Battle Clinic Wormhole Guide v0309

BattleClinic Guide To Wormholes

BattleClinic Guide to Wormholes in EVE-Online by BattleClinic.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

BATTLECLINIC GUIDE TO WORMHOLES Contents of this Guide • Introduction • The New Probing System • Wormholes and the System Scanner • Finding a Potential Result • Let’s Go Hunting! • Getting the Final Location • Wormhole Mechanics • The Other Side • Tips on Probing • About This Guide Introduction The new Apocrypha expansion for Eve brings with it a whole new method of probing. While not necessarily more difficult or skill intensive, it is a different approach to that used pre-Apocrypha and will take a little getting used to if changing from the old style probing system. This Guide will concentrate specifically on probing for the new Wormholes (also introduced in Apocrypha) and will give a few basic details on the mechanics and usage of wormholes. This guide does not cover aspects of scanning for combat purposes. The New Probing System The old probing system used a single probe to find a scan result, but this probe had a set range and could only scan for one particular type of signature. It also contained an element of chance which was frustrating as you could analyze the same area a number of times and receive nothing for several scans, even though the probe, your skills and the ship remains unchanged. The new system is based on the idea of triangulation but with Apocrypha, you require 4 probes to find a result – a term CCP call quadrilateration. The 4th probe is used to identify which is the correct signal as only using 3 probes will find 2 results equally spaced above and below the plane on which those probes lie. The method is now based more on skills and judgement than on chance. In addition to the new probing system, CCP have simplified the probes themselves. Whereas the old system required a number of types of probes to track down all possible exploration sites, the new Core Scanner Probe can scan for every Cosmic Signature and at multiple ranges. Scan times of probes are less important now as all probes have a base scan time of 10s – no more waiting for minutes on end for a single result! Wormholes and the System Scanner For probing purposes, wormholes are a new type of Cosmic Signature. They exist as an Unknown group and eventually will show as an Unstable Wormhole in the scan result type. This is what we will be concentrating on looking for in this guide and if a scan produces the above, we should proceed to narrow down the scan until we hit a warpable target.



Let’s open up the scanner as we will be seeing a lot of this and a brief explanation of the sections will help. We will not be using the Directional Scan or Moon Analysis tabs of the scanner so we can disregard these. The System Scanner is divided into 3 main sections: • The toolbar containing probe functions • The Probes in Space Window • The Scan Results Window These are very much self-explanatory but a key feature to use while probing for wormholes is the Scan Result Filter. This will allow us the scan results to be filtered so as to only show relevant results. Create a new filter by clicking on the menu arrow next to the drop-down filter and choosing Add Filter. We want to add the Cosmic Signature for our wormholes but let’s also add in the Cosmic Anomaly – this will help us with our search for Sleeper sites at a later time. Once these 2 are selected, type a name for the filter and

Save. Next, go ahead and select your newly created filter from the drop-down list of available scan result filters. If we have any success in finding a Cosmic Signature, this whereabouts of the signature will be listed in the Scan Results window. Don’t worry if the scan result says just Cosmic Signature with the remaining columns blank. This is because our signal from the site isn’t strong enough yet to sufficiently identify the type of signature. As we reduce the probe’s range (and therefore increase the scan strength of the probe), we will get a stronger signal and a better idea of whether we are heading in the right direction. Finding a Potential Result The first step is to determine if a cosmic signature is present in a particular solar system. If there is not such signature, there is little point in continuing the search! There are 2 possible ways of quickly finding any matching results - with a Core Scanner Probe or a Deep Space Probe. The Deep Space Probe method is the quickest and easiest if you have the skills and equipment for it (it requires Astrometrics 5 and an Expanded Probe Launcher which isn’t as kind to your ship’s CPU load as the Core Probe Launcher). Load your DSP into the Expanded Probe Launcher and fire a probe. In the scanner window, the probe will now show up in the Probes in Space window. Right-click the probe and change the scan range to 256AU – this should be sufficient to cover the whole system from where you are. In the scanner toolbar, click the Analyze button. This will position your probe and then initiate a scan. After the scan is complete, you will see the results in the Scan Results window. If there are no matching results (as explained previously) we can move onto different solar systems and repeat the process until we find one. If you don’t have the skills for the Deep Space Probes, you can always use a standard Core Scanner Probe. These will do the same job but as they have a much more limited range (maximum of 32AU), you may need to reposition the probes several times around the system to get full coverage.



The next job is to open the map in system view mode so we can start to work with the probe.

