Damnation to Guardian against the Sleepers

I turn up at just the right moment for Sleeper combat. And, for me, the right moment is after the fleet has jumped in to the next system, as that means I am not chosen to pilot one of the Guardian logistic ships. I don't mind flying the Guardian still but I've done it an awful lot. I currently prefer to take my Tengu strategic cruiser to shoot Sleepers but as the fleet is tackling a magnetometric site, full of Sleeper artefacts, I have an uncommon opportunity to pilot my Damnation command ship.

As the Damnation has far too much armour the large buffer offers some flexibility in how it can be fitted, not needing to sacrifice survivability to do so. Combined with Guardian-supporting armoured warfare links and a few drones and heavy launchers the Damnation is an excellent fleet command ship, if you have a pilot to spare. I refit my ship with some analysers in the mid-slots and warp out to join the rest of the fleet. Activating my warfare links once out of warp makes repping a little easier for the two Guardian pilots as I start moving towards the first of the artefacts to pillage.

I can pretty much ignore what's happening around me and focus on analysing. There isn't that much to it, to be honest, beyond mapping out an efficient path between artefacts and noting when the analysers have opened each container successfully. Otherwise, I can fling a few missiles and let the Guardian pilots worry about any damage to my Damnalyser's armour. The first artefact is reluctant to share its secrets with me but eventually cracks, and the other artefacts are easier to open. Even so, the site is cleared of Sleepers before I have finished and a dedicated analysing boat comes out to help.

Analysis of the artefacts is completed, the next site awaits us. But one of the Guardian pilots doesn't have time to continue and I am volunteered to take his place. I swap the cuddly curves of the Damnation for a giant robot's head. I need to revert the fitting back to our standard Guardian configuration, the previous pilot not able to fit, uh, something. It takes me a little while to work out what exactly is different and then find the module in our hangar. I would prefer it if the swapped module were left in the ship's cargo hold for ease of switching. But now I am ready and the fleet continues to shoot Sleepers.

I have just realised that our neighbouring class 4 w-space system, which we're fighting in, holds a cataclysmic variable phenomenon. This makes remote repairing in a Guardian incredibly easy, with the phenomenon boosting both repair amounts and capacitor recharge rates. The energy-hungry ships don't need as much coddling and each one of our repper modules is vastly more efficient. I doubt the effect of my Damnation's warfare links were even noticed as noise in this system.

The boost to the logistic ship's capabilities is only a little exaggerated. Rather than merely removing the stress of having to keep the fleet alive the generous bonuses from the cataclysmic variable phenomenon means I can set each module running on a specific ship and then sit back and relax. And by 'relax' I mean 'get bored and daydream'. I prefer to be active which, for all my whining, piloting a Guardian generally is. At least we are making some easy profit and I can catch up on pretending to be a raccoon.

All the Sleepers are destroyed in this site. I swap ships and board a salvager to help tidy up the wrecks as the analyser boat pokes at more artefacts. I managed to leave the Guardian's armour maintenance drones behind when I left the site and somehow even manage to forget to scoop them in to my salvaging destroyer. But I see why. Or rather I don't. After a spectacular client crash recently I had to import my overview from an old file, one which had some tweaks made to it since. I leave my drones behind and then fail to pick them up because the drone bracket isn't appearing on the overview. I correct this setting, just another of many recently, and get to see my drones again.

I change from the salvager back to the Guardian as the fleet prepares to continue its assault against the Sleepers. Another magnetometric site is cleared and salvaged, a new dedicated cruiser is fitted in order to analyse the artefacts, and our Sleeper operation draws to a close. With a ninety-four million ISK share in the profits for the evening making my wallet bulge even more I have an urge to spend. We have an exit to high-sec empire space available, so I think I'll go on a shopping trip.

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Tags: damnation, eve online, guardian, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, sleepers, w-space

Caught by a Crow

'There's sites to be done' and without a full fleet in sight. I eagerly launch Pengu, my Tengu strategic cruiser, and declare myself ready! We warp to our static wormhole and jump in to today's neighbouring class 4 w-space system, its own static connection scanned but left unopen for now. My Tengu joins two Legion strategic cruisers and we engage Sleepers in anomalies, the combat smooth and practiced now. Well, it should be if a certain Tengu pilot paid more attention to which ships trigger subsequent waves of Sleepers. The two webbing Sleeper battleships in the second wave cause enough problems without the webbing frigates of the first remaining, and I have to warp out before my shield is vapourised.

Dealing with two waves of Sleepers is only a minor inconvenience, though. Warping back in to rejoin my colleagues quickly sees the prioritised targets despatched and the anomaly is cleared without any further fuss, as is a second site. But that's all for now. A salvager works behind us to collect the loot, leaving me free to explore in my Buzzard covert operations boat. I jump back in to and warp through the neighbouring C4 to the unvisited wormhole, a connection to a class 5 system. Jumping through puts me in an unoccupied system with plenty of signatures to sift through. A fat signature feels like a K162 but turns out to be what looks like the system's static connection, to another C5. I jump onwards to continue my exploration.

Three towers sit forlornly in this system, only one with any defences surrounding it and each of them bereft of shields or capsuleer attention. I launch probes and scan. I get some gas but also quick relief in the form of a wormhole. I have found an exit to null-sec space but not the system's static connection, a bit more scanning needed to reveal a wormhole to another C5. I jump through. An abandoned tower and a lack of activity is here too, and only three signatures to resolve. I am soon through the system's static connection and in a class 4 system, and I see activity.

