Wormholes

This list has been compiled based off of questions that are regularly asked on the forums, as well as additions that are seen below my three reserved posts. Please read through the whole thread if you want to see some of the original answers; I have tuned some of them for readability and/or actual truthiness (that's totally a word!).

FAQ of the Wormhole Space Subforum

Q: The wormhole I came in is gone, what do I do?
A: Breathe. First, do you have probes? Do you know what the static of the system is? If you have probes, check a site and put in the J-ID of the system you are in. If it is a low or high-sec static, you have a decent chance of getting out okay. If it is a null, C4, C5, or C6 static, it's going to be a pain in the ass to get out of. If it doesn't seem worth the trouble and your clone isn't too expensive, self-destruct your ship and your pod.

Q: What are some good resources for a beginning explorer?
A: The following websites are all hugely helpful to beginning wormhole explorers.
MUST HAVES:
www.staticmapper.com (Navigation, not always accurate on statics, but easy to read)
wh.pasta.gg (Navigation, Intel, Replacement for wormhol.es)
http://eve-survival.org/wikka.php?wakka=WormholeSpace (guide to every site, C1-C6)
Good Resources:
https://tripwire.cloud-things.com/ (wormhole mapping with logins)
http://www.wormholefundamentals.com/ (blog series with some video support)

Q: Have nanoribbon drop rates been nerfed?
A: No. Random chance means that every ship in a site has a chance to drop from 0-5 nanoribbons, which means in some cases you can be extraordinarily lucky and get 40 ribbons from a single C1 site, or none from a C4 site.

Q: Why aren't there wandering wormholes in C4s, C5s, C6s, and why do I have two of the same static in my C1-C3?
A: There are no wandering wormholes in C4-C6 because it is a design choice by CCP at this point. They've known long enough that the wormholes are not spawning that it has to be choice. Please note that High, Low, and Null still spawn in C5 and C6. You do not actually have two of the same static, one is a wandering wormhole. As reported in thread, your static will be independent of the wandering wormhole. If it dies, your new static will pop immediately.

Q: Okay, what's a static? What's a wandering?
A: Every wormhole in the game has what has become called a "static" wormhole type. That means that any wormhole in the game will always have at LEAST one wormhole of a specific type generated from its side leading out to a random system of the appropriate type. The type of wormholes vary (C1-C3 can have a null/high/low, C2s can have C1-C6 in addition to this). C4s-C6s only static into other wormholes (C1-C6) but C5s and C6s can get wanderings to and from known space.

Wanderings (sometimes called non-statics, randoms) are wormholes that are generated from the side you are on, but are not a static wormhole. For example, a C2 could have a B274 (high-sec) and a Y683 (C4) as statics. It could also have a wandering D382 that had spawned in the system, and would not re-appear after it died. The B274 and the Y683 will reappear after they die from time or mass within 60 seconds.

Q: What fit do I need for C1-C6 wormhole and what ships should I fly?
A: Generally speaking you want something that can shoot out at least to 20km in C1-C3s for ease of purpose. C4s-C6s you need something that can shoot from 20-100km for the sub-cap side of things.
Damage Output Needed / Damage Tank Needed
C1: 100-200 DPS, 100-200 DPS tank
C2: 200-300 DPS, 300-400 DPS tank
C3: 400+ DPS, 500 DPS tank (sleepers can neut you out)
C4: 800+ DPS (more preferable), 1500 peak DPS tank (sleepers can neut you out, some will point/web)
C5 (non-escalation): 2000+ DPS, 2000-2500 peak DPS tank (Sleepers are evil neuters, many will point/web as well)
C6 (non-escalation): 2000+ DPS, 3500+ peak DPS tank.
C5-C6 Escalation: About 500 DPS tank per battleship, waves of 6-8. Carriers + BS or Dreads for DPS.


