Ships & Modules

I'm thinking about taking an Orca into a Wormhole on my alt and using my main to run sites, scan and salvage. I only have a 400,000m3 ship maintenance array. T3 Cruiser is 115,000m3, Covops is 23,000m3, Noctis is 270,00m3. This is 408,000m3. However, as my main will always be in a ship, the most it will have is 385,000m3.

Now, the question is, in your opinion, is the Noctis worth all that room? It takes up over half of the Orca's SMA. Now that we have the Mobile Tractor Unit the Noctis' tractor beam bonus is a lot less appealing. Other things I could put in the Orca include:

Venture - I make boosters on the side and I might get a lucky entrance into a nullsec gas constellation. As I'll be in c3 holes I don't consider the gas worth it in terms of isk/hr though.

Extra ships for my alt to fly (if I put up a POS for the day I could use him to do things like scout in another covops)

PVP ships for my main - something like an inty and a dictor, and perhaps another ship. I would have to think about potential situations I could be in and what might be useful at that time.

A blockade runner - this would require 190,000m3 so it may not be worth it, but it would allow you to pick up abandoned POS mods (Orca cargo would fill up fairly quick though, but it's still huge). It would also allow you to get the loot out in relative safety rather than warping the Orca itself directly to the wormhole out to k-space.

Of course, If I drop the Noctis I would also need another ship for salvaging.

I give you the salvaging Dragoon!

It sports 5 Salvager IIs and an improved cloak in the highs, an mwd (top speed 1400m/s) and is cap stable with all running (I'd prefer to keep the MWD on in case something uncloaks next to me. It has the same access difficulty as the Noctis (80%). Obviously the disadvantage is that it fits 2 less salvagers than a Noctis and has a slower cycle time (10s as opposed to 7.5s at all V). The advantage of the destroyer is that it is about 200m/s faster and aligns more than twice as fast. Also, in addition to a flight of salvage drones it can also carry 5 warrior IIs and 5 ECM drones. Don't forget the ship's role bonus, which will have the slow salvage drones MWDing a lot faster too. If either ship is caught it is likely going to die anyway but at least in cases where you are pointed by one target the ECM drones might just get a lucky jam off. Don't forget the destroyer is a fraction of the cost of the Noctis too. Overall though the big advantage is versatility in the ships I can bring into the wormhole with me.

I would be interested in hearing people's opinion on whether the Noctis would provide enough benefit to be worth the sacrifice. Please address the questions asked, I don't care if you think I should just put up a POS.



TL;DR

Orca going to be used by my alt as a wormhole base for my main
Noctis takes up more than half of Orca SMA
Noctis sucks a bit after Mobile Tractor Unit was introduced
I can fit a few other ships besides a salvaging destroyer into the SMA if I remove the Noctis
Is the Noctis worth it considering the other options on the table (you needed to read the post to know what they are)

If the bay is ur primary concern, remember that ur t3 locus subsystem gets a tractor bonus and u can use salvage drones

Noctis is bad Imo , i live in wh we have em and never use , drop tractors and use a frig or a destroyer with rigs . Lot faster cheaper and smaller .