Anomalous ship loss

The Sleepers have been in our system for too long. There may not be artefacts or databanks to plunder, but it's time to disperse the Sleepers lurking in the various cosmic anomalies. We have so far preferred to enter neighbouring systems to reap the profits available, saving the local anomalies for less opportune times. Today is one of those times, and also lets us shake off the cobwebs after the festive period of inactivity. We get to remind ourselves how dangerous Sleepers can be.

Our fleet is fairly standard for our w-space endeavours, with twin Guardian logistic ships supplying remote repairs for a few battleships. And the combat starts smoothly enough, until our Rook pilot is distracted by otherworldly happenings, and he warps out briefly lest an incident occurs. Unfortunately, without his jamming ECM and because of the effectiveness of the Guardians, my twin becomes the Sleepers' primary target. A bit of lag and a few massive hits is enough to destroy the Guardian in an explosion that shakes my capsule.

With one Guardian down, it cannot feed the other with capacitor energy from its transfer modules, and the remote repair modules will quickly drain the remaining Guardian's capacitor. The fleet warps out to regroup. At least, most of the fleet warps out. The Apocalypse remains in the anomaly, warp engine scrambled by the Sleepers now targeting the battleship, just as the Guardian's drive was. The battleship is also destroyed by Sleeper fire. Two ships are now down in what should be a simple anomaly operation.

Although our morale is a little shaken, our resolve isn't. An exit to high-sec New Eden exists, and we navigate our way to it and hit the market. A new Guardian is bought and fitted, an Abaddon is found to replace the Apocalypse, and we return to the corporation tower in w-space. It takes some time finding and buying the ships and fittings, but we are ready to show the Sleepers who's in charge in this system.

We warp back in to the anomaly and destroy every last Sleeper present. The rampage isn't quite as satisfying as blasting through them with no losses, but at least we get right back in to the action. With the first anomaly wiped out, we spread our disdain in to another, returning when the dust settles with salvaging boats to claim our loot. The potential profits from the anomalies won't make us break even with the losses suffered, but another few sites will see us back on top.

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

Occupied w-space benefits scanning an exit

Another day to scan. Ignoring the anomalies in our home system reveals the latest wormhole quickly enough, and I jump through in my borrowed Imicus. A quick check of the directional-scanner is always prudent when entering a new system, although I'm not quite sure if I should do that before bookmarking the wormhole. The system appears unoccupied, and using the system map, I can see the distance to farthest planet. As the system doesn't extend beyond 14 AU, d-scan's range, there are no towers hidden from my scanner.

As can be expected from an unoccupied w-space system, there are plenty of sites to find and run. Amongst the many anomalies are several ladar and gravimetric mining sites, as well as a few radar and magnetometric sites, which are more dangerous than anomalies but hold highly profitable loot hidden away in data caches or relics. Normally, an unoccupied system like this would be welcomed, but as there is no one currently around all the opportunity will go to waste. More importantly, finding an exit wormhole is made more time-consuming, having to resolve the sites of specific Sleeper interest in order to know to ignore them. I eventually find another wormhole, this one leading again in to a w-space system, such is the consequence of having moved deeper in to w-space.

The second system is also unoccupied, again resulting in over dozen signatures to resolve in finding the next wormhole, hopefully the exit to New Eden. At least I am less at risk in the Imicus whilst exploring systems empty of other capsuleers. My early searches locate some gravimetric, ladar and radar sites, fairly interesting in themselves but not the wormhole I'm looking for. Scanning this far has taken me a while, so I head back to the tower for a break.

By the time I return to continue scanning, two changes have occurred. The daily reality shift has repositioned and realigned the wormholes, and I have been kindly left a Buzzard in which to scan. The Buzzard is a Caldari covert operations boat, ideal for scanning and capable of fitting a covert operations cloak. Being able to warp to unknown wormholes whilst cloaked will make me feel much safer. Locating our local wormhole is again quick and painless, and I jump through to an occupied w-space system. Bookmarking the return wormhole, I warp off cloaked to a relatively safe spot in the system, launch my probes, and recloak to start scanning.

Scanning in occupied systems is rather more dangerous, particularly if the capsuleers are overtly hostile or protective of their space. Of course, they need to find you first, but the presence of scan probes on the d-scan is normally spotted quickly, and wormholes can be bubbled or simply camped. Never the less, an occupied system is ideal for me at the moment, as it means there are likely to be far fewer sites present, leaving only wormholes and maybe the odd mining site. As I suspect, the wormhole in this system is easy to find, almost being by itself amongst the cosmic signatures. The wormhole has no ships circling it, so I jump through to another occupied system, again with almost no sites showing up on a scan. I can almost sense an exit to New Eden.

