Wormholes
A wormhole is a transient portal that allows for travel across vast distances of space. They can be found in every solar system and can lead anywhere from null space to high security space. The term wormhole space (alternatively w-space) describes the unmapped and often dangerous null solar systems accessible through wormholes. Wormholes were introduced with the Apocrypha expansion and gave pilots an extra 2500 solar systems to explore and exploit.
Wormhole overview
You can scan down Wormholes from anywhere within New Eden by using the System Scanner (found in the same menu as the Directional Scanner). This is done by fitting a Scan Probe Lancher and loading it with Probes. The results of the probes' findings are read on the System Scanner.
Wormholes link Known Space (k-space) with Wormhole Space (w-space). K-space includes all the solarsytems contained in the Star Map. If you can set a destination to it, a system is k-space, even if it is deep within nullspace (0.0).
Wormholes also link separate w-space solarsystems (or pockets).
ALL wormholes are randomly placed and are temporary. A given wormhole allows only a certain amount of mass to go through it before it will destabilize and close forever.
Wormhole Space - General Information
There are no Stargates in w-space. Once inside w-space, wormholes are the only way to get from one system to another. If a wormhole closes and you are inside a pocket, there are only two ways to get out - find another WH or self-destruct your pod. The good news is, there's always another wormhole. The moral is, never go into w-space without a scan probe launcher and probes.
Wormhole pockets often contain Exploration sites that can be exploited. The sites are almost always guarded by Sleepers
Wormhole Tactical Information
Any new wormhole you find in WH space may lead to ANYWHERE (even deep 0.0) in Eve. It may also lead to another pocket deeper into w-space (D6 calls this "going deeper down the rabbit hole"). There are often several wormholes into and out of the same w-space solar system, which may be a combination of low-sec, high-sec, 0.0, and other wormhole spaces. If you're lucky, you can occasionally find a wormhole pairing that will let you go between two interesting systems in a couple of jumps.
A wormhole's state will be determined by two factors: Time and Mass. When it spawns, it will be open for a given time, determined by the type of the wormhole, and allow a set amount of mass through. When either variable reaches zero, the wormhole collapses forever. Every time a ship jumps through the wormhole, the mass of the ship (can be seen in the "Show Info" of the ship) will be subtracted from the remaining mass limit of the wormhole. The type of wormhole can be looked up and will tell some basic attributes of the wormhole.
(See Wormhole Size and Stability Information.)
One side of the wormhole will always be the "exit" and is named K162. The "entrance" is the side which was first scanned down and will have the real name of the wormhole.
There are three stages or states in a wormhole's life, which you can get with a 'show info' on the wormhole:
- Not Yet Disrupted (aka Pristine)
- Disrupted But Not Critically (aka Intermediate)
- Critical.
There is a fourth relevant status, which may be displayed below the stage information: "reaching the end of its natural lifetime". This means the wormhole will collapse of old age within two hours or less.
You can tell the state of the wormhole you are about to enter by right-clicking and selecting "Show Info". A pristine wormhole has not yet had 60% of its allotted mass pass through it. An Intermediate wormhole has between 40% and 10% of its allotted mass left. A Critical wormhole has less than 10% of its allotted mass left. Be very sure you want to jump through any Critical wormhole.
When a wormhole spawns, the wormhole is only an entry in your scanner. The destination of that wormhole is not set. The destination is determined randomly the moment the first player lands on grid with the wormhole. When that happens, the corresponding "exit" of the wormhole is spawned in another system and the link between the two systems is established. This can be used to some advantage in gathering information. If you find a wormhole and warp to it, and it is named K162 it means that someone else already found that wormhole from the other side. This can be tactically important -- you know that someone else has visited a K162 wormhole. That means some mass has probably been used, and also that you may have company.
On the other end, if you have just collapsed the last remaining wormhole in a W-Space system and want to be alone for a while, you can scan down and bookmark the newly spawned wormhole, but not warp to it. The link between the systems is never
