Living in Wormhole Space
Wormhole Space (W-space) is unique and very different from Known Space (K-space) in many different ways. Lack of local chat, randomness of exits coming out of a system, unique NPC ships (Sleepers), resources that are not available in high or low security space (High End Gas and Ore), and lack of Aggression timers are only few of the advantages. It is only natural that at some point short trips to W-space will seem less profitable then a long term operation from within a W-space System. This Guide is meant to explain how to set up and maintain that kind of operation, it will show you how to successfully live in W-space. But I have to warn you, once you start living there, you might never want to go back to K-space! This guide assumes that you know the basics of how W-space works.
Daily Activities: how to keep them safe.
So, you've found your system, set up a POS, moved the ships in, you've done all required logistics, and you have supplies that will last for a while. You're ready for action. What now? Well, as I said already, there are number of activities you can do in your System, such as Mining, Harvesting Gas, Killing Sleepers, Running PI. But first you need to learn how to keep yourself safe while doing those. You need to keep track of things, and you need to know your surroundings. First thing you'll always do from this day on, is:
Scanning
Each day new signatures and anomalies spawn in your System. Each day they die. There's always something going on and you need to know what that is. You will have to keep track of every single signature ID and anomaly. Each day after Downtime signature ID's change. You will have to keep track of them to know what kind of sites are there and what your system has to offer that day. Here's how:
- Scan your system as soon as you login into the game. Check the number of signatures, the number of anomalies.
- Scan each and every signature. Write down their ID's and types (is it a grav? radar site? wormhole?). Keep that list handy.
- Bookmark the Sites and keep the bookmarks at a container at the POS, or in the Corp Hangar.
- See if there are any wormholes in the system, scan them down, warp to them and bookmark them. See where they lead to.
- Check for incoming wormholes, check where they lead, get to know your neighbours.
- Write down the time the signatures were found. This way you will be able to tell when they die.
- Scan your system every now and then, preferably each hour, check for new signatures.
- Check for new incoming wormholes, they can open at any given time.
- Check what your K-space exit is, if you have one.
- Close unfriendly wormholes as soon as possible. See "Unwanted Wormholes," below.
Once you're done Scanning, you know the number and ID's of signatures in your system, you know where each wormhole leads to and you made sure it's safe you can start doing sites. Remember that a wormhole incoming to your system can open up at any time, keep checking directional at all times. If you fail to do so, you will get killed faster then you can say OMGPROTEUS.
Running Anomalies
Sleeper sites, also known as anomalies, are the most profitable sites in W-space. It's always worth running them and selling the salvage. If you decide to run them, make sure you know what the triggers are, what will spawn next, be ready. Use Eve-Survival to determine that information. Class 1 and 2 anomalies are soloable in a Drake, for Class 3's you will want
to have a small gang of drakes to kill the sleepers faster. For Class 4 anomalies and up You will want to use a fleet made of Remote Repair Battleships with ECM support.
After you are done with each site, Bookmark the wrecks as you would do with mission wrecks. Come back later to salvage them or have someone following you in a dedicated salvager. Always keep aligned when running sites, and always, for the love of god, check the damn directional. It's very important, if you see any ship that is not supposed to be there, even for a split second, warp out, get to safety. Go to the POS and investigate. Don't start asking in Corp chat who that was, just leave. Believe me, I make a living from killing people like you, don't be stupid. Just warp off. There's no fleet that can't be ganked in W-space.
Even if you are running a Class 6 anomaly in battleships with logistics support you cannot feel safe. Someone can and will come to gank you, as shown here: Youtube - Class 6 Wormhole Gank
- Perimeter sites are generally Low difficulty.
- Frontier sites are generally Medium difficulty.
- Core sites are generally High difficulty.
- For Class 1-2 expect to see Perimeter sites.
- For Class 3-4 expect to see Frontier sites.
- For Class 5-6 expect to see Core sites.
Gravimetric, Ladar and class 5 Radar sites are exception from this; also named sites (The Line & Solar Cell for example) do not fall under this convention.
Mining
Gravimetric sites in W-space often spawn rare Ore that cannot be found in Highsec or even Lowsec. Those are Arknor, Bistot and Crokite. Always mine those first. They are the most profitable. Use cheap mining barges such as Retrievers and Covetors. They are affordable and won't ruin you if you lose them.
Everyone in W-space will gank a mining op if they see one, so when mining, always make sure that there are no incoming wormholes in Your system, always watch directional, or even have a scout at any wormhole exit. You cannot mine aligned, but you can make it a bit harder for someone to find you. Unlike anomalies, that can be scanned down without use of probes, Grav sites have to be probed down. Keep an eye out for probes. Combat probes especially. Try not to use jetcans for mining, as they can be bookmarked to provide warpins on you. Haul in a cheap industrial ships, as often as possible. Don't use an Orca for picking up ore. Orcas draw attention of gankers. Warp out at any sign of unknown ships and probes on directional. Better to be safe then dead.