And there it is. The wormhole is revealed quickly enough again, and reconnoitring it shows it leads to high-sec space. No doubt it is mostly luck that leads me to a convenient exit today, but I like to think that flying the Buzzard helped too. I head back to the corporation tower to swap the cov-ops ship for my Crane, before blasting back in to New Eden, to take care of industry, research, and to claim my Zephyr.

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Tags: buzzard, crane, eve online, imicus, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space, zephyr

Fireballs in Zul'Farrak and snowballs in Stormwind

We're going to Maraudon! For some reason, I expected the dungeon in Desolace to have more centaurs and fewer trolls, and for it to be an indoor, rocky instance. But it turns out that we're not quite ready for Maraudon, and Zul'Farrak is more in our level range, so we're in the Tanaris desert instead. We head towards the instance as Vulzerda tries several times to pick up a quest already in her log, such is the Filesystem Checkwits way. It takes me a while, and when I finally get to the swirly entrance of Zul'Farrak I uncover the last portion of the map to get the Explore Tanaris achievement. It's always the last place you look. A quick use of the summoning stone, some buffing and nudging of Livya to get a soulstone applied, and the troll slaying begins.

The first few pulls go well enough. It is a little perplexing to find that trolls bottle their sweat, but maybe it's actually designer fragrance with a pretentious name, marketed to cover the smells the dry desert heat is bound to produce. No one volunteers to put on a few dabs of this 'sweat' to see what it smells like, though. Once we get a little deeper in to Zul'Farrak I find I am spending most of my time as a frog. Despite my amphibious form, the party continues to make good progress, prompting suggestions for me to reroll a frog for next week. I would prefer the hex to be removed, if that's okay, but it turns out to be a magic effect and only the paladin in the party has the ability to remove magic effects. And as I'm the paladin, there is not much that can be done. I'll spend half the instance hexed as a frog if we don't quickly kill the mobs responsible. It must be the scarabs, they're everywhere! Sneaky little buggers, pretending to be neutral but creeping up as adds in the fights. What makes a good critter go neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or are they just born with a heart full of neutrality?

Sadly, I spend half the instance as a frog. Luckily, I am in my natural draenei form when we get to the ziggurat, the site of one of the most epic and memorable encounters in classic Azeroth. Releasing prisoners at the top of the ziggurat spawns dozens of mobs, standard and elite, that storm their way up the steps. The advancing waves of mobs have undoubtedly caused many a wipe in their day, and as we are striving to relive the old times there is really only one possible result. When I wonder aloud that the allied NPC boss should by now have told us to advance down the steps, towards the hostile boss, I am forgetting that all the old instances have been rebalanced to be easier to complete, to take in to account the lack of available characters at the lower levels. We are ploughing through the assault easily, the pauses between waves making the encounter feel longer than it actually is.

'I'm heading down', I say, hoping to prompt the climactic battle. I certainly manage to escalate the conflict, pulling extra mobs and the boss before anyone is ready. The allied NPC boss rolls his eyes and says something about probably coming down to help, or maybe that was Vulzerda, but I am quickly swamped by trolls stomping my pretty face in to the sand. Qattara quickly finds that running to help me is not always a good idea, as the trolls then jump on her. With our healer also killed, the trolls head further up the ziggurat to Vulzerda and Livya, and it looks like a wipe. And indeed it is, but Filesystem Checkwits can't even wipe properly. Qattara uses the warlock's soulstone, somehow still active, to revive herself, and then brings me back to my feet with her rebirth spell. With the trolls now under control, mostly thanks to the allied NPCs, Vulzerda reincarnates to rejoin the fray, and we prevail against the troll hordes. Only Livya fails to pull her weight, remaining a corpse for the rest of the fight, but we get her back to life soon enough.

We ask the goblin to blow the bloody doors off the gate ahead, after which he makes his escape from the inevitable NPC betrayal. We fight the NPCs, then the boss beyond the exploded gates, and move on to catch up with the leaving goblin. As is typical for a Zul'Farrak run guided by myself, we have proceeded anti-clockwise through the instance, and as the goblin runs out also in an anti-clockwise direction he still has all the trolls to fight through. That leaves fewer mobs for us at least, as being a frog is getting rather tiresome. After defeating Gahz'rilla, we decide we've had enough. We use our hearthstones to return to Stormwind, letting Livya's imp loose to clear the rest of the instance, something he's clearly wanted to do for a long while.

Back in Stormwind, we sell troll sweat, probably repair armour if we remember, and look for familiar faces. Livya is heartbroken as Lorr hasn't been seen for weeks now, but there are a few characters that stand out. When a night elf walks past, Vulzerda recognises her and sneakily throws a few snowballs her way. It's a little difficult to pretend you haven't just pelted someone with snow when you have an armful of snowballs, recently bought from the goblin vendor, but the night elf takes it in good humour. She buys some snowballs herself and throws them right back at Vulzerda. This means war! 'Anyone walking is a target', announces Vulzerda, pointing out the easy way to spot RPers. Some more snowball exchanges happen in the market square, some excellent throws following mounted characters around corners. But being in Stormwind on an RP server means we're missing a golden opportunity. To the cathedral!

