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Brave Hole Divers
If you've been on a fleet with the Brave Hole Divers, or just heard that there's an opportunity to make dank isk in wormhole space by working with fleets, this guide is intended to be your next step. The information contained herein should be enough to get you out and running your own fleets. If you're just joining, not everything here will be essential, but it's all useful for you to know. The wormhole krabbing fleets are generally one of the more laid back and casual fleet experiences, so you should feel free to get as involved in fleet command activities as you want.
At a very high level, these fleets are just small groups of pilots who run the combat sites in C5 wormhole space. The rats in those sites (called sleepers) drop loot that can be sold to NPCs for significant value. An efficient and well run C5 fleet can generate over 150mil isk/hr per participating player.
In a Nutshell, the gameplay loop is:
- Find an eligible C5 near GE-8JV
- Run the combat sites with spider tanked drone boats (Dominixes and Nestors)
- Collect the loot and optionally salvage the wrecks
- Sell the loot at an NPC station with the appropriate buy orders(like in Stain)
If that sounds interesting to you join #brave-hole-divers channel on Slack, as this is where we hang out, theorycraft, spam pings and ping out fleets.
Finding an Eligible Wormhole
The first step in running a wormhole ratting fleet is obviously finding an eligible wormhole. With some minor exceptions, what you're looking for is a Convenient, Safe, and Lucrative C5 wormhole. If you are not already familiar with wormhole characteristics, review https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Wormholes for a primer to help with understanding the below.
Convenient
A convenient wormhole begins with being close enough to staging that you can get the battleship sized ratting ships there and back safely and without undue travel time. For staging out of GE-8JV, that usually means any of the Brave owned systems in Catch. In addition, you need to make sure the wormhole will not collapse, trapping your fleet on the wrong side of home. There are two wormhole characteristics you need to consider avoiding this: mass and age. Generally, you will need an entrance hole that admits Large or Very large ships, because Dominixes will not fit into medium sized holes. In addition, you will want a hole that is not end of life ("EoL"). It is generally not advisable to try to rat in an end of life wormhole, because the risk of the hole collapsing is too great.
Safe
In addition to hole characteristics, it is important to evaluate your potential crabbing hole for the likelihood that someone else will come by and ruin your fun. First evaluate the hole itself. How many structures are anchored? Are they powered? Who owns them? Structures will tend to correlate to the likelihood that the hole has residents who will take issue with your krabbing. In addition, enter the hole's j-code into zkillboard, which will reveal if the hole has seen active PvP recently, and from whom.
In addition to the hole residents, it's important to see what else the hole connects to. The same characteristics as discussed above should be considered with regard to any holes your target hole is connected to, but also keep a look out for connections to hostile nullsec. An active hostile neighbouring hole doesn't mean you need to abandon your target, but it does mean that you should be more vigilant with your d-scan, and may want to post an alt at the entrance to the hostile hole to keep an eye out for interlopers.
Lucrative
Of course, a convenient and safe wormhole is useless if there isn't any loot in them. Your goal is to find a hole with abundant Core Garrisons and Core Strongholds. Other combat sites can be run if you really want to, but Garrisons and Strongholds are your best bet for isk efficiency.
The Doctrine
Once you have your target hole, you need some ships. The core ship for our wormhole ratting is the Dominix, fitted with remote armor repairers and remote capacitor transfers in the highs.
Dominix
The Dominix is the workhorse of this particular doctrine. A team of 4-5 dominixes can run every site in a C5, and they insure incredibly well, so there's not a major downside if you lose one. Be sure to keep the capchain up, and rep as needed.
