We’ve begun exploring the unknown systems of wormhole space in Eve Online. I had my first encounter with the freaky Sleeper alien ships last night. I then returned to normal space slightly richer, and slightly wiser. The wormhole – an unstable, temporary gate to an uncharted region – was still open when I logged out of Eve, and so I let my corporation chums know it was there. About an hour later one of them IM’d me: “We’re trapped. The wormhole closed behind us.” His account of the event is posted below.
A Brief Wormhole Adventure, by Roburky:
This wasn’t meant to be much of an adventure, but it turned into one. Jim told me that there was a wormhole in T22, just one jump from our base, so I logged on to check it out. One of our corp members who had already been in gave me the bookmark, and then I scouted him out of Syndicate so he could sell his billions of isk-worth of Sleeper loot in empire.
There didn’t seem to be a friendly alliance gang in the wormhole, and there were no other corporation members about, so I thought I’d just send my alt-character through and practice some probing. The wormhole said it had plenty of mass left, but was nearing the end of its natural life. I spent a while considering whther I should go through, and if I did go through, whether I should go back and get a cheap frigate or something, in case I got trapped. I decided to go for it, with the Arazu – an expensive recon ship.
I discovered there were a bajillion exploration sites in there to be found. The first one I found was a mining site. The second one I found was a mining site, but with five Sleeper frigates at it. I thought about it. Can I kill 5 frigates solo? What if there’s another wave, though? I should play it safe. I should get some backup.
I called Neil in over Steam from his Total War game. I fitted out a drake, and he got his Sleipnir (a combat-focused command ship). We both fitted a salvager module, and went in. The frigates died easily, and there was no extra waves. We were scooping up the loot when Spiffeh, a corpmate, told me to read alliance chat. Someone was asking if anyone had gone through the wormhole recently. Because it had just collapsed.
We were trapped. The only way out was gone. We’d have to trust the dev’s word that there would always be another wormhole somewhere in system. And we’d have to hope it wouldn’t take us to some far-off, dangerously hostile region, such as Period Basis or Branch, or worse: another wormhole system. The best we could hope for was somewhere safe in empire. Whatever happened, we knew it was going to take a long time to get home.
We spoke into the dark local chat channel – which is blank by default in wormhole space – and got two replies. Another Huzzahian, and some random blue (allied) guy. We got them into our fleet. Random blue guy and my alt were the only ones with probes. So we got to work looking for another wormhole, while the others amused themselves with shooting each other in one of the exploration asteroid belts. Spiffeh offered moral support over Ventrilo.
Huzzahian soon had to leave. We tried to figure out a way we could get the bookmark for the new wormhole location to him if we found one. We eventually decided he would leave himself logged on, and if we found anything we would gang warp him to it. Random friendly Guy with the other probe launcher logged off a while after. Neil left for food after that. I was left on my own.
I was feeling horribly guilty by this point. I had dragged Neil in here in his expensive ship without even remembering myself that the wormhole timer was running out, let alone warning Neil. I was feeling the weight of the responsibility of being the only prober that other people were relying on, and getting increasingly frustrated and depressed at my ineptitude at the task.
There were so many cosmic signature readings wherever I moved my probes. If I scanned with several probes, I got a forest of little red dots. Tracking any one signature seemed impossible. I’d think I was following one reading down to a smaller scale, then somewhere I’d get misdirected back onto the trail of a site I’d already found. I spent hours on it, gradually improving my methods as I figured out how it all worked. I started systematically working through the possible signatures, warping to them and bookmarking them. Mining site after mining site. But each one I found made the map of little red dots a little easier to navigate.
Neil came back after his tea, and I fleet warped him to some of the mining sites I’d found with sleepers in them, so he could kill and loot them to keep busy. When the entertainment was gone, he logged off to play some more Empire. I carried on probing.
After three or four hours of this, something turned up on the scan results with a type that wasn’t gravimetric. It wasn’t going to be a mining site. It was ‘unknown’. “Are wormholes ‘unknown’?” I asked in corp chat. Nobody knew. I probed harder.
It was a wormhole. A sweet, sweet, unstable wormhole. Through it, I could see a system that was blue and black, with a cream coloured tube of cloud running through it. It was familiar to me. This was somewhere in Known Space, I was sure of it. I felt a sense of accomplishment greater than any I’ve felt in Eve to this date. I called Neil back in to the game. He went to fetch the AFK Huzzahian, and fleet warped his hawk over to the wormhole. I logged on my main again. We all gathered at the edge of the wormhole for a moment, and took some celebratory screenshots. “Who’s going to go first?” I said.
I went in. And I laughed. It was only 5 jumps from home.
