Late-night scanning

Fin risks collapsing our unstable wormhole. A cruiser-sized hull is pushed through and, with some luck and judgement, the wormhole collapses on the return jump. We now have a new static wormhole to find and potential for more action beyond our own system. I take my Buzzard out to join two colleagues in scanning our new neighbourhood.

Jumping through the static connection leads us in to an unoccupied C4. My comparative method of scanning reveals a wormhole to me on the first signature I resolve, leading me to another static C4 wormhole. The directional scanner is clear of all but celestial bodies on the other side of the wormhole so I launch probes and continue scanning. I note from my records that I've been in this system on two previous occasions, it remaining unchosen for settlement.

My skills in finding wormholes begin to let me down and it's good that we have several scanners out. Fin finds the next conection, a K162 coming in from another C4 system, but as it is reaching the end of its natural life I don't head through. The static wormhole remains elusive for a little longer but is eventually found, a connection to a C5 system explaining its signature's weak strength.

The C5 system is also unoccupied, presenting no possible targets for us so far, and we spend a while chasing rocks and gas around before our experienced scan man finally locates the system's static wormhole. A connection to a class 3 system looks more promising and although the system is occupied there is no activity. The only wormhole found in the system is a static exit to low-sec empire space.

Our late-night scanning has brought no opportunity to engage in piracy and I am feeling a little unwell. I return home to the tower to rest, not feeling spritely enough to engage more Sleepers.

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

Struggling to find the energy

The static wormhole is on the verge of collapse. It is not the work of others trying to keep us out this time, but a lack of anything to do provoking corporation members to try to collapse the wormhole themselves. The operation isn't quite as successful as it could have been but no one is isolated from the home system either. Whilst not in a position to look farther afield for combat there are a number of anomlies in this system, which we can clear to cull the again-growing Sleeper infestation. Two Guardian logistic ships, and Scorpion, Megathron and Maelstrom battleships comprise the fleet. Our force looks good and the battleships are only peckish for extra capacitor juice, which should make for a smooth operation.

Extra corporation members arrive and look for action as we clear the anomalies. Our fleet of five grows to six, seven, then eight by the time we enter the fourth anomaly in the system. As Fin suggests, clearing anomalies in our home system is an ideal time for some of the newer pilots to gain experience of our operations. The logistics of wormholes can be ignored, there being no need to worry about having particular bookmarks, and our tower acts as a safe-spot should it be needed between sites or in case of trouble. All the pilots who join our fleet are fairly experienced already, though, and despite the suggestion of having the last member run behind us in a salvager she instead wants to join the combat directly and is welcomed in to the anomaly in a battleship.

All three new fleet members are in capacitor-depleting Abaddons. Although compromising the battleship's stability for extra DPS works well on an individual basis, the capability of the Guardian to feed excess energy to ships is limited. The Guardians need one of their two energy transfer arrays on the other Guardian, to keep each other powered, which only leaves one transfer per logistics ship free. Flying with two capacitor-thirsty ships is manageable although not ideal, as it still is not possible to run all four reppers continuously whilst running both transfer arrays, but to run any more is an exercise in frustration.

Being able to switch reppers between ships is made easier by the transparency of the armour status of each ship in the fleet, from the watch list and the icon when the ship is targeted, but there is no such option that indicates capacitor levels. We rely on individual input to assess energy needs. Two thirsty ships means each Guardian agreeing to feed one of them and running an individual transfer permanently to that ship. Three thirsty ships makes this approach unfeasible and without constant status updates it is guesswork and annoying micro-management for a Guardian pilot to keep the battleship pilots happy. Battleship pilots are only happy when they are shooting, and they can only shoot when they have energy.

