The Geztic Shuttle

There is  mysterious shuttle orbiting the sun in Geztic.

It flies in an orbit around a beacon, almost on top of the sun. Aura, the ship-board computer, registers it as a pirate target, displaying it as a red cross.

It doesn't respond to hails, weapons will not fire on it, nor do any modules. After some reading, I found other capsuleers found that using ECM on it seemed to affect it. Which is curious in itself.

Aura states that there is a single life-sign, which shows signs of a cryogenicaly frozen mind.

If you're curious, I do suggest reading more about what other capsuleers have written. I only note it here, since it was the most interesting thing I found in the Khanid region.

I found it unsettling. Such a mysterious, and apparently indestructible, ship, barely 5 jumps from the Khanid homelands... and within 10 jumps of all the other major households Prime systems.

Far more scholarly men than me can surely make more sense of this. I simply find it disturbing, and too close to home.

Not much of value

So my careful investigations of the Khanid revealed this:

There are Blood Raider pirates in the region.

My King was hardly pleased with this, and was even less than pleased with the material I liberated from the pirates. He already knew the Blood Raiders were around.

In total I acquired around 20 million ISK worth of parts and training manuals. This is mostly due to my terribly inefficient scanning and collection routines, which will be the topic of a later Strategikon. Hardly worth the two-week effort, considering my one day patrol netted me around 50 million ISK in loyalty store goods.

I think, perhaps, that exploration is not my defining skill.

I ran a combat site, however, a Blood Cathedral. I picked up some bounties, and some some interesting items, along with the pleasure of eradicating the Raiders from Khanid space. That proved lucrative, and might be a potential supplementary income source, particularly in the worm hole sites.

All in all, not a very fruitful investigation. With more practice, I'm sure I can increase my exploration findings, and I'm sure that the Anoikis space data and archaeology sites will be more bountiful.

I did come across something perplexing in Geztic though...

Choosing to be prey

Honestly, the prospect of exploring low sec and wormholes has me nervous. And I've just worked out why.

Before in the crusade, I'd head out to the wildlands to ferret out Minmatar dogs without batting an eye. The security status didn't phase me, and I whilst I wasn't reckless, I didn't avoid combat.

Not so with exploration. Flying in an unarmed, lightly tanked ship as I am, my only saftey lies in speed and stealth. I am no longer a hunter, but the hunted. The worst thing about this is that I put myself in that position.

I have invited predatory capsuleers to strike me and confound my plans. Despite flying a black ship, I'm a highly visible, and easy target.

It puts me in an odd position. Technically I'm doing a safer activity, but it puts me at more risk.

There's not much you can do to avoid this. But I wouldn't be me unless I conjoured up some solutions!

• Patrol planning
• Deployment of material

The same as with the Crusade, your best friend is a map. See my post on patrol planning for an in-depth examination. The principles are the same here. Map out your route to encounter the fewest pilots. This is slightly easier than in the Crusade, as relic and hacking sites aren't tied to any specific system... and backwater systems far from traffic are more likely to be unexploited anyway!

The deployment of material is fairly similar too. Only one or two exploration ships are required, and then bring a small stack of combat ready vessels. It'll depend on the sites you're hunting down, and I'm going to have to explore possibilities later. I'm undecided whether the ships should be fit for anti-rat or capsuleer combat. I think it will depend on the operating region.

However, a slight difference would be to include a mining vessel or two in the redeployment. Whilst exploring you will find many brightly coloured and interesting rocks to exploit. It would be a waste to ignore these opportunities!

The deployment then gives us back a rapid re-shipping option, weakening the impact of ship loss. Even if we are destroyed, we can fit out a new ship, and head back out into space in a short window.

I must think more on how to lessen the fear of being prey. 

Expanding project

I'm not sure why I thought exploration would be easier to jump into than capsuleer combat.

After a week of scanning across Khanid, I've realised that space is big. Rather obvious, but in my defense, fighting in the crusade focuses all your attention on maybe two or three points in any system, which can be easily ignored depending on what you want to do.

Not so with exploration.

What it boils down to is that mapping the Khanid region is taking a lot longer than I thought it would... and to be honest, I'm not finding a great deal worthwhile.

I'll be posting my findings shortly.

Astrometrics Training

It's a foolish man that dives into a wormhole with rusty scanning skills.

I am not a novice when it comes to the gentle art of scanning. But it has been a long time since I did any serious exploration. I assigned myself a week of training in scanning. Here is my vessel:

A Khanid vessel! How fine it is the wear the black!

The Anathema is a fine vessel. Its name derives from an Amarrian root, meaning 'something cursed'. Odd choice for a ship of any kind, but the name has a deep root in old Khanid: 'something dedicated'. This ship certainly is dedicated to exploration. The Covert Operations ships are generally the most specialized of New Eden, their full focus devoted to finding things in the dark.

As far as non-combat exploration goes, fitting does not take a great deal of fore-thought. Simply fit a cloak, core probe launcher, a hacking unit and a relic analyzer. After that it's your choice. 

My personal preference is a Micro Warpdrive. I also keep a pair of rocket launchers in the bay, in case I come across some easy pirates. Remember, this is not a fighting ship... if you find more than you can battle, run. 

My training mission will be in Khanid space. I hope to get some shore leave in my family's holdings at the same, and hunt around for some local landmarks. I will be looking for relic and data sites. Once I have my scaning eye in, I'll depart to Anoikis,

Back to New Eden

Well, that was a little longer than I thought!

Other duties demanded more time than I could give to commanding my ships. And in truth, I was not the most motivated crusader.

New technologies are on the horizon, meaning that new opportunities have arisen. My King has pulled me from the front lines, determining that my efforts are best spent elsewhere. I have yet to decide if this is a demotion or a boon granted to me.

His new orders are to explore Wormhole space.

I believe this to be a death sentence. But an Arcani never sways from a Royal Decree. They merely take extended leave from duties.

I once lived in a wormhole, standing with the once great Talocan United. I left after a few weeks though. I could not give the corporation the time necessary to perform well. It also felt far too restrictive. Too many rules and standard operating procedures, and too many calls to arms for people I barely knew.

This time, I will approach Anoikos on my own terms. I am going to fly solo.

Yes this is suicide. But many would have called flying a lightly tanked Executioner against a Firetail suicide. I look forward to proving people wrong.

The blog site will be refurbished, for no better reason than I like refurbishing it. I always say you need to look the part to play it, and I'll be tweaking things to show a more adventurous spirit. I may or may not include an antique compass.

There are secrets in wormholes. My King wishes to know them. I wish to seek them. Lets see what we can find!