General Stargazer’s Guide to Unidentified Wormholes – III
General Stargazer
How do i run the new complexes? What do i need to be aware of? What’s inside?
Now, I should say at this point that we spent the better part of 10 hours running the first complex before reaching the final room and discovering the fate of Hilen Tukoss (which was mentioned on the scope video not too long ago, but more on that later). We tried to find out the best way to communicate our positions to others in the fleet given the number of people and moving parts and decided the best way was a community art tool which essentially allowed us to draw a map of the complex. Marking who and what was in each of the rooms turned out to be essential. Regardless of the fleet composition you intend to use, the way the complexes are run in each of the wormholes is ultimately the same. The map/layout varies slightly between each of the wormholes, which I will outline further below. For ease of communication, we labelled each part of the complex with a different room name relating to what it did or where it was. Some of these rooms seemed to be subject to the presence of one of the “Roaming Drifters” and “Roaming Seekers.”What’s Inside:
Emergent Patroller [Frigate] – nothing special, travels fast, omni damage, no shield Emergent Escorts [Frigate] – webs at close range, travels fast, omni damage, no shield Awakened Patroller [Cruiser]- nothing special, travels fast, omni damage, no shield Sleepless Patroller [Battleship] – nothing special, moves slow, omni damage, no shield, big tank, long range. All of the above stay in the “room” they spawn in and respawn approximately every 15 minutes. Circadian Seekers – doesn’t “summon” Drifters upon destruction inside the complex, switches room position every 5-15 minutes. Travels fast, doesn’t follow in warp inside the complex, orbits at 10km, omni damage. Apollo Tyrannos – as dangerous as they are in known space, switches position every 30 minutes, does not follow in warp, over shield, doomsday, high speed, high omni damage, pod kills. Artemis Tyrannos – as dangerous as they are in known space, switches position every 30 minutes, does not follow in warp, over shield, doomsday, high speed, high omni damage, pod kills. Hikanta Tyrannos – Guardian of the vault, does not follow in warp, over shield, doomsday, high speed, high omni damage (we believe higher than the normal Drifters), kills pods. While i have stated that none of these follow you in warp, if you remain in a “room” and you travel faster than they do, they will eventually warp to you and the few seconds of range is generally enough for them to get a few good volleys off and usually kill you. The “follow in warp” rule applies only to either changing rooms or warping out of the complex. All the above ships, including the standard Sleeper ships incur a negative 12% faction loss with the Drifter Faction. (Essentially, after completing the 5 core wormholes i was at -9.3) Alpha/Beta/Delta/Gamma Access Units – These are the hackable “Keys” – they are yellow core difficulty. More on them below. Sleeper Databanks – These are hackable containers that appear in some of the rooms. So far, we’ve only found datacores in them. They are fairly low as far as monetary ISK gain once opened, but if you’ve got the free time to kill and are currently un-guarded, go for it. Beacons – you will be greeted by one of these wonderfully annoying objects every time you enter a room. You will appear between 5000-0m away from it. If you enter the room cloaked and they don’t decloak you, chances are a Drifter scanning it probably will! [Location name] Rifts – Simple rule, taking a Rift in any room will send you back to what I refer to as the Entrance room below. Acceleration Gates – The acceleration gates without a name aren’t the locked gates. Generally throughout the complex, if the acceleration gate is pointing in the direction of the room you just entered from, it is going to send you back there. [Location name] Access gate – These are gates are unlocked, and they lead you to the rooms with the Access Units inside. [Location name ] Transfer gates – These are the rubicon gates that are locked and unlocked by hacking the Access Units. When you advance through a transfer gate, there is typically no Acceleration gate to return you to the previous room.
