Mare Sargassum

Site Details

Site name ?

Overview

Mare Sargassum is an expedition found by completing Desolate Site combat sites. It may contain up to four parts. The first three will be in high-sec space, while the fourth cam be in low-sec or high-sec. The sites do not have gates, and can be easily completed in a cruiser.

Incoming transmission

At first it seems strange the drones have picked this barren and resource deficient place to build a new hive. But then again, while you were blowing up the place, you noticed a few vessels that might have been used as transports, indicating the drones were pulling in the materials they needed from someplace else. As to compliment you on your reasoning, your communication systems start indicating several different incoming transmissions in drone beeps and clicks and after a while you manage to coerce your instruments into pointing out an approximate spatial origin of the message.

Walkthrough

Part 1

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Warp-in message
Heuristic analysis of this location indicates that attacking the Trash Construction would greatly improve your odds of uncovering further illicit activity.

A few small drones, and one sentient drone. Known escalation triggers are warping in and killing the sentient drone.

Initial defenders

		WD	EWAR	L
	7-11 x Frigate Sunder/... Alvi
	2 x Elite Frigate Strain Infester Alvi
	1 x Commander Frigate Sentient Alvi
	3-4 x Destroyer Ripper/Shatterer Alvior

Two additional spawns triggered by killing ships from initial spawn

Wave #2

		WD	EWAR	L
	4 x Frigate Barracuda/Devilfish Alvi

Wave #3

		WD	EWAR	L
	2 x Frigate Silverfish Alvi

Dead end message
All the drones have been obliterated, no clues are offered on where more can be found and your expedition seems to have come to a dead end.

Escalation message

Most of the drones have been obliterated, but a few made it away. Luckily the average drone operates in part like a jukebox trying to play all its tracks repeatedly at the same time over the airwaves, relying on the other drones to filter out the information they need and disregard the rest. Therefore they are usually easy to find while within reasonable range and this time is no different. Your instruments concentrate on messages from one of the escaped drones and after having filtered through several thousand repetitions of electrical manuals for every hydraulic system built the last three hundred years this side of the Myridian Strip, the entire known literature on the theory of relativity recited three times and for some obscure reason a text on the effect of oriental gardening on the human condition played simultaneously on four parallel channels, they finally come across a new location:

Part 2

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Similar to first, killing sentient drone first triggered escalation. There is at least one reinforcement wave.

Initial defenders

		WD	EWAR	L
	9-10 x Frigate Decimator/... Alvi
	5-6 x Destroyer Predator/... Alvior
	1 x Commander Destroyer Sentient Shatter/... Alvior

Timed Wave

		WD	EWAR	L
	3-4 x Frigate Hunter/... Alvi

Local chat channel message
Drone Signal: Location ðrzs found, location þeðy alerted.

Escalation message
The current strategy chosen by the drones seems to be running away as fast as they can. Your instruments have no problems tracking their destination

Part 3

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Fewer rogue drones, and killing the sentient drone once again triggered the escalation. As a bonus, you get to see a great big red cube in space. The Borg turned more evil?

Escalation message
You notice that all of these cans bear the markings of the same space station. After checking in your databanks, you find that this particular station was destroyed decades ago and has remained deserted ever since. You retrieve the location...

Part 4

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This part may be in a low-sec system (2/26/2017 ended in a .5 system).

5 small rogue drones waiting on warpin, and 5 "Drone Hold" cans. Completion popup happened after blowing up the first wave and starting to open cans. Strain Splinter drones can warp scram and web. Two reinforcement waves later appeared, one with a Rogue Mining Overseer dropping T2 salvage. One of the Drone Hold cans contained some drone goo (Dark Compound, Condensed Compound).

Initial defenders

		WD	EWAR	L
	4 x Frigate Raider/Hunter Alvi
	1 x Elite Frigate Strain Splinter/... Alvi

Timed Wave

		WD	EWAR	L
	3 x Frigate Hunter/Silverfish Alvi
	4 x Destroyer Marauder/Dismantler Alvior

Reinforcement Wave

		WD	EWAR	L
	2 x Frigate Hunter/... Alvi
	2 x Destroyer Marauder/... Alvior

Reinforcement Wave

		WD	EWAR	L
	1 x Cruiser Rogue Mining Overseer

Completion
As expected, the drones were busy turning this old station into a hive, which if they had succeeded would no doubt be spewing out innumerable copies of their kind to haunt this part of the constellation for years to come. You wonder if sentient machines can dream...if so, then this one is at least permanently broken.

Rewards

Each part has a commander rat which, when killed, will drop T2 salvage and Rogue Drone components. Lootable cans may contain drone alloys.