Next, load up the probes and fire one. In the scanner window, the probe will now show up in the Probes in Space window. Right-click the probe and change the scan range to 32AU. Using the directional arrows on the probe, start by placing the probe in the centre of the solar system. Don’t forget that the system is 3D so align the probe in all 3 dimensions with the centre! Once positioned, click the Analyze button on the toolbar. If you weren’t already in the centre of the system, the probe will warp to the intended spot and then commence the scan.



If you don’t get any results here that can be followed up, you may need to perform a scan at any planets that fall outside the 32AU range of the probe. Move the probe to those planets one at a time and repeat the scan. If no results are found at any of the planets, it’s time to move on! Luckily, our example scan has picked up 2 Cosmic Signatures which could potentially be wormholes (see image). Unfortunately at this point, the signal strength of the sites is too weak to make a more detailed analysis so we need to refine the probing to get a more accurate result.



Let’s Go Hunting! From the scan results, we know that the Cosmic Signatures both fall within 8 AU of the probe. One advantage of the new probes is that they can be configured to operate at shorter ranges, which in turn increases the scan strength. This leads to higher signal strengths from anything within its range than if we had used a longer range probe. Higher signal strengths also mean greater accuracy and we need to have a signal strength of 100% in order to warp to the target. We will reduce the probe range to 8 AU and see if this improves our results. And it does! From the results, we cannot reduce the probe range any further without losing one of the signals so at this point, we need to find a good approximation of where the signal is before we can decrease the probe range.

Start by launching 2 more Core Scanner Probes. Using the directional arrows on each probe, place the first new probe on the boundary of the original probe. With the second new probe, place this at an intersection of the boundaries of the other 2 probes. What you should have is something resembling the image below. It’s easier for this part of the probing to rotate the map view so you are looking at it from top down. But don’t forget to check that all 3 probes are on the same plane before scanning! Once positioned, hit the Analyze button. Our example scan results show a more accurate scan result and higher signal strength which means we are getting closer. Notice the red circle within the probe’s ranges - This indicates that the result is somewhere between these 2 probes. To improve this result further, we need to move the 3rd probe to the opposite

intersection of the other 2 probe boundaries as shown in the images on the next page. Once positioned, hit the Analyze button once more and hopefully we should get an even better result.

Side view of probe layout—all on the same plane.



The scan did not find a definite location but the circle indicates where it is likely to be...

...so we try with the probe positioned at the other intersection.



The resulting scan has put 2 red dots on our system map which correspond to the 2 results in the Scan Results window that have equal signal strength. These are actually the same site but the probes do not know which of these is the actual site. To determine this, we need to use a 4th probe so launch another probe.

Launch a new probe and place it in the centre of the 3 existing probes on the same plane. Then move the probe directly above the plane so it covers one of the results. Perform another scan and if you still have 2 results, move the probe to below the plane and repeat the scan. Hopefully by now, you receive a single result on which to focus your efforts.

Side view showing the results above and below the plane.

Initial placement of the 4th probe.



Initial Scan with 4 probes doesn’t produce a result... ...so we move the probe to below the plane.

A rescan of the new probe layout pinpoints a single result that we can now concentrate our efforts.



Getting the Final Location Now you know the approximate location of the site, you can decrease the probe scan range of all 4 probes gradually and that will provide a more accurate result and give more details as to the exact signature type. Keep the probes in the same formation as before but move them so that all 4 probes intersect the result. As you do this, you should notice that more information is starting to fill the Scan Results window as to the group and type of the signature. If at any point the scan says it is not an Unknown then abort the probing of that signal. Similarly, abort the scans if the type is not an Unstable Wormhole.

Eventually, you will get to a point where your probes have picked up a single 100% signal. This is your target wormhole site – Congratulations! But what are you waiting for, engage that warp drive! All that’s left to do is recover your probes (using the option on the toolbar), then right-click on the wormhole and select Enter Wormhole.



Wormhole Mechanics Before you dive head first into the wormhole with pure disregard for the welfare of your crew, it’s worth explaining a few things about how these things work.

