Empty space is empty

We're not at war, how disappointing. Maybe the angry pilot decided not to waste his iskies on declaring war on a w-space corporation, where all space is lawless space and we're unlikely to bump in to each other again through random connections, or he calmed down a bit. Either way, it doesn't really matter. I get back to the routine of scanning for an exit, even if I don't know what I'll do with an exit when I find it. Look for more w-space, probably.

Looking for targets! I remember what I'm doing out here. Making iskies and shooting other ships, although both activities seem to be sparse in opportunity at the moment. That won't stop me looking, so I start scanning. The home system has been drinking hot chocolate, it seems, as it has a build-up of gas. I activate the two ladar sites to provide relief for the both of us, leaving me with just the one wormhole to resolve. I jump through to our neighbouring class 3 system in the vain hope of seeing pilots acting foolishly.

My directional scanner shows me two towers but only one active force field. I was here five months ago and the active tower is the one I have listed in my notes, and finding the off-line tower sees it to be stripped of all items of value. There's no looting to be done here for me. There is also no hunting, as a blanket scan of the system reveals no ships, and there are only eight signatures to scan for more connections. One of the signatures looks to be an obvious wormhole, and indeed it is. Not many sites appear so far outside of the system and away from the ecliptic plane.

The wormhole I find is a K162 that looks like it comes from class 2 w-space, but the colours are only suspiciously close and not exact. Looking at the information for the wormhole shows that it actually connects from low-sec empire space, making it less interesting. I keep scanning, a couple of magnetometric sites cropping up before two more wormholes, after which there are only two radar sites to ignore. One of the other wormholes is the static exit to low-sec, the other a K162 from class 5 w-space that is critically unstable and not worth risking jumping through. I'm going to low-sec.

The C3's static exit leads out to Bleak Lands, where an incursion is in progress but entirely without appeal. The only other pilot who passes through the system whilst I scan merely gets irritated by his forced inclusion in the incursion communication channel, which no doubt pops up in an undesired position on his display much as it did on mine. Scanning the low-sec system finds two more wormholes, one a boring K162 from null-sec that's almost dead anyway, the other a K162 from more class 3 w-space which interests me rather more. I jump in to take a look.

All but one planet is in range of d-scan from the wormhole in the C3, and I see nothing and nobody. Checking the outer planet reveals a tower but still no ships, and once I confirm the location of the tower I head back out to low-sec, not wanting to scan the w-space system for possible K162s. Besides, I have an engagement soon and my time is limited. I make a quick check of the other exit to low-sec from our neighbouring C3, putting me in the less painful Aridia of the North that is Black Rise, yet still a mere three hops from contiguous high-sec space.

A quick scan of this low-sec system finds nothing but the wormhole I'm sitting on, giving me no more space to scan without using a stargate. My work here is done. I jump back to the still-silent C3 and warp homewards, changing in to some fancy clothes in preparation for the invitation-only early viewing of an art exhibition. A painting or two will look good in my captain's quarters.

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