"Solo" Wormhole Living - advice and proven ship fits in a C2

Time for a new post since my alliance is under a war dec and our null sec area is in complete chaos.  I've lived in several wormhole systems over the years ranging from C1 to C4 with my corp but usually because of play times and other commitments I end up soloing.  I'll admit that I almost always have a booster or scout alt when in a wormhole system.

Wormhole living is probably the biggest time commitment most intense activity I've experienced in Eve; you've been warned.  However, I found the added effort, risk and reward made it very enjoyable.

In wormhole systems you will lose ships and pods, even more so than any other area of eve space in my opinion, so accept it and don't get upset.  This is why you also need a scanning alt logged at a safe in the wormhole system so you can always find exits (anytime I say exit I also include any incoming wormholes) to get back in should you wake up in a station in empire space.

However, if you make the most of your wormhole system you can make a ton of ISK even in a C2 which is what I'll be discussing in this post.  I really do suggest a 2 account 2 screen setup as it makes everything so much easier.  Do you make more ISK than just missioning on 1 account in high sec?  I think the answer is yes but only if you do PI as well and you can scan very quickly which takes practice.  Can you make more ISK in a higher rank wormhole?  The answer is of course yes but they are harder and having friends helps.  Anyone can "solo" in a C1 or C2 to get experience.  Can you make more ISK running anomalies in null sec on 1 account?  The answer is yes but I find it more boring than running missions.  If all you care about is the size of your ISK wallet, go and station trade in Jita.  Wormholes are Eve Online at its best in my opinion and they are the most fun I've had since my earliest forays into null in 2007/8.  Everything mentioned in this post was carried out between the Rubicon and Proteus patches from 2014-2015 and I believe everything is still applicable.

Good scanning, dscan and logistics skills are the key to living in a wormhole.

Logistics

After losing a couple of POS in a C2 wormhole while I was offline to very persistent pirates I found that a small POS in a wormhole just isn't enough deterrent.  Suck it up and use a medium POS or if you have friends get a large POS and make sure it has good shields.  In my experience the bad stuff always happens when I can't login for a couple of days and a few guns just don't deter the pirates.  Also don't leave ships floating at the POS, they are like leaving candy out for the vermin.  Last but not least keep the POS full of fuel and strontium.  When you get the chance to get fuel don't just get a week, fill the damn thing and bring in extra, spending a few hours running fuel every 2 months is better than stressing about it every week or day.  I've gone weeks without a good exit for getting fuel so having that fuel buffer was a big relief.

Scanning

Every day before you do anything else you need to scan down every signature in your wormhole home.  You want to get this done quickly and safely so you need a good scan ship and good skills. I suggest level 4 minimum for the skills. The new changes to make signature ID's persistent really speed this up as well.  I keep a bookmark folder of all current signatures with their ID code which makes spotting new ones easy.  Before you finish, switch to combat probes and check for other ships in the wormhole.  If you have active entrances/exits don't run sites - always assume there is a cloaked ship waiting for you.

If you are serious about this you will need a covert ops scanning frigate.  Here are 2 that I currently use.

With my skills the Cheetah gives me a scan strength of 127.3 (you don't want to know how many hours I pored over spreadsheets and formulas to finally work out how all the modules stack...) which makes very short work of scanning signatures.

[Cheetah, Cheetah - WH Prober]
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I

5MN Microwarpdrive II
Scan Acquisition Array I
Scan Pinpointing Array I
Scan Rangefinding Array I

Sisters Expanded Probe Launcher, Sisters Core Scanner Probe
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
[empty high slot]

Small Gravity Capacitor Upgrade II
Small Low Friction Nozzle Joints II


You can go cheaper by using a T2 launcher and 2 T1 gravity rigs like on the Helios fit below with only a slight reduction in scan strength to 112.8.  Note the Cheetah isn't inherently better than the Helios, I actually think the Helios is better than the Cheetah as a dedicated scanner and if I ever lose the Cheetah and feel like fitting a maxed scan ship again it will be a Helios.

