115 replies to this topic

[Sniper09121986]

Rattler85, on 12 July 2014 - 11:22 AM, said:

Any suggestions for the Nova-B. I am currently running erll, uac5 (2 tons ammo), 2mg and erml.

I see none. Nova is so weight limited it struggles with ballistics, so I believe it is all about recreating the Prime on every variant. Wish they implemented C and D configs with missile hardpoints, they would be much more feasible tonnage-wise.

[Ovion]

Something like this NVA-B maybe?

[Rattler85]

Thanks Ovion that Nova-B worked out pretty well.

[Ovion]

Cool.
I'll bear it in mind for when I actually run it when I get to Novas.

[process]

My three:

Prime: 6 ER medium lasers, AMS. Less power, but more sustainable.
B: 6 ER medium lasers, ER PPC. Runs hot.
S: 2 ER large lasers, 2 ER medium lasers, 4 machine guns.

[MouldyBread]

at first when I bought a nova I thought i had gotten a lemon. And in some sense it is. Its as wide as a stormcrow and a half and nearly as tall as a timberwolf for some weird reason. As above, calling it an lrm sponge really isnt too far from the truth. But the nova can be made playable, and heres how.

1.) It has to be mastered. The stock nova is incredibly slow to turn and react. A mastered (well not really mastered since you cant get to the module skill yet, but elited is the better word) nova behaves much more like how a medium should behave so you can spread damage better.

2.) Youre never in the front. Which seems weird given that youve CERSLs, but the loadout i run is 6ERS and 6ERM, so most of the time youll be sniping midrange using your ERM. The small lasers only come into play when a brawling situation arises (which the nova honestly sucks at because its so easy to hit) or when youve snuck up on someone and for some reason he doesnt turn when you laser him.

3.) Use lasers only. Ive played around with so many builds involving ballistics and lasers and pretty much all you can think of, and at the end I fitted all my novas with 6small 6 medium, simply cuz it was the best way to go. Any ballistic you can wield wont hurt enough, or if it does wont carry enough ammo. 3ML 1AC10 just doesnt seem to hurt enough for some reason.

Pics for proof. Im not going to show you 1k damage screenshots, because although you will and can achieve such damage, it will be the exception, not the norm. The following pics are what youll find youll be doing in most matches.

Solo drop victory

solo drop victory

2 man drop loss

lastly bear in mind I play from asia, so Ill have higher ping than most of you. Im not sure if it affects the damage a lot, but there are times when my beam very obviously is hitting on target, but my reticle doesnt turn red till 0.5 seconds later. So most likely youll be getting a lot better results than me.

Edited by MouldyBread, 15 July 2014 - 12:34 AM.

[Gasoline]

Ovion, on 12 July 2014 - 01:27 PM, said:

Something like this NVA-B maybe?

Love this build, I run something similar, but I would shave the 2 points of armor from the head instead of the CT.

Thing I noticed about the Nova is, that Anchor Turn is indeed a game changer... it gets way more nimble with that. Before unlocking that efficiency it felt a bit sluggish with the slow turn speed and limited twist.

Sniper09121986, on 12 July 2014 - 11:55 AM, said:

Wish they implemented C and D configs with missile hardpoints, they would be much more feasible tonnage-wise.

Yep, a little more variety in hardpoints, especially due to the limited pod space of the Nova would've been nice.

[Ovion]

MouldyBread, on 15 July 2014 - 12:30 AM, said:

Spoiler

at first when I bought a nova I thought i had gotten a lemon. And in some sense it is. Its as wide as a stormcrow and a half and nearly as tall as a timberwolf for some weird reason. As above, calling it an lrm sponge really isnt too far from the truth. But the nova can be made playable, and heres how.

1.) It has to be mastered. The stock nova is incredibly slow to turn and react. A mastered (well not really mastered since you cant get to the module skill yet, but elited is the better word) nova behaves much more like how a medium should behave so you can spread damage better.

2.) Youre never in the front. Which seems weird given that youve CERSLs, but the loadout i run is 6ERS and 6ERM, so most of the time youll be sniping midrange using your ERM. The small lasers only come into play when a brawling situation arises (which the nova honestly sucks at because its so easy to hit) or when youve snuck up on someone and for some reason he doesnt turn when you laser him.

3.) Use lasers only. Ive played around with so many builds involving ballistics and lasers and pretty much all you can think of, and at the end I fitted all my novas with 6small 6 medium, simply cuz it was the best way to go. Any ballistic you can wield wont hurt enough, or if it does wont carry enough ammo. 3ML 1AC10 just doesnt seem to hurt enough for some reason.

Pics for proof. Im not going to show you 1k damage screenshots, because although you will and can achieve such damage, it will be the exception, not the norm. The following pics are what youll find youll be doing in most matches.

PICTURES~

2 man drop loss

lastly bear in mind I play from asia, so Ill have higher ping than most of you. Im not sure if it affects the damage a lot, but there are times when my beam very obviously is hitting on target, but my reticle doesnt turn red till 0.5 seconds later. So most likely youll be getting a lot better results than me.

The best Nova I've seen bar none, is 12 CERML, 4CMG (1T Ammo).
Targetting Computer optional, though a Mk.1 or Mk.2 is fittable.

Gasoline, on 15 July 2014 - 01:54 AM, said:

Love this build, I run something similar, but I would shave the 2 points of armor from the head instead of the CT.

Thing I noticed about the Nova is, that Anchor Turn is indeed a game changer... it gets way more nimble with that. Before unlocking that efficiency it felt a bit sluggish with the slow turn speed and limited twist.

I think I just used stock armour values. (I normally do 3:1 split for armour, and would remove from the head).
This is more the spread I'd use: NVA-B

And yeah, any mech won't show its potential until you Elite it, for Speed Tweak, Fast Fire and Double Basics.

[Tremendous Upside]

Ovion, on 15 July 2014 - 08:56 AM, said:

The best Nova I've seen bar none, is 12 CERML, 4CMG (1T Ammo).
Targetting Computer optional, though a Mk.1 or Mk.2 is fittable.

Even with just 6ERMLs and 20-21 DHS, you can't sustain a full rate of fire for more than 3-4 volleys. You're better off dumping the tonnage for the MGs and filling the weight with more sinks - or going 6ERML/6ERSL. 6/6 is a much better build.

[Ovion]

Banky, on 15 July 2014 - 10:39 AM, said:

Even with just 6ERMLs and 20-21 DHS, you can't sustain a full rate of fire for more than 3-4 volleys. You're better off dumping the tonnage for the MGs and filling the weight with more sinks - or going 6ERML/6ERSL. 6/6 is a much better build.

The heatsinks don't matter at that point.

An Alpha will take you to red core (or kill you if you've already taken damage).
Volleying will indeed only give you 2-4 volleys before you're out of heat.

The MGs give you a cold weapon to use when hot.
You aren't a brawler, you're a support sniper.

You hide near a bigger mech, pop out, nuke something with your pair of AC40s, then either run away or hit them with MGs while waiting to cool off.

[Tremendous Upside]

If that's the style you want to play - great. It's beyond limited and it's a total one-trick pony, but to each their own. With 6/6 you can do anything. Brawling, LR laser raking - you name it. It's still nearly equivalent to the damage from 5 IS LLs even without the SLs. As for MGs - they're wasted tonnage now. They've been