The cathedral in Stormwind is where all serious RPers gather, as its imposing architecture and relative peace compared to the market district makes more serious rôle-playing possible. It is also the ideal place for Filesystem Checkwits to have a snowball fight. On the way, we're compelled to stop and pelt a scantily clad draenei, Vulzerda putting extra effort in to her throws. 'That's for clogging up my blog with 'draenei porn' search engine hits, damn you', she curses, her soft, luscious draenei hands lovingly caressing each snowball before tossing them sexily forwards with a bounce of her pert bosom, icy cold wetness melting down the front of the other's skimpy top until it is so moist the fabric becomes sheer, and blushes cannot cover her embarrassment.

In the cathedral itself, we strike RP gold! There are paladins bowing at the altar and characters having earnest conversations, all of whom are unfortunately interrupted as our playful snowball fight is brought inside the church. Snowballs pepper anyone and everyone, although somehow mysteriously never hitting ourselves. We get some nasty glares emoted at us and a few mistyped suggestions to leave, which we do once we run out of snowballs.

The goblin in the market square has plenty of snowballs for sale, though, so we buy armfuls more. Vulzerda has another idea. The centre of activity in any city is the auction house, and it includes characters who may be paying more attention to the auction window and not their surroundings, which will surely present some ideal targets. Stormwind is rather well-suited for auction house snowball fights, because the stage a couple of the auctioneers stand on is also occasionally occupied by PCs. And we're in luck, as an epic-looking character is standing on the stage next to an auctioneer, almost with a target painted on him! 'If anyone asks', Vulzerda tells us, 'we're going for an achievement'. Snowball after snowball bombards this poor character, each one rocking him back slightly, all four Filesystem Checkwits unloading on him as quick as the GCD will let us.

We unsurprisingly attract some attention with our constant pelting of this hapless night elf. Vulzerda says she is trying to knock him off the stage so she can 'win the big teddy bear', and we repeat the assertion that we are going for a guild achievement. It isn't long before our target also notices the dozens of snowballs bouncing off his epic armour. He turns to face us, but that just gives us a more satisfying target and we continue to throw snowballs as he tries to talk. He can take no more, and throws something back at us. We don't mind, we're enjoying this snowball idiocy and giggling like schoolgirls. But we don't quite expect what happens next, as a mohawk grenade lands right in the middle of us, turning all of our pretty features in to those of Mr T! Bravo, sir, for such a masterful counter. We cannot help but bow before the night elf who outfoxes us.

The snowball fight in Stormwind has been remarkably silly, surprising, and hilarious, and once again we are shown that it is the players who help make the game enjoyable. Our next adventure will be heading in to Maraudon, but not before we stock the guild fridge for a surprise Summer re-enactment of the Christmas of 2009.

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Tags: azeroth, filesystem checkwits, kiska, mmorpg, paladin, world of warcraft

Running from an Anathema

It's another day of scanning an exit for me. The new wormhole in our home system is found quickly enough, and it leads to an expansive w-space system occupied by capsuleers. There are some scary ships sitting around somewhere, but I shan't worry about them just yet, I just want to find a way out. I warp to a relatively safe point in the system and start scanning. My main concern is the lack of a covert operations cloak on my borrowed boat. I can be safely cloaked whilst scanning, and even though the scanning probes will reveal my presence by inference, not being able to remain cloaked whilst warping is worrying.

I never really worried about being cloaked whilst warping before, when I was merely travelling point-to-point in systems. Taking the Crane through low-sec or w-space never concerned me, as I could zip from one wormhole or stargate to the next, dropping out of warp at zero and jumping immediately. Of course, a warp bubble with hostile ships inside poses a credible threat to an uncloaked ship, as my colleague found out, but uncloaked travelling has never really been a problem. Having a known route is advantageous. Uncloaked exploration, on the other hand, is a different matter.

The scanning process may give a 100% reading for a wormhole's location, but the resultant bookmark is unlikely to be at zero point. Warping to a scanning probe's location of a wormhole may not let you jump through without a few more seconds of sub-warp travel, which can be enough to get locked and attacked. On top of that, if the wormhole is at the end of its lifetime, or leading somewhere undesirable, you may not want to jump through it at all. Thus it is necessary to warp to the wormhole's general location first, and examine and bookmark it before deciding to jump through. Dropping out of warp at a new wormhole to make a bookmark and take quick decisions about jumping through it or warping away is made more exciting by being uncloaked and a ready target for any waiting hostile ships.

