A more permanent home...

Alright. It feels like it's been awhile since I updated you all on what's been going on. So here it goes...

So where I left you off was when I had escaped out of W-space. I also told you how AWESOME the Tengu is. And it's only been getting better...

So anyways, I have partnered up with a former corp mate. We have decided to run W-space together which will be very different in and of itself for me. So our first night running sites (we just ran sites in a C3 that spawned close to our base), we didn't really end up running many sites. hehe. We did pvp though... Bob in his Tengu, Ant in her domi, and my (now) corpy in his tengu. We were running sites and all of a sudden, a harbinger appears at our WH back to hi sec. Followed by a Raven. At that point bob was in the salvage boat about to warp to the sites to salvage the wrecks. They shot at him!

Well we couldn't stand for that. And feeling EXTREMELY cocky in our shiny new Tengus we decided to show them up. So I jump back through the WH and make a bee line to the station to get my Tengu while corpy and Ant warp to the WH to engage. Apparently these pilots have no appreciation for a Tengu tank...or dps. We decided to primary the harby. So one domi + tengu = harby kill mail. One domi + 2x Tengu = faster kill mail. Yeah, my sleeper war now includes casualties of the human variety. The Raven warped off with it's tail between its legs.

Feeling victorious we logged for the night.

A few nights later, my corpy made a great find. A C3 from lo sec leading to a C2. It turns out that the C2 had a static C3. Exactly what we've been looking for. One problem...it's inhabited. drats.....

So my corpy links their corp after finding their pos and I strike up a conversation with one of their diplomatic contacts. I had been looking for a hole like this for awhile and I did NOT just want to move on because it was inhabited.

The convo started out pretty tense but we soon got past the this-is-w-space-and-i-have-to-assume-that-you-want-to-kill-me formalities. After awhile I simply asked if he and his corp would be willing to share the WH with us. And to my complete enjoyment, they accepted!

Not only does this WH have a static C3, but it also has a static hi sec exit. When considering this before I really didn't want to have that in the WH I inhabited. But since I have learned WH management (thanks Stack All!) it actually seems more like a great asset to have. The security of always having a hi sec exit means I will never have to worry about fuel or making sales runs. I think this is gonna work out just fine...

So I brought in the Medium POS setup that I had ready in the orca. Within about 2 hours it was all ready to go.

Today was the first day that we really made use of our friendly relations with our WH neighbors, to the benefit of all involved. I logged on before anyone else in the WH and checked out the new C3. Nothing doing. No sites to run. Oh well. So I closed it. Next WH. Same thing. Oh well. Closed it. By the time the new WH had opened up there were about 4 other pilots online from our WH coop. Turns out this WH had about 7 sites to run. So we ran them.

Boy did we run them. We had no less than 3 tengus, one domi, and one raven. The sleepers fell like flies. And it all took less than an hour. Not too bad. I'll report in soon about how much we ended up making...

What a DAY!

I certainly did not know when I logged on today how much adventure I was going to have. Some good. And some not so good.

Let's start with the not so good. Needless to say, I had my first WH experience with PVP. I have had my fair share of fights in K-space, but it certainly feels like a different animal in a WH.

So I log on to find a Tengu and a bunch of wrecks showing up on d-scan. Start looking for him. Within a minute or so the Tengu dissappears off scan. A few minutes later a Drake shows up and the wrecks start dissappearing. Fishy. Nobody in there right mind uses a Drake as a salvage boat. I finish scanning down the ship, which I really need to get better at btw, and find him slowly flying towards the last wreck....at 50 m/s. Fishy. I in my cloaked cov ops open up a convo with him. After a few minutes of talking, and playing tough guy, I fall for his I'm-an-ignorant-WH-noob routine. I basically tell him to leave my sites alone and he flips me the proverbial space bird.

So I BM'd the wreck he was moving to and when he was about 20 km away I warp back to my pos (having already logged Ant in the Domi) and switch out the cov ops for the trusty ol Drake. I then fleet warp to the wreck. When I show up on his wreck...my first sign that I had made a stupid mistake was that he didn't warp off. No. Instead he sped up. Right at me. And out of the ether uncloak 3 buddies. Eff...

The Domi got primaried and both of my ships were ecm'ed by the Falcon they had brought along. They also had a vagabond and the drake plus one other ship I didn't mark down. They scrammed the domi right away and I was able to warp bob in the Drake back to the POS. But while watching the Domi tank like nobody's business...I started to get my hopes up. I WARPED BACK!! (p.s. that was the second mistake) I was very impressed with the domi's ability to tank and I don't know that they would have been able to break it but it just so happens that I got disconnected. Yeah. It's all about timing right? First time in weeks that I DC'd and it had to be then. So it takes me at least 2-3 min to log back on and by that time the domi was done and the drake was on the way out. When I DC'd the domi's reppers had shut off. Kinda hard to tank with no repping AND no buffer. I quickly warp Ant's pod back to the pos and decide there's no hope for the Drake. So I eject and warp to the pos before they can lock me.

Scratch one Domi and one Drake.

