Orca (Rivals)

"Orca ready to hunt"

- Orca when leaving the Helipad.

The Orca is GDI's anti-ground aircraft in Command & Conquer: Rivals. It has a capacity of 4 missiles, which it has to reload on the fly after firing.

Background
The Orca assault craft, with its distinctive dial ducked-jet propulsion systems, is GDI's primary close-air support gunship. Specialized for anti-vehicle operations, the Orca is equipped with dual Dragon TOW Rockets that can mete out heavy damage to Nod ground forces.

Abilities

 * Rapidly fires 4 rockets, then must reload.
 * Flying.
 * Flying.

Game unit
Orcas are a fast-moving anti-vehicle aircraft. They deal burst damage and can take out light vehicles in an instant, but are very vulnerable during the reload phase.

Very effective at attacking long range troublemakers like Artillery and Giga-cannon, even defended ones, since the Orca can fly over obstacles and deliver the payload before being taken down. Useful to protect infantry from Chem buggy, and will do significant damage to medium armor units like Scorpion tank. It can even destroy a Slingshot, if it can find a beeline to it.

Although an offensive unit by nature, against light vehicles it performs great on defense. With two incoming Attack bike squads, the Orca can destroy ⅔ of them before they can launch their missiles. It can even take out the Stealth tank if it can keep a tile of pad between it and the tank.

The fragile nature of the Orca means it needs to be careful about the path it takes to its target. Flying over a Laser squad could mean a crash landing before a single rocket is fired. It won't be able to survive an attack against two defending Attack bikes. Any air-to-air unit is a considerable threat.

If a more sustained firepower is required, the Mohawk gunship is a more sturdy option.

As with all burst damage units, it's vulnerable to baiting, so the commander has to micromanage it more than other units to get the full value out of them.

Changelog

 * 2018-06-20:
 * Reload time increased to 8 seconds (was 6)
 * Movement speed reduced to 8 (was 9.2)
 * 2018-11-06: Damage to Vehicles increased to 1020 per missile (was 1000)
 * 2019-02-06:
 * Missiles increased to 4 (was 2)
 * Damage decreased to 510 (was 1020)
 * 2019-03-13: Health increased to 1210 (was 909)
 * 2019-06-27: Reload time increased to 10 (was 8)
 * 2019-07-31: Reload time decreased to 9 seconds (was 10)

When created

 * Orca ready to hunt
 * Orca in the air

When selected

 * Awaiting orders
 * Orca ready for attack run
 * Ready for action
 * Missiles ready to fly

When moving

 * You've got it
 * Moving out
 * I'm on it
 * Clear skies

When moving to attack favorably

 * Let's hit and run!
 * We've got this!
 * Let's get them!

When moving to attack neutral

 * Affirmative
 * Taking them down
 * Setting up an attack run
 * Orcas' missiles are primed

When moving to attack unfavorably

 * May take some heat
 * Hunt might not go well
 * Going to draw some fire

When unable to attack target

 * No can do
 * Can't do that

When attacking

 * They don't stand a chance!
 * Missiles locked!

When under attack

 * We're under fire!
 * Drawing some heat
 * They've got a bit on me
 * Pull back!

When crashing

 * Orca going down
 * Not gonna make it

Trivia

 * Modelled after the Orca Mk. I in Tiberian Dawn.
 * Initially equipped with 2 missiles, but later upgraded four missiles each half as powerful to better deal with squad units like Attack bikes and Cyberwheels.
 * In the loading screen image, the Orca has a machine gun, which it lacks in the game.
 * Uses a lot of hunting metaphors. Female.