Learning to intercept

Going back through the short but occupied route I check to see if anyone else has woken up yet. The class 4 w-space system adjacent to us is still quiet, but the class 3 further along has a Buzzard in the system. The covert operations boat is not at the tower either, perhaps it could have come through the low-sec connection to have a look around. I swap my own Buzzard for the Malediction interceptor that has yet to catch anything and sit on the C4 side of the wormhole connecting to the C3.

I know from experience that my Malediction is not quick enough to lock a target that engages its cloak, however fast my reactions. I try to rectify this by swapping the perhaps-ineffective web module for a sensor booster and scan resolution script. My locking time should be blindingly fast now, hopefully making the difference I am looking for. I wait patiently at the wormhole and am rewarded by a flare, a ship jumping through. I am expecting the Buzzard and prepare my systems to engage it, confident that I could probably flee from a different and rather more deadly ship.

The Buzzard sheds its session change cloak and starts to move away. Even the sensor boosted interceptor cannot lock on to the target, and I don't react quickly enough to try to collide with the ship to force its cloak to de-activate. The interceptor isn't working for me yet. And seeing a Falcon recon ship appear on d-scan makes me think it is time to exit the system for now, and I return to the tower.

Swapping back in to my Buzzard I return to our neighbouring C4 and look for the Falcon. The system looks clear. I warp to the C3 connection, approaching it at range in case the Falcon is loitering, and although the wormhole looks clear we decloak each other. Now I am able to bump in to a ship on a wormhole. I jump through to the C3 system as a precaution, wondering how alert the Falcon pilot was. I patiently watch the session change timer elapse before jumping back, knowing my hull will be polarised but confident I can evade the Falcon, and again see only empty space. Either the pilot warped away or re-engaged his cloak, showing that he must have been paying some attention.

I move away from the wormhole and pay the tower in the C4 system a visit. The Falcon belongs to the same corporation as the tower and is almost certainly flown by the same capsuleer as the Buzzard I saw earlier. I don't know where the Falcon is now, whether on the wormhole to the C3 or the wormhole leading home, but I have a colleague available in our home system and ready in a combat ship if necessary. I wonder if I can decloak the Falcon again to prompt an attack that we can counter, but crawling to the wormhole home doesn't reveal a ship. The Falcon may still be at the other wormhole.

I grab my interceptor again with my colleague standing-by in an Arazu. I warp to the C3 connection and fly around in a way that is hopefully suggestive but not looking obviously like bait, but the only activity unveiled is on d-scan. A Legion strategic cruiser is seen in the system, then no Legion but a Pilgrim recon ship, and then nothing. Using stealthy ships is a good ploy and makes me and my colleague wonder how many pilots we are really facing and which ship we are likely to encounter. Either way, there is no direct confrontation and without being in more control I don't want to risk an engagement. I warp back to the wormhole home, followed by my colleague in the Arazu, and jump.

As a quick and hopefully harmless test of my interceptor's capabilities I ask if I can try to lock on to my colleague as he jumps home through the wormhole. He agrees. I am stymied slightly by not having corporation or fleet members visible on my overview, but this is balanced by knowing when he is coming through. I zoom my view out, the need to hear the wormhole flare not being critical in this case, so that I can select his ship directly from the environment. My Malediction still has the sensor booster fitted and active but I am fairly sure that it will make no initial difference, and with this knowledge my strategy is different.

When the Arazu appears I try to lock it as usual, warp disruption module hot, but fail. Expecting this I quickly select his ship and hit the 'approach' button. From a little previous research, I am also expecting my ship to slow down and stop as soon as the cloak engages, and that I can counter this by setting my speed to maximum manually, the initial approach orientating my ship in the right direction. My micro-warp drive is active and my ship speeds in the direction of the now-cloaked and aligning Arazu, and he re-appears. Success! Bumping in to the ship decloaks him and I am able to gain a positive lock and warp disruption. It even surprises my colleague. I definitely need more practice at piloting the interceptor, but at least I know that it is possible to engage a ship that can cloak after it jumps through a wormhole.

Posted in Gaming | 7 Comments »
Tags: arazu, buzzard, eve online, falcon, legion, malediction, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pilgrim, scanning, w-space

Preparatory scanning

It is too early for anyone to be around. The home system has to stabilise before my Buzzard can warp in to the tower. Even so, there are some bookmarks in the shared can, which I copy and warp out to check. Only one of the three bookmarks pointing to a wormhole in our system is valid, and jumping through the static connection presents no further valid bookmarks as shown by the lack of any of them being highlighted. I delete from my nav-comp all bookmarks but the home system's static wormhole, add a bookmark for the K162 behind me, and launch probes to begin exploring.