So after I run back to the POS to cry inwardly, I continue my conversation with the pirate. Turns out that he's a 'nice' pirate. He even gave me some tips on how to gank ppl with my POS. What a nice guy. hehe

After they ganked me and took all of the loot from my ships they left the system..never to return.

So, instead of emoragequitting I decided to hit the lo sec exit and see where it came out. Turns out it was within 10 jumps of Amarr so I ended up taking the time to take both ant and bob out to replace their lost ships. Much isk and *sighing later, one new drake and one new domi back at my POS.

So let's get on with the good adventure for the day. I mentioned in a previous post how I was going to explain my next venture soon. Here it is. I've decided to upgrade to a Medium POS. While the small POS offered me the ability to not care too much if I lost it, I felt vulnurable. After the encounter with the pirates I could only hope that they wouldn't come back to completely wipe me out of the system. Fortunately that wasn't their game.

Over the course of the last few days I've been collecting items for my new WH kit. This one wouldn't fit in an Itty V so I've decided to involve my Orca in this venture. I wouldn't normally risk it in W-space but I can now afford to replace it if it is lost (thanks WH :).

So after I flew my new Drake and Domi into my WH I went back out with my cov ops to scout for Roblakov in the Orca. Got it in np. Was a little frightening waiting for the huge thing to make it into warp at the lo sec gates though...ughh...

I actually just finished setting up my POS and am almost done disassembling the small. My POS is a version of the classic 'dick star' and is certainly more of a detterent than the small ever was.

So tomorrow will be a day of site clearing and hopefully I will learn from the mistakes of my fail pvp actions and benefit from the added feeling of security from the Med POS.

Just a quick update

So I have now been in this C4 WH with my very generous hosts (Stack All) for about a week. I have only really run sites with them once, while having a few other adventures tossed in as well. In short, I'm itching to get into my own WH. Nothing against my current hosts but I feel that everything I do while I'm here I have to do very carefully as I don't want to mess anything up for them.

I suppose I just can't wait to be in a spot where all my mistakes are my own and affect no one but me. Live to learn I suppose. This time spent here has not been fruitless however. My time in this C4 has gained me invaluable experience on WH management due to the tagging along on ops with Stack All. Closing WH's. Learning more, first-hand, about static WH management. All valuable things which I will certainly benefit from in the future.

Right now, as I have the urge to move on, I will really be looking for the first relatively-suitable hole I can find. I made a run out to Jita through a lo sec exit (popped out only 5 jumps away!) and stocked up on fuel (now I have two weeks worth), modules I've found I need, and some skill books leading to more modules I've learned I need.

So I feel I'm ready to hit the open road. This WH I'm in has a static C3 exit so I'll be looking at the next few that pop up and a) move into that WH b) move into an adjoining C2 or C3 from that WH. I have had a little while to consider this next move over the last week and I have a few ideas rattling around in my head. I will be flushing them out over the next few days and will certainly post about it as I do.

P.S. I promised in a previous post that I would report on my earnings from the sleeper campaign I ran with Stack All. I netted 76 mill isk. Not as much isk/hr as I make running sites by myself but not too bad either. Also more fun running with cool capsuleers!

An unexpected adventure

A new day, and a new set of WH adventures. I logged on expecting to do something similar to what we did yesterday. How WH's love to mess with well-intentioned plans...

SOOO, we start by checking the static C3 WH and find it to be farmed out and occupied. So we start the process of closing it. Successful WH collapse. Next WH. Farmed and occupied. *sigh*

While our one WH closer begins the process of closing this one, the rest of the pilots have to head off. So now it's just me, watching, cloaked in my cov ops, as the mega jumps in and out. It goes critical, so he switches to the Brutix fit for finishing the WH off. Unfortunately, this WH enjoys eating Brutixes. It closed behind him.

It was right then that we realized that I hadn't given him the BM's for the sites in that WH. One of which was a WH leading to hi sec, and safety. When I had scanned it down, it was on the verge of collapse due to ships passing through it (probably the work of the local corp not wanting hi sec noobs running around).

Did I mention? The WH with our intrepid Brutix pilot in it was about 180 AU across. Try scanning the proverbial needle out of that huge haystack....in a Brutix. Not fun.

So he started scanning. And scanning. And scanning. Once he had gathered a bunch of the sigs, he was reading some of them outloud on Vent when I recognized one! Sure enough, it was the hi sec exit. And fortunately, the local corp had simply bottlenecked it, not bothering to collapse it all the way. VERY lucky.

While he was scanning down that system, I was scanning ours for the new static C3 to open up. And by the time he had found his way out, I had already found a new way in. It went something like Home C4 -> C3 -> Lo sec. It came out into a system that was gate camped on the gate leading into hi sec. But he lugged that Brutix the 30 or so jumps to the lo sec system (after buying and fitting 4 stabs) where I proceeded as scout to the WH entrance.

At the gate camp, he was targeted but escaped before being fully locked. They were so miffed at their own incompetence, they gave chase. At the next gate, they managed to jump through in time to lock and scram him. hehe. They must have been ticked to realize just how many stabs he must have had fitted.

