Orca

## Unit in the game:

### Researches

RDX-2, Accelerated Courses, Armor Plating (Federation), Weapon Systems (Federation)

## 130 mm Gun

### Description

Medium calibre automatic weapon firing anti armor explosives

### Can attack fighters

Yes

The Lancaster A30 Corvette, a.k.a "Orca", is a Human assault corvette.

## Gameplay

The Orca is the most versatile tier 1 unit in the game. Compared to the arguably reasonable anti-fighter but ineffective anti-cruiser ships such as the Twinblade and Warpglider, the barely impressive, dependent Marauder and the splash-damaging Ventator, the Orca is both medium-cost, has a solid health pool, and is the only unit with a strong attack versus hull that can hit cruisers and fighters, making it a useful repository for the Avenger (3 Orcas are worth a single Avenger in firepower terms) in ship-to-ship combat, but not artillery. It's only shortcoming is it's attack range which is slightly remedied with the RDX-2 upgrade researched. Weapon upgrades throughout the game increase the Orca's firepower capacity by 30%, giving them the biggest tier 1 boost out of most corvettes in the game.

Orcas become available to the player in the campaign in *The Cavalry Has Arrived* in Chapter 1 - Hostile Visitors.

## Unit Strategy

Orcas are commonly partnered with Pasteurs and/or Hurricanes/Hailstorms, which exponentially increase the effectiveness of the Orca since the Pasteur can heal damages to the Orca and the Hurricanes and Hailstorms are more effective in neutralizing enemy ships' shields while dedicated anti-shield units such as the Dresda aren't introduced yet. Hurricane pairings, especially after the St. George is introduced, are considerably more cost-efficient as both Hurricanes and Orcas are cheap and plentiful. Orcas can help guard expansions against fighter raids better than Barricade Sats - although they might require detection against Crows - and provide fire support between Avenger volleys.

Against lesser opponents, the use of attack move (pressing 'A' and clicking on an open space) is sufficient to bring the Orcas to bear. The Orcas should focus fire on stronger units, especially those with little to no shielding. Micromanaging a combined group of Orcas and Hailstorms can be tricky though since Hailstorms, even without upgrades, out-range Orcas and thus the latter "charge" ahead just to get into firing range, wasting the Hailstorm's potential for tanking damage. The same can also be said for the St. George.

The effectiveness of the Orca is reduced against units with strong shields or armor, or very strong enemy attacks that can overwhelm the Pasteur's healing, an example being numerous Ventators and the Sylon Arson. Large fighter numbers can also overwhelm small Orca groups because of the firing cooldown, despite the effectiveness versus hull. When encountering significant threats such as tier 3 vessels, Overseers and/or Ruptors and Invaders, the Orcas should immediately fall back behind other sturdy units to survive.

## Counter-measures

In numbers, Orcas are a potential threat even against fighter groups, but individually are easy to pick off. Counter Orcas with long-ranged vessels such as Hailstorms, Shades, Havocs and Rictii since Orcas are always forced to close ranks to fire, or sturdy/shield-heavy vessels such as Flankers, Corsairs, Glooms with Absorber support and Zhogarn units with the Alpha's protective cloud, as high-health and shield pools can withstand the Orca's attacks. Orcas are also vulnerable to units that deal splash damage like the Arson, Devastator, Invader and Overseer, and area of effect spells like the Breaker's anti-matter cloud and the Teller's nuclear missile.

Fast units controlled to execute hit-and-run attacks can pick off Orcas before they do much damage, as they have a low de-acceleration rate and must stop before firing. Predators in Assault Mode, Lancets and Crows are best used in particular against Orcas in this sort of situation. Thorun Raiders can also be deadly against Orcas if detection isn't present within a group, especially as Absorptive Plating is researched mid-game.

In most cases, Orcas fare poorly against Intruders and several Athrael vessels (except Warpgliders) given their shield count, though small, can also tank the Orca's damage, giving time for other vessels to move in and gun down the vessel. The same can also be said of Sylon units that are backed by Absorbers and Zhogarn Minds. Devastators which use Subspace Shift are also a potent counter, given hull is converted to shielding when this ability is turned on.

Fighters from within carriers such as the Eclipse, Charybdis, Flagship, Mothership and St. George also counter Orcas slightly more effectively due to their carrier protection bonus.

## Racial Counter Relations

###  Federation

**Soft** - Hailstorm, St. George, Kutuzov, Dresda, Avenger (II), KEIKO Sentry, Defense Platform
**Hard** - Engineer Shuttle, Icarus, Hurricane, Crow, Pasteur, Joseon, Teller, Barricade Sat
###  Sylon

**Soft** - Gloom, Absorber, Installator, Caldron, Eclipse, Shade, Plasma Raid, Aegis
**Hard** - Labor, Hauler, Spear, Twinblade, Mask, Arson, Assimilator, Pillbox, Repair Station
###  Athrael

**Soft** - Intruder, Flanker, Clairvoyant, Rector, Harbinger, Gathering, Invader, Mothership, Theocrat, Obelisk, Shield Generator
**Hard** - Drone, Warpglider, Explorer, Lancet, Martyrprobe, Revenger, Polaron Sphere
###  Thorun

**Soft** - Raider, Vanguard, Havoc, Corsair, Devastator, Flagship, Breaker, Ion Cannon
**Hard** - Extractor, Welder, Zoner, Predator, Predator (assault mode), Marauder, Grinder, Guard Station
###  Zhogarn

**Soft** - Mind, Rictus, Alpha, Ruptor, Elasmoruptor, Overseer, Charybdis, Fonia
**Hard** - Argus, Spawn, Worker, Guard, Ventator, Mite, Decay, Impaler, Agaric