A tower is visible on the directional scanner, but no ships. I feel safe launching probes at the wormhole, taking several seconds of uncloaked flight to do so. I find the tower and make a convenient bookmark, which experience tells me should be within a hundred kilometres so that ships can be viewed directly if necessary to determine vectors when they warp away. Scanning the system reveals only three anomalies present but plenty of signatures, and ignoring the usual presence of rocks and gas I eventually find a static connection to a class 3 w-space system. Nothing is happening in this C4, so I jump to the next system.

Again, a tower is seen on d-scan on entry in to the system, but this time a shuttle is visible too. I am not particularly concerned about the presence of a single shuttle, even if piloted. My Buzzard probably won't attract much attention in itself and a pilot changing ships from a shuttle to anything else would offer me good information anyway, about types of ships available, alertness levels, and aggression. I find the tower and make another convenient bookmark, which also helps with not having to refer to my notes when revisiting the tower, and scan the system. There are loads of anomalies in this C3, which would be easy to plunder with a small fleet, and few enough signatures to let me locate soon enough the static exit to low-sec empire space.

There are no more wormholes in the system, ending exploration for now and producing another short route between our home system and k-space. All systems remain sleepy. I bookmark a few sites in case their locations come in useful later but otherwise return to the tower. I drop off the current bookmarks and take a break.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Preparatory scanning
Tags: buzzard, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Relishing the tranquility of w-space

It's another night of scanning. At least the probe's positional arrows shouldn't disappear any more, which removes an occasional frustration, although the returned signatures in the scanning frame are now selected arbitrarily and several at a time, creating a new frustration when trying to ignore or select a particular signature. It's a peculiarity but hardly breaks the scanning interface. I am still able to find our static wormhole soon enough and jump through to a system last visited about two months ago, which remains an unoccupied C4 system.

The system has lots of anomalies, which doesn't help when we don't have a fleet to exploit them, and only a few signatures, making the next wormhole easy enough to find. The static connection leads to another class 4 w-space system, again unoccupied. The clear result from the directional scanner lets me launch probes safely and continue scanning, but when I switch to the solar system map I find that I am in a peculiar system. The system only has a single planet, orbitting about 23 AU from the star. Whilst a single planet makes scanning easy and there are plenty of moons available I don't imagine this system being settled at any point, now that planetary interaction is available.

With such a localised search and only five signatures the static C3 connection is almost too easy to locate. I jump through to another clear d-scan result and warping to the outer planet shows that this system is as unoccupied as the previous two. Scanning finds the system's static wormhole, a weak trace leading me to an exit to null-sec space, and with no more wormholes to be found my exploration ends here. W-space is quiet tonight, with only unpopulated systems and no corporation fleet to exploit any sites for profit.

I poke my nose in to the null-sec system to get the red dot of exploration on my star map, and to see if there are any skill books available to buy locally, given that this is our only exit for today. There are no relevant books for twenty jumps, which is rather too far to travel. Whilst out here in null-sec I check my relative location using my atlas of New Eden, a book left largely unused since my permanent move in to w-space. Finding the Insmother regional map I am somewhat unnerved by the depth of null-sec space I find myself in, which is a curious reaction.

I suppose the isolation and anonymity that comes with living in w-space suits me much better than I realise, being disconnected and striving for independence. It is easier to cope with being insignificant when far removed from any significance than when lost amongst a crowd. I return to w-space, where I am significant to myself and can shape my destiny, whilst contributing and having to contribute to an overall survival effort.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: eve online, mmorpg, null-sec, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Slow salvaging scuppers sinking

My colleagues are out scanning, so I get a free ride through a couple of systems. I am guided to our static wormhole, warped across the neighbouring class 4 system to its static connection, and jump through in to a C5. Judging from everyone's temperament, and my use of the directional scanner, the systems so far are unoccupied. Another wormhole is found, this one leading in to a class 4 system that I last visited five weeks ago, which is also unoccupied. W-space is looking quiet today.

The K162 in the C4 is in an interesting position. The wormhole is farther outside the system than the outer planet, which makes it a relatively good safe-spot in itself. But it is also 4·5 AU distant from the nearest celestial body, which is further than the 4 AU limit that it is generally assumed signatures appear within. A standard probe spread makes finding such signatures more awkward, as the signal appears weaker when given less overlap of scanning coverage, particularly when the signature is outside the orbit of an outer planet. The wormhole's position may not be significant, although the next connection on today's route is found near to the one we enter through and is also over 4 AU from the nearest celestial body. At least the wormhole is found, and I jump through.

