I brake for H900s
26th November 2013 – 5.40 pmI'll have another go at not dying tonight. It didn't seem so difficult yesterday, against the odds, so I am optimistic about keeping my ship intact. And tonight I don't so much start by scanning the home system as scan the corporate bookmarks, which tells me that a colleague unluckier than me got to resolve the new relic site we have, leaving me the chubbier and easier-to-scan static wormhole. I can do that, and warp to and jump through the connection to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system.
Two Thanatos carriers, a Tengu strategic cruiser, Ares interceptor, and Hound stealth bomber is quite the mix of ships to see on my directional scanner from our K162 in C3a. But there are also two towers and a distinct lack of wrecks, so I suspect there are no active ships and probably no pilots. My notes have my last visit to the system being twenty-one months ago, when I found a static exit to null-sec, and although assuming the tower in the same place has my warping to a bare moon, a little pinging of d-scan sees the tower moved one moon across.
My assumption that the tower would be in the same place was based on the two carriers visible, the capital ships unable to use any wormholes in or out of the system and so essentially trapped here. Warping to the new, or moved, tower finds no pilots, and identifies the local corporation as having only seven capsuleers in its organisation. I can't shake the feeling that this may be meaningful. As I consider the implications, I look to warp away to launch probes, but the tower is placed wisely in the small system, giving me nowhere to hide.
I use an ore anomaly as a relatively safe if not covert location to launch probes. No one will suspect me of being here. Performing a blanket scan reveals the meaning of the small local corporation with two big ships: they aren't particularly active, not with twenty-four anomalies and seven signatures littering the system. If they're not active, the chances of their turning up whilst I'm here are low. I'll scan.
Hello, chubby wormhole. The first signature gives me a good sign, but then it's just data site, relic site, relic site, relic site; all fake null-sec wormholes. Okay, here's the K346, but I'll check the chubster first. It's a K162 from class 3 w-space, which has got to be worth a look, but after I've bounced off the static wormhole and got the null-sec exit bookmarked.
The K346 takes me out to a system in Delve, a system being empty of pilots, letting me warp to a rock field to pop a rat. Not being empty of extra signatures, I launch probes to scan at the same time. So much for checking the potentially interesting C3 K162. A Blood Cardinal explodes to my Loki strategic cruiser's autocannons, the signatures are resolved to be a combat site, a second combat site, and, well, a third combat site. To C3b with me.
D-scan is clear from the other side of the wormhole in the second class 3 system of the evening, and my notes from four months ago suggest there is a tower and static exit to low-sec to find. More interestingly, opening the system map shows me this wormhole is almost 6 AU from the nearest planet. And if that is actually more interesting, I don't think that bodes well for what I'm going to find here.
Before I explore I get the basics done first. I launch probes and perform a blanket scan, revealing eighteen anomalies and six signatures, no ships. There is also no tower where I expect it to be, and no replacement elsewhere. Scanning for K162s finds gas first, then a T405 outbound connection to class 4 w-space, the U210 static exit, a K162 from low-sec, and a relic site. It's not a great result, but I'll work with what I've got.
The static exit leads to a nondescript system in The Forge. There are extra signatures, but I don't care to scan them. The K162 in C3b comes from a faction warfare system in The Citadel, one that I am happy to ignore even without the lack of any additional signatures. That leaves me the T405 wormhole, the outbound link being unexciting in itself, because of the ill-conceived discovery scanner. But I'll take a look anyway.
D-scan shows me nothing, and my notes won't tell me much seeing that they inform me my last visit was three years ago. I've been out here a long, long time. And I think it's time to head back home this evening too. C4a is unoccupied and inactive, and despite their age my notes will be reliable about their being a static connection to class 5 w-space.
The H900 is a damned weak signature, weaker than Simon Quinlank's lemon drink. Were there the possibility of surprising someone by finding the outbound wormhole I would look for it. With the dumbscovery scanner removing that possibility I am not going to bother. I go home and, as my final act of the evening, help crash our wormhole to let Aii harvest gas in isolated peace.
3 Responses to “I brake for H900s”
+1 for the obscure weak lemon drink reference.
Other than that, I'm sensing some ennui in your exploration postings lately. I hope it isn't a signal of things to come, as I've come to truly enjoy your blog.
I was hunting in wormholes out of lowsec as long as wormholes have existed and therefore, I think, a bit before you started this thing. I would go sometimes 10-12 holes deep plus branches back then, though I've lately gotten lazy despite full level 5 plus Virtues on my then-covops-now-Tengu pilot. At first when reading of your exploits it was interesting to see you discover things that I had seen, or learn lessons I had long since (usually painfully) learned. As things progressed it became clear that you, probably by virtue of living in unknown space on a daily basis and not just day-trip-hunting, had accumulated a wealth of knowledge about the behavior of hole-dwellers and about wormholes themselves that (probably far) eclipsed my own.
Damn, I expected the usual verification process to go through before I submitted that message, but never got it, so it seems to have been published before it was done.
What I was meaning to express before the unexpected dearth of security checks on comments was that I hope that the same lack of "feed the beast" excitement that led me to stop going as deep into w-space as I used to go wouldn't lead to your being discouraged in your endeavors. Keep the faith. I still hope to find your home system, camp myself in there without your knowledge, and catch you running a gas site or something equally embarassing. Until these new gates come around in 5 years or whatever, WH's are still the best thing going in EvE, and the lack of local still makes them the best place in any MMORPG online today. Your blog is the best thing I've seen documenting the activities of a solo or very small gang pilot in that space and I hope it continues.
Gwyd
Thanks, Gwyd. This kind of comment is quite encouraging.
There is a small amount of ennui in my w-space explorations at the moment. Where newly found wormholes were once the most exciting connection to find, with proper unknown behind them, now they are almost the least desirable, as any active pilots will be aware of your imminent entrance. I've been pinged a new signature, resolved it, and warped to the wormhole in time to see a Cheetah move away from it. I find that disappointing.
I don't know if it's my reluctance to adapt to the recent changes that have been made, or if the changes really are poor design choices with specific regards to wormhole space. All I can say for sure is that the discovery scanner in w-space is like putting a bell on the cat.