Wormholes

When I first moved into this wormhole last week, I ran a data site, killed all NPCs, and did not attempt to access the cans. When finished, I bookmarked a wreck, warped off, came back and worked the cans. No problems!

In the last 2 days I have run 3 sites, and each time once I warped my combat ship off the cans despawned. I made no attempts to hack yet, but they still despawned.

So my question: short of equipping a hacking module on my combat ship, or putting an alt on grid to hold it, what are my options here? Am I doing something wrong? Why aren't the cans staying? I understand punishing players for warping off early, since if they can't handle the site they don't need to be there. What I don't understand is why after clearing all the sleepers I can't warp off and come back in a more appropriate ship for the task of hacking.

Am I encountering a bug, or is this working as expected?

Actually it is once no one is visible on grid. If you are cloaked up on grid they will despawn as well.

Actually, let me describe my full experience, because it is not always consistent with the explanations I've heard.

I've run plenty of hack/arch sites in my C1 wormhole. I usually have to warp off to my POS and repair once, maybe twice before I clear all of the waves. Once clear, I send in my scanner alt to do the cans. I've never had a site despawn on me.

Sometimes I'll attempt to run an archeology cite in a neighboring C2 WH if the opportunity arises. I'll usually have to warp back to my WH and repair 2x maybe 3x before I've cleared the site. I'm usually away repairing for a bit longer than 2 minutes each time and the site does not despawn. But once I'm down to the fourth and final wave, I might have to warp back to my system for another repair. When I return to finish off that final wave, the entire site has despawned (again, this never happens in my home C1 system).

I read a similar thread on this topic and one of the posters who lives in a C2 WH said that his corp will often kill all of the waves in a hack site and then leave the cans (as bait). When they do this, the site will often remain for 3 days without despawning.

Potential explanations:

1. C2 despawn triggers are more strict than C1. (But that doesn't explain why that other corp routinely clears all the waves in thier home C2 site and it persists for days as long as they don't touch the cans).
2. Leaving the grid triggers despawn. (But I often leave grid for >2 minutes in my own system to repair and it doesn't despawn. I also leave grid and system for C2 sites and again, it doesn't despawn until the last wave)
3. Leaving the system triggers a despawn. (I will often leave the system a couple times to repair for > 2 minutes, and it is fine. It's only on the final wave that this happens).
4. Triggering the final wave triggers a despawn timer? (Not consistent with the C2 corp whose hack sites persist for days)


Really, the only explanation that is consistent with all of the observations would be: triggering the final wave AND leaving the WH system for > 2 minutes. But that seems really specific and is only speculation.

I make a point of spawning the sites of douche canoes I come across. Because screw data sites in particular.

^This is how I always thought it worked (and is how it seems to work on all the sites in my C1). But the premature despawn I get in neighboring C2 cites has been consistent. For the record, it is usually a Forgotten Perimeter Habitation Coil (the name is something like that).


^This would be consistent with what I experienced in those C2 sites...but not consistent with what I've experienced in my home sites and not consistent with what others such as Blodhgarm have experienced in their home sites.

Easy fix: Abandon a shuttle 250k from sleepers. Then come and go as you please. Site will remain till you touch a can.