Empty Space

Throughout the past week or two, my corpmates who have already made the move to this wormhole system and been mining the gas clouds as well as asteroid belts have begun to take notice of what they began to think a potential problem. As time went on, and they continued to mine out the various sites found via probing, the amount of "dots" found with the probes were lessening. Blame it on a lack of forethought on our part as well as the simple fact none of us really pay much attention to the forum discussions, we never really considered that a w-system could depleted of all it's resources. It was simply assumed that more would be consistently found with each day's passing.

It seems however, we were wrong.

I don't have the link at the current moment while I write this but a discussion was brought up in the forum by a member of another corporation who stated the same thing we were just beginning to discover. Just like the mechanics of the exploration sites in k-space, once the harvestable sites in a system have been depleted, that's it. There is no more. At least not until they, by chance, cycle back around to our system after they've been depleted elsewhere in another w-space system. Given the number of w-systems, and ultimately, the true lack of people willing to venture into systems of the same class as the one we're currently in, I think it's acceptable to say that we may have and been fighting for what will soon be in essence, an empty pocket of w-space.

So we're starting to contemplate the question, "What do we do now?" Do we maintain our POS in this system and simply use it as a base of operations for the other endeavors we intended to use the system for? Do we maintain the POS and harvest any other w-systems that randomly link up to our own? (Which by the way does seem to happen quite regularly in this system. In fact, one of our latest exits involved probing/traveling through 2 other w-systems just to get back to k-space.) Do we pack up, leave and give up on the whole w-space harvesting and instead return to our previous medial tasks of mission running and high sec mining? Or do we gather together the isk we've made from this initial endeavor and invest it in the ships and gear to become basically a roaming nomadic corporation. Moving from one w-system to the next, depleting the resources as we go.

In theory, this last option is a very good possibility. We have the capabilities, equipment and means to make this possible, it's just a question of should we. In fact, I'd be curious to know what other people's thoughts are on what it would take to become such a corporation.

At present, my corporation currently maintains a few carriers, a few Orcas, and a Rorqual as well as having the ability to utilize dreadnoughts, though I don't believe we own any at present as we've never seen the need for them....and I doubt will ever see the need for it in w-space. So with those ships and the necessary support vessels in mind, I think it's feasibly possible. The most difficult aspect would be getting the harvested materials out of the wormhole as we would have no real loading platform to dump all the stuff in a freighter with us. However, I'm still learning about the capabilities of cap ships so feel free to correct me on anything I say here. The other larger aspect would be having these ships in a null security space with little in the way of protection. There would be no POS shield for the Rorqual or Orcas to hide behind when faced with venturous pirates. We could theoretically bring a small POS tower along with us as we go, but the time it takes to set up and break down might nullify the logistical use of such a venture.

So with that in mind, it does seem to be perhaps a lot of effort....nearly too much. But such a critic would have to take into account the amount of isk that can be made from one good quality system such as the one we've nearly depleted. I mean, seriously, I'm talking in the billions here. However, other systems may only net perhaps a couple hundred mil.

Some other people would argue, "the risk is too great versus the rewards." I can't disagree on that more. Though "smarter", these sleepers are still just "rats". They're not invincible. It just takes the right setups and the right tactics as it would with any other mission targets offered by the numerous agents out there. It's just a bit different than what most have become accustomed to after so many years of dealing with the same crap over and over again. Basically, it's the PVE'ers turn to adapt or die.

So anyways, as we come close to the end of all harvestable resources within the w-system, our time to make a decision comes nearer as well. Being the low man on the totem pole, I really can only wait and see.

-ML-