exit to high-sec and initially it looks good to appear in the Tash Murkon region, but I am on the outskirts of the system and far from a trade hub. But it is a way in, and not a high-sec island either. Now to go through the K162 in to the other C2.

There is a tower on scan in this class 2 w-space system but nothing else. I launch probes and warp to the tower to keep an eye on it should any capsuleers arrive, and one does. A Drake battlecruiser is inside the shields, warping off seconds later. The Drake disappears and an Osprey cruiser takes its place. I can't think of many uses for an Osprey out here except to mine ore and the presence of mining drones on the directional scanner indicates he's doing just that. I warp out of d-scan range, swap to combat probes, and warp back to try to find the miner. I get a fairly good bearing and range on the ship, carefully position my combat probes, and start a scan.

I feel quicker partly because of practice but mostly because of my relative proximity to the cruiser, helping me better gauge how far way to position my probes for the scan. My first scan isn't quite accurate enough to get a strong enough result to warp to but a second scan gets a solid hit on the mining drones. That's all I need, the drones no doubt close to the ship, and I recall my probes and warp to near their position. The Osprey continues mining, the drones buzzing around a rock, a canister jettisoned for the collected ore. It looks like my probes were not spotted. And it will take an Osprey quite a while to fill a jet-can with ore, easily enough time for me to make the four jumps home, swap in to my Onyx heavy interdictor, and make the four jumps back.

A colleague hearing of my find is interested in wreaking more havoc against defenceless miners. We form a two-capsuleer fleet, him in a Harbinger battlecruiser and me in my Onyx, and I warp us along the route back to the C2. As we jump in to the C2 I instruct the Harbinger pilot to hold his session change cloak as I hit d-scan. I see mining drones still out, which probably means the Osprey hasn't moved, and I warp the two of us to the bookmark I made of the miner's jet-can. We drop almost on top of the Osprey and I inflate my Onyx's warp bubble, preventing escape. The Osprey cruiser is popped quickly, hardly a match for the Harbinger alone, and an immediate response of 'how much?' appears in the local communications channel. I quickly reply with a fairly unreasonable but negotiable demand for the safety of this pilot's pod, which quickly becomes irrelevant as my colleague ruthlessly destroys the pod.

I have to admit I like my colleague's style. A reflex action to pod a pilot is admirable, in a cold-blooded way. The willingness of the miner to save his pod, however, is not to be ignored and I would have liked more time to negotiate a deal. My colleague explains that he saw me shoot the pod myself and only helped to finish it off, but I see what actually happened. I realise now we are in a pulsar system, the phenomenon boosting shields. When the pod was ejected its normal shield capacity was affected by the pulsar and increased but, as is typical with shield systems, had to recharge to reach the new maximum. My colleague interpreted this lack of full shields as the result of my having shot the pod and joined in. It's an easy mistake to have made.

The quick combat over, we scoop the corpse, loot the wreck, and deal with the Sleepers who turned up, no doubt trying to whore their way on to our kill-mail. There is little else to do in this now-quiet system and we head off, my colleague heading home. I peel off, making a diversion in the previous C2 in order to guide a couple of colleagues back in to w-space through the high-sec wormhole. And, as Fin has returned, I strike up a conversation with my latest victim. The capsuleer is not bitter and accepts the dangers of New Eden and w-space, and when we promise better opportunities even says he'll consider joining our corporation, which rather takes us by surprise. I have also contracted to him a copy of the bookmarks that lead from high-sec back to his system, in case he needs them. I don't think I'll maintain a dread pirate image at this rate.

Whilst we chat I loiter in the high-sec system and meet Fin on her return to w-space. I guide her to the wormholes and through w-space, but on a routine check of d-scan note that her ship has its default name still. The closest the Wormhole Engineers have to a policy on ship naming is 'not the default', as we would rather not identify pilots or the corporation just from a name that can be seen on d-scan. Fin flew a Slasher frigate across New Eden under the assumption that the Minmatar ship would be fast but doesn't seem particularly impressed, renaming it 'Winged Minnie Crap'. That's better. We get back to our home tower safely and d-scan reveals only sleepy systems on our travels, much as I feel. I set my ship in to a lazy orbit around the hangar and get some rest.

