EVE Online Wormhole Farming: A Beginner's Guide

 
By Frank Lewis,
 
New capsuleers can earn millions of EVE Online ISK from wormhole farming after mastering these fundamental tricks of the trade.

However, if worse comes to worst, it is also very handy to know that one can also buy Eve Online ISK here.

Why Wormhole Farming?
Wormhole farming can result in spectacular ISK profits with some luck in drops after defeating the sleeper NPCs found in wormholes. The salvaged item Melted Nanoribbons, in particular, now selling for around 5 million ISK apiece as well as blue loot make dabbling in wormholes quite lucrative. Class 3 wormholes and up also offer great ISK and a nice break of pace from grinding missions.

How to Get Started
In terms of training, wormhole farmers would do well to focus on skills and modules on using scan probes. Wormhole farmers live and die by their skill in scanning, and it will be your bread and butter activity to pin down those wormholes and other lucrative locations such as sleeper conclaves and gravimetric sites. Covert ops skills are also essential.

Other general tips when venturing into wormhole space is to bring enough probes to be able to scan your way out. Also, make sure to update your clone and avoid using a clone with implants if you cannot afford to replace them since there is quite a bit of danger in wormhole farming against powerful sleeper NPCs and PvP gankers.

Getting Used to Wormhole Space
Wormholes can be likened to the wild, wide West. Repair facilities and local communication networks are virtually non-existent. This is why it is extremely important to find a dedicated wormhole farming corporation so that you can go in a wormhole confident that you can survive or escape when other players attempt to shut down your farming operation.

Focus First on Gas Cloud Harvesting
For new wormhole farmers, harvesting gas clouds is one of the easiest ways to earn ISK, according to blog.eveonline.li.:

"You only need one skill to harvest gas, which is in stark contrast to the array of skills you'll need to be an effective ore miner. Also, there are no specialized ships for harvesting gas clouds, so you don't have to train to fly an exotic ship (again in contrast to ore mining)."

Wormhole farmers are also advised to fly cruisers while exploring wormholes due to their speed and agility. Gankers can pop up at any time in a wormhole, and cruisers offer great escape capabilities as well as being cheap in case aggressive attackers do manage to lock you down and destroy your ship. Frigates and battlecruisers are also recommended choices.

More Effort, More Rewards
TalocanUnited.com describes the three major approaches to wormhole farming with rewards scaling based on the amount of planning and coordination that went into operation.

"Smash-and-Grab" - This is most common for solo players or those invested very little in wormholes.  A player will scan down a wormhole system from his location in "k-space," run a few sites, and sell the loot at the end of the day. Commitment needed is low, but so are the returns; in addition, wormholes that are easily scanned usually have PVPers prowling for easy kills.

"Hunting Lodge" - This is common for corps who find a wormhole rich in sites but don't intend to live there permanently. Instead, they'll set up a temporary POS (player-owned station) just long enough to farm the wormhole out, then return to more permanent residences in empire space.  This approach is a good mix of low commitment and high return, but requires finding a good wormhole and handling logistics properly.

"Farm" - A fact many people overlook about wormhole systems is the constant presence of static connections. It didn't take long for people to realize that the best long-term approach to wormhole profits is to set up in a system with desirable connections and then simply farm the daily statics. In-system sites and effects matter little, since you have a new neighboring system and new sites to run every day. And potentially even more, since you can "roll" (reset) your connection whenever desired.

The smash-and-grab approach can be a great starting approach for beginners who have yet to find a corporation and are still getting used to diving into wormholes. But before long, dedicated wormhole farmers will need to get into a good corporation that specializes in this activity. This is because the hunting lodge and farm approaches bring the best reward for effort spent, yet demands intensive cooperation among your corp mates. A good wormhole corps will train you and shower you with tips, and also allot ample resources to ensure that your wormhole expeditions are stabilized.


Previous Article | Go to Articles Overview | Next Article