We struggle to keep all three Abaddons energised and have to sacrifice more than one when our fleet comes under heavy Sleeper fire and our ships need to activate all four reppers to prevent ships exploding. It is a frustrating experience, one that I don't think is fully appreciated by anyone who hasn't piloted a logistics ship. If we continue to field fleets of this size some consideration will be needed to make the ships more efficient, as the current configuration makes piloting a Guardian more of a thankless chore than a fun challenge. Never the less, we clear all seven anomalies in our system of Sleepers and I get to relax afterwards by piloting a salvager and collecting all the loot from a couple of the sites. I still enjoy salvaging an awful lot. Our collective efforts bring home a healthy hundred million ISK profit each.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Struggling to find the energy
Tags: abaddon, eve online, guardian, maelstrom, megathron, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, scorpion, sleepers, w-space

Watching a wormhole collapse

The fleet is safely home, but we'd rather no one follows. The decision is made to collapse our static wormhole, with the hopes that any repercussions from earlier will be minimised. It doesn't look like the capsuleers we attack are actively looking for us but it is better to be safe than sorry. And on that note I suggest that perhaps we ought to see what the capsuleers in the C5 connecting in to our system are up to before we pilot Orca industrial command ships to our wormhole. A scout warps to the K162 wormhole and jumps in to the C5. Shortly after he jumps, an Onyx heavy interdictor, Ishtar heavy assault ship, Hurricane battleship, and even a Thanatos carrier warp to the wormhole. It looks like it was a good idea to monitor our neighbour's activity before trying to collapse our wormhole with expensive and slow ships.

A ship jumps in to our system and holds its cloak. The stealth bombers we had earlier are still primed and mine is now sitting off the wormhole watching for activity. A Dominix uncloaks after a while and starts moving, but only back towards the wormhole where it jumps again. Maybe our neighbours are not adopting a threatening stance but a defensive one, with combat ships sitting on their side of the wormhole to protect the battleship as it too starts to collapse the connection. It looks like our measure to ensure our safety has been misinterpreted as a hostile act in itself. I am apparently not one to disavow people of their negative views of me, which generally turns out to be futile anyway, and think about making an opportunistic attack on this Dominix.

The stealth bombers are co-ordinated again. Each pilot has a copy of the bookmark to this wormhole, allowing us to individually pick a celestial body to 'bounce' off to approach the wormhole on a different vector. This is a quick way for several pilots to warp in to range for a bomb launch without decloaking each other. The bombs may not have time to reach the target in the interval between it decloaking and returning through the wormhole, and if we can catch it before the session change timer elapses we can continue the damage with torpedoes. As soon as the wormhole flares we are to launch, catching whatever jumps through in the explosion. And there's a flare! Bombs are launched, but I only hit the wormhole and its signature. I am scratching my head right up until the Dominix decloaks and jumps back, apparently unscathed. I am sure that damage decloaks ships but perhaps the session change cloak works differently. We need a secondary plan.

The next idea is to scatter as many ships and drones around the wormhole in an attempt to decloak the battleship by proximity and then to shoot it before it can jump back. I return my Manticore for the Malediction interceptor, hoping to fly fast enough around the wormhole to cover more range. The Dominix comes back again, easily avoids being decloaked and jumps home. There is an awful lot of volume in a five kilometre radius sphere of space where a battleship can hide. The operation is ultimately futile, but a better understanding of the mechanics involved is gained, as well as seeing how keeping nasty ships on one side and sending a calm pilot to make the jumps can be an effective strategy to collapse a wormhole. Everyone returns safely to the tower and I settle down to rest for the night.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: dominix, eve online, hurricane, ishtar, malediction, manticore, mmorpg, onyx, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, thanatos, w-space

Sabotaging another salvaging operation

Systems have been scanned, there are bookmarks waiting in the can. I make copies and follow a corporation colleague as he goes off to roam in his Arazu recon ship, choosing a Manticore stealth bomber for myself. I have visited our neighbouring class 4 system twice before, the last time about a month ago, and it remains unoccupied. There are probes visible on the direction scanner, indicating the likelihood of a covert operations boat looking for sites or wormholes. I jump back to the home system and change the Manticore for my Maledication interceptor at the tower, warping back to sit on our static wormhole, waiting for the scanner to find the other side and jump through.

My colleague starts to anchor a warp bubble on our wormhole, hoping to make the scanner easier to catch, and we get a surprise as a Nemesis stealth bomber warps on top of us. He must have come from the class 5 w-space system that connects in to us today. The Nemesis drops on top of the wormhole and cannot be caught before he jumps. I follow through to the C4 and try to engage before he can warp off or cloak but he evades me and my lacking interceptor skills. I know from experience that an interceptor can survive a bomb so I don't jump back home immediately, as that would entail polarisation difficulties, and linger on the wormhole in the C4. The probes are still out and, by adjusting the range to which d-scan is effective, I can tell that the scanner is looking for the wormhole I am on.