I bookmark the K162 side of the wormhole and check d-scan, not launching probes once I see two Tengu strategic cruisers, Sleeper wrecks, and a Cormorant destroyed somewhere in the system. Targets! Or, rather, the Cormorant is a single target, likely the salvaging boat following behind the two Tengu ships. I move away from the wormhole and cloak smoothly, starting a passive scan for anomalies where the ships could be fighting Sleepers. I find four anomalies and warping between them locates the Tengu cruisers, the Cormorant elsewhere salvaging judging by d-scan. It looks like the Tengus are finishing the last wave of Sleepers in this current anomaly, so I loiter and call for my colleagues to return to the tower to swap for sharper ships.

There are a few hops required to return to the tower and get back to the system connecting to this C4, and time is likely to be of the essence. Good salvagers can clear sites quickly, moving between wrecks fluidly and fast, which makes setting up in a good position to spring an ambush potentially difficult. I take advantage of the time before the last Sleepers are destroyed to bookmark a cluster of wrecks that looks like the best chance of snaring the salvager and warp out and in to the new position. And, luckily, the Tengus aren't terribly fast at shooting Sleepers and my colleagues are able to return to sit on the other side of the wormhole as the strategic cruisers finish and the Cormorant warps in to salvage. But then all three ships warp out again, leaving nothing but wrecks. A Tengu comes back alone and floats for a while. I have no idea what is happening and all I can do is relay the information to my colleagues.

The Cormorant returns to the site of wrecks and the Tengu warps out. It looks like salvaging will begin, but the Cormorant starts to move away from the wrecks, and slowly. This peculiar behaviour is only explained when the destroyer warps from his new position to a distant wreck, trying to take advantage of the 150 km minimum limit on warp travel to speed up movement between the separated wrecks. Checking d-scan shows a new Sleeper wreck appearing elsewhere in the system, suggesting that the Tengus have started fighting in a different anomaly, which should give us enough time to engage the Cormorant. But the salvager is so slow, crawling interminably between wrecks and again moving distant from them for a reason I cannot deduce.

All is made clear when the destroyer jettisons a can some 200 km away from the anomaly. He is making a point of reference he can warp to and from, far enough from all the wrecks that he can use it for each cluster of wrecks. This idea works quite well for mining sites, where barges are notoriously slow vessels. A fast and agile ship warps in to the site, burns away from all the rocks, creates a reference point with a can or a simple bookmark, then brings in the barges so they can move between distant rocks more easily. But for salvaging a simple anomaly this method is unwieldy and overly tedious. A destroyer can easily fit a micro-warp drive and remain cap-stable whilst salvaging, allowing quick travel between wrecks at speeds greater than 1 km/s, which really reduces the time taken to salvage.

It doesn't look like this Cormorant has any speed boosting modules fitted either, having crawled 200 km away at normal ship speeds. I appreciate the idea of dropping that jet-can as a reference, but with the time it took this pilot to drop the can it would have been quicker to bookmark each cluster of wrecks and warp in and out of the site. But at last he is clearing the wrecks with some kind of efficiency, even if it remains hopelessly sub-optimal, and it looks like he will get to the cluster I am sitting on soon. I tell my colleagues to get ready, and as the Cormorant warps back to his reference point and enters warp coming directly for me I call for them to jump and warp to my position.

The two ships enter the system and engage their warp drives as the Cormorant's engines drop the salvager out of warp almost on top of my position. I try to take advantage of the Cormorant's immobility when dropping out of warp to negate the sensor recalibration caused by my decloaking, hoping to lock and disrupt the destroyer before it even gets a chance to evade. But my sense of timing is awry. I manage to decloak and target the Cormorant, disrupting its warp engines and tickling it with my rockets, but the ships that next appear in the anomaly are not my fleet but the two Tengu strategic cruisers. I knew the anomaly they had gone to was close but I didn't think they could respond quite so quickly. I have no choice but to escape and call for the others to disengage just as they arrive.

We all clear the pocket with no loss and no damage, and I reflect on my poor timing. But even though I decloaked too soon it looks like my premature action may not be what caused the failed ambush. A Falcon recon ship appears on d-scan and it looks like our presence was either known or suspected, and our targets were primed to react to a threat. Despite reacting quickly the counter-attack is weak, not getting any points on our ships to prevent warping out. But they save their salvager. Our small fleet makes its way back through w-space to our home system safely. I think we could have popped the Cormorant if I had timed it better. I still get excited by PvP engagements and can be a little impetuous. At least it remains exciting.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Slow salvaging scuppers sinking
Tags: cormorant, eve online, falcon, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space

Introducing the salvaging Damnation

It's all quiet, I go out scanning alone. My exploration to find activity starts slowly when jumping through the static connection fails owing to the exit wormhole stabilising, a sure indication that no one is in the system on the other side. I have visited this C4 system before, almost four months ago, and it was unoccupied then just as it is unoccupied now, and devoid of activity. There are a bunch of anomalies showing up on the scan results but only a few signatures, the static wormhole appearing soon enough and leading in to a C3. This wormhole is also stabilising, which at least makes my jump safe.