A Golem Marauder, Scorpion Navy Issue battleship, Tengu strategic cruiser, and Ferox battlecruiser are all visible on d-scan along with some Sleeper wrecks. The combat scanning probes in the system probably belong to this fleet too, making them not only well-equipped but also well-prepared to spot any new entities in the system. Maybe this is too much activity to find. But perhaps a separate salvager ship will be left behind to become a victim of stealth bombers. I use my on-board scanner to look passively for anomalies but the ships are not in either of the two left in the system.

I head to the outskirts of the system and decloak to launch probes. I can still see the ships on d-scan, which means they can see me. I try to limit my time decloaked as much as possible and quickly move all my probes 100 AU or so out of the system and hit the scan button, warping them out of d-scan range. Now I warp back to the inner system and use d-scan to get a bearing and range on the ships. Finding one of the ships turns out to be trivially easy, as the Tengu and I both use the system's star as a default location. The potential for accidental encounters like this is why I don't warp to zero. The Tengu is joined at our hot-spot by the Scorpion, as I busily increase the separation of our ships, and they both warp off to another site. Now I need to use d-scan.

I am able to get a fairly good bearing and range on the ships in the site they warped to and I move my probes in to an approximate position. I doubt I will get much time before I am spotted, if I haven't been rumbled already, so I need to make this scan count. I am still having trouble gauging diagonal distances in the system map, though, and my scanning takes a couple of attempts before I get even a rough return. It's my own fault. I know that they are not in an anomaly, are in combat and not mining, and radar and magnetometric sites are more difficult to scan. I should be using combat probes to find the ships, not core probes to find the site. I eventually find it, but 'eventually' is generally too long when timing is critical. As I warp in to see what is happening I leave my core probes scatted around the system to give the impression I am scanning in general and not looking for them in particular, but I doubt my bluff is effective.

Inside the magnetometric site the ships remain in combat. The capsuleers probably aren't too worried about pipsqueaks interrupting them and a big fleet will be spotted early by their combat scanning probes. But I can still bookmark the wrecks and return with a stealth bomber to try to foil their salvaging. I have been relaying all the information to my colleagues and when I swap the Buzzard for my Manticore back at our tower I am joined by two more stealth bombers for the journey back to the active system.

The combat ships are gone and it looks like only salvagers remain in the system. The magnetometric site is empty of ships and I warp out to keep it empty. My cloaked ship is enough to keep the site from despawning and I don't want my presence to be inferred. A Crow interceptor is spotted on d-scan, showing that either the capsuleers suspect they are under threat or they are suitably paranoid about w-space operations. As the magnetometric site is the only site I was able to resolve there is little to do but wait for a ship to arrive. So we wait.

Eventually a Drake battlecruiser appears in the magnetometric site, shortly followed by the Crow. The speed of the interceptor and its tackling capabilities is a big threat to our stealth bombers. One of our fleet heads home to swap his ship for a Jaguar assault frigate in order to deal with the Crow. This will leave our two remaining bombers free to attack the Drake and we get in to position as our colleague jumps across systems. We hold patiently as the Jaguar makes the return journey, there being enough wrecks left to loot and salvage to ensure the Drake's continued presence. The Jaguar jumps back in to the system and enters warp to the site. Our attack is seconds away.

As the Jaguar is in warp our primary target leaves the site! Maybe the capsuleers don't care too much for salvage and only want the loot, or the Jaguar is quickly spotted on d-scan and the Drake clears the site. Either way, the Jaguar is warping in to find only the Crow and the assault ship is quickly tackled by the interceptor. I decloak and launch torpedoes at the tiny ship, hoping to distract the pilot and let our Jaguar escape, but the Crow is as much of a threat to me and I warp out before it gets too close. I don't stay out of the site, though, warping back to be ready to provide any support I can.

Getting my Manticore back to the site I see a Tengu has joined the Crow in attacking our Jaguar. 'Shoot the Tengu', says my troubled colleague. Right-o! I decloak and target the Tengu, firing my siege launchers at the strategic cruiser, probably rather ineffectively. Never the less, the Jaguar manages to warp out of the site, which is my cue to leave too. I doubt my Manticore scared the Tengu or the Crow and I suspect the Jaguar had forced the Crow to disengage, allowing his own ship to escape. But at least we all manage to escape, able to leave the system safely. Before we exit a comment of 'thanks for the exercise' is made in the local channel. Yes, it was good practice and although we still have plenty to learn we are continuing to get in to engagements.

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Tags: buzzard, crow, drake, eve online, ferox, golem, jaguar, legion, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, scorpion, sleepers, tengu, w-space

Harassing a Heron

Wormholes die regularly. The static connection in our neighbouring w-space system finally reaches the end of its life and collapses, the uncertainty of its continued existence no longer preventing us from exploring further. But instead of finding the new wormhole straight away we leave it undiscovered, and therefore 'closed', in order to shoot some Sleepers for fun and profit. I take my Tengu along with a small fleet of other strategic cruisers in to the class 4 system, one I've visited twice before.

This system has been unoccupied on both previous visits and apparently still is, but I see customs offices on the overview. I ask our salvager to warp his Cormorant destroyer fifty AU to the outer planet to check for occupation, which he does and reports no towers visible on the directional scanner. It looks like the system remains unoccupied, although it is odd to have planetary interaction stations here. W-space connections change daily and being able to visit the same system again is based on pure chance, so deploying structures outside of your home w-space system that require regular attention will only result in losing those structures. Whatever the reason the customs offices are here, we are safe to continue shooting Sleepers.

