Incidental Ishtar

W-space beckons me again. I take my collection of bookmarks to wormholes and wander around the neighbourhood to see what's happening. The local cluster seems relatively quiet, including a system I overlooked earlier in the veritable constellation of w-space systems all connecting in to each other today. A Zephyr exploration ship sitting piloted but unmoving in a tower's shields is all I encounter in the first few systems. It is only when I jump out of the class 3 system in to a class 1 where my interest is piqued. An Anathema covert operations boat warps out of the occupiers' tower, looking like it is heading towards the high-sec exit from the system. Its companion, an Orca industrial command ship also from the tower, follows and jumps to high-sec space.

The Orca may be trying to collapse the wormhole, but as it doesn't return within a minute it is more likely that it is exporting loot or looking to import fuel and supplies. Either way, the expensive and vulnerable ship will need to return through this wormhole. And the return journey may need to be soon, as the connection is reaching the end of its life. I jump back a couple of systems and swap in to my Manticore stealth bomber at our tower, coming back to poke the Orca when he returns. The Orca pilot will no doubt just jump back to high-sec, but I can still be a disruption.

Hang on, though, how did an Orca jump through this wormhole in the first place? The system is labelled on the bookmark as a class 1 system, but wormholes connecting to a C1 have mass restrictions that don't allow a ship as big as an Orca through. It turns out to be a misidentification, as the system is actually in class 2 w-space and we aren't suffering from space madness.

It turns out I may not need to be a mere disruption either, as a colleague is happy to try to catch the Orca in an Onyx heavy interdictor's warp bubble. The high-sec wormhole is out of range of the directional scanner from the tower, so if we position the Onyx on the tower's grid—a particular navigational section of space—and activate its bubble the Orca should be pulled out of warp in to harm's way of the Onyx. The Onyx can be fitted with a cloak to prevent aggression from the tower's defences whilst waiting for the Orca's return, and my stealth bomber can sit at the wormhole to high-sec to see the Orca's arrival. I will even be able to warp to my colleague to help shoot the Orca once snared.

I have the locations of the tower and wormhole and prepare a suitable position for my colleague to use to sit in wait, warping from the wormhole to the tower and creating a bookmark along that vector on the tower's grid. A bit of manoeuvring gets the Onyx in position and we wait for the, oh, the wormhole dies of old age, the Orca still outside of the system.

The Anathema seen earlier returns to the system, no doubt called upon to find the new static connection to high-sec to get the Orca back home. We call in our own corporation chum to find the new wormhole too, which he does. Now we get the Onyx in to its new ambush position, using the same method as before. But it is likely that this time our machinations have been seen, particularly as it is only when we are in position that the Anathema is seen jumping out of the system to high-sec space. We loiter anyway, ignoring the returning Anathema and still hoping for the Orca to naively try to get back to its tower, but even after allowing for the sluggish industrial command ship to make the extra jumps to reach its new destination we see no activity. Luckily, another colleague has found a target in an adjacent system.

An Ishtar heavy assault ship is engaging Sleepers in a C1 system. The combat is occurring in an anomaly, making it relatively easy for our expert scan man to locate him, using d-scan and the on-board scanner. We are informed that our man has a good reference to pounce on the Ishtar and that he will warp away so he can warp in to this point, then attack. An ally is nearby and is happy to help, and the Onyx and my Manticore are already in warp to the connecting wormhole. We jump and warp to our colleague just in time to see the Ishtar pop, the Onyx's bubble inflating to capture the pod for a grisly execution. The wreck is looted, drones and corpse scooped to holds, and we clear the pocket happy with our brief but satisfying action.

The C2 system is camped again for a little while, still hoping for the Orca's return, but it remains quiet. The hour is late and the new wormhole will be viable for many more hours yet. We can't stop the Orca's return. Our operation is called off but in good spirits, the application of the plan being smooth and professional. We may have even snared the Orca had the first wormhole not collapsed. We both head home to our tower to get some sleep.

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Tags: anathema, eve online, ishtar, manticore, mmorpg, onyx, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, w-space, zephyr

Scouting lucky

The system looks quiet when I arrive. Opening the bookmarks can brings a surprise, though, as twenty-seven references to current wormholes reveal themselves to me. I copy them all to my nav-comp, trying to be patient as the kludgy bookmark system slowly copies individual slices of data, and head out to scout. My first choice is to visit a class 2 w-space system that connects in to our own, but warping to the K162 wormhole shows it to be reaching the end of its life and so I leave it alone. Instead, I warp across the system to our static connection, jumping through the wormhole to the class 4 system beyond.