[Helios, Helios - WH prober - cheap]
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Co-Processor I

5MN Microwarpdrive II
Scan Acquisition Array I
Scan Pinpointing Array I
Scan Rangefinding Array I
Scan Rangefinding Array I

Expanded Probe Launcher II, Core Scanner Probe I
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II

Small Gravity Capacitor Upgrade I
Small Gravity Capacitor Upgrade I

Second Account

I suggest you have your second account scout sitting in the ship above with combat probes out the whole time you are running sites so that you know if an uncloaked ship (like a recon) enters the system.  Alternatively you could have the second account sitting just outside the POS shields in a booster ship but still have combat probes out.

Combat Anomalies

So hopefully now you have a fully fueled POS and a wormhole with no active entrances.  You can now run sites.  You'll find lots of opinions about whether to run signatures or anomalies first.  It doesn't matter, do what you feel like and have fun.

In a C2 you'll find the following combat anomalies, and my finding is that you'll get almost 15 M ISK for them on average and they only take 15 minutes which equates to ~60 M ISK / hour:

Where is the table option in Blogger?

Name / Times Run / Average Million ISK / kill order
Perimeter Checkpoint        / 24 / 14.6 / F, S, C, F, BS 
Perimeter Hangar            / 24 / 14.9 / F, C, BS, C, BS
Sleeper Data Sanctuary      / 12 / 14.7 / F, S, C, F, BS
Ruins of Enclave Cohort 27  / 16 / 13.7 / F-1, BS, F, C, BS

F = Frigate, C = Cruiser, BS = Battleship, S = Sentry
F-1 = all frigates but one

I've successfully run these in several ships including the 2 below.  Notice no bling, it's not needed and you will lose them at some point to pirates.  You need to pay attention to kill order so the waves don't overwhelm you.

In the Cerberus heavy assault cruiser you just warp in, drop a Mobile Tractor Unit and then close fast and hammer the rats while hitting dscan constantly of course.  Start with Javelin missiles and switch to Rage when you've closed range.  I just checked my combat log and I never lost this ship.  I tried a Heavy Missile version and while it was easier because I didn't have to close the distance to the ships, it took longer to bring down the BS.  This HAM fit is faster overall, and more fun.

[Cerberus, Cerberus HAM T2 for C2 WH]
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II

10MN Afterburner II
Medium Shield Booster II
Cap Recharger II
EM Ward Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Rage Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Rage Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Rage Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Rage Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Rage Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Rage Heavy Assault Missile

Medium Warhead Rigor Catalyst I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I


Hobgoblin II x3

To mix things up a bit I tried a few Gila pirate cruiser fits and settled on this one.  Warp in, drop MTU, set orbit and exterminate the rats while hitting dscan.  Use Precision missiles and switch to Fury for BS.  The combination of Light Missiles and Drones is even better than the Cerberus BUT it is more costly.  Luckily I never lost it.

[Gila, Gila for WH C2 Solo Passive RLML AB]
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Beta Reactor Control: Shield Power Relay I
Beta Reactor Control: Shield Power Relay I

10MN Afterburner II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
EM Ward Amplifier II
Thermic Dissipation Amplifier II

Rapid Light Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Light Missile
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Light Missile
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Light Missile
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Light Missile
Small Remote Armor Repairer II

Medium Core Defense Field Purger II
Medium Core Defense Field Purger II
Medium Core Defense Field Purger II

Hammerhead II x2
Hammerhead II x2
Valkyrie II x2
Valkyrie II x2

Vespa EC-600 x2

Gas Anomalies

You should also activate the gas sites even if you aren't going to suck the gas and then come back 15-30 minutes later and shoot the rat frigates.  They don't give much but it's something and can easily be done using either of the combat ships above.

Name / Times Run / Average Million ISK / Gas worth huffing
Minor Perimeter Reservoir     / 2 / 0.8 / C50
Token Perimeter Reservoir     / 8 / 1.7 / none
Barren Perimeter Reservoir    / 5 / 2.1 / C72
Ordinary Perimeter Reservoir  / 5 / 0   / C72
Sizeable Perimeter Reservoir  / 3 / 1.8 / C50

You can then huff the gas if you want.  I used the Venture fit below - I did lose at least one so it's good they are cheap.