A scout scans for and resolves the system's new static wormhole, a fresh connection leading in to a class 2 system. He is hoping to find an exit to high-sec space and continues through to the C2, spying a tower on the directional scanner in that system. Our fleet recruits another member, this one to sit near the newly opened wormhole to monitor any ship movements through it. We don't want to be surprised. Two anomalies are cleared of Sleepers and the wrecks looted and salvaged, each participant gaining seventy-two million ISK in profit, including the salvager and scout monitoring the wormhole. With the new connection opened I join the hunt for high-sec, as I need another replacement Onyx, recently losing my heavy interdictor to prepared gas miners.

Returning to our tower I swap the Tengu for my Buzzard covert operations boat to help with scanning an exit from w-space. I travel through our neighbouring C4 system and in to the C2, where I locate the previously reported tower, now with a piloted Maelstrom battleship, Hurricane battlecruiser, and Heron frigate sitting in its shields. Scanning the system finds a wormhole leading to a class 1 system, another scout resolving the exit to high-sec empire space that we were hoping for. We share our results, warping to each other's location, and jumping through the exit puts me only seven hops from Amarr, which is convenient. I bookmark the high-sec side of the wormhole and return to w-space.

Before buying a new ship I want to check what the occupants of this C2 are doing, just in case they pose a threat. All three piloted ships are still in the tower and it looks safe to go shopping. Except I only now notice that one of the ships isn't in the tower, the Heron is sitting above it, nestled in the tower's defences outside of the shields. This isn't a threat, it's a target. I bookmark one of the defensive batteries and warp homewards, already with two colleagues getting ready to ambush the frigate.

Stealth bombers are the ship of choice to engage a capsuleer outside of his tower. I am soon sitting in one of two Manticores accompanied by a Hound. We each have a copy the bookmark I made of the tower defence, where the Heron was seen sitting, and have equipped the same type of bomb. Two of us have done this often enough before to know the plan, which we share with the third as we warp out. On reaching the C2 system my two colleagues warp off to a celestial body in different directions and I sit on the wormhole. Once we are all in position we warp to the bookmark's location, aiming to drop out of warp thirty kilometres short. Now we are all in different positions and at the optimal range of a bomb launch, but without being in danger of decloaking each other.

It is easy to co-ordinate the actual attack. All three stealth bombers decloak and launch a bomb almost simultaneously, each ship cloaking seconds later and changing vector for safety. Two bombs isn't quite enough to pop a Buzzard but I am confident that three should turn a flimsier Heron inside-out and I re-activate my cloak rather than risk getting attacked by the tower's defences. As it turns out, only two bombs are needed to pop a Heron, the third's detonation destroying the ship's wreck instead.

It's a clean kill. There shouldn't be anything more to do here, as our ships are all cloaked and the occupants won't be able to retaliate easily. But the capsuleer's pod, fresh from being ejected from the Heron, is not warping away to safety before returning to the tower. He's slowly crawling directly towards the tower to get back in the shields. This is too much temptation for one colleague. I respect his decision and join him in decloaking, risking the ire of the tower defences once more, to lock on to the foolish pod pilot. Getting a positive lock shows that the third bomb looks to have caused a fair bit of damage to the pod, it already being in low armour. Only a single volley of torpedoes is needed to wake a new clone in a station somewhere.

I have been caught by a tower's defences before but the past couple of days have shown that relying on the defences for safety is no replacement for sitting inside the tower's shields or warping to a safe spot. And if you're acting as bait you should expect to be bitten. The main lesson, though, is if you find yourself in a pod you should be mashing that 'warp' button to get you safely away to any celestial object in your overview tab dedicated to showing them.

A cursory check in my Manticore of the class 1 system connecting to this C2 shows no occupancy and no activity. There is no one else to shoot for now. I return to our home system, swap in to a shuttle, and head out to empire space to replace my lost Onyx. Being close to a trade hub makes it a simple matter to buy the ship and all its fittings. I set the name of the new HIC to 6502 Inside and am able to return home safely to rest for the night.

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Tags: cormorant, eve online, heron, hound, hurricane, maelstrom, manticore, mmorpg, onyx, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, sleepers, tengu, w-space

How to continue being useful in w-space

Previously on tigerears I encouraged trepidatious capsuleers to understand how to be useful in w-space, despite not having ten million skill points. The advice to train salvaging and scanning, however, is not general. Rather, it is specific to new pilots who want to get out to w-space and feel useful within the corporation and as part of a fleet. There are only so many new applicants a corporation can accept who can only scan or salvage before the function becomes flooded.

It must be noted that my previous advice is essentially a minimum level of skill competence required to be generally useful in w-space. If you can't salvage wrecks, have no scanning skills, and can only pilot cruisers then you are unlikely to be able to contribute in a meaningful way to most w-space operations. Unless you only want to be involved in PvP and have good support skills, or are a dedicated miner, you will need more skill training before heading in to unknown areas of space. However, if you have trained in astrometric skills and can salvage wrecks competently then you shouldn't feel like you can't contribute to a w-space corporation. Scanning is essential for life in w-space and salvaging is perhaps the easiest support skill to train. But it really is just the start.