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@Bas:
Buying more servers does not solve the problem. If you have more computer nodes, they in turn need to increase the communication bandwidth between these nodes. That’s harder than it sounds.
Also there are things that simply cannot be made faster just by throwing more computer power at it. For a more in-depth example take a look at Amdahl’s law.
@ Bas: they already did that, the current servers can cope with 200-300% what they used to. The architecture of the game is not the same as other MMOs, however. It’s a single galaxy, which means it can actually “fill up”.
Re stations inside wormhole systems: Yes, maybe they will prove to be practicable, especially in hi-sec systems, but it’ll take some extreme dedication. People are already trying it, and Eve players are nothing if not dedicated. So I guess we’ll see.
I have my own experience with wormholes.
Random guy in militia forms a small fleet to explore a wormhole, so I go it with the only ship I can afford right now (a frigate, my character is one month old after all). We go in, only to be welcomed by a bunch of pirate players who destroy us, I only have time to warp with my capsule to a planetary corpse with other guy.
Problem, we are both in capsules, we have no way to search where the wormhole was located in that space, we can do nothing and attempts of convincing the pirates in local to give us the location and let our capsules escape are answered with laughs (yes, pretty naive I know, but worth a try). So we asked one of the guys in fleet that were podded if he could came back one sec so we can warp to him and try to escape, which he very kindly does.
Sadly it has not a happy ending, as soon as we warp the pirates tacked us and destroyed our capsules, so I lost the expensive augmentations I had (fortunately, my clone was updated). The good news is that I have another happier wormhole story, where I come as part of a fleet that defeat some sleeper guardians (the random shoot AI is pretty nasty, all my shields were one shooted a few of times, luckily I could escape).
I’m in love with the game and for being a newbie I think I’m having lots of nice experiences.
You went in with a HAC the first time around? I can’t see you soloing these sleepers in anything smaller.
We went in with some BS’s and got a few of those Argus (Argos?) sleepers. Pretty odd loot but totally overpriced in Jita right now.
Another question. What T3 are you going for first? THe Legion looks really pretty as does the Tengu which is odd for a Caldari ship so I will settle for that.
@Jesse McLaighin & elffas
Wormwhole ’stage’; the notion that should an advanced player wish to continue to move up the ‘level ladder’, they need the technology and wealth from the wormhole sector.
I could attempt to sail across the Atlantic in a badly made coracle if I wanted to, just because I could does not mean I will. It sounds like venturing into wormhole space without decent equipment would be pointless, even if you did happen upon something decent – the whole reason for going there – how would you get it back?
No one forces you to play the game, nor even to venture to into WHS. My post questions whether the mechanics of the add-on restrict player freedom as the game and community (pvp) forces you into a bottleneck as you compete to be a player with power/impact/charisma. Venturing into WHS is not an unknown risk, same as normal space, you could loose your ship, pay the fines, get respawned. Even ’saving’ is the same. However in normal space you would try to not save in the middle of an enemy or pirate sector, so that when you load up your not stranded, by yourself, in the middle of no-where without friends, or worse instantly destroyed by enemies in the area.
@Jim
“Re inaccessibility: It’s one of Eve’s most important features.”
Jim, could you explain – sure any game wants to attract new players, but do you mean important ‘outstanding’ features or important currently in game, or is ‘important’ in that the developers place emphasis in the game for new players. You also said that EVE could become oversubscribed – is not WHS designed to alleviate this problem whilst maintaining the storyline?
Perhaps I should clear up that EVE, as a game, appeals to me. A community game, heavy in game technology and scope for development. Player controlled empires and economies, but I think EVE’s failing is considering and applying mechanics that restrict players. Many of the ideas in game reflect the philosophies of ‘leveling and grind’, openly or covertly. For example, a new player needs time to adjust get some skills and orientate himself in the universe, whether they use a guide or not – but the whole game stills seems massively bewildering rather than encouraging players to pursue a path that will be rewarding. By playing the game you take the chance that it may not ‘be’ a game for you because you are constantly fending of or being wary of players that ‘do’ go through wormholes, that ‘do’ build massive corporations with the sole intention of gaining ISK to get more ISK to get bigger cruisers to get more ISK……
In this sense, EVE seems a little too similar to many parts of the world (Earth world), people’s fun spoiled by those who have forgotten the reason why they started to play.
@Jim: I’m fascinated by EVE in many respects (which currently don’t include — maybe oddly — the actual individual user’s gameplay). One of the things that interest me is the game server architecture. And this is the first time I read a suggestion that it might not be scalable or that the galaxy might “fill up” as you say. It would be great if you could provide or link to some more information about that.
Mil: I think it’s more about the availability “habitable” space, particularly in 0.0. Due to the nature of alliance politics these days, and the ability of large alliances to project power over large distances (thanks to the logistical abilities of capital ships, jump portals, jumpclones and the like), a sizable proportion of nullsec space is in the hands of just a few powerblocs.
