Wormhole Eviction Survival Guide

Eviction -- it's the thing most wormholers dread. In the course of an eviction, every asset you have can be wiped out -- years of work gone in a few days. They often occur without warning and appear unstoppable when they hit you, or at least thats the way it seems. This guide is going to walk you through the eviction process from the perspective of the aggressor. Thinking about evictions like evictors is a good way to properly prepare your hole for a defense and defeat an active eviction attempt. We're going to cover just two things in this guide -- (1) the profile of those who are likely to get evicted and (2) how to defeat an eviction attempt on your home if it does occur. By necessity, this guide will only be covering the very basics.

Who gets evicted?

To answer this question you need to understand the motivations of evictors. There are three kinds of evictions -- evictions for isk, evictions for revenge, and strategic evictions. Profit-oriented evictions are by far the most common, but evictions designed to punish a corp/alliance for some perceived slight are a fairly frequent occurance. Strategic evictions are much rarer and often take the form of 'counter-evictions.' We'll cover each of these so that you can lower your risk profile (or raise it... you do you).

Evictions for profit

When a potential aggressor is assessing a target for profit, the key factor they are considering is isk vs. effort. Considerations include but are not limited to target corp size, wormhole class, and timer settings. We'll start with the easiest kinds of evictions and work up from there.

Low power citadels can be successfully destroyed in a single timer and so are generally the easiest to prosecute. Since the default structure timer is 1800 Sat for low power citadels, it's generally easy for (frankly bored) EUTZ/USTZ corps to ref a citadel on a Friday and mop up the next day. This is very low effort since it requires minimal control of your system's access points and as such can take place in any wormhole class. So long as there are a few dozen people in your corp (ensuring a decent asset drop), it's only a matter of time before an unfueled citadel gets popped. Because the effort required is so low, even smaller citadels like Raitarus are potential targets. Moreover, this kind of 'eviction' only requires a handful of people to pull off. The rule of thumb to avoid being evicted by one person and his alts is to fuel your structures.

Let's say you do the barest minimum and you've fueled your structures. Congrats. For minimally active corps with fueled structures, the evictor's calculation changes slightly. Again this is a generalization, but typical targets tend to be mid-sized corps (50-100 members) with a handful of actives with at least a Fortizar and/or Azbel. The reason for this is now the effort required to reap your assets has gone up and so the evictor requires more people and more effort to accomplish the job. Fueled citadels require three days to kill. For example, if your timer is 1800 Sat, the aggressors need to ref your structure no later than the prior Thursday at 1800. If they are to successfully recover your assets, that means they also need to keep "hole control" by controlling your static connection and rolling any other dynamics that pop up throughout the process, lest they lose their potential prize to another group. That means the asset drop better be worth the time and effort. Fortizars and Azbels make it more likely the asset drop will be worth it.

Because of how demanding hole control can sometimes be (more on that later), a wormhole with a single access static (which you find in C1's and C3's) is more desirable than a dual static hole (c2 and c4) because it requires less effort and fewer people to prosecute. Fewer needed people means fewer pilots on the evictor's team need to be convinced to sit in your empty hole for 3 days doing hole control; and fewer pilots means a greater share of the loot drop for them. Fewer necessary pilots also means relatively smaller groups can evict you, which expands the pool of potential threats to your home. The good news if you live in a C1 or C3 is that when you set your structure timer does actually matter. There are far more USTZ and EUTZ wormhole aggressors, so setting your timers in Russian Time or Aussie TZ might actually reduce the pool of potential threats. Similarly, living in a dual-static hole (c2 or c4) can often dissuade smaller aggressors, again shrinking the pool of potential evictors. Fair warning though, if you set you structures to a tz where your corp is not active, youre essentially counting on luck to hold your hole which is, by and large, a terrible strategy.

