Slow Times in Wspace High

These are slow times in wormhole space for this hunter.  I have been beating the bushes like crazy, but no birds have appeared. 

The new thing is that wspace is now hyper-connected.  Previous to Hyperion, a lot of our chains would look like this: C4a->C4b->C3a->ns.  Maybe a few side systems, but usually not enough to go on forever.  Then termination in known space.

With Hyperion, There are more connections everywhere, and every C4 system now gets two at least.  I routinely get more systems than I am willing to scan to.  My trees look like this:

Screenie from Tripwire

That is after only a partial night of (fruitless) searching.  I went down my K162s and into my H900, but I did not search it nor did I yet enter my X877.  In all those systems I saw probes once, and one Venture out in space that left and did not return before I could kill it.  (I might have spooked it somehow; don't know.)

Mathematically, when you increase the average connectivity of a graph from ~1 connection per node towards two, the size of connected chunks increases exponentially.  This is what has happened in wspace.  I expect that if all connections were instantiated, almost all of wspace would be in one large connected chunk.. There would still islands here and there, and of course a lot of the time connectivity is lowered because nobody is activating wormholes.  Still, from the POV of a hunter, the connectivity means you rarely have to leave wspace to find a new chain. 

The bad news?  First, I can't find anyone.  Anecdotal, but suggestive.  I see probes now and again, but I feel like the activity level of people running sites is down.  Usually I find a couple site runners per week. 

Another bit of suggestive anecdotal data is the rate at which new sites spawn.  Presumably, the set of sites in wspace is fixed and they are just kicked around from system to system when they either despace after being triggered, or despawn from being run.  I am very sensitive to the spawn rates of new anoms in my system.  Since Hyperion, the rate is about half what it used to be.  Formerly we'd get about 1 new combat anom or sig per day.  Now it is one per two days. 

I looked at prices of various wspace products, but there's no obvious trend I see.  I think it is too soon.  But I expect to see them rising.

Max Mass Info in Wormhole Info Window

I mentioned last week that the new small wormholes have a problem, that from the K162 side you cannot know they are small without attempting to cross, which is dangerous.  I complained about that, and I think a lot of others did too.  CCP has heard us.  Wormhole info windows now show a new last line giving an indication of the maximum ship mass allowed to pass that wormhole.

Info on a X877 (C4 to C5)

Info on a H296 (C5 to C5)

I did not have time find a small wormhole, nor for that matter a C1 wormhole.  Presumably those have their own unique messages, too, according to their different mass limits.

This is a good change.  Thanks CCP.  (And probably also thanks to our CSMs.)

I'd still like to be able to identify small K162s via some other method than info.  I.e. my suggestion of giving them a different tag than K162 on their K162 side.  Or they could represent them visually differently.  If I had that, then I would not need to get info on wormholes 95% of the time.

Hyperion First Impressions

Hyperion has been out a few days now.  I have played now three nights, although last night was short for EVE and me.  Still, I think I have enough experience to talk about it sensibly.  So here are some impressions.

Wormhole Jumping with Impunity

I tried to warn them.

I roam wspace in a stealth bomber.  Before Hyperion, this was always a bit dangerous because when you jumped into a new system you could appear within decloak distance of a wormhole.  Now, that is impossible.  All ships, even the smallest, appear at least 6500m from the center of the wormhole, or 2500m from its edge.  (Wormholes are 4000m in radius.)  So now I can always cloak immediately after jumping.  This makes it nearly impossible to catch anyone with a covert ops cloak.

No matter how fast you lock, you cannot lock something that cloaks in the first tick after you see it.  So, I warp to some celestial and cloak.  Easy.  Your only hope is that netlag hits as I try to cloak, or I screw up the command.

If you bubble, I turn, cloak and microwarp.  Good luck catching that.  (It is at least theoretically possible.)  Or I jump back.