All of the probes get within 0·5 AU of the wormhole but don't move away or disappear. The scanner may have gone AFK, is getting a couple of ships to scare away the Malediction he can see, or is safely scouting the wormhole whilst cloaked and is waiting to see if I leave on my own accord. The bubble on the other side of the wormhole is now anchored and my colleague wanders off, heading through this C4 to the connecting C3 system, where he spies a Harbinger battlecruiser, although it is sitting inertly at the tower in the system. It all looks quiet, until a Cyclone battleship appears on d-scan. The probes disappear from the C4 too. The Harbinger warps away and the Cyclone is no longer on d-scan, but a Proteus strategic cruiser is. My colleague tries to locate it, but the lone Proteus is soon joined by a second, as well as a Legion strategic cruiser, Tengu strategic cruiser, and the Cyclone and Harbinger. They are not looking for us but we can still look for them.

I get in to my Buzzard and head to the C3 to start looking for possible anomalies where the fleet could be in combat. There are no anomalies I can detect but there is a bookmark to a magnetometric site. I warp to it and find ships but not the scary combat fleet, instead a Catalyst and Helios. The Catalyst looks to be assuming the regular destroyer role of salvaging whilst the covert operations boat is poking the artefacts for Sleeper treasures. It looks like we have an opportunity to cause trouble here, but the window is small. I bookmark a wreck that is likely to be late on the salvager's route and warp out and back in to the bookmark to get a good position, calling in my colleague in his Arazu, who then wants to get more ships here. We have some allies coming in from empire space, the low-sec exit from this C3 being their designated entrance to w-space, but although they are in the system with the wormhole I do not think we can spare the time. Good salvagers are quick, we need to take the shot now.

We seize the moment and decloak, focusing on the Catalyst salvaging. I am able to target and warp scramble the destroyer in my Buzzard, my colleague starting to shoot as he also sends drones to engage the analysing Helios. The Helios is quick to warp away, too far from the salvager to be snared by a warp disruption module, but the Catalyst is not as lucky and is quickly despatched. The salvager's pod gets away cleanly as I loot the wreck of its collected Sleeper bounty, before making my own clean escape. My first thought is to clear the system, warping to the wormhole heading home, but I pause on my return journey and realise the extra firepower we have waiting for a potential second strike. I change course and warp to the wormhole leading to low-sec empire space, jumping through to give our allies a beacon to enter w-space.

A Cyclone battleship and Drake battlecruiser are in the magnetometric site now, keeping the site 'alive'. If all ships leave a site empty of Sleepers it despawns quite quickly, which would remove all of the artefacts or databanks present. By keeping a couple of ships in the site the Sleeper artefacts are prevented from despawning until it is safe again to get a ship to analyse them and recover the profits within. But they can only guess at their safety, and maybe they haven't seen the squad of stealth bombers enter the system. Having guided the new people in to the system I return to our tower to drop off the loot—thirty million ISK of profit brought back from a single kill, which is another answer as to why we attack defenceless salvager ships—and swap back in to my own stealth bomber.

The magnetometric site is once again thought safe, a Rupture cruiser salvaging and the Helios back analysing, although the Cyclone and Drake loiter as a threatening presence. Our own group is being co-ordinated to make them feel less safe. The bombers are being lined up and assigned targets, a Rook is waiting on the C4 side of the connecting wormhole, and we are getting ready to attack. I point out that the Helios looks like it is getting close to finishing, understanding again the need to strike quickly more than accurately sometimes, but there is a lot to organise, made more difficult by not being able to see any of the cloaked ships. The Helios warps off, apparently having analysed all of the artefacts, and the two combat ships soon follow, no longer needing to keep the site from despawning.

Our moment has passed, but trying to co-ordinate the biggest PvP fleet we have yet fielded, whilst everyone is cloaked, took some effort. We have all gained some experience from the operation at least. The fleet is taken back to our tower in our home system for cake.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Sabotaging another salvaging operation
Tags: arazu, buzzard, catalyst, cyclone, drake, eve online, harbinger, helios, malediction, manticore, mmorpg, nemesis, penny ibramovic, pvp, rook, rupture, tengu, w-space

Different feed

I changed the feed for Tiger Ears a while back. I wasn't sure what difference it would make and the change appeared to have no negative effects. However, if you only see partial posts in your newsfeed you may need to subscribe to the new Tiger Ears feed, which should still provide full posts.