There is a tower and some ships visible on the directional scanner. The ships must surely be unpiloted and at the tower, because of the indications that the system is unvisited recently, and using d-scan to find the tower shows this to be the case. A couple of medium warp bubbles protect the tower from intrusion, but no objects are scattered around to also decloak anyone. I move away from the bubble that catches me and make a bookmark for convenient later visits. The ships at the tower are unthreatening, just a Caracal cruiser, Buzzard covert operations boat, and Heron frigate. I warp away to launch probes and scan, finding a K162 wormhole coming in to the C3 from low-sec empire space, and the static connection that also connects to low-sec space. My exploration ends for now, the system remains quiet, and I head home to rest for a while.

Taking a look around later shows no change in the situation. The connecting systems are still quiet and the same three ships are at the tower in the class 3 system. At least now we have enough capsuleers to make a suitable fleet to engage Sleepers. Our neighbouring C4 holds a magnetar phenomenon, its bonus to damage promising to help speed up combat. I am one of only two Guardian pilots available and so I find myself back in the logistics ship, alongside a pilot out in her second operation in one. We warp out and clear the first anomaly smoothly, her first experience in a Guardian and expertise at piloting clearly helping to keep the fleet from disintegrating around us.

Another capsuleer arrives at our tower and volunteers to salvage behind us. Missing the bookmarks to the anomalies the salvager warps to our location, in a second cleared anomaly, so he can make a bookmark here and let the squad leader warp him to the previously cleared site. The salvager now able to continue alone, a fleet warp command is given to send us on to the next anomaly, except we find ourselves in a previously cleared site. The squad leader tries again, warping the fleet onwards. But a mis-communication means the salvager, who we accidentally met with, doesn't cancel this command and follows us in warp. This gives us some concern, as his salvaging destroyer unlikely to withstand a volley of Sleeper fire. It is lucky that we are instead warped back to the second cleared anomaly instead of one still full of Sleepers. Maybe there are only two anomalies in the system and we have multiple bookmarks to each. But our squad leader tries again and, third time lucky, we continue shooting Sleepers.

Meanwhile, Fin turns up to offer even more fleet options. Her choice is to refit my Damnation a little and bring it in to our current anomaly, piloting it until the Sleepers are destroyed before swapping with me, Guardian for Damnation. I now have fitted three armoured warfare links, two salvager modules and two tractor beams, with the now no longer needed ballistic control systems swapped for an expanded cargohold and capacitor power relay. The reheat is changed for a micro-warp drive for extra speed, but the Damnation still has a five kilometre turning radius. My refitted ship is now capable of providing significant boosts to the logistic ships whilst salvaging the wrecks as we progress, all with a cap-stable fit and over 100,000 effective hit-points. I may have no launchers, but the field command ship doesn't really deal damage effectively. It does, however, excels in the support role. I just may need to finally train my salvaging skill a little more, having been reliant on fitted rigs to salvage the largest wrecks so far.

A total of nine anomalies are cleared with little fuss and no hostile interruptions. The fleet runs smoothly and I enjoy pootling around in the Damnation looting and salvaging, almost oblivious to the combat around me, particularly as Sleeper ships do not appear on my salvaging overview. A seventy-five million ISK profit each is a good result for the evening. One final check of the C3 shows no change in activity, with the same unpiloted ships at the tower. I return home to rest.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Introducing the salvaging Damnation
Tags: buzzard, caracal, damnation, eve online, guardian, heron, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, salvage, sleepers, w-space

Scanning through the neighbourhood

The fresh static connection we open yesterday must be gone by now. I check the bookmark can floating nearby and find three new bookmarks, copying them across to my systems. Two of the bookmarks obviously mark our static wormhole and its K162 companion in the connecting system, but the third has a tag indicating that it is 'inactive'. It suggests that the scanner did not visit the wormhole and would prefer it to remain unopened for now. Taking a look in the C4 reveals an unoccupied system with two dozen anomalies waiting to be plundered of profit. Without any other incoming connections and the static wormhole left inactive, it looks to be an excellent system to engage in Sleeper combat and loot recovery. I leave the wormhole unvisited and return to the tower, taking a break in the hopes of a fleet forming later.

