Ships Orca owners club

My Orca is currently parked at the Shipyard since I don't have the credits for a Re-Buy.. so won't fly it again until I have... I'm down to flitting about in a grubby Cobra again!..
Build wise, mine is your standard Trade in Style Orca, A-Grade on Thrusters, FSD, Distributor and Power Plant.. 5A shields, 144 cargo, discovery scanner and a small vehicle bay just because landings should be done in style too!.. (Now I need a red carpet addon to the vehicle bay and some shiny hubcaps for the buggy!)
I have a Size 3 beam laser on gimball, and two turreted size 2 pulses for self defence. One A-grade shield booster, 1 PD turret and two chaff launchers to frustrate those clipper pirates that one cannot just boost away from.
As for Ramming and the FAS, I met one of those on my Grand Tour of the Rares Producers... a CMDR in a FAS, (or possibly Dumpship, but I think it was a FAS after all, I found is CMDR page online and it said FAS), anyhow, he was blockading Xihe when I came there to get those rare robots. He went bumper car at me in the landing bay and told me to leave Xihe. Can't have such behaviour here, thought I and went outside to recharge my shields, then I came back. He came flying at me at speed, and we made a well-nigh head on high speed Ram-on-Ram outside the station. :)

It did neither of our ships much good, both lost shields and took serious hull damage. :)

Unfortunately he won the shooting match that ensued, after all, I did not have armour since I wanted max jump range, he probably had armour... so one re-buy later I can't afford risking the Orca again.. so therefore re-enter my trusty old Cobra.
 
She's not just for combat you know, she makes for a beautiful explorer

This is 'Fluke' at Sagittarius A*
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I've been using mine for smuggling - sure, it's jump-range is teeny, which makes for some longish runs, but it's speed and cargo capacity makes up for that.

Plus, that 'bing' on boosting never gets old. :D
 
I'd like to present to you my BuckyBall 9 finishing Orca, Leucothea.

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Due to standard BB regulations I don't believe I'm allowed to post my final run time until the event is over, but for something with such a short default range I honestly was surprised at how quick it was over, even with two botched scoop attempts that added about 2 minutes to my overall run time.

I might run it again later this week for a better time now that I know the route.
 
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After trying out an Imperial Clipper, and really not enjoying the ship at all, I decided I would take a punt and see what the Orca offered as an alternative large ship.

I am actually very impressed with this ship and what it gives to me for the use I want from it.

I am using it for planetary exploration/scavenging missions. It handles really well on the planets, probably the best of any ship I have tried, and I have tried most now, and yet still has great speed for getting around the planet, which is also a massive plus in its favour. All this and it still has enough space to fill all my cargo and exploratory gear needs, yet also have a luxury of space remaining for a docking computer.

Here is the build I am running, it does this role in style and comfort. I present Polaris -

http://coriolis.io/outfit/orca/05A6...2i24.Iw18SQ==.IwBj5AmauUWAFgMxmUA=?bn=POLARIS

So yes a good solid ship for the planetary roles I found.
 
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I bought an Orca today. Because of the videos that Ghost Giraffe made on youtube. Fitted a grade III upgraded Thruster. Now its running at 398 - 480 m/s. Fitted a grade 5 FSD and it does 24 Ly.

I use this ship for missions and grinding imperial ranks. No weapons - only speed. This is a fabulous ship. Very quiet and smooth. Very fast - even with 128 tonnes of cargo. I love it [up]
 
...some day I will pilot a fashionable OrcaStream luxury motor home...

I recently took up mining missions as a money-making activity, and in addition to loving mining I have made about 60 million over the last month which finally allowed me to purchase an Orca at a nearby 15% discount station. :D Preliminary name is Wand of Orcus. I'm not sure how I'll outfit the ship yet, but if I keep making mining profits at this rate I should have the basics "A-rated" in a week or two. I'm uncertain when I'll finally feel confident enough to fly her into real danger - I may wait for the long-anticipated "passenger missions" to really put her to work.
 
I've been mining to the tune of 5 million credits a day, and finally earned enough to fully outfit her and make the maiden voyage back (with 2x insurance ready) from the Li-Yong Rui shipyards at HR 692 to my "home" starport today. (Terrible jump range and small fuel capacity necessitating a "rest stop" halfway along the fairly short journey :/ )

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My first experience mining in the Orca went fine, although I encountered one major frustration which limits its potential as a miner.

The Orca is more manouverable when stationary than the Asp-X, so the basic mining activities were executed smoothly. Particularly, the Orca's yaw is wonderfully fast compared to the abysmally slow Asp-X yaw. Also, the extra cargo capacity required less juggling of things in the refinery, which was wonderful.

The one major problem I had is that I didn't anticipate how fast the big Orca would consume its tiny fuel tank. I almost ran out of fuel and got stranded on my first outing, but fortunately I noticed the low fuel level just in time!!! I could see the fuel level go down as I mined, and had to leave with only 85 of the 138 ton capacity filled. (I get 74 tons in the Asp-X) Next time I'll refuel at a station near the mining system before making the final jump. It's only about 20 light years between my home starport and the mining system, but it takes 2 jumps with a refueling stop at the intermediate system! If it still continues to be a problem I may have to sacrifice one of the 32 ton cargo racks for a fuel tank or fuel scoop and just be satisfied with 106 tons.
 
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Bought one about a week ago to see how she looks and parked her until passengers hit. Maybe i ll give her a spin again soon and upgrade her a bit.
 
Was thinking of making a Expl-ORCA in the future, I'm currently roughing it in a ASPX on the way to Sag A. How much jump range do you think you can get out of one of these bad boys?
 
Was thinking of making a Expl-ORCA in the future, I'm currently roughing it in a ASPX on the way to Sag A. How much jump range do you think you can get out of one of these bad boys?

19 is the limit, and it sucks fuel fast. Only if you are a real glutton for punishment.
 
I have an interesting problem with my mining Orca that some others may experience at some point. It seems to be impossible to use the cargo scoop to scoop ore or materials. I've tried several times, and even if the chunk doesn't bounce off the hull as you approach, it always bounces away from the scooping box at the last moment. I've retracted hard points, landing gear is up, vertical thruster not stuck - don't know why. Triple "Grrrr!" if your last limpet explodes before you've sucked up all those low temperature diamond fragments.
 
I think we need a good look at exactly where the scoop is and how its angled. Group with a friend and have them eyeball your cargo scoop. (no innuendo intended) I've been flying an Orca for ages, but have never been able to manually scoop with her.

(Amusing note: I started the original Orca Owers Thread many many moons ago, but there were so few owners it fell off the front page almost immediately... I'll dig up the thread. Here it is! Ah, so long ago... a full year!)
 
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