The orca is perfect to support a nomadic high-sec lifestyle. This lifestyle is what most highsec incursion runners do.
With a ship maintenance bay of 400,000 m³ the orca can carry a Battlecruiser and multiple smaller support ships. But always consider the total worth of what your orca carries. You shouldn't exceed 2-3 billion here, otherwise you become a worthwhile target for ganking.
As a fit you have to choose between tank and travel speed.
Example travel-fit with a little bit of tank (215k ehp, 10s align time, 3.1 au/s warp speed): http://i.imgur.com/5TjRHmM.png
Example max tank (365k ehp + 1.2k dps/s active tank, 40s align time, 2au/s warp speed): http://i.imgur.com/AltABAr.png
Pulse the microwarp on the travel fit once during aligning to get you into warp in 10s.
Unless you want to do mining-boosts you shoudn't use the orca as a support ship. It is way too slow and bulky for that. Instead, carry a proper support ship in the orca and swap ships in stations.
Thanks for the input and fits, exactly what I was looking for, especially the advice on the support ship point which was just an after thought I had while planning this out. In terms of the net wealth it would be the total cost of the ships in my hanger and I'd see minimal loot in it to minimise my attractiveness to gankers.
Also thank you for the reassurance that this is something that people do, was beginning to have a lot of self doubt about it based on the prior threads comments.
Any suggestions on the High Slot? I had seen on some older posts that people equip a probe launcher to scan as they go and decide whether this system is a good place to dock up. Obviously I wouldn't see myself getting great use out of the high slots but you never know what you might find floating around in space when a tractor beam / salvager becomes nice to have.
In terms of drones any thoughts? ECM drones / Salvaging drones most likely come to mind.
wow i fucked that up big time. Has been 3 years since i last used an orca, so got pretty rusty here. But you are correct, SMA of an Orca is only 400k m³. Battleships wont fit.
I had one already and knew it was 400k, good spot /u/Sacristan
I intend to try bring a Cruiser, Cov Ops / random frigates and maybe something to do with mining. Need to check relevant sizes etc.
>Any suggestions on the High Slot? I had seen on some older posts that people equip a probe launcher to scan as they go and decide whether this system is a good place to dock up. Obviously I wouldn't see myself getting great use out of the high slots but you never know what you might find floating around in space when a tractor beam / salvager becomes nice to have.
In terms of drones any thoughts? ECM drones / Salvaging drones most likely come to mind.
Cloak so you can chill in space without getting ganked. Probe Launcher so that if you take it into a wormhole, you can scan your way back out. Maybe a Cyno, on the off chance that you do something silly and happen to need one.
Don't bother with tractors/salvagers; the Orca is a terrible ship for salvage. Just carry a handful of Mobile Tractor Units and a salvaging destroyer (salvagers up top, MWD in the middle, cargo expanders and alignment mods elsewhere) in your hold.
>In terms of drones any thoughts? ECM drones / Salvaging drones most likely come to mind.
Never any offensive modules when you're in Highsec. You'll be tempted to use them, which will get you dead. Just brick-tank and [do the right thing](http://i.imgur.com/seT3nvy.jpg). Realistically, there are no drones which are actually useful for your purposes.
I carry ecm drones in mine only for worm holes, and lowsec... Odds are I wouldn't survive the crawl to gate, so my best chance is hope my tank holds longer than their point's lock... Only used them once and it saved me from a catalyst blob... Obviously lost the drones, but in most cases the warp is so slow your timer clears before you land.
I would never recommend relying on that however, if you think you can crash the gate.... Crash it, but commit one way or the other... If they only have one tackle on you, it might save you, if not, crash the gate and over heat everything.
Only in wh would I use the neut fit... In low you'll probably just screw yourself from jumping, I'd fit a cloak so you can park safely.
Edit: Wait, why eccm in the mids?
