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Orca vs. Porpoise
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Oftherocks
Shocky Industries Ltd.
Goonswarm Federation
#1 - 2016-12-05 05:19:35 UTC
Isn't it strange that both the Orca and the Porpoise have the same drone bandwidth? Shouldn't the Orca have 75 vs. the Porpoise 50?
Bronson Hughes
The Knights of the Blessed Mother of Acceleration
#2 - 2016-12-05 15:19:47 UTC
Oftherocks wrote:
Isn't it strange that both the Orca and the Porpoise have the same drone bandwidth? Shouldn't the Orca have 75 vs. the Porpoise 50?

Look at the drone bonuses on the two hulls and tell me if you still find their bandwidth to be out of whack.

Relatively Notorious By Association

My Many Misadventures

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Iferie
Third Coast Logistics
#3 - 2016-12-05 16:27:55 UTC
While the Orca is a bigger ship there is a fine line that has to be walked to keep the ship balanced. 50 Mbit means either 5 medium drones or 2 heavies. Going to 75 Mbit opens up a lot of combinations and would see the ship creeping into DPS ranges most wouldn't associate with a mining support ship.
Oftherocks
Shocky Industries Ltd.
Goonswarm Federation
#4 - 2016-12-05 18:04:00 UTC
Should the Porpoise be reduced to 25 then? It just seems weird that they both have the same bandwidth when they are so different in size.
Bronson Hughes
The Knights of the Blessed Mother of Acceleration
#5 - 2016-12-05 18:11:03 UTC  |  Edited by: Bronson Hughes
Oftherocks wrote:
Should the Porpoise be reduced to 25 then? It just seems weird that they both have the same bandwidth when they are so different in size.

It is unusual at first because no other drone ships are really balanced that way, but think about it this way:

The Vexor and the Dominix both have +10% per level bonuses to drone damage, but the Dominix can field more heavy drones than the Vexor so it has more damage potential.

The Porpoise and the Orca can both only field a full flight of medium drones, but the Orca has a much larger drone damage bonus so it also has much more damage potential.

It scales rather nicely, and I imagine it's a way to limit both ships in an ice-harvesting role. Ice Harvesting drones take up 50Mb of bandwidth, so the Orca and Porpoise can either harvest ice or fight, but not both at the same time. Giving the Orca a 75Mb bandwidth or the Porpoise only 25Mb would break that limitation.

Relatively Notorious By Association

My Many Misadventures

I predicted FAUXs
Iferie
Third Coast Logistics
#6 - 2016-12-05 23:02:57 UTC
Bronson Hughes wrote:


It scales rather nicely, and I imagine it's a way to limit both ships in an ice-harvesting role. Ice Harvesting drones take up 50Mb of bandwidth, so the Orca and Porpoise can either harvest ice or fight, but not both at the same time. Giving the Orca a 75Mb bandwidth or the Porpoise only 25Mb would break that limitation.


I'm pretty sure that the above is also a MAJOR reason why the Orca is capped at 50 Mbit given that an Ice Harvesting drone takes up 50 Mbit. There's not a terrible amount amount of risk for an AFK hi-sec Ice Orca assuming a decent defensive fit (outside of maybe a dedicated gank fleet). A high sec rat has about as much of a chance of breaking an Orca tank as there is of discovering that an all bacon diet is healthy. BUT there's always the small chance of the rat going for the ice drone and destroying it. Which does impart some minor element of risk into setting a drone to start harvesting ice on a full iceberg and truly walking away for 2+ hours.

If you give the Orca another 25 Mbit to work with above and beyond what's needed for the ice drone then the above scenario pretty much becomes totally riskless outside of player intervention as 4 light or 3 light and 1 medium drone will handily take care of any rats.
Oftherocks
Shocky Industries Ltd.
Goonswarm Federation
#7 - 2016-12-06 01:17:41 UTC
Don't Excavator Drones kinda make it unbalanced though? They can both fit 2 (regular or ice). I agree with most of what you guys are saying, but the future of mining is excavators and currently a cheap Porpoise can mine as much as a Orca.
Iferie
Third Coast Logistics
#8 - 2016-12-06 02:11:22 UTC  |  Edited by: Iferie
Oftherocks wrote:
Don't Excavator Drones kinda make it unbalanced though? They can both fit 2 (regular or ice). I agree with most of what you guys are saying, but the future of mining is excavators and currently a cheap Porpoise can mine as much as a Orca.


Uh no, the Excavator is deceptive. Only 25 Mbit, but 750 m3 volume. Pray tell how you're going to load 1 of those into the 200 m3 drone bay of the Orca much less the 125 m3 bay of the Porpoise. Also all other things held equal the Orca has a 100% role bonus to mining drones to the 50% of the Porpoise. Porpoise is a nice ship but its not an Orca, and while the Excavator is a nice but pricey mining drone it is solely the property of the Rorqual.

All of this is entirely academic for the near future as the price of non-rare Ore is currently executing a 20 story swan dive due to Alpha mining and Rorqual imports. If you are mining in null and have Sov, then might as well use the Rorqual.
Oftherocks
Shocky Industries Ltd.
Goonswarm Federation
#9 - 2016-12-06 03:43:55 UTC
That was the answer I was looking for. I didn't realize the volume was so high on the excavator drones. Thanks for the info, I now totally agree that it is as it should be.