Once out in w-space your skill training must progress meaningfully. Your scanning and salvaging skills should already be at a decent level before leaving empire space. Your focus now is to become the pilot your corporation needs you to be. The fleet may need another battleship, a logistics pilot, or more strategic cruisers. At the very least, a decently fitted battlecruiser will add to the capability of a fleet. And if you can fly a battlecruiser then perhaps specific support skills can to be trained to fit better defences or allow the use of remote repair modules.

Training scanning and salvaging is a stepping-stone in to a w-space corporation. Treat them as such and leave them behind you as you do empire space, at least for now. Train more needed skills to expand your own capability as much as that of the fleet. By doing so you become more flexible, letting you enjoy combat as well as scanning and salvaging. It will also allow junior capsuleers to join the corporation who may only be able to scan and salvage, and others deserve the same opportunities to be useful.

If you are unsure what you should or could be training, ask a director. They will know what the corporation's operations require and be able to offer advice as to what to aim for, including specific ships and fittings, and how long the training plan will likely take. With a bit of guidance you can become more than just the salvager and enter combat against both Sleepers and other capsuleers with confidence. Jumping through a wormhole is only the beginning, there is so much more to experience.

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Tags: eve online, mmorpg, w-space

Revenge outside a tower

My Onyx is gone but my pod is safe. Instead of licking my wounds I am going back in to our neighbouring w-space system in a Manticore stealth bomber, accompanied by my current partner-in-crime in his Hound. It is unlikely that our targets will resume normal activities and actually become targets again, but it is certainly advisable to know what they are up to. And having chased us off there is a slim chance that a vulnerable ship or two will wander around trying to loot wrecks and collect mined gas. Then again, when a capsuleer in local says he can see me after I jump through the wormhole it seems our outing in the pair of stealth bombers won't catch anyone unawares. The other corporation must have a cloaked ship sitting near the wormhole.

Knowing that there are stealth bombers lurking in the system may actually present us with a target. My colleague sees a Buzzard covert operations boat move out of the shields of one of the two local towers, where it starts circling lazily around some of the tower's defences. The pilot is most certainly baiting us, hoping we'll decloak and try to bomb him, knowing that the tower defences will target decloaked ships and perhaps destroy us, and that the small signature radius of the Buzzard will mitigate most of a bomb's explosion damage. We both know this too but are also ready to throw a couple of bombs to see what happens.

My colleague has a good position near the tower from which to launch a bomb. I warp close to his position and set my own vector. The Buzzard continues to circle, not oblivious to our threat but unsure if we'll attack. Hound and Manticore are now lined up and ready, within our payload's optimal range, and we simultaneously decloak and launch a bomb directly towards the Buzzard. With a ten second flight time and fifteen kilometre explosion radius any ship has to move over 1·5 km/s to escape a well-positioned bomb launch, and the Buzzard is easily caught by both explosions! But the covert operations boat survives, limping back towards the safety of the tower's shields.

To avoid getting targeted and attacked by the tower defences my colleague has long-since cloaked and either warped away or at least changed vector. I, however, have held my line and locked on to the Buzzard. This lets me use a fitted target painter to increase the signature radius of the Buzzard, increasing the damage of the bombs, and it allows me to fire some torpedoes too. I don't want to lose another stealth bomber to automated defences, so a single volley of torpedoes is all I dare launch before cloaking again. I watch as the torpedoes propel themselves towards the slow-moving Buzzard, heavily damaged from the double bomb blast. The torpedoes hold a straight line until the last second, when they adjust course to maximise impact, looping over the top and slamming in to the Buzzard. Pop!

It is a glorious kill, made sweeter by risking what turned out to be the final blow. The pilot's pod gets back to the shields safely but the capsuleer doesn't board another ship. And the wreck of his Buzzard sits eniticingly close, apparently with an intact covert operations cloaking device inside. 'Can you loot?', asks my colleague. It's a good question and technically I can, my cargo hold having enough spare room to carry the bulky cloaking device. But I'd need to decloak and pass right next to tower defences to loot the wreck, and do so under the noses of the pilots still in the tower. Actually, that sounds like fun. Sure, I'll grab the loot.

I line up my Manticore to loot the wreck of the Buzzard. I will need to decloak and loot as quickly as possible to let me either re-activate my cloak or warp away safely. It would be quite embarrassing to lose a ship when looting a wreck. I fly parallel to the tower defences, far enough away to hold my cloak, and approach the wreck. My hold is open and ready. When I am almost within range to loot I drop my cloak, hit the reheat, and scoop the loot from the wreck. By the time the loot is recovered my Manticore is far enough away from the tower defences to cloak again. Yes, I've popped your Buzzard then stolen your fittings, right outside your own tower.

Meanwhile, my colleague has gone back to the ladar site looking for a Loki strategic cruiser that was seen on the directional scanner. The Loki isn't there but the wreck of the Manticore we popped in our earlier fight is. This is the Manticore that had the advanced spaceship command skill book in its hold, incredibly taken in to combat, and the wreck is unlooted. But not for long, my colleague snatching the expensive skill book for ourselves. He also takes the covert operations cloaking device that survived destruction, ditching a bomb in his hold to make room. I take his cue and turn up to scoop for trophies the two corpses floating in space, as well as grabbing some ammunition from the Manticore wreck. And that looks like everything.