For larger, more active corps with multiple fueled structures, the evictor's calculatons again change. Generally speaking, large corps (100-300 members) with less than 10 or so actives are targets owing to potential loot drops well north of 100bil isk. Despite this potential windfall, would-be evictors are very careful to assess their commitment to killing this kind of target. Besides the prospect of multiple timers that exceed the minimal 3 days window, that 10 active, 300 person corp might spring to life if an eviction goes down. Because of this, potential evictors will first typically encounter this potential target on their chain a number of times before they develop its profile as an eviction candidate. Consistently weak pvp skills, avoiding pvp by choosing to stay docked, or attempting to close the connection to pvp'ers all raise the likelihood of eviction. In addition to corp behavior, aggressors thoroughly vet their potential targets for political connections. That corp might have old friends they can batphone, potentially complicating any eviction attempt. Corps which appear to have few active allies are much more attractive than well-connected ones.

Because the potential profit is much higher and the vetting process more thorough, timezone tanking or spreading out structure timers are NOT effective ways to deter profit evictions at this scale. Wormhole class doesn't particularly matter either. Once you are identified as a target, any gaps in manpower and timezone coverage are quickly filled through partnerships with other evicting groups if required. Although the specific number of pilots needed will depend on your capabilities, it's safe to assume any eviction attempt will involve between 40-80 pilots. The good news is that the number of potential aggressors that can pull off this kind of eviction on their own is fairly limited. The bad news is the number of smaller corps that will jump on the bandwagon of your destruction is rather high. That means the number of potential threats is expansive.

Eviction for Revenge

This kind of eviction is straightfoward and will only infrequently apply to your average wormhole corp. Revenge evictions almost always begin with somebody running their mouth or engaging in sustained annoying behavior. It might be your CEO who gets mouthy in another group's pub chat. It might be leaked documents detailing your hatred for some other corp. It might be dropping capital ships in the course of an even fight after you've rolled the enemy fleet into your home sytem. Being annoying/an asshole to another group can come in many forms, but rest assured if you are an asshole for long enough, at the first sign of weakness you're going to get steamrolled. There is no amount of timezone tanking or structure spam that can prevent this from happening.

Strategic Evictions

About the only time this can happen is if you're (1) engaged in an eviction and, in an effort to prevent it, your own home is sieged by allies of your eviction target and (2) if you're connected in some way to a larger group and your eviction is a means to hurt that larger group. There aren't many corps this applies to and they probably don't need a guide on how to beat evictions.

In Summary (TL;DR)

The groups least likely to be casually evicted for profit are small (25-50 member) wormhole corps with at least a couple of actives, living out of a single fueled astra/rait with an off-tz structure timer, and based out of a dual static wormhole (c2 or c4). So long as these corps keep to themselves, they will almost never be evicted. Unfueled assets, very large numbers of inactives, owning (and losing) a great many expensive assets, and being an enormous and consistent asshole all raise the likelihood of eviction by expanding the pool of potential threats. But threat is manageable. What this means is if you're thinking about starting a wormhole corp, it's not evictions that should be your greatest concern -- it's scanning and activity, but that's another guide.

Oh Shit, we're being evicted!!

Ok this is the heart of the guide -- how to defeat an eviction attempt on your home. First of all, don't panic or give up. Evictions can be an incredibly difficult, taxing operation on the invader with a large number of potential failure points. As the defender, your ability to press these failure points and thereby increase eviction difficulty will determine whether or not you lose your home. So what will you need to win? The obvious answer is simply winning the fight on your structure, but the most effective way to defeat an eviction is during the times when your opponent is maintaining hole control. We'll talk about both below.