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Tags: bustard, drake, eve online, harbinger, mmorpg, onyx, osprey, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, slasher, w-space

Bagging a Badger

I load my Buzzard's nav-comp with bookmarks from our can and start exploring. My covert operations boat doesn't get too far, our static wormhole no longer where the bookmark guides me. But the K162 wormhole, opened in to our own system from another, is still alive and I jump through the distinctive black-and-orange mix to the class 5 system beyond. There isn't much to see. I find a tower with a mining barge parked inside its shields but there are no capsuleers or signs of activity. I return to the home system and launch probes to scan for the new static wormhole. The connection is easily resolved, there being only the K162 and the static wormhole to be found, and I am soon jumping in to today's neighbouring class 4 system.

I perform my standard check of the system using the directional scanner. I do this before breaking my session change cloak as it lets me decide whether to launch probes or simply move away from the wormhole and engage my cloaking device. Seeing a Hulk exhumer and jet-cans on d-scan is a good reason to delay launching probes, instead bookmarking the wormhole home and warping to a planet out of range of the Hulk to launch probes more covertly. Once launched, I throw the combat probes far out of the system and punch the scan button, putting them outside of the d-scan range of any ship to keep the probes hidden until I need them. Now I move back closer to the Hulk and start locating its approximate position using d-scan.

Getting a good position of a ship using d-scan is quite an art and can be frustratingly fiddly, particularly when dropping d-scan's beam angle down to five degrees. Then whilst figuring the range of the ship from your position is relatively easy it is more difficult to position probes accurately on to that position in three-dimensional space. But I give it a go. I think I know where the exhumer is and I move my probes accordingly, hitting scan and getting ready to recall the probes the moment I get a solid hit. My positioning isn't accurate enough and I have to make an adjustment, but even the second scan doesn't find the Hulk's position. I move the combat probes out of the system again to reduce the time they are continuously visible on d-scan.

It looks like I am again too slow at combining d-scan with probes, as the Hulk disappears, replaced by a Badger hauler. I scan again anyway and am able to find the gravimetric site itself, if not the ship. I warp to the site, having recalled my probes, and see three jet-cans still floating close together in space. I bookmark the most central one and warp back to the wormhole home, jumping and returning to our tower to swap ships. The Badger may be piloted by the same capsuleer as the Hulk and collecting the ore at the end of a session, and if so may not have seen my probes on d-scan. If he makes more than one trip to collect the ore I may still be able to ambush him. And now I have help too, a couple of colleagues turning up. I swap the Buzzard for my Manticore stealth bomber and am joined by a Harbinger battlecruiser and a Phobos heavy interdictor for maximum disruption.

I warp back to the wormhole and hold for a few seconds to allow the other two ships in the fleet to warp to me. I jump through to the C4 as the other two hold position. I need to ensure the Badger or Hulk is in the site and a valid target before getting the Phobos to warp in, lest we reveal ourselves too early and scare it away. But I have made an oversight, as I didn't check to see what direction the wormhole was in relation to the rocks or jet-cans in the gravimetric site. Warping in to the site could easily get me decloaked by bumping off a rock and, again, I don't want to give the Badger a chance to evade us. I take a risk and warp in at a reasonable distance in the hopes that I avoid the rocks.

My tactics seem like a good idea as I drop out of warp still cloaked and away from any rocks, until I realise that I have stupidly put myself too far from the jet-cans, being significantly out of range of my warp disruption module. The Phobos won't be able to warp any closer to the cans either. There is only one can left and I doubt that I can cover the distance if I crawl cloaked towards it. My only option is to warp away and back again, although at least this time I know I can warp almost directly to the cans without breaking my cloak. I just hope I don't miss the Badger.