The only realistic chance would be to use a smart bombing battleship, and even that now has drastically reduced chances (relative to pre-Hyperion) due to the distance.  Smart bomb radius is 6000m; maximum frigate distance is 10500m from the wormhole.  (5500m to jump range.)  A smart-bomber therefore cannot get most of the landing area for the wormhole within its area of effect.  Previously, you would appear at around 2500m-6500m from the wormhole (my estimates).  Just by sitting at zero to the wormhole, a smartbomber would have a 78% chance to have you in range.  Now, a smartbomber's best chance is probably to sit at around 4500m to the wormhole.  This is harder to figure out -- requires calculus! -- but my guess is your chance to have a frigate jumper in range are perhaps 10%.

In any case, I am taking advantage of the new uncatchability of my Manticore.  I have no fear of being polarized any more.  No more five minute waits in highsec or anywhere else.  If I want to go back, I go back, and I defy anyone to catch me.

Wormhole Jump Range

I know all the C5 and C6 people are in a tizzy, but that's above my level.

Other than the effect on my bomber, this new jump range does not affect me much.  We certainly noticed it when popping wormholes in battleships.  But since they already have prop-mods on for their extra mass, it was not a huge big deal.  We did leave our Orca at home, so that's a small change.  (It means two battleship passes: hardly a challenge.)

We will adapt.  We have some plans to get in ships to web down and kill battleships, so that we can do that in our home system if someone tries it.  And I also think we might adapt our hole-popping fleet a little bit to deal with the possibility of other people trying to kill us.

High Connectivity

On the first night of Hyperion we noticed the proliferation of wormholes.  I live in a C4, formerly with C4 static.  We got a new C5 static.  So, I anticipated more connectivity.  I did not anticipate the volume, though.  Nor did I reckon that the new "small" wormholes (frigate-only) would be so common.  On Tuesday we had four wormholes, one of which was small.  Four wormhole is very rare for us; five is almost unheard of.  On Wednesday, we had six wormholes, two small.  Yesterday was more sane, just our two statics.

Because of the small wormholes, and of course the new static for every C4 in the game (which means 505 new static connections), and also perhaps because of new non-static wormholes, the connectivity of wspace has increased.  For the first two days because of the small wormholes, I would say it had increased a lot.  With small wormholes dialed down (see below), it has increased some, but it is less noticeable.

This high connectivity is going to make it hard to run sites for my corp.  Not impossible, just harder.  We did in fact run sites on Tuesday.  Using battleships, we popped all three of the holes we could pop, while picketing the small wormhole.  A fair amount of work and danger to run eight sites.  In times past, we would usually not have to pop a single wormhole to run our own local sites.

Too Many Small Wormholes

I admit that going into Hyperion, I had thought the small wormholes would be relatively rare.  I.e., that you might get one or two a week, say.  This rate seems about right to me.  The problem with them, of course, is that you can't close them.  So not only do you have to picket them to do anything risky.  It is also that their mere existence -- like that of any open wormhole -- means you cannot be sure your static(s) are closed unless you have been watching all open wormholes.  Thus, if there is one at all when you log in each night, you have to roll your static(s) to be safe.  This is painful compared to the way things were pre-Hyperion.  Thus, I felt, it should be rare.

Evidently, CCP did not think about it that way.  They put in enough small holes such that most systems had one on average.  That is, there were apparently thousands of the damned things.  People complained about this in the feedback threads.  And evidently CCP did dial it down, which explains our lack of small wormhole last night.  This is good.  So far my sample size is one for the new rate, so I cannot opine on whether it is too high.

I will state again my belief that a rate of about 1 or 2 small wormhole connections per system per week is about right.  This gives small corps the other 5-6 days to zip up and run sites or do PI.

New Trick K162s

One other aspect of the small wormholes that is still a problem is that you cannot distinguish their K162 side from any other wormhole; as a consequence, it is quite possible to think you can jump when you can't.  We ran into this on the first night, when we brought our hole-popping battleship fleet to a K162 to eliminate it only to find out we could not jump through.  (Yes, we had scouted the other side, but just did not realize what it was.)  We didn't lose anything, so it was funny.  I would not want to lose a T3 because of this though.  My suggestion: give small wormholes a distinct wormhole name on the "K162" side, except not K162.  Perhaps K002, to resemble their names on their originating side.  (The small wormhole names have the pattern "Letter00Number".  Here is a forum post with all of them.)