The C4 is occupied and the tower feebly protected by a warp bubble. With no objects in the bubble to decloak me I calmly move away and make a more convenient bookmark in case I want to return here, noting the unpiloted Hoarder industrial ship inside the tower's shields. There is no activity in the system, but there is a wormhole coming in from another C4, which I jump through. The initial result from my directional scanner is clear at the wormhole but there are two planets out of range of d-scan. Warping to the planets shows that the system is unoccupied. Without any other connections leading away from this system I head back to our neighbouring C4 and jump through its static wormhole.

An Iteron industrial ship and tower is spotted on d-scan after jumping in to the class 1 system. I use d-scan to locate the tower, which also reveals the Iteron to be unpiloted, and a bit more warping around finds a second but off-line tower with a few defences scattered around. The system is quiet. The static low-sec exit to empire space that has been bookmarked has collapsed and I'm not particularly interested in finding the new one, so I jump through a K162 in to another C1 system.

An Oneiros logistics ship, Iteron, and tower are seen on d-scan, as well as two drones, the presence of the latter suggesting some kind of activity occuring. But the distinct lack of combat ships or wrecks of any kind makes me think the drones are abandoned somewhere. Finding the tower in the system finds the ships, unpiloted, and the drones being elsewhere proves my suspicion. There is no activity so I poke my nose through an incoming connection to a class 5 w-space system. The C5 looks interesting, with a pod and tower on d-scan being the first sign of activity today.

I locate and warp to the tower in the C5, seeing the capsuleer slot his pod in to an scanning ship. He moves slowly out of the tower's shields, launches probes, and cloaks. I wonder if I could decloak him, by getting our ships close enough, but the thought comes after he has cloaked and so I don't have an accurate approach vector, even assuming he is now stationary. I make a guess anyway and start moving my cloaked and armed Buzzard covert operations boat towards his Gallente equivalent. I think my manoeuvre works when my Buzzard decloaks but when I don't see his Helios anywhere I realise I have approached the amorphous bubble of the tower's shields a little too closely. I quickly alter my direction, activate the ship's reheat, and re-activate the cloak before the tower's defences can lock on to my small ship.

'Lucky!', says the Helios pilot in local, clearly having seen my brush with the tower. I imagine he wouldn't have spoken if he knew my intentions were hostile. Maybe my predilection to shoot first and talk much later is why I don't make friends out here. Naturally, these thoughts occur to me only later, whilst reflecting on events, because I am still keen to snare this pilot. I head back to our home system and swap my Buzzard for the Malediction interceptor, returning to sit on the wormhole on the other side of the C5, along with a colleague in a heavy interdictor, in the hopes of trapping the Helios. But it looks like the pilot is scanning his home system for sites, not wormholes, and because recent experience with waiting for people has produced a lot of wasted time I bore quickly. I call off the operation and head back home to be more productive in other ways for a while.

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Tags: buzzard, eve online, helios, hoarder, iteron, malediction, mmorpg, oneiros, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Scary ships and stealing scanners

We only have two systems to explore currently, I am told. Our static connection leads in to a class 4 system as usual, but that system's static wormhole is at the end of its natural life and prevents us looking further afield for action or an exit. I go out to take a look anyway, because I'm nosy and I like keeping records. Yikes, jumping in to the class 4 system and checking the directional scanner brings up all sorts of scary ships. There is a Widow black ops ship, a carrier or two, and, well, I don't really care about what the dozens of others are after seeing those first ones. I've been in this system before, too. Some two months ago I jumped in to this system and in my notes I wrote 'scary ships'. That sounds about right. I distinctly remember the Widow.

I check my notes to see where the towers in the system are. Or, rather, were. Either I made my notes hastily before or the towers have been moved around. Considering the population of the system, and the addition of a new tower, I will consider my records to be correct but out-of-date. I'll take time to find the towers and note their new positions. In pointing d-scan all over the place I find an interesting return signal, a Helios covert operations boat sitting uncloaked apparently around a moon. I warp to the moon to take a look and, indeed, the boat is floating passively in space. It looks like a target to me and I dash back to our tower to swap in to my Manticore stealth bomber.

After three client crashes when jumping back in to the neighbouring C4, apparently caused by calling up the system map, I am finally ready to ambush the Helios, if a little irritated by the interruptions and wondering if the pilot of the Helios has caught my Manticore on d-scan as a result. I am calling up the system map so that I can 'bounce' off a certain planet towards the moon the Helios is orbiting, which will let me drop out of warp a little closer. The Helios is a couple of hundred kilometres from the moon and I don't want to spend too long crawling cloaked towards it. I manage to close the distance a little but only then do I realise the Helios is unpiloted. There is no ambush here. But there is a free ship.

