EVE Online's rumored 'Orca' ship unveiled
Behold, the Orca!
CCP Games developer CCP Chronotis unveiled the much-rumored Orca ship in EVE Online today, something industry-types have been looking forward to for a very long time. Chronotis said, "The development of the Orca has been unusual to say the least. With the introduction of the Rorqual last year Oveur immediately pointed out the remaining glaring gap in the industrial ship line and commanded us to fill it." The end result is a 'sub-capital logistical ship with a mining command focus'.
Read on below for a brief FAQ drawn from CCP Chronotis' dev blog as well as his commentary on the forums, which clarifies more about EVE's newest ship, the Orca.
What is the Orca?
The ship is a collaboration between Outer Ring Excavations (ORE) and Deep Core Mining Inc. It's a sub-capital ship with a mining command focus. In other words, the Orca is essentially a carebear's wet dream, providing some of the functionality of the Rorqual capital industrial ship but without the restrictions on using jumpgates and entering highsec. The Orca's greater mobility (and affordability) and bonuses/features generally only found in capital ships make it something useful for individuals as well as corporations.
What skills will I need?
Industrial Command Ships 1 (a new skill, estimated cost 50 million ISK)
Spaceship Command 5
Mining Barge 5
Mining Foreman 3
What are the ship bonuses?
Role bonus
250% bonus to range of tractor beams (70km)
100% bonus to tractor beam velocity (1km sec)
500% bonus to survey scanner range (~125km)
Industrial Command Ships Skill bonus
3% bonus to effectiveness of mining foreman gang links per level
5% bonus to cargo capacity per level
Fitting details?
3 high slots/ 3 medium slots/ 2 lows (no turrets or launchers can be fitted)
430 CPU/ 940 Powergrid
3 rig slots (400 calibration points)
Drone bay is 50 cubic meters, with 25 Mbit/sec bandwidth
Hitpoints - 46,000 structure/ 6900 armor / 9750 shield
No details on resists at this time.
Since the Orca is a 'sub-capital' ship, what aspects of capitals does it retain?
The Orca has a corp hangar (30,000 cubic meters), a ship maintenance bay (400,000 cubic meters), and a massive cargohold. The cargohold's maximum capacity is variable, as it shares space with the corp hangar and maintenance bay. CCP Chronotis' dev blog goes into far more detail on this.
What will the Orca cost me?
The Orca will run you an estimated 400 million ISK in capital ship components.
The Industrial Command Ship skills costs 50 million ISK.
The Orca blueprint will cost 1 billion ISK.
Will we need a capital shipyard to build the Orca?
No. The Orca can be built anywhere a freighter can be, so it's possible to manufacture them in Empire stations.
Can the maintenance bay carry rigged non-industrial ships/barges?
Yes. CCP Chronotis confirmed this earlier today, stating that "it is unrestricted because we wanted to ease the issue of transporting rigged ships around."
That's really just a brief look at the Orca, and of course these details are subject to change as the ship goes through further revisions on the Singularity test server. Be sure to read through CCP Chronotis' dev blog 'The Orca' for the rest of the details surrounding EVE's newest ship, and see if he or other devs continue to weigh in on the associated forum thread.
