Boosting Orca
The orca is a direct upgrade to the Porpoise in pretty much every way. It has 70,000 m3 of capacity between its standard and Fleet Hangars, 3 times the ore capacity, and a ship maintenance bay for refitting. Its combat capabilities are upgraded to those of a battleship, and it receives more powerful versions of most of the bonuses found on the Porpoise. The cost of all this however is a price tag of around 2 billion ISK, and a massive target on your back whenever you're out in space.
Boosting Orca
Mining and Extraction
Fittings
You may notice some faction and deadspace modules on the fit below. The orca is a 1 billion ISK ship hull, and it can benefit greatly from a bit of strategically utilized bling.
Boosting Fits
Orca, Boosting Orca
[Orca, Boosting Orca] Drone Damage Amplifier II Damage Control II Medium Capacitor Booster II Mining Survey Chipset II Multispectrum Shield Hardener II Multispectrum Shield Hardener II Dread Guristas Large Shield Booster Large Industrial Core II Mining Foreman Burst II Mining Foreman Burst II Pithum A-Type Medium Remote Shield Booster Pithum A-Type Medium Remote Shield Booster [Empty High slot] Large EM Shield Reinforcer II Large Thermal Shield Reinforcer II Large Capacitor Control Circuit II Hornet II x5 Vespa II x5 Vespa II x5 Hornet EC-300 x5 'Augmented' Mining Drone x5 Salvage Drone II x5 Navy Cap Booster 800 x100 Mining Equipment Preservation Charge x1000 Mining Laser Field Enhancement Charge x1000 Mining Laser Optimization Charge x1000 Active Shielding Charge x1000 Shield Extension Charge x1000 Shield Harmonizing Charge x1000 Mobile Depot x2 Mobile Tractor Unit x1 Heavy Water x16000 Shield Command Burst II x2 Large Asteroid Ore Compressor I x1 Large Gas Compressor I x1 Large Ice Compressor I x1 Large Mercoxit Compressor I x1 Large Moon Ore Compressor I x1 Medium EMP Smartbomb II x3
Skillplans
You Can Access Orca Skillplans Here
Completing a ship's skillplan ensures that you meet the requirements to fit it, and have the necessary support skills to be effective whilst using it.
Flying Your Orca
Boosting
Boosting is the orca's primary role, and can be summed up as providing buffs to the mining ships around it. Note that Industrial Cores significantly increase the range and effectiveness of your command bursts, at the cost of fuel and being locked in place for the duration of its cycle.
If boosting publicly you'll want to find a roughly central spot on the ore field, call out your command burst range in fleet, then activate and leave them on.
Boosting for your alts is a bit easier, simply keep your orca close to them and keep your command bursts active. Note that boosting on a public grid while outside of standing fleet (thus denying friendlies the benefits of your boosts) is considered bad form, and should be avoided.
Within your ship's cargo you may notice two Shield Command Bursts as well as a mobile depot for refitting. When combat is expected it may be helpful to exchange your Mining Foreman Bursts for these modules, giving bonuses to the shield stats of ships around you.
The standard charges for Mining Foreman Bursts are Mining Laser Optimization (yield increasing) and Mining Equipment Preservation (mining crystal wear reduction). You also have Laser Field Field Enhancement (mining range increasing) charges if desired. The standard charges for Shield Command Bursts are Shield Harmonizing (resistance increasing) and Shield Extension (HP increasing). You also have at your disposal Active Shielding (increased local and remote repair effectiveness) charges.
Compression
The secondary role of industrial command ships is offering compression capabilities. The orca can offer compression of all Ore types as well as Gas and Ice to ships within the respective modules' ranges. These modules can only be used while your ship's Industrial Core is active. The empty high slot in the fit above has been left specifically for a compressor of your choosing to be fitted depending on what kind of field you're on. Because of how expensive the modules are, it's recommended to leave unused compressor modules in station until needed.
Combat Support
Supporting mining operations in combat is a tertiary role of industrial command ships. Along with the aforementioned Shield Command Bursts, the orca receives a host of combat bonuses both with and without an Industrial Core active. Notably, the orca can utilize its Remote Shield Boosters out to significant range, and to fairly good effect. The ship's defensive capabilities are discussed in the section below, but suffice it to say the orca is capable of handling rats on its own and can support other mining ships in PvP.
Characteristics of Your Orca
Defensive Capabilities
The orca is a monster of a ship, with combat stats that outclass most battleships as well as supporting capabilities usually reserved for other specialized ships. The Orca has a pool of 296,000 EHP to work with, split roughly evenly between hull and shield. This fit utilizes a Large Shield Booster combined with a Medium Capacitor Booster, for a stable repair rate of 740 EHP/s cold, or just shy of 1,125 EHP/s with fully heated mid slots (all assuming the Industrial Core is active). Unlike on the porpoise this is not burst tank, and that repairer will keep going so long as you can keep the Medium Capacitor Booster fed (assuming no neut pressure). Increasing the bling on the Large Shield Booster or faction/deadspace swapping the Shield Hardeners can double or triple these numbers, provided you're willing to take on the additional cost.
Even more impressive is the ship's damage output; at max skills the orca with just 5 Vespas on field can bring to bear a staggering 920 DPS with Industrial Core active, and a still highly respectable 625 DPS without it (note from the editor: I had to do a double-take when I saw this number in Pyfa, it's simply astounding that a ship can get so much damage out of medium drones).
The orca is pretty much the most capable combat support ship a mining operation can have short of a capital, if you're willing to stomach the 2 billion ISK price tag.