It takes a while but a minimal fleet eventually forms, just enough capsuleers available to cover the normal roles in our standard Sleeper fleet. Unfortunately, the fleet is fleeting, the convergence of capsuleers and available time intersecting only briefly before we are once again restricted in our endeavours. But with no Sleeper combat looking likely the bookmark to the inactive wormhole in our neighbouring C4 can be visited and further systems explored. Logistic ships are swapped for covert operations scanning boats and we dart out of the tower's shield to the wormhole like probes themselves.

The first hop is simple and we warp to the waiting wormhole. We pause briefly to create a more accurate bookmark for the C4's static connection, as a bookmark created from the scanning interface references the cosmic signature of the wormhole, which is separate from the phenomenon itself and can be several kilometres distinct, before jumping through to the class 5 w-space system beyond. The C5 is a pulsar system, occupied but with no ships apparently active according to the directional scanner. I find a tower with a Chimera carrier unpiloted inside its shields before realising there is also a second tower. The other tower is around an adjacent moon and is quiet too.

Two wormholes are found, an EOL K162 coming in from a class 5 system and the system's static wormhole leading in to another class 5 system. I jump through the static connection to see two Sleeper wrecks visible on d-scan but no ships. A tower is located with some small ships sitting inside the shields but nothing piloted. Two more wormholes are found, again a K162 from a C5 and the static connection leading to a C5. One colleague jumps through the K162 and reports 'nothing but a can' on d-scan, whilst the C5 through the static connection gives us a bunch of signatures to resolve.

There are no signatures that look obviously like wormholes and myself and our scan man chase down every last one, the final choice being the system's static wormhole. The signature looked least likely to be a wormhole because it turns out to be 5 AU away from the outermost planet and off the orbital plane, giving a comparatively really weak return signal. We warp to the wormhole and find we are being led in to a C3 for a change.

Our scan man jumps through to the C3 and finds an off-line tower, launching probes to also scan an exit to high-sec empire space. But there is no activity. We keep ourselves isolated in the hopes that we can plunder a system with little fear of interruption only to find a string of systems with not much happening. There isn't much to do but head back to the tower and rest for the night.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: chimera, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Back in the Damnation

The static wormhole collapses on demand, disappearing after the Orca returns home. The new static wormhole is found and jumped through, revealing an unoccupied class 4 w-space system with ten signatures and two anomalies for us to plunder. It doesn't seem like much, with a suggestion to collapse this new wormhole too, but with limited time the pair of anomalies and radar sites could be enough. We should at least clear the sites available before thinking about collapsing the wormhole, which seems like the best idea.

I suggest clearing the two anomalies first before entering the radar site, which would enable us to ingore the despawn timer for the sites. Normally we take on the harder and more profitable sites first, but in the case of radar and magnetometric sites the databanks and artefacts that hold the extra loot despawn with the site, whereas ship wrecks persist in space for longer. To recover the extra loot we would need to dedicate one pilot to remain in the site, preferably collecting the loot, whilst the rest of the fleet continues on to the anomalies. Anomalies only have Sleeper ships and thus only leave wrecks, so by clearing the anomalies first we only need to bookmark a wreck to return later to collect the loot, and ending in a radar site doesn't compromise the strength of the fleet. However, there are two radar sites so my idea doesn't quite work, but I have a second idea.

Our previous Sleeper engagement saw the Guardian pilots, of which I was one, struggle with trying to feed three greedy and two peckish battleships with excess capacitor energy from our two spare transfer arrays, which turned out to be more frustrating than challenging. I think I can help a little. The corporation has had capsuleers training for the Guardian, understanding the undesirable nature of cancelling operations because of a single pilot's unavailability, so I am not always needed to fly one of the logistic ships. What I can pilot instead is my Damnation. With its role as a fleet command ship and my previous training I can fit three armoured warfare links, to increase the armour resistances of all ships in the fleet, reduce the amount of capacitor required for repper modules, and to reduce the cycle time of reppers. Piloting the Damnation will reduce the damage needed to repair, make repairs faster, and reduce the energy burden of repairs to make more available to transfer to other ships. I can also refit the Damnation so that it can hack in to databanks.

A quick re-configuration of my command ship lets me put three codebreaker modules in to its mid slots. Swapping the micro-warp drive for a reheat keeps the ship cap-stable, whilst I am able to fit and run all three warfare links and still have 105,000 EHP. My only compromise is targeting range, but I need to be close to the databanks and am unlikely to be contributing too much to damage anyway. The fleet command ship is designed for range and survivability, providing support to all the ships in the fleet more than heavy firepower. Running in this configuration will let us clear the radar sites actively, and although the Damnation becomes the equivalent of a trailing hacker boat the warfare links provide a tangible benefit to the fleet.