| Normal Dominix | Drone Bunny |
|---|---|
[Dominix, Domin(atr)ix] 1600mm Steel Plates II Damage Control II Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II Drone Damage Amplifier II Drone Damage Amplifier II Energized Explosive Membrane II Large Cap Battery II Large Micro Jump Drive Large Cap Battery II Omnidirectional Tracking Link II Cap Recharger II Large Remote Armor Repairer II Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II Large Remote Armor Repairer II Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II Large Remote Armor Repairer II Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II Large Remote Repair Augmentor I Large Egress Port Maximizer I Large Egress Port Maximizer I Hobgoblin II x5 Praetor II x5 Hornet EC-300 x5 Ogre II x8 Cargo/refits: Tracking Speed Script x1 Nanite Repair Paste x48 Target Painter II Heavy Stasis Grappler II Warp Scrambler II | [Dominix, Domin(atr)ix Bunny] 1600mm Steel Plates II Damage Control II Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II Drone Damage Amplifier II Drone Damage Amplifier II Energized Explosive Membrane II Large Cap Battery II Large Micro Jump Drive Large Cap Battery II Target Painter I Cap Recharger II Large Remote Armor Repairer II Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II Large Remote Armor Repairer II Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II Large Remote Armor Repairer II Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II Large Remote Repair Augmentor I Large Egress Port Maximizer I Large Egress Port Maximizer I Hobgoblin II x5 Praetor II x5 Hornet EC-300 x5 Ogre II x8 Cargo/refits: Tracking Speed Script x1 Nanite Repair Paste x48 Heavy Stasis Grappler II Warp Scrambler II |
Nestor
An upgrade over the Dominix, the Nestor's bonuses to remote armor repair make it a much stronger platform from which to run C5 sites, but that comes at a much greater expense. Fleet members should be reticent to upgrade to the Nestor until they have very strong armor and drone skills, and at least Amarr Battleship IV. (That said, do what you want, I'm a wiki page, not a cop). For numbers nestor deals about 10% more damage and reps 50% stronger, but in exchange has slightly lower armor buffer.
| Basic Nestor | Blinged Out Nestor |
|---|---|
[Nestor, C5 Nestor Basic] Armor Explosive Hardener II Drone Damage Amplifier II Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II Drone Damage Amplifier II Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II Drone Damage Amplifier II Large Micro Jump Drive Large Cap Battery II Drone Navigation Computer II Large Cap Battery II Omnidirectional Tracking Link II Cap Recharger II Large Remote Armor Repairer II Large Remote Armor Repairer II Large Remote Armor Repairer II Drone Link Augmentor II Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II Large Remote Repair Augmentor I Large Egress Port Maximizer I Large Egress Port Maximizer I Federation Navy Ogre x5 Imperial Navy Praetor x5 Cargo/refits: Tracking Speed Script x1 Nanite Repair Paste x500 Optimal Range Script x1 Heavy Jigoro Enduring Stasis Grappler x1 Heavy Warp Scrambler I x1 | [Nestor, C5 Advanced/Superfluous] Armor Explosive Hardener II Drone Damage Amplifier II True Sansha Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane Drone Damage Amplifier II True Sansha Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane Drone Damage Amplifier II Large Micro Jump Drive Republic Fleet Large Cap Battery Drone Navigation Computer II Republic Fleet Large Cap Battery Omnidirectional Tracking Link II True Sansha Cap Recharger Large Remote Armor Repairer II Large Remote Armor Repairer II Large Remote Armor Repairer II Drone Link Augmentor I Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II Large Remote Repair Augmentor I Large Egress Port Maximizer I Large Egress Port Maximizer I Hammerhead II x5 Federation Navy Ogre x5 Gecko x2 Hobgoblin II x5 Acolyte II x5 Imperial Navy Praetor x5 Infiltrator II x5 Cargo/refits: Sisters Core Scanner Probe x16 Tracking Speed Script x1 Nanite Repair Paste x600 Sisters Combat Scanner Probe x16 Optimal Range Script x1 Armor Thermal Hardener II x1 Heavy Jigoro Enduring Stasis Grappler x1 Damage Control II x1 Heavy Warp Scrambler I x1 Sisters Expanded Probe Launcher x1 Warp Core Stabilizer I x4 Improved Cloaking Device II x1 500MN Cold-Gas Enduring Microwarpdrive x1 Armor EM Hardener II x1 Armor Kinetic Hardener II x1 |
In every fleet the Basic fit is more than enough, but once you get filthy rich, from all those wormhole ticks, you start buying stupid, and buying stupid is great unadvised. If you can fly T2 drones please do, every little bit DPS counts towards more money.
