This is the first post in a short series in “How to Wormhole”. To put it another way; “How to fail as bad as I do”

This initial post will cover the basics, involving wormhole types, differences between Wormhole Space and Normal Space and How To Deal With No Local. Covers a brief explanation of most the mechanics, which will be explained in more depth in later posts. There’s even some terminology thrown in. You’re welcome.

First draft. Expect improvements as people point out any mistakes.

Introduction – The differences between here and there

In the wonderful game world of EVE, you may have heard of wormholes. You may not have. You will have heard of High Security space. Perhaps even Low Security or even Null Security if you’re really adventurous. There also exists this magical 4th dimension of EVE. It is an area without stargates. An area without local. An area that can print you ISK. An area where you can be terrible and sometimes people do not find out. This is wormhole space.

Wormhole space is commonly abbreviated as “wspace“. The rest of EVE – places like Jita, Old Man Star and UMI-KK are all classified as “Known Space” or even as “kspace“. Bear these abbreviations in mind – I use them constantly.

The differences between wspace and kspace are far more varied than that of Null -> Low -> High Security space. There are, however, 2 primary differences;

1. Wspace has no Local

All of kspace have access to the “Local” chat channel – a channel that shows you, instantly, the players in your star system. It may not show their ships, skills or exact location in system but you know they are online and in the same system. They could be AFK or docked in a station, but they are there and they know you’re there too. Wormhole space still has a Local chat channel, but it is not updated with the players in the system. This means, unless you see them, you have no idea if a pilot is there. He could be watching you. He’s watching you read this. He’s preparing his fleet. There is no escape. Oh god.

You do show in the Local channel is you type into it, however. Doing so can give other pilots hidden in the system valuable intel on you. Such as the fact you are there. Nevertheles it is still used between opposing parties – usually following a fight to show appreciation for the engagement.

The lack of local makes for perfect hunting territory whilst ensuring anyone willing to venture the depths of a wormhole needs to keep a close eye on their scanners. More on using this for combat in a later post.

2. Wspace has no Stargates

You know how you navigate between star systems? Those giant spaceship-propelling celestial stargates? Wspace doesn’t have those. Instead, travel through wormhole systems is made possible by, well, wormholes. Semi-random (more on that later) gateways to other star systems, both wspace and kspace. Wormholes open semi-randomly, in random locations in a system. Wormholes must be scanned – you cannot just warp to them from anywhere. In addition, wormholes close depending on time passed since it opening and the amount of mass pushed through. Imagine jumping a fleet of 5 Battlecruisers into a star system, only to find your way home has disappeared 30 minutes later. Not camped. Not dangerous. Gone.

Whilst every wormhole system has a wormhole, there is no telling where it might lead. Each day brings a new destination and new targets. This is a major appeal to most wspace pilots, obviously.

The fact that wormholes also close on mass prevents massive blobbing of ships. When you can only fit 15 battleships through one wormhole, it’s difficult to field fleets of 100. Wormhole fights tend to be quite small. More on wormhole travel in a later post.

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There are many other differences between wspace and kspace including;

No stations – You live in a Player Owned Structure (POS Tower) or you roam. No stations to dock in.

Unique NPCs – Wspace plays host to the unique Sleeper NPCs – the toughest, meanest NPCs you’ll ever fight.

Unique loot – Wspace contains, courtesy of Sleepers, unique materials primarily used for Tech 3 production.

Aggression mechanics similar to Nullsec – Attack anyone, anywhere. Expect them to shoot back.

No Supercaps/Cyno fields – Whilst it is possible to get capitals into a wormhole through various means, supercaps (Titans, Supercarriers) cannot enter. In addition, Capital ships cannot jump to cynosural fields in wspace.

System wide wormhole effects – The wormhole you’re in could raise your shields, lower your gun damage or even make you overheat faster.

No Asteroid or Ice belts – Wspace features no traditional belts but instead has a bunch of Mining sites you can scan down.

Unique system names – All of wspace has a different naming designation – all of them begin with “J” and have 6 following numbers. J123456, for example.

Wormhole Classes – Site difficulty and wormhole limitations

Much like kspace, wormholes have varying levels of dificulty. There are 6 classes, Class 1 through to Class 6. Class 1 (C1) are the “easiest” whereas Class 6 (C6) are the “hardest”.

Class 1 Can only fit Battlecruisers and below into their entrance wormholes Weakest sites and anomalies – usually soloable by a single pilot, resulting in the weakest loot and therefore ISK Single kspace static Weakest system effects

Class 2 Can only fit Orcas and below into their entrance wormholes Sites and anomalies are easily soloable by a properly fit ship Unique in that Class 2s have two statics – usually one kspace and one wspace

Class 3 Can only fit Orcas and below into their entrance wormholes Sites and anomalies soloable by a powerful ship One static – always kspace

Class 4 Can only fit Orcas and below into their entrance wormholes Sites and anomalies usually require 2 or 3 man well-fit teams to clear Unique in that C4’s never have kspace wormhole connections – only wspace outgoing and inbounds One static – always wspace

Class 5 Can fit Carriers & Dreadnaughts through non-C4/C3/C2/C1 connections Sites and anomalies require a strong fleet, preferably with Capital support Warping Capital ships to these sites triggers more Sleeper ships to spawn. This can be extremely profitable but also very deadly. Known as a Cap Escalation. One static – always wspace

Class 6 Can fit Carriers & Dreadnaughts through non-C4/C3/C2/C1 connections Sites and anomalies require a strong fleet, preferably with Capital support Warping Capital ships to these sites triggers more Sleeper ships to spawn. This can be extremely profitable but also very deadly. Known as a Cap escalation One static – always wspace Strongest system effects



Wormhole statics & random wormhole overview

Every wormhole system has one guaranteed wormhole – this is known as the Static wormhole. If this wormhole ever collapses (due to time or mass) then another one will spawn elsewhere in the system; to a different destination of course. In addition, each static also always leads to a certain class of wormhole. A Class 4 wormhole with a Class 2 static will always have a Class 2 entrance wormhole in it. This is often abbreviated – a C4/C2 means a Class 4 wormhole with a Class 2 static. Lower class wormholes can also have statics to kspace – C3 with a Lowsec static, for example.

There are random wormholes dotted about that spawn randomly. Known as “roaming” or “regional” wormholes, these can lead from a Highsec to a Lowsec, a C6 to a Highsec or perhaps a C2 to a C4. Almost any combination can occur, though some connections are more common to certain class wormholes. The only way to figure out if one is active in a system is to scan it and find out!

Wormhole designations

Upon finding a wormhole, you will see it has a name.

This name gives a clue of what type of wormhole entrance it is. The only exception are wormholes named K162. K162 is a wormhole exit. This means the wormhole was “opened” from the other side. Jumping in will show you the actual wormhole name on the other side. For example;

In this highly instructional image, a pilot in the original system of System A sees the wormhole as E175, but a pilot in the destination system of System B will see it as K162.

Bookmark this website and study it. It lists all the types of wormholes – each type has a specific mass and time limit.

Wormhole system effects

Some wspace systems have a “system effect” which can wildly change your ship attributes. A “Pulsar” effect, for example, boosts raw Shield HP whilst reducing Armour resistances. The strength of the effect depends on the wormhole Class. C1’s have the weakest effects (+25% shields) whilst C6’s have the strongest (+100%). More on this in a later post. The full effect list can be found here.

End of Part 1.

Part 2 is “Wormholes opening & closing, polarisation and wormhole chains“

If any of my details are incorrect, you have suggestions for improvements or ideas for a future post, please either EVE Mail me (tgl3) or post a comment!