We have a capsuleer who can pilot the Helios boat. I ask him if he would like a free ship, as I manoeuvre my Manticore closer to the Helios. I aim to get within ten kilometres of the boat, placing it between my ship and the wormhole home. This will give my colleague's pod a position to warp to and jump straight in to the Helios. Another colleague gets in to a combat ship to provide some support in case this abandoned ship is a trap, but it looks clear. The pod warps in, boards the Helios, and starts flying away. And then the boat cloaks. It is not just a Helios that we've stolen, it is a fully fitted Helios with Tech II modules and Sisters scanning probes.

My colleagues head home, I stay out in the system in my stealth bomber. I won't be scanning and any cloaked ship with a functional d-scan will serve my purpose of finding the towers in the system. I find one tower and a bubble trap that is actually effective this time, but I am able to move out of the bubble littered with small cans and re-activate my cloak without trouble. There are some big ships at the tower, including a carrier, but no pilots are present and my decloaking goes unnoticed. The second and third towers are not noteworthy, apart from their locations, and the fourth is only worth noting because it has a shuttle and Condor frigate floating some distance outside of its shields, both unpiloted. With no pilots in the tower I lower myself to vandalism and pop both ships, destroying the wrecks as well so as to leave no trace. I nab a cluster of faction rockets from the Condor's wreck first, though.

The final tower in the system has the most threatening ships, including the Widow, a Naglfar dreadnought, some strategic cruisers, and several more ships scattered around. I make sure my notes accurately reflect the locations of the towers and head back to the first, where the only pilots in the system have been seen so far. Whilst looking for the towers the static wormhole in the system collapsed of old age and our own scan man came out to find the new one, which he does. He continues in to the connecting class 3 system and finds an exit to empire space. I grab the bookmarks, wait pointlessly on a wormhole for an opportunity for an ambush, wasting a colleague's time too, and then wander in to the C3 to see what's happening there.

A capsuleer is in a tower in the C3 system, in an Exequror cruiser. It is possible he will go out mining for gas, becoming a target. Again, I waste time lingering outside the tower waiting for activity, only seeing the pilot change from his cruiser in to a Hurricane battlecruiser and float passively. A colleague, the same one who wasted time with me waiting for the previous lack of an ambush, scans the sole signature in the system and bookmarks the ladar site once resolved, but her effort again leads to nothing as the pilot in the Hurricane doesn't budge. A check of the outer planets finds a second tower in the C3, at which a second pilot gets in to an Anathema covert operations boat and starts to scan the system. After plenty of wasted time there is little interest in trying to catch a mosquito of a ship and I simply amuse myself by trying to follow him.

The Anathema and probes disappear from d-scan. I warp to the wormhole leading back in to the C4 system to find no trace of the ship. Jumping through, I see no probes on d-scan in the C4 either and I think that maybe the pilot headed through their own static wormhole to empire space. But then he pipes up in the local channel. 'Man, ever hear of an SMA?', the ship maintenance array being where capsuleers in w-space store their ships. But not the capsuleers in this C4 system, with the previously noted dozens of ships left floating around inside the shields of various towers. 'That's just sloppy'. I have to agree with him, as he jumps back to his system and warps home to his tower. It's getting late, so I do the same, returning home to rest for the night.

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Tags: anathema, condor, eve online, helios, hurricane, manticore, mmorpg, naglfar, penny ibramovic, w-space, widow

Looking for high-sec

We're going to roll our hole. Regardless of the ambush of the salvager and the occupancy of the same class 3 w-space system, the lack of decent exit to empire space is feeling restrictive. We want to get out to high-sec space, for a change, to buy some command centres so that we can begin to extract resources from the planets in our system. In the hopes of finding a better exit our static wormhole is being collapsed. The operation runs smoothly again, the wormhole imploding as the Orca industrial command ship returns to our home system. Now it is time to scan, with a couple of us ready to tackle the task.

My first attempt at locating the new static wormhole goes awry. No scan results are returned. I know that the new connection should appear at least this quickly because it has done before. But whilst being fairly compact the disturbingly unchanging orbital positions of the planets doesn't allow a standard probe pattern to blanket the system. I shift my probes slightly and find the new signature, resolving it to locate the static wormhole. Surprisingly, it is over 6 AU from the outer planet, which makes it a fairly good safe spot in itself. I jump through to the C4 system.

The neighbouring system is unoccupied and contains few signatures, enabling its static connection to a C3 to be found promptly. The C3 has a tower in the system but there are no ships to be seen. My colleague finds an exit to low-sec space, which is better than the null-sec exits we had before and, depending on where it leads, could be quite viable for our intentions. A second wormhole is also found in the system, an incoming connection from a class 4 system. I pop in to take a look around. There is an off-line tower in the system and no other signs of occupancy, and scanning reveals loads of anomalies and signatures to resolve. And there is no guarantee of finding another wormhole in here as the pilots who opened the wormhole I came through from the C3 may have collapsed their own static connection, whatever the reason. But I find one, just as I am giving up, although warping to it shows the wormhole to come from a class 5 system, the connection itself reaching the end of its life. I finish my exploration and start to head back.

