Get Lost

On Flying & Visiting Wormholes

Last time I wrote about some of the skills and methods necessary for finding wormholes and the action inside them. I suggested that Astrometrics V was beneficial but I never meant to imply that it was required. Sorry.

The whole of scanning is probably is probably something that everyone else seems to already know or expect that someone interested in visiting a wormhole would already know. The same thing for fitting your ships and flying in said wormholes. The reality is, that until you’ve been out and done something, it is all just theoretically. Sure EFT/EVEHQ says your ship does 800 DPS, but not until you engage the enemy do you see if the fit has merit for actually delivering that damage to the enemies’ ships. The same is true for visiting wormholes, until you get out and do it, do the scanning, get some practice, you’ll never really know.

So for those of you looking to actually do something in the wormholes that you are now finding, what is the next step in the process?

First, what kinds of wormhole systems are there? There are six basic classes of wormhole system each with increasing levels of difficulty of combat sites as well as increasing levels of reward. With practice and experience you will begin to recognise the class of system you are in from the color of the star and its surrounding system. From the deep blues of a class 2 system to the angry red of class 6 systems, you will have an idea of what you’ve come across. Additionally, when you find a wormhole, you can check it’s ID and cross-reference it against other tools like Wormhole Thingy or Static Mapper.

Class 1 wormhole systems are fairly basic and can easily be soloed by a well tanked cruiser or speed tanked by assault frigs. Always keep moving. Class 2 systems will require at least a battlecruiser usually, unless you are very good at piloting a very tough cruiser. Class 3 anomalies can usually be taken on in a well tanked Drake, but will likely need a battleship and the radar and magnetometric sites will require a small gang to accomplish. In flying solo in the first three systems, understand that drones will not be as effective due in large part to Sleepers switching their focus to attack your drones. They can however be a good escape mechanism.

Class 4 systems will require a fleet of remote repair battlships or a pair of logistics cruisers. Additionally, utilising an electronic warfare boat such as a Scorpion or Rook can ease the pain. As you move into class 5 systems, it becomes necessary to have a larger group of battleships as well as logistics and ewar. Class 6 sites require the presence of 8-10 battleships, ewar, logistics and several people even bring in carriers [though they bring an additional spawn of Sleepers when they come.].

I would suggest that the best way to learn about what to bring to a particular class of wormhole is to ask the people who have been there. Give me a call, or drop in on the exploration channel in EVE. Talk to any of the other bloggers who regularly post about their experiences in wormholes. Given the nature of the people who live in wormholes, they are likely to have very strong opinions about the best way to do something, but they have invaluable insight and experience.

Wormhole Blogs:

• Our Eve [of course]
• Tiger Ears
• K162Space
• EVE Online Wormholes
• Letrange’s EVE Blog
• Jumping Through Wormholes
• The Midnight Sun
• Anyone Else?

After writing this, I think I’ll also put together a Wormhole Blog List for people to easily reference who is posting about their life in W-Space!