Even though much of this space is empty, the fact that it is within the sphere of influence of the big boys makes it very difficult to actually “live” there – sooner or later, any infrastructure you try to erect will be kicked over. The only real way to get established in the almost-empty regions is to join the bloc, or else create your own.
This means that, say, small alliances wanting to carve their own little niche are pretty much limited to regions where there are NPC stations, of which there are only a limited number, unchanged from the early days of the game – and they’re becoming increasingly crowded.
I’m simplifying somewhat, and there are exceptions, but it boils down to the (ever-increasing) “independent” 0.0 population being stuck in just a few regions, while powerful alliances are able to control vast tracts of empty space.
Mil: it’s a static universe. There’s a limited number of systems, astroid belts, and so on. The Wormhole thing is directly linked to this: it provides more space, and takes people out of “real” space. Eve is scaleable in the sense that they could add bits on, as they have done with the wormholes, and the drone regions before that, but there’s nevertheless finite about of “space”.
Also see Janek’s reply above.
But it’s larger than that: some areas are actually over-subscribed, because they attract so many players. the key example of it “filling up” is the ongoing problems with core trade hub Jita, which regularly hosts over 1000 people at any one time. The system has been know as a kind of black hole of lag for years, and much of CCP’s server development has been intended to support that system.
The same is true for fleet battles: where 100 vs 100 was a once a big battle, now 400 vs 400 is possible, and fairly routine.
If necessary, couldn’t they add another whole previously-unexplored galaxy to the universe, or something?
Great game. I wish I had the patience for MMORPGs…
Shard: Yeah. In fact they’ve already added space several times – first with the drone regions, then with lowsec Black Rise for faction warfare, now with wormhole space.
Thing is, it doesn’t solve the core problem of overcrowded NPC regions (which since we live there is all I care about ¬_¬) – drone regions got gobbled up quickly, Black Rise isn’t 0.0, and living in W-space is impractical.
But you’re right, chucking in another two or three 0.0 regions with NPC stations would reduce the problem, if only temporarily.
Re 0.0. space, I remember having read a recent interview with an EVE developer (or maybe a blog post), which said more or less that at the moment 0.0 alliances feel compelled by the game mechanics to hold on to as much space as possible, but that CCP are planning to address that next.
Re Jita: yeah, I can see how that could be a problem, but CCP could just give everyone the ability to trade with the closest 2-3 systems (at the moment I understand you have to train a skill to be able to do this) so there’s no reason for all that people to be concentrated in a single system.
Pah to Jita. Dodixie is sheer horror atm. Its one of (if not the) main trade hub of Gallente space. After the Apoc it seems to be capped at about 200 people. This is no where near enough in the evening where the server actually disconnected me (and quite a few other people) then when we logged back in asked us to move to an adjacent system :/. Even now I have ships left in there that I cannot reach. And about a dozen buy orders not being filled :)
Overall though its a little thing really. I’ve been happy cruising about in my covert-ops scanning down WHs for my corp to exploit.
Good stuff, Roburky, nice read.
Nice writeup. Made me go reactivate my EVE trial account. I want to like this game, I really do!
If anyone has any advice on a good noob friendly corp (or maybe a RPS one?) or would mind answering a few questions, drop me a line. (daniel@r1ft.com)
Re newb-friendly corps, EVE University seems to be very highly recommended by many people. You should be able to contact them in-game.
To the many that are unsure how a new player can get along in EVE….it is a huge misconception, even by many that play EVE. That low SP players are weak and useless… i found this out when our corp joined a more PvP alliance…. our corp is mostly miners and PvE mission runners….
I was very surprised to find out that even thou I had an extra million or two skillpoints and could fly bigger ships they had vast more PvP experience and could wipe my battleship with there smaller PvP fit ships with ease.
If you start EVE, find a corp….they will help you out and bring you to exactly where you want to go if you are willing to put in the time and effort EVE is a great game.
“The same is true for fleet battles: where 100 vs 100 was a once a big battle, now 400 vs 400 is possible, and fairly routine.”
This is very true and an issue of lag, the last major battle to be talked about had over 600 ships destroyed.
To add to what Fergie said on the new player experience:
I had been playing WoW(flamesuit activated) for a while and craved a SCI-FI MMO. EVE looked like a great fit. The offline skill system appears great until you realize the amount of time it will take you to actually be able to do anything effectively. This can be months away or even years depending on your goal. Yes, you can go out there and PvP in a frigate with relatively low skillpoints, but you are going to be extremely easy pickings. About the only thing you can do in EVE from the start effectively is mining and mission running. These are incredibly boring with the exception of the more advanced missions that require much larger ships and friends to be able to do.
