Getting fuel is easy
14th July 2014 – 5.51 pmMick's been scouting and has scanned a whole bunch of wormholes. That saves me some time and gives me some initial options. There are also a few high-sec exits scattered around but, like yesterday, the class 2 w-space system connecting in to home holds aggressively hostile pilots that Mick bounced off. That's cool, I'll look forwards.
Through our static wormhole to the neighbouring class 3 system and update my directional scanner. A tower and Buzzard covert operations boat are in the system, and warping to the tower, already bookmarked by Mick, sees the cov-ops empty. C3a holds an exit to low-sec, which is marked as being at the end of its life, if not being as good as high-sec weren't enough reason to move on anyway.
C3b, connected to C3a, has a high-sec exit. I'll see where that leads. C3b itself has a tower and no ships in the system, the inactivity quite calming when remembering last night, and exiting to empire space has my appearing in a system in Khanid. Holy crap, I'm only five hops to Amarr. This is the point where I'd rub my eyes and do a double-take, but pod goo can sting, so I just pretend.
Five hops to Amarr. I don't even turn around to drop off my Proteus at our tower, but take my strategic cruiser directly to the major market hub. Because of regional borders I have to hold my impulse to buy until I actually reach Amarr, but once there, and warping to dock, I grab a new Bustard transport from the market and, well, pause for thought. How does one fit a deep space transport these days?
I make a few reasonable guesses about what would be appropriate modules for the Bustard's fitting, helped by some advice from a newly arrived Fin, herself on her way to Amarr, and throw the modules on the transport. Now to stuff it with fuel. That bit's easy, and I'm soon back in space and heading home. High-sec is easy too, and stargates are hopped without worrying about what ships may be on the other side.
In to C3b, across to C3a, and return to the home system. I dump more fuel in to our tower and consider making a second trip. Being predictable is rarely a good idea, and you never know who's watching, but tonight's convenient exit cannot be ignored. Besides, circumstances are working our favour. Fin is in Amarr in her pod, balking at the inflated prices of deep space transports. My Proteus is also in Amarr, swapped for the Bustard I bought. I have to go back out, Fin has to come back in. Let's join forces!
I take the empty Bustard back to high-sec, noting a Cheetah covert operations boat new to C3a, and a Viator transport blipping on d-scan in C3b. A bit of activity that could perhaps cause problems, but our Bustard will have a Proteus escort on its return. Through stargates to Amarr, buy a whole new cargo of fuel, and trade it in the station with my glorious leader.
Fin takes the Bustard out, I take my Proteus out. We hop stargates asynchronously, my getting to the wormhole to C3b first. Not first by much, indicating the Bustard is quicker than I think, or my Proteus slower. Either way, I have a few seconds to jump in to C3b and scout ahead of our transport. All looks clear. All still looks clear when Fin jumps in, aligns, and enters warp towards C3a. I should probably follow.
Core probes are evident in C3a, almost certainly belonging to the Cheetah I saw previously, and as he's still scanning there is probably little threat on our wormhole out of the handful in the system. Fin takes the Bustard home without incident, returning us to a comfortable status once again. Fuel, a decent transport ship, and no losses. That was easy. Why did I have to make it so difficult for myself yesterday?
3 Responses to “Getting fuel is easy”
Make sure it's not possible for you to get over 100% resists on the DST as it'll turn any damage into infinite damage and you'll get one shotted. Personally I'd do a mix of resists, buffer, XLASB and passive regen modules with probably a nanofibre in the lows. Maybe a warp rig?
The buffer to prevent you getting volleyed as much as possible, resists as you get crazy bonuses on them, XLASB with spare charges in the cargohold, not like you'll use it much when you have the fleet hangar. The passive regen modules in the lows will be a nice boost to tank.
They're pretty cool ships now. Can do a lot with them, just be careful of neuters if you get attacked.
I read about that possible issue with the resistances. There's really no risk of my being able to overfit a ship, thankfully.
I threw an MJD in a mid slot, in case of bubbles. That's about the extent of my ingenuity.
I wonder if it would be considered an exploit if somehow I managed to fit a modestly priced towbar to an interceptor and drag a hauler through?
Better check with CCP first, I think, but the idea certainly has merit.