A Note from a Former Signaleer

Editor’s Note: Thrice Hapus, our CEO, received this email and wanted to share it (with Felippe’s permission). This served as an excellent reminder of the long-term impact a corporation can have on its members, even after they move on to experience other parts of New Eden.

To all who help train and mentor new players within this great game, We salute you! o7

Dear Thrice,

I write to share my joy. This evening I completed my first Silent Battleground.

Felippe en Distel

I’ve been jumping into wormholes for quite a while, and I wondered whether I’d ever see one, but now I have. It was in a Class 5 shattered system ( J004998 ) that I entered from Syndicate space, and I just barely scanned it down with a probe strength of 104.2. Actually, I almost didn’t try. As I was scanning down the hole, I saw a Buzzard and then a Draugur on d-scan, and having never even known the Trigs have a command Dessie, I had resigned myself to moving on to the next hole. Probably those folks are running the Silent Battleground, let them do their thing. But… I had my probes out already, might as well see if I can get the Battleground to 100%, right?

So using a cube arrangement and after some fine adjustment of the probes, I managed to scan it down. And since I scanned it down, I figured I might as well warp in cloaked, take a look. I had never even seen the thing before. So I warped in cloaked… and there were all the cans, untouched. Now I get paranoid. What about those other ships on dscan? Are they hunting explorers? The Buzzard is probably paper tanked, but I’m worried about the Dessie. Do I take the chance? I looked at my empty hold, and that made my decision easier. Worst case, I’ve got a spare Blackglass and Zeugma waiting for me in GE-8JV. If I get ambushed, at least I gave it a shot.

And for the next 35 minutes, I was wired, hacking cans and spamming d-scan, just waiting for the ambush. What I didn’t know beforehand is that some of the loot is bulky, 10m3 a piece. Around 15 minutes in, I had to start making decisions about what I could fit in my hold, and Kenny Rogers starts singing in my head (“you never count your money while you’re sittin at the table / there’ll be time enough for counting when the dealin’s done”). And I keep chugging through the cans. I remember the wiki page saying that 3 explorers can finish the site before it despawns, and I’ll be proud if I can finish half. My phone buzzes, I turn it over so I don’t get distracted, and I keep spamming d-scan.

Maybe these are the kind of explorer hunters that let you finish a site, and then blap you. Maybe I should leave a can unhacked and warp off. But what kind of twisted person waits 35 minutes for someone to finish the site? And if they had the skills to scan it down, they would probably be running it themselves. So I hack the last can, then go back and grab a few more datacores I had jettisoned, so that my hold is completely full now. Before I warp off, I cloak up, pump up my graphics settings and snap a few pictures and decide I need to share my joy.

And I know that I would have never been able to do this if not for my time in Signal Cartel. Here I am with proper skills, experience, and equipment to pull this off. So I must express my profound gratitude to you and the other Signaleers with whom I’ve exchanged knowledge and with whom I share the spirit of exploration.

As I write, I’m still cloaked up in the wormhole, my fear that someone is camping one or more of the exits (only 3 ways out) gradually fading. Maybe I’ll try the Low Sec exit and hope it’s something pleasant like Vecamia. I suppose you’ll be able to tell the outcome from my killboard in the morning.

Yours in space,

Felippe en Distel

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