Corporation and alliance colleagues are already exploiting the exit to low-sec space in the class 3 w-space system. A couple of pilots have even set up an Onyx heavy interdictor and Ishtar heavy assault ship on the wormhole, hoping to catch inquisitive low-sec dwellers. But a deep space scanning probe I spot in the C3 suggests he has drawn some attention from w-space too, particularly when combat scanning probes appear. I warp to the exit wormhole and reduce the range on the directional scanner, showing that all the combat probes are within 1 AU of the wormhole. Although no hostile ships have been seen there is the possibility that an ambush is about to occur. My colleague and I rush back to our tower to change in to combat ships, to be ready to provide assistance if necessary. Fin grabs her Nighthawk command ship, I choose my small but occasionally effective Manticore stealth bomber, quickly refitting a remote sensor damper on the assumption that I will be facing ships that will want to shoot back.

No ships suddenly drop out of warp on the Onyx and, when I return to the C3, no probes are in the system. All looks clear. After a while, core scanning probes are seen on d-scan, but it is unclear what the pilot is looking for. I warp around to the known wormholes we scanned and check for the proximity of the probes. I find the probes getting close to one of the wormholes leading to a C4 system before they disappear and, to my surprise, a Helios appears 30 km from me. And he's not on the wormhole, so he can't jump away! I decloak and lock my systems, also trying to close the distance to him, but I fumble the controls in my haste and fail to get his engines warp scrambled. He warps off, thankfully before he also sees me accidentally launch a bomb instead of activating my cloak. But despite my incompetence in the attack I manage to see in which direction he warps off, and I follow.

I drop out of warp at the ninth planet in the system, only a few kilometres from the Helios covert operations boat, but I don't decloak just yet. From the speed of his boat it looks like he is entering warp again. He may be 'bouncing' off this planet so as to make his whereabouts uncertain if I am slow to follow, and I don't want him to know that I found him quite so quickly. But he doesn't warp off, instead he has activated his micro-warp drive and is burning away from the planet. It looks like it may be possible to bookmark my current position and bounce off a different planet at range to get the drop on him, but he is moving at several kilometres a second and my time spent in warp would probably see him get far out of range. I also don't have any means to slow him down, having refitted my ship with the sensor damper, so any engagement would only see him burn out of range of my warp disruptor before warping away at his leisure. At least it means my earlier fumbling made no difference to the inevitable outcome.

The pilot of the Helios boasts of his speed in the rarely used local channel and our alliance friend sitting on the wormhole starts a conversation with him. It all seems quite pleasant, but there are command centres to be bought and collected. Fin has already packed her Crane transport ship full of loot to be exported and sold and I get back to the tower to cram the last of the loot in to my own Crane. We both head out through w-space to the exit to low-sec, our alliance colleague deflating his HIC's bubble for us as we pass. A couple of jumps gets us in to high-sec space, but a few more low-sec systems are in our way before we empty our holds and buy some command centres. Agile and stealthly Cranes, navigable stargates, and a lack of warp bubbles makes the security differences unnoticable, though.

Our loot is sold, planetary modules are bought and hauled, and we get back to w-space without a hitch. I notice some probes are in our neighbouring C4 system when I pass through it, but the hour is late and it is time to get some sleep. It turns out the probes are a colleague's, exploring the system for himself, so I pay them no more mind. I unload my cargo at our tower and get some rest.

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Tags: crane, eve online, helios, ishtar, low-sec, manticore, mmorpg, nighthawk, onyx, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space

Back in Bruges

I find myself on the Eurostar train again, heading to Bruges. My previous visit to Bruges was very pleasant and enough to convince me to return. I go with family again, and with the same travel company. Indeed, it is the same package trip as before, because the cost is better value than trying to book as individuals, although we won't take advantage of some of the scheduled trips available. The journey is smooth and we book in to the hotel easily, with plenty of time left in the afternoon to re-acquaint ourselves with the city.

It is like I never went away. I remember the streets and sights and quickly manage to navigate my way to familiar places. Bruges is quite small and relatively compact, which eases remembering directions, although its narrow and occasionally labyrinthine streets can be disorientating. I have my camera with me and take a lot of photos of all the same sights as last time I was here, but this time in bright summer sunshine, the weather being remarkably bright and hot. The sunlight picks out a lot of details in the old brickwork and adds some natural contrast, whilst also creating some excellent reflections in the canals. And coming to Bruges at the height of summer, when the day is longest, offers a new perspective on Bruges at night. Previously, at the end of Autumn, the boat tours only ended and the canals settled down when it was dark, but now the canals are empty when there are still several hours of sunlight. Still canal waters can be enjoyed and photographed in sunlight rather than only when it is dark.

