Straight-line scanning
15th September 2011 – 5.06 pmI see a classic pairing when jumping in to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system, a Drake and Catalyst appearing on my directional scanner. The battlecruiser creates the wrecks and the destroyer salvages behind, but d-scan is not showing me any wrecks in the system and I suspect the two ships are sitting in the tower here. I bookmark the twelve anomalies a passive scan reveals anyway, just in case the pilots are taking a break, but locating the tower finds the ships empty. It's time to launch probes and scan.
Twenty-two signatures are quite a few to sort through, and although the first signature I resolve turns out to be a wormhole I keep scanning. It would be handy to keep the static connection closed and clear some of the anomalies of Sleepers for profit, but I'll need to ensure there are no other wormholes connecting to this system first. It's good that I keep looking, as I find a second and third wormhole soon after. And I keep on scanning right up to the last signature, which turns out to be a fourth wormhole. Oh, that's the last-but-one signature, as there appears to be one I missed. Or maybe I didn't miss it, as this definitely last signature is also a wormhole, a K162 from class 5 w-space, and it has potentially only just been opened. I'll take a peek at what's on the other side.
A Navitas frigate is on d-scan from the wormhole in the C5, along with two off-line towers. The Navitas disappears and I take that as my cue to launch probes and blanket the system. There are some anomalies and signatures, but the bunch of ships sitting on the other side of the system interest me more, and I warp off to investigate. I find the Navitas sitting in a tower with a Buzzard covert operations boat, and a second tower holds a piloted Scorpion battleship. The rest of the ships are empty, and even then only the Navitas of the three piloted ships looks awake, which is probably why he logs off, damn him.
With activity in this C5 I doubt I'll find a K162 here, and anyway I have other connections to check in the C3. I jump back to our neighbouring system to see what my scanning found. Warping around gives me another K162 from class 5 w-space, the static exit to null-sec k-space, and outbound connections to both class 4 and class 5 w-space. There's plenty of opportunity here. My first choice is the C4 but jumping in sees only a tower with no ships, and I may as well check the other systems for obvious activity before getting bogged down in scanning. The second K162 from class 5 w-space looks similar to the C4, with two towers and no ships visible, so I jump back to the C3 and head to the outbound wormhole to class 5 w-space.
D-scan is even emptier in this C5 system, with only the outermost planet in range. I'm here now, so rather than heading back to scan another system I may as well take a look around, and I launch probes and blanket the system. No ships, no occupation, and over a dozen signatures to sift through. Okay, here I go. The third signature I resolve is a wormhole, but only yet another K162 to class 5 w-space, and it takes a fair bit more scanning to finally find the static connection, which also leads to a C5. Checking through the K162 first finds an occupied but empty system, not even another K162 amongst the four signatures, so I am back to C5c and jumping onwards to C5e.
I may have some luck in this C5. Combat probes are visible on d-scan, none close to the wormhole, but it's my notes that give me hope. I was here eleven months ago, which isn't recent enough to offer good intelligence on occupation, but the static connection will remain the same and this one should be to a class 2 w-space system. I ignore the other scout in this system and start scanning, resolving a K162 from null-sec to leave only really weak signatures. I can't recall seeing a wormhole signature appear so weak and I even need to launch a couple more scanning probes to fully resolve the wormhole, but there it is, and it does indeed connection to class 2 w-space. I hope this has been worth the effort.
A Bestower hauler is on d-scan along with a tower, and I find the former sitting inside the force field of the latter. At least the hauler is piloted, making me excited about potential planet goo piracy. Excited enough to sit patiently for a while outside the tower, watching for the Bestower to twitch even slightly, but he remains perfectly still. I could wait for a bit longer, but only if I thought I had something to wait for, and even though I am only four systems deep all the scanning and exploration of ancillary connections along the way has taken time. It's getting late. I think I'd rather slump watching a vid than stare at this boring Bestower, so I turn my ship around and head homewards.
2 Responses to “Straight-line scanning”
A Navitas frigate is on d-scan from the wormhole in the C5, along with two off-line towers.
You didn't state if you investigated the off-line towers. Amazing what you can find near those sometimes . . .
That's a first, I don't think anyone's asked for more detail in one of my posts before.
There certainly are treasures to find. I got my second Widow when a corporation scout came across an off-line tower, for example.
In a system with a single on-line tower it is a simple matter of lurking cloaked near that tower and punching d-scan to see what can be found elsewhere, only objects not on the overview having an undetermined distance. Scanning for extra CHAs or SMAs is then easy, but you have to suppose that anything valuable has already been collected by the locals in an occupied system, which is why I didn't check the towers in this instance.
Pretty much the only chance you have of stealing someone else's ships is if you see hangars on d-scan with no accompanying force field, which is how I noticed and collected a stray ship assembly array. Even more unlikely is if a tower goes off-line as you happen to travel through the system. But even if that were ever to happen, what are the odds someone would notice? Pretty slim, I'd say.