The radar sites run quite smoothly. The Guardian pilots seem quite happy with the boosted effects of their modules and there don't appear to be any panics when multiple Sleeper battleships warp in. I am able to hack in to the Sleeper databases, although there is a hitch when an escalation produces a deserted Talocan cruiser, which despawns with the site and requires salvaging to recover its contents. We are not quite self-sufficient. But for all the good my unbonussed heavy missile launchers are doing I ponder the option for future operations of removing all of the launchers and fitting salvaging modules and tractor beams instead.

Certainly, if we have a fleet that could accommodate it I think a salvaging, hacking, and analysing Damnation running armoured warfare links would be an asset, particularly when we would rather not leave the wrecks behind in the sites for too long. And as we have recently been attacking salvaging ships of other corporations' operations, and successfully, it seems wise to have the salvager be protected by the fleet whenever possible. As for tonight, a separate salvager turns up to clear up behind us in the anomalies, and he grabs the Talocan cruiser at a convenient moment so that we can move to the next radar site. The two anomalies and two radar sites are cleared for a profit of seventy-five million ISK each. Despite recently losing and replacing two Onyx heavy interdictors, and earlier a Buzzard, this evening's payment pushes my wallet over three billion ISK. I probably ought to spend more of it on new ships, not just replacements.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Back in the Damnation
Tags: buzzard, damnation, eve online, guardian, mmorpg, onyx, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, sleepers, w-space

Overlooking the obvious

Earlier scanning by scouts has found a route to empire space. The journey leads from home through the static C4 system to a C3, and from there to low-sec space. A class 6 w-space connection is also found in the C3, but all systems seem quiet. Fin goes looking for trouble in a null-sec system also linking in to the C3 but when I go to help I see that the wormhole is reaching the end of its natural lifetime. There is no activity in the null-sec system anyway and in quiet desperation I check the low-sec system only to find I am the only person in the system. There is one place left to look for action, the C6 system.

So far in my travels class 6 w-space systems have either been unoccupied or full of dangerous capsuleers with ships bigger than our tower, and heading in to one of these systems to look for action seems to be a mistake in itself. I see there is a tower in the system but with only small ships visible on the directional scanner. Locating the tower makes this more interesting, as the Hurricane battlecruiser, Osprey cruiser, Moa cruiser, and shuttle are not just the only ships in the shields but the only ships available to the corp, as there is no ship hangar. The tower itself is a small variant and there are no weapons protecting it. A bit of research shows the tower to be owned by a corporation with only three members. I have no idea how he survives out here.

I scan for the C6 system's static wormhole, soon finding an incoming connection from a class 2 system. That class 2 system must be a dangerous system to inhabit too. More scanning reveals the system's static wormhole, leading to a class 4 system, but it is EOL and I don't risk passing through. Luckily, some activity has been seen in the C3 behind me and I head back to see what's happening. A Buzzard has been spotted passing through the low-sec exit. I check the C3 system's tower and find an Imperial Navy Slicer frigate now sitting piloted but passive inside the shields. There are also four wrecks of Sleeper ships on d-scan but no combat ship to accompany them. It is suggested that the small number of wrecks could be from a miner who was spooked and left the site to swap in to a combat ship. If that's true, finding the mining site now may be beneficial for later, when the miner has settled down again. I launch probes and start scanning for ladar and gravimetric sites.

I resolve a ladar site and warp to it, finding no wrecks. Two more ladar sites are scanned, both being empty of Sleeper wrecks, which leaves only one more mining site to go. Again, no Sleeper wrecks are found. But they must be somewhere, so I resolve the final signature and find it to be a radar site. Simply wanting to find these wrecks now I warp to the radar site, taking care to enter the site at range to prevent warping in to danger. Unfortunately, I enter the site from the wrong direction, where warping to the cosmic signature at my chosen range actually drops me out of warp directly on top of a Sleeper databank. The databank decloaks me and I try to clear it to re-activate my cloak, but the Sleepers lock on to my Buzzard too quickly. Trying to warp out doesn't help now either, as the frigates have disrupted my warp engines. My fragile covert operations boat doesn't last long under Sleeper fire and I flee the site in my bare pod.

It is about this time that a colleague says he has found the wrecks. They are in an anomaly, the only one in range of the outer planet, which could be found with the most basic of scans. I am feeling suitably stupid right now. I take the wormhole exit to low-sec and buy and fit a new Buzzard, moping from stargate jump to stargate jump as I reflect on my impetuous nature clouding my thinking again. The most troublesome aspect of buying a new ship is in thinking of a new name. I quite liked wut? as a ship name and the best I can think of for my new Buzzard is Magnate, and that's only because I couldn't remember the name of the Amarr covert operations frigate. I take my new ship back through the low-sec wormhole to w-space and return home, where plans are afoot to collapse our static wormhole to look for better prospects. Let's hope the operation goes smoothly.

