Wormholes, the great unknown! At the start of this year, our corporation decided we’d had enough with nullsec alliances. We packed our things, sold our titans, and set up an Astrahus in wormhole space. A few months later, we have a Fortizar down, our active headcount has skyrocketed, and constantly ask ourselves one thing: Why didn’t we do this sooner?
I’ve been a CEO, recruiter, and (a shitty) FC for nearly 4 years now. From herding cats and dealing with people on the forums for more hours than I’d care to admit, I’ve recognized one thing: wormhole space is greatly misunderstood.
In this article, I’m going to lay out a few things we’ve learned about wormhole space since becoming a follower of Bob.
- Wormhole space is a great environment for new players.
- It’s way easier than most players think.
- It’s by far the best place for a small, growing corporation.
Before the screeches roll in, hear me out first!
New Player Haven
New players are a pain in the ass, no matter what anybody says. A few years ago I ran a 200-man new-player alliance that took sovereignty in Fountain, and I nearly put a gun to my head by the end of it. I ran two new-player faction warfare corporations (~100 screeching newbies) and had the same experience.
After leading these nerds around the universe, I can safely say that wormholes are the best place for a new player to learn, stay engaged, and grow as a self-sufficient pilot.
Side story: My first few months in EVE Online were in lowsec and wormholes. As a new player I was picked up by Tim Nering (R3D Fire days), and he taught me everything about wormholes. We ran wolf rayet sites with Catalysts and Archons, huffed gas, and explored sprawling C5 chains. It catapulted me into the game, and got me addicted pretty quickly.
Entry Level Activities
Wormhole space has a ridiculous amount of lucrative, accessible activities for new players. The best part of these activities? They won’t bore you to tears. I’m sure we can all share the time we mined ore in highsec and nearly quit the game!
- Want to make money? Gas huffing ventures are a self-sufficient income source, and take nearly an hour to train. You can make hundreds of millions a day in a simple 3 million ISK ship, without an Omega subscription. The only other comparison is novice complexes in faction warfare space, nothing comes closer for a day one player.
- Want to explore? Scanning and mapping wormhole chains is something a player can participate in day one. It’s slow at first but provides clear progress over time.
- Want to blow up spaceships? After initial combat training and some serious mentoring, our handful of new players can shut down logistics, bhaalgorns, and falcons. After that, it’s a quick train to a Keres for some sweet, sweet microgang.
- Want to haul? As a former space trucker, jump freighting was skill intensive, very costly, and requires a Zanex prescription. In wormholes, a simple Deep Space Transport is the most effective ship! Much more cost effective, more easy to train.
With these activities, new players can quickly rack up enough ISK for skill injectors, ships, and even subscriptions. And they’re more likely to stick with the game!
Engaging Content
Did you know that EVE Online has engaging content? It was a mystery for me, too. There is hardly any passive content in wormhole space, which makes it feel like you’re actually playing a video game.
- Mapping a wormhole chain (something people seem to be afraid of) gives a sense of accomplishment, and commonly leads to content. Not only that, but we’ve found that the content is much more rewarding.
- Anomalies aren’t just orbit and AFK. Stupidly burned out of capacitor transfer range with your RR Rattlesnake? Whoops, you’re dead. What do you receive for this risk? Subcapital ratting ISK that’s comparable, or better, than supercapital ratting.
- Intel is actually challenging. Listening for wormhole activations, watching entry wormholes, and linking players in chat after a split second adds risk and excitement. Having no local makes hunting rewarding, and gives ratting a sense of risk and excitement.
Supportive Environment
If you’ve explored in wormhole space as a new player, you’ve probably had your teeth kicked in by a Sabre or random gang that came out of nowhere.
But what happened after?
It’s the same as losing a frigate in faction warfare space- people want you to be there. Veteran wormholers are likely to shower you with ISK, teach you a few things, and send you on your way.
Wander into the wrong nullsec region? Oof, not the same, they’re more likely to try and sell you a Dead Coalition shirt.
Wormholes aren’t spooky
The word on the street is that wormholes are the scariest part of EVE Online. Boy were they wrong! The scariest part of my day is when I venture back into Highsec. Thanks, Bob Painter.
Let’s tackle a few of the things that surprised us about wormhole space, and hopefully, they’ll surprise you too!
Logistics
Logistics is actually a breeze.
To run supply chains in a nullsec group takes several cyno alts, 10 billion ISK for a jump freighter, and painkillers for when Gate Tax Collection Agency rams their throwaway T1 cruiser tackle and Talos fleet down your throat. I’ve been there.
What do you need for wormholes? A k-space connection, Deep Space Transport, and maybe a scout unless you’ve got plenty of beer. In a C2 or C4, you can easily roll a wormhole to Jita or Amarr within an hour or two, and there’s no fuel costs!
Scanning
Scanning was the big one, and it is completely dependent on what kind of wormhole you live in.
For example, if you’re living in a C3 with a highsec static, you’ll always have at least one signature to scan. Every now and then you’ll have new connections that open to to you, but if you don’t like them you can simply roll them.
In contrast, in C5 space, you’ll likely run into C5 highways that create large, sprawling chains. These are great for fights, hunting and content. But it’s a ton of scanning.
And that’s the beauty. It’s up to you, there’s a wormhole for everybody.
Being Hunted
We’ve found that wormholes can be pretty quiet unless you’re looking for trouble. There’s plenty of downtime in wormhole space, especially if you don’t have a C5 static.
Originally, we lived in a wormhole with C3/C1 statics, it was extremely quiet outside of EUTZ and early USTZ. We’d have to roll constantly to find targets to kill. After moving up to something with a C5 static, we’ve started to get absurd amounts of content.
As a wormhole group, you get to decide what your experience is going to be. Want to get maximum wormhole content? Definitely want a C5 static. Want to hunt Rorquals every day? Grab a nullsec static. Made the wrong choice? Pack up and move, it’s no big deal.
Small Corporation Catalyst
There is no better place for small, independent corporations than wormhole space. This section has a lot to unpack, so I’ll go ahead and list the TLDR for those of you who want to go back to shooting spaceships.
- Manageable PvP content for small entities
- Self-sufficiency at a player and corporation level
- Community-driven gameplay
- Extremely supportive wormhole space community
As a frame of reference, our corporation is a small corporation. Most of our casual small gangs have around 5-10 pilots in them, and we run a ton of microgang.
Manageable Content
Krypted Gaming has been around the universe. We’ve had a corporation deployment to Black Rise, Delve, the South, the North, McDonalds, you name it. We’ve never found more manageable content than wormhole space.
Disclaimer: Sometimes you get outgunned. There’s no stopping that. You can run into 15-30 guys in a wormhole and get stomped on, but it’s less frequent, and most people will downship for a fight.
For this example, I’ll use ship sizes, namely capitals. In Black Rise, we’d commonly get dunked by capital ships that our small gangs could not handle. Hell, they drop 6 Nyxes for Prophecy gangs these days. This can’t happen in wormholes.
People give me a lot of shit since we’re in C4 space (D E L E T E C 4), but we came here because we were sick and tired of capitals. If you want to get away from capitals in wormhole space, just live in low class. We literally haven’t encountered a single capital ship outside of our C5 chains.
Outnumbered? You can have significant control on the fighting terms. Only so many ships can fit through a wormhole, and even less battleships. If you’re fighting outnumbered, just throw battleships, more EHP, and force multipliers at the problem. Nobody is going to deny a good fight.
Here’s an example of the quality fights you can find!
Self Sufficiency
This section isn’t about ISK, it’s about how wormholes make sense from a self-sufficiency standpoint. Being self-sufficient as a corporation is a major morale boost, and quite honestly one of the coolest things that you can do in this game.
Whether you’re a PvP veteran or filthy carebear, building battleships in your home wormhole to save a ton of hours hauling is a great feeling. And it’s easy to do.
Wormhole gas is nearly all you need to create T3 cruisers (and their components), allowing you to easily build things that you use on a daily basis.
As an individual, solo and small group content is very easy to come by in wormhole space. It’s amazing what you can do with just 1 or 2 guys. This keeps your corporation members from being bored and encourages individual piloting.
Community Driven Gameplay
Nullsec alliances can say that they’ve got great culture and tight-knit groups, but wormhole space is a completely different level.
Group content in wormholes is extremely rewarding, especially PvE. Want to speed up your C5 site times? Throw in another Leshak. Want to scan a chain faster? Collaborative scanning. Want to roll that hole faster? Bring a buddy.
In null-sec, you’ve got people fighting over fucking ratting anomalies. Ratting drama, mining drama, dear God it’s actually embarrassing. You can’t escape it, even in PvP alliances like Triumvirate.
Wormholes reward daily and group gameplay. This all trickles down to higher player retention, more of your corporation in voice, and more people having fun.
Wormhole Community
Wormhole community, never change. The very first day we mentioned that we were coming to wormhole space from nullsec in Praisebob Discord, we received a flurry of welcomes, advice, and memes.
People legitimately want you in wormhole space, and the amount of support we’ve received from other groups has been amazing. The amount of hours other wormholers have spent mentoring me has been astounding, and something that I’d rarely experience in nullsec.
J-space honor is very real, and the focus on content guarantees that if you run into an active group- you’ll get a fight. It’s a nice change of pace from going from cutthroat to simple farmers.
“If you give good fights, you’ll have friends when you need it.” – Faith Hibra
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a change of pace, don’t skip over wormholes. It’s quite honestly one of the best experiences you can have in this game, and has saved us from the monotony of nullsec.
Feel free to shoot me a mail in game if you’ve got questions or need help, we’ve helped a bunch of small groups shift to wormhole space so far!
PS: Come join the Praisebob Discord!
Want more wormhole guides? Check out our wormhole series. And consider supporting us on Patreon!