[Venture, ORE Venture - WH Gas - Cloak & ECCM]
Damage Control II

5MN Microwarpdrive II
Conjunctive Magnetometric ECCM Scanning Array I
Conjunctive Magnetometric ECCM Scanning Array I

Gas Cloud Harvester II
Gas Cloud Harvester II
Improved Cloaking Device II

Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Low Friction Nozzle Joints I
Small Low Friction Nozzle Joints I


Hornet EC-300 x2

Ore Anomalies

Just like with the gas sites you should also activate the ore sites even if you aren't going to mine the ore and then come back 15-30 minutes later and shoot the rat frigates.  They give more than gas sites and can easily be done using either of the combat ships above.  I didn't mine any ore because it just takes too long and you are a sitting duck the whole time.

Name / Times Run / Average Million ISK

Common Perimeter Deposit        / 4 / 5.1

Ordinary Perimeter Deposit      / 2 / 7.9

Uncommon Core Deposit           / 1 / 0.6

Isolated Core Deposit           / 2 / 0.6

Unexceptional Frontier Deposit  / 3 / 0.5

Data and Relic Signatures

For data and relic sites things get a little tougher.  You either need to fit a ship that can hack the cans as well as fight (like a Tengu which I have used and lost in a WH) or have a second account or friend.  If you have a second account scout which I highly recommend it makes it easier.  The reason is that after you've killed all the rats you can't just warp out and switch ships, if you do the site despawns - this has happened to me.  What I do is clear the sites with the combat ships above, then warp in the cloaked scout at 100 km and uncloak (important - if you don't the site despawns).  Then warp the combat ship back to the POS, switch to a dedicated hacking ship and warp back to the site.  Warp the scout back to the safe or just cloak it.  Finish the site in the hacking ship.  I've found this to be faster than a hybrid ship unless the hybrid ship is a Tengu which will run you 500-800 M ISK all told.  I prefer the dedicated cheaper ship option.

They take me about 30 minutes total each so the ISK is slightly better than running combat anomalies.

After several versions I finally settled on this dedicated Data and Relic Site Can Hacker.  It is rigged and fitted to handle both data and relic cans and travel between them quickly.  It has 2 warp core stabilizers and a cov ops rig so if you are jumped in a site you can get away unless the pirate has a high alpha strike - which I learned the hard way - ahem!  It is also perfect for running the newly spawning null sec sites that are appearing in wormholes.

[Cheetah, Cheetah - WH Site Runner - cheap with WCS AB Expanded]

'Halcyon' Core Equalizer I

'Halcyon' Core Equalizer I

Micro Auxiliary Power Core I

1MN Afterburner II

Cargo Scanner II

Relic Analyzer II

Data Analyzer II

Expanded Probe Launcher I, Combat Scanner Probe I

Covert Ops Cloaking Device II

Salvager II

Small Memetic Algorithm Bank I

Small Emission Scope Sharpener I

Data Sig Name / Times Run / Average Million ISK / kill order

Unsecured Perimeter Transponder Farm      / 7  / 45.3 / C, F, F-escort, F, C-watchman, C, BS, F, C

Unsecured Perimeter Communications Relay  / 11 / 31.4 / BS, C, BS, F, BS

Relic Sig Name / Times Run / Average Million ISK

Forgotten Perimeter Habitation Coils  / 5 / 30.3

Forgotten Perimeter Gateway           / 5 / 21.4

Salvaging

Salvaging is essential in a C2. Use a mobile tractor unit while doing the sites.  A Noctis is perfectly good but overkill if you are using an MTU and honestly not much faster than the destroyer fit below.  Its also much more expensive should you lose it.

Use this cheap Cormorant destroyer salvager to swoop in and mop up quickly after the fact.  I fitted all the destroyers to compare and the Cormorant is slightly better than the Catalyst (more cargo - which isn't needed in a WH but isn't cap stable).