Vexor Navy Issue
As a cheaper, less preferred alternative if we have enough battleships we can also run supporting VNIs, they do provide a lot of damage, but are not providing remote repairs to their fleetmates, and to actually undock a certain threshold must be met, so you should only treat the VNI as a temporary measure while you skill into the Dominix and later the Nestor.
| Vexor Navy Issue | Vexor Navy Issue – Bunny Fit |
|---|---|
[Vexor Navy Issue, C5 VNI] Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II Drone Damage Amplifier II Drone Damage Amplifier II 1600mm Rolled Tungsten Compact Plates 1600mm Rolled Tungsten Compact Plates Drone Navigation Computer II Drone Navigation Computer II Omnidirectional Tracking Link II Omnidirectional Tracking Link II Drone Link Augmentor I Auto Targeting System I Auto Targeting System I Medium Anti-Explosive Pump I Medium Trimark Armor Pump I Medium Trimark Armor Pump I Federation Navy Ogre x5 Cargo/Refits: Imperial Navy Praetor x5 | [Vexor Navy Issue, C5 VNI Bunny] Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II Drone Damage Amplifier II Drone Damage Amplifier II 1600mm Rolled Tungsten Compact Plates 1600mm Rolled Tungsten Compact Plates Drone Navigation Computer II Phased Scoped Target Painter Omnidirectional Tracking Link II Omnidirectional Tracking Link II Drone Link Augmentor I Auto Targeting System I Auto Targeting System I Medium Anti-Explosive Pump I Medium Trimark Armor Pump I Medium Trimark Armor Pump I Federation Navy Ogre x5 Cargo/Refits: Imperial Navy Praetor x5 |
The Imperial Navy Praetor are used on the armor of the DRB, if there is a Nestor in fleet, as you can swap drones in and out of your cargo using them.
Picketing
If there are outgoing wormholes from the C5 you are in you might want to consider watching the connections, that's where picketing comes into play. The picket is a dedicated alt that has all world sounds maxed out sitting near the wormhole, preferably cloaked. As soon as they hear the characteristic wub-wub-wub a wormhole does they should a. Alert the FC b. Switch to that account to try and gather the name and ship of the person coming through. There is no specific fitting, but since the picket alt is often salvaging alt as well, a normal salvage ship with a cloak will fill that role perfectly.
| Picketing Corax |
|---|
[Corax, Picket] Inertial Stabilizers II Inertial Stabilizers II Cap Recharger II Cap Recharger II 5MN Microwarpdrive II Cap Recharger II Prototype Cloaking Device I Salvager I Salvager I Salvager I Salvager I Salvager I Small Tractor Beam I Small Salvage Tackle I Small Salvage Tackle I Small Salvage Tackle I |
But then again, an empty rookie ship or even a capsule will do the job.
Running the Site
First and foremost, the wormhole bible: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/17cNu8hxqJKqkkPnhDlIuJY-IT6ps7kTNCd3BEz0Bvqs/pubhtml#
Couple of site specific tricks and mechanics
- Since the Gallentean drones have the best DPS always use them for everything that has no specific resist hole.
- In Core Garrisons the towers that spawn in the first wave never switch aggro, which can make repping a bit harder, try killing them first.
- In Core Garrisons the second wave contains 6 logi frigates, that are also the trigger. It's up to the FC but it's recommended to kill 4 of them while leaving 2 alive not to trigger the next wave by accident.
- In Any C5 Site while running the Drifter Escalation (DRB), shoot the shield of the Drone Response Battleship with Orges, and armor with Praetors, regardless of your drone skills, Geckos, and/or race preferences.
Selling your Loot
Selling loot is fairly straightforward, the closest point where this can be done is thation in 9RQ-L8 system in Stain, usual procedure is to get somebody from our group or Catch Standing and use them as an interceptor scout, while flying an interceptor yourself, once you get to the target station, sell all the loot to NPC buy orders, and seize the means of production distribute the payouts, as per payouts sheet.