Winning the Timer

When thinking about overcoming an eviction attempt, most people focus on the actual structure fight, so thats where we'll start. Winning the timer refers to defending your citadel during it's vulnerable phase, either through destroying the attacking fleet while they attack your structure or, failing that, at least reducing enemy fleet dps below the citadel damage threshold. To win the timer, you need a properly fit citadel and a proper defense doctrine. Without these two things nothing else in this guide matters, since in the end it'll probably come down to a fight. Now specific advice will vary depending on who you ask, but generally speaking, if you live in a c4 wormhole class or below, you want to fit your citadel with ANTI-SUBCAP modules supported by application mods such as webs and paints. Neuting and ecm modules are also critical since each of these mods will let you remove one logistics cruiser from the attacking force's fleet. A properly fit Astra on its own can potentially repel a 15 pilot eviction force supported by 3 logistics cruisers. A properly fit Fortizar in low class space can potentially repel a 20-25 pilot eviction fleet supported by up to 5 logistics cruisers. If you live in high class space, you generally want to fit ANTI-CAP weapons since there's nothing more embarassing than getting your shit pushed in by a couple of unsupported dreads that wandered in through your static, but everything else applies as with low class.

It's almost certainly the case, however, that your opponent has already scanned your citadel, knows how it is fit, and has thus come prepared. Citadels are a tremendous force multiplier but their ability to solo fleets are naturally limited. For example, your fortizar can disrupt up to 5 logi, but let's say your opponents brought 12 or 15 guardians (a common number). This is where your defense doctrine comes in. Now here I won't even try to suggest a specific doctrine since opinions will vary wildly. I will however point out that many if not most eviction fleets feature either t3c's such as the legion/loki that stay between 20km-30km in range or machariels that fight from roughly 80-100km. Generally speaking, you want a defense doctrine that has flexible engagement range, good application, and high damage sufficient to punch through the repping power of 6-9 logistics cruisers at both of those ranges. Relying on a single concept for your defense force might be simpler, but at that point you're relying on your opponent not doing their research on your defense fleet -- which is always a terrible idea. This includes cap composition too. Counting on that HAW dreadbomb to save you might work against an eviction force of t3c's, but that fleet will natively struggle against the range and alpha of a Mach fleet. Unfortunately there is no one-sized fits all approach to building a defense fleet. Suffice it to say, however, that you might want to put some thought into it before your home is sieged.

Before we move on, let's just briefly cover numbers. Generally speaking, your attackers need to outnumber you 2-1 before their success is likely. The citadel is such an excellent force multiplier that your opponents will need to bring an extra 6-10 pilots just to neutralize its capabilities. Add to that the fact that defending corps typically have a capital ship advantage, and you get a situation where much smaller forces can have excellent success rates against more numerous opponents. In other words, unless you're extremely outnumbered, don't give up.

Winning during Hole Control

Winning on the timer is straight-forward, but the timer itself is only a small part of the eviction process. When you boil it down to its basics, eviction is a game of attrition. Your opponent is trying to reduce your numbers so their timer fight is easier, and they intend to hold control of all access points to your system to prevent an increase in those numbers by you or your allies. This is much easier said than done because -- and this is the dirty secret most eviction forces dont want you to know -- most evictions are planned around winning your timer but they are not typically well prepared to maintain hole control. Maintaining hole control requires constant vigilance from a relative small number of pilots for a time no less than 72 straight hours. Evicting forces need to quickly respond to incoming dynamics, potential defense fleets, and incoming batphones fleets at literally all hours of the day for at least three days straight. They also require a sufficient number of scanning and rolling ships to maintain effectiveness. It might come as a surprise, but most evicting fleets have deficiencies in any or all of these areas from the very beginning!

This is the failure point that will allow you to beat most evictions even if greatly outnumbered. During off hours, it is not uncommon for quite large eviction forces to have a mere skeleton crew manning hole control. The absolute minimum number of pilots they need is two per static-- one to 'doorstop' a critted hole and one to monitor any attempts to jump those holes. The success of this arrangement, however, relies on the hope you will do nothing during their off hours. Let's say you decide to jump an alpha alt through one of these 'doorstopped' holes. Since the goal is to whittle your numbers, the 'doorstop' (usually a battleship that sits on the outside of a verge of collapse static) will immediately jump back, closing the hole. Now one of your alts has potentially been 'rolled out' which is a seeming victory for the evicting force, but this is going to require the pilots on hole control to (1)scan down a new hole and (2)reduce the mass of that hole. If there are only a few people online for the hole control team, this could take up to 20 minutes! During this time, it is entirely possible for you to scan down the new hole, gain a k-space entrace, and get in more numbers!