The rooms:
All rooms listed below are susceptible to both roaming ships unless otherwise stated. The Entrance Easy enough – this is the beacon that you warp to once in the wormhole. You will be between 50-80km away from the acceleration gate. It is possible to warp to this beacon at various ranges. The Lobby This is the second room you enter after taking the first acceleration gate. It is the first room that has the two acceleration gates that necessitate splitting your fleet. It contains a rift to return you to the beacon as well. The Antechamber This is the second-to-last room and the third overall. I’m going to say this room is susceptible to both Drifters and Seekers, but during the 7 hours we spent in this room across all the wormholes, the only time we entered and found a Drifter was in the final Vidette wormhole. Seekers, however, were a common occurrence. [Revised note: This room is confirmed to now be susceptible to both Drifters and Seekers] When you enter the final room, there is one acceleration gate pointing back toward the lobby and one rift. This is the only room that has webbing Sleeper frigates. This room also contains a Sleeper databank. The Hive Room (Not susceptible to any roaming ships) This is the final room of the complex and contains the massive Hive structure seen in the Final broadcast of Hilen Tukoss scope video. The Hikanta Tyrannos aggros on warp in, is at a range of 250-400km and moves at around 2km/s giving it the ability to close that gap quickly. This room also contains the vault. Accessing the vault with a corresponding index in your hold causes you to enter the index where 10 elements are placed in your hold. (It’s impossible for anyone that doesn’t have an index to steal the elements.) [Revised note: as of late July, this room is also now susceptible to roaming ships] All of the above rooms don’t change position in any of the wormhole complexes; however, the ones below do. Transitioning rooms As you will see below, these rooms change in both position and number. To make it easier to explain, we simply named the rooms on the side with the alpha access, alpha 1, alpha 2, etc., then did the same for beta side (beta 1, beta 2 etc.). Some of these rooms have acceleration off into Access rooms. Some will have transfer gates. Some will have Sleeper databanks. Access rooms Access rooms contain the hackable access units. It should be noted that the Access Units will be named according to the gate they open. The Access unit will never open the transfer gate closest to the side it is on. Following the Alpha side of the complex, you will enter the Beta Access gate and Beta Access hackable container. Hacking it will open the Beta transfer gate. This means that, ideally, you want both sides to complete their respective hacks at the same time. Sometimes the hackers will then have to take an acceleration gate back to a previous room to advance further into the complex. The gates, once unlocked, will be open for 120 seconds before re-locking. Once locked, the hacking containers immediately become available to be hacked again. Failing a hack causes no spawn or damage.
Now that you know what to expect, here’s the how to run the complex:
This is written up based on how our group did it: the silent running tactic. Essentially, the Stratioses (we used 4) would get to the sites and advise if there were any Drifters and in what rooms. Everyone else was always one step behind them. Once we entered the wormhole, we made a safespot, cloaked and waited in that location until everyone was inside. The Stratioses then warped to the entrance beacon. If the beacon was clear, the rest of the fleet warped in and cloaked at the entrance. If there was a Drifter on the entrance beacon the fleet held position. When the Drifter warped out, it was 30 minutes from that time until the next swap will occured. We would normally give it another minute after the swap before reporting positions as they sometimes get stuck in structures, delaying their warp. It’s also possible for a Drifter to warp out of the room and then have another enter the same room moments later. Once the beacon was clear, the Stratioses then moved into the lobby, and once again, checked for Drifter presence. If there was none, the fleet moved from the entrance to the lobby. At this point, we split the ships evenly. Clearing the Sleepers in the lobby was certainly possible if we wanted to move across to the acceleration gates a little faster. We just had to make sure we weren’t cutting it close with the 30 minute Drifter swap timer. The last thing anyone wants is a Drifter warping in when they’re still killing the rats. At that point, your only option is warping out! After the Stratioses scouted the next rooms looking for Drifters, both sides of the fleet advanced. If there was a Drifter present, the rest of the fleet simply waited on the prior acceleration gate while cloaked until the next Drifter swap while re-assessing the situation. If the room cleared up in the next swap, but the room that the fleet was waiting in got a Drifter, we just had the fleet use the acceleration gate into the new room as the Drifter won’t follow. The next room was then cleared of any Sleepers, and the fleet can re-cloaked. At this point, the fleet was in Alpha 1 and Beta 1. Depending on which wormhole we were in, this is the first room that could have several different options in it. Regardless of these options, we got our non-covops cloaky ships to the transfer gate in this room. Once there, they cloaked up and held position. If there were access gates in this room, we used the Stratioses to get into the access rooms. These are the rooms that have to be clear of Drifters in order for the fleets on both sides to advance. So if there was a Drifter in the room, we had to hold up until the next Drifter swap and re-access. In an ideal world, both access rooms would be clear at the same time, allowing us to advance the fleet(s) in one big movement. Sometimes, however, it worked out that just one of the access rooms was clear. In these circumstances, the room without the Drifter is cleared and the hack is started with one of the dedicated hacking ships (We used Buzzards and Astero) we had on hand. One of the covert cloaky ships on the other side of the complex then advanced through the gate and reported on Drifter presence. If there was no Drifter, we moved that side of the fleet up while keeping one cloaky DPS and one hacker behind to unlock the gate once the Drifter has left. Once both sides can finally be hacked, everyone moved to the next rooms. It is definitely possible to solo the Sleeper presence in the first access rooms with an active-tanking Stratios. Reaching this point in the Drifter complexes is like reaching the Rubicon. You can’t bring anyone new into the complex, and if someone gets in trouble and has to warp out, you can’t bring them back in without everyone else also leaving. Once again, we used the Stratioses to scout for Drifters, advancing only when the rooms were clear.