As I warp back to the site, within twenty kilometres of the jet-can, the Badger is there and looting the final can. I drop my ship's cloak and get my warp disruption module hot, locking the Badger and successfully preventing it from warping out. I burn towards the hauler to ensure I keep it in range but hold fire for now, calling back to the fleet to jump and warp to my position. My colleague in the Phobos has his confidence shaken a little, noting that 'this is a pulsar system', the phenomenon boosting shields and penalising armour, 'I shouldn't be here in a Phobos'. We are fighting a Badger, an industrial ship that is less dangerous than its animal namesake, we probably don't need an optimal configuration to succeed. The Badger doesn't even have drones to threaten us with and I am happily holding the point and waiting.

The conclusion is inevitable. The Badger crumples quickly once my colleagues arrive, and the warp bubble of the Phobos prevents the poor capsuleer's pod from escaping. The corpse is scooped, the wreck looted and destroyed. The Phobos and Harbinger leave the system and I cloak again to set about finding the tower here. I finally check my notes and realise that I've been in this system twice before, the last time only three weeks ago. Finding the tower is easy when it hasn't moved from the last time I was here. A Cheetah covert operations boat is piloted inside the tower's shields but it disappears when I'm not paying attention. It has probably gone to find a route back in to the system for his colleague's new clone to follow. And I should probably get back to scanning too.

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Tags: badger, buzzard, cheetah, eve online, harbinger, hulk, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, phobos, pvp, w-space

Recovering a blue Osprey

Corporation Sleeper combat is just finishing. That's okay, I can go exploring. The static wormhole in our neighbouring class 4 w-space system was left unvisited and inactive whilst the fleet fought Sleepers but now I open it to see what's beyond. We still have a capsuleer mining gas in the C4 and I warn him that I am opening the connection. Although nothing was stopping a new wormhole opening up in to the C4 to ruin his operation I will still relay information about what I find and any dangers present. He is probably okay for now, the C4 system I jump in to being devoid of occupancy and any activity. I launch probes and begin to scan.

I try a new scanning probe configuration, deploying seven probes and creating a pattern with them that I don't need to change between scans. Four probes are set with a range of 4 AU and positioned at cardinal points around a central point, nominally the signature I am resolving. Three more probes are positioned directly on the central point at three different resolutions, one at 4 AU, one at 2 AU, and one at 1 AU. The benefits are readily apparent, only needing to move cluster of probes as a whole and never needing to adjust scanning ranges, with the overlapping ranges and strengths resolving signatures quickly and efficiently. I am able to discard many irrelevant rock and gas signatures quickly, and when a wormhole is revealed it only takes two scans to resolve it to 100%. I warp to find it the system's static connection to another C4, and jump through.

Although the seven-probe configuration is efficient I abandon it as quickly as I adopt it. The user interface becomes sluggish when moving so many overlapping probes around, which is a little frustrating when trying to make small adjustments, as well as unexpected for what doesn't seem like a particularly graphics-intensive operation. I may try scanning with seven probes again but for now I return to four probes and a lot of little, but smooth, adjustments. And it looks like I could use some finesse, as the system I jump in to has an Osprey cruiser somewhere in space. Judging by the lack of occupancy and no visible drones or jet-cans I suppose the cruiser abandoned, not concerning myself with being particularly quick or covert about locating it. I launch combat scanning probes, get a good bearing on the ship using the directional scanner, and get a solid hit on the ship. I warp to its location to confirm that it is indeed abandoned.

It would be embarrassing not to have any capsuleers available who can pilot an Osprey and the ever-magnificent Fin volunteers to collect the errant ship. The Osprey actually belongs to a friendly corporation, the blue star on my overview marking its alliance. If Oom Tas wants his old ship back, well, he can buy a new one instead. They're not expensive. Two of us scan the system whilst we loiter cloaked around the Osprey waiting for Fin to arrive. A wormhole is soon found and, with the Osprey collected and being piloted home, we warp to see another static connection to a C4. Jumping to the next system brings us in to an occupied system, two towers anchored to moons around the same planet. Disappointingly, the Orca industrial command ship seen on d-scan is also found with the towers and is unpiloted and safe inside the force field.

