Hi, me and the head of security were talking about my Orca today and by talking I mean he was telling me my fit should have at least one warp stab. I found this perplexing because at that point your gambling on the enemy fit rather than tanking but we aren’t a large corp and so we can’t usually win gank pvp. We currently only have 3 members actually which is why I feel he may have a point.
My question is whether or not I should heed his advice as well as when would you want 1 stab and when would you want 2 stabs?
If you are alone mining low sec belts in an orca, no amount of stabs will save you.
If you are travelling alone through low sec in an orca, you might make it through if you are lucky (especially during quiet hours, in quiet regions) one stab might save you from a single random passerby on a gate.
Of course, the first thing that random passerby will do is shout “Orca!!!” on comms. No amount of stabs will save you from the camp that then forms up two gates ahead of you.
Look… Unless you have a pocket of low sec that is dead, taking an orca is asking for a big loss and no amount of warp core stabs will save you.
First off, one warp core stabilizer gives you one extra point of warp strength. It will stop one warp disruptor. It will not stop a warp scrambler. Most good tackle frigs will have a warp scrambler. So one lone stab isn’t going to help. The frigate is faster than you, will get in range and scram you faster than you can align out and your stab will do nothing. So you need 2 stabs… Which is a lot of low slots for little help…
And here’s the catch… A good tackle frig… Even if you had enough stabs, will ram you. Your orca is big, bulky, and easily bumped. If you are bumped, you will have to realign leading to you being unable to warp. So really, no amount of warp stabs will save you. If you plan to use an orca in low… Have a back up fleet or dock up the moment anyone enters local… Or use a porpoise, less risk.
I know you got your answer but never ever consider low sec for mining, your just begging to get ganked, never fit a WCS on an orca, it is better tanked, it will either survive or it won’t, a solo ganker will just die (high sec), before they can chew enough through a well tanked orca before Concord pods them, this leaves the only viable option, more then one ganker (high sec), in which case there will be more then one warp core scrambler hitting you and this means no getting away, always, always choose a tanked orca over yield or any thing else, and when using it stay in a high enough sector as to discourage any gank, this means above a 8 sec anything below use a porpoise to a 6, if you choose to mine below a 6 you better watch local very carefully.
I wouldn’t say don’t mine in low, just balance the risk vs reward. The hours it will take to earn the cost of the orca is long. Chances are in that time, you will be attacked and killed.
On the other hand, a ninja mining OP in ventures and retrievers with a procured or t1 Indy and a scout or two, you’ll stand a much better chamce of making isk to cover cost.
Do NOT use an orca in lowsec please, it will die horribly. If you must have a mining command ship in lowsec, use a porpoise, it offers nearly as good a boost as an orca, is much quicker, has more fitting options, and when it dies it’s cheap enough to not really be much of a loss.