The capsuleers here aren't coming out to play any more and their system is hardly going to be safe for any of our own operations. With some more of our own corporation and allied pilots turning up we will need to find a new system to keep ourselves entertained, so we start to collapse our static wormhole. Not wanting to risk the Orca industrial command ship we rely on battleships to destabilise the wormhole. The operation is a little tricky but goes smoothly, the wormhole imploding with everyone on the right side. I suppose I'll need to buy myself a new Onyx at some point, which means finding an exit to empire space. But for now I'll take a break. It has been quite an exciting afternoon.

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Tags: buzzard, eve online, hound, loki, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, w-space

Counter-strike

A new day means a new wormhole to find. I am hoping my early scanning will catch some capusleers being rather more cavalier about their attitudes to the directional scanner than in busier periods. But most of the time early scanning only results in empty w-space systems until I get ejected out to empire space. So it makes me tingle when I jump through our new static wormhole in to an active class 4 system. Two battlecruisers, a Ferox and Brutix, can be seen on the directional scanner along with a Heron frigate and Cerberus heavy assault ship, and, most importantly, Sleeper wrecks. I immediately start my on-board scanner running a passive scan for anomalies in the system.

There are a couple of jet-cans on d-scan too. And judging by the names of the two battlecruisers, which d-scan also reveals, the ships are likely mining gas. Sleepers come to protect gas clouds in w-space—I have no idea why—which also could explain the wrecks on d-scan. I will need to look for ladar sites, which means launching probes. The system is small, though, and I won't be able to launch scanning probes out of d-scan range of the ships. But there is a way to minimise my visibility. I fly to the outer ring of the system and decloak to launch probes, sitting with my display in the solar system map. As soon as the complement of probes is launched I whisk them all fifty AU away and hit the scan button to send the probes warping to my chosen distant point. Naturally, no signatures are returned, but my probes are now handily out of d-scan range of any point in this system. I can begin to narrow down my search of the gas miners using d-scan.

I get a bearing of the ships and jet-can, repeatedly narrowing d-scan's beam angle and adjusting the scan position to reveal their direction in space. Keeping my attitude I vary the range of d-scan until I also know how distant the ships are, within one AU or so. Now comes the tricky part in positioning the probes. I can get a reliable placement of the probes in the direction I require but I am still poor at judging relative distances in a three-dimensional space with few points of reference. Maybe I need to string some probes along a line, like some anal beads of probing doom, using their spheres indicating effective range to gauge my required distance. For now, I try to estimate the range as best I can and reposition the probes in to a scanning arrangement. I get ready to recall the probes should I get the solid hit I need and punch the scanning button.

My first scan is poor and I need to reposition my probes significantly. The second scan is better but I need a third to get a strong enough signal to warp to. I recall my probes, strongly suspecting that I have taken far too long not to be noticed, and warp to the ladar site. As I thought, I have been rumbled. The ships mining gas are aligning and warping out of the site as I enter, and I doubt it is because they are finished. I swap the Buzzard covert operations boat for my Manticore stealth bomber anyway, returning to lurk in the gas mining site to see what happens.

Regular checks of d-scan show that ships are being swapped, a Falcon recon ship appearing for a while as well as an Onyx heavy interdictor. These capsuleers are cautious and prepared. Then the miners return, right back to their jet-can and activating their gas harvesters. I find their tower in this sytem and check it for active ships, seeing the Falcon piloted and a second capsuleer sitting in his pod, perhaps waiting to see what ship would be most appropriate for the situation. I return to the ladar site to see the miners still collecting gas, like there is nothing to be concerned about. Even with only the Falcon prepared I think any assault I make will end badly for me, particularly alone. It's good that a colleague turns up to share in my foolhardy attack.

I quickly update my colleague with details of what I've found, blurting about gas miners with a Falcon for back-up, and I jump back home to swap the Manticore for my Onyx. The Manticore would be safer but it may not guarantee a kill, and I'm sure I'm risking the Onyx if I took it in alone. Now that I have support I think a bolder approach is justified. This attack may not end well but I am more confident about wreaking some havoc before dying myself. On hearing about the Falcon my colleague selects his Arazu recon ship fitted with sensor dampeners, to reduce the effectiveness of the likely ECM we'll face, and we jump in to our neighbouring system for glory.

My nav-comp has the jet-can of the miners bookmarked, where I aim my Onyx and its warp disruption bubble. I drop out of warp on top of the two battlecruisers and an unlucky Iteron hauler collecting the mined gas. The weak hauler becomes my first target, as I activate my bubble and trap the three ships. In fact, I've trapped four ships, as I am just as unable to warp away as any other ship in the bubble, which was my main concern about a solo assault. The Iteron explodes within seconds under fire from my missiles and I lock the pod and wake the pilot up in a new clone. I switch targets to the Hurricane battlecruiser mining gas, who is trying to escape, but as I start weakening its shields the Falcon decloaks nearby. The fight becomes more interesting.

My inexperience makes me falter, unsure whether to target the Falcon or continue with the softer targets. As the Falcon appears to be causing me no problems I ignore it, which is probably my first mistake. I think my colleague in his Arazu is doing a good job of reducing the targeting range of the Falcon to make it ineffective and I ought to use this time to destroy it or shoo the ship away. Instead I continue shooting the Hurricane, at least until a Manticore decloaks to launch a bomb at me. It's an interesting manoeuvre for the stealth bomber, not only because my Onyx can easily withstand a bomb blast but because the bomb is indiscriminate in its targeting, damaging everything in its fifteen kilometre radius explosion. Another odd decision of the Manticore's pilot is to move in to my Onyx's warp bubble. Prevented from warping away, and knowing how fragile stealth bombers are, I have a new target. The Manticore pops quickly, the pilot podded for his error.