Q: How many people should I have in my class of wormhole?
A: It varies depending on what you want to do. Industry-wise a Wormhole can support about 15-20 pilots a week. As you approach C4s, C5s, and C6s, that number increases to 30-40 pilots per week due to increased grav/ladar spawn rates. At any time though, you may find your system has run out of resources and you will have to farm through your static. Below you will find my recommended number of pilots per combat site sorted by wormhole class; please note that the high-end numbers are often pushing the limits of your resources (i.e. you will run out of sites quickly).
Combat Sites:
C1: 1-5 pilots
C2: 1-7 pilots
C3: 1-7 pilots
C4: 3-10 pilots (CAN be solo/duo'd, just not worth it imo)
C5: 5-15 pilots (Capitals/Tengus dominate the lower end of this)
C6: 5-20+ pilots (Capitals/Tengus dominate the lower end of this)

Q: Can I solo/duo C4s; is it worth it over C3s?
A: Yes, you can solo or duo C4s. No, it will not be much more money than C3s and it will be more difficult and take a more expensive ship to do. It will be a LOT safer due to reduced traffic to C4s. After the changes in Phoebe, C4 rats remote rep again making it very hard to solo.

Q: Can my Tech 3 ship (Proteus, Legion, Tengu, Loki) solo C3 sites?
A: Yes, any T3 can be properly fitted to solo C3 sites. See the above requirements.

Q: There's a dead tower here, can I unanchor it (or its stuff)?
A: Unfortunately, dead towers are currently only removable by blowing them up or getting the original corp to unanchor them. This is how the concept of "moon blocking" works (the placing of towers onto moons solely for the purpose of preventing the anchoring of another tower). If the dead tower you are looking at has a bunch of mods around it, you can blow the tower up and then unanchor all the mods around it (saving you some time and earning some ISK potentially).

[credit to Tarunik Ragalth'Qui for the next 2 questions, corrected for accuracy]

Q: It says that I'm polarized! Now what?
A: If you try to go through the same wormhole more than twice in a 5 minute span you will be 'polarized' and prohibited from making that jump. If you aren't in the middle of a fight, just take a few deep breaths and try again in a few minutes. If you get this when fighting on a wormhole though, the polarity timer in W-space combat serves the function that gate and station aggression (weapon) timers do in known-space PvP. In other words, you're likely screwed unless you can shake your tacklers and warp off or cloak before they target you.

Q: What, did someone just launch a bomb at me? / Q: What is this, a bubble?!! In my site/on my static?
A: Wormholes are just as 'nullsec-y' as null security known space, so bombs and all types of bubbles are fair game. The only things you can't do in one are jump ships through that exceed wormhole mass limits (although you can build larger ships inside the wormhole), jump clone into/out of one, use a capital's jump drive to move between systems, or claim sovereignty (CONCORD Says No!).

Q: Is it safe for me to move into a C5?
A: Probably. C5s are not as nearly dangerous as the forums can lead you to believe. The big thing you will notice is more large gangs roaming through your wormhole than in C2s or C3s, but if you don't leave capital ships floating in your tower they will probably not spare you a second glance unless you are online in ships. Hunting in wormhole space is a numbers game; if they don't see anything to shoot and your wormhole doesn't offer a good route to high-sec, they're just going to roll their static. That being said, if they do see you consistently, and you never fight them, you may **** them off enough to torch one of your towers next time they see you.

Q: If I don't fight people will they torch my tower?
A: That really depends on a lot of circumstances. Generally speaking, if you have similar numbers and are able to fight a group of pilots, you should try to generate some content and fight them. By no means should you throw away expensive ships to avoid getting your tower burned down. If you're uncomfortable with PVP, get some cheap Battlecruisers and T1 Logistics cruisers and just brawl with some guys. If you start getting good you'll take down one of their T3s and win the fight on ISK, and maybe have some fun with it. If you don't talk trash in local and are generally respectful (calling GF in local) you'll probably be fine. Nobody says you have to fight fair; if it's not a pre-arranged fight use whatever resources you have available. But using overkill (i.e. dropping multiple capitals on a sub-cap fleet with equal numbers) is a good way to annoy people who are trying to get fights.