Despite mostly ignoring the package tour activities we tag along with the visit to the local brewery. It is interesting to see behind the scenes, particularly in old buildings, and the roof of the brewery offers some fabulous views of the surrounding city. We also get a complimentary beer at the end of the tour, which I am adamant I'll drink this time, despite being ostensibly teetotal. The beer is apparently unfiltered and much fuller in flavour than other beers, but I don't taste the difference. Never the less, I finish the drink, which is probably more alcohol in one sitting than I've tasted in at least a year.

A better view of the city can be found at the top of the city's belfry, once a few hundred spiral, mostly worn, and vertigo-inducing stairs are climbed. I battle my fear of heights again to visit the belfry and I think I do quite well, getting to the top without too much fuss. The belfry is undergoing renovations and so views at the top are restricted, but what can be seen is still stunning. I snap a few photographs and head back down. Going down the stairs is more worrying than climbing them, if only because the occasional window seems much to offer much more opportunity to fall through when descending. But I make it down to earth again safely. And the tickets to the belfry come with a couple of vouchers to a choice of other Bruggemuseum sites, which is unexpected and offers good value for visiting the bell tower.

Many of Bruges's museums close on Mondays, including the lace museum that we take time to walk to. But at least we find it, as well as Jerusalem Church, a church that I only later find out is featured in the film In Bruges as the church that holds the vial of Christ's blood, although it is actually the Basilica of the Holy Blood that holds the vial and the film was merely denied permission to shoot in there. From the closed lace museum we head further away from the city centre and find three old windmills sitting just inside the outer canal, making the walking journey worthwhile. We walk back along an inner canal, seeing a couple more sights on the way, including Jan Van Eyckplein, before getting back to the centre.

We visit the Basilica of the Hold Blood, as well as the Church of Our Lady, where Michelangelo's Madonna with Child sculpture is on display. The Bruggemuseum vouchers are used to gain access to the Gruuthuse museum the following day, and we also visit the Groeningemuseum and a Salvador Dali exhibition. Buying tickets to the Groeningemuseum is lovely, as the lady asks if I am under 26 and thus eligible for a discount. Along with museums we also indulge our tourist natures and take a boat ride around the canals, where we see all of the sights from a different perspective and are reminded of some of the history of the city from the multi-lingual guide, and then see the sights from yet another perspective with a horse-drawn carriage ride around the streets. Being a tourist is fun.

I mention In Bruges above and it is a favourite film of mine. The trailer, poster, and tag-line all do the film injustice, as it is an interesting thriller with realistically motivated characters and excellent dialogue. I only watch the film after returning from Bruges the previous time, and now that I am back in Bruges and with some time to spare I take care to find as many of the locations used in the film as I can. Visiting the location of the opening establishing shot is easy, as it is on the road of the hotel we stay at, and other locations are equally easy to find. Wandering around lets me see the bandstand in the park and I've already visited Markt, the belfry, and the Vismarkt along my normal travels.

I use the hotel's internet connection to locate a couple of other places of interest, which is a bit fannish but I don't mind. I even find the name of the restaurant used in the film and that it is supposed to be really rather good. And on our last night we push the boat out and pay it a visit, finding the food to be excellent. I also get a surprise. The main menu has a version available in English, letting us know exactly what we're getting, but the dessert menu is only in Flemish. I order a 'Kolonel' expecting a tasty lemon sorbet infused with vodka, but my guess at the translation turns out to be awry. What I am served is a lemon sorbet and fruit served in a glass that contains a generous measure of neat vodka. I think I mentioned that I am normally teetotal. Even so, I finish the whole dessert, finding myself a little unsteady when the time comes to head back to the hotel.

The last day in Bruges is short, having to catch an early-afternoon train back through the Eurotunnel. There is time for another stroll through the city centre, one more indulgent coffee with whipped real cream and hand-made chocolates, and to enjoy the general atmosphere of the city whilst watching local swans. The journey home is just as smooth as the journey to Bruges, although I have to wait quite a few hours after getting home before my cats realise that I am here again. It has been another wonderful break, Bruges being a beautiful and relaxing city and the weather being fabulous the entire time. And, naturally, I have brought home some chocolates so I can continue to enjoy the city for a little longer.

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Tags: belgium, bruges, chocolate, holiday

Missing the salvaging action

Two corporation pilots are out in strategic cruisers. They are taking the fight to Sleepers in a class 3 system and I offer to salvage for them, but they already have help. But they note the presence of a Mammoth industrial ship in their system, so I head out to investigate. Our neighbouring C4 system is unoccupied and quiet, a system I last visited two weeks ago, and it holds a static connection to a class 5 system as well as an incoming connection from the C3 where my colleagues are. I jump through to the C3. This system is familiar too, although it is three months since I was last here.