Posted in Technical | Comments Off on Different feed
Tags: atom, rss

Catching a Catalyst

A scout through today's mapped w-space systems shows little activity. Glorious leader Fin checks the high-sec exit from the C1 system whilst I loiter nearby, and moments after she jumps through an Omen cruiser warps to the same wormhole and follows. The cruiser warps away from the high-sec K162 and no doubt only coincidentally was just behind Fin, but the Omen may return. Fin stalks the high-sec side of the wormhole in her Pilgrim recon ship, I return to the corporation tower to get my often-piloted and never-used Malediction interceptor. As with other times the interceptor ends up slowly orbiting a wormhole with no purpose, as the Omen doesn't come back.

Meanwhile, a corporation scout has found a new wormhole in our neighbouring C4 system, a K162 coming from another C4 system. Hoping that I'll find more activity by venturing through an active connection I swap back in to my Buzzard and go to help scan the new system beyond. The connecting C4 is unnocupied and is a system I visited about a week ago. Scanning finds only one other connection, a K162 again from a class 4 system. Jumping through finds another previously visited system, this one from almost four months ago. The system was unoccupied then and it is unoccupied now, so we are again looking for a K162 in order to trace the origin of the scanner who opened these wormholes, but we find none. It is possible the corporation got frustrated with finding a chain of class 4 w-space systems and collapsed their static connection to start again. But their opening of the wormholes has given us more opportunities to clear anomalies of Sleepers, if we can get a fleet together. Or we could try to find the Drake just announced as visible on d-scan in the C2.

I move my Buzzard across to the C2 system and take a look. This is a silo system, creating enormous clutter on d-scan. Knowing I am looking for uncloaked combat ships I swap my return signal to show only matches with my active overview settings, letting me see quickly that there is not only a Drake in the C2 but a Proteus strategic cruiser and Vulture command ship as well. Another Buzzard is also visible. The symbols preceding the ship names suggest the Proteus and Vulture belong to the same corporation or fleet, as do the Buzzard and Drake, but that there are two distinct groups. However, refining my d-scan search shows the Drake and Proteus to be engaging Sleepers together whilst the Vulture and Buzzard are elsewhere. My guess is that the Vulture is sitting on a newly opened wormhole in to this system and providing warfare link bonuses to the two ships in the Sleeper site.

I can't find the Vulture but knowing that the Drake and Proteus are engaging Sleepers, as evidenced by the accumulating Sleeper wrecks on d-scan, should be easy to find using the on-board scanner. I use the passive scanner so as not to launch probes and alert the ships to my presence, although the silo system could obscure the visibility of probes to my advantage. An anomaly is found that matches the general direction of where d-scan suggests the two ships are fighting and I warp to the location. I check d-scan again and am interested to see a Catalyst destroyer now appear, particularly one named Scavenger. Fin is still nearby and has been cloaked and monitoring my communications about the ships here. Although we were considering what it would take to engage the Drake and Proteus it seemed unlikely we would win if the Vulture were to turn up to provide assistance, but now we have the prospect of assaulting a salvager ship.

I bookmark a wreck in the finished combat site and warp out and back in again to get a better position, and Fin uses my position to do the same. The Catalyst warps in to the site and prepares to salvage the wrecks, which looks promising except for the Proteus and Drake deciding to loiter instead of moving along. We cannot reliably engage the salvager, unarmed as it is likely to be, whilst two combat ships are so close. We sit and watch, holding our cloaks in my Buzzard and Fin's Pilgrim, hoping that the ships leave the Catalyst alone and, to our excitement, they do indeed warp away. Now we need to pick the right moment, one where we can engage the Catalyst as quickly as possible knowing that the Drake and Proteus will probably come to its aid.

