Extreme exploration

I'm out for just a short jaunt through w-space tonight. Wormholes and w-space only, folks, and no time for collapsing static connections or any other distractions. That's right, I'm adding an X to exploration, to make it extreme! And if you tell me 'exploration' already had an X in it before I came along, I'll pod you. Okay, now that we have that straight, I'm off to a good start with only one signature in the home system. That will be our static wormhole, and it takes me to the neighbouring class 3 system.

Appearing almost 6 AU from the nearest planet continues to interest me, but I'm trying not to be distracted. So I also won't mention that our last visit to this C3 had our Sleeper combat interrupted by Darkside dropping on us, destroying two of our Tengu strategic cruisers but letting the Golem marauder and its belly of Sleeper loot escape. But if I had mentioned that then I could segue in to how that incident hasn't stopped the Sleeper slaying in the system, as a blanket scan reveals a puny two anomalies and five signatures. I didn't think the narrative through properly. Onwards!

Scanning the signatures resolves a weak wormhole right off the bat, which could be the static exit to null-sec. A second weak wormhole means one of the two is a neat outbound connection, and, after some gas, a chubby third wormhole must be a K162. It is, but only from null-sec, leaving me floating outside the sole w-space connection, this one an A982 wormhole to deadly class 6 w-space. I have no time to consider the implications of my actions, and rather than poke out to k-space first I jump to C6a without a safety net. Extreme exploration!

Look at all of those towers. There are almost too many to count! Seven. Blimey. Well, okay, I got carried away with my initially busy-looking directional scanner result, because seven towers isn't really much for class 6 w-space occupation. And there aren't any ships either. My notes tell me I was here a week ago, when I located most of the towers, but failed to get ambushed or hunted or anything. I even found a static connection to class 3 w-space. Deadly, my arse.

A Jaguar assault ship appears in the system whilst I scan through the piddly two anomalies and five signatures, and d-scan places him at a tower. I wonder what the local's plans were until he probably saw my probes in the system. Skill changing, it seems, as the pilot goes off-line again within a couple of minutes. I don't think I affected his time in space much today. On to C3b, through the only wormhole in the system, and again I see on d-scan occupation but no ships. I do see probes, though, but there's not much I can do about a cloaked scout. I scan.

I work my way through the nine anomalies and sixteen signatures for wormholes, pausing to watch a Helios covert operations boat appear a hundred kilometres from the K162 from C6a, launch probes, and cloak again. That was fun. I resolve three wormholes. One is a K162 from class 3 w-space, one the static exit to low-sec, and the third a K162 from null-sec. Sticking to my plan of staying with w-space I jump to C3c, ignoring the Buzzard cov-ops that blips on d-scan in C3b.

It's the 'You are fat and smelly' system from a week ago. It was boring then, it looks boring now. A tower with no ships, and a static exit to null-sec. Mind you, the tower is new, so good job with that, new occupants. Even so, as I intended this to be a brief session I'm calling this the end of the w-space constellation, without scanning. There is no guarantee of more K162 wormholes, and all I'm going to find is an exit. I turn around and head home, through a system or two with other active scouts. Today has seen four systems, a few passing ships, and full-time exploration. I suppose I did say I was only looking for wormholes. Maybe I should have stipulated that I was also fine with finding targets. I'll have to refine my goals in the future.

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