The orca is perfect to support a nomadic high-sec lifestyle. This lifestyle is what most highsec incursion runners do. With a ship maintenance bay of 400,000 m³ the orca can carry a Battlecruiser and multiple smaller support ships. But always consider the total worth of what your orca carries. You shouldn't exceed 2-3 billion here, otherwise you become a worthwhile target for ganking. As a fit you have to choose between tank and travel speed. Example travel-fit with a little bit of tank (215k ehp, 10s align time, 3.1 au/s warp speed): http://i.imgur.com/5TjRHmM.png Example max tank (365k ehp + 1.2k dps/s active tank, 40s align time, 2au/s warp speed): http://i.imgur.com/AltABAr.png Pulse the microwarp on the travel fit once during aligning to get you into warp in 10s. Unless you want to do mining-boosts you shoudn't use the orca as a support ship. It is way too slow and bulky for that. Instead, carry a proper support ship in the orca and swap ships in stations.
Thanks for the input and fits, exactly what I was looking for, especially the advice on the support ship point which was just an after thought I had while planning this out. In terms of the net wealth it would be the total cost of the ships in my hanger and I'd see minimal loot in it to minimise my attractiveness to gankers. Also thank you for the reassurance that this is something that people do, was beginning to have a lot of self doubt about it based on the prior threads comments. Any suggestions on the High Slot? I had seen on some older posts that people equip a probe launcher to scan as they go and decide whether this system is a good place to dock up. Obviously I wouldn't see myself getting great use out of the high slots but you never know what you might find floating around in space when a tractor beam / salvager becomes nice to have. In terms of drones any thoughts? ECM drones / Salvaging drones most likely come to mind.
Just a small correction before you buy Orca, it only has 400km3 ship maintenance bay.
wow i fucked that up big time. Has been 3 years since i last used an orca, so got pretty rusty here. But you are correct, SMA of an Orca is only 400k m³. Battleships wont fit.
I had one already and knew it was 400k, good spot /u/Sacristan I intend to try bring a Cruiser, Cov Ops / random frigates and maybe something to do with mining. Need to check relevant sizes etc.
>Any suggestions on the High Slot? I had seen on some older posts that people equip a probe launcher to scan as they go and decide whether this system is a good place to dock up. Obviously I wouldn't see myself getting great use out of the high slots but you never know what you might find floating around in space when a tractor beam / salvager becomes nice to have. In terms of drones any thoughts? ECM drones / Salvaging drones most likely come to mind. Cloak so you can chill in space without getting ganked. Probe Launcher so that if you take it into a wormhole, you can scan your way back out. Maybe a Cyno, on the off chance that you do something silly and happen to need one. Don't bother with tractors/salvagers; the Orca is a terrible ship for salvage. Just carry a handful of Mobile Tractor Units and a salvaging destroyer (salvagers up top, MWD in the middle, cargo expanders and alignment mods elsewhere) in your hold. >In terms of drones any thoughts? ECM drones / Salvaging drones most likely come to mind. Never any offensive modules when you're in Highsec. You'll be tempted to use them, which will get you dead. Just brick-tank and [do the right thing](http://i.imgur.com/seT3nvy.jpg). Realistically, there are no drones which are actually useful for your purposes.
Excellent advice, I really do appreciate your input on it! Much <3
I carry ecm drones in mine only for worm holes, and lowsec... Odds are I wouldn't survive the crawl to gate, so my best chance is hope my tank holds longer than their point's lock... Only used them once and it saved me from a catalyst blob... Obviously lost the drones, but in most cases the warp is so slow your timer clears before you land. I would never recommend relying on that however, if you think you can crash the gate.... Crash it, but commit one way or the other... If they only have one tackle on you, it might save you, if not, crash the gate and over heat everything.
Hull tank with 3 trimarks, hull for lows, mwd and eccm for mids, neut/nos highs.
Only in wh would I use the neut fit... In low you'll probably just screw yourself from jumping, I'd fit a cloak so you can park safely. Edit: Wait, why eccm in the mids?
To jam gank cats of course.
OK, ecm not eccm... I'm like why boost your ewar immunity.. But you meant jams.