Hacking both the Gamma and Delta Access Units at this point allowed the fleets to activate the transfer gates to the Antechamber. At this point, both fleets converged in this room. I don’t know if we were just lucky in the previous wormholes or not, but this room never had a Drifter in it or had one swap into it except in the Vidette wormhole. Typically if there were no Drifters inside, the fleet cleared the room, deployed mobile depots, swapped out the cloak for more role relevant utility modules and held on the acceleration gate.
If there was a Drifter in this room, we usually burned as quickly as possible to the acceleration gate and entered the site. Annoyingly, there are webbing Drifter frigates in this room, but they are approximately 150km away, and the acceleration gate is only 80km away, so you should be able to get there.
If we were lucky, had no Drifter and were able to refit, then the fleet did the following:
We sent in our meat shield DPS first, followed 5-10 seconds later by our logi to keep up the meat shields once they have initial aggro.
Once the warp in point was clear, or the overshield had been popped/doomsday fired, we brought in the rest of the DPS to finish off the ship.
There are two sets of Sleeper groups in support of the Hikanta, but they are usually based around two enclaves over 200km away, so typically the Hikanta is dead before they even get into weapons range.
In the Hikanta wreck, we found the index for the next wormhole which can be grabbed by your brick-tanked cloaky. It can then make its way to the vault and exchange the index for the elements.
The Hikanta, at the time of this report, is “farmable” in that it re-spawns about 15 minutes after the previous one dies. Obviously, the only thing restricting your farming are the ships you will lose to its doomsday each time. We found that anything less than three vexors wasn’t enough to take down the overshield.
I hope you all made it through that section, but it’s not over yet!
The final part of my report will cover, in detail, the maps we created along with my observations and tips for running these sites.
General Tips, Observations and Maps:
If you’re planning on silent running, patience and availability is key. You could be there a while! Remember: the access unit on the left side of the complex unlocks the right side’s gate and vice versa! You will also grow to hate beacons. I would advise leaving cloaking to the last possible minute. If you come in under 2000m from the beacon, pulse your MWD in any direction to quickly get away and cloak. If you are de-cloaked at warp in, you’re not going to get the time to re-cloak given the cooldown. The volley damage from the Drifter ships, unmitigated, is somewhere in the region of 8000. That’s approximately 2000 DPS, so keep that in mind! We don’t have any proof, but it felt as though the Hikanta was capable of doing higher amounts of conventional weapon damage. We brought Vexors as someone previously observed that doomsdays would, on occasion, hit drones. On all of our runs, the drones were never doomsdayed. Sleeper battleships and the Drifters hate large drones and Geckos. Every time they were deployed they went straight for them with their conventional weapons systems. Mixtures of mediums, smalls and sentries were used accordingly, or heavies if the pilot had good drone management. If you’re cloaked in a room, keep at least 15-20km from objects. When Drifters swap positions and when seekers come in, they can de-cloak you. They normally warp in by the structures, containers or beacons. (“Expert Pilot” Lucas Raholan was caught out by this one!) Destroy or salvage wrecks if you have the time. When you have a fleet of cloaked ships and there are wrecks on the field, it’s like moving through a minefield. Drifters align prior to warp. When it’s time for the Drifter swap, they will align out and accelerate like our ships. Drifters are fast, clocking speeds up to 2700 m/s. As such, keep your distance. Also, keep in mind that if they try to align while near a structure, they will keep “bouncing” until they get off of the structure. Speed is a huge asset for the Sleepers these complexes. I’d highly recommend double webs and a target-painter if possible. In addition, make sure you bring a MWD to get around as quickly as possible. Successful hacks of either unit will put a message into local advising that access is granted. Additionally, when the gate relocks, another message pops up advising that access is denied. Be aware as everyone in local will see this message. Most would-be PvPers currently in these complexes are typically scared off by the Drifters once they are in the complex. That’s not to say that you’re 100% safe inside. Still keep an eye on D-scan as you may end up with someone following you as you advance or if a big enough fleet you’re just going to get steamrolled. Pursuit is not a thing inside the complexes. When I first entered the wormhole, I flew a confessor (it was a wolf rayet, so it made sense!). I warped in 5/6 times to the beacon which had a Drifter on it, waited for an aggression salvo and then warped off. At no point was I pursued. Once in a room, the Drifter will essentially guard that room for the allotted 30 minutes. [Note: Since this report was first written, combat has evolved again, and the drifters will now attempt to warp disrupt you from any range from the moment they engage] Drifters will pod kill you as you can see in the video (see below). I’m watching my drones get alphaed off the field by the Drifter after which it turns on my pod and pops me in one shot. This holds true when leaving the wormhole as well. If you’re 80km off the wormhole in your pod, don’t be surprised if they give you express ride home! Maps of Unidentified Wormhole complexes Conflux Vidette Redoubt Sentinal BarbicanMy own comments and feedback
