Looking for Sleepers
6th June 2013 – 5.50 pmWe should make some more ISK. No reason. Our current neighbouring class 3 w-space system could be a suitable Sleeper hunting ground, for it being unoccupied and stuffed full of anomalies. There was a K162 coming in to it from high-sec empire space earlier, but that was reaching the end of its life when I left it and will be dead now. The main concern about the K162 would be that whoever opened the wormhole from high-sec also opened C3a's static connection to null-sec. But an open wormhole to an inactive system, or one with pilots uninterested in wormholes or w-space, is hardly a threat.
Threat or not, that was then. This is now, and more wormholes could have opened or closed. We really ought to see what's out there before flying shiny ships out of the hangar. Launching probes in the home system sees nothing of interest—including the fact that we have just one anomaly, making our own system a poor source of income at the moment—so I recall them and head through the sole wormhole to the neighbouring system.
Before launching probes a second time I warp to the K162 from high-sec to confirm that, yes, it has died and is no longer a potential portal for hostile ships. But performing a blanket scan of the system reveals eleven signatures amongst the many anomalies, when there were only ten earlier. Ten minus the dead K162 should be less than eleven, if my maths is right. This is another good reason why I keep notes about what I find.
I'd better find out what those stray signatures are. I don't really mind, as it gives me the opportunity to resolve the magnetometric sites I identified and ignored as irrelevant earlier, but could be a good source of ISK now. I find the magnetometric sites, and a pair of radar sites—which would also keep us out of the far-too-easily found anomalies—along with a couple of new wormholes. That's not good.
The first wormhole is a K162 from class 4 w-space that may not be horrible, as it has already been destabilised to critical levels. Watching for a few minutes sees no attempt to kill it off finally, leaving it open but looking like it will be thoroughly ignored for leading to the undesirable C3/null-sec system. The other wormhole is a K162 from more null-sec space. That could also be unthreatening, a connection opened by an explorer who has long since disappeared in a different direction. Or it could be checked occasionally by a scout hoping to catch careless w-space denizens mixing with Sleepers.
This C3 has the sites, a distinct lack of current activity, and what wormholes there are are relatively benign. I still don't feel safe, though. I'd prefer a better system. But the problem is that we are far from guaranteed to find one by simply collapsing our static wormhole. The next neighbouring system could be occupied, riddled with more actively used wormholes, or just lack the sites. Even so, I think it's best that we look again. More would be lost by pressing ourselves in to combat than taking the best opportunities as and when they come along.
C3a is left behind and, after a few trips with suitably massive ships, isolated from our home system. A new static wormhole appears, leading to a different class 3 system, which looks clear from the K162. Only one planet's in range, though, and despite my notes saying the system was unoccupied four months ago a corporation has since moved in. They may be pretty active too, as there are only two anomalies in the system, although no one looks to be home at the moment.
Seven signatures are scattered about the system, but despite hoping to find some combat sites I am left with gas, gas, and more gas. A single radar site is hardly enough to tempt me in to a Golem marauder, even if the static exit to low-sec empire space is the sole wormhole beyond our own K162, and conveniently unappealing being as it is at the end of its life. But them's the breaks. We could kill our static wormhole a second time and roll the dice again, but that in itself takes time, time that could be measured in ISK, and still doesn't come close to guaranteeing results. A better option is to head home, grab a sammich, and look for opportunity another day.
2 Responses to “Looking for Sleepers”
Curious why not just collapse the null sec K162 and get to harvesting in the first system?
Keeping massive ships vulnerable in the C3 whilst waiting the minutes for polarisation effects to dissipate is too much risk for the little benefit it would give. We get enough opportunities to make ISK from Sleepers that we generally don't need to worry about killing anything but wormholes in the home system.