There are bookmarks to two towers in the C3. I check both of them, finding one quiet and the other off-line and abandoned. But there is a second force field active, indicating a third tower. I use the directional scanner to locate this second active tower, also finding the Mammoth unpiloted in its shields. There is a capsuleer's pod floating at the tower too, soon joined by a second capsuleer and his pod. This second pod boards a Drake battlecruiser and warps off. Noting his direction I am able to find a third active tower in the system, making it quite busy. Judging by the Drake pilot's actions, it seems he is moving ships between towers. I wonder if I could trap him with an Onyx's bubble, particularly as I have a Legion and Tengu strategic cruiser in the system ready to provide firepower.

I make a couple of handy bookmarks and note that the capsuleer is still flying between two of the towers before heading back to the home system to swap in to my Onyx heavy interdictor. Going back to the C3, I try to set myself up outside of one of the towers so that, with a bit of luck and judgement, I can pull the capsuleer out of warp unexpectedly. The two towers are out of range of d-scan of each other, which I am relying on to catch the pilot unawares. Unfortunately, my timing is awful, dropping out of warp to position myself near one of the towers just as the pilot warps in to the same tower's shields, pretty much giving the game away. I only get shot by the tower's defences for my trouble.

Meanwhile, the salvager running behind the strategic cruisers has been nicely ambushed by a Manticore stealth bomber. The Catalyst salvaging destroyer that has almost become a mark of our corporation's w-space fleet is obliterated, throwing tens of millions of ISK in profit in to vacuum, no doubt to be scooped up by the stealth bomber. The salvager's pod escapes destruction, returning through the wormholes to our tower, and the Manticore evades any attempt to flush him out. The strategic cruisers halt their operation and head home, as do I, my opportunistic attempt to grab a lucky kill failing. I think perhaps I am pressing too hard to find some action.

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Tags: catalyst, drake, eve online, legion, mammoth, manticore, mmorpg, onyx, penny ibramovic, salvaging, tengu, w-space

On being a carebear

'... sure, because I'm such a pirate compared to you.'

'Admission is good for the soul.'

'The what?'

'It's what died when you popped Akulx the second time.'

'Oh, I remember it now. I don't miss it.'

'It's not too helpful out here.'

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Tags: eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, w-space

Testing the fleet in a class 5 w-space system

The corporation fleet has the opportunity to test itself. We live in a class 4 w-space system and generally engage Sleepers at this level or below. Today our neighbourhood holds a class 5 w-space system with a catacylismic variable phenomenon, which increases remote repair rates and capacitor capacity, as well as decreasing capacitor recharge rate. Our Guardian logistic ships will be able to repair a huge amount of damage whilst bursting with excess energy that will hardly need to be fed to the battleships. We have been reluctant so far to attempt any Sleeper engagements in a C5 because of the potential for increased damage, but today we are ready. Our fleet forms and we warp off to a new challenge.

In the C5 a final systems check is performed and we warp in to the first site. I am a little surprised by the sparseness of the structures in the anomaly until I realise that we are in a ladar gas mining site, facing a mere two Sleeper battleships. I don't quite see why we have brougt two ECM ships with us for this. Apparently we are gathering information on the levels of damage we can expect from this class of system, but sitting around for twenty minutes getting shot by Sleepers is not my idea of fun. In a Guardian, I still need to monitor and repair incoming damage, whilst the ECM is not active and no one shoots the Sleepers back, and I feel like I am being taken advantage of. Considering that we tackle the most challenging sites in any class 4 w-space system it seems to me that spending quite so long in a ladar site is a waste of my time, particularly in a system that significantly promotes the abilities of the Guardian.

It takes a while but it seems everyone is at last ready to face a terribly scary C5 anomaly, the weakest we can find. A bit of initial damage is shrugged off, both ECM boats jam the Sleepers' targeting systems, and this C5 anomaly becomes easier than a difficult C4 anomaly. I realise that our fleet has increased its tank a little and doubled our ECM, but it is because we did that I am surprised we didn't attempt an anomaly immediately. Even now, only my armour repair drones are actively repairing, my other reppers unneeded. The Rook recon ship, supplying half our jamming, disconnects and warps out of the site and still we are fine. When the capsuleer returns he takes the cue to swap his ship for a salvaging vessel to clear up behind us, sweeping up our profit as we progress. A new colleague takes his place in the fleet, bringing an Abaddon battleship with her to add to our damage output instead.

