Even if you do hold both ends, with only relatively light ships deployed you can't count on getting advanced warning that the forces covering the far end have been driven off.Brigade XO wrote:There is also the challange that you really do need to end up holding both ends. Hold one end and you can deny others from using it, you just won't know what is going to come out of it next. Since "most' wormholes go from point to point and there is often quite a distance in real and hyper-space to cross between them, you put units out on thier own with a very good chance of having to face fighting at both ends but will little oppertunity for resupply and communication at either end.
Wormhole termini are out beyond the hyper limit, and most don't have anywhere near as large or dangerous a resonance zone as the Manticore Junction does. So (with a bit of luck) enemy forces can drop out of hyper almost on top of the termini; quite possibly within at least single drive missile range of the 'lane'.
With light forces you probably can't afford to leave an emergency courier parked in the lane ready to jump; so there's a decent chance that against a heavy enough force (like several divisions of SDs) your light units have to move away from the terminus to hold open the range; or even pull out if they run their ammo loads down too low. In that case they wouldn't have a chance to run a courier through (braving the attackers fire w/o any sidewalls to protect it) to get a warning out.
It's still worth holding both side of a wormhole, if you can, but you shouldn't count on knowing when you've lost control of one side of it. (Not without heavy fortifications to persuade attackers to emerge far enough back that it is safe to keep a standby courier in a fairly predictable area)