Choosing a wormhole

Before I can go anywhere, I need to know where I'm going. So I've spent the last six weeks or so on the lookout for potential settlements. I made up a handful of alpha clones with basic scanning skills, and threw them into likely wormholes.

Other than a low sec static, and good PI, I was fairly open-minded. All of the low class wormholes have their advantages and disadvantages. At first I thought I would like a C2 - an LS/C2 static sounded absolutely perfect.

But as I scouted these systems, both in person and via their killboards, I noticed how busy they were. I never actually found an unoccupied C2 with a low sec static, and even if I had, they would be constantly connected to what is probably the busiest class of wormhole in the game. Not only did this increase my eviction risks, but it also meant that I could have real difficulties making the wormhole profitable without interference.

In short, C2s seemed better suited to mid sized corporations rather than solo players.

So it came down to finding a good C1 or C3. This proved to be more difficult than I thought. While C2s are constantly connected to other wormholes via their statics, C1 and C3 wormholes are only connected to the network via wandering wormholes or incoming static connections.

I never did find an empty C3 that I thought was suitable, although I did find one very 'low activity' system that I kept in my back pocket. The more research I did, though, the more it seemed that I would need fairly specialized (and expensive) pve fits to efficiently run the sites in a C3. Since the goal is to spend less time on pve rather than more, C1s seemed that little bit more attractive. PI is the main income generator, and pve is just something to do when I have a little bit of free time between roams.

Then, before the holidays, I found a C1 with a low sec connection, no occupants beyond three dead sticks, and a decent selection of PI planets. Fantastic! While I kept my eye out for alternatives, I felt that I had the matter sorted, and continued with my other prep work.

Nothing stands still in w-space, though. Yesterday I logged my alpha clone back in to check for high sec connections, and I immediately noticed the brand new Astrahaus. Someone had moved in over the holidays!

At first I assumed that this meant I would need to start looking for a new wormhole, but a little investigating convinced me that this could be an opportunity, rather than a problem. The Astrahaus is owned by a one man corporation. Not the worst neighbor. And he did not seem to be very active; the system was absolutely full of data sites and relic sites.

Perhaps at some point he'll want to leave, and I'll be able to buy a citadel rather than go through the fuss of putting one up myself...

In any event, I'll be putting up a POS, and while putting it up and taking it down is likely to be a pain, it is far from the most permanent settlement. If I find that a C1 just doesn't suit me, or even that this C1 doesn't suit me, I can always move. By scanning from the low sec side (as I will have easy access to low sec after the move), finding wormholes with low sec statics will presumably be much easier.