My System is Screwed by Mismatched Dual Statics

I was a little excited about getting a C5 static -- before I got one.  I like being able to access C5.  (Jeedmo and I ninjaed two core gas sites last night.)  What I do not like, not at all, is having a 16 hour static wormhole and a 24 hour static wormhole.

Now, one thing I dislike about this situation is simply that we have a 24 hour wormhole.  This is undesirable, at least for a small corp, a point I explained in comments a few days back.   The problem is that 24 hours really means 24-25, and that therefore you cannot easily synchronize a daily playing schedule with it.  By contrast, with 16 hour wormholes it is easy to sync it to a 24 hour clock, simply by leaving it unopened for 7-8 hours out of 24.  In any case, I thought the 24 hour static would be a bit annoying but that we could deal with it.

I had not considered what a 24 hour static means in combination with our old static, which is a 16 hour C4.  Their timeout schedules will practically never be synchronized, and if they are, it is unknown from my local point of view, because it means someone instantiated one when my corp was not around.  99% of the time, after one has timed out, the other has not.  And thus our system is always unzipped.  And people can get in and search down, and instantiate, all outgoing wormholes.

In practice, what this means is that we can never be sure we are zipped up without having to pop all wormholes by massing them.  Massing them is dangerous and takes time.

By contrast, prior to Hyperion we might have had a K162 wormhole perhaps 50% of the time, and therefore could not assume our static was closed.  But the other half we would just have our one wormhole which we had instantiated the night before, and therefore we could be highly confident it was uninstantiated when we logged on.  That is, we could be zipped a good fraction of the time without rolling wormholes.  We are a small corp, and we relied on this.  We would do PI right after logging in, or run local sites.  No more.

It would be really nice if CCP would change all statics in C4 to 16 hours.  That is, change H900 and U574 wormholes to 16 hours.  (I also would prefer it, though less, if CCP would change both statics in C4/C4+C5 and C4/C4+C6 systems to 24 hours; but this would probably require a new C4 static type, and I do not think that likely.)  I say this selfishly, of course.  But I also feel that my current system is not really viable for anything less than a large corp that can easily roll holes any time.  My corp is small.  So there is a "good for wspace" motive here too.

Right now, my feeling is I would prefer a C4/C3+C4.  I don't know.  I hate moving and I want to explore the possibilities of C5 sites.  But I am unhappy with my unchosen new situation.  Perhaps I will take my chances moving to C5.  I do not like the potential for bigger corps (which is most of them) to bring capitals to burn me out.  But on the other hand, I see enough small corps and farming corps in C5 that it seems they don't get burned out that often.

Where Should I Be in Wormhole Space?

I had an interesting question from a reader that he EVE-mailed me.  (This was just before Hyperion; I am writing this just after.)  With his permission, I am posting it here and  because I think that there may be a lot of people living out in kspace who are thinking about wspace, but don't know what level would be most suitable.

[UPDATE: After playing two days of Hyperion, I am not so sure C4 is the place for, well, most of the people who are currently there.  C4 space used to be isolated in feel, and distant.  Now it is the middle of a superhighway.  Very hard to zip up to make ISK.  So, take this whole post as a EVE-up-through Crius commentary.  I'll have more to day about this presently I am sure.]

We want to move from where we are... into a Wormhole...  I thought (and hoped) you could answer some of my questions. 

This is us:

• In our primetime we can field about 6-12 people, most of which have alts that they can put on different things. 

• There are times when we only have 1-3 members on at the same time.

• We will not be starting out with capitals, but it is something that we might be doing in the future.

When you look at that, do you think a C4 wormhole with a C3 or C4 static is a good choice?  Ideally we want things to do for all our members when they log on (what is the point if there isn't).  Do you reckon 1-2 people can run some sites in a C3 and a 10 man fleet won't be overkill for C4 sites? 

Of course we will be waiting for Hyperion to find ourselves a good WH (with the static changes to a C4 coming).

