How to Set Up Perches, Safes and Bookmarks for Gas Huffing in J-Space

Bring an MWD, an Expanded Launcher, and a Mining Chipset!

Any cov-ops boat with an MWD will work the best for making perches on gas sites to prepare for group huffing. Perches for huffing must be at least 250km from the signature, where the rats always spawn. Gas sites are extremely large and speed is key for making perches quickly.

The Mining Chipset is for scanning the clouds and checking their size. It is usable while cloaked.

Bring an Expanded Launcher so you can use both kinds of probes. Combat Probes move through systems faster and potentially scare off day-trippers and ninja huffers. They also help you scout systems much quicker by revealing the locations of structures, many of which are in the far corners of systems when possible.

All Gas Sites and almost all Wormholes are up to level 3 difficulty in the scanner, making it possible to scan them quickly without the need of Core Probes. Only the 2 biggest kinds of gas sites are Difficulty 3, most are difficulty 1 and 2.

NOTE: You will need your graphics settings up at least enough to see the gas clouds themselves. Clouds that have been paritally huffed will shrink after down-time if they aren't cleared. These visual cues are extremely important to be able to see, and you can't see them on the lowest settings (i.e. Potato Mode).

Bookmark the Exit!

Immediately upon entering a wormhole, burn away from the hole, launch your probes and cloak up immediately. Center your probes on yourself with the button in the probe scanner, set to .25 au (.5 if using combats), and analyze. This will scan the WH to 100% immediately. Bookmark the exit and label it "**EXIT ABC-123", where "ABC-123" is the actual signature from the probe scanner. Example: **EXIT HXK-287. This will keep the bookmark home always at the top of the list in the Locations window.

Bookmark the hole from the overview or in space, never from the probe scanner.

Scan for Gas, Connections, Ships and Scout Structures

Scan the wormhole for gas and create bookmarks from the Probe Scanner. Do not change the default names of the bookmarks.

NOTE: Never warp to an Ordinary Perimeter Reservoir! This site contains sentry guns, the gas clouds will break your cloak, and your ship will promptly explode. This is the only site that must be cleared first and does not spawn extra rats.

Scan for other wormholes. Warp to them at 30-70km, bookmark them from space or the Overview. Again, never bookmark wormholes from the probe scanner. Just bookmark them for now.

Scan for structures in the wormhole, use your D-Scan as you warp around. Warp at a distance to see how many people, if any, are in each structure and most importantly, check who the structures belong to.

If you have combat probes, make sure you are checking for ships and they aren't filtered out.

Check the Connections!

It's imperative to know about the connections before huffing. How many, where they lead, what systems/security they lead to and their stability are important pieces of information. Wormholes with high-sec connections tend to have the most traffic as they are easily accessible from the outside, and needed for J-Space residents to liquidate blue loot, gather supplies and so on. Wormholes with connections to Low or Null-sec should also be noted. Splash each connection, bookmark the other side, and check local (if in K-Space).

While the rest of the fleet is huffing, scanners should remain cloaked on grid with the home connection to alert the fleet if any rollers/bubblers show up.

Make a Safe, Trigger the Rats and Check for Gas!

Your initial warp-in to a gas site should be a warp-in at 100km. Create a bookmark on the way to use as a safe spot on the way if you haven't done so already in the system you're in. Be prepared to immediately warp out to your Safe spot if rats are already on grid. Most gas sites have clouds big enough to decloak you on landing, even landing at 100km. Note the time when you warp-in and communicate that time, the rats will arrive 15-25 minutes later.

NOTE: Safe spots are critical for survival if the fleet needs to retreat. You need to make one the first time you warp away from the wormhole you came in from.

If rats are on grid already, warp back to your safe spot immediately. Warping to the gast sit at a distance will allow you to survive if the smaller boats manage to lock you, the larger boats shouldn't be able to lock you at all if you act quickly.

If rats are not on grid, hit your Mining Chipset button and check the number of units left on each cloud. Check the list below to see if the clouds are full or partially huffed.

If the site is full and there were no rats on grid when you warped in, it is highly likely there is nobody cloaked on grid. You can't tell if anyone has bm'ed the site, but this is a dead-giveaway that you're the first one to warp in since the last downtime. The absence of rats and the presence of full clouds makes it ideal for ninja huffing.

Gas Cloud Sizes and Site Types

This is a list of all the possible wormhole gas sites that can spawn, their contents and the size of a full cloud. The actual size of each cloud will shrink if the cloud is partially huffed and a downtime occurs. The clouds will then become unperchable if they shirnk too much, so keep this in mind when checking sites.

