Welcome to the Exploration Log. The semi-regular updates where I report actual exploration game time along with the results.
Game Time: Approx 4 hours (over 2 days)
Location(s): Blood Raiders Lowsec
System Count: 13
Sites Run: Combat 3 (2 sites, 1 escalation)
Ghost sites seen: 0
Ship(s) Used: Tengu
Profit: ~1,065 million ISK
Comments: I got some play time in this weekend and decided to log it. I have been pretty swamped with real life so it was a nice break. I felt like I was able to pack a lot into 4 hours so it was a good use of EVE time. I found a wormhole in the system next to my PI system that led to a C3 that led to a system only 2-3 jumps from Jita. First I flew the route in my Tengu making sure it was safe and picking up some items on my shopping list (mostly stuff I lost from my secure container, as well as some Blood Raider tags). Once I got back I loaded up my Epithal with PI goods. It held about 300M isk of P2 material. I safely got it to the HS station and contracted it the rest of the way to Jita. It was only a couple of jumps so the cost was less than 3M isk. Spending 1% to avoid a suicide gank as well as couple of jumps is totally worth it for me. I usually plan on spending more.
Back in my home system, I rearranged my stuff and refit my ship for exploration, combat and travel. Away I went. A couple of systems away, I found a Blood Annex. I ran it and it escalated. It also dropped some cheap faction loot. The escalation was about 6 jumps away. The system was empty when I got there and it isn’t a known pirate hangout so I used a station to refit. It is easier to use a station, but generally safer to use a mobile depot. Seemed safe enough and I was lazy so station it was. I warped to the first escalation. I killed the overseer, but the site didn’t escalate again. He didn’t drop anything valuable.
I swung by my home base again for some minor travel changes and then on to a new area. I didn’t find much for 4 or 5 systems. Finally, I found something interesting – a Crimson Hand Supply Depot. There was no one in the system so I took my time refitting. I made sure to anchor my secure container – just to stay in the habit. I am using a 6 Launcher configuration that is a bit more expensive (like double), but runs the sites pretty fast.
I warp to the site and discover that the first 2 rooms are empty – no rats and no wrecks. I am not worried though. The last 2 rooms are pretty tough and I know many times pilots will walk away from them. Sure enough, the third room (with the Crimson Sentinel) has its standard complement of NPC’s. Now normally, I kill the battleships and ignore the Crimson Sentinel. But tonight, I have a full stock of missiles, a nearby re-supply base, and some extra time (since someone already cleared the first 2 rooms for me). I decide to try to kill the Crimson Sentinel – just to have a story to tell my wonderful readers.
Guess what – I will never do this again! To keep him from repping armor, I stayed 62km away. It took 2 loads of Scourge missiles to get his armor to zero. Then it took about 10 loads (I lost count) of Mjolnir missiles to finally pound through the 100,000 structure HP. I blew through nearly 5,000 missiles taking this thing out. And do you know what it dropped?
Yep. Figures.
Anyway, after killing the battleships, I moved on to the final room. I had to kill 2 neuting battleships before moving onto the Crimson Lord, but the deed was done and down he went. He was a bit more generous.
He dropped a Corpum A-Type Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane, an Ashimmu BPC and some other stuff. Definitely made up for the other guy. Satisfied with this, I called it a night.
Pilgrim in Exile 