Wormholes

It happens a fair amount. The kicker is that there is a variance in total mass. So that Critical window can move. A wormhole won't always have that 2bn kg mass that you read about for instance.

Also beware of time limits. they vary too, and ive seen people try and collapse a hole that was overdue closing naturally. Let's say, that ended badly...

I do and I understand the variability of WH mass. I'm more just curious about how often it happens to others - if at all.

There's a 10% mass variance for wormholes. The "oops" you experience is when the wormhole is 10% smaller than you expected. The best way to counter this is to have something big go out the final time and have used up ~85% of the wormhole's predicted mass including the out jump of that big ship. Then jump the big ship back in as heavy as you can to overkill the hole enough that even if its 110% of normal mass, it collapses.

If you get it wrong, finesse close it with a collapsing HIC as listed elsewhere in this forum.

what graw says is correct shouldnt ever happen but then there is ccp. we've had wh close with way less mass going through than should, we've had loads of wh's say different things depending on what side the wh your on (one side says its mid other says its crit). we've even seen wh's that let 4 caps and a fair sized support fleet through (30man), even have taht on video.

while it shouldnt happen stuff does go wrong (normally after patches mind)

The C1s are still straightforward, just painfully tedious.

This ^^. I lived in WHs for years, and rarely ever did one collapse when I did not intend for it too, and WHEN IT DID COLLAPSE, I rechecked my math, and always found out I had "Ralled it up" as my corp members used to say. There is a real science to collapsing wormholes as they have clearly defined rules that are no secret.

What you're experiencing is probably not all these other noobie mistakes that people are pointing out.

You're probably checking for small, standard, and large holes (at the 50% mass and again at the 90% mass). The problem is that if you overshoot these by 50 million mass both times, you run the risk of trapping a battleship on the wrong side of the hole after the 90% mass.

We typically check at just about 900, 1000, and then 1100. Sometimes we'll use armor tech 3s to fine tune the mass so we can make sure we get it perfectly right. So you've got your range of "expected" masses: 1800, 2000, 2200 and anywhere in between. Double wherever you massed at exactly (lets say 987). Chances are it is somewhere between 900 and 987, giving you 87 mass variance, but lets say your expected total mass is 1974, you would therefore expect a 90% massdown at the latest by 1776.6 mass. If it happens before then, recalculate your mass. So you're jumping along, and you get your critical mass at 1650. Oops, your initial battleship over-shot your estimate, your mass total is now somewhere between 1800 and 1833 (variance of 33). You would jump a single battleship through prop off, and prop on return to crush (because you can't possibly crush it with a mass under 1800 if you have had full control of the hole).


Alternatively you could jump a 100mn hictor through to check for a mid point mass down (950ish and 1050ish). The point is that you want to get as close to your mass down points as possible, and 100mn battleships tend to smash through them like a bull in a china shop. By overshooting even 50 mil on the low end, you could end up with an early mass down. If something doesn't mass down when you expect it to (say you jump a 100mn armageddon through and it's supposed to mass but it doesn't) DO NOT jump it back right away unless you're expecting combat. Run a couple T3s or battlecruisers through until you get your 90% mass down, and then if that's close enough for 155 mass to close it, THEN bring your battleship back.



TLDR; Don't overshoot your mass by using purely battleships or feeling you need to use prop on every time. Also, don't assume you've had perfect control of your hole if it's the first one you're crushing of the day; somebody could have gone through it.


Svodola Darkfury.

I haven't found the 2B mass holes to be that bad. Certainly i guess if you are used to the Cap sized holes they are no fun. And we don't get nearly as picky as Svo describes.

On a fresh static it's generally 3 Orcas (which gets you to ~200mil kg) then 2-3 100mn HIC's. Takes maybe 7 min total depending on how many pilots are online. And you get the Orca jumps right away so they are relatively safe.

Unknown statics are different. Both in you don't know the mass, nor do you know who might be waiting to jump a juicy orca. So we will employ different methods for that. Maybe will take a few minutes longer but if it goes south its a better chance of a GF then just a gank.

I have been seeing wierd things recently with the 50% shrink. I roll our 2M holes with 4 Orca trips.

The first trip with two Orcas they have mwd off, which means that if the wh shrinks, total mass is 1,800,000,000->2,000,000,000kg. If it doesn't shrink, its 2,000,000,000->2,200,000,000.

In the former, I just keep the mwd off until the last trip in, making the total jumped mass 2,050,000,000 after the final jump, and 1,750,000,000 before that jump. Perfectly safe and should be no risk.

If it doesn't shrink though, I use mwd on the last three jumps, making total jumped mass 2,150,000,000 and 1,850,000,000 on the second to final jump (then if needed tipped off with a hic).

This is where it has failed me, that jump has actually closed it two times now, where it should not be possible, making it seem like the 50% limit can still vary between 900,000,000 and 1,100,000,000 but not being connected to the total mass. If someone now replies to me with "wh mass can alter" without reading this post I'm jumping out the window :D

Ignore him, hes a giant troll, I jumped out in a HIC with 5 bubbles on once and it ******* collapsed. Making me jump into Exhale's home system and trololol may why out with 4 probes. I ended up selling BMs to their home system in Jita though.