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Wormhole Whisperer

On what wormholes can tell you without your asking

There is more to navigating w-space than simply scanning for wormholes. Knowing the designations of the wormholes and what they mean can help with expectations and reduce confusion or misunderstandings. First, it must be understood that there are two ‘ends’ to a wormhole, the ‘entrance’ and the ‘exit’. There are no specific restrictions on movements through a wormhole dependent on it being the entrance or exit, but knowing what side you have found gives information in itself.

If you are looking at the exit of a wormhole you will always see the designation ‘K162′, with no exceptions. That is the only designation ever given to an exit. The entrance of a wormhole has a designation made up in the similar way of having a letter and three numbers, but unlike the exit each specific designation essentially determines where the wormhole leads. For example, seeing an X877 signature in a class 4 w-space system will tell you that the wormhole leads to another class 4 w-space system. On the other side, of course, will be a K162.

The second snippet of information needed to be understood is that an entrance wormhole can either be ‘static’ or random. The meaning of ‘static’ in the sense of a wormhole simply means that a particular type of wormhole will always be present within the system. It won’t remain in the same position, just that once the previous wormhole collapses the new one will be have the same designation. A random wormhole is an anomalous signature that has a chance of spawning anywhere but, once collapsed, will not automatically return. Understanding the static types and, by inference, the random types of wormhole designations will therefore let you imply more information about connections within any specific system.

Whilst it is possible to determine the class of w-space system from the colours seeping through the wormhole this is not the information I wish to impart today. I am more interested in the implications of finding certain designations of wormholes, and the importance in recognising the designations.

Let’s look at what we can tell about a system by the wormholes you visit.

  • If you find an entrance wormhole that leads to further w-space you can be sure of finding at least one more wormhole in the system beyond.
    • You are jumping through an outbound wormhole that leads to a system that must contain at least its own static wormhole, so you there is definitely another wormhole to find.
  • If you find an entrance wormhole that is not a static designation you can be sure of finding at least one more wormhole in the current system.
    • Each w-space system has one static wormhole, and class 2 w-space has two, so finding a wormhole that isn’t the static wormhole always leaves the static wormhole to be found.
  • If you find an exit wormhole in w-space you can be sure of finding at least one more wormhole in the current system.
    • The exit wormhole cannot be the static wormhole of the current system, which must be an entrance, so the static wormhole is still to be found.
  • If you find an exit wormhole that leads to w-space there is no guarantee that further wormholes will be found in the system beyond.
    • The entrance to the wormhole has been opened in another system, but you need to jump through the wormhole and see the designation of the entrance before you can determine further exploration possibilities.
  • If you jump through a K162 to see a static designation on the other side you are not guaranteed to find any further wormholes.
    • The system’s static connection is the only guaranteed wormhole in the system, and you’ve found it indirectly by jumping through the K162.
    • Check the system for occupation. If there is none, there could be another K162 to find, as a capsuleer must have entered the system to activate the static wormhole you jumped through. Even this is not a guarantee, though, as the wormhole may already be collapsed.
  • If you jump through a K162 in to w-space to see a random designation on the other side you can be sure of finding at least one more wormhole.
    • The w-space system you have entered has a random wormhole, which still leaves the static wormhole to be found.

All of the above information can be discerned without having to launch scanning probes, which can save time and help maintain covert operations. And it should be seen that being able to determine static and random wormhole designations is useful when exploring w-space. There are plenty to memorise, but in practice only a few are necessary. Certain connections between w-space systems will be seen time and again, particularly if you settle in w-space, and will become obvious given a little time. Others can be determined by scrutinising the information panel, most notably those heading out to k-space. And wormholes to and from deadly class 6 w-space are unmistakable.

March 15th, 2011 | Tags: , , , , , | Category: exploration, wormhole | 3 comments

A Slight Change In Perspective

On Going Backwards For A Bit

First, a Public Service Announcement from WHEN. Pro-Tip: Cloak, THEN scan. Recently while scanning, two of my corp-mates cornered a day-tripping scanner in a nearby class 1 wormhole and sent him home, express postage paid. Even in a Tech 1 frigate, fit a cloak if you are going to be scanning. Additionally keep your eyes peeled and on the d-scan. Your first sign of danger shouldn’t be the sound of ammunition pummelling into your hull!

The Wormhole Engineers have done a fabulous job of clearing out the anomalies and signatures in our home system. The standard mode of operations is:

  1. Scan out the static exit.
  2. See how deep the rabbit hole goes.
  3. Prioritise the resources located.
  4. Secure the area.
  5. Collect as much as feasible given personnel, skills and equipment.

Numbers one and two happen almost automatically now. It’s become an engrained response to the place we choose to live. Number 3 is somewhat amorphous and can change dynamically [It's the nature of priorities.]. Number 4 can be difficult as there are times when we can easily tell we are out-matched and our best course of action is closing the w’hole as quickly as possible. Sometimes number 4 involves shooting other ships, as was seen in the recent expedition into the nearby class 1. In addition to the uncloaked, and possibly AFK scanner, a salvage-Stabber was chased down and shown the door.

Second, a Public Service Announcement from WHEN. Pro-Tip: Don’t leave a salvager behind to clean up. Especially don’t leave a salvager behind to clean up when:

  • A Corp-mate just got podded,
  • the wormhole you came in through is end-of-life,
  • The poor salvager doesn’t have a probe launcher fit,
  • The straggler doesn’t have bookmarks for the other w’holes in the system.

Having done all this, we eschew the neighbouring class 4 system with its relative dearth of anomalies and sites to pursue the cheap candy covered thrills of the class 1 conveniently left behind by the previous, unfortunate visitors. A few minutes are spent debating the relative merits/demerits/benefits/challenges of flying various fleets to best capitalise on the class one in the most efficient manner. In the end, efficiency really becomes less of a concern when dealing with things that can be handled solo. We each hop into our preferred ships and head off to clean up the Sleeper detritus infecting said system.

With the static highsec exit left unscanned/warped, we are able to work in relative safety. Our motley crew ends up being a heavy missile Drake sporting siege warfare links, a heavy assault missile Drake equipped to both hack and analyse [2 magnetometric sites and 1 radar site present] and an Ishtar we half-jokingly refer to as the Salva-Tar for it’s ability to clean up the wrecks as we go along. After a few quick moments we realise that we are not only overkill for a class 1, we are way over tanked as a fleet and begin to split up. Salva-Tar goes back and grabs a specialised salvage boat,the HML drake goes on to the next site and hack Drake finished up on the cans. Joining the HML, the hack-Drake helps make short work of site two and the scenario is repeated for site three. All-in-all, the Drake really proved itself as a wonderful jack of all trades for cleaning up a class 1 wormhole.

In the end, the spoils were average for a class 1, and seemingly low in comparison to doing the same sites in our home class 4, but the evening was in reality a resounding success. We tracked down and killed two defenceless carebears, avoided reprisal, ran several combat sites that were quite beneath our level and left with all of the candy. It was good to feel confident, in control and powerful – if only for a moment. I know that soon we’ll be podded by bigger boys in badder boats and ganked by girls with guns.

April 10th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Category: combat, Corporate, exploration, learning, pve, pvp, wormhole | One comment