Posted in Gaming | 6 Comments »
Tags: buzzard, eve online, hurricane, low-sec, mmorpg, moa, osprey, penny ibramovic, sleepers, slicer, w-space

Piracy in a Zephyr

I will go back. The Scorpion has seen me leave, I have seen an unfinished anomaly on d-scan, and I have reloaded my stealth bomber. There is a slim chance I can cause more mayhem. The first step is to see if the Scorpion battleship has moved from the wormhole leading in to the C5, which is easy enough to do. Jumping in to the C4, which leads to the C5, poses no problems and the two wormholes are even out of d-scan range of each other, so the Scorpion pilot won't even know that I am in the system. I warp to the connecting wormhole at range and see that the battleship is still loitering, no doubt making sure that no one returns to their system.

I sit and wait, watching the Scorpion. It takes a while but he eventually jumps back in to his system. I wait a little longer, not wanting to jump in before the Scorpion warps away, and it is possible that he will sit on the other side for a while. At least I know when he jumps back, and that he does, rather than having to guess at the Scorpion's location. After a few more minutes I jump through to the C5 myself. If the Scorpion is still waiting then he has greater patience than me and they deserve to keep their anomaly, otherwise I am free to look around a little longer. There is no one visible on the other side of the wormhole and I move away and cloak.

The first anomaly is gone and there are no caspuleers in the second, just some Sleepers and a handful of wrecks. I wonder if they are simply going to leave this unfinished anomaly and I warp to the tower to check for activity. Only the pod of the salvager whose ship I destroyed is there, the other two pilots are absent. I haven't scanned this system and don't have any wormholes leading further out, so I can't check if they are in adjacent systems. But I know they are around somewhere, only not in this system. It suggests that they are going to abandon the anomaly, at least for now.

If the C5 inhabitants aren't going to make the most of their opportunity then I will. Checking the system one more time and finding it clear I jump back home and swap my Manticore for the Zephyr prototype ship. The Zephyr may be mostly useless but it has the wonderful property of being completely ignored by sleepers, much as a capsule is, but with a ten cubic metre cargo hold. This makes the ship ideal for recovering loot in sites where Sleepers remain. I jump back to the C5 and warp to a bookmarked wreck in the second anomaly. The Sleepers pay me no attention and the system's occupants are still not around, and I am able to loot each of the wrecks in the unfinished anomaly without problem.

Making the journey back home I have time to count the loot. I bring back another twenty-one million ISK in Sleeper loot. Along with the earlier salvage I have made a good profit from piracy today, and scared some more capsuleers in to abandoning Sleeper combat, all whilst having fun. It has been a good day.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Piracy in a Zephyr
Tags: eve online, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, scorpion, sleepers, w-space, zephyr

Ventilating a Vexor

The previous static wormhole is dead, I must find the new one to begin today's adventure. Jumping through the static wormhole, once resolved, reveals only celestial bodies within range of the directional scanner, plus one giant secure can. I launch probes and prepare to scan, bookmarking the wormhole home before warping to the lone planet having moons which is out of range of d-scan. The planet holds no secrets, the system is unoccupied. With no one here, a bunch of anomalies to clear, and no other wormholes leading in or out, the system looks good for Sleeper operations. However, there is no fleet and I am not expecting one for hours. I look for further exploration by scanning for the system's static wormhole.

I find mostly rocks and gas in my scanning efforts, the diminishing list of gradually weaker signatures suggests I may be looking for a connection to a C5. I resolve the wormhole eventually and find that it does indeed lead to a class 5 w-space system, and I jump through to see two Tengu strategic cruisers on d-scan. The Tech III cruisers are not alone, though, appearing with a host of Sleeper wrecks. I bookmark the return wormhole but don't launch probes yet, instead I use my passive on-board scanner to look for possible anomalies to locate the combat ships. My scanner finds nothing within range of the wormhole and I warp off to look for a tower in this system, finding one at a distant planet. Both Tengu cruisers and the tower share the same name—not just a prefix—and I draw the obvious conclusion that this tower is the base of the ships. There are warp bubbles weakly protecting the tower, so I move away from them and make a bookmark for safer travel should I need to return here later.

A Vexor cruiser joins the two Tengus on d-scan, its incongruity suggesting it as being a salvaging vessel. I return to looking for possible anomalies passively, scanning from a more central location in the system than the wormhole. Two anomalies are revealed, one of which is in the approximate direction of many Sleeper wrecks. I warp to the anomaly and find that, sure enough, this site has been cleared of Sleepers and only wrecks remain. It is time to swap in to something more destructive, my Manticore stealth bomber feeling appropriate. I bookmark two wrecks, one at either end of the cluster to increase my opportunity, and return through the C4 to the corporation tower as quickly as possible. Before I jump out of the system, I make sure to bookmark the second anomaly too.