My scanning colleague finds yet another static wormhole to a class 4 system, just as our own is reported as reaching the end of its lifetime. There's no reason to rush home yet, we still have just under four hours before it collapses naturally. The next C4 along is empty, just as it was when I was here five months ago, but only of capsuleer presence. There are loads of rocks and gas clouds to find, stupid rocks and gas. A fair amount of scanning is complete before the third-to-last signature is resolved as a wormhole. Third-to-last isn't last! The class 5 w-space system beyond makes a change from the string of C4s but the system is also unoccupied and lacking activity.

Two wormholes are found with ease by my colleague, almost tripping over them when moving away from the wormhole we entered through. One is the system's static connection and leads to another C5, the other is a K162 wormhole coming from null-sec space. Not content with this adept display of scanning our scout finds a third wormhole, a K162 from a C5. I jump through the static wormhole to find an empty class 5 w-space system and decide that we are going too deep with nothing to show. I come back, poke my nose through to null-sec system GDEW-0 in the Stain region, then head home. There was plenty of exploring and we found a free cruiser, but our w-space constellation is quiet tonight.

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

Buying another replacement heavy interdictor

I need a replacement Onyx. My heavy interdictor has just been blown up by some battleships and strategic cruisers. As luck would have it, there is an available exit to high-sec empire space that I can use. The route to the exit wormhole passes through the system where we tried to set-up the ambush, but that couldn't possibly cause problems. I board a shuttle at our tower, call it PLEX Courier, and head out to high-sec.

The trip through w-space is uneventful but jumping through to high-sec reveals a Legion strategic cruiser loitering on the wormhole. I make sure I have the entrance back to w-space bookmarked before warping away, where I sit outside a station for a few minutes pondering my options. An Onyx would have no chance avoiding a properly fitted PvP ship, so bringing one back with the Legion waiting would be reckless. I turn around and head homewards, confident that the agile shuttle can align and warp without being caught.

The Legion has gone. It is not on the wormhole any more, neither on the side of empire space or w-space. I grumble a bit about the uncertainty of its location and head back to high-sec to travel to Dodixie for a new Onyx. I hope the market is sufficiently well-stocked. A colleague also comes out to replace the Dominix battleship he threw at the strategic cruisers in vain. We buy our new ships and modules as we make the journey across high-sec, through stargates patrolled by Concord, which lets us assemble and fit the ship quickly when we reach our destination.

So far so good, but I'm uncertain whether we'll be able to make it home again. I pilot my Onyx back to one system before the wormhole leading in to w-space and wait for my colleague. We don't know if the Legion is back and lurking on the wormhole or not. But we have friends on the inside, one of which scans the class 2 w-space system we are soon to enter. He sees the Tech III fleet is in the system but nowhere near the wormhole. As the Dominix catches up with my Onyx we decide to make a break for it.

We jump through the stargate and warp as one to the wormhole, entering w-space as we drop out of warp. No ships are on the other side of the wormhole and we warp to the next connection, out of this system and closer to home. I spy a Vagabond heavy assault ship on the directional scanner and am concerned that we are flying in to a new ambush, but the HAC is one of our own, protecting the wormhole we are flying towards. We join the Vagabond as does our scout in his Falcon recon ship and we exit the system as a fleet.

No more ships are seen on the two jumps home and we all get back to our tower safely. I never thought buying a new ship would be quite so tense.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Buying another replacement heavy interdictor
Tags: dominix, eve online, falcon, legion, mmorpg, onyx, penny ibramovic, vagabond, w-space

Turning the tables

It is a good time to explore. The home system's static wormhole has only just been found and opened, and today's neighbouring class 4 w-space system holds a tower. I warp to the wormhole and jump through, locating the tower by using the directional scanner. I have been in this system before and my notes have the tower's position marked differently, it apparently having been moved at some point in the last six weeks. There is a piloted Proteus strategic cruiser sitting inside the tower's shields, although it looks quite inert. Instead of waiting for activity we seek it through the scanned and resolved static connection to a class 3 system.

