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Some thoughts on the Orca
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Rapscallion Jones
Omnibus Solutions
#1 - 2014-05-05 22:36:26 UTC
Yes, this has been brought up before, but we are finally drawing near to the time that the Orca will get its tiericide treatment.

Buffs,

  • Add a utility high slot so we can run three links and fit the tractor beam
  • Super-buff the Ore Hold (see recommended nerfs)
  • Buff the Ship Maintenance Bay

Nerfs,

  • Eliminate the cargo hold completely, if this is not possible make it tiny
  • Nerf the the Corporate Hanger, it's purpose is to transfer ore to the ore hold.


Regarding the cargo/ore/corporate hanger suggestion, this will once and for all eliminate 'the Orca is a mini-freighter' argument. The Orca is an Industrial Command Ship, make it so! Bear
Velicitia
XS Tech
#2 - 2014-05-05 22:42:56 UTC
Remember that the Orca is ALSO a "mini carrier" (for lack of a better description), and needs to maintain some of the corporate hangar bay to facilitate ship refitting services and giving the miners extra crystals, unless you're leaving them in a secure can in the belt (or any of those new structures). I could see it being "somewhat" smaller, but without real numbers in your post; I'll have to say it's fine as-is.

One of the bitter points of a good bittervet is the realisation that all those SP don't really do much, and that the newbie is having much more fun with what little he has. - Tippia
Rapscallion Jones
Omnibus Solutions
#3 - 2014-05-05 22:51:25 UTC
Velicitia wrote:
Remember that the Orca is ALSO a "mini carrier" (for lack of a better description), and needs to maintain some of the corporate hangar bay to facilitate ship refitting services and giving the miners extra crystals, unless you're leaving them in a secure can in the belt (or any of those new structures). I could see it being "somewhat" smaller, but without real numbers in your post; I'll have to say it's fine as-is.



I chose to not provide numbers, I figure there are smarter minds that can make better choices than whatever I throw at the wall. The Corporate Hanger Bay should be sufficiently large enough to not kill the Orca driver during a mining op, while at the same time squashing the Orca as a freighter.
Velicitia
XS Tech
#4 - 2014-05-05 23:01:49 UTC
Trouble is, it's your idea -- you have to convince the rest of us why it's a good one.

Really though, the CHA in the orca is like 40k m3 ... that's fine if you're already getting rid of the "exapndable" cargohold (or severely limiting it) ... so long as CHA + Cargohold is around the saze of an itty 5, it makes "Orca is a mini-freighter" a non-starter.

One of the bitter points of a good bittervet is the realisation that all those SP don't really do much, and that the newbie is having much more fun with what little he has. - Tippia
Rayzilla Zaraki
Yin Jian Enterprises
#5 - 2014-05-05 23:05:42 UTC  |  Edited by: Rayzilla Zaraki
I like the idea of revamping the Orca.

Sacrifice the size of the cargo hold, ship maintenance bay and corporate hangar for a much larger ore hold. Leave enough corporate hangar for it to effectively resupply it's mining fleet with crystals and maybe some modules, that's it.

Then, create some Orca-sized capital ships along the same lines as what CCP did with the Iteron line. Have the current Orca be sort of a general purpose transport, have one be all cargo (specialized like the Iterons?), one that is almost all maintenance bay and corporate hangar etc.

I use my Orca to haul stuff to trade hubs and to move around from agent to agent when doing epic arcs. I am sure I am not alone in this. The skill tree for the Orca is absurd considering how often it is probably used in these manners.

My dream use for an Orca-type ship is that of a exploration support ship. Big enough ship maintenance hangar, a good corporate hangar and fitting services. I'd love for it to have a "lockable" mode so that it can be left securely in space and not get stolen. Allow for possible picking of the lock, of course. The ridiculous idea would be to let it be cloaked in its locked state or at least in a fortified mode like a POS. While in locked/fortified mode it gets huge bonuses to sensor boosters thus making it very hard to scan. I doubt this would make sense as I am sure it is overpowered. But, it is certainly something any spaceship designers would come up with.

