Diverting from a collapse

Aww, man. All our home anomalies are gone, either plundered by parties unknown or activated in spite. If I could have been bothered to clear them myself I'd be upset. Instead, I'm more concerned about my ship staying responsive in space. It feels good so far! Let's see if jumping through our static wormhole keeps this run going.

Yep, still all good, although I'm greeted by a clear result from my directional scanner and, holy crap, a blanket scan reveals only two anomalies and two signatures. That's not much. Our K162 is obvious from its chubbiness, and the other signature's being skinny as a rake puts it as a K346 exit to null-sec. I can only assume that occupation floats around the one planet out of range, but warping across finds nothing. That's unusual, for a system so clear to also be free of occupation.

Okay, I'll resolve the K346 and head out to null-sec to continue exploring. Or the signature will disappear and have a new one blink in to existence. Have I mentioned recently how I despise the over-simplification of scanning in w-space caused by the idiotic and unnecessary discovery scanner? But never mind, I resolve the fresh signature and warp across to see a K346 that looks like it leads to the Outer Ring region. Or, you know, Syndicate.

A system in Syndicate with no extra signatures. This is a minimalist constellation indeed. It sucks. I'm going home to kill our wormhole and start again. But that plan goes a little awry when the first Orca industrial command ship thrown through our connection drops the wormhole to half mass. It shouldn't do that. Still, it confirms my suspicions that perhaps a marauding fleet swept through our anomalies and then, not quite sated, continued through to our neighbouring C3 system. I bet they made a bit of a profit.

My dislike of the discovery scanner grows too, as a third signature now appears in C3a where before I'd have been oblivious. I liked being oblivious in w-space, that was the point of being deep in unknown space. Still, I'd be foolish to ignore the information forced in to my interface with no interaction, so jump home, swap back to my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser, and, well, lurk with intent on our wormhole as I wait for polarisation effects to dissipate.

I do some wormhole-collapsing maths whilst I wait, just in case I need them, which takes up the few minutes of polarisation. Once over, I return to C3a, re-launch probes, and scan the new signature. What a lack-of-surprise, it's a wormhole. A K162 from class 4 w-space, in fact. I wonder what the scout thinks of this constellation. I poke through to find out, appearing in a system with no one waiting for me on the wormhole, and nothing visible on d-scan. Maybe there's nothing in this direction either.

A blanket scan and bit of exploration reveals eleven anomalies and fifteen signatures, and a Buzzard covert operations boat floating unpiloted inside a tower's force field. I'm not entirely convinced this is the boat that opened the wormhole to C3a. I scan for more K162s, nice and easy in class 4 w-space with a resolved static wormhole, and find one. The K162 comes from class 2 w-space, which is nice, but jumping through still doesn't find much. D-scan is clear, one planet is in range, and a blanket scan doesn't reveal any ships, just thirteen anomalies and six signatures.

A Navy Megathron passing on d-scan as I float outside the tower in C2a confirms that the locals probably didn't open the wormholes and that I've got more scanning to do. As the battleship has already disappeared from my probes I look for those wormholes, and find three amongst the gas. The static exit to high-sec is a good candidate for ship movements, a dying K162 from high-sec may also have been used, but the K162 from class 2 w-space pulsing in its half-mass state has obviously seen ship transits.

I approach the K162 and the wormhole crackles, as an Arbitrator cruiser, piloted by a red, drops out of warp and jumps through. Reds! Our enemies are generally enemies for a reason, and I have no back-up right now. I should probably leave them alone. Another crackle from the wormhole drops it to critical mass, and a Drake jumps back. That's one heavy battlecruiser. The imminent collapse of the wormhole also seems that the reds will probably leave me alone by themselves, not that they know I'm here.

I'm also tempted to poke through the critically destabilised wormhole, in case the reds consider the state of the wormhole enough to keep them safe, but I don't. I doubt it's worth the risk, either from being isolated, jumping in to a fleet, or finding more than I can bite off anyway. And it's good that I don't, judging by the Paladin that blips on d-scan as I warp towards the stable high-sec exit, the marauder obviously finishing the wormhole's collapse smoothly.

And no wonder the wormhole was being used, the exit dropping me four hops from Jita in The Forge. It's a shame I can't think of anything to buy, or I'd use it to. I really should write down a shopping list for opportunities like this, as I generally only remember what we really need at our tower when we have an exit to deep null-sec. I've probably touted the shopping-list idea before too. Still, I think I've explored as much as I care to and the diversion has taken its time. That's okay, as I've had my fun exploring, which has got to be better than spending it crashing a wormhole.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: arbitrator, buzzard, drake, eve online, loki, megathron, mmorpg, orca, paladin, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space