I get the idea: One hole leads to another then another then another and finally to where you want go (or someplace very close).
But…
It’s my understanding that all holes have a static and wandering side (1 coin, 2 sides).
I know the “wandering” part is somewhat fixed/static in that it is always the same type of system just not always in the same system/location.
Therefore…
What’s the point of creating those vast wh chain maps if you can’t be sure where you will really end up? 
Not a wormholer, but I guess you won’t know where all those wormholes go unless you scan and jump them. And to save yourself and friends time scanning those same holes the rest of the session, you map it all.
I understand that part.
My point is even if you always find the static opening you have no idea where the wandering exit goes, so “mapping” is really more a possibility tree than a real map. And the deeper you go into connected holes the greater the accumulated/compound variations would become.
Or, put the question another way:
Can someone give a simple example of how to use a saved wh chain map?
As I said, I’m no wormholer and have never made those maps, but I guess you can use a saved wormhole chain map like you would use dotlan for kspace regions, except with the risk that one of the ‘gates’ could close and eventually will close.
A wormholer might shed better light on it.
Is what we used to find our way around. I’m sure there are others.
Everyone spreads out from home while making bm’s in it’s map and you can pick a destination in its map like setting destination for ap. Someone calls out a target and we all head that way.
It’s been a while and I forgot how to delete/update the map though…
Let me give an example as I see it:
I’m in a null system.
I scan down a hole, jump through and come out in a C1 (call it C1-1).
In that hole I scan down another hole, go through and come out in another C1 (C1-2).
In the second hole I scan down another opening and come out in hisec.
So my path is null->C1-1->C1-2->hisec.
So far so good. As long as all those openings remain I can go back and forth. I use some tool to save that path (chain).
But…now a week later…I go back to the same null system.
I scan a hole, go through, and come out back in C1-1.
I then scan another hole but this time it takes me to a new/different hole, a C2 (call it C2-1) hole, not C1-2.
Now that I think about it, that probably means C1-1 has at least 2 connecting holes, one to C1-2 and one to C2-1.
Hmmm…sounds like a lot of scanning and mapping time.
Solo. maybe. A 60+ wh corp with our 60+ scout alts, it go’s quick. And even “solo” with my 3 acct’s, it still went quick once you get used to it. The inputs are pretty simple…
Solo, just make personal bm’s. Since no wh lasts more than 12 hrs, (?) a permanent map is useless.
So all those mapping tools/sites are pointless?
Not for the timeframe your in game, but after 12 hrs, yes. We never gave it any thought being used to living in a wh, your static changes everyday anyway…
Edit; Siggy didn’t leave any bm’s to be cleaned up which is nice. And why I like the new bm’s that can be set to delete themselves.
You map in order to help your current playing session (and your corp members).
Yes, those wormholes will eventually go away, but how will you keep track of all the current wormholes if not by mapping them in a tool?
You can still do it the hard way by making corp bm’s. 3rd party tools just make it more ergonomic to me anyway.
I just think it’s part of the job. I love the variety and the randomness my exits bring everyday, but I have to probe too and so what? I get to see all of New Eden and I don’t really need Jita everyday either.
There’s a lot of good positives to dealing with a changing chain daily.
Wormhole space behaves like a Rogue-like game - every day’s map is different. Sometimes you get a set of chains that’s good for krabbing, other days you’re right up against a rival group or get a route to third-party on an on-going fight.
The reason why mapping is so crucial for wormhole groups is that knowledge is power. You won’t find those opportunities if you don’t map out everywhere your chain leads. Better mapping of your chain will give you a clear tactical and strategic advantage in skirmishes that tumble across multiple wormholes.
Yes, the map is constantly changing, but that only increases the need to keep things mapped as if you end up connected to an enemy group, you want to know first.
You use the mappers to show where to go at any one time.
Wormhole lifetimes vary by size and category. Some will live for 18hrs I think.