Pirate scum 0 : WH adventurerers 1

All in all, it was not a very profitable day. But what makes WH's fun is not just how much isk you can make, or the number of sleepers you can kill (both thoroughly invigorating in their own right), but the adventures you can have - not found in k-space. At least, that's what this blogger is trying to experience. Note it: in one day, locked out of home WH, found exit from hostile WH, made it back to home WH through gate camps and lo sec entrances.

A new day, and a new set of WH adventures.


EDIT: Also had a good conversation with Star Defender (author of the great Eve Online Wormholes) about our mutual WH experiences. Great talking to you SD!

An interesting oppurtunity

So I logged once more today after the encouraging sales run I made earlier to run some more sleeper sites. I had run another two sites when I had my first visitor. Had a good conversation with 'I Noob' about WH living and hope to stay in contact with him as he attempts to work with WH's in the future.

Not long after, while I was sitting in my pos, a heron appears 150 km or so out, then quickly cloaks up. I was able to open the pilot info before she disappeared so I convoed her. Turns out that she was part of a C4 WH corp. Their system had opened up a WH to mine. After a few minutes talking about our situations, I showed her the way to my lo sec exit WH and she offered me the chance to move into their C4 WH with them until I could find the proper C2 WH I was looking for.

As I had just finished the last of the sleeper sites, I jumped at the oppurtunity. So as two of my chars stayed behind to start packing up my POS I decided to run out the little bit of loot I had acquired from the two sites I had done. Surprise surprise, I sold it off for a lot more than I had thought I would. Another 84 million isk. The cost of my tower has been completely covered at this point. Who knew that running 4 sleeper sites in one day would cover the vast majority of my initial investment...

So an hour or so later I had successfully ferried my small pos setup along with my 5 ships into the adjoining C4 WH. My main goal while here is to find a vacant C2 WH that I can occupy for awhile. Shout out to the Stack All corporation! Thanks for the non-hostile arrangement! Should be an adventure...

And on a quick note, I grabbed the necessary skill book and module so that now my Domi pilot has two large shield transporting mods fitted to assist Bob in the Drake. Makes a difference and helps make sure that I don't have to warp out now from C3 sites.

Quick sales run...

I logged on this morning and scanned down the whole system to find that the WH I had come from had closed. I was in it now. No more safety net. So I scanned down the two new sigs to find that I had one more Oruze Construct site and a new WH spawn over night. I checked out where the WH lead and, just as I have read, it lead to lo sec.

I decided to take the oppurtunity to jump out of W-space in my cov ops ships, carrying all of my expensive salvage, and run to the closest sales hub, which was about 9 jumps away, and sell it off while grabbing a few things I had forgotten.

At this point, I had only run two of the sites. I sold the salvage and loot from just those two sites and made 78 mil isk! That almost covers the cost of the small tower! I honestly wasn't expecting it to sell for that much. 30 mil came from the 6 melted nano ribbons, I was expecting that. What I wasn't expecting was how much the sleeper data libraries and databases would sell for. They accounted for the majority of the sale. Very encouraging...

My first WH...

Alright, I finally found one. Although it's not exactly what I was originally aiming for. After 3 or 4 days of searching for WH's I eventually stumbled across a vacant C3 while crusing around lo sec. According to several sources that I read it would seem that the quieter WH's are often found in lo sec as those WH's will often spawn openings leading to lo sec. This means that you have FAR less traffic since the casual (noob :) ) WH traveler won't venture into lo sec to look for one.

So this WH was about 5 jumps deep into lo sec and the system had a lot of locals. So it was a hair-raising experience bringing my Itty V and other ships in. When I had made my way into the WH and begun setting up my POS, I realized that I had forgotten my salvage boat! So I had to make my way 12 jumps back to my staging area to go grab it. Not that bad but it sucks to realize, after you've come down off of your adrenaline high, that you gotta go BACK through hostile space.

But all said and done, I made it. Set up the small tower and then anchored and onlined the corp hangar and ship maintenance array. I'm all set!

Now, again, this wasn't the perfect system I was looking for. It is not chock full like I was hoping my first WH would be. But it is great to finally be in here laying waste to sleepers!

The sites upon my entry are:

• Fortification Stronhold
• Outpost Frontier Stronghold
• Solar Cell
• The Oruze Construct
• Ordinary Perimeter Deposit
• Unexceptional Frontier Deposit

Not a whole lot. But it is comforting to know that since I got in here, I have not seen hide nor hair of even one other pilot. The only evidence of previous occupancy is the lack of sites along with two leftover mobile warp disruptors.

I have run one site so far and it was definately more of a challenge than the sites I ran in C2 WH's. I had to warp out a few times and noticed that Antioch's Domi had a hard time keeping up with the dps as many of the enemies NOS'd her. Even Bob's drake had some difficulty maintaining his tank on the last wave of enemies. But, when it was all said and done, I was able to finish the site and made an estimated 18-20 mil in salvage and loot off of it. Not too bad. Definately a good experience as it shows me that I can survive out here in the C3 territory. I have enough fuel for about 10 days and I will certainly be able to clear the rest of the sites during that time. So I'll keep my ear to the ground and look for a favorable WH that might pop up in my system here leading to a C2 or another C3 with possible greener pastures...