[Cormorant, Cormorant Salvager for WH with WCS]
'Halcyon' Core Equalizer I
'Halcyon' Core Equalizer I

Eutectic Compact Cap Recharger
Eutectic Compact Cap Recharger
Eutectic Compact Cap Recharger

Salvager II
Salvager II
Salvager II
Salvager II
Salvager II
Salvager II
Salvager II
Auto Targeting System I

Small Salvage Tackle I
Small Salvage Tackle I
Small Salvage Tackle I

Null Sec Data/Relic Signatures

Null sec data/relic signatures now show up in wormholes which for me was very welcome as the data/relic null sec sites don't have rats and can be run in the Cheetah hacker fit above.  I haven't collated all the info for them yet, but when I do I'll post my results.

Ghost Site - Covert Research Facilities

I only came across 1 of these in all my time in the wormhole, a Superior Guristas Covert Research Facility.  I was prepared with the Gnosis ship fit below.  I scanned all the containers, 3 had blueprint copies, I hacked 2 and looted them before the rats exploded everything.

This Gnosis handled the ghost site admirably with 38% armor left before I warped out.  In less than 5 minutes I had a 'Yurt' and a 'Wetu' Mobile Depot BPC and 28 Covert Research Tools worth ~151 M ISK at the time.

[Gnosis, Gnosis for Ghost Sites]
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
800mm Steel Plates II

500MN Cold-Gas Enduring Microwarpdrive
Cargo Scanner II
Data Analyzer II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

Improved Cloaking Device II
Core Probe Launcher II, Core Scanner Probe I
Small Remote Hull Repairer II /OFFLINE
Small Remote Armor Repairer II
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]

Medium Memetic Algorithm Bank I
Medium Memetic Algorithm Bank I

Planetary Interaction

To make the most of your wormhole I suggest you train Planetary Interaction on your main and also your 2 alts (and the alts of your second scout account if you have one).  Wormhole planets are the equivalent of the best null sec planets.  I setup my alts to extract the raw P0 materials for Robotics and convert to P1.  Each alt had a hauler (below) to haul the product when needed back to the POS.  I then had 1 alt with a factory setup to combine everything and produce P3 Robotics.  About 30 minutes every day of resetting extractors and hauling when needed gave me an easy 1.5 billion ISK / month income.  I'm sure this can be improved upon but it worked for me.

Here is my wormhole PI hauler.  The low slot WCS have no effect on the PI hauling capacity and basically make you immune to anything but a bubble.  You just need enough buffer to survive until you can get into warp.  I've survived decloaking pirates several times in this fit.  Luckily none had a bubble!  Notice the probe launcher? Every ship in a wormhole should have one if possible.

[Epithal, Epithal for WH PI]
Warp Core Stabilizer I
Warp Core Stabilizer I
Warp Core Stabilizer I
Warp Core Stabilizer I

Medium F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
Medium F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
Medium F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
Medium F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender

Prototype Cloaking Device I
Core Probe Launcher I, Core Scanner Probe I

Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

Wrapping up

The new dscan invisible Recons have made wormhole living quite a lot more risky than it was so you will lose even more ships.  I decided at that point that it was time to move out of my wormhole and do more in null.  However, you can still make a ton of ISK if you are smart and careful.

I'm sure I've forgotten something but this should give you a good start. Good luck!

A New Beginning and Introduction

After a long hiatus from blogging about EVE Online I've decided to start again.  Rather than posting detailed daily updates which I could never keep up with, I'm going to try more of a summary format with maybe one post a week or month.  We'll just have to see how it goes!  In addition to playing EVE I like to keep up with the game by reading other players blogs, especially those of EveHermit, Neville Smit, Gevlon Goblin and until he retired from blogging Jester's Trek and they've inspired me to start blogging again.

I've been playing EVE since 2007 and in that time I've tried many professions including miner, mission runner (including epic arcs and COSMOS), explorer, industrialist, trader, planetary interaction, null sec anomaly runner and wormhole resident in high sec, low sec, null sec and of course wormhole space.  Many of them I've gone back to more than once, especially after large changes such as those in exploration.  Professions that I've not tried out are pvp ones such as pirate and my pvp in general is limited to playing cat and mouse with those who would seek to scratch my shiny ships.

My main character currently has 129 million skill points which combined with the large range of activities I've tried out has I hope given me some useful knowledge that I hope to pass along.  I'm posting under the name Kernow since its where I grew up and I want to state now that none of my in game characters have Kernow in their name.  There are now several in game Kernow's but they aren't me.