I find a wormhole in the occupied system and warp to it, at distance, recalling my probes at the same time. The wormhole is clear of ships and looks stable, and that it leads again in to w-space isn't unusual when considering the depth of our own system. I engage the micro-warp drive and push quickly towards jumping through the wormhole. As I get closer, an Anathema appears! My puny borrowed Imicus feels awfully fragile even when cloaked, but in plain sight of another ship I may as well be in my bare pod. It's at times like this I wish I took more time to recognise the ships of New Eden, as a covert operations frigate probably isn't too threatening, but I still run back to the tower rather more quickly than the situation warrants.

Rummaging through the ship hangar for a better scanning boat turns up nothing suitable, so I am stuck without being able to run a covert operations cloaking device whilst scanning. The capsuleer who owns the Imicus appears in the corporation communication channel, and I berate him for not having a cov-ops cloak. 'Some of us aren't deceitful', he cheekily replies. Perhaps, but this is why he gets shot. Yes, I can feel smug and self-righteous even though I've only recently trained up to cloaking IV myself.

I return to the neighbouring system and pass through the second wormhole to continue scanning in the Imicus, a little spooked from the ultimately harmless encounter with the other ship. I find a wormhole in the second system, but this also leads further in to w-space, and I am hoping for an exit in this system, so I keep looking. Keeping an eye on the directional scanner shows that the scary ships seen earlier in the first system are now active in this system, encountering Sleeper sites. Once they leave, a Deimos heavy assault ship apparently comes looking for me, because he is unlikely to be salvaging the wrecks and possibly thinks that I may be looking for his colleagues or to grab the loot from the wrecks myself.

I can't find a further wormhole. Even with a few sites left to scan, I return to the tower. I don't want to be found by a heavy assault ship and have spent plenty of time looking for an exit that isn't forthcoming. I'll have to continue looking for a way out another day.

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Tags: anathema, deimos, eve online, imicus, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

A collapsed wormhole leaves nothing behind

It's quiet in w-space. I am by myself at the tower, which leaves few options. I would like to get back to New Eden to refresh my research jobs, perhaps check on my sell orders, and redeem my Zephyr. It seems somewhat perverse to have to exit w-space to collect a Zephyr, needing to scan for a wormhole in at least two systems before I can reach an NPC station to ask for a prototype scanning ship. But even if it looks like I am not the target market for the ship it may still be nice to have a new entry in my assets tab. Mind you, I don't actually have my own scanning boat yet, so I have to scrounge a ride in a colleague's Imicus. I warp to a safe point in the system, launch some probes, and start scanning for an exit.

Our own system is depleted of most sites of specific Sleeper interest, with only a few mining sites and a bunch of anomalies appearing on the initial, broad scan. The anomalies are easy to ignore, and the gravimetric and ladar sites are bookmarked and easy to update. This leaves only one or two signatures to pinpoint, making the exit wormhole straightforward to locate. Jumping through to the next system and punching the directional scanner shows that the system is occupied, with a tower and various defences and hangars visible. In fact, there are two extra large ship hangars, several smaller ones, eight corporation hangars, and multiple refineries all showing up on the d-scan. This looks to be a w-space system occupied by a busy mining corporation.

When I start my scan of the system I am surprised to find plenty of ladar and gravimetric sites showing up, for gas and ore mining respectively. For an corporation that appears to be set up for significant mining operations, they don't seem to be terribly active in gathering resources. It is possible that they clear individual sites completely, rather than only grabbing the highest value ore, and take a few days over each site. Or they could be visiting neighbouring systems in preference to their own, grabbing the valuable ore whilst the ephemeral wormhole link exists and saving their home resources for dry times, as we are doing with the Sleeper anomaly sites in our own system. It makes plenty of sense to run sites in ever-changing neighbouring w-space systems before your own.

When the next wormhole I scan turns to out to head not to New Eden but still w-space I return to our tower, where a colleague suggests collapsing our static wormhole. We can prevent the neighbouring occupants from visiting whilst also giving a chance that the new static wormhole will lead somewhere more prosperous. I borrow a Scorpion from the hangar, the only battleship present I have the skills to pilot, whilst Fin jumps in to an Orca. I trust my colleague's maths, as she works out how much mass is needed to destabilise the wormhole to the point of collapse, and how many trips each of our ships needs to take to achieve this. Two return trips for the Scorpion, and two return trips for the Orca with its micro-warp drive engaged, the active drive adding mass to the vessel.

I hope the maths is correct. It isn't too long ago that a corporation Orca became stranded on the wrong side of a collapsing wormhole. It took at least a week for the pilot to scan a way back out to k-space, carefully keeping the Orca safe whilst doing so. As I make my second return jump and the Orca her second outwards bound, the wormhole becomes much less stable, the distortion effect that surrounds it shifting more quickly and erratically. As the Orca thankfully returns, the wormhole collapses in on itself. This is the first time I have seen a wormhole collapse, and although it isn't violent it is certainly disconcerting. If I saw that happening behind me as I enter a new system, left with only empty space for millions of miles around me, it might be a cause for panic. As it is, we are both in our home system, a short warp journey to our tower.

