Wormholes

Hello everyone,

I run a small (50) man Indy/PvP corporation. We mine most of the minerals we need for our T1 production lines. However, our area of space is starved for Isogen and we still have to buy the "big two" off the market: Megacyte and Zydrine.

I recently trained up my scanner skills in order to find Gravimetric sites containing Omber. We were getting tired of buying and hauling Isogen around, and with Hulkageddon on we want to do most of our mining in Gravimetric sites for that extra bit of safety. I was very pleased to notice that many of the sites I scanned also contained Jaspet. So, that's a little bit less Zydrine we have to buy off the market.

Another point of interest was the dozens and dozens of wormholes I scanned. Most were K162's. On an impulse I entered the wormhole, thinking I would be trapped on the other side until I scanned an exit - but I was surprise to see that the wormhole was still open behind me. So now I know these are two-way doors. And this got me thinking:

We are a small Industrial operation. Our mineral requirements are not excessively high at the moment, and we have a strong mining group that flies Covetors and Retreivers. Would it be possible/worth it for us to bring in some Covetors and an Iteron V (no way I'm bringing in our Orca!) to a C1 to mine up some of the ABC ores? I understand these ores are huge and we would need to make frequent trips, but there's many WH's in our homesystem and we have perfect refining at HQ. Plus we don't have the capital to put up a POS at the moment.

My plan would be: Scan the site. Clear the sleepers. Mine the ore, with the Itty hauling back and forth.

Thanks for any input!

Yes it is possible.

Ninja mining in WH space is uber dangerous (I loved it when they would come into our WH though)

One option if you wanted to make this a more common OP, would be to find a WH corp/alliance to join or pair up with. One that would let you come in and mine. It would be much safer and potentially you could setup a POS inside which would make logistics easier.

First of all YOU WILL DIE A HORRIBLE DEATH!!!!

Now that is out:

1) Check if WH is empty, scan if there is more than one WH (usually is)
2) Set-up a medium tower (Amarr or Minmatar) with hardeners, CHA, SMA and some guns, you could probably setup a small one (BUT YOU WILL DIE)
3) Grav sites are HUGE, you could have 8 hulks/covetors, ORCA support plus 2 haulers (Mark V or fully trained Mammoths), mine for over 10 hrs and barely put a dent to the site.
4) Reduce mass of all of all WH so you can have at least 16hrs of uninterrupted mining, if new WH appear repeat process.
5) Continue mining or stay overnight and repeat, Grav sites stay for several days.
6) Scan your way out or stay, if you get out move all ore to HS station for freighter pickup, take down your tower and enjoy your ABC's

Trib

PS YOU WILL DIE!!!

As was said... you will probably die. But if you want to try it....

Do your homework to learn how wormholes work. Especially statics. The fact that you didn't know they are 2-way connections says that you have a LOT of learning to do -- not a bad thing, just make sure you do it. Learn about scouting and think about how you will protect yourself from all us bad guys that want to make you go boom. Tip... having combat ships as "protection" ain't gonna do it. But we will be very happy to see you try it.

As for going into a C1 system, you won't take anything bigger than a retriever in there. No Covetor, Hulk, Orca. They can't pass through the wormhole due to mass restriction. Retrievers and haulers (Iteron, etc) only.

Sleeper rats spawn only once per site. if I remember right, about 15 minutes after you enter the site. You can warp a ship in to start that timer and then leave (might want to make it a combat ship in case someone else spawned the rats without killing them). Come back a little while later and the sleepers will be there for you to kill. After that you can mine without worrying about rats.

As was mentioned, you will likely never mine out a site unless yu have a large group of miners (yum... more targets! ). So at least be smart and mine the ABC stuff first. I find it hilarious when I see someone mining Omber in w-space while ABC rocks are sitting next to them. And yes... I have seen it recently.

Mining in wormholes does not equate to instant death, as some would have you believe, but it is dangerous. You need to know what you're doing, and be vigilant. The biggest problem I see is that you'd be a day tripper without a POS to run to, in which case any organized group could trap you in there and hunt you down.

If you need these minerals, it's probably worth trying to set up a POS in your own hole. Just consider how badly it would hurt if you lost everything in there, because one day you might.

I would recommend you try and find another corp that has wormhole ops, and form/join their alliance. There are plenty out there, that aren't really into mining, so it shouldn't be too difficult finding one that might be willing to take you guys on. It'll be alot less headaches if you just set up shop in a wh with a pos (doesn't have to be a large, if its already populated with blues, and their POS's. Stay away from C1, I don't think it would be worth it for a corp of your size. C2 and larger, so you can fit some larger ships in there. You also of course, don't have to commit your entire corp to the venture, but once you get a handle on wormhole mechanics and how to make operations alot safer, you can mine mine mine. There just is a ton of mining to be done when a grav site appears. And there are wormholes with multiple grav sites that have never been touched.

Ideally you should find a c3 or c4 and set aup a LARGE pos with the classic defensive setup of guns and whatever else.Make it your homebase permenantly. Aso make sure the WH you get has a static c1-c3. Ideally you can clear your own sleeper sites and mine your own system and also take smaller ships into the staticks for anomolies or gravs.

Id reccomend NOT entering a wormhole for pure industry though. the sleeper loot brings in great cash and even a drake or two can finish c3 sites.

I used to live in a C3 with a static hisec (only) and it was perfect for mining. We got everything including Mercoxit. If you get the right static exit type (B274 is a good one) then you can run an orca in and out all day.

The idea of getting together with other mining corps to grab a WH is a good idea. Maybe hire one of the alliances in this forum to help clear out your dream system!

Ninja-mining w-space is possible but it’s difficult, dangerous, and inefficient. It was a lot of fun when we’d just started and were adventuring out into w-space … lots of losses, lots learnt, and not an awful lot actually mined.

Resident-mining in w-space is not without risk but, with care, can be undertaken with pretty high levels of safety. I’ve posted elsewhere suggesting that it can be as safe, or safer, than hisec mining … and is way more profitable. Managing your WHs, scouts, probes, DS, etc are all part of the safer mining effort.

I think there’s great merit in the suggestion that you try team-up with a gang already resident in w-space. You will probably find a lot of ppl would welcome a mining gang. Even though I’ve done a lot of mining, in empire and w-space, I tend not to mine my w-systems anymore … so you’d have been welcome as lodgers in any of my systems.

What class of WH? If you’re teaming up with a gang then it’d be worthwhile going as high as you’re comfortable … more and better ore, as well as better gas if you branch out in that direction. C1s usually have great hisec access, but not great for bringing exhumers in … either use T1 barges or build in-system. C2, usually good hisec access if you want, and can bring exhumers in. C3, good stuff … decent hisec access even if system does not have hisec static (de novo and K162s), good ore, and decent gas. C4, C5, & C6 … not great hisec access, especially for the new w-space dwellers, but ore and gas better again.

Hisec statics are a mixed blessing. They make for great hisec logistics access, but also increase the likelihood of day-trippers coming to visit and try to gank you, or camp and hassle you over time.