A more challenging anomaly is attempted, with an extra Sleeper battleship involved in one of the waves. Again, once the ECM jams the Sleeper ships our Guardians have no trouble keeping everyone ship-shape and Bristol fashion. I even take a quick break to feed the cats, keeping reppers active on important ships, coming back to find everything copacetic. The cataclysmic variable phenomenon is no doubt helping us cope, as is the lack of Sleeper dreadnoughts warping in. Having entered the system with a concern about losing ships to the most basic of anomalies our squad commander flings us in to the most dangerous of the C5 anomalies here, confidence clearly growing.

The extra big ships in this anomaly certainly pack a punch. Our battleships can withstand the hits well enough, and the Guardians seem to be able to cope with the some sustained fire against their armour, but our poor pilot in the Hurricane battlecruiser doesn't seem quite as sturdy when several Sleeper battleships focus fire on him. The Hurricane's shields and some armour disappear with the alpha strike, subsequent hits pulverising his armour and adding structure damage to his worries. The Guardian pilots are on top of the situation, activating all of our reppers and sending our repair drones to the Hurricane and we pull him back from the brink of destruction to having full armour once again. But the next volley of damage sees the Hurricane explode in an impressive but surprising manner. It seems that even having fully repaired armour isn't a guarantee against destruction when only 40% of your structure is intact. The Sleeper damage must have hit a weak spot.

A pod floats disorientated in space and there is some confusion as to quite what happened, particularly as none of our other ships are taking anywhere near as much damage from the same ships. It's possible that the Hurricane's fitting wasn't optimised for the anticipated damage, or its smaller hull simply crumpled more quickly. Whatever the cause, the rest of our fleet remains resilient to the Sleeper ships and the anomaly is cleared without further drama. Regardless of the loss of a ship, our collective time for combat has come to an end. It was a bit lame to send a whole fleet in to a ladar site but the evening perked up when the Hurricane got in the way of the Sleepers.

We have completed four anomalies in this system and our salvager is reporting impressive profits being collected. Having all returned to our tower a second salvager heads out to help clear the final site of wrecks. Almost a billion ISK in profit is brought back, boosting everyone's wallets by 120 million ISK each, which is rather splendid. I'm fairly sure Hurricanes don't cost that much, even fully fitted. Our next real adventure against Sleepers will be to attempt anomalies in a regular class 5 system, without the help of a cataclysmic variable phenomenon.

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Tags: abaddon, eve online, guardian, hurricane, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, rook, sleepers, w-space

Losing a Maller, making a profit

The local w-space systems are mapped and we have a simple route from home to high-sec empire space. Copying the bookmarks across to my systems shows that the exit leads to The Forge region, which could potentially be close to many of my k-space possessions. I have been considering liquidating some assets, not that I really need the ISK but there doesn't seem much point in having them gather dust either. Sadly, the exit system is over a dozen jumps from anywhere useful and I don't feel like spending my evening travelling. But what I could do instead is try to cause a bit of disruption in high-sec.

An hour later, my attempt at being annoying and goading capsuleers in to shooting me hasn't worked out quite as well as I'd hoped. I manage to find a strategic cruiser at the well-hidden cosmic beacon of a celestial agent, a Blackbird cruiser on a stargate, and a lack of Drake battlecruisers in mission deadspace. I also manage to find a World's Collide or similar mission where I am not quite fast enough to escape the warp-disrupting rats, my punily tanked Maller cruiser getting embarrassingly popped by NPCs. I buy a replacement corporation Maller and return limply to w-space, where I grab a salvaging ship and clear up behind a colleague piloting his Tengu strategic cruiser through class 1 anomalies.

The salvaging relaxes me, made smoother by my recent training and soon to be breathtaking once I have access to Tech II salvaging modules. Bringing the loot home makes me ready to swap ships again and join a fleet for Sleeper combat in our neighbouring C4 system. The wormhole has become all wobbly, reaching its EOL stage, and although I am reassured it has at least a couple of hours before collapsing it still makes me nervous. The occupants of the C4 are not awake and it is easy enough to choose anomalies that are out of range of their tower anyway, as the system is vast. Each celestial body is out of the directional scanner's range of the others.

To save time and potential isolation we run with our salvaging Ishtar, or Salvatar, which loots and salvages the wrecks as we fight. We are well-practiced in clearing anomalies in class 4 w-space and the combat goes smoothly, even with our small fleet. Only two anomalies are cleared before the hour gets late enough to send us home, but I don't mind as it lets us get back through that unnervingly wobbly wormhole and return safely to our tower. The loot is counted and, along with the earlier salvaging, I earn about seventy million ISK for the evening. Even less the cost of a Maller cruiser it has been a profitable end to the day.

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Tags: blackbird, drake, eve online, ishtar, maller, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, sleepers, tengu, w-space

Bumping in to a familiar clone

I've missed some action. I turn up at the tower just as a small corporation fleet is returning from successfully engaging a couple of combat ships. It's always good to see kills with no losses posted on our kill-board. The engagement may mean there is no one around for me to shoot, though. I grab my stealth bomber and go for a roam anyway, hoping to find a straggler or a careless capsuleer in a different system.