The C3 has no occupancy, a few anomalies, and a whole lot of cosmic signatures. A scout finds the system's static wormhole, an exit to low-sec empire space, and I am happy to find a second wormhole, an outbound connection leading to a class 2 w-space system. I jump through to continue the exploration, bookmarking the K162 on the other side before warping away to find two towers on a distant planet. The first tower has no ships or pilots, the second has an unpiloted Bestower hauler inside its shields. And then a Hulk exhumer enticingly warps in, although from my careful use of d-scan I am assuming the capsuleer has only just woken up and is not returning from mining. But he may go out to start mining and although it looks like he is aligning to enter warp a closer look suggests his ship is merely bouncing off a hangar.

The Hulk is swapped for a Legion strategic cruiser, the pilot indeed using the hangar and not getting tangled when trying to warp out. The Legion warps away but not far, as he only visits the first tower anchored to a different moon around the same planet. Back in our neighbouring C4 the Proteus is moving too. It seems like we have a choice of targets, until the Proteus crawls to a halt again after a hundred metres. But the Legion has disappeared from the C2 I'm in. Our best scout comes to find any new wormholes in this system to enable us to catch this lone Legion and so I head home to swap my scanning boat for a combat ship.

A Catalyst destroyer appears in the C2, most likely a salvaging ship, and then also disappears. It seems that both the Legion and Catalyst jumped through the same wormhole in to a C3 system, which gives us enough opportunity and encouragement to plant a small fleet on this side of the wormhole to trap the absent ships on their return. To help keep the targets under control I pilot my Onyx heavy interdictor and am joined by the firepower of an Armageddon battleship, Harbinger battlecruiser, Drake battlecruiser, Falcon recon ship, and our scout in his scanning Proteus. The Legion should be sufficiently overpowered and the Catalyst will probably burst just from the shrapnel flying around. The fleet warps out and we position ourselves in the C2 on the wormhole to the C3.

As our fleet is getting in to position our scout jumps through to the C3 system to get better information about our targets. Knowing when they are likely to be jumping back is always better than being surprised, and if it looks like they will be longer than expected we could jump through to try to ambush them at a site. What we don't expect is for our scout to see the Legion joining a Proteus, two Tengu strategic cruisers, and a Dominix and Megathron battleship. It seems that our lone Legion pilot arrived later than his colleagues and headed out to add to an already substantial fleet.

I am fairly sure we're boned but the confidence of my colleagues is encouraging. After all, the ships we're facing are likely to be fit for PvE engagements, which may give us an advantage. Of course, this advantage may not actually pull us up to having equal firepower but controlling the encounter and intelligent targeting could see us come out on top. We could still use another big ship to help us, though, and our scout jumps back and heads home to bring a Dominix fitted to neutralise a target's capacitor energy, drastically reducing the effectiveness of active repair systems. The Falcon jumps in to the C3 to replace out scout's watch on the targets.

Our squad leader asks, 'who isn't ready to die?', offering anyone an opportunity to retreat now. It's a good question and focusses my attention. The worst that will happen is I will need to buy a new ship and a new clone, which is only really an inconvenience these days. I'm ready.

It is good that I'm ready because the Falcon reports the hostile fleet has finished in the system and is starting to return. It's a shame that we're not quite ready, our scout still not here with his extra battleship. But there is a glimmer of hope as the wormhole we're sitting on flares only once, a Proteus jumping in to our waiting ambush. We are easily able to focus fire on a single ship although I mistake the next wormhole flare as the Proteus trying to flee back to the C3 instead of a second ship jumping in to help him. As a result I jump in to the C3, away from the action, but my warp bubble isn't missed, the Proteus staying around himself as the rest of his fleet warps and jumps to come to his aid.

