Ships & Modules

TL:DR This is not another "make an Orca for a mini-freighter" thread. I'm interested in what people pack who are Nomadic Explorers.

The Long Story

Ok, so my real life ADD has transfered over to my in game character quite nicely. I do something for a while and then get bored of it and move on to something new. A few weeks ago that was exploration.

So I gave exploration a stab. Got me a Gila to do it with. The Gila was good. It kind of did everything alright. Scanning, my Cheetah is better. Salvaging, my Noctis does way better. And combat was gimped because of all the explorations mods on there.

So off to the forums I went, and found the answer that I expected. There is no ship that does everything well. You need 3 different ships to do a good job at exploration.

Well that is a P.I.T.A. I'd have to fly three ships down to my low travelled highsec scanning grounds, move them all around and do my thing. No thanks.

Then one day I came across a post about someone who was using their Orca as a mobile base of operations. It held all three ships, all the guns, ammo and modules you'd ever need. And it would hold all of my loot. Being a hulk pilot already I was only 9 days away from flying one!

And, if exploration doesn't work out, I can always resell it lol.

(Reminds me of that freighter joke. What's the easiest way to make money with a freighter? Sell it.)

So I already know the fit and what ships I'm taking with me.

My question is: What else do people pack into their Orcas for their trips?

A small POS and a couple of labs to do research when my playtime is low (I have standings)? A stealth bomber for wh raids and lolz? Additional modules for freight runs when I'm bored and near Jita?

So what do you pack?

-geek

When I used to run exploring with an Orca:

Destroyer for salvage (Noctis was too big)
My exploration Loki : https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=796109#post796109
My hulk (for grav sites)
A couple small runner ships, maybe a Prowler for running stuff in and out.

Parts and ammo, fill up with loot and ore and go sell it.

When I went in to low-sec it was just the Loki, I'd leave the Orca at a nearby high-sec station.

It worked a lot better when I ran my alt who could fly an Orca, he just trailed me while I explored.

It depends upon what you're doing with the orca, and where you are going. I wouldn't bother bringing a POS or anything like that if I was just moving around in highsec, and also wouldn't bother with bringing an orca to low/null. However, if you have plans to explore WH space, then I would bring a medium POS along with me, as well as a ship maintenance array. Or a small if you only online/activate it while you are playing...

Now, if you have the orca on an alt, I would have that there all the time, and just swap out between a scanner/site runner whenever I found something. But if its on a main you are still pretty much going to be restricted to moving between stations and just bringing a few ships closer for good measure. But I think the true purpose of the mobile orca base is in WH space. There you can take a POS, a few days of fuel, and only online the POS when you are active and using it - when you are going away for the night, offline the POS, scoop it back up, warp to a safespot and cloak. This not only saves POS fuel, but prevents people from thinking that you would be a nice jucy target and attacking you.

As far as ships, the only things that I would bring are a scanner, a site runner, and a salvager - anything else is pretty unnecessary. As far as stuff... lots of ammo/spare drones/spare fittings (in case you want to swap sometimes). You are still probably going to hit a hub at least once a week, and its not like you can swap stuff in space unless its on an alt and you are dual boxing...

-Arazel

First off, I would like to thank everyone for their actual helpful solutions. It is a rarity here lol.

I should have put in the first post that I was aware of the 10 second MWD align trick with the Orca, so that will cut my travel time down greatly.

MadMuppet - I had thought of bringing along my hulk, but it just takes up so much space. Your post made me remember that I still have a rigged Catalyst salvage destroyer in a hangar collecting dust since I bought my Noctis. I'm going to play around with stuffing that in the ship hangar for sure and leaving the Noctis behind.

I had also thought of leaving my Orca in high sec as I make my forages into low sec with my scout/combat ship only, thank you for the confirmation.

Nor Tzestu - I think for my first trip out I'm going to pack everything including the kitchen sink. I remembered the quote about it being better to have something and not need it, than need something and not have it. I'm just going to pack it all. One thing I hadn't even thought of was the T1 logi for the POS. Well oddly I have always loved the POSprey set up and have used it in WH space once on our POS (err... back when I actually had a corp lol). Thanks!

Arazel - After reading your suggestionI am really thinking about funding my alt account again. He's already an Orca pilot. Dual box with him in the Orca with a POS. Enter WH, set up POS, both of us can clear sites. Salvage, go back to POS, pack up and leave and profit.

Gosh, its been a while since I have been this excited about Eve lol.

Thank you one and all.

Now if I can just remember if it was the Caldari or Gallente npcs that just got the loot buff....

Just no, put a powergrid rig or PDS in low and fit a MWD, always 10s align

i was also thinking about doing this with a couple friends of mine so i will also thank everyone who gave feedback
also thank you Op for saving me the hassle of starting a thread and waiting for good posts