Solitude Isn't So Solitary Since Apocs Systems Start

Haha, I made a tongue twister! Say that 5 times fast! :)

Anyways, there is a point to my journal entry title. Ever since the appearance of wormholes, and the system wide changes to the probe and scanning computers on board all of Eve, traffic in solitude has really begun to pick up. I've been hearing news from other pilots across New Eden about how their areas, once busy have now started to grow quiet. They may wonder why when network wide systems report 40 to over 50 thousand pilots online quite regularly now.

Well I'll tell you why.

Ever since the appearance of wormholes, yes, pilots have been spending more and more time in them. I almost feel sorry for this sleeper race as it seems not just one or two factions have turned their eyes towards them, declaring war and mercilessly slaughtering them. Instead, it's nearly the entire population of Eve! Every race, every corporation nearly, from Solitude to Molden Heathe and the systems between and beyond, have been rushing head first into wormhole space. Some to mass murder the once nearly unknown Sleeper race, others to strip their systems of all it's ore, minerals, and gases. It's the human population at its prime. Like locusts, they swarm. Consuming every valuable resource in their path before moving on to fresh grounds and doing it all over again. Again, my heart goes out to these "Sleepers". Maybe someday someone will step up to defend them.

On that note, the appearance of wormholes forced the aura network to make some changes to the original scanning/probing system. And since then, the term explorer has begun to lose it's meaning. Now, nearly everyone is capable of becoming one in a very short period of time. For this reason, finding a radar site or a magnetrometric site that hasn't already been pillaged and looted is becoming more and more difficult. Especially in Empire. So where do all these people go once they realize how immense their competition is?

Perhaps you guessed it. Solitude.

Okay, perhaps not just Solitude but basically any pockets of generally untraveled space, like Solitude, has become awash with immigrants. When my corporation first moved to Solitude, there were systems where I could (and did) sit and mine for hours without ever seeing a single soul. I could travel through areas of space, often 5 or 6 jumps or more before seeing more than one other person on the local communications network.

Now....well now I might as well be living in Empire again. Low sec is still not quite as active as many of the Empire systems but I think that's only because the low sec denizens haven't caught on yet to whats happening just beyond their normal prowling grounds. I couldn't begin to describe the number of times now I've passed through the low sec systems with 3 or 4 mining barges or exhumers on scan, doing a mining operation in some hidden asteroid belt. Or ships running around in the belts with setups purely designed to take down the local "rats", not too worried about other capsuleer ships. The only real threat is the United For Order alliance which is really just a nuisance than a threat. At least to my corporation. Many other corporations I see in the area have little to no combat skills and run at the first sight of a UFO pilot in low sec local. But UFO has perhaps pushed a few too many buttons.....

So anyways, yes, I have appeared to have hopped on the exploration bandwagon myself. I've gone in wormhole space a number of times now, solo even, but mostly just to look around, take photos, that sort of thing. I've also been mining, salvaging, and very shortly hacking various other sites I'm able to scan down. Unfortunately, to say I was seriously considering turning explorer before news of the scanner changes started spreading would only fall on deaf ears now. Mining was just becoming so mind numbing and now that I'm in the Hulk with most high sec ore t2 crystals, all I need is transports and freighter skills and I'll be done as far as I'm concerned with my mining skills. After that I intended to turn explorer and start finding the hidden sites. You know, be the "prospector" that I was trained to be by the academy!

Oye...I think I'm done ranting now.

-ML-