The key thing to remember is that wormholes are unstable. They appear. They collapse. What was there 5 minutes ago may not be there now. They are sensitive to both time and mass constraints and neither are given to you in precise values. While the description of the wormhole contains dynamic information as to its status, you still don’t know exactly when it will collapse. The point is, be prepared! There is always an exit wormhole out of an existing wormhole system. As wormholes are 2-way, your initial exit is the same way you came in. If that exit collapses, another will open for you but you’ll have to scan it down using the probing methods explained previously. With this in mind, it’s always important to

have someone with probing capabilities in the wormhole system at all times. They should be the first to enter and the last to leave. If the original wormhole collapses and they get stranded, they can at least find an alternative exit given some time. This brings us to another point about wormholes and their entrance and exit points. There are 3 scenarios where wormholes exist: • Between known space and known space • Between known space and wormhole space • Between wormhole space and wormhole space This means that it’s possible a wormhole can open up in a known system and take you to another known system elsewhere in the galaxy. This could potentially be any system so it’s possible you could find a back door into deep 0.0 from your hi-sec trade hub! On a similar note, if you get trapped in a wormhole system and have to scan for another exit, the chances that you will find it leads back to the same system are small. You may have to go through yet more wormhole space to get back to known space and even then, it may dump you 50 jumps from your original location.



The Other Side Wormhole space is populated by the Sleepers - a new race of NPC located entirely in these wormhole systems. But these are not your average NPC race. They have enhanced ships, resists, damage and AI. They can target multiple players and can switch targets in an instant, including your drones. Beware - these rats are not to be taken lightly! Sleepers will defend their space with a lot more vigour than other NPCs and will use any means necessary to preserve their own existence while trying to eradicate yours. You should expect to be webbed, jammed, scrambled, NOS’d, dampened and disrupted, while at the same time, watch for the Sleepers remote repairing themselves back to health to counter your damage. Teamwork and gang co-ordination are required to overcome this new enemy and while the easier sites can be done in small groups, you should be looking into bringing a whole fleet to take on the toughest of these new Sleeper locations.

Wormhole space is uncharted. Systems have no names, constellations or regions and are all designated as 0.0 systems. There are no dockable stations, no labelled asteroid belts and no ice belts. The Sleeper sites are all within Cosmic Signatures or Cosmic Anomalies so you’ll need to scan for these. There are usually multiple sites within each system so plenty to go at. There’s the usual range of Cosmic Signatures too so you could get Unknowns (possibly being other wormholes), Gravimetric, Ladar, Magnetometric and Radar. The Cosmic Anomalies can be found with just the basic ship scanner (with no probes) so you can get up and running while someone locates the more rewarding Cosmic Signatures. As if the new Sleeper abilities weren’t enough, a wormhole system can also be subject to environmental effects (referred to as a Tactical Environment) that can produce unwanted and/or beneficial side effects to your ship. Such effects can include changes in max velocity, targeting range, weapon range and damage, shield, armor, hull, capacitor, resistances and signature radius (among probably others). You can usually find out if your ship is likely to be affected by a tactical environment as you will get a notification on entering the wormhole system. If you’re unsure, check the physical environment for spatial effects (binary star systems, strange spatial effects) and also check your combat log for such a notification. You won’t be told precisely what is being affected so you’ll need to double-check your ship attributes to find the changes, either good or bad.



Tips on Probing Scan Strength Under the new probing system, scan strength is king. It’s therefore important to try and get the scan strength of probes as high as possible so as to obtain a warpable result in a quicker time. Scan times for probes have a base duration of 10 seconds (and reduce with skills and implants) so duration is much less important now than it used to be. To increase scan strength, you have the following options: 1. Use Sisters Probes. These have a 10% higher base scan strength that the standard probes. 2. Use Sisters Probe Launchers. This will increase the scan strength of probes by 10%. 3. The Astrometric Triangulation skill (formerly Signal Acquisition) gives a per-level bonus to scan strength. Note however that the Astrometric Acquisition skill (formerly Astrometric Triangulation) now gives a scan time bonus. 4. Use Gravity Capacitor Upgrade rigs. These now affect scan strength instead of scan time. 5. Use Prospector PPH-x series of implants. These now affect scan strength instead of scan time. 6. Use the Virtue series of implants. This low-grade faction implant set will give a nice boost to your scan strength – if you can afford them! Don’t Forget It’s 3D! Obvious one really but sometimes when you’re concentrating on reducing the distance to a signal you stick to moving in 2 dimensions. A signal can also be above or below the plane of the solar system so don’t forget to check that too. Probe Reuse As probes can now be recalled back to the cargo bay once scanning is complete, it’s therefore no longer necessary to carry large quantities of probes on exploration journeys, leaving more space in your cargo for other uses. You shouldn’t need more than 4 Core Scanner Probes to find a single result but it’s often handy to keep a few spare just in case. About This Guide Originally written by Vessper Current Version: 1.0 (12 March 2009)

Battle Clinic Wormhole Guide v0309

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