The wormhole connecting to industrious miners is gone, and a new one leading elsewhere has undoubtedly appeared elsewhere in the system. I'll look for it, and an exit to New Eden, another time.

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Tags: eve online, imicus, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, scorpion, w-space, zephyr

Introducing myself to w-space neighbours

There is a current path out of w-space, but the neighbours may be aggressive. The route back to New Eden leads through an occupied w-space system, and it is reported that the inhabitants are active. I could simply take my Crane through the system, as cloaked and agile it should be able to evade any confrontation, but now that I have a Manticore stealth bomber every situation looks like it could be solved with a bomb. The Manticore has a covert operations cloak, allowing it to warp whilst cloaked, and being based on a frigate hull it is small and agile itself. I can at least reconnoitre in my Manticore the neighbouring system's wormholes.

Jumping through our static wormhole causes some immediate concern, as a Crusader interceptor is sitting on the other side. The interceptor isn't as threatening as it normally would be, as it should be possible to dive back through the wormhole if it engages and tries to disrupt a ship's drives. I warp away to the exit wormhole, alerting the Crusader's pilot to my presence, as I briefly become uncloaked between starting the warp procedure and flicking on my cloak. He knows I'm in the system, but until I decloak he won't know where. Approaching the exit wormhole, I find a Zealot heavy assault ship waiting.

The presence of the two ships on the wormholes looks aggressive to me, although others in my corporation consider it possibly to be a defensive stance. I can understand keeping careful watch on visitors and ensuring they don't have hostile intentions, but gunboat diplomacy doesn't work too well in frontier space, as it could just as easily provoke a response as much as keep the peace. Besides which, these PvP ships are not Concord. I don't think they are sitting on the gateways to prevent fighting, and I would be amazed if they don't open fire on any likely target passing their way. So that only leaves the question of what I should do.

As I ponder my options, the Zealot warps off the exit wormhole. I could approach the wormhole and make good my return to k-space, but I have an unhealthy curiosity in times like this which, coupled with my stealthy cloak, makes me turn around. I warp back to the wormhole home, where I find the Crusader still sitting on the hole and the Zealot now 100 km from it. The Zealot begins to approach the wormhole, presumably to try to flush me out, hoping to get close enough to disrupt my cloaking device. My fear of anything approaching a fair engagement means that I was moving as soon as I dropped out of warp, he's not going to find me so easily. After a short while, the Zealot warps out again, presumably back to the other wormhole. I am left again wondering what to do.

My Manticore is now in a good position, 30 km off the wormhole where the Crusader sits. I am pondering my options. I have only launched one bomb so far, and although it successfully hit a wormhole I have no idea what would happen against a live target. I suppose there is only one way to find out. My carebear self is quite anxious. I am about to perform an overtly hostile and arguably unprovoked attack. And although I am cloaked the bomb has a significant flight time, during which I will be visible and vulnerable, and almost completely inexperienced. Ah well, bombs away! Cloaking device disengaged, bomb launched, I try to watch the ordinance silently sail ahead as I hit the warp drive to escape any repercussions.

Prior to entering warp, the combat log reports a hit! The interceptor only takes 320 damage, perhaps because of its tiny signature radius, I don't know. But I imagine the interceptor pilot knew he would survive a bomb, as he didn't move from his position. Even so, I survive the launch too, warping away successfully and re-engaging the Manticore's cloak. Once again, I am left with the problem of what to do, and this time I am facing definitely aggressive PvP ships and pilots. As it is clear that I will not defeat the Crusader in even an unfair fight, and doubt I'll stand a chance against a HAC, I decide it is time to return to the safety of home. All I need to do is get back through the wormhole, the one I just bombed, with the Crusader sitting on it, which I also just bombed. This could be exciting.

I am not going to mess around this time. I warp to zero on the wormhole and jump through as quickly as I can. The interceptor sees me and, unsurprisingly, pounces. Holy crap, they move fast! Before the system transition is half-complete the Crusader is practically on top of me, and I can see it following me through the wormhole. I am ready on the other side, and as soon as my systems reconfigure after the jump I am warping to the tower, hitting the cloak for good measure. The interceptor tries to stop me but there is little he can do. What he does is change the name of his vessel to 'Hulk' in an effort to disguise his presence on directional scans, but it's not tempting me back out of the tower's shields.

I pretty much realise there is little else I can do now that I've stirred the hornets' nest. I don't want to risk taking the Crane through the system and I have no other PvP ships to take to the fight, even if I had any measurable PvP skills. My main concerns are hoping that I haven't broken any corporation non-aggression policies and that I haven't made travel more dangerous for my colleagues. I probably should have thought my actions through more carefully. It was quite exciting, though, and as the wormhole engineers are becoming more active in presenting a show of force against hostile w-space denizens, any experience is progressive. And I get my first live hit with a Manticore-fired bomb! I can return to New Eden to redeem my Zephyr another day.

