Watching w-space

The neighbourhood has been mapped. A scout has been through our local wormholes and w-space systems, creating appropriate bookmarks and noting the presence of other corporations. We have three systems leading us to low-sec empire space and our alliance is in the middle of an operation to bring a group of pilots to our home system. The pilots want to bring in their battleships but the entrance to w-space is in to a class 1 system and the wormhole's mass limits don't allow for battleships to pass through. The plan is to bring the pilots in through the known entrance then collapse our static wormhole and look for a better connection through which we can bring the bigger ships.

I board my Manticore stealth bomber and copy the current bookmarks to my nav-comp. There are a couple of occupied systems along the route through w-space and although we are not expecting any trouble I would like to be able to provide some measures to disperse an attack. I prepare myself by exploring the systems so that I have first-hand intelligence about what is currently visible.

Our neighbouring C4 is empty of capsuleers and I jump in to the next system, which is an occupied C4. There is a bookmark to a tower in this system, which I use to determine levels of activity and it also handily avoids a warp bubble placed outside the tower. I also find that there is a second on-line tower in this system and locate its position, before finding a third tower, this one off-line. There are only three ships in this system and they are all unpiloted at the first tower.

I move in to the class 1 system and after clearing the wormhole I see it flare behind me! It's okay, though, the flare is caused by a fleet member heading towards the exit to low-sec to guide the other pilots in. I have bookmarks to two towers in this system. Checking the first tower reveals ten unthreatening ships, mostly industrial haulers and mining barges, all unpiloted. The second tower has five more unthreatening ships unpiloted. The system seems safe and I warp away from the towers to loiter on the wormhole connecting to low-sec space.

All the alliance pilots are guided in to w-space and back to our home system safely. And maybe just in time, as Russian scanning probes appear on one of my routine checks of the directional scanner. I try to narrow down their relative position but the scout doesn't appear to have found either the exit to low-sec or the K162 back to the C4, the probes not congregating closely at either wormhole. And I am called back home, as our static wormhole is being collapsed and has already been pushed below half its mass allowance. I return safely and change ships to help with the imminent scanning.

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