Traces of activity

Old sites have dispersed, new sites have coalesced. Such is life in w-space. What's elsewhere? Two towers and a Thanatos carrier appear on my directional scanner in our neighbouring class 3 system, and I'm pushed seven kilometres from the K162 when jumping in to the system. Even without that clue I'd expect the system to be inactive, as a solo carrier in a C3 is generally unpiloted inside a force field, and that I'll be settling down to scan the ten anomalies and ten signatures present.

I locate the towers first, at which point a Falcon recon ship blips on d-scan, and only on d-scan. The towers stay clear, except for the unpiloted Thanatos. The question now is where did the Falcon come from, and where did he go? Scanning finds a wormhole in the recon ship's general direction, but the K162 from null-sec k-space is not much of a find. A second wormhole crops up, and almost literally, as the discovery scanner blinks the new signature at me and won't shut up even after I've resolved and warped to the damned connection.

I loiter for a minute at the K162 from class 3 w-space, wondering if a scout will jump through. It can't be the home of the Falcon, though, and when no ship comes through the wormhole, and another new signature appears under my self-updating probes, I continue scanning. The other new wormhole turns out to be the system's U210 exit to low-sec, making me suspect the previous one has just died of old age, and a Crane transport that appears on d-scan heads towards what resolves to be a T405 wormhole to class 4 w-space.

An outbound link to class 1 w-space rounds out C3a, giving me choice but perhaps no surprises. C4a seems like my best option, given that the Crane looked to be using that wormhole, but jumping in sees a tower without any ships on my d-scan. The Crane could have gone out, I suppose, or is safely hidden. As my previous visit to this C4 system had a welcoming party waiting on the wormhole I feel a little caution is recommended, but all looks quiet at the moment. And with a static wormhole to class 3 w-space to find it's probably worth taking a look around at least.

Exploring finds the Crane. It's sitting in a second tower on the other side of the system, along with its Falcon pal. That's one mystery solved. And cross-checking the corporation from my previous visit shows them not to be the overtly hostile pilots from before, so I probably just stumbled in to a roaming fleet that day. Still, whatever these two pilots were doing, their intentions now seem to be to do nothing. I think I'll leave them to it, what with my having more w-space behind me to explore, like that class 1 system.

Returning to C3a and moving in to C1a sees a two towers and no ships on d-scan. Okay, this was a dull example of having more to explore. I'll try again, back in to C3a and on to C3b. Two towers are on d-scan again, but this time with an Imicus frigate and scanning probes. As I confirm tower locations from a previous visit, the Imicus comes and goes from d-scan, the probes disappearing too. That would mean he's jumped systems, and that maybe I should scan.

My notes show this C3 holds a static exit to high-sec, which could be a boring result, so it's good that two early wormholes give me a K162 from class 2 w-space along with a K162 from high-sec. But having a Loki strategic cruiser jump to C2a as I warp to the second of the wormholes causes me to swear, both for missing it and for it having seen my probes. There's nothing I can do about that now, so keep scanning, resolving a dying K162 from class 3 w-space along with the high-sec exit. Now to follow the Loki.

Jumping to C2a sees an Orca industrial command ship, Buzzard covert operations boat, and two towers. I'm beginning to think this exploration's going nowhere, more so when my notes tell me of the static connections to class 3 w-space and high-sec space the system holds. Then again, there looks to be another wormhole, as a pod appears on d-scan and neither ends at one of the towers or jumps past me, followed by a Heron frigate and Buzzard doing the same. They're using the high-sec connection most likely, but if they are going to another w-space system they can be caught, once the wormhole is found.

A Legion and Tengu strategic cruiser pair appearing on d-scan behind the smaller ships makes me think that perhaps I will bump in to too much ship, but they may not all be moving together and a hauler could be brought through. It's worth a look. Launching probes and scanning the simple four signatures doesn't take long, and I reconnoitre a dying high-sec exit and healthy K162 from class 4 w-space. Will there be any more ship movements?

Nothing crosses the system for a while, nor does the K162 I loiter on crackle with a transit. Maybe a fleet is waiting for me on the other side? Nope, just empty space on the wormhole, and four towers on d-scan. One more tower sits elsewhere in the system but still there are no ships. I think this is game over, for scanning at least. I've done plenty this evening. The best I can hope for now is to bump in to someone on my way home. C2a, to C3b, to C3a, and back to the home system. Nope, all quiet all the way. Oh well.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: buzzard, crane, eve online, falcon, heron, imicus, legion, loki, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, thanatos, w-space