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Tags: crusader, eve online, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space, zealot

Requiem for a Crane

Farewell, Tigress II. Shortly after piloting my blockade running transport ship back home to w-space with my new Manticore stealth bomber, the Crane gets targeted by hostile capsuleers when picking up a load of mined ore. I imagine it doesn't take long for the ambushing Proteus to rip the helpless Crane to shreds, although I don't know for sure. I am not piloting Tigress II when she meets her demise, so the guilt of ship loss not only doesn't fall on me but is probably magnified from losing another capsuleer's vessel. At least Tigress II is destroyed in the line of duty, out in w-space, hauling, and not casually thrown away in a green cloud of doom like the original Tigress, poor girl.

Being caught by dedicated pirates is nothing to feel guilty about. The engineers are inexperienced in PvP and I consider it positive simply to survive out in w-space. Having been involved in a few engagements and seen what a flurry of confusion and panic the appearance of deadly ships can cause, I bear no ill-will towards my colleague. Tigress II served the corporation well, and me in particular. The Crane has been my ship of choice to pilot in and out of w-space, with a speedy warp engine, agile hull, and ability to cloak. Not only that, but the transport ship's moderately sized hold gives it remarkable utility in resupplying w-space with ammunition and modules, as well as helping to move items within w-space.

Tigress II kept me safe. On one trip back to New Eden from w-space, a warp bubble was noted to be on the other side of our static wormhole. Having to navigate through the bubble before being able to enter warp poses a credible threat, and a significant one if hostile ship is in the area at the time. I poke my Crane's nose through the wormhole and, seeing no ships on the overview, take the risk. I point myself in the right direction, flick on the micro-warp drive, and set full speed ahead. Flying at well over 1,500 m/s pushes me through the bubble in a matter of seconds, and I warp to the exit wormhole safely. It was a thrill!

Safely navigating through w-space makes high-sec seem somewhat boring. It is useful to be able to activate the auto-pilot and take care of other business as the ship's systems automatically get you to your destination, but sometimes you want to feel the figurative wind in your hair. With wormholes occasionally sending me through low-sec, I get much less wary about low-sec travel, and in my Crane I end up changing my ship's navigational computer settings to choose the shortest route to my destination, regardless of security status. Whilst I can't fly on auto-pilot, I get a more interesting flight.

High-sec space is rather well-connected mostly, and many times the shortest route is entirely through high-sec, causing me to revert my nav-comp settings and boringly using auto-pilot. But one day the shortest route passing through low-sec actually halves the number of high-sec jumps that would be required. Seeing a number of orange and red dots appear along the edge of my HUD, indicating a fully low-sec journey, is invigorating. In my exuberance, I don't even check the star map for dangerous activity in the systems I'll pass through, I trust my Crane to get me through quickly and safely. I jump through low-sec gate after low-sec gate, seeing the occasional ship but no gate camps and little real danger. It may not actually be dangerous, but I revel in making a trip that others perhaps would shy away from.

Even when my hold is full I chance my way through low-sec space. For a corporation ice mining operation in high-sec, some ships are needed to be brought back to corporate headquarters. The journey is a little shorter through low-sec, perhaps not reduced enough to warrant the risk, but I have my Crane. Loading a packaged Mackinaw exhumer and some modules in to my hold, I pilot through several low-sec systems back to base. In my Crane, I'm unstoppable. And all of this is before I train in covert operations cloaking devices, so I am warping and jumping between systems in plain sight.

Tigress II was fabulous. It is sad to learn that someone dared to shoot her, but it was always a risk. At least the risks she was subjected to were dutiful, and that she spent most of her time in low-sec and w-space means she saw good service. Tigress II's destruction is not kept from me, and although it is upsetting to learn of her demise I know she was in the hands of an accomplished pilot at the time. I am presented with a replacement Crane, such is the beneficence of my colleagues, named Tigress III. I already know that the new Crane will be as fulfilling to pilot as the old. It's funny, though, I don't remember rigging it with low friction nozzle joints.

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Tags: crane, eve online, low-sec, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, w-space

Manticore test flight in w-space

I have my new toy, a Manticore stealth bomber. Although my skill training coincidentally lets me pilot a stealth bomber, I never really thought I'd buy or fly one, as it is a ship designed and built purely for PvP combat. My PvP skills are lacking, in trained skills as well as personal skills, and this decreases my motivation somewhat to get involved. Given the right opportunity I would probably like to learn the ropes for PvP combat, but my trepidation at meeting new people compounded by a shyness to enter voice communication channels makes flying with a PvP fleet in New Eden unlikely. However, piloting a cloaked stealth bomber to shoot fire-and-forget ordinance at unwitting targets suits my anti-social nature rather well.

