Scanning and selling
17th October 2011 – 5.46 pmBlimey, eight signatures light up in the spheres of my scanning probes today. I'm still only expecting three after yesterday's double-wormhole blip, so I wonder how many visitors we have today. Considering the home w-space system was stabilising as I arrived, indicating it being empty for hours, I'm guessing not many. Maybe the Sleepers are starting to come back again.
I confirm that the two sites I already have bookmarked are still here, then resolve a radar site, two ladar gas sites, and a gravimetric site full of rocks. That accounts for all the extra signatures, leaving our static connection as the only wormhole present. No visitors today. I activate the new mining sites, so that they'll disappear in a few days' time, and go exploring in to our neighbouring class 3 system.
There is a tower visible on my directional scanner, but no ships. Hopefully with no one around to watch, I launch probes and perform a blanket scan of the system, revealing a healthy eighteen anomalies and seven signatures. Those anomalies represent a lot of profit, which could be more quickly realised given the magnetar phenomenon present, but I ideally need help to shoot the Sleepers. So far tonight I'm still by myself out here.
I explore and find the local tower, which would have been quicker had I consulted my notes sooner. I was in this system six months ago and the tower is in the same position. At least, one of them is. My notes indicate a second tower was here, but it has been torn down since then, cleanly too. And apparently Fin and I popped and podded a Cheetah covert operations boat that came from low-sec empire space the last time we were here, so I also know I'm looking for a static exit to low-sec.
Scanning finds a wormhole, radar site, a second radar site, a third radar site, a ladar site, and a fourth radar site. My goodness, but that's a boring result. I head out to low-sec to look for something, anything to keep the evening going. I exit to the Everyshore region, with a small group of pilots in the system. Launching probes and scanning is dreadfully disappointing, the K162 I'm sitting on being the only signature in the system. I think I've run out of space tonight.
I check my atlas to see where I am in relation to other systems. It may be possible to risk a stargate or two in order to look for more wormholes. What I find is that this system is actually a one-system low-sec island, one hop from contiguous high-sec. That makes travel a little safer, although the stargates may be camped by opportunistic pirates. I also see that there is a buyer of Sleeper loot a mere two hops away, and market-hub Dodixie is not much further. It's time to sell some loot.
I head back home, dump my scanning boat for a Crane transport ship, load it up with all our loot, and hit the market. Getting to high-sec is straightforward, there not even being any ships loitering with intent on the stargate in low-sec, and I am soon selling all our Sleeper loot. The salvage and artefacts need to be sold separately, though, which complicates matters. I create a contract with our buyer of Sleeper salvage, and even though I'm told she hasn't been seen for a while I'm happy to use this contract to see if she's returned.
The artefacts I put on the market. I haven't been an industrialist for a while, and working out the prices and paying the pilots involved is a little time-consuming and error-prone. But I get it all done, even if we have to wait to see if all the loot sells and plumps up the corporation wallet. Putting our loot up for sale on the market has taken a while but I still have some time this evening, which would be useful if only the C3 wasn't deathly quiet as I pass back through it in my Crane. I think I'll just settle down with a good book.
4 Responses to “Scanning and selling”
You my dear are far more trusting then myself with sleeper loot... Being it is small in size I always transport it through empire in an interdiction nullified, warp core stabbed cloaky tanked legion. I am not getting ganked with billions in loot in my cargohold by some opportunistic pirate.
Just saying, though I enjoy your blog immensly, I wonder how long before you come across my C3 as your static. I had the opportunity to find a unoccupied C5 I sold yeaterday for 800m do you guys do that too when you find them?
Z
What is do is just load my alt in an orca and put all of the loot in the corp hanger.
I've tried to mimic you in your exploration but no one is ever in any of the whs that i find.
I cant imagine the profit from c5 sites, I have not been on in 3 weeks and blitzed 18 sites and 2 radar sites in 2 tengus in under a day. I cant trust myself to stay active with my crane so useing the orca to carry the 1.4 billion is a lot safer, even thru lowsec, if you can use the mwd/cloaky warp along side an ecm burst. you can get through a standard gate camp as long as they dont have any insta-lock ships.
As long as you're not going through null, bubbles are rarely an issue (provided you can trust your wspace route, and that's usually not a problem).
Beside that, if crane gets caught, so would a legion, and it'd likely be as dead.
I tend to take a Crane because I generally am planning to haul items back to w-space, using the trip out as an opportunity to sell.
On the one hand, Mick's right about bubbles. We have the convenience of being able to wait for a relatively good connection before exporting, and I'll scout the route out of w-space before I make the journey. The Crane becomes a pretty safe option, for warping cloaked, and having impressive speed and agility.
On the other hand, even any lone pilot in a frigate would take a potshot at a transport ship, as it can't shoot back and is clearly hauling (or coming back from hauling). Zandramus's choice of ship is much more threatening, as well as disguising its purpose, which would deter many lone capsuleers from attacking opportunistically.
On the gripping hand, the sight of a strategic cruiser may tempt pilots to go out of their way to set up an ambush.
I'll probably stick with the Crane, because I like it so much.
We occasionally sell systems, but I personally don't like the overhead involved in finding and dealing with buyers.