As has been mentioned by many others, the New Player Experience in EVE is rough.  Many players start out mission running and judging by some of the killmails I've seen over the years many new players have little idea how to fit their ships.  Searching the internet for ship fits rarely turns up good pve fits and even great resources like EveUniversity rarely have what I would consider good mission ship fits.

I actually like running missions in small doses and I like to fit ships and fly them, lots of them of all races and sizes.  So I set myself a fun little goal a while back, to equip ships from each empire with reasonable T1 or T2 fits and run actual missions with them, not just EFT warrior fit.  I rarely use faction modules now, and I stopped blinging my Caldari Navy Raven with billion ISK modules several years ago once the high sec gank craze caught on.  Luckily I never lost my shiny CNR and the modules now collect dust in a hangar.

In the upcoming posts I'll start with my experiences a few months ago with Gallente mission frigates, destroyers, cruisers, battlecruisers and battleships before moving onto other empires and other topics such as solo wormhole living.

I hope someone out there finds this blog interesting and useful.

W-space is so quiet !

Again just a single anomaly today.

Perimeter Hangar
http://eve-survival.org/wikka.php?wakka=PerimeterHangar

I then went to the adjacent high-sec through a B274 and found myself in Amarr space and did a Radar.

Radar: Local Blood Raider Minor Shipyard
A myriad of technological marvels inhabit this area of space, the physical guts of a powerful and well protected computerized network. A codebreaker module will be invaluable in uncovering the secrets that are likely hidden here, locked away inside data vaults and heavily encrypted digital networks.

5 cans with frigates and cruisers

• Occult Tuner Data Interface Blueprint
• Amarr Encryption Methods
• Formation Layout
• Circular Logic
• 47 Auxilary Parts

Then it was time to refit and scuttle back to my w-space.

A new day, a good day !

Today in my w-space there was just 1 anomaly, 1 radar site, and 2 wormholes, a B274 and an O477.


Cosmic Anomaly: The Ruins of Enclave Cohort 27
http://eve-survival.org/wikka.php?wakka=RuinsofCohort27
Entirely void of any signs of life, this small pocket of deadspace echoes a story told all over the vast stretches of the unknown regions; the demise of the ancient Sleeper race. Information portals – offering the only data that is decipherable – refer to the area as “Enclave Cohort 27”, identifying the two enclaves amongst many other Sleeper settlements. One enclave has clearly been disconnected from its power supply, whilst the other has succumbed to the same solemn fate for some other, unknown cause.


Radar Site: Unsecured Perimeter Transponder Farm
http://eve-survival.org/wikka.php?wakka=UnsecuredPerimeterTransponderFarm
I had all the info including the loot but the stupid Blogger.com editor lost it when I hit save :( !!!!!!  Overall there were 5 cans and I got a around 50 datacores, a R.A.M. and 4 decryptors. I killed all but the trigger in the first wave, opened all the cans and then destroyed the other waves, looted and salvaged.


Then I went through the B274 and did some high-sec exploration. I managed 2 sigs before I had to log. The Sansha Lookout escalated and after a few more escalations I ended up in low-sec with some faction loot.

Desolate Site

Drones

Killed them all and grabbed the alloys

Sansha Lookout
Gave an Expedition: Slave Breeding Plants
Among the intelligence you get from the ruins of this outpost is a schedule for slave transports, listing several times and locations where they are supposed to be. Most of the information is outdated, but your instruments run through the list and find a reachable location.

4 escalations later and I had the following faction/good items, some tags and other loot

• Sansha Microwave S
• 2 True Sansha Microwave S
• Centii A-Type Reactive Plating
• Micro B66 Core Augmentation - worth 4 mil isk

Not a bad day.

What now ?

2 anomalies tonight and 3 sigs - at least 2 would be wormholes so I decided to knock out the anomalies at a minimum.

Cosmic Anomalies: Perimeter Checkpoint
http://eve-survival.org/wikka.php?wakka=PerimeterCheckpoint

Nothin special about those so I scanned down the 3 sigs, B274, O477, K162. I headed to K162 but it led to high-sec Gallente space so that only left the O477. The O477 led to a class 3 w-space (too hard to solo) with lots of sigs and anomalies but only 2 wormholes, the K162 back out and a U210 to low-sec. So all dead ends.