I return through the wormhole to the C2 as soon as my session change timer expires and add my limited firepower to the combat. But now we have several strategic cruisers and a couple of battleships destroying our meagre fleet. Their Megathron battleship almost loses its armour but the battle is surely over already. Most of our ships are popped or fleeing as the hostile fleet's combined power is brought to bear. I de-activate my warp bubble so that I can warp away. My Onyx's substantial buffer tank has been enough to prevent my being targeted early but now that I am the only target it is not going to last. Amusingly, this PvE fleet has enough utility spare to fit a point, the warp disruption module preventing my escape. I suppose strategic cruisers from a class 2 w-space system and fighting Sleepers in a class 3 system can afford a spare module or two for unforseen circumstances.

Another Onyx HIC of mine pops, my pod getting away safely. It is almost amusing, as I refitted the ship's configuration since my last loss. I was previously concerned about being trapped in a hostile warp bubble myself and so when attacking prepared gas miners I refitted the Onyx with a micro-warp drive, to let me burn out of trouble and warp away more easily. The warp bubble didn't appear and instead battleships pinned my ship with warp scramblers that disable MWDs, as well as my ship's energy being neutralised to the point of not being able to run the MWD anyway. This time I fitted a reheat, not wanting to be caught out again, but I should have realised that in coming up against a mostly PvE fleet I'd be more likely facing a web and standard point instead of a scrambler, making the reheat useless and an MWD more likely to help. It's all good experience and hopefully in the future I can better fit my ships based on predicted circumstances.

Our ambush hasn't quite gone to plan. We lose all but one ship, and one pod. But we were there and willing to engage the other ships. It was exciting and I'd do it again, hopefully with greater experience leading to more success the next time.

Posted in Gaming | 6 Comments »
Tags: armageddon, bestower, catalyst, dominix, drake, eve online, falcon, harbinger, hulk, legion, megathron, mmorpg, onyx, penny ibramovic, proteus, pvp, tengu, w-space

Disparate roaming

A corporation fleet is hunting, in the same way that a spider hunts. I turn up to learn that a Buzzard covert operations boat is scanning in our neighbouring class 4 w-space system but doing so from within the safety of his tower, so the small fleet is lurking on our side of the wormhole waiting for him to jump innocently in to an ambush. The combination of a heavy interdictor's warp bubble and interceptor's speed is probably best for catching a cov-ops boat and I offer my services, but as I am the only available capsuleer who can pilot either class of ship I need to make a choice. I launch my Onyx HIC and join a sensor-boosted Jaguar assault ship and Rifter frigate on the wormhole.

The Buzzard will be able to align and warp away quickly, and if it gets time to cloak there will be little chance in catching it. Preventing the cov-ops boat from warping at least gives time for the fast-moving ships to 'bump' and delcoak the Buzzard to gain a positive target lock. Of course, this is all theoretical unless the Buzzard actually jumps through the wormhole in to our system, so it's good that we have eyes in the C4 to monitor the ship. And he sees the Buzzard leave the tower, warping away not to our wormhole but to the class 4 system's static connection, which leads to a C3. He may not have come our way but if he has left his home system then he will certainly come back again.

We move the ambush from our wormhole to the C3 connection in the C4, warping as a squad across the system. Unfortunately, the Buzzard reappearing on the directional scanner shows that the pilot was only reconnoitring the wormhole and not jumping through it. And now we've revealed our intentions and foiled our ambush attempt. I return the Onyx to our tower and swap for my Manticore stealth bomber, ready to roam the current w-space constellation for opportunities.

I warp across our neighbouring C4 to a second connecting C4, jumping in to the system to find no occupancy or activity. The bookmarks I copied from our shared can points me to a wormhole to a class 2 system, which I enter. D-scan shows four active towers in the system along with a Legion strategic cruiser and Impairor frigate. I take time to locate the towers, also finding the Impairor piloted but inert in one of them, and in my warping around the Legion disappears to be replaced on d-scan by a Cormorant destroyer and Sleeper wrecks. I'm in the right ship to surprise a salvager and start a passive scan to try to find the anomaly he is in.