I manoeuvre my Buzzard between some wrecks, careful to maintain enough distance for my cloak to hold. Fin warps out and in again, using a different reference point, hoping to gain a better position. We communicate as best we can our positions using points of reference in the site and a determination of 'north' from the system map. A check of d-scan shows the other ships still in the system but now there are some distant Sleeper wrecks, so they are busy shooting Sleeper ships again somewhere else. We have our opportunity, but Fin doesn't think she can catch the salvager. The Catalyst is burning between wrecks at full speed and we are limited by standard speeds when cloaked, and engaging when out of warp disruption range could result in a failed attack if the ship warps away from harm. I, however, am in a good position, the Catalyst heading towards me and within warp disruption and near warp scrambling range. Unfortunately, I am only in a Buzzard.

It's good that I have a warp disruptor, warp scrambler, and rockets fitted to my Buzzard. Knowing that the Catalyst needs to be snared and that Fin's Pilgrim can easily catch up once the salvager is tackled I dare to decloak. Waiting for the recalibration delay before I can lock my target seems to take forever, but I get a lock and activate both the warp disruptor and scrambler, keeping the Catalyst from warping out as well as preventing its use of a micro-warp drive to speed away. My rocket launcher starts to irritate the salvager's shields as Fin decloaks and comes closer to deal some real damage. The destroyer doesn't last long and, to our surprise, we even capture the pod and pop it for kicks. I was close to the Catalyst when I decloaked and only moved closer, engaging my reheat at one point, so end up close enough to the wreck to loot it quickly before clearing the pocket. The Drake and Proteus warp in just as I am leaving, Fin's heavy ship struggling to turn but also getting out safely.

I head straight to our connecting wormhole and leave the system, making the second jump back home. The booty I bring home isn't much, most of the Sleeper loot destroyed in the explosion, but the thrill of the hunt is reward enough. Fin holds in the C2 for a while, curious to see what happens. The pilot of the Proteus starts talking in the local channel, asking Fin 'why don't you come out and play with a gun boat?' Because we'd get killed seems too obvious an answer. 'I guess you like an easy target', the modern-day Sherlock continues. I can see how goading could work but it seems fairly ineffective. But I also suspect I know what's happening. I ask Fin if there are any probes visible on d-scan and she replies that there are. I am concerned that they are looking for our connecting wormhole to camp and catch anyone trying to leave. As entertaining as this chap's talk may be, listening to it is only giving them time to find us. I encourage Fin to return home and she moves to the wormhole.

Sensibly dropping short of the wormhole out of the system, Fin sees a clear connection waiting for her. As she approaches slowly, whilst cloaked, she points out that she is more concerned about what could be waiting on the other side. I can help! I am back at our tower and can easily jump in to the C4 in my Buzzard and warp to the wormhole at range, which is what I do. I am able to provide eyes for Fin in the other system, and now we know the jump will be safe. Even if there is a cloaked ship waiting it will suffer from recalibration delay before being able to target, allowing Fin plenty of time to cloak to prevent a positive lock. She jumps through and warps away cleanly, both of us returning home. Our home's static wormhole is now reaching the end of its natural lifetime, becoming visibly wobbly, which will probably discourage any further repercussions too. We have had another exciting piratical adventure, ending a rather drab day with an adrenalin shot.

Posted in Gaming | 3 Comments »
Tags: buzzard, catalyst, drake, eve online, mmorpg, omen, penny ibramovic, pilgrim, proteus, pvp, scanning, sleepers, vulture, w-space

Scanning a silo system

Three of us make an early start. Two of them are earlier than me and have thoughtfully dropped the bookmark to our system's static wormhole in our shared can before venturing through to the next system. I copy the bookmark and follow. The directional scanner shows the wreck of an industrial ship and a corpse, but otherwise only celestial bodies. I assume from the corpse that an ambush occurred earlier on a wormhole, suggesting that we will find a K162 in this system as well as its static connection. Indeed a K162 connection is found, coming from a class 2 w-space system, but there is no corpse floating around it. Neither is there a corpse on the system's static wormhole and perhaps the ambush caught a miner collecting ore. There is little specific interest in finding the victim, though, and we head off through different wormholes to explore our environment further.

One scout goes in to the C2 system through the K162, finding two towers but no activity. I head through the C4's static connection in to another C2 system, which looks remarkably like yesterday's C2 connection from the C4. It is another silo system, with half-a-dozen towers anchored to moons around a couple of planets, all with multiple silos running reactions. The large number of silos and associated towers, force fields, and defences makes sifting through the directional scanner more awkward. It is when in silo systems that I occasionally select the option to scan using the active overview settings, because although I cannot filter d-scan for probes it can be useful to see quickly if there are uncloaked ships in the system. No activity is registered and I launch probes to start scanning.