A quick scan of my w-space showed a new cosmic anomaly and a new sig that turned out to be a wormhole.

Cosmic Anomalies: Perimeter Hangar
http://eve-survival.org/wikka.php?wakka=PerimeterHangar

Still looking forward to something juicier.

Anomaly: Sleeper Data Sanctuary

Tonight there was a single cosmic anomaly and nothing else.

Anomaly: Sleeper Data Sanctuary
http://eve-survival.org/wikka.php?wakka=SleeperDataSanctuary
Data is eternal, immortal, immutable. Even when the engineers and intelligence behind its creation are gone, information, facts, and knowledge never die. Throughout this deadspace pocket, information lives and breathes, whispering hidden meanings through conduits and cables. Serene though it may be, there are forces at work – mechanical by nature, artificial in existence, enlightened by unnatural choice – that do not want information to be shared. They are unsleeping guardians protecting the universe’s slumbering god, knowledge.

I had no frigates in the first wave.

I looted and salvaged and then went scanning in the adjacent class 3 but this only had wormholes to other class 3, class 5 and low sec. Those adjacent w-spaces also only led to other class 3, 5 and low sec. Boo.

Back to my home class 2 w-space with nothing in it, and logged for the night. Come the weekend I may leave the w-space I'm in and run hi-sec sites again while looking for a new class 1 or 2.

First attempt at a wormhole anomaly

So my first attempt at a Class 2 wormhole anomaly in my Cerberus HAC was an eye opener.

Perimeter Hangar
Suddenly the illusion of solitude shatters. Slender, articulated obsidian shapes slide toward you from the surrounding darkness of space. Your sensors scream claxons into your auditory cortex as the drones' targeting systems lock onto your ship. You are not alone. Perhaps you never were.
The Sleepers have risen.

The first wave was easy to take out but then a BS and 2 cruisers arrived and my shields went down FAST ! I just escaped with armor damage. Time to cough up the dough for a Tengu T3 cruiser.


Two days later I'd worked out what my Tengu fit would be. I bought all the equipment with an alt and then left the wormhole with my main to round it all up. The exit wormhole was a B274 and had barely been used and had 4-24 hours left. Well by the time I got back the wormhole was gone! For a minute I was horrified that my Orca alt was trapped forever alone in the dark. However, I had trained up some skills and had the forethought to put a Heron prober in the corp hangar of the Orca. So I switched the alt to the Heron and hoped no one would find the Orca floating in space while I scanned down an exit. Thankfully, even with very low skills, I found a new B274 and it was only 6 jumps from where the old B274 came out so I was able to get my main back in along with the new Tengu :) :) Phew !!!

Now to try out the Tengu...

Perimeter checkpoint
Tengu tank held up just fine but my dps was a bit low so it took awhile. I still have almost 3 days to Heavy Missiles V which for some reason I'd never trained before. Then I'll switch to T2 launchers and Scourge Fury missiles which will up my dps. I should have bought the Heavy Missile Specialization skillbook while I was in high-sec, oh well...  Salvaging and looting the sleepers was quick in my new all round Moa cruiser which I can fit for salvaging, gas harvesting and mining as the need arises, though I'll probably use my Hulk for mining if I'm sure the wormhole is empty.

Living out of an Orca is tricky, the ship hangar can fit a Tengu, Moa and Hulk with room for maybe a shuttle left over (assuming I'm in my Buzzard).

So my goal now is to sit in the wormhole and farm anomalies for a few days and maybe try my hand at a LADAR site, since at the moment that's all there is in this wormhole.

It's going to take awhile to get used to living in a wormhole but hopefully the rewards will be worth it. Otherwise it's back to high-sec exploration and level 4 missions.

New Day

System 1
Gravimetric: Average Omber Deposit - field not finished from the night before but this afternoon it was gone - boo !