My scan turns up only a single anomaly, which still has Sleepers guarding it. I warp around to mitigate the limited range of the ship's on-board scanner but can find no more sites. Continued checks of d-scan show the Cormorant still to be active but the number of Sleeper wrecks quickly diminishes until no more remain. The salvaging is complete. He must have been in an anomaly that had since despawned. I check the towers in the system and find the Cormorant, the pilot's switching back to the Legion indicating that he was both shooting and salvaging alone. The Legion doesn't leave the tower to enter the final anomaly, leaving this class 2 system fairly dull.

Meanwhile, our colleague in the Jaguar's pursuit of the Buzzard has reaped a kill, the Buzzard pilot's cavalier attitude to cloaking getting his ship destroyed. And another corporation scout, checking a different system, has found a rather formidable fleet. Two Basilisk logistic ships, a Vargur marauder, two Raven battleships, a Tengu strategic cruiser, a Drake battlecruiser, and a Rifter frigate are roaming in another C2 system, the Rifter no doubt acting as bait for the rest of the fleet. Our own scout is a little concerned about making it home but the hostile fleet is luckily heading in a different direction and he exits the system with some alacrity.

The separate paths of exploration have halted and our paths converge towards the home system. There is a last attempt to encourage the neighbouring system pilots to come out and avenge the popping of their Buzzard, a Hurricane battlecruiser sat enticingly on a planet for a Loki strategic cruiser and Falcon recon ship to engage, with my own Falcon lurking nearby as support. But the only reaction we get is the Loki pilot telling our own to 'shoo, bait cane'. I suppose it was a bit obvious. I leave the two of them having a conversation in local and jump back home. I return to the tower and start making some dinner.

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Tags: basilisk, buzzard, cormorant, drake, eve online, falcon, hurricane, impairor, jaguar, legion, loki, manticore, mmorpg, onyx, penny ibramovic, raven, rifter, tengu, vargur, w-space

Short-range salvaging

We have explored local w-space and found no signs of life. But we still have Sleepers to shoot. A colleague and I in strategic cruisers jump through to our neighbouring system to start clearing some anomalies of Sleeper infestation. This class 4 w-space system holds a magnetar phenomenon which increase damage significantly, speeding up our Sleeper slaughter. The phenomenon applies to all ships, though, so we need to take care not to get overwhelmed by the incoming damage, although combat doesn't seem more dangerous than normal.

All phenomena also have drawbacks, the main one for a magnetar being a reduction of a ship's targeting range. My Tengu cruiser's targeting range normally greatly exceeds the physical range of the heavy assault missiles I use, so the magnetar phenomenon's negative effects are not really felt in combat. But I find it makes salvaging a little more pernickety.

When salvaging, I like to plan an optimal path between wrecks, one that minimises travel and maximises the use of the tractor beams. Once I have a rough idea of the path I'll take between the wrecks I target them in the order I plan to salvage each one, reducing the need to double-back or recalculate my current path. The reduced targeting range in the magnetar system makes my normal method more awkward, as I can barely target beyond the range of the tractor beams. I need to remain more aware of my route and which wreck is my next target instead of relying on targeting order.

Targeting range quibbles aside, salvaging is made more interesting by the two of us having a race. We each pick one of the anomalies and see who can loot and salvage all the wrecks first. I think I have an advantage with my Tech II salvager modules but my colleague's Catalyst is perhaps a quicker destroyer than the Cormorant I am flying.

I manage to clear my site of wrecks first, but it is close and my colleague is confident he can do better. 'We shall repeat this', he promises. That's fine by me, I'll train my salvaging up to six in preparation. We head home with our hauls of loot. There may not have been any other capsuleers around but it led to a peaceful evening of making a profit, both of us now around a hundred and twenty million ISK better off.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Short-range salvaging
Tags: catalyst, cormorant, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, sleepers, tengu, w-space