Of course, doing this once or twice probably won't make a difference. But let's say you do this multiple times an hour and to as many statics as you have. Now you're presenting a challenging environment for the skeleton force attempting to maintain hole control, especially if you're scanning new holes and getting your alts through them in a timely fashion. Hole control is typically a very boring, incredily tedious job. Constantly challenging their hole control team will force them to actively pay attention for the duration of their shift. This will quickly induce frustration and fatigue in the hole control team leading to unforced errors such as the loss of rolling battleships (math is hard when fatigued) or scanning toons. Again, the biggest deficiency in most eviction forces tend to be in scanning ships/toons, rolling ships, or both. This is especially the case early on in an eviction, such as the night after the shield is removed from your citadel. Reducing your opponents materials available for hole control and eroding their mental toughness is a reliable way to tilt the attrition war in your favor early on, thus increase the likelihood of winning the next timer.

This leads us to the largest failure point of any eviction process, yet it is oddly the least exploited, at least in my experience. Most, if not all, eviction forces during their off hours cannot practically respond to a large fleet attempting to sieze hole control. A fleet of 10-20 -- or even just a couple of unsupported capital ships -- can quickly overwhelm most hole control teams of even large eviction forces. This is especially the case since most of the evicting group's leadership and most experienced fc's will probably be resting in advance of the next timer fight. Hole control during off-tz hours is when your opponent is at its weakest and most disorganized. If you repeatedly take advantage of this weakness you can potentially break the will of the attackers. Morale is just as important for the aggressor as it is the defender. Losing hole control to a defender fleet for even one night can totally demoralize an attacking force. Losing on two nights in a row could demoralize them to the point where they might conclude they are incapable of seeing the eviction through successfully.

In addition to winning the timer and breaking off-tz hole control, defending corps should strongly consider calling "batphones" early in the eviction. Most, if not all, pvp wormhole corps will form for a fight against a worthy opponent. So long as you can provide them an entrance to your hole in a timely fashion, they will come to your aid no questions asked (especially if the group evicting you is not well liked). For those corps that are not well connected, I would recommend visiting the pub chats of the groups you DO know or have at least heard of. So long as you're not being obnoxious, making a lot of noise will get you noticed, and getting noticed might lead to a defense fleet forming on your behalf. Suffering the destruction of your home in stoic silence might seem noble, but it is less effective than asking for help. You are especially likely to be helped if you have a well-fit citadel, have a prepared defense fleet, and are well equipped with scanning/rolling ships to help break your opponent's hole control. It also helps if you can add their corp/alliance to your citadel access list quickly.

TL;DR

Make sure you citadel is anti-sub cap fit if you live in c4 or below; anti-cap in c5 or c6. Make sure your defense fleet can counter t3c's, machariels, or both. Do not give up if you are outnumbered. Prepare to be active during the off-tz hours for your attacker. Harass their hole control fleets and induce fatigue by making them scan/roll multiple times an hour. Time large fleet action during their off-tz hours in order to sieze hole control. Do not be afraid to batphone early but do make sure you can lead your would-be defenders into your hole quickly.

As I said at the outset, this is only a very basic guide to surviving an eviction, but hopefully if you've never thought about defending yourself against an eviction before reading, this guide will now start that process. Waiting until you're being evicted to think about how you'll beat one is almost always too late. Right now you should be asking yourself (1) whether or not your citadels are properly fuled and fit with sufficient ammo and fighters for three fights; (2) whether or not your corp members have enough defense doctrine ships with an adequate supply of ammo/cap boosters/fighters/stront; (3) whether or not your corp has plentiful rolling and scanning ships; (4) whether or not you have enough alts to make hole control a nightmare for an opponent; (5) whether or not you have enough dedicated players to make a play for off-tz hole control; and (6) whether or not you have connected enough to the wormhole community to have batphones when you need them. And all of this assumes your group has the requisite skill, experience, and nerve to pull it all off.