Perimeter Reservoirs - C1-C4 Systems Only (Not Perchable) - Low Threat Rats - 2m - 4m in Blue Loot

Token Perimeter Reservoir (9,000 m3 total):
- C60 - 6,000 units (6,000 m3)
- C70 - 3,000 units (3,000 m3)
- Approximate value: 50m - 55m ISK
- Rats: 4x Emergent Escort (Frigate), 2x Awakened Watchman (Cruiser)

Minor Perimeter Reservoir (12,000 m3 total):
- C70 - 6,000 units (6,000 m3)
- C72 - 3,000 units (6,000 m3)
- Approximate value: 60m - 65m ISK
- Rats: 4x Awakened Patroller (Cruiser)

Barren Perimeter Reservoir (18,000 m3 total):
- C50 - 12,000 units (12,000 m3)
- C60 - 3,000 units (6,000 m3)
- Approximate value: 70m - 75m ISK
- Rats: 3x Emergent Patroller (Frigate), 2x Emergent Watchman (Frigate)

Sizeable Perimeter Reservoir (32,000 m3 total):
- C50 - 6,000 units (6,000 m3)
- C84 - 12,000 units (24,000 m3)
- Approximate value: 120m - 130m ISK
- Rats: 6x Emerger Perserver (Frigate)

Ordinary Perimeter Reservoir (36,000 m3 total) - DO NOT WARP IN UNLESS CLEARED FIRST:
- C72 - 12,000 units (24,000 m3)
- C84 - 6,000 units (12,000 m3)
- Approximate value: 110m - 120m ISK
- Rats: 5x Vigilant Sentry Tower - No Rats spawn after 15-25 minutes, only sentry guns

WARNING: They target nearly instantly and have substantial alpha damage. Only warp to the site in a ship fit to handle the guns.

Frontier Reservoirs - C3-C6 Systems Only (Perchable) - Med Threat Rats - 23m (Vast) and 28m (Bountiful) in Blue Loot

Bountiful Frontier Reservoir (60,000 m3 total) - Vertical Perch
- C28 - 20,000 units (40,000 m3)
- C32 - 4,000 units (20,000 m3)
- Approximate value: 245m - 260m ISK
- Rats: 4x Awakened Defenders (Cruiser), 2x Awakened Preserver (Cruiser)
- How to Perch: Travel directly above the cosmic signature (where your bookmark is) until you're 260k+ away from the bookmark, but still within 1k of the harvestable cloud

Vast Frontier Reservoir (108,000 m3 total)- Horizontal Perch
- C28 - 4,000 units (8,000 m3)
- C32 - 20,000 units (100,000 m3)
- Approximate value: 380m - 390m ISK
- Rats: 4x Awakened Sentiel (Cruiser), 4x Awakened Preserver (Cruiser)
- How to Perch: Travel directly away near the same elevation as the bookmark toward the large side of the cloud until you're 260k+ away from the bookmark, but still within 1k of the harvestable cloud

Core Reservoirs - C5, C6 and All Shattered Systems Only (Perchable) - High Threat Rats - 63.6m in Blue Loot

Instrumental Core Reservoir (140,000 m3 total) - Vertical Perch
- C320 - 24,000 units (120,000 m3)
- C540 - 2,000 units (20,000 m3)
- Approximate value: 850m - 880m ISK
- Rats: 4x Sleepless Sentinel (Battleship)
- How to Perch: Travel directly above the cosmic signature (where your bookmark is) until you're 260k+ away from the bookmark, but still within 1k of the harvestable cloud

Vital Core Reservoir (250,000 m3 total) - Vertical Perch
- C540 - 24,000 units (240,000 m3)
- C320 - 2,000 units (1,000 m3)
- Approximate value: 1.2B ISK
- Rats: 4x Sleepless Keeper (Battleship)
- How to Perch: Travel directly above the cosmic signature (where your bookmark is) until you're 260k+ away from the bookmark, but still within 1k of the harvestable cloud

WARNING: Core Reservoir Battleship groups have extremely high alpha damage (over 4k+ omni damage), apply heavy energy neutralization, webbers and warp disruption. The small clouds in these sites are negligible in size/value, so only the big cloud should be focused on.

NOTE: Instead of killing the Battleships, you can use them as body guards for anyone who warps into the site without combat probing first. They will be forced to warp out immediately or deal with the powerful rats. For all other sites with rats, the threat is neglible.

About Perches

Even though the total threat/targeting range of sleepers is 250km, you need to give a buffer of around 10km. This is to give people room to land in from warp without being in aggro range. Additionally, still being at 0km on the cloud while you're perched helps to decloak any would-be attackers that try to close range while cloaked. Bountiful and Vast sites are just big enough to perch while Vital and Instrumentals will be significantly easier to make perches on.

When you craete your Perch Bookmark, make sure to note the signature ID, and site type. Your bookmark should be something like "PERCH ABC Vital". Always note the signature ID because multiple of the same site type can be present.

Every site except Vast sites should be perched vertically (top of the big cloud). Vast sites must be perched horizantally (outward to the edge of the big cloud).

Compromised Sites

A compromised gas site is one where another player has either been seen on grid at the site, or if you've been combat probed while on the perch. Also, gas sites which already have rats on grid have been warped to already by someone, and should be considered compromised. It is not advisable to keep huffing after being combat probed or if someone else warps in.

NOTE: Some Wormhole groups use large gas sites as bait. Use your best discretion when attempting to huff any gas sites you believe are compromised.