Wednesday 7 August 2013

Fixing C4's

There comes a time every month or two when C4 wormholes are brought up on EVE-O.

There's two flavours to these threads - one is "how do I make money?" and the other one is "why do they suck?" or a variety thereof.

Like anything in EVE, the "C4's Suck" gestalt is founded upon kernels of truth mixed in with sticky dough of bullshit. The kernels of truth are as follows;

The ISK is worse than C5's. But this is true of anything except C5's and maybe Incursions. You cannot escalate in C1 through C4 space, but that doesn't mean C4's are worthless if you do them right. They are not a fountain of blue poo, nor are they a fountain of nanoribbons like C1 sites can be. They are OK.

C4 anomalies are harder than C3's. This is true. The Sleepers are tougher, more numerous and RR themselves more effectively and more often than in C3's. They also scram in one of the sites, so it isn't all gravy. However, properly fit RR Tengus can turn C4 sites over very fast (3 minutes for 5 guys).BUGRY lived in a C4 Black Hole with N766 and we rolled Armour BS fleets with a Thanny or 2 Guards and the worst part were the turrets because of the gay tracking, but if you can tank them fine you smash the Sleepers and GTFO.

The logistics suck because they never get K-space connections. This is in fact the biggest drawback, especially for C4-C4's. Without a k-space connection you rely on the k-space connection of your static. If you have, eg, a N766 to C2 space you will get K-space all the time. You will get highsec on average every third day. it is no worse than living in a C2 with A239/D382 statics.

The worse holes for this are the C4's with X877 to C4 statics, because you risk falling into the linear C5 chain problem of C4 to C4 to C4 and its C4's all the way down. Or, best case, C4 to C3 to hisec.

However, the logistics aren't as bad as, for example, the C2's with E545 to null and N060 to C5; here you rely entirely on inbound K162's from Hisec. Or a C3 with K346, same deal but there's less K162's inbound.

There's no pew pew. This is partly true. Again, it depends on your static. We chose the N766 because of the static going to C2 space with it's branching chains which can literally go on forever. With an X877 you may not get much further than a C5 chain. This restricts the number of systems you can access for pew pew.

There's better choices. This may be true. If you want to run C3 sites, you go to a C5 with C3 static (if you can handle it), or a C2 with B274/0477 pair. If you want to run C4's, same choices or C5 or C2s. But, there are worse choices such as C1's with Z060 to nullsec, C1's with C6 statics, etcetera.

So, not the best or the easiest choice. But that doesn't mean they are worthless. They are quiet; if you organise yourselves and crack how to do them efficiently the X877 can deliver buttloads of C4 ISK in your static without dozens of visitors trolling in from hisec or lowsec.

Ultimately, though, they are the ghetto of w-space. They need a little something-something, and I've always said they need to be the C2's of the middle-ground; reconfigure them to connect one up and one down. eg; pair an X877 with an N766, or a C5/C1, or C6/C2 statics. Turn C4's into the conduit system of w-space, linking people of high and low classes together and turning them into a VERY well travelled, dangerous location.

Then the PVP will roll in, because you can harass the elite and murder the nubs and have double the chance of a decent logistical chain.

5 comments:

  1. I lived in a C4>C3 for a while and found it to be quite fantastic. Almost never had any K162's and the static could be rolled for pew, isk, or logistics.

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    1. yeah, wormholes are basically chosen for their statics. C4 with C3 is quieter than a C2 with B274/O477, and safer than a C5>C3 due to inability for aggressors to bring in dreads.

      In fact, the C4 is the most defensible system type out there and should remain so, save for as i suggest, nullsec transients. BUGRY got into a wardec (due to my charming personality) and the aggressors threatened to siege us out, but with decent hole control and some luck, we rolled and sat inside the hole for a week and did shit all; no way to attack you if you never spawn your static!

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  2. Interesting post about C4s, there's been a couple more than usual about them on the WH section of the EVE-O forums lately.

    As someone who just moved into a C4>C3 static, I'm actually liking what said situation can offer. The C4 itself doesn't get much traffic, because "lol it's a C4". And the C3 connection is great, for PvE or PvP. Albeit, the PvP is found outside the hole more often than not, but being able to roll the static C3, and find more sites is an invaluable tool, compared to living in a C3 static K-space that we had earlier.

    It's a great place for small groups to train up on the finer arts of WH living, especially while preparing to move up to a higher class wormhole, mostly because of its relative isolation compared to the higher and lower class WHs. As such, I would be very sad if they made C4s into a double static type system.

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    1. Well...double static systems only get traffic if you warp to them. If your static goes from C4>C3 to a C4>C2+C5 and you are antisocial, just don't warp to your statics. Thanks for the comment.

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  3. Best way to make the C4's worth something, is let them spawn ice belts, this will cause pew pew and reason to stay in them.

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