When I jump back in to the C5 I am careful to move away from the wormhole as covertly as possible. No ships appear on d-scan though, which is good, particularly as the Sleeper wrecks are within d-scan range of the wormhole. I probably remain unnoticed. A quick check of the system map lets me deduce the position of the wrecks in relation to the wormhole's location, and I warp in to the site using the more appropriate wreck's bookmark so that my cloak won't be disrupted. Once in the site, a bit of manoeuvring lets me align my Manticore with the wrecks, ensuring I am in the same approximate vertical position and in a good position to get to most of the wrecks quickly, but without risking being decloaked should another ship warp in. Now I wait.

PvP engagements can seem to be full of contradictions on occasions. I continually impress the importance of quick decisions, yet here I am waiting for a ship to arrive. The truth is that both decisiveness and patience are required. The right opportunity needs to arise or plans will go awry, and waiting for that opportunity often requires patience. In fact, had I been slower in my actions I would perhaps not be sitting in this anomaly waiting for a salvager to turn up, because the anomaly has disappeared. The time it took for me to make the journey home, swap ships, and return has caused the anomaly to despawn, leaving only the wrecks. Had I been slower in my Buzzard the anomaly would not have shown up the on-board scanner results. That the salvager hasn't turned up yet simply makes the opportunity more appealing, as being ambushed in a despawned anomaly with no sign of probes on d-scan will be more unexpected.

As I wait I ponder my options. Launching a bomb would give a strong initial strike but would put me out of range to activate my warp disruptor and the time it takes for me to get within range gives the salvager time to warp out safely. Relying solely on torpedoes, on the other hand, may take too long and give time for reinforcements to arrive and force me to flee. I decide to risk a bomb launch and to concentrate on getting the ship's engines disrupted afterwards.

My patience pays off, as the Vexor finally warps in. Indeed, he warps in to a point that is tantalisingly close to bombing range. I manoeuvre to line him up and get some momentum, taking care to avoid being decloaked by wrecks, and my position looks excellent. I drop my cloak and launch the bomb. Before the bomb explodes I lock the Vexor and start to move closer, trying not to get too excited and get caught in my own bomb blast. The bomb hits, I activate my torpedoes and reheat and burn towards the cruiser all launchers firing, disrupting the target's engines as soon as I am within range. He doesn't warp out! I keep closing on him, torpedoes blasting through his armour, activating all my systems to increase his signature radius and slow down his maximum velocity, and soon enough his hull collapses and the Vexor explodes.

The pilot's pod warps away safely. My continued approach puts me close enough to loot the wreck without much pause, only leaving behind the prototype cloaking device for lack of room in my hold. I move away, re-activate my cloak and, rather than impulsively warping away, I slowly move away from the wreck in an arbitrary direction to see what happens next. A Scorpion warps in to the site and moves around a little, but doesn't have much more to do. As I watch I see what I managed to loot. Oh, right, the loot. It looks like I got a little over-excited again, launching my bomb almost as soon as the Vexor started salvaging. Had I waited a little longer, until he had nearly finished, I could have perhaps had a much more profitable haul. This is a point to remember for future occasions. Even so, three melted nanoribbons is a lucky result.

The Scorpion warps away after a while, disappearing from d-scan shortly afterwards. I warp to the system's tower to see what is happening, finding a Cyclone battleship and Brutix battlecruiser in the shields. It looks like the Brutix will continue the salvaging operation with the Cyclone as protection. The two ships warp off and I head back to the cleared anomaly, presumably following the other two ships. Indeed, the Brutix salvages the rest of the wrecks and the Cyclone sits and watches. Once again I have struck fear in to the hearts of other caspuleers. But even if I had another bomb loaded I wouldn't engage again, as I would not be able to engage to the kill and would only risk my own ship. I instead head home, satisfied with my result.

Jumping through the wormhole to the C4 system shows me where the Scorpion went, as it sits menacingly on the C4-side of the wormhole to their system. I calmly move away from the wormhole and cloak, almost enjoying letting the Scorpion pilot see me. I like that they now know I stayed for so long in their system, making them think that I was ready to strike again. And if they see me leave they may continue that second anomaly as normal, as I noticed more wrecks appear on d-scan before I destroyed their the salvager, which may encourage me to come back. But, for now, I return home and drop off my meagre but satisfying piratical loot.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Ventilating a Vexor
Tags: brutix, buzzard, cyclone, eve online, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, scorpion, tengu, vexor, w-space