Dead space

One new signature in the home system looks enticing to my scanning eyes. W-space has felt pretty quiet of late, and I'm really hoping that the extra signature is the mythical beast that is a second wormhole. A second scan sees that it's an 'unknown' type, which, unlike in stupid k-space, definitely makes this a wormhole. It's a chubby one too, so will be a K162 and means I'm still waiting to see our first random outbound connection in this system, and a third scan resolves the wormhole enough for me to warp to it.

I drop out of warp to see a K162 from class 5 w-space, but one that is reaching the end of its natural lifetime and one I'd rather not risk jumping through. I at least need a way back home before I take a chance on getting isolated, and even then a dying wormhole generally indicates a system whose activity started half-a-day earlier. I am better served heading to our neighbouring class 3 system first, both in getting an exit and looking for pilots. I resolve our static wormhole and jump through.

My directional scanner is showing me nothing from the K162 in C3a, but a single planet out of range gives me a little hope of finding capsuleers. I launch scanning probes, blanket the system, and warp across to the planet, where I find a tower but a lack of ships. My blanket scan reveals twenty-two anomalies and five signatures, which suggests the locals are more industrial than combat-orientated, but as the tower is owned by a three-member corporation I don't suppose the odds are with me of catching any of them on-line tonight.

I sift through the few signatures in the system, resolving gas, more gas, rocks, and a static wormhole that I know exits to low-sec empire space. I have to work with what I've got, I suppose, so warp to the wormhole and, well, stare forlornly for a minute or so. The wormhole is EOL. I have no reliable exit from w-space, no other systems to explore, yet still a potential threat from the C5 should I think about collapsing our static wormhole with massive industrial ships.

I can keep myself amused in other ways than simple exploring. I park my cloaked ship outside the tower, hoping that one of the locals will wake up in a cold sweat realising he forgot to collect his planet goo today, and fire up my secondary computer system to waste time looking at hilariously captioned pictures of kittens. Despite the obvious potential of such a subject, it can hold my attention for only so long. I want one of these wormholes to just die. On a whim, I swing past the static exit again and, lo, I am in empty space. I have a replacement wormhole to scan for.

A second scan of C3a has the new signature light up my probes, and I resolve the super-stable wormhole and exit w-space to look for opportunity. Sadly, I end up in a faction warfare system in The Citadel that is bare of other signatures, once again leaving me with little to do. As two local pilots drop to one, and d-scan is clear, I warp to the only rock field in the system to get my second little bit of luck, as I find a rat battleship flanked by two frigates to pop for a slight increase to my security status. But it really is dullness in space tonight. I decide to cut my losses and head home to salvage the rest of the evening by watching a film.

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