Topology: Difference between revisions

{{cleanup|Detailed topologies beyond the overall ring need to account for the fall of Niarja}}

[[Image:eve-hisec-chokepoints-basic-ring.png|600px]]

Caveat: Among the minor factions, the Ammatar Mandate is special in that it is also located on the former ring. A small part of the Amarr Empire is separated from the Empire's main high sec space, and only reachable through CONCORD/Gallente space.

The main idea you should take away from this picture is that in order to travel from e.g. Aldrat (in Minmatar space) to Jita (in Caldari space) without leaving high sec, you need to travel through Gallente space. There are shorter routes, but they all involve at least one low sec system.

In addition to resembling a ring, high sec jump routes are also structured so that systems exist that are located directly on the ring as well. This means that in any route between faction spaces that is sufficiently long, there are also individual systems you ''must'' pass through if you want to stay in high sec. In the above example (Aldrat-Jita), you need to pass through the Colelie system in order to reach Gallente Federation space, and in order to get from Gallente space to the main Caldari region, you need to pass through the Sivala system between the Caldari Border Zone and the Caldari State region. Likewise, every other high sec trade route between a Minmatar system and a Caldari system also passes through Colelie. Because high sec resembles a ring, there is one alternative path around the other side of that ring (in this case: through Ammatar and Amarr space). This alternative path has similar systems on it, though.  Systems like Colelie and Sivala are, therefore, ''high sec chokepoints''. To put it plainly, they are the kind of system where you would hang out if you were in the business of liberating innocent trade goods from their trader oppressors.  

Highways and chokepoints also exist outside of the ring. Again using the same example, in order to reach the remainder of Minmatar space from Aldrat (or in order to return to Aldrat), you must pass through the Eygfe system. On the other end of the example route, the systems Urlen and Perimeter are on a popular shortest path between most of Caldari space and Jita. In particular, the Jita gate in Perimeter and the Perimeter gate in Jita are popular destinations for smartbombing battleships as well as for scouts who would like to scan your cargo.

For many years, the most heavily trafficked hisec trade route was the 9-jump route from Jita to Amarr. That route entered and left Amarrian space via the 0.5-sec system, '''Niarja'''. The relatively low security rating of the system made it a haven for gankers (and thus the most famous of the hisec chokepoints).

As a result of the fall of Niarja, the safest route between Jita and Amarr is now 44 jumps, in a path stretching all the way around the ring through Minmatar and Gallente space. Fortunately for non-Triglavian sympathizers, when the Bei system was invaded in the week after Niarja, the invaders were repelled and the system became an EDENCOM Minor Victory. (Had Bei fallen, hisec would have been effectively cut in half, with an Amarr-Minmatar half, a Caldari-Gallente half, and no safe routes connecting the two.)

Since traveling along the ring can involve a large number of jumps through high sec, there are numerous routes through low sec that are considerably shorter. Systems on common shortest paths between empire factions form highways in the same way as they do in high sec. These systems also serve as popular entrances to low sec for pilots who wish to travel there. The notorious pirate strongholds Amamake and Rancer are two such systems.  

The following map attempts to visualize the entire ring of high sec empire space, including all chokepoints on the ring. Seven chokepoint systems between Lashesi and Esescama that are directly connected to each other have been omitted. Highway systems that are not chokepoints have been included based on their notoriety, and popular destinations and hubs likewise.

* Routes to any low sec systems are shown as red lines. There is no distinction between low sec chokepoints and highways because there are no real chokepoints as soon as you are prepared to leave high sec.

There are high sec systems that have no high sec connection to the main empire region. Several systems in the Molden Heath, Solitude or Aridia regions are examples of this. While these play no large role in the grand scheme of things of high sec life, you should be aware that they exist. It is entirely possible that a courier contract with innocent-looking high sec source and destination systems requires travel through lowsec or nullsec.  

You might assume that Lowsec would extend in a contiguous ring, surrounding the High Sec systems.  Unfortunately, there is no such Low-Sec Ring.  You can however, travel a low-sec pipe from one of the Faction Warfare (FW) areas to the other.  The pipe itself is usually not very active for PVP, however there can be interesting solo PVP content.  To find the pipe, just go to any FW system and set your destination to a system in the other FW area, prefer Less Secure.  For best results, try a route between Kamela and Tama.  The resulting route will bring you through many low-sec systems and can be a very profitable and enjoyable roam.

A map updated for the fall of Niarja, with routes between tradehubs as well as to various nullsec outlets, is displayed below.

== References ==

* [https://eve-files.com/media/corp/ombey/eve_regions.pdf Ombey's 2D EveMaps] (large PDF)