A static wormhole to a class 1 w-space system is found along with a second wormhole coming in from null-sec empire space. Fin and our other companion go to null-sec to look for entertainment as I continue my scanning in w-space in the class 1 system. D-scan shows the presence of a tower, which I easily trace to be orbiting around the sixth planet in the system but then I get confused. Warping to the planet and trying to locate the tower gives me a return signal of the tower and its modules but no moons. A tower must be anchored to a moon, which I also expect to see as part of the d-scan result, hence my confusion. I check my settings but they seem normal. The only situation I can think that would cause this is if I am close enough to the moon that the angular separation between the moon and tower is enough to isolate the two on a particularly precise d-scan. I shift my scanning angle a little and get a second return, one with the tower and a single moon, much as I normally expect to see. It is the planet's first moon too, so it is the closest and d-scan must have been able to resolve the moon and the tower separately.

I start scanning the system. There is initially no activity and I am simply looking for more wormholes, or to bookmark likely sites of later activity for ambushes, when a Magnate returns to the system. The ship's pilot belongs to the corporation owning the tower in this system and says hello apparently to me in the local channel. He claims to 'see' me, but he only sees my probes and is only bluffing. I have no urge to enter a conversation and remain quiet. There is a high-sec exit to empire space in this class 1 system, which may be useful, and I opportunistically bookmark a couple of gravimetric sites. There is nothing else to explore here. I travel back along my bookmarked route, popping in to the null-sec system to gain another red dot of exploration on my star map, and noting that the wreck and corpse in the C4 are now gone. I doubt anyone collected them, which suggests that the ambush occurred over two hours ago, as that is how long wrecks last in the harshness of space. I return home to rest, preliminary information gathered that will hopefully prove useful later.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Scanning a silo system
Tags: buzzard, eve online, magnate, mmorpg, null-sec, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Stockholm syndrome kicks in

It looks like I won't be getting the ransom, kidnap kitty may well officially be mine. Some time back I accidentally steal my neighbour's cat and she has been living with me ever since, quite happily. I have bumped in to the neighbour a few times and she has shown interest in the welfare of Panda cat, as I named her, but no real enthusiasm to get her back. My assumption, entirely unfounded, is that she wanted a cat but her partner didn't and having Panda cat move in with me resolved the situation.

I really didn't mind having Panda around. She didn't know how to use a cat-flap or scratching post to start with, but soon got the hang of both, and although she was a little wary of affection she has become quite cuddly. Panda didn't like her head being stroked and when she felt threatened she lashed out quickly and harshly, giving me quite a few scratches for my mistakes. But she has calmed down incredibly and is now acting much more cat-like in her affections, and when she tires of being stroked she no longer digs her claws in before running away but bats me lightly with her paws to say 'no' and we both carry on as normal.

I have my own cat, Kenickie, and have been concerned about his being comfortable more than welcoming the new cat in to the household. Panda shows some admiration for him, generally wanting to sit or sleep where he is. I considered the possibility that Panda is trying to exert some dominion over Kenickie, but as she tends to see where Kenickie likes to be and only goes there when he vacates the area I think Panda is being taught cat-like behaviour by example. And Kenickie is wonderfully tolerant and really doesn't seem to mind Panda's presence. They eat their food next to each other, sleep next to each other, and are happy to live together without any complaints. There are a few scraps, but it is never anything serious and generally seems playful. And it is awfully sweet to see both cats come out to greet me when I get home some nights.

Now I find out that my neighbours are moving out, one already gone and the other to follow. There have been no questions about Panda or requests to arrange a time to collect her, it's almost like she's been forgotten. To be generous, I think they are satisfied that she is happy where she is and quite settled in. Learning of the situation has had an odd effect on me, though. I have occasionally pondered what would happen with Panda if I moved out, thinking it to be awkward to simply assume she would come with me, but now it seems that I officially have a second cat. I feel so much more responsible now, but somewhat irrationally so, as I don't think I am now any more responsible for Panda than I have been so far.

