2012-05-14

Life in a Wormhole: Wading through the Muck #eveonline

I've left my notebook elsewhere today, so I guess I'll be forced to rely on my own shoddy memory of the days following our move into the Summer Cottage.

And as far as that wormhole system goes, things are pretty straightforward; the tower is online, all our pilots are setting up planetary interaction colonies, and we're busy enough that we leave our static connection to class four wormhole space largely alone.

Unfortunately, we can't really leave our high-sec exit alone, due to the pilots who need to fly in and out of the hole to get supplies or bring in ships, which means it's somewhat difficult to safely do anything about all the anomalies and signature in our system.

And there are certainly enough of those -- after scanning, Bre reports at least a half-dozen mining sites, twice as many Ladar-emiting signatures, and quite a few Radar and Magnometric signatures as well. Awesome, we if could do anything about all of that, but we can't and in the meantime they seriously clutter up our scanning, complicate security, and slow us down. Painful executive decisions must be made, and that means I get to fly around to the least desireable of the Gravimetric and Ladar sites to activate their timers and hopefully clear them out of our sky in a day or two.

Meanwhile, we're talking with the U.S. contingent of the corporation that lives in the class six wormhole, trying to work out a good time to move a few ships up there for a test run. Our schedules don't seem to mesh very well, though, as we have more than a little trouble just getting on comms at the same time, let along coordinating a move. The majority of the corporation appears to be in UK and EU timezones, which means there's limited time in which we're online at the same time, and they seem to prefer to use that conversational window to nag me about the fact that we haven't gotten moved up to the c6 yet. Awesome first impression.

I'm trying to keep some momentum on things, so I drop membership in our corp and apply to theirs, just to show we're interested. This does seem to buy us a bit of good luck, as we actually manage to line up a good entrance to the c6 the next evening. Em, Shan, Dirk, and I all jump into assault frigates and head toward the entrance, but in mid-trip I get a message request from someone interested in buying the old wormhole.

There hasn't been a lot of movement on this front, so this warrants a full-stop to our current plans in case the deal goes through -- if the sale actually happens, we'll need to help move our friend's tower out of the system. I negotiate a reasonable if not great price, and contact a broker at Taggarts to manage the transaction the following evening. The buyer balks at using a broker, but seems to come around when I explain that the deal simply isn't going to happen without that fraud protection in place.

We make our apologies to the guys in the c6, and wait for the deal to close the next day.


... which of course doesn't happen, as the buyer backs out. Was the price too costly, or was the guy simply unable to figure out a way to con me out of a wormhole with a broker involved? Who knows? Certainly not me.

In any case, we've been delayed a day, and the new exit from the C6 is in the ass-end of Aridia. I'd make a run for it through low-security space, but my future roommates are already heading out for the night.

All in all, the last couple days have been a pillowfight of productivity: lots of movement, but not much to show for it.

4 comments:

Austin said...

I just found your blog, and made it to your "Valuable Resources" post. Then, I followed your link to the Island Among The Stars Guide to Everything Wormhole. Now, I'm sitting here, a fresh newbie to eve, thoroughly convinced that wormholes are the best thing to ever happen in New Eden. But I'm worried... For a new player with a focus on exploration, not combat, are wormholes a viable option? I've spent most of my time training scanning-related skills, remapping attributes to help with exploration, and learning the fiddly probing overview. But without a strong combat core, I've heard from several experienced players I wouldn't be of use in W-space. Is this true? I'm bored to death with hi-sec missioning, and really want to get more out of Eve.

doycet said...

Hey Austin,

I'd say a skilled scanner and explorer can definitely contribute to a wormhole corporation, though if you're talking about working solo, I'm afraid you'd struggle to accomplish much without decent combat skills.

Check out this post: http://random-average.com/index.php/2011/12/life-in-a-wormhole-how-soon-can-i-start-eveonline/ -- I think it addresses a lot of your concerns.

Thanks!

Austin said...

Much thanks! I feel honored talking to the one and only Doycet.
That post really clears it up. I'm not gonna take it solo at all, I like the sound of a "live-in" wormhole corp. It's good to hear that new players can still contribute even without ZOMG TENGUS!!1!!! I'm gonna read some more wormhole lore before deciding, but all that hi and nullsec offer doesn't catch my eye as much as the sleeper infested W-space (and all lowsec offers is gatecamps).
I'll probably be coming to you with more questions in the future if I decide to leave these oh-so-glamorous hisec courier missions *eyeroll*.

P.S. Best Pony Proteus name: Zecora, lady of the mysterious and the unknown. Just sayin :)

Frak said...

You're never useless in WSpace as long as you, as a player, know what needs to be done and try to help with it.

@Doycet: Timezone issues - I seem to recall those :)