I flit back between the Hurricane and Falcon, now deciding that the Falcon is the priority target but tempted by the Hurricane's lack of shields and diminished armour. And the combat is starting to turn. The Falcon is neutralising the energy in my capacitor to a debilitating degree and my Onyx cannot even power its warp disruption bubble for a few seconds, until I get just enough capacitor energy back to re-activate it. When I start to concentrate fire on the Falcon his ECM jams my targeting systems. Maybe I should have kept the bubble down and tried to warp away, a notion that gets stronger when my colleague is forced to flee when his ship starts to get torn apart by drones of more support ships warping in. And without his recon ship in support I become a sitting duck.

The Falcon is in full control of my systems, keeping me unable to lock any targets and depleted of energy to power my systems. I am floating helplessly in space as a Harbinger battlecruiser and Navy Issue Megathron battleship keep my warp engines well and truly disrupted. I am regretting my impulsive decision to swap my normally fitted reheat with a micro-warp drive. I had hoped the MWD would perhaps let me burn away from trouble more effectively, to let me get out of range of warp disruption effects and warp away. But the warp scramblers trained on my Onyx disrupt warp drives effectively enough to affect MWDs too. It doesn't look like the Falcon would let me keep enough energy to use even a reheat, though. With no systems active and two powerful combat ships pounding on my shields the Onyx doesn't last too long. My ship explodes around me.

I am prepared for this moment. Not only did I mostly expect to lose my ship in this assault but I am aligned towards a celestial object. I have also been rapidly hitting the 'warp' button, on the chance that both ships stupidly drop their points on me at the same time. They don't, but my pod warps away safely and I am able to get back through the wormhole and to the safety of the tower. Before I leave the system a couple of capsuleers say in the local channel that it was a good fight. I do too, because it was a good fight. It doesn't matter that I lose my third Onyx, the combat was as exhilarating as my attack was impetuous.

Looking only at the numbers the loss of the Onyx is not balanced against the ships I destroyed. Taking in to account the two pilots I managed to slaughter in their pods makes the result look better, but perhaps still not in my favour. However, seeing that the Manticore had an advanced spaceship command skill book in its hold when it flew in to my bubble to be killed, valued at forty-five million ISK, as well as a set of strategic cruiser subsystem skill books, my assault starts to look more like a victory. But that is just the numbers and the combat was worth engaging in for the combat alone. I don't think we're quite finished yet either, as my colleague and I board our own stealth bombers and return to the neighbouring system.

Posted in Gaming | 3 Comments »
Tags: arazu, brutix, buzzard, cerberus, eve online, falcon, ferox, harbinger, heron, hurricane, iteron, manticore, megathron, mmorpg, onyx, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space

In the shadow of a Thrasher

Tyrannis deployed and brought with it planetary interaction, and I was mostly oblivious to the changes. Most significantly I didn't know that customs offices could be seen on the overview and thus travelled to directly. I thought perhaps they were moderately private locations that only the owner knew about. Finding out that they can be seen and freely visited makes a big difference out in w-space. Seeing the presence of customs offices in a w-space system is a good initial indicator of occupancy. Noting an industrial ship near a planet could mean he's checking his planetary manufacturing and it would be worth paying a visit to the customs office and not the planet itself.

I have missed an opportunity to hunt a capsuleer because I didn't know that customs offices could be accessed quite so easily. It is only when a colleague locates a Badger hauler quickly and without using scanning probes that I realise my oversight. After popping the Badger I make sure that the customs offices now appear on my overview, at least as brackets in my main tab and as selectable objects in another. And, before I know it, I have another opportunity to use this information new to me.

Heading homewards after chasing a capsuleer around his system I look for activity in a class 5 w-space system. I check the various towers in the system using directional scanner with a narrow beam pointed towards each planet and find that a Thrasher destroyer is loitering alone around a planet. As the planet has a customs office logic suggests he is collecting goods. And as I am in my Manticore stealth bomber, fresh from shooting someone at a customs office, I warp to the now clearly visible office freely.

I drop out of warp to see the Thrasher at the customs office and I start approaching whilst remaining cloaked, wanting to get in range of my warp disruptor module before launching an attack. But I am too far away and too slow, the Thrasher warping away before I get in range to snare him effectively. I see which way he is going, though, towards another planet with a customs office. Feeling the chase is on I follow, heading for the same planet. As my warp engines cut out I see the Thrasher only briefly as he warps away, his business complete at this planet. Again, I see the direction he leaves and follow.

The chase is not straightforward. I don't want to warp directly on top of the customs office, although it would put me close enough to the Thrasher to disrupt its engines, because getting so close to another object would decloak my stealth bomber and if the Thrasher is again quick enough to be leaving the jig would be up and my hunt would be over. But I also don't want to drop out of warp too far from the customs office because then I will be out of range of my warp disruptor module, allowing the Thrasher to flee.