Gate campers are just Carebears with anger issues.
Rapscallion Jones
Omnibus Solutions
#6 - 2014-05-05 23:42:13 UTC
Rayzilla Zaraki wrote:
My dream use for an Orca-type ship is that of a exploration support ship. Big enough ship maintenance hangar, a good corporate hangar and fitting services. I'd love for it to have a "lockable" mode so that it can be left securely in space and not get stolen. Allow for possible picking of the lock, of course. The ridiculous idea would be to let it be cloaked in its locked state or at least in a fortified mode like a POS. While in locked/fortified mode it gets huge bonuses to sensor boosters thus making it very hard to scan. I doubt this would make sense as I am sure it is overpowered. But, it is certainly something any spaceship designers would come up with.


I'd love to see an Orca variant like you mention, basically a mobile mission runner's base. Eliminate the ore bay and buff the ship maintenance bay to hold a battleship + noctis or hauler. Call it a ferry for lack of better terms.
Rayzilla Zaraki
Yin Jian Enterprises
#7 - 2014-05-06 05:10:30 UTC
Rapscallion Jones wrote:


I'd love to see an Orca variant like you mention, basically a mobile mission runner's base. Eliminate the ore bay and buff the ship maintenance bay to hold a battleship + noctis or hauler. Call it a ferry for lack of better terms.


Expedition tender?

Gate campers are just Carebears with anger issues.
Schmata Bastanold
In Boobiez We Trust
#8 - 2014-05-06 07:52:27 UTC
Just FYI, CCP Rise already said at Fanfest that orca will probably stay more of less the same as it is now because it is in good place balance-wise.

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Jint Hikaru
OffWorld Exploration Inc
#9 - 2014-05-06 08:11:35 UTC
Rapscallion Jones wrote:

Nerfs,

  • Eliminate the cargo hold completely, if this is not possible make it tiny
  • Nerf the the Corporate Hanger, it's purpose is to transfer ore to the ore hold.


Regarding the cargo/ore/corporate hanger suggestion, this will once and for all eliminate 'the Orca is a mini-freighter' argument.


Rapscallion Jones wrote:
The Orca is an Industrial Command Ship, make it so!Bear


You do realize that 'Industry' is so much more than mining and transporting ore right????

Sorry, but the versatility of the Orca is what makes is such a great ship. No need for any major changes stated in the OP.

Jint Hikaru - Miner / Salvager / Explorer / SpaceBum In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
Luscius Uta
#10 - 2014-05-06 10:41:50 UTC
Orca isn't broken and doesn't need much change, I would add that extra high you mentioned and maybe also more powergrid so that you don't have to use an ACR rig or RCU to fit a MWD. Orcas (and Rorquals) usually have Cargohold optimization rigs so removing or nerfing the cargohold would make those expensive rigs useless. If you want to use an Orca as a mobile mission runner's base I recommend using a Gila, Tengu or Ishtar for running missions or exploration sites instead of a Battleship.

Workarounds are not bugfixes.
Hasikan Miallok
Republic University
Minmatar Republic
#11 - 2014-05-06 11:21:05 UTC
I think the new hull tank rigs giving the Orca a stupid EHP and a Gecko in the drone bay are more than enuf for the time being.
Kaarous Aldurald
Black Hydra Consortium.
#12 - 2014-05-06 12:20:20 UTC
Schmata Bastanold wrote:
Just FYI, CCP Rise already said at Fanfest that orca will probably stay more of less the same as it is now because it is in good place balance-wise.


Yeah, it's an excellent place of balance right now. It will be getting a pretty big buff in the form of hull rigs fairly soon anyway. I can imagine them tweaking the capacitor or rounding off some of the numbers, but I can't really imagine it's getting a full rework.

"Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings who thought themselves good because they had no claws."

One of ours, ten of theirs.

Best Meltdown Ever.