The thing to remember is that the statics are linked to a class of space, not a particular destination. In your earlier example, hole C1-1 has an NS static - that is, that system (call it J111111) will always have a wormhole leading to null. When you visited it popped up in Omist. However, after that hole closes (either by timing out, or being “rolled” - each wormhole has a certain amount of mass that it can pass through before it closes), the next one to open in J111111 may lead to Delve.
The other hole you encountered in J111111 was what’s known as a wandering - that is a wormhole that randomly pops up and could lead to a range of other space types, depending on the system class, constellation and so on. In your first trip, it found C1-2, or J222222. However, as this was a wandering hole the chances of finding those two wormholes connected in your next visit to either system is pretty low!
J222222 had, for arguments sake, a HS static. So, there will always be an exit to HS, but this could be anywhere within empire space.
With that all covered, you can hopefully see that by using a mapper, once you’ve found the route from Omist to highsec, anyone sharing your mapper can see the route and make that journey while those wormholes are alive. You’ve gotta move quickly, but if you get a nice Jita connection you can save yourself a whole lot of trouble just shimmying on through.
As others have said, once you’ve got even half a dozen halfway decent scanners out you can find a lot of connections pretty damn quickly. And once you get some of the common connection types in your head, you kind of know where to head to find whatever you’re looking for.
Anoik.is is a great resource if you wanna find out about wormhole systems, has a full list of every wormhole system and its statics / wanderings
Pointless if you are solo, invaluable for the group if you want to spare them the ludicrous task of scanning the same sigs again and again and again… And don’t forget to BM the holes pls.
^- This.
And importantly: Bookmark the HOLE from the overview not “where you are some random distance from the hole”. There in lies the story of many people’s demise and lots on unhappiness.
Oh, and don’t forget to bookmark your in hole once you load grid too. Soooooooooo many hours lost to scanning every damned Sig just to find the way back home!
Don’t worry, it happens to everyone - especially the first time, or if you’re out of practice.
The majority of connections last 16-24 hours
Hi OP,
The appeal on wormhole space lies in the randomness of what you find in chain, motivation people to scan every day and rolling for new chains. This goes pretty fast when everyone has scanning alts with good skills and technique. Having a map lets us have good situational awareness and gives us an easy way to see what’s happening in chain and how to get there plus other info. If I want a specific highsec system or some nullsec region, I can always roll my chain to scan for that region which is luck based but still relies on knowledge on probability of connections.
It’s been a couple of years since I lived in a wormhole, but it worked pretty much the same back then too.
Suppose you have a corporation called “Men of Culture” (ticker is W33B) living in J177013 (D-R00062). This would be a C4 with C2 and C4 statics, and the corporation nicknames “Emergence” and “Metamorphosis,” respectively.
If you can expect anywhere between 5 and 15 people per day to log in and scan the chain (plus a few more who you find in most corps who will log in for a ping that there’s a fight forming), this means that for the next few hours to a day, a route is marked for other people in case they wish to move supplies through.
If someone is running reactions in an Athanor in the hole, he might want to know if someone else scanned Emergence and found that it led to a system with one of its statics leading to Maurasi. In fact, the entire corp would want to know that the home hole is three jumps out from Jita because almost everyone would have some sort of logistics to do that would be very convenient because of that. Having the route mapped makes it easier.
Now, suppose that someone who’s online during EUTZ scans down Metamorphosis and finds a connection to a hole that they know is active almost exclusively in USTZ, occupied by the corporation “Black Forest Academy” (ticker is KMM). It might be worth noting this and leaving the hole un-rolled, maybe keep an extra eyes/scanning character in that system. When USTZ starts and they become available, W33B can ping a fleet, get 14 people to form up the following: 12 Harbingers, 4 Augorors, 3 Prophecies, and a few Heretics and Maledictions. They know these guys, and can reasonably expect them to undock a similar amount of Drakes and Drake support ships to fight.
These are just a couple of examples of why mappers are useful.