Tech 3 Crew Mapping & Bookmarking
Foreword
Over the years T3C started out using publicly hosted Tripwire, then after a few years we transitioned to Pathfinder, in this case a fork of the original now maintained by Goryn Clade. Our bookmarking methods have gone through at least half a dozen iterations, before landing on the method we now use, largely copied from Almost Dangerous, of Wolves Among Strangers after my year flying with them. Almost Dangerous have a modified Pathfinder system that far more neatly integrates ChainID into the map, we have yet to modify ours at all but likely will do similar some day.
This guide is aimed at our own members, but wormhole groups or individuals looking to streamline their bookmarks may find use in it too.
This Guide assumes you understand basic EVE Mechanics, if you feel there are errors or room for extra explanation send an EVE Mail to Lasse Ker'Khan in game (Or just send a message in Discord if you're in T3C).
Terminology
Pathfinder: A third party browser-based mapping tool used to track where systems in J Space are located relative to each other.
J Space: Systems in EVE Online outside of New Eden, also known as Wormhole Systems.
J Code: The "Name" of a J Space system, the letter J followed by six numbers.
ChainID: A Unique Identifier for each system currently on the map, relative to which chain it is in.
Splash: Means the same as Jump, but for a wormhole.
The Process
The longest bookmarking system we used before our present one operated similarly at a base level, it was Signature Letters, Destination Class, and Destination (Last three Digits of J Code if J Space). For example GTI C3 615 meant it was Signature GTI, led to Class 3 J Space, to a System with J Code ending 615, all the basic info quick and simple. This system had two major issues, firstly knowing the system name made having the class redundant, if it was Perimeter everyone already knew it was HS. But secondly and far more significantly if we had a larger map with more than 10 to 16 systems on it, even the full J Code J100615 required everyone to search the map for that name every time content was found in such a system. This is solved with ChainID, a Unique Identifier for each system on the name, relative to where it is in chain. Again, this was designed by Almost Dangerous, and we merely took it over as our main method.
We now use ChainID, Signature Letters, Destination (Class or Full Name if Known)
ChainID
The ChainID is a classic case of seeming really complex initially, then after a day of using it you ask yourself why it felt so complicated initially. The further away from our home system you are the more number of digits the ChainID contains, the actual number in each does not say anything about distance from home. By setting each subsequently added digit as a child of the prior as will be described in a simple example following, any system becomes trivial to find even for people who do not have the map open at all, massively improving response times as people only need to get in their ships, and can open the map while they're already traveling.
Letters are more quick to identify, and are used for the very first system in a chain, this means that with us having two static wormholes we will always have an A and a B. Any word is fine as long as it's easily identifiable, for simplicity I always use ALPHA and BRAVO. NOTE: Always skip CHARLIE, or the letter C in general, it can lead to confusion as will be explained in the example.
Simple Example
Let's assume you've splashed our C5 Static, you are in the first chain out of home, therefor the system you are in is A, or ALPHA.
The Bookmark from home would be: [ALPHA RXI C5] Where the first bit is ChainID, the second are the first three letters of the Wormhole Signature RXI, and the last tells you it leads to C5. Added bonus if you rename C5 to the actual system J Code, but this is not required.
The Bookmark back home, no matter how far down a chain you are, if it's toward home should be asterisk Home:
*Home
Now let's assume you've found 5 Wormholes inside ALPHA. Signatures RIT-098 leading to "Unknown parts of space", FRZ-657 leading to "High Security Space", HIT-836 leading to "Dangerous unknown parts of space", HEY-903 leading to "Unknown parts of space", and FIN-434 leading to "Deadly unknown parts of space". Some of us after years of playing can identify these by their 3D Visual appearance, however this guide will teach you the minimum requirement.
- To give each a ChainID, simply take the system you're in "A", and append a unique number:
- A1 RIT C1-3
- A2 FRZ HS
- A3 HIT C4-5
- A4 HEY C1-3
- A5 FIN C6
^ This is how your list of bookmarks should look inside of ALPHA, topped by *Home
Note: This is where skipping C, or CHARLIE comes in. These ChainIDs in CHARLIE would be C1, C2, C3, etc. easily confused with Class 1, 2, or 3 wormholes. hence we simply skip the designation C.
Now, for how to Map this. Since we do not have Almost Dangerous' Pathfinder modification for integrated ChainID, we rename the system to prefix it with ChainID. To do this, simply double click on the name in Pathfinder and write the ChainID in front of the System Name, if the server is being laggy (it's running on a Raspberry Pi) you may have to do this a second time. When you splash the five wormholes in ALPHA, simply rename the systems on the map with the ChainID before the name, as shown in the example:
Continued Example
Let's now assume you've splashed into A5, the C6 wormhole J104859 (See again why having a ChainID starting with C would be annoying?). As always, your home bookmark is going to be *Home, if you want to add more useful information to this, it's great if you include the Signature *Home HGF.
Let's assume you've now found two wormholes. Signatures FEB-069 leading to "Unknown parts of space", and EUN-563 leading to "Null Security Space".
- Exactly as with the first system, to give each a ChainID, simply take the system you're in "A5", and append a unique number:
- A51 FEB C1-3
- A52 EUN NS
^ This is how your list of bookmarks should look inside of A5, topped by *Home
And our updated Map:
Closing Notes on ChainID
The core reasoning for doing this, and for using a Letter at the start is so when you hear "We have an Ishtar tackled in A52, need DPS" or "Help! I'm tackled in a DST in A51" you can first things first undock your ship and warp to ALPHA, because the first letter in the called out ChainID was A. you can then already be on the way as you gather more information, significantly improving response time.
- In the rare occurance that a system has more than 9 wormholes, use square brackets and continue numbering:
- A5[10]
- A5[11]
- and if the chain continues out of A5[10] then simply:
- A5[10]1
- A5[10]2
- A5[10]3
Should one chain connect to another (again, this is very rare) then continue out of that system with whichever name it had first
Here an expanded example with BRAVO Chain added. The process is exactly the same, and should you add a third then that would be DELTA, D1, D2, D3, etc:
ChainID Best Practice
These are not necessary, and are merely quality of life improvements for others using the map and bookmarks:
- Extra Information in Bookmarks (i.e after "A51 FEB C1-3" adding extra info such as wormhole mass size)
- Maximum Jump Mass: "A51 FEB C1-3 Large" or "A51 FEB C1-3 Frig". If it's not large it's nice if you add it to the map, to do this right click the line connecting the two systems and select Ship Size.
- If it's EOL (Reaching the end of it's natural lifetime): "A51 FEB C1-3 EOL"
- Always keep our C5 Static as ALPHA, and our C3 Static as BRAVO. This makes identifying chains easier when rolling them, and simply means if you open a wormhole that's not one of our statics, start at DELTA, if it's the C3 Static start at BRAVO.
- Try and keep about 4 small squares between each system on the map on average, this aids readability. (To enable grid, click on Map Options in the top right, and enable grid Snapping. While you're here also enable Region Label.)