Not quite so many wormholes
8th October 2013 – 5.46 pmI'm looking for some middle ground today, wormholes and activity, and not just an expansive constellation that takes so long to scan that I end up doing nothing else. Not that there was much else to do yesterday but scan, I suppose, but it's not like I was able to stop and enjoy the smell of newly exploded planet goo. With this in mind, I delete the forty-one wormhole bookmarks from last night's excursion and start again. It's a straightforward beginning, with just our static wormhole giving me a direction to go.
Jumping in to the class 3 w-space system, it doesn't look like I have any neighbours to poke. Not from the K162, at least, as my directional scanner is showing me nothing. My notes from ten months ago suggest that one of the two planets out of range holds a tower, so I launch probes, blanket the system, and warp in that direction. Sure enough, there's the tower, and equally sure enough, there are no pilots to be seen. No ships, either, so my combat probes only show me the anomalies and signatures in the system. Ten and five of each, respectively.
I scan, looking for the static exit to low-sec and any other wormholes that connect to this system. I resolve two, plus some gas and a data site, and after poking out to the Tash-Murkon region and back I warp to a neat T405 wormhole. I don't suppose I'll be surprising anyone still, but the class 4 system beyond will link to more w-space, so I have another arm of the constellation to uncover and explore. I hope it doesn't keep me too busy.
C4a looks clear from the K162 and is a fairly big system, but my notes say it is unoccupied and has a static connection to class 5 w-space. That will continue the constellation, but H900 wormholes are weak buggers. Thankfully there are only six anomalies and five signatures to sift through, and as there remains no occupation and today has no activity I start looking for the wormhole. And there it is, amongst the gas, the only other wormhole in the system. In to class 5 w-space I go.
Holy crap. C5a is pretty big. One planet is in range of the K162, the next is 85 AU away, and then it's out to 132 AU in one direction and 150 AU the other. This may take a couple of blanket scans to get right. My probes pick up a total of seventeen anomalies, five signatures, and what appears to be two ships at the next-nearest planet. Okay, warp drive, let's do this.
Bah, all that time crossing the system for an empty Orca industrial command ship and Moros dreadnought inside a tower's force field. At least scanning resolves three wormholes, with a K162 from class 4 w-space, the static connection to another C5, and a dying K162 from null-sec. The w-space K162 is my best bet for jumping someone unexpectedly, sadly, and not the outbound wormhole, so I head to C4b to see if anyone is still awake.
No one is noticeably within d-scan range of the wormhole in the class 4 system, letting me launch probes and perform a blanket scan. The system is messy, holding twenty-three anomalies and twelve signatures, and that's because it's unoccupied. I sweep my probes over the chubby signatures—class 4 w-space is notorious for not having random outbound connections, and K162 signatures are strong—and resolve a wormhole, but the K162 from class 5 w-space is both at the end of its life and in a critically unstable condition. Touching that would be like trying to stroke a growling cat rolled on its back. I head back to C5a.
In to C5a and straight through to C5b. Well, hello clear d-scan result. I've not seen enough of you tonight, apparently. And this time it's a true reflection of the system. Opening the map has my appearing near the first planet of the system, which also happens to be the only planet of the system. Even the star sits a lonely 45 AU away. On top of the lack of places for sites to spawn and the dearth of planet goo, there is a black hole phenomenon to make the system completely undesirable. Maybe that's where the rest of the planets went, and any corporations based here with them.
I wonder if the static wormhole connects to deadly class 6 w-space too? A quick scan, that's rather simpler than usual, says no, as I resolve an H296 linking to more class 5 w-space. There's also a second wormhole, but the K162 from class 2 w-space would be more attractive if it weren't EOL. Still, that's not going to stop me taking a quick look. In to C2a and d-scan at last shows me ships with a tower, but the Prophecy battlecruiser and Broadsword heavy interdictor don't look Penny-friendly. There are no wrecks visible in the system either, so I assume both ships are empty or otherwise inactive, and jump back through the dying wormhole.
From C5b to C5d in one jump, where I return to having nothing to see on d-scan. Blanketing the system with probes and exploring reveals nine anomalies, seven signatures, and one ship, the ship being an unpiloted Archon carrier floating inside a tower's force field. It's pretty dull, and I consider giving up, except my notes point towards this system having a static connection to class 3 w-space. That may well be the end of the constellation, and I am encouraged to continue. So, of course, I resolve three wormholes, dammit.
The K162 from class 5 w-space and K162 from null-sec are both destabilised to half mass, which is coincidental, but the static connection to C3b looks fine. That's tugged at my curiosity. I jump to C5e to see what's been moved back-and-forth, but punching d-scan with a jazz groove only spies a couple of towers and a Loki strategic cruiser as I warp the 57 AU across the system. Pausing on the way back sees the Loki piloted, but at a tower and not looking to be concerned with hitting null-sec with any particularly massive ships.
I think it's time to end this. I return to C5d and jump to C3b, where d-scan shows me a tower different from ten months ago and the lack of ships I am growing accustomed to seeing. The discovery scanner can bite me. But I keep going, sifting through the nine anomalies and five signatures to resolve the static exit to null-sec, and a second wormhole only turns out to be a K162 from low-sec. I'm at the end of tonight's constellation, still a bit too big, still no activity to speak of. At least tonight I only have thirty wormhole bookmarks I'll be deleting tomorrow.
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