I also wonder if Panda realises what has happened, if she ever visited her old home, and whether her current affection and propensity to cuddle up with me is a reflection of the disappearance of her previous owner or if it is my own realisation making me more sensitive to Panda's attentions. At least it is clearer now that Panda lives with me rather than just being a permanent lodger, if such a distinction can be made. And I like having two cats, particularly two adorable cats. It all seems to be working out.

Posted in Personal | 1 Comment »
Tags: kenickie, kitty, panda

Awkward escalations

All is quiet in w-space. There is no activity in the systems connecting to our own, and the miner we extorted for iskies hasn't come out to recover his losses yet. I am told that we really ought not to bother him after successfully ransoming his ship earlier, and my idea of sending two different corporation members to do the same, under the guise of ignorance of earlier events, is met with respectful disquiet. With no visible activity in w-space Fin goes looking for trouble through the low-sec exit to empire available, hoping to surprise ratting pirates.

In her eagerness to cause disruption, Fin forgets to bookmark the wormhole back to w-space in the low-sec system. I ask what system she's in. 'Groothese', she says. Yes, they're very impressive, but I'm curious to know where you are. The misunderstanding is cleared up and I go to her aid, both to give her a reference point to the wormhole and an extra ship for piracy, but have trouble picking a suitable ship. I still seem to limited as to what I can pilot when facing other capsuleers, despite trying to focus skill training and ship purchases in that direction. I end up getting my Malediction interceptor out of the hangar, if only because it is definitely a PvP ship, won't work against Fin's Nighthawk like a stealth bomber may, and can use all its features in low-sec unlike the Onyx heavy interdictor. I jump through w-space and exit to low-sec, sitting on the wormhole—and making sure to bookmark it—until Fin finds a target.

The search for low-sec piracy, to combat with our own piracy, turns up empty, although Fin is tickled that the dozen or so capsuleers in the system are probably wondering where the Malediction in the system is. Having come through the wormhole, and not a stargate, my ship's location remains somewhat of a mystery to the empire pilots. And just as Fin gives up trying to find trouble and starts to warp to me a Magnate frigate drops out of warp ten kilometres from the wormhole! The poor fellow has just found the Malediction interceptor. It's time to lock and disrupt, and move in for the kill. Trying to lock-on to the Magnate brings up a Concord warning and my targeting systems refuse to engage. The short time taken scrabbling with my controls to clear the warning gives the Magnate the chance to warp out again and the opportunity passes. Empire space is silly.

Back in the lawlessness of w-space I feel more comfortable again. There is still no activity, but that gives our corporation the freedom to form a fleet and engage some Sleepers. Our neighbouring C4 system has a couple of radar sites and some anomalies full of potential profit. The K162 from the C3 system entering in to the C4 went EOL earlier and is now gone, isolating us further. A standard small fleet is formed and we start our plundering with one of the radar sites. The first wave of Sleepers is despatched with little ceremony and hacking of the Sleeper databases brings the next wave. To help increase our damage output a couple of extra pilots are brought in to the radar site, but they have an unintended consequence of escalating the engagement.

We have been involved in escalations before and they haven't caused problems, but this time the extra pilots warp in to the site during the last wave of Sleepers. There are already four Sleeper battleships in the combat, the escalation brings another. The four battleships almost overwhelm our remote repair capabilities when they focus fire on a single ship, adding a fifth battleship provides a bigger challenge. Some agile repairing and practical use of ECM—to jam a couple of battleships effectively instead of all of them ineffectively—lets our fleet start reducing the Sleepers to manageable numbers again. Before long, we are back in control and the site can be cleared of Sleepers with no further fuss. And we have a deserted Talocan cruiser to salvage as a result of the escalation. A dedicated hacking boat warps in as the rest of the fleet warps out to the second radar site.

The second radar site is cleared smoothly, with no escalation this time. It looks like that is all the combat we have time for and so it is time to salvage. It's not too late in the evening for me yet and I am more than happy to get in to a salvaging ship to help, still getting a perverse satisfaction from salvaging. It turns out to be good that I stick around, because when another salvager warps in to the second site to begin clearing wrecks it causes another escalation. This seems like an odd time for an escalation to occur and we have to quickly change back to combat ships to deal with the new Sleeper battleship in the radar site.

