Supply run and Sleepers
31st January 2011 – 5.37 pmToday will be a supply run. Glorious leader Fin has been scouting and explored our neighbouring class 3 w-space system, finding two towers, no pilots, and an exit wormhole to high-sec empire space. I take my Crane transport ship out through the exit to the Genesis region, looking to buy some missiles. A recent siege on a small tower revealed our lack of different types of missiles, stocked up mostly with ammunition for Sleeper operations in our Tengu strategic cruisers, so I shall stuff the Crane with EM-damage missiles. I buy some EM torpedoes too, as well as some more of the usual kinetic ones, to keep our stealth bombers running.
Fin also asks me to get some rigs for her newly bought Raven battleship, which is fancy, but there is a slight kink in that she doesn't know which rigs to fit. I get out and back with a cargo hold full of missiles, packed in to giant secure containers even, before Fin can decide, so she goes out to market herself. I dump the ammunition in our hangar and check our regular stocks, finding our Tengu ammunition supplies to be diminishing sufficiently to warrant buying more. Ninety-five thousand Terror assault missiles sounds like a lot to have available, but using around six thousand per sortie depletes them quickly. I head back out to market and buy another quarter-of-a-million, along with a hundred thousand Scourge heavy missiles for Fin's Tengu and other ships.
Shopping done, there is a sole anomaly in our home system that can be cleared for profit. Better we get it now before itinerant raiders take it as their own. We launch our two Tengu cruisers, take our fill of the newly replenished stockpile of missiles, and warp to the anomaly. Sleeper combat is straightforward, having settled in to a decent groove with this type of anomaly, and it is not long before we need to loot and salvage the wrecks. We could simply send a Noctis salvager in to sweep up, but I've not been pounding my directional scanner constantly and, even if I had, the home system is large enough for a wormhole to appear out of range for ships to sneak through. I think we ought to be more cautious than those we ambush.
We both warp clear of the anomaly, back to our tower, and swap ships. Fin is the lucky one who gets to salvage in the Noctis, I am the protector. I first consider the Tengu to be a good enough deterrent, which it probably is, but the presence of a strategic cruiser won't prevent an opportunistic bombing, as we have shown. Instead, I board my Malediction interceptor. The interceptor will be quick enough to lock and snare any stealth bomber that tries a sneaky launch, hopefully deter larger ships in to thinking there is more protection available that they can't see, and is agile enough to let me flee should significant force appear. It may sound harsh, but there's no point in losing two ships if it can be helped, and any force undeterred by the interceptor would only be spurred on by a Tengu.
We wait a few minutes before warping back to the anomaly. I initiate warp a couple of times, cancelling each time, until the anomaly information box stops appearing on warp. No information box means the anomaly has despawed, which will make it impossible for scouts to find us without using probes, and it also means there are no cloaked ships lurking in the anomaly. Of course, this doesn't guarantee our safety, again as we have shown in the past, but it is a good indication. More to the point, a negative result would be a clear warning sign, one we shouldn't ignore. But it seems clear, so we warp in, and Fin begins to salvage as I enter a speedy orbit around her Noctis.
Fin's Noctis pulls the wrecks in from all directions, and loots and salvages with impressive efficiency. Even when her ship has to move my interceptor has more than enough speed to maintain the tight orbit. My steady orbit on autopilot lets me check d-scan frequently for signs of hostile ships in warp to our location, but nothing appear as Fin salvages. The odds of being ambushed are slim, but it is good to feel like we are taking the right precautions. The wrecks are cleared, we both warp back to the tower, and ninety million ISK in profit is transferred from the Noctis to the hangar, which is a decent haul from one anomaly. Resupplied and richer, we rest for the night, happy about the lack of drama.
2 Responses to “Supply run and Sleepers”
Love the blog, you guys are the inspiration that keeps me skilling up to eventually head out into the uncharted waters of W-space. Question for you though, how has the "fix" of making sleepers neut affected you? Change your fit? Longer clear times?
The Tengu fit is pretty tight and can't be modified too much, and I think I have maxed out all the skills that could improve my cap, with the exception of AB V. Our pulsar system helps, and we shouldn't have any real problems with frontier barracks, as we have enough firepower to take down the three battleship wave quickly enough.
As for the C3 anomalies, which we fight in more often, the neuting is affecting us a little, but only in that I'm occasionally pulsing my shield booster instead of keeping it on permanently. Keeping it running all the time is more for convenience, as it over-reps the Sleeper damage, and pulsing it just lets me keep all my other modules running constantly.
So far no big changes, but we're neglecting Sleepers a bit at the moment.