I was part of the initial group that completed these wormholes on Sisi. That op brought us the first pictures of the massive hive structures circulated widely on Reddit. While it was difficult when we completed it on Sisi, the Drifters weren’t defending the rooms in the complexes, so once we figured out the mechanics, we were able to complete the sites fairly quickly with a smaller group. After The Scope announced Broadcast from Hilen Tukoss, the Drifter presence in the complexes became very prominent and really turned the complex into a challenging one! I can honestly say that during the exploration of the site, I have never felt such emotion towards exploration! To be in a game exploring the unexplored and seeing the unseen was an indescribable mix of both terror and joy. From the day i created my first real main in 2003, I have been entranced by the lore of Eve and even more so, the ability for us players to be a part of a story, to be living in it to the point of total immersion. Live events are something I always strive to be a part of because of that connection with “the bigger picture,” having an understanding of what’s going on around you and why it’s happening, then seeing it written into the history of the game. From the Jovian Emissary touring the universe, the Gallente Frontier Tours Limited distribution of the Guardian Vexors, Sansha attacks prior to incursions and even the Minmatar Nags attacking the Gallente Moros in the battle of Colelie, I’ve been there and plan on being there for the foreseeable future. I’ll be the first to admit, however, that my “role playing” interactions are normally pretty limited. I know the background story of the universe as it’s written; the chronicles, the books and the lore. I even got involved in the Arek’Jalan project launched by CCP Dropbear, got my name linked on one of the project pieces (Item Database link to “Research Abstract: Project Trinity” here) in addition to my name being added on the Wiki as being part of their security division. That being said, if someone interacts with me, I’ll return that gesture in kind, but I’m a realist as well. I’ll interact and go along with what I see as plausible without perhaps instigating alternative branches to an ongoing story. I go with the flow of the story in the moment. I always had in my head that the storyline branches introduced by CCP are decided in full before being set in motion, essentially tying in what they want to get out of something and why. Eve’s eventual story was predestined. Take the idea that we saw at Fanfest; the idea of player made stargates. It was put in for us to see that we will be able to choose our destinations, create our own doorways to new locations and operations. It is essentially where they want to be with the story in 5 years time. It’s like having a glimpse into a stories end, without seeing the journey of how we got there. Then, the Fanfest trailer came this year. It really brought the story forward into the light along with the full realisation that the players are that “middle part”, the writers of the story. Certainly, we have assets that are put in front of us for a developing story, it’s us that are the ones that are recording and telling that story. That moment became even clearer to me after we discovered the remains of Hilen Tukoss. Our group, full of people (of which can all be found in the reference below) that are involved in RP community and knowledgeable about the goings on of the universe, was lucky enough to discover Tukoss’ remains. We had agreed at the start of the expedition given the various backgrounds and that regardless of who was in the fleet, that we would collectively share the reward (whatever it may be!) when the time was appropriate. Therefore when we found the corpse/remains of Tukoss, Makoto put up a post on the IGS forum on behalf of the whole group, advising the community of his fate. What we didn’t share at that time was that we also found the only “remains” of him, a cerebral slice, which has finally been reported after a scientific analysis to try and determine what happened to him after that broadcast and why we haven’t seen him reactivate into a new clone. What you obviously won’t find in that analysis is our behind-the-scenes discussion with CCP. I spoke to CCP Affinity (and confirmed that it would be ok to make this discussion public) after we discovered that we had the cerebral slice and asked her if she wanted us to kind of steer the storyline in any particular direction with our analysis on the remains of Tukoss. We didn’t want to guide the story off into a direction that CCP hadn’t planned for, lest we ruin the rest of the story arc. The response I received was one of the best interactions between a games company and a player in all my years of gaming: “We will work with whatever you guys decide 🙂 It could definitely go in some very awesome directions.” What other company in the world can give players that much flexibility to tell and live in the story? Not only that, but what a great answer to give to a group of players holding the pen and the ink to write in the book. We can lead the story wherever we want it to go! So get out into the eniverse, get involved and be a part of the story. You never know where your story might lead and you never know who might share your vision and support it! I hope you’ve enjoyed my report and it has helped you all understand these new systems a bit better! Pictures of the entire adventure can be found here. I will be continuing to cover Drifter-related news in the upcoming weeks, speculating and verifying where I can! If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an Eve mail ingame to “General Stargazer,” and I’ll be happy to help answer them!About the author
General Stargazer
General Stargazer has been around since 2003 and served in corporations in almost every type in the universe. He has a keen interest in Eve developing story through live events and background in the lore. His pass time in Eve now is more of community interaction, documentation and video making.