I forget to synchronise my bookmarks with those in the shared can, instead having to rely on the few I made earlier. I speed through the C4 and following system to land in the C6, where I warp at range to the previously unshielded tower that was being attended by some weak industrial ships. The tower is now on-line and protected by a force field, suggesting that the earlier operation was perhaps bringing fuel to the tower rather than stripping it down to be moved. I doubt I'll find any ships I can engage in this heavily occupied and dangerous system, and head back.

Returning through our neighbouring C4 lets me see some reported probes on the directional scanner, likely belonging to the pilot of the Helios covert operations boat in the system's tower. It is the same pilot as seen in the Hulk exhumer earlier and I am curious to see what he will do after he finishes scanning. But then I see a second ship on d-scan, a Probe frigate, and consider who is really scanning. The Probe remains visible on d-scan and I wonder if he has wisely created a safe spot to sit in or if I can find him using d-scan. I am able to narrow my search until just the Probe and a single celestial body share the same scan result, and I warp to that body.

I see the Probe. He is uncloaked but over 100 km away, and I can't see a suitable celestial body opposite me which I could 'bounce' off to warp in closer. But the Probe also isn't moving, merely bobbing in the gravity well, and as I am cloaked and he is scanning I may be able to get within range before he moves off. I start approaching the ship at maximum speed, not daring to decloak to burn towards him but appreciating the time it will take to close the distance. As I approach I recognise the pilot's name. I am sure I have met him before, in some capacity, and a quick search through our records shows that he is one of the five miners popped and podded when passing through their system a while back. I imagine he'll be pleased to see me again, if I can get close enough.

I get within 50 km of the Probe frigate and still it doesn't move. I am getting a little excited stalking this prey, but know that I must hold my cloak until I am at least within 20 km so that I can get a warp disruption point on his ship to prevent him warping away. I creep closer and after 100 km of patient sailing I decloak and get all my systems hot. The warp disrupter activates and my siege launchers fire volleys of torpedoes towards the Probe, its signature radius increased by my target painter. The pilot is alert, or his system alarms wake him up, and the Probe starts burning away from me after the second volley of torpedoes.

I don't realise until it is almost too late that the Probe must be using a micro-warp drive. He just about gets out of range of my warp disrupter and is close to warping clear when the third volley of torpedoes pops his ship. The ejected pod warps away safely, despite my attempt to lock it. At least I am not kicking myself for not activating my webbing module to slow his ship down. I loot his wreck and find standard modules, including an improved cloaking device. It looks like he forgot to engage it when he started scanning. I cannot grab the bulky cloak myself and ask a colleague to come and loot and salvage the wreck. I lurk in my Manticore to provide a reference point to my colleague, but I am also hoping the escaped capsuleer will risk returning to recover what he can from the wreck. It is unlikely, though.

Whilst lurking quietly by the wreck I wonder if the popped pilot's system today connects to ours again. I haven't noticed it so far, suggesting a new wormhole has opened in to this neighbouring C4. With the Probe wreck looted and salvaged I head home and grab my Buzzard to check for a new wormhole. A quick scan reveals the new connection but jumping through doesn't present the system I have in my notes for our previous encounter with this miner. Indeed, the system is unoccupied, so I launch probes and scan again, helped now by scan man who is keen to be kept current on the local systems. An incoming wormhole at the end of its natural lifetime is found. Assuming that the Probe scanner came through here there must be at least an hour of life left in the wormhole and I risk jumping through.

The class 4 w-space system again does not match the one in my records, but I see a tower and ships on d-scan. I find the tower, which finds me the Probe pilot and miner I have now popped twice. He is sitting passively in the tower's shields with a colleague, someone else we popped and podded a couple of months previously. They have apparently moved systems, one that our corporation visited and engaged Sleepers in about four months ago, when the system was still unoccupied. They are not doing anything now, unsurprisingly reluctant to venture out after just being shot. Meanwhile, scan man has found another EOL K162 in the previous system, poking his nose through to see probes on d-scan. We may be able to catch another one of their pilots.

I call for another colleague to warm up his Phobos heavy interdictor as I warp back to our tower to get my Malediction interceptor. I may be able to bump-decloak a ship moving away from a wormhole, which will be made much easier if a heavy interdictor's warp bubble also prevents it from entering warp quickly. But as we get back to the EOL wormhole, through which we are hoping an unlucky scanner will jump, the connection implodes, dying of natural causes. It looks like there will be no more action for the time being. We head back to the tower to rest, me with a warm glow of satisfaction from the Probe kill.

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Tags: buzzard, eve online, helios, hulk, malediction, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, phobos, probe, pvp, scanning, w-space