Finding the right distance is awkward as I chase the ship between planets. I aim for twenty kilometres, the range of my warp disruptor, but the Thrasher turns out to be a few kilometres on the other side of the customs office and is out of range of the module. It warps away and I follow. This time I set my nav-comp to drop out of warp only ten kilometres from the next customs office, even though this may put me too close to the Thrasher and break my cloak. It seems I am unlikely to catch up with the ship otherwise. But he's too quick, the capsuleer snatching the production goods and his agile destroyer warping out before I can make my presence felt.

The Thrasher's next destination is his tower, settling in the safety of its shields. Whether he knows he was chased all across the system or not is uncertain. It was a fun little exercise for me either way. Now I return home myself, launching Pengu to join another Tengu and a Legion strategic cruiser for some Sleeper combat. It isn't quite as unpredictable as hunting capsuleers but clearing three anomalies of Sleepers and looting and salvaging their wrecks gains each of us a hundred million ISK profit. With that profit I may well buy a few of my own Thrashers and scatter them around some planets for a little target practice.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: badger, eve online, legion, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, sleepers, tengu, thrasher, w-space

Heron hounding

I'm going out to roam, and I'm not alone. Another scout is ahead of me in his Proteus strategic cruiser, looking for targets. The three class 4 w-space systems linked as a chain to our home system are quiet, the C5 further along only showing a glimmer of activity with a piloted Helios scanning from within a tower. The C3 looks quiet until a Badger hauler and Raven battleship are reported by my companion not to be at the system's tower. I push my Manticore stealth bomber through the wormhole in to the class 3 system as my colleague locates the ships. The Badger is at a customs office around a planet, the Proteus cruiser closing on him.

I warp to where my colleague is stalking the Badger, dropping out of warp ten kilometres early so that neither of our two ships drops its cloak unintentionally. The Badger is just sitting at the customs office but he could warp away at any moment. I am asked to get the 'point'—to lock and disrupt the target's warp engines. A major benefit of piloting a stealth bomber is the lack of sensor recalibration delay when decloaking, enabling me to lock on to targets immediately where other ships have several seconds of delay. I move in to range of my warp disruptor, decloak, and lock and point the target. My launchers go hot and fire torpedoes, the Proteus decloaking to add its superior firepower to help destroy the brittle industrial ship.

Snaring the Badger is easy, as it is bulky and slow to turn. Catching the ejected capsuleer is rather more unexpected, the pod's tiny signature radius easily able to evade weapon system locks and warp away. That my Manticore manages to get a positive lock and disrupt its warp drive is surprising. I hold the pod for a few seconds without firing, not because I am stunned at catching it and neither because I'm thinking of a ransom, but so that my colleague in his slower-locking Proteus has a chance to join in the wanton massacre of another capsuleer. It only takes a few seconds and I am scooping the corpse in to my hold and looting the wreck.

We cloak again and wait to see if the Raven comes to investigate the disturbance or try to recover some of the loot from the wreckage, but he remains quiet in the tower. My colleague begins looking for the new static wormhole in this C3 system, the previous one having collapsed recently, whilst I warp to the tower to see what response is being made. It's not retaliatory. A Heron frigate warps away, launches probes, and returns to the tower to start scanning, either looking for the way we came in to the system or a way out in order to get the new clone of his colleague back home.

A new wormhole is found by my companion in the Proteus and I warp to his position. The wormhole leads to system GBGG-0 in the Stain region of null-sec k-space. The Heron in the class 3 w-space system is still scanning when I jump back, as implied by probes being visible on d-scan, and I also see that I somehow managed to miss spotting a second tower in the system. As I investigate the second tower the probes disappear from d-scan, suggesting the Heron has found what he's looking for and has recalled them. On a hunch I warp to the wormhole leading to null-sec space. The Heron is here but far out of my range, as he warped only to reconnoitre the wormhole and drops 100 km distant from it. I return to the Heron pilot's tower in the system to keep a direct eye on him.

By watching the Heron directly I can better catch him when he warps away. I switch to the system map and note the positions of the two wormholes, one leading homewards and one to null-sec, relative to other celestial bodies. I exit the system map and keep a close watch on the Heron, so that by noting which way his ship aligns prior to warping I can tell where he is going and warp there myself, hopefully more quickly. And he's moving, towards the K162 judging by his orientation. I punch my warp drive in to action, aiming to drop out of warp 100 km from the wormhole in the hopes that the capsuleer's behaviour is consistent. As we are warping from the same grid to the same grid I am expecting to land almost on top of the Heron, our angular difference made insignificant over the millions of kilometres we're travelling.

The Heron pilot indeed follows his previous behaviour and drops out of warp 100 km from the wormhole. My Manticore gets to him moments later, only 13 km away from my target. I decloak and start to lock on to the frigate, but he is able to cloak to evade electronic capture. But that's okay, his ship cannot warp whilst cloaked. I am already moving towards his ship and I burn my engines hard towards his last position, looking to bump in to him. And I do, the two ships' collision systems activating and the coherence of the Heron's cloak failing. I again start to train weapon systems on to the Heron but he warps away before I get a positive lock.

That manoeuvring was cool and clever. The Heron pilot didn't panic and must have taken the time whilst cloaked to align back to his tower. When he was decloaked he was already pointing in the right direction and entered warp quickly, before I could lock on to him. I probably would have caught a less experienced pilot. Now he's back at the tower and I am back watching him. He is swapping ships, leaving his Heron to board a Condor frigate. And again he's moving, this time to the wormhole leading to null-sec. He knows there is someone looking to catch him so I assume he will change his behaviour. I warp directly to the wormhole, hoping that he is going to jump and that I can follow in to lawless null-sec space if I need to. But he is not leaving the system and this time drops his ship 70 km from the wormhole. I don't give up and instead lock the Condor, able to launch a volley of torpedoes but too far away to disrupt its warp engines, but the Condor is back in warp before the torpedoes get close.