It is not just the lower-risk engagements that attracts me to piloting a stealth bomber. With my home firmly out in w-space, I think a stealth bomber is an ideal ship to have available. The logistic problems that wormholes cause makes traditional null-sec engagements unlikely at best, and impossible for practical purposes. A wormhole needs to be found by scanning, it won't remain stable in one place for any decent amount of time, nor will it allow huge amounts of mass to pass through it. All this means that large fleets are not to be found in w-space, with only smaller, skirmish fleets used for Sleeper combat and PvP engagements.

Rather than getting everyone in a battleship and relying on force of numbers, actively intelligent use of ships is required in w-space. It's possible to bring in smaller ships, like interceptors or heavy assault cruisers, and be able to cause havoc, but being a corporation of generally non-aggressive members we don't have the necessary skills to pilot such dedicated ships. At least, not yet. W-space is causing us to make new choices about skill training and direction. Until we have better skills, I have my stealth bomber. I doubt I'll be able to use it effectively, I am not even entirely sure I'll be shooting anything in it, but at the very least it can act as a deterrent.

A stealth bomber showing up on the directional scanner ought to cause some concern for any capsuleers in the system. Or, rather, a stealth bomber decloaking should be a cause for panic, as one seen first on d-scan may indicate an unskilled pilot. Either way, knowing that a bomber may be in the system somewhere should keep capsuleers on their toes. Using the Manticore as a show of force in our home system may be effective, even if it's a little too aggressive to fly it in neighbouring systems without provocation. Having mentioned that, an engineer thinks that the neighbours who collapse a static wormhole may have a cloaked ship sitting on the new exit to k-space. It sounds like a perfect test firing of my new ship.

My skill training in the use of bombs only starts when I am out in high-sec buying the Manticore, although I have adequate skills to pilot the stealth bomber itself. The skill to use bombs doesn't add to their damage though, and this is only really a test firing, even if I perhaps shouldn't be firing at a live target to start with. Then again, each bomb is costing me around one million ISK, so I'd rather not waste them. I've read a bit about the use of stealth bombers, enough to have an idea what to do. When the bomb is launched, it flies 30 km in a straight path before detonating in a large radius explosion. But my lack of experience makes me just as dangerous to myself as to others when firing an unguided weapon.

I drop out of warp a good distance from the exit wormhole, remaining cloaked, no ships showing on the overview. I approach the wormhole slowly, keeping an eye on my range. I've read, and experience shows, that zero-range on wormholes and stargates is not a point but a sphere, although I don't know any more detail than that. I understand that this feature could affect my chance to hit a ship sitting at the wormhole, but for a first firing I won't worry too much about it. As I get within bombing range I get rather nervous with an excitement that PvE combat rarely instils, and I wonder what exactly I will do. I'm not sure if I want to make sure I get a hit, what with this being a test, or if I should warp away immediately. I could stay and lock a lone target, if one appears, to paint, sensor damp and batter it with torpedoes, but that seems like too much to handle for a first flight.

At 30 km out from the wormhole, I decloak and launch a bomb. It slowly heads towards the wormhole as I turn the Manticore around, not warping until I see the huge explosion of the bomb detonating. I hit the wormhole, but no ships are damaged according to my log. I warp away and re-engage the cloak, returning to our home system and the tower. I may not have hit anything, but I navigate through a couple of systems to a target and line up a bomb launch accurately. I declare the first flight of my stealth bomber to be a success, and wonder what mischief I'll get up to in my new toy.

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

Collapsing a static wormhole only creates another

I have an idea. I need to go out of w-space to New Eden to make it happen, so it's good fortune that I was last refreshing my industrial research at the corporation's high-sec tower. However, the current entrance to w-space is reportedly approaching the end of its life, which doesn't leave enough time to get my shopping done, particularly as I first need to research a little what I need to buy. I either remain out of w-space until the next opportunity to enter arises, which could be a while, or I head in and do my shopping another day. As it is easier to get out of a specific w-space system than in to one, I ready my Crane to return to the strange comfort of w-space. The current wormhole that eventually leads to our new class 4 home system is in high-sec, which makes travelling more convenient, but high-sec now feels too easy. Regardless of the route, Tigress II blasts through systems and stargates to rendezvous with a corporation fleet mate sitting on the wormhole.

I am told the occupants of the first w-space system are active, apparently moving industrial ships through the wormhole. It is assumed that they are making a market run—to sell loot, buy fuel, or both—using the high-sec exit to its fullest. As I drop out of warp there are two Iteron haulers closing in on the wormhole as well. Although they pose no immediate threat, they could be in contact with their own fleet or corporation, particularly an escort wing, so we need to show a little caution. Jumping through to w-space, I am guided through a second intermediate system, taking care to bookmark all wormhole locations on the way, before making it safely back to the corporation tower. The Iterons are apparently still jumping through the first wormhole.