Magnetometric: Looted Guristas Collision Site - 4 cans - just salvage parts

Anomaly: Guristas Hideaway - frigates

Combat DED 4 of 10: Guristas Scout Outpost

Warp in: This small deadspace complex was built by the militant Guristas pirates. It serves as a scout outpost and a minor rendezvous point for reconnaissance teams.
Gate 1: The scout base perimeter is defended by light spacecrafts acting as security for the sensitive recon equipment deeper inside the complex. The security acceleration gate is known to be actively blocked by the security team, allowing no intruders entry while they remain at work.
Guristas Scout Officer: 7th Tier Overseer's Personal Effects
Gate2: This section of the complex houses the delicate sensor equipment used to support the Guristas coded communication network. Relay pylons and scout bases surround a small supply depot in the pocket's center, known to contain military supplies and equipment for the reconnaissance arm of the Guristas organization.
Guristas Reconnaissance Officer - no loot
Overseer Structure: 8th Tier Overseer's Personal Effects

System 2
Combat: Gurista Hideout - pocket 1 = frigates,
Anomaly: Drone Assembly - frigates
Anomaly: Guristas Forlorn Hideaway - frigates + cruisers
Anomaly: Guristas Refuge - frigates + cruisers
Wormhole: K162 to class 2 system - moved in !

Moved in my alt in an Orca as a mobile base - let the fun begin !

Expedition Trap! - Jackpot

Final step of the expedition / escalation into low-sec. Used an alt in a shuttle to scout.

Warp in was empty, first pocket was empty but second pocket had small ships and a Dread Pithi Terminator that dropped,

• Pith A-Type Small Shield Booster !!! 500 mil jackpot
• Pith A-Type Small Shield Transporter - 5 mil if lucky I think

This was the last message and the end of the expedition.
It was as you thought; the whole thing was a trap. You can’t believe that anyone would be so gullible to fly right into that one. Unless of course they were fully aware of it and only showed up to destroy the assailants. What is exactly which you did... 

Best expedition ever for me !


Time to move a few systems away


Anomlay: Guristas Forsaken Hideaway - frigates
Anomlay: Guristas Hidden Hideaway - frigates, destroyers and cruisers
Anomlay: Guristas Hideaway - frigates
Anomlay: Guristas Refuge - frigates and destroyers

Gravimetric: Average Omber Deposit - set alt to mine it

Combat: Gurista Lookout - no escalation

Wormhole: K162 to a class 3 wormhole space - a quick scan showed lots of sites but also a POS and class 3 is a bit much to cut my teeth on the first time.

Back to Hi -Sec for a bit

Yesterday I decided to relocate to hi-sec for a while and sell off some of my loot. On one of the trips I hit a gate camp and lost a hulk with a hold of Crokite and it cost me a 75 mil ransom to not be podded - the hassle involved in not having to replace implants just about made it worthwhile but I hated having to do it.

Today I did some hi-sec scanning:

System 1

Wormhole: K162 to W-space that was  protected with a warp field and I just got away without being blasted.

Gravimetric: Small Kernite and Omber Deposit - fully mined already.

Ladar: Smoking Nebula - skipped.

System 2

Wormhole: K162 to W-space that was  protected with a warp field and I just got away without being blasted.

Anomaly: Guristas Hideaway - just frigates - no escalation.

System 3

Anomaly: Guristas Refuge - already done by the time I got there.


Anomaly: Drone Assembly - just frigates - no escalation.

Radar: Local Guristas Shattered Life-Support Unit, with 4 cans, had 3 BS and a handful of frigs and destroyers,

• 1 Datacore Mechanical Engineering
• 1 Tuning Manual
• 2 User Manuals
• 60 Electronic Link
• 26 Spare Parts

System 4
Anomaly: Guristas Hideaway - just frigates - no escalation.

Anomaly: Drone Assembly - just frigates - no escalation.

Wormhole: K162 to Hi-Sec Metropolis - interesting but not useful.

Combat: Gurista Lookout - had to switch from my Cerberus to my Hawk for this one - got inside and found someone doing it in a 'Worm' faction ship - had to look that one up !

Did a final scan before leaving and found a newly spawned
Anomaly: Guristas Hideaway - and it was already done when I arrived.

Seems the quiet corner of space I picked with only 4 or so people per system had nothing but explorers in it !


