Pator

Sovereignty: Minmatar Republic
Constellation: Sveipar
Region: Heimatar
Security Status: 1.0

I decided to try to be a bit more formal, almost like a tourist guide. And maybe it will make things easier to keep track of the systems I've been in. I'm going to try to get the hang of the tag system too. Hopefully that will help out some. I'm not used to trying to stay so organized. I think I should give some statistics too as a quick look, something like this:

Planets: 9
Asteroid Belts: 4
Stations: 5

If you have any opinion on information I should add or not bother to put please let me know. This is my first time really trying to make a proper record of a system itself rather than the particulars of my travels.

This is also my first real look at a system so it probably will seem a lot more detailed than later ones. I first traveled to the Republic Security Services Assembly Plant, the first station listed in system.

This really is a good example of Minmatar engineering.The whole thing looks like it's rusted, which is silly with us being out here in space. Still it's a representation of the Minmatar attitude of function over form and the simplest solution usually being the best. I've seen models of the cold steel of Caldari stations, the form filled and polygonal Gallente and ancient styles Amarr..but I've never really been to any of them yet. I'm sure it will be really fascinating when I get a chance.


You can see the large plasma exhaust areas on the back of the station, from those green plumes. You can see some of the bits in the front in that second picture showing how the station is sort of constructed from larger component blocks, a bit like a drone constructor kit from when I was a kid. It's kind of amusing when you think about it....how even the hugest station can be put together like a constructor kit....everything is just increased in scale. Hehe well I can tend to go off on little tangents like that...but I'm trying to make a proper guide here.

It turns out there is actually one Gallentean station here in Pator. And of course how could it be anything other than a Quafe factory?


I remember a friend who used to rant about this station and how we'd spent hundreds of years working to be free from the Amarrans only to become addicted to a soft drink. Now honestly he was the type to go into hyperbole and believe some of those conspiracy theories about mind control chemicals in the stuff. I never really liked the taste myself, but it's a popular drink...popular enough we need a whole station to keep up with demand. I think it doe say something the station isn't hovering right over Matar's orbit, so that's something. People at least insist it stays a bit further away. Out of curiosity I did dock in the station and there's plenty of quafe for sale.

Of course the computers assume cause I'm a capsuleer I'm looking to buy in bulk :P. A little over 47 isk per crate of the stuff....an amazing price. I imagine retail markup is a big business. I could see the quafe gets spread far and wide judging by the market. But quafe is strictly a non-cap business. That is to say, a capsuleer really doesn't have anything to do with it other than a commodity to trade. But I'm not interested in getting involved in the quafe business today. It wouldn't be any different than hauling soil or any other thing across space.

It's not the only thing to get at the station though. Even a station dedicated to beverages becomes a hub of trade and commerce. Seeing the work that goes on out here is astounding. Looking on the markets I can get just about anything from afterburners to guns larger than my shuttle ^^. I'm a little intimidated by how much stuff is available really. I don't have any idea how to work such things and apparently unless I get my neural interface fixed to start inputting things. But my shuttle is more than enough for now...though I might want to try out some other shuttles, see how they fly.

Asteroids

Unfortunately there's nothing too exciting about the stations themselves. It would take a long long time to disengage from the pod and I have too much else to do. I decided to go check out something else I've never properly seen, asteroid fields.

Asteroid belts, of course, span all the way around star systems, but the vast majority of concentrated ore is only found in specific areas you can access from ship computer systems. These inevitably are where everyone goes to mine ore. As I said above Pator has 4 areas listed as high quality 'belts' where people tend to travel. So I decided to go check it out.




This is the bread and butter of mining so I've been told. The almighty Veldspar. It gives you loads and loads of tritanium but not much else. Still that's all you need for things like my shuttle. But a lot of other things require you to get more. I've decided to take a picture of every kind of ore as I find them...I've been told some of the rarer ores are waaay out there. It'll be fun to see what I can find. It's not the most exciting asteroid by any means and looks pretty identical to the useless rocks you find often.

There was only one other kind of asteroid in the belt areas I looked through, that being Scordite, shown nearby here. As you can see it looks similar to veldspar but has a distinctive green tint in the veins. You may this funny as scordite produces tritanium and pyerite, neither of which are green. I've been told that it's from a mix of lesser minerals that are intermixed with the pyerite that produces the color, which disappears when the pyerite is refined. It's nice to see a bit of variety. Asteroids really aren't as vibrant as they could be...not that I'm suggesting nature needs to change itself ^_^

Things were relatively quiet as I flew around. There was a couple ships here and there, but only one I really saw 'in action.' That was a person called Virgilious Secundo. I watched in facination as he waped into this belt and mined asteroids until his cargo was full and warped away. And then, five minutes later, he was back to mine again.



I admired that level of dedication. He was obviously just starting out like me...but was trying such things as mining that I hadn't bothered to.

I've just checked again and can't seem to find him in the register anymore. I hope he's alright. Perhaps he decided to disentangle himself from pod life. I can certainly respect such a decision if that's what happened....it's not for everyone...and until I resolved to explore I was sort of wondering if I should as well.

Wherever Virgilious is now, he'll be in my thoughts. But I can't afford to linger too long...there are far too many systems to visit and things to see. Hopefully you can see it with me.