Ladar sites are no exception here, same rules apply.
Planetary Interaction in W-Space
Wormhole space, as already mentioned, is very similar to Nullsec. In that matter, Planets that are present in W-space are mostly unoccupied, and far better then any highsec or lowsec planets. You will find various types of planets, and given that you took that into account when you chose your system, you can make quite a fortune from Planetary Interaction.
The biggest advantage of PI in W-space is the ability to make some of the POS fuel on the site, it saves you hauling that fuel in, less logistics stress. See this forum post by Seamus Donohue. You can also make various items, that you can export to K-space and sell for profit.
What's dangerous about PI, you ask? Well, managing PI itself doesn't involve any risk (yet), but hauling the goods can be tricky.
Personally I've ganked multiple industrial ships that were not paying attention to directional, and just went off to pick up their goods, getting killed in the process. You have to assume that you are never alone in W-space. Always watch for hostile ships. Be prepared to run for your life. Don't slow down your industrial ships by fitting cargo expanders, fit nanofibers instead. They will align faster. Fit Warp Core Stabs, they will get somewhat immune to Warp Disruptors, and if you can, use Transport ships, fly cloaky, cloaky is safe. Never stay at the Customs office longer then you have to.
PvP in W-Space
Wormhole Space is an unique environment to fight with other players in. The lack of local chat and mass restrictions on wormholes as well as nullsec-like mechanics allow to do things that would not work in Known Space. Players often scan down so called 'rabbit holes', chains of wormholes connecting multiple systems to find other players to kill. It's common to see multiple cloak-capable ships in one fleet, hunting down and killing pilots that are not paying attention to directional scanner.
W-space is also full of dead POS's that ran out of fuel because their owners either didn't log into the game for a while, or just lost access to their home system. People often destroy those POS's for loot. There are many PvP opportunities in W-space. Wormhole corporations often compete with each other over the best systems, or just for the sake of killing each other. It's getting more common to see one corporation invading a home system of another. Some people even hire mercenary corporations to attack or defend wormhole systems.
Directional scanning plays a huge role in W-space PvP, giving Intel and warning of hostiles. Directional Scanner and CovOps ships are the most useful tools in W-space. PvP in W-space is also a source of ISK, simply because it's sometimes more profitable to kill that faction battleship running sleeper sites in the wormhole next door then to run your own sites.
I won't give out any of our secrets about how to be successful in PvP in W-space, but be aware that it plays a major role in W-space, and no one can feel safe out there. If you want to see how PvP in Wormholes looks like, be sure to check out the link below and watch the PvP videos. Perhaps one day we will meet out in the unknown :)
Unwanted Wormholes
Most of the time, your static exit to either K-space or another W-space system will be the only exit, and that is what you count on. It keeps you safe, It keeps things predictable. But W-space is far from being predictable. Very often a wormhole will open up in the system, an incoming wormhole, that you wish wasn't there. It might give you some opportunities, but It might as well bring trouble. How to handle these wormholes, how to take control over the traffic in a system and how to close unwanted wormholes? Well, let me explain:
Unwanted K162's
Remember how I told you to keep track of the signature ID's in the system? Well, this is how you find out if there's a new incoming wormhole. You scan your system and find a signature ID that wasn't there before, it shows up as an unknown, and later it turns out to be a K162 incoming wormhole. We don't want that. We want it gone, and now. This is what you need to do to close it:
- Jump to the other side, check for hostiles, and check the ID of the wormhole on the other side. For example it might be C427.
- Check the mass remaining on the wormhole (is it critical? what does the description say?). Jump back.
- Check the Wormhole ID on Eve Metrics, it will tell you it's maximum mass restrictions.
- Do the math.
Now you know what kind of wormhole you are dealing with, and you know the max mass that can go through it before it crashes. Well, if the wormhole is not in critical mass stage yet, there's a good chance that you are able to close it. What you need to do is take some heavy ships, preferably Battleships and/or Battlecruisers, and start jumping them back and forward, keeping an eye on the status of mass of the wormhole. Keep one battleship on the far side while doing this. In this example it's a C427 Wormhole which, at it's critical state, (about 5% of total mass limit) allows to jump another 100.000 tons of mass. That's one battleship worth of mass. Keep track of the number of ships you've jumped trough so far (jump one at a time), and as soon as it gets into Critical stage, jump back the battleship from the far side. If you've done everything right, the unwanted wormhole should close.
Taking control over the exits, maintaining the system clear of incoming wormholes by successfully closing each unwanted wormhole is the key to safety in W-Space. You need to be aware that each wormhole that you leave opened, and not use yourself, is a potential threat, and might eventually get you (and your corp members) killed.
Related Links
http://www.tetrr.com/wormhole/
http://www.ellatha.com/eve/wormholelist.asp
http://eve.allakhazam.com/wiki/Wormholes
Asayanami Dei's Wormhole PvP Videos
