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WH exploration?
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Alex Erbe
Couger Habitat
#1 - 2011-11-10 19:41:43 UTC
I am a mission runner, thinking of getting into WH exploration. I usually run missions solo, is it a good idea of bad to go into WH's solo?

thanx
Noir Nana
Say No To Corps
#2 - 2011-11-10 19:54:29 UTC
Well, C1 and C2 WHs are pretty easy to solo if you know what you are doing. C3 could also be done, but gets trickier. C4 and up would require a fleet.

Also, certain WHs have different effects to them, so you might need to modify your fits accordingly.
mxzf
Shovel Bros
#3 - 2011-11-10 19:54:52 UTC
C1 and C2 WHs you can do solo in most omni-tanked BCs. C3 you can do in a T3 or very slowly in a heavy-tank Drake, C4 you either need a Tengu or friends, C5+ you need a fleet.

Here's a nice simple and cheap Drake fit that I always recommend to people, it'll handle C1-2 WHs fine, and a pair of them should do fine in a C3.

[Drake, Cheap WH Drake]
Damage Control II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II

Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Y-S8 Hydrocarbon I Afterburners
Invulnerability Field II
Photon Scattering Field II
Invulnerability Field II

Advanced 'Limos' Heavy Missile Bay I, Scourge Heavy Missile
Advanced 'Limos' Heavy Missile Bay I, Scourge Heavy Missile
Advanced 'Limos' Heavy Missile Bay I, Scourge Heavy Missile
Advanced 'Limos' Heavy Missile Bay I, Scourge Heavy Missile
Advanced 'Limos' Heavy Missile Bay I, Scourge Heavy Missile
Advanced 'Limos' Heavy Missile Bay I, Scourge Heavy Missile
Salvager I
Core Probe Launcher I, Sisters Core Scanner Probe I

Medium Core Defence Field Purger I
Medium Core Defence Field Purger I
Medium Core Defence Field Purger I

Warrior I x5
Kyros Xero
Xuronautics
#4 - 2011-11-10 19:56:37 UTC
Class 1 sites are very doable for a single Battlecruiser.

For "solo" work, it does help a lot if you have a second account that can salvage, or at least sit on the entrance wormhole to listen for incoming ships. It is suboptimal for a single pilot to swap ships through the wormhole every few sites and salvage like you might for missions, and it increases your risk, but it is possible to still make money doing that if you're careful.

POS Layered Defenses: "Panic" mode and defense-automation arrays
Orlacc
#5 - 2011-11-10 20:00:27 UTC
A Hurricane or Drake are more than enough for C1 and C2. The main thing to remember, is never go in without a probe launcher.

"Measure Twice, Cut Once."
Caleidascope
Republic Military School
Minmatar Republic
#6 - 2011-11-10 21:14:18 UTC
For pve you will want: core probe launcher, cloaking device, salvager. There goes your 3 high slots. The rest are guns or missiles.

You can do C1 in t1 fitted Drake.

Watch out for gankers and local wh residents. Cloak to hide from them.

Life is short and dinner time is chancy

Eat dessert first!
Arik VanClaw
The Emet Corporation
#7 - 2011-11-10 21:46:19 UTC
Wormholes are awesome. If you are running missions you'll make more continuing to do that than soloing C1-C2 wormholes.

I would advise you to join a WH corp, you'll make tons more isk, learn a crap ton of stuff about the mechanics from the other members, great PVP opportunity and most importantly the safety that comes from having others to watch your back and a friendly POS to base from.

However, if you are a solo player, or isk/hr is your main barometer by which you measure your success, you won't enjoy wormholes. The big isk can only be made in groups and it comes in huge chunks as opposed to steady streams over hours of play. WH corp members also need a high level of initiative to do things for the corp, whether it be scanning out sigs, hauling fuel/provisions in from k-space, helping close hostile wormholes etc... If you only log in to join ops already running you won't last very long. Be the one to start the op, not the one to join in the middle and leave early, nobody likes that person.

If you want to give it a shot I'll point you to our recruitment thread. Drop by our public channel and ask questions of the members to see if it's right for you.
Substantia Nigra
Polaris Rising
Goonswarm Federation
#8 - 2011-11-10 21:53:42 UTC
The advice above is all on-the-ball.