My response, expanded and modified:

You absolutely do not need capitals in C1-C4.  Many corporations in lower wspace eventually build a carrier for site running, because you get a logi and damage dealer in one character. This is efficient. Some people also build a dread for local defense, but it is only for that.  Note that it is impossible to bring any capital into C1-C4.  To have one there, you must build it there.  And then you cannot get it out; it is "system locked".  You may be able to sell it with the system, but do not expect to sell it easily.

In terms of what level of wspace to be in, I would suggest you'd do best in a C2 or a C4.  C1s are very poorly connected to the rest of wspace; C3s are somewhat poorly connected.  C5 and C6 are the domain of capitals and they are pretty much required there.  So let's look at C2 and C4 briefly.

C2s have dual statics, one to known space and one to wspace.  They come in C2/C4+hs, C2/C3+hs, C2/C5+ns, and C2/C2+ls.  There are also those with C1 and C6 statics; I am not sure what their second static is.  In any case, you could handle any of these.  Because C2s have a static into kspace, they always have one-hop access to known space.  This is handy for manufacturing (esp. highsec), PVP (lowsec), or some PVP and PVE (nullsec).  One downside of C2s is that people like them a lot, and so there are very few of them uninhabited, especially those with highsec statics.  You don't get a great amount of choice.

C4s, now that Hyperion is out, resemble C2s somewhat.  They do not have direct kspace access, but if you choose one with a static of C1, C2, or C3, you can get guaranteed access to a system with direct access.  Running logistics up a chain of one extra hop is slightly harder, but should not challenge a corp with more than two members.  The main problem in finding a way out is simply the scanning.  I kind of like scanning, but not everyone does.  If you live deep in wspace, you need to do a lot of scanning.

The main downside of C4s is logistics, although that is going to ease for most of them with Hyperion.  Sometimes you just cannot find a way out, at least not without hole-rolling.  One new downside is the dual static: it makes it considerably harder to zip up your system.   However, if you have dual statics both in C1-C4, then they should not be too hard to keep synchronized much of the time, with known times when they are both closed.  Just be sure to always instantiate them at the same time.

Your corp can handle either a C3 or C4 static, no problem.

One character can run a C3 site in a Tengu. I have done it, though I don't recommend it due to operational security. Still, two people (using perhaps four characters) should be fine.

I am in C4 with C4 static. (As of Hyperion, it is now C4/C4+C5.)  Our primary source of income is running C4 sites in battleships.  Two characters can do it: one logi, one battleship damage-dealer.  A dual T3 spider setup can also handle some of the sites.  However, that is rather inefficient.  It is better to have at least, say, four characters, perhaps two or three real people.  A single character can run C4 sites if in a Marauder (or a carrier); otherwise, not.  This is also not very efficient.  It helps to have a good fleet-booster.

We run C4 sites typically with 2-5 real people, which is 5-10 characters. 10 characters is not overkill here, although the sites go pretty fast.  Doing sites fast is not a problem when there are many, and often there are many.  In a C4/C4, you can use your 10 guys to roll wormholes to find more sites at need.

A gang of 12 people is enough to PVP fairly comfortably with many or most groups you will run into. So, don't be afraid to try that once you get your income going. What I like to do is cloaked hunting, which is fine solo, although having a few others to come with ship-killers can make it better. I assume you read Penny's blog, so you know what I am talking about.

As for "stuff to do" beyond PVP and sleeper PVE, it depends on what your guys like to do.  You can often mine gas and/or rocks in wspace if you like mining.  You can do industry.  A larger group can usually roll a wormhole to find something to do.  In smaller groups, this is less true.  My guys focus on different stuff, but we all have stuff we can usually do. I.e., several of us do exploration in nullsec or lowsec if nothing interesting is in wspace.  Of course we don't always get a good connection; sometimes is it rather boring.  It helps to have a highsec alt that you keep around for playing when wspace is not helpful.  (Or an alt in lowsec, nullsec, FW, red-vs-blue, etc. -- whatever makes you happy.)

I would suggest you go for a C4.   I think you'd be happiest in a C4/C3+C4, assuming that these exist.  (I don't know as yet what sort of dual combos there actually are, beyond that I know C4/C4+C5 and C4/C3+C2 exist.)  Do be aware that C4s have changed in character.  They used to be a sort of quiet backwater of wspace; with their new dual static I think they are about to get a lot more occupancy and traffic.  I expect many C4 systems to become homes of PVP oriented corps, sort of like C2s are now.

