One of the changes brought in by the Hyperion release is a whole new class of wormhole- a ‘frigate wormhole’.
The new class of random wormholes will have a very low maximum jump mass, navigable only by frigates, destroyers and multi-bubble heavy interdictors. They will also enjoy a very high stable mass and will be the first wormhole connections in EVE to regenerate mass over time. This means that collapsing these wormholes will be nearly impossible, and they will virtually always last to the end of their 16 hour lifespan.
These new small ship wormholes will only originate in W-space systems, and can lead to any other W-space systems or to nullsec space. The chance of connections between the extreme ends of the spectrum (very high class to very low class and vice versa) will be somewhat lower to ensure that low-class wormholes do not become flooded with frigate fleets from higher classes. http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/into-the-known-unknowns/
There appear to be seven types of wormhole. All originating from wormhole space. Their unique signatures indicate where they lead to:
E004 – leads to C1
L005 – leads to C2
Z006 – leads to C3
M001 – leads to C4
C008 – leads to C5
G008 – leads to C6
Q003 – leads to Nullsec
Maximum jumpable mass: 5 000 000 kg.
Lifetime: 16hrs
Maximum mass: unknown, regenerates.
Unsure at the moment is how much mass is regenerated over time. Though, for certain, this new mass regeneration will make the wormhole difficult to deliberately close.
It will be interesting to see how the wormhole community adapts to these new connections. A wormhole which you can possibility get hundreds of players through in frigates/destroyers/multi-bubbled HICS (with mobile depots and appropriate refits)? Or, thinking pve; massed venture fleets wiping out valuable mining belts or lucrative gas clouds.
More ganks? Certainly there will be more opportunity for ‘unwelcome’ visitors. Miners will not be able to close these new connections and run increased risk of gank. Get a scout in? No worries.
More pvp opportunities? Frigate fights in wormhole space? Will nullsec soon be overrun with wormholer’s in massed frigate/destroyer/HIC gangs? A combined wormhole alliance/corp frigate roam is already in the works. Or will the opposite occur? Will nullsec groups find the other side and start running their own gangs into wormhole space?
How do you know it’s a frigate wormhole from the outside (K162)? Well you don’t, until you try and jump something bigger through (and fail) or you take a look at the signature from the other side. So what about your shiny probing, nullified t3? You got it- it will be decloaked and unable to jump through. RIP probing t3 if a hostile gang happens to be chasing you or a cloaked tackler is waiting for just that opportunity.
Frigate wormholes. Love them or hate them, they are certainly going to provide more content to the wormholes.
