Co-operative scanning

Scanning today is a team effort. It's helpful for each signature to have its own six-digit reference, common for anyone probing the system, as it allows the task of scanning to be split amongst more than one capsuleer. A signature is formed by three letters, a dash, and three numbers. When a signature is resolved by one capsuleer, she can state the three-letter reference and what type of site it is, allowing others either work on a different signature and cutting down on the time required to scan each system.

Being able to ignore signatures with certain references comes in handy today. The neighbouring system is uninhabited and full of signatures to resolve, which is normally good, but today we are only looking for an exit. Gravitational and ladar sites are ignored as soon as their type is revealed, as they are ore and gas mining sites respectively, and it is unlikely that we'll be visiting them. Magnetometric and radar sites are highly profitable sources of artefacts and databanks, so even though we probably won't get a combat fleet together these sites are worth bookmarking. What we really want to find are signatures of 'unknown' type, which are just wormholes being coy about their identity.

I find a wormhole that leads to another class 4 w-space system, and I jump through to investigate. On the other side of the wormhole, I use my directional scanner to see what possibilities are in store. The scan reveals defensive batteries and a tower, making it occupied by another corporation. There is also a Tengu, Wolf, and Jaguar in the d-scan results, all high-tech and mostly dangerous ships. I report what I've found to the other scanning pilot. I'm not entirely in the mood to scan in this system, so I head home for now.

Just as I mention that I'm heading back to the tower, another corporation colleague arrives. I quickly add, 'in my capsule' for his benefit. He has shown a penchant for throwing ships to their doom, whether it's flying a Tristan in to a warp bubble, or testing tower defences with a Nemesis stealth bomber, and I tease him about his new beloved Helios covert operations boat, making him think that I got it destroyed. I don't think he falls for it, particularly as his Helios is safely in the corporate hangar, and any illusion is lost when I arrive back at the tower in Fin's Buzzard. But it is fun to see his initial confusion.

Back home, I take time to salvage some Sleeper frigates from a local ladar site, that is having its gas harvested, before tentatively preparing for combat. There is some interest in clearing a radar site in the neighbouring system, but sadly we don't end up with enough pilots. It's been another quiet day in w-space.

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