System 5
Anomaly: Guristas Refuge- just frigates - no escalation.


Anomaly: Drone Cluster- just frigates - no escalation.

Combat: Gurista Lookout - 2 pockets, all frigates , deadspace overseer structure in pocket 2 dropped no loot but started an escalation 5 jumps away in hi-sec.

Escalation: Trap! Without you noticing, a small group of the Blood ships slipped away at the beginning of the fight. Luckily your radar systems have picked up a trace leading to their location.

Warp in = Frigates and Dread Guristas Invader. The next pocket was empty of rats and only had a Druglab - seems to have a huge amount of armor so I didn't destroy it. The Dread Guristas Invader dropped a Dread Guristas Copper Tag and started the next escalation, 4 jumps away in hi-sec.

Escalation: Trap! Arriving at the designated rendezvous point there is nothing. Nothing at all. But all of a sudden your radio crackles once more; it is another call from seemingly the same Gurista ship announcing another location this time, adding that he is on a hot pursuit chasing some hapless industrial ships. 

Warp in = Frigates and Dread Guristas Plunderer. The next pocket was empty. The Dread Guristas Plunderer dropped a Dread Guristas Copper Tag and started the next escalation, 4 jumps away in hi-sec.

Escalation: Trap! Again there is nothing to be seen at the location and you are starting to think you are being pulled into some sort of a trap. A feeling that only grows stronger when for the third time you receive a transmission from the Gurista announcing that "the ambush is ready" and you must hurry to a given location in order for it to succeed. 

Warp in = Frigates and Dread Guristas Plunderer. The next pocket was empty. The Dread Guristas Plunderer dropped a Dread Guristas Copper Tag and started the next escalation, 8 jumps away, the last 2 jumps in low-sec.

Escalation: Trap! As soon as you arrive, you receive a distress call from a pilot identifying himself as a freight pilot under attack. His co-ordinates are included in the transmission. 

I'll have to finish this tomorrow when it's quiet ...

Wormhole to 0.0

Today the first signature I scanned down was a wormhole to 0.0 which had between 4 and 24h left and little to no traffic. I went through and found and empty system about a dozen jumps from my low sec base and it had lots of anomalies and signatures. Perfect find - I hope.

Cosmic Anomalies

Serpentis Sanctum
http://wiki.eve-online.com/en/wiki/Serpentis_Sanctum
I'm not sure the waves matched exactly but there were a lot of 1+ mil bounty BS, total bounty ~27 mil isk. Lots of loot and salvage but no faction loot and no escalation

Serpentis Hidden Rally Point
Several waves of frigates, cruisers and possibly BC and then a wave of 2 BC and 4 BS. ~5 mil isk bounties. No faction loot and no escalation.

Serpentis Forsaken Rally Point
http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Serpentis_Forsaken_Rally_Point
Several waves BS with assorted smaller ships. ~4.7 mil isk bounties. No faction loot and no escalation.

Serpentis Forlorn Hub - aka Stonehenge
Several waves including BS. ~9.8 mil isk bounties. No faction loot and no escalation.

Combat Sites
Hierarchy
http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Hierarchy
Drones

This and the other sites I didn't finish because I had some visitors who scanned me down. I escaped but then got messages that my buzzard, badger and cormorant salvager were all blown up. So much for my safe spot :(


Time for me to do some new research on safe spots. Without a POS or a way to 'hide' stuff, both wormhole space and 0.0 sorties are out !

Radar Site in Low Sec

Tonight I ventured back into low sec because the area I hang out has quietened down a lot after being very busy for a while.  I quickly found a radar/hacking site which yielded some good loot.

• Caldari Encryption Methods
• 4 Datacore - Electromagnetic Physics
• 1 Datacore - Hydromagnetic Physics
• 3 Datacore - Quantum Physics
• Esoteric Data Interface Blueprint
• 38 Power Couplings
• 28 Spare Parts

Easy to do in my Cerberus though I had to skip out before killing all the rats because an unknown player came into the system.

Hacking Base 1 Lo Sec Guristas

I then found 4 Cosmic Anomalies but they were all related to Faction Warfare so not much to do though one had a cool looking structure in it.