The escalation is only one battleship, though, and once the Rook combat recon ship warps in the lone Sleeper vessel remains permanently jammed, making my Guardian's presence a formality. Despite its startling appearance, the extra ship causes no problems and we return to salvaging and hacking. A healthy profit of around 90 million ISK each is recovered from the two sites, which along with the earlier ransom makes today a rewarding day in w-space.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Awkward escalations
Tags: eve online, guardian, low-sec, magnate, malediction, mmorpg, nighthawk, penny ibramovic, rook, scanning, sleepers, w-space

Piracy pays

I'll take a look around our neighbourhood. I explored earlier and have bookmarks for all the wormholes I found, plus one I missed, and a few sites of interest. My first stop is the class 3 w-space system that is connecting in to us. There is a piloted Kestrel frigate in the shields of the tower here, but he is not active. I leave the system and pass back through the home system to jump through our static connection. The C4 is empty. The C2 that connects in to the C4 is quiet too, no one wanting to talk to me this time. The high-sec exit there has gone but as it is a static connection, and the system is devoid of any other signatures, it is easy enough to scan the new exit.

My day becomes interesting when I head back through the C4 and in to the C3, as there is a Retriever, mining drones, and a jet-can visible on d-scan. I have a target. I also have the gravimetric site bookmarked from earlier, which makes getting an accurate position on the miner without giving away my own position much easier. This is why I like to scan in advance if I have time. Warping in to the site shows the miner to be alone and I bookmark the can he handily jettisoned to be a marker for ambushes. I also have a colleague to share in this piracy, which always makes it sweeter. He gets in a Lachesis recon ship, I get back to our tower to change in to Butterscotch Delight, my third Onyx heavy interdictor, and we warp out.

The plan this time is to blow up the ship and ransom the miner's pod. That way we get a kill and some iskies out of our mischief, and is perfectly achievable with the heavy interdictor's bubble. Sadly, this plan looks like it is going to fail, when returning to the C3 shows the Retriever missing from d-scan. His can is still visible, though, and my optimism makes me think that perhaps he will warp right back in to the gravimetric site with a hauler to collect his hard-mined ore. I warp the two of us next to the jet-can anyway, hoping the miner will indeed return. We sit there for a minute, the site out of d-scan range of the occupants' tower, and wonder what is happening. No one warps in.

Maybe the miner caught a quick glimpse of my Buzzard and warped out, returning in a cloaked ship to see what threats arrive, if any. It seems unlikely. Never the less, there is a hefty jet-can of ore sitting here waiting to be claimed. I can pilot the corporation's Bustard, capable of hauling all of the ore in one trip, whilst my colleague cannot, so I volunteer to get the transport ship if he sits and waits, looking menacing. I am clearly still hoping the miner returns, though, because before I warp away from the tower in the Bustard I fit a web module in a spare mid-slot, so that I can still get myself on the kill-mail if the opportunity arises.

'He's come back.' Oh, goody! Point him and hold him until I get there, would you? My colleague has no problem doing this, if only because he wants to get iskies from a ransom. Without the Onyx's bubble to guarantee to trap the pod my colleague is now attempting to get a ransom for the miner's Retriever. Meanwhile, I am jumping back in to the system in a rather benign Bustard. I warp to the jet-can again, and target and web the Retriever. I get within range of opening the jet-can and proceed with the plan of stealing all the ore anyway. I came all this way in the Bustard I may as well make use of it, but it must be disheartening for the miner to see his ore being taken just as he is negotiating to save his ship and pod.

My colleague is successful in extorting the miner. He gets a sixty million ISK ransom for the ship, which we split between us. As soon as the ISK is deposited in my colleague's account we break off the engagement and warp out of the site, letting the Retriever pilot do the same. We safely get back to our tower, where I drop off almost twenty thousand cubic metres of crokite ore. It's another successful session of lazy mining, now with added profit. I ask my colleague how he finally was able to convince the miner to pay the ransom, as apparently the pilot was concerned that he'd pay and get shot anyway. 'I told him that his ship is only worth one point on the kill-board.'

Posted in Gaming | 3 Comments »
Tags: bustard, buzzard, eve online, kestrel, lachesis, mmorpg, onyx, penny ibramovic, pvp, retriever, scanning, w-space