I played EVE for roughly 8 months. I even made my way out into 0.0 with a good corp to experience “real pvp”. This consisted of two things. The first was large fleet battles that were nothing more than focus firing one target after another with very little tactics until one side won. The other was small PvP that consisted mainly of either camping out at a gate for hours with the hopes of seeing anyone or getting ganked when traveling back from empire space. Even if you did find someone while camping, you had to spend a significant amount of time actually hunting them down.
I, like many here, really wanted to like this game. However, there are just too obstacles to have to overcome. I’m praying someone else can make a game with the good points of EVE without the pitfalls.
Thats not that bad — how bout this one…
So I found a WH in the same system I had a pos at, I spent 3 hours going in and out in small ships running anomolies in the system taking out some sleeper loot.
Leaving my scanner ship at my pos, i went in one last time finished an anomoly, and fly back to the wormhole to get my salvager ship — and what do I see on overview?
NOTHING
yep you guess it, stuck all alone in a WH with no probes to find my way out..
Now thats a bitch ;)
“I can’t see you soloing these sleepers in anything smaller.” was soloing sleepers in a wolf but then the wh went pop and I had to self destruct my ship and pod was a happy day.
Agreed, EVE has a painfully steep learning curve. I’ve been playing for three days now, and still have essentially no idea what’s going on. Each item has almost an infinite number of attributes which only adds to the confusion, and the time it takes to actually learn new skills is ridiculous.
Though it does give you a reason to stop playing every now and again. After all, if you have to wait for a few hours to learn the requisite skill to pilot a cruiser, what else are you gonna do? Mine? Yeah, okay.
In closing, I’d say that the game definitely holds promise, but the difficulty factor is keeping me wary about its survivability: at least in my life.
Through all three games I’ve played, I’d say the difficulty flows as such (in order of most difficult to easiest):
EVE Online > EverQuest 2 > World of Warcraft
But I agree with other posters: reading posts like this makes me want to perservere and see how far I can make it.
Wormholes are amazingly good fun.
I’ve been playing the game under a month and my corp and I are capable of hauling in loots totalling 200,000,000+ from certain sleeper sites.
Join an established wormholing corp and get a BC with decent shield resists.
A few points after reading this entire comments thread.
My corp has been living in a single wormhole system for a couple of months now. It is a Class 5 with a Pulsar Anomaly.
We have a member who is barely 3 months into the game, and is already a very active and useful member of the team.
Living out of a large POS, and relying on your fellow corpmates for things like, scanning out new entrances/exits to empire (to allow members who have left the wormhole for shopping or industrial reasons, OR if they’ve been podded), for running Class 5 Mag/Radar plex in a team of BS, harvesting/hauling Fullerite Gas (C-320 ftw!), scanning the system each day for the new sites/wh’s, and many other things.
All these things we do as a corp, and the new members who are still learning the tricks of EVE, are getting a full experience out here. Being a low SP character doesn’t prevent you from taking advantage of wormholes, even if you can’t set up structures in one of the systems. They can be involved in the logistics, they can haul or harvest VALUABLE gas (6000 units of 320 is worth a billion ISK or more), there’s always opportunity to learn how to use the new scanning system (I love it), and overall, it teaches you how to operate as part of a team.
The PvP within wormholes is superb, and in my opinion has hailed a new era in eve combat.
The mechanics of wormholes mean several things,
1, USUALLY no capital ships, being too large to fit in most wormholes, these are very rare to find in w-space.
2, the death of blob-warfare. There’s very little chance of hopping into a wormhole to find yourself confronted by a 50 man roaming HAC gang
3, No local list, means hunting is easier, your prey will not always instantly notice you, or your combat probes, on their scanner. Similarly if you’re mining or harvesting etc, you have to be more vigilant, and keep your eyes on that scanner window looking for hostile probes.
.. and if you DO find yourself with hostile neighbours, you can rest safe in the knowledge that after downtime the next day, the wormhole will no longer lead to their system.
An experienced, high skillpoint player, will fare the same as a relatively low sp player in wh-systems.
The NPC’s are fearsome (in the higher class systems), the logistics require consideration, but the rewards are huge)
The mining/scanning/harvesting requires the most basic of specialized skills, and many different types of ships are adaptable to do these things.
As a few others on this thread have mentioned, Apocrypha has piqued my interest once again, in a game that I felt was going a little stale.
I’m planning to go on a week-long ramble through wormhole space, from WH to WH in a cov ops with a friend in a combat ship, seeing what there is to see, going where the ever-shifting tide of wormholes takes me.
If it’s note-worthy, I will report on the trip when I’m safely back in my C5.