The high-sec exit wormhole is at the end of its lifetime because the Iteron pilots are purposely destabilising it. They apparently don't appreciate the ease with which nosy high-sec pilots can invade their occupied system. Our covert operations pilot opens communications with the capsuleers collapsing the wormhole to find out this information, and is also told that they are aggressively finding every wormhole in their system and collapsing it if they don't like its destination. This is a little amusing in that they don't seem to have yet noticed the wormhole leading indirectly to our own w-space system, and may be under the impression that we are high-sec tourists. It is also rather peculiar in that they seem to be collapsing a static wormhole.

Static wormholes behave like any other wormhole, there is nothing inherently special about them. They are called 'static' because of a curious property of the w-space system, not the wormhole itself. When a static wormhole collapses, it is soon if not immediately replaced by another wormhole, at an arbitrary point in the system, where the new wormhole leads to a similar class of system as did the collapsed wormhole. That there is always a wormhole leading to a certain class of system is what makes a wormhole 'static'. In this case, the static wormhole leads to a high-sec system. Collapsing the static wormhole thus seems rather perverse if the capsuleers' intentions are to prevent high-sec tourists, as a new wormhole will open to high-sec almost as soon as they destroy the current one. Maybe they understand the nature of static wormholes and simply don't like the region the current wormhole leads to, but the conversation our pilot is having with them doesn't indicate this.

Whatever the motivation for collapsing the current wormhole, it is almost doing me a favour. Although the Iteron pilots' actions have prevented my shopping, they are, perhaps inadvertently, creating a new opportunity at the same time. The occupants collapse the wormhole with their haulers, and our covert operations pilot begins a new scan of their system. Sure enough, a new static wormhole to high-sec has opened, one that will last at least a day and allow thousands of tonnes of vessels through it. With the bookmark returned and copied, I can now head back out to New Eden to get what I want, safe in the knowledge that I have time to get everything done. Even if the capsuleers find the new wormhole, they won't be able to collapse it quickly enough to prevent my return. And so it is that I am able to realise my idea, and I bring a new ship home to w-space.

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

Three battleships versus a tower

I am shooting a Caldari tower in an Amarr battlecruiser with lasers, this is surely the nadir of my life as a capsuleer. The tower is apparently abandoned in our new class 4 w-space home, with no active defences and shields down. Never the less, we don't want to be surprised one day to find it reclaimed and functional, so we need to dispose of it. The only way we know how to do this is to destroy it.

W-space doesn't really lend itself to tower destruction, lacking the paths through which to pilot large battleship fleets, but that is part of the attraction of w-space systems for corporations like ours. As long as we have our tower set-up and fuelled we have a fairly safe and secure base of operations. Destroying the abandoned tower could pose problems because of the lack of firepower that can be brought to bear through a wormhole, as well as lacking numbers ourselves.

The few engineers who are around and able fly battleships to the abandoned tower, armed with lasers to avoid needing vast quantities of ammunition, and start firing. Then they go to sleep. As dangerous as not paying attention in w-space can be, the hours it will take to make a dent in the tower's shields will not be particularly entertaining. The ships are checked occasionally, but the system remains quiet as the tower's shields are slowly depleted.

I volunteer my help when I get some time to participate, although I may need to fly my Drake to add to the damage in any meaningful way, and that involves missile ammunition. But to everyone's surprise, including my own, I am able to jump in to a Harbinger armed with lasers and use all of the systems. My skills for the Harbinger come from the training for the Damnation command ship, and actually make the Harbinger bonuses quite decent. The skills in knowing which end to point a laser cannon were trained before joining the corporation, when I decided that to keep myself interested in being a capsuleer I would diversify my combat skills and learn about gunnery. I never did learn much about guns, instead moving in to Tech II production and then getting in to w-space with my new corporation, but the basics stuck with me.

Flying out to the abandoned tower in the Harbinger, I lock on my lasers and start firing. I don't think I'll learn much more about gunnery when firing at the proverbial barn door, but at least I am contributing. We fight against the tower's regenerating shields for a few more hours, keeping ourselves busy with banter, technical journals, and food, before wondering if the armour damage resistance bonuses apply when the tower is off-line. If they do, our small fleet will spend another day shooting the tower. Luckily, the abandoned tower's armour takes full damage from our guns, so although we will still be shooting for a couple more hours we will be finished tonight.

It feels that we are a little lucky not to be disturbed over the many hours of AFK shooting, where all of us could have been podded quite easily. But I suppose it is difficult to tell when a capsuleer isn't paying attention without provoking him to open fire, and you probably don't want to take the risk of several battleships and battlecruisers turning on you. And so we are left alone. It takes a long time, but the tower's structure is eventually breached and disintegrates.

The operation is a success. Our reward is the salvaged defence modules brought back to base, as well as a w-space system to ourselves.

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