Wormholes for Noobs

There are innumerable posts from noobs asking what is the best ship for w-space, what can a nooob do in w-space, etc etc. For example.

This is of course, not a simple question nor is it a simple answer, given the near infinite variables of how skilled is your noob, what race ships, what class wormhole, and if it is solo or not. However, there are a few things for noobs in wormholes which are totally independent of anything.

For a start, we have gas huffing. The Venture has enough sucking power to huff down a good portion of C1 and C2 site gas before the sleepers spawn. The ship takes about a week to get to level 4, and a week for gas harvester II's. You can huff gas in all classes of wormhole which you can find; even a noob can huff C320 for megabucks.

Secondly, we have ore anomalies. Very dangerous, and requiring tight d-scan discipline, but otherwise lucrative even if you have to haul your shit to hisec. ABC ores are still good ISK for solo explorers or noob residents.

Thereafter, if you are a noob, you had best find yourself a corp in a C1 or a C1. It won't be easy, but a properly fit out Caracal or a Drake in a C1 is sufficient to do the sites. They make you plenty of ISK. When you have your T2 tanking skills, you can move up to C2 sites.

C3's, yu will need to do these as a group. RR Domi's, RR Ravens, Drake Blob or armour cruisers (4-6) plus Augorors (2) or the equivalent Caracals and Ospreys, and you'll be able to complete C3 sites efficiently as a small gang. RR Assault Frigs are also a good way to go here, if you can sort the method out (RR Ishkurs/Vengeance/Retri) and especially if you are raiding magnetar or Wolf-Rayet space.

C4 and C5 anoms aren't the place for noobs, except as salvage or security detail.

PVP wise the noob's job is best fulfilled by plugging ECM or logi roles in the fleet if it is a typical AHAC/T3 or kitchen sink gank fleet. ECM is not quickly mastered to full effectiveness but a decent Celestis fit can easily damp out enemy Falcons, logi's or snipers. BB's are good Falcon jammers and if you're going for TP's, you'll choose the Vigil hands down.

T1 Logi is swiftly trained (Cruiser 4, RR skills, cap skills will take a month or 6 weeks) and relatively easily mastered. Scythes are fearsomely effective solo logi boats for their price, Exequrors will be exceptionally valuable for an armour T3 fleet (at 90% resists, your rep power is magnified wildly) and a decent Augoror pair will anchor a small gang's effectiveness - especially if it includes ECM boats like Falcons, etc.

In the realm of BS PVP if you can do it, the Armageddon I think is the most effective way for a noob to get into WH PVP fleets. Even a noob can get into a brick-plated neut monster Geddon in a month (Amarrr BS 4, meta-4 neuts, smartbombs, metalevel tank with EANM II's, heavy drones). One Geddon landed in range of enemy logi or laser DPS will monster the enemy, hands down. 

If there's no need for logi or ECM, then gank is the key. Assuming you've got a bit of ISK behind you, the best place to be as a noob is Navy Faction Cruisers. You can get excellent gank and tank out of these ships, and supreme gang for your buck. 

I think that while wormholes are a hard place to live, challenging logistically and mentally, there's so many video guides and walkthroughs of the whole environment that it isn't as hard as noobs may think. It does take practise and habit forming to progress to a decent level, but as I have shown, there are roles to fill for noobs in almost all w-space.

Sure, you won't be able to do much in C5 space right from the get-go, but there aren't many C5 corps who'll even consider someone who can't or won't fly a T3. Still, you do need to work your way up to things.