A communication appears in the local channel. 'Nice try', says the pilot of the Condor.

'I'm giving it my best shot', I reply.

'Did you read the name on the side of the ship?', he asks.

'Yep. 'No Catch'. I'm optimistic.'

Our small exchange grows in to a respectful conversation about evading gate camps and falling asleep at customs offices. I almost feel sorry for podding his colleague but 'it happens', he says. Indeed it does. The chase afterwards was invigorating too and I think he enjoyed frustrating my efforts. We talk a bit more about life in w-space and then we bid each other to fly safe as I make my way homewards. It's exciting to shoot other capsuleers, but it is also rewarding to communicate with them.

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Tags: badger, condor, eve online, heron, manticore, mmorpg, null-sec, penny ibramovic, proteus, pvp, raven, w-space

Drones and a bubble should fool no one

The home system is deserted, my Buzzard holding the only living presence. Some early scanning is in order, hoping to find other early birds. Of course, I will only find birds if the ships are of Caldari origin, which is why metaphors shouldn't be taken literally. I resolve our new static wormhole and jump through to the neighbouring class 4 system. W-space connected me to this system about four months ago, my notes reminding me of the hapless Buzzard pilot popped and podded by me and the absent Fin. I wonder what he is doing now and if he is still in w-space, particularly as we catch the capsuleer a second time a month later, also in a Buzzard. But enough reminiscing, I am hoping to find new targets. I launch probes and start scanning, the directional scanner revealing no signs of life.

Most signatures here can be found in the inner system, but I still find rocks, rocks, rocks, and a radar site before finally resolving a wormhole. It is the system's static connection, leading to another class 4 system I've visited before. I was last here about five months ago but only have a note of there being occupants, not where the tower is anchored. It looks like I only passed through last time and didn't care to stop to look for other capsuleers. My first task is to find the tower here, which I do, ignoring the five mining drones on d-scan for now as there is no ship to accompany them. I soon locate the tower, along with an unpiloted Magnate frigate inside its shields, which only leaves the mining drones and a warp bubble elsewhere in the system according to d-scan. It looks like a clumsy trap to me. I launch probes and start scanning.

With a handful of signatures to check I feel I do quite well to find a wormhole after resolving only the one gas mining ladar site. As I am looking for activity and there is none in this system I jump through the connection, ejected in to yet another class 4 w-space system. Only an abandoned tower is seen on d-scan, keeping a bunch of anomalies and few signatures company. I have to scan through all of the signatures again to resolve the system's static wormhole, this one leading to a class 5 system. Jumping through I am spat out over eight kilometres from the wormhole! Appearing so far away from the wormhole makes for easy cloaking but would require quite a rush to flee the way I came if I had to. Luckily there is no one around, even with four towers in this system. The only ship I see is a Mastodon hauler named Bait.

Four signatures are in this C5, and judging by their signal strengths I suspect the weakest of them will be the next wormhole on my route. And I am right, finding a connection to a class 3 system. The C3 is occupied and has some ships on d-scan, but they are all seen inside the towers of the occupants and are unpiloted. Scanning for wormholes only finds a connection to a C4 that is reaching the end of its natural lifetime. And so I reach the end of my exploration for the time being. All is quiet, although there may be opportunities for activity later. I head back home, copying the bookmarks I have made in to our shared can when I get there. I flick the switches on my control panel and take a break, hoping that capsuleers will come out to play later.

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

Accumulating another billion ISK

Roaming works best when there are targets to find. My Manticore stealth bomber only finds empty space, however, each w-space system connecting to our own being devoid of activity. I swap the Manticore for my Tengu strategic cruiser and join two other Tengu pilots for some Sleeper combat in our neighbouring class 4 system.

The first anomaly passes easily enough. My choice to use the shorter-ranged heavy assault missiles means I am still travelling a little too much between waves, highlighted when the first Sleeper battleship is destroyed before I can launch a volley of HAMs. Even so, strategic cruisers are awfully good at skirmish combat with Sleepers.

Each cruiser is individually capable of surviving a full Sleeper assault and can deliver significant firepower, allowing one or two to be effective without needing a support fleet. Having more strategic cruisers available just adds to the available firepower, which we prove when a fourth corporation Tengu shows us to join the fun.

We have a colleague flying behind us in a Cormorant destroyer to loot and salvage the wrecks. Despite our w-space constellation being quiet, our salvager pilot waits for the sites to despawn before entering them to clear the remaining wrecks. A site will not despawn if an active ship remains inside the site, so when it does it means that there is no one waiting in ambush for our pilot. A despawned site is also impossible to find. Both of these features help ensure the safety of our salvager, although it is possible to catch a salvager in a despawned anomaly.

I power Pengu through four anomalies in the C4 before taking my leave. My departure turns out to be good timing as another colleague arrives and is happy to add his Legion strategic cruiser to the fleet, and they continue their rampage through Sleeper sites. The profit from today pushes my wallet above four billion iskies. I must buy a new ship soon.

Posted in Gaming | 3 Comments »
Tags: cormorant, eve online, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, sleepers, tengu, w-space