Too many wormholes
7th October 2013 – 5.28 pmLast night was a bust. I hope there's more happening today. Or, at least, there are more wormholes to find. There was a dearth of connections yesterday, ending exploration rather abruptly. I start as always in the home system, where the last gas clouds have floated away, but there are still three extra signatures. More gas was almost an inevitability, but the second wormhole gives me a nice choice of direction. It's a K162 from deadly class 6 w-space too, how lovely. Let's see who's going to try to kill me today.
A Bestower doesn't look particularly deadly, the hauler visible on my directional scanner along with a tower. Curiously, the tower isn't around the planet in the system with over twenty moons, or even at the planet with six moons, but at one with just the single moon. That saves me a whole bunch of time in finding out that the Bestower is empty, even if it's an odd decision by the locals. There's still one planet out of d-scan range, though, and warping across sees two more towers and a handful of capital ships. None of the carriers or dreadnoughts are piloted, of course, so I launch probes and settle down to scan.
Two anomalies and three signatures barely register before I've resolved a data site and a wormhole, the K162 coming in from class 5 w-space. Back I go to C5a, the system remaining unoccupied since my previous visit a year ago. I don't suppose there's much clamouring for class 5 systems with static wormholes to class 6 w-space. How many unfortunate systems connect here today? The fifteen anomalies and thirteen signatures give me wormholes all over the place, with four of them in total scattered here and there. A K162 from class 5 w-space is at the end of its life, as is a K162 from null-sec, but two more C5 K162s are healthy. I'm sticking with class 5 systems.
In to C5c and I see six towers and some ships on d-scan, a pod highly suggestive of at least one capsuleer being present. A lack of a previous visit has my opening the system map to look for the towers, and quickly closing it when I realise that, with only six moons around its eight planets, the system is saturated. Now I just need to bounce around to check for piloted ships, which I kinda find. One pilot is indeed active, but apparently only in moving ships from one tower to another. I could stay and watch for more, but with a poor-looking wormhole chain heading out of here, and no way to covertly launch probes and scan for other potential wormholes, I doubt I'll get up to much mischief. I have more to explore, so I'll check the other systems instead.
Back to C5a and in to C5d, which has seven anomalies, eight signatures, and no ships, a single tower floating around a far planet. Scanning only finds gas and data sites, marking this end of the constellation as mapped as I care to make it. I've come as far back as I can in this direction and there isn't enough happening to warrant loitering. I head homewards and through our static wormhole to the class 3 system beyond, where ECM drones appear on d-scan but nothing else. A blanket scan reveals five anomalies and seven signatures, and a lack of ships or occupation. My notes indicating a static exit to null-sec may explain that.
My probes poke a chubby wormhole, which could be good. Warping that way sees an N968 outbound connection to class 3 w-space, which is good. It would be better if the frustrating discovery scanner weren't already alerting anyone in the C3 beyond of this new wormhole connecting the two systems. Where once outbound wormholes were exciting, offering opportunities to surprise unwary pilots, and K162s were the untrusted stepchild of wormholes, now the situation is reversed. Outbound connections are shining beacons of imminent intrusion, alerting pilots even barely paying attention of the need to hide, and it's only carelessly opened K162s that are likely to provide opportunity. Die, discovery scanner. Die!
Hey, there's another wormhole. Not so chubby to be a K162, not so weak to be the K346. Indeed, it's another outbound connection, an I182 to class 2 w-space. Excuse me if I don't get too excited, though, and instead finish scanning, resolving the exit to null-sec and determining a lack of further wormholes. Well, I may as well pick one of the connections, so I choose the I182 and jump to C2a to surprise no one at all.
D-scan is clear from the K162, and a blanket scan reveals two anomalies, four signatures, and four ships. A territorial control unit points me to one tower, where a pair of rookie frigates float empty, and exploring finds two more towers, with an empty Iteron hauler and piloted Buzzard covert operations boat. I'll ignore the cov-ops and look for the static connections to class 3 w-space and high-sec that my notes indicate are here. And I resolve them, along with a bonus K162 from class 4 w-space. The exit leads to Devoid, far from anywhere, but what about that K162? A tower, no ships, and the two other signatures are only gas. Okay, I've finished here too.
Back to C2a and in to C3c, through a wormhole that's now EOL. I'm confident it wasn't when I found it, so I have a few hours before my way home will be gone. That should be enough to scan the two anomalies and five signatures, given that there is occupation but no activity again. Scan I do, resolving gas and three wormholes. Damn, I need to be careful what I wish for. I have more wormholes than I can manage, none of them leading to any worthwhile activity, and even the supposed dead ends keep forking. Just to prove it, the static exit to low-sec and K162 from low-sec are joined by my second N968 of the night.
Checking the two exits sends me to Black Rise first, Kor-Azor second, and my quest to find the limits of the constellation push me in to C3d. A tower and no ships appear on d-scan. What a surprise. I can't resist scanning the ten anomalies and six signatures, so it's my own fault that I resolve two wormholes. The static exit to low-sec, leading to Derelik, is one wormhole, the other an EOL K162 from a system in Great Wildlands null-sec space. At last, a termination. But I still have more w-space to explore.
C3d, to C3c, to C2a, to C3a. Checking the exit allows me a brief pause in Syndicate, before heading back to w-space and in to C3b, where I see a tower and no ships on d-scan. Naturally. Four anomalies, nine signatures. Okay, I'll scan you, I may as well finish. So of course there is more than one wormhole. Not only is there the static exit to high-sec, but a K162 from null-sec and a K162 from class 4 w-space. I poke my prow in to C4b, where two towers are on scan without any ships, and I appear over five kilometres from the wormhole. Good. I declare this system explored.
I head back to C3b and check the exits. The high-sec wormhole takes me to Khanid, the null-sec K162 to Outer Ring. And that's tonight's constellation mapped, all with barely seeing another pilot, and without scanning a single system outside of w-space. Next time I ask for more wormholes I'm going to be more specific. Still, it kept me off the streets of Luminaire for a while. Not any longer, though. I need to find me a Gallente to cut badly so I can work out my frustrations.
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