Q: I want to earn mad ISKies, can I move into a C6 for the best money?
A: You probably don't want to. There are only 113 C6 class systems in the game. For comparison, there are 2498 total Anoikis systems; 348 C1s, 525 C2s, 495 C3s, 505 C4s, and 512 C5s. Just because you find an empty C6 does not mean that it is safe to farm there. Because there are so few C6s, and numerous wormholes with C6 statics, it is comparatively easy to find a C6 wormhole that you are looking for. This means that mostly large alliances who can deal with frequent incoming PVP live in C6s, and the people who hunt through a C6 static are the kind of people who regularly have large numbers of pilots ready to murder you. You're better off finding one of the hundreds of empty C5 systems (usually C5/C5 static).

Q: How do I protect my members assets?
A: There are 3 levels of POS security that are currently available, in addition to a different layer. The "different" layer is the use of POS passwords. Using this, you can guarantee the security of "squads" of pilots or individual pilots. Recently I was informed that you keep your POS password across systems/logins now, so its an excellent way to protect assets. Next, you can set the access level of Corporate Hangar Arrays (CHAs) and Ship Maintenance Arrays (SMAs) using the management window at your tower. There are 4 levels; Alliance, Corporation, Starbase Fuel Manager, and Configure Starbase Equipment. This allows you to stratify access while keeping your POS shields open to your corporation/alliance. Starbase Fuel Manager is a relatively safe role to give out; it lets them drop fuel into the fuel bay, but not take it out. Depending on your access settings in a tower, it can also allow them to unanchor/offline mods. Config Starbase Equipment allows them to do ANYTHING to a tower (i.e. change the password, offline the shields, remove fuel/stront) and therefore should only be given to trusted members (directors inherit this role automatically). So stratify your members into these 3 groups; Corporation is everybody, Starbase Fuel is your veteran/trusted members, and Config Starbase is your directors typically.

Q: How do Mobile Depots impact WH Space?
A: Short Answer: They can be launched/picked up by dreads/carriers in siege/triage, they are small so they should be in any T3 without a fitted probe launcher along with spare fittings to bail them out if they get trapped somewhere (probe launcher).

Don't mind me, just following this thread.

/popcorn

1. If you have an "extra static" (actually a random) in your C1-C3, and your static despawns (due to time or mass) then it *does* immediately respawn. No need for the random one to despawn first.

2. Back in early 2012 my corp ran C1 sites with Tengus/Legions and our typical isk/hr was around 75 mil per pilot (3-6 pilots). Very dependent on the nano drop, of course. Average was about 2 per site, ranging from 0 to 13 for us.

Hey Jack,

Thanks for the clarification. Is that at both the escalation levels and the normal dinking around level?

Svo.

the escalation levels are the same in c5 and 6. but with most c6 sites you start with a lot of battleships already on the field.

as for income, quad escalations make about 700m per site, and should take about 2 siege cycles (10 minutes. so thats about 4b an hour give or take.

Some additions and changes have been made thanks to new questions on the forums and responses here in the post. Please continue to provide any constructive feedback. Again, this is meant as a newbie's guide, I'm not trying to give away all our dirty hunting secrets :p

Svo.

Q: I'm in a C2, and there are two statics to other wormholes!
A: This happens every now and again. One of them will be the actual W-space static. The other will be a wandering outbound wormhole. Enjoy the extra connection!


Q: It says that I'm polarized! Now what?
A: If you try to go through the same wormhole, in the same direction, twice in a four minute span (some say its five, but four is the more common figure), you will be 'polarized' and prohibited from making that second jump. If you aren't in the middle of a fight, just take a few deep breaths and try again in a few minutes. If you get this when fighting on a wormhole though, the polarity timer in W-space combat serves the function that gate and station aggression (weapon) timers do in known-space PvP. In other words, you're likely screwed unless you can shake your tacklers and warp off.


Q: What, did someone just launch a bomb at me? / Q: What is this, a bubble?!! In my site/on my static?
A: Wormholes are just as 'nullsec-y' as null security known space, so bombs and all types of bubbles are fair game. The only things you can't do in one are jump ships through that exceed wormhole mass limits (although you can build larger ships inside the wormhole), jump clone into/out of one, use a capital's jump drive to move between systems, or claim sovereignty (CONCORD Says No!).

Very nice. +1

Can we get this sticky ? It should be sticky. Sticky this plox.