Settling for high-sec ratting

Hunting or ratting, either will suit me today. I'd still like to repair the hit my security status took when I accidentally blew up a wreck of a ship I accidentally blew up whilst it mined ore in low-sec empire space. Or, at least, get a comfortable enough buffer so that I can do it again. Accidentally, of course. I imagine I'll be ratting, if only because the hour is early, so I launch probes and start scanning, looking to find the limit of the w-space constellation and exit to known space.

The home system is quiet, and jumping in to our neighbouring class 3 system sees only a warp bubble and off-line tower on my directional scanner. One planet sitting out of range of d-scan holds a tower with an unpiloted Orca industrial command ship, making the system look currently inactive. Scanning will be quick, there being no anomalies and a mere five signatures, and I soon resolve gas, rocks, and two wormholes, a U210 and N968. I get the exit system first, through the U210 static connection to low-sec, ending up in the Lonetrek region, before returning to C3a and jumping through the outbound connection to C3b.

A warp bubble and off-line tower on d-scan greets me in this second class 3 system, much like it did in the first, but this time there are three planets out of range of d-scan. Another tower lies hidden on the outskirts of the system, also with no one home, and I find myself scanning again. A signature on the edge of the system is a wormhole, what a shock, and the nine other signatures present provide the usual rock, gas, and radar sites, along with three more wormholes. I've found an N968, a second N968 that is reaching the end of its natural lifetime, a K162 from low-sec, and the system's static U210.

Normally I wouldn't mind finding so much to explore, but I was rather hoping for a simply terminated constellation so that I could get on and be productive somewhere. I suppose I could ignore the extra systems, but the lure of finding capsuleers being careless is too strong to ignore, and I jump through the stable N968 to C3c. No warp bubble and an on-line tower on d-scan makes a pleasant change here, but still there is no one home. Despite being here only three weeks ago it seems I have to find the tower manually, as the one noted before has already gone, but that's a simple matter and I am soon scanning. Four anomalies and five signatures resolve to give only one wormhole, another exit to low-sec, which looks like the end of the constellation.

I jump out of this latest U210 to look at getting some tasks done, finding myself alone in a system in the Devoid region. Looking for a skill book finds one sold only a couple of hops away, but in a low-sec system. Docking to pick it up should be okay if the system's quiet, and making short detour finds no one around. I buy the book, dock, and exit back to space without interruption. Now I want to find some rats to pop, which I won't be able to do here, as this and the surrounding systems look like faction warfare space. I return to C3c, jump to C3b, and exit through the U210 to a system in The Forge, where there are some Guristas to shoot but also some other pilots in the system that could cause me problems.

I go back to C3b and warp across to the K162 from low-sec, jumping to a system in the Sinq Laison region. It's just me and some anomalies full of Serpentis rats, but not for long. I pop a single frigate before another pilot appears in the system, frustrating my efforts again. Never mind, I am a single hop from high-sec, I may as well jump safely between Concord-protected systems and pop rats as I go, which I do. Then again, rats in high-sec anomalies are pretty pathetic, almost exploding when I warp in to the sites. I would quite like another null-sec connection, as the rats there put up enough of a fight to be worth an increase in security status.

A little persevering in one anomaly sees a Shadow Serpentis Chief Watchmen warp in at the end, which is a nice surprise for high-sec. He's still not exactly a challenge, and the faction ammunition he drops is hardly worth a fortune, but his bounty is a couple of orders of magnitude greater than the standard rats, which should give my security status an almost noticeable boost, unlike the other rats. But that's about the highlight of my high-sec ratting. I make a circuit of systems and return to low-sec, finding the system empty again, but again not for long. Rather than continue playing hide-and-seek with other pilots I bring my adventure to a close, heading home to settle down for now.

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