A solo player, in the context of one character, should have little difficulty running the sites offered by class 1 w-systems. A decent battlecruiser should be able to clear them without great difficulty. Once cleared, however, you're faced with the issue of recovering the goodies. That, in the least, requires looting the wrecks ... which is easy enough in the combat ship you used to convert the sleepers into wrecks. If you also want to salvage (which is highly recommended in sleeper sites) you will need to either have dedicated hi-slots in your combat ship, or to employ an additional ship. If you also want to access the cans offered in mag / radar sites then you're either using up additional mid-slots or more ships.

Couple this with the need to be able to probe scan to find the w-systems and, should the need arise, to get out again after the access wormhole has unexpectedly collapsed, you are faced with the eternal dilemma of trying to build a do-everything (or at least everything you want) ship or running multiple ships and possibly multiple toons for that purpose.

So, a single decent DPS ship (BC or above, and probably cruisers with care) should be able to relatively easily clear anything a class 1 w-system spawns. Similarly class 2 sites, which are tougher and more rewarding, can be solo-cleared by a drake (hurricane sort of) or better. Class 3 sites can also be soloed but not without decent skills / ship ... possible in a good drake but very slow, better in a BS or tengu. Class 4 sites can also be soloed, but it's not quick and it's not pretty ... good tengu in C4 is a bit like a good drake in C3, possible but slow.

Different people approach these matters in different ways. The approach I took was 'semi-solo' where I used alts to provide the various specialty needs - probe scanning, DPS, recovery of goodies. That way I could focus the specialty skill training needs and not run too many compromises on those ships.
Of course that's not attractive to everyone, and others use multi-purpose ships or run with buddies. There are lots of ways to skin a wormhole.

I guess I am almost a 'vet' by now. Hopefully not too bitter and managing to help more than I hinder. I build and sell many things, including large collections of bookmarks.
Substantia Nigra
Polaris Rising
Goonswarm Federation
#9 - 2011-11-10 22:22:08 UTC
p.s. Income-wise a semi-solo resident w-space player (as opposed to roaming and working a series of w-systems) can make quite a reasonable income. It requires effort and dedication, and the occasional 'ooops' when you mess something up, but I was gathering over 1B per week, every week, from my solo C3. I was a little surprised that I could not make quite as much from my solo C4, but that seemed mainly to be a reflection of less sites spawning in C4 than C3. Some ppl will deride that amount but for me 1B+ per week was, and is, a bundle of isk, and it left me with tens-of-billions-of-isk to retire from my w-space efforts when I decided to try something else.

I started with a C2, absolutely solo. Then I upgraded to semi-solo in that C2 while I rapidly learned the ropes of w-space ... and lost some ships in the process. After finding the C2 too easy I moved to a C3 and ran it semi-solo for a while ... and lost some ships in the process. A buddy joined me in the C3 and we worked that system together for a while before I moved on up to a semi-solo C4. I ran the C4 for a while then sold the system and moved on to try some of the other things eve has to offer.
In each system I restricted my harvesting to the system I 'held' and it generally provided enough to keep me going. There were quiet spells and there were times when I deliberately spawned sites to let them decay and thus reduce the number of sites in-system ... and make it less attractive a target for raiding neighbours. Overall, though, there was always something to do and the income was pretty good.

The previous poster (Arik) refers to C5 resident corp raiding static-WH-linked C5s. That is an entirely different approach to w-space to mine, and it does require well organised groups with decent skills and numbers. I'm not sure whether the per-player income of that sort of operation exceeds my solo C3/C4 income on a regular and reliable basis ... but I am confident that they are both way better than I could have earned running hisec lvl4 missions. W-space is also a whole lot more fun and, because it really is so different, there is just so much new stuff to learn in there.

Go for it, however attracts you, and enjoy.

I guess I am almost a 'vet' by now. Hopefully not too bitter and managing to help more than I hinder. I build and sell many things, including large collections of bookmarks.
Luh Windan
green fish hat bang bang
#10 - 2011-11-11 11:51:32 UTC  |  Edited by: Luh Windan
Some great advice here and I can confirm solo WH is great fun.

Another top tip: don't forget to bookmark the exit when you come in!

I found this the other day which is also really helpful: http://sleeplessinspace.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-to-directional-scanner.html - some interesting lessons on the mechanics of d-scan in a 'hole

and lastly but not least - don't be scared of running off it things are going badly. Sometimes I've found my self overwhelmed due to bad choices, bad fit or whatever. It's better to grab the little you can and run that have to buy a new ship and start over.

Oh and boring as Drakes can be they do seem to cope better with the sleepers than any of my 'cane fits have.