C4s currently are not well populated, so finding one should be pretty easy.  Go into wspace in a covert ops frig, and search.  I find abandoned C4s almost every day.  One particular opportunity right now is to get into a Black Hole. Before Hyperion, these were almost entirely abandoned because their PVE was so awful. It's about to get very good, if you use missiles.

Zipping Up in Hyperion

I had a nice conversation last night with a reader.  He had a question that I did not know the answer to.  Having now found it, I thought it would be of interest to most wspace residents.

For Hyperion, CCP are going to change things so that the K162 wormhole is spawned only when the first transit of the wormhole happens.  (This is good -- gives hunters an extra thirty seconds or whatever.)  In response to that, many wspace residents pointed out that it would probably decrease connectivity in wspace, perhaps quite a bit, because often times people fly to a wormhole to see what it is but then decline to enter it if it goes somewhere they don't like.  So, as of fairly recently CCP updated the dev blog to include a means to connect wormholes even if they are not transited:

Although K162 signatures will not appear as soon as a player warps to them (as they do currently), they will have a random chance to appear every several minutes once the wormhole connection has less than 15 hours of natural lifetime remaining.

Parenthetically, let me criticize this proposal: it seems unnecessarily harsh on lower wspace, and/or unnecessarily lenient on high wspace.  Wormholes in lower wspace have 16 hour connections.  This change would mean that a flown-to wormhole is "safe" only for an hour.  Meanwhile, in higher wspace connections are generally 24 hours, meaning they are safe for a full nine hours.  I'd propose either to make every wormhole connect up after 1 hour (or more generally, N hours for a small integer N), or to make it be a quarter of the total lifetime of the wormhole.  The former would serve CCP's apparent goal of higher connectivity; the latter would allow players to farm for a good amount of time.

Back to the main topic.  This new behavior was ambiguous about what happens if you don't fly to the wormhole.  Does it connect itself anyway?  And the answer to that is: no, it does not:

Even with the timer, K162s will never appear unless someone has initiated warp to the other side.  If you don't warp to a wormhole at all, the behavior of that wormhole will not be changing in Hyperion.

So, there's your answer, George.  No problem: we will be able to zip it up meaningfully in Hyperion just as before.

H900

A quick note.  Via foo, I heard rumor that the dual static C4s that are coming in Hyperion were implemented on Sisi.  Since I live in a C4, and they cloned the database since I last used Sisi, this was really easy for me to check.  I logged in to Sisi and scanned down my system.

There were five sigs in my system.  I found our normal static wormhole, which is an X877 (static C4/C4), first.  Then radar, gas, radar.  I was getting skeptical of this rumor as I scanned the last sig, and it was faint.  But, sure enough, the last sig was a wormhole.  Faint, so it must be high wspace... and yes, it is an H900 (static C4/ C5). 

So, that's a data point for you C4/C4 types: you may be getting C4/C4+C5.  Of course, you may be getting some other static.  But at least if CCP does C4s the way they did C2s, it's certain.  All C2s that have a C4 static also have a highsec static.  So I think there's a fair chance that all C4/C4s will go to C4/C4+C5.

Makes me wonder what the other C4s have.  But figuring that out would be work.  I think I'll read about it.  Or I'll just wait for Hyperion.

Hyperion

There is a new dev blog out that wspace residents will be interested in.  The next release of EVE, "Hyperion", is going to be wspace focused.

we are proposing the most significant package of improvements to wormhole space since the release of the Apocrypha expansion in 2009. 

These changes consist of:

• Wormhole effect rebalance
• A second static for Class 4 wormholes
• More randomly spawning wormholes
• Mass-based spawn distance after wormhole jumps
• K162 appearance only on first jump
• Loosening of bookmark copying restrictions

The devil is in the details.  But my initial read through has me favorable on most of these.  The only one I am still not sold on is the mass-based spawn distance.  It does not affect me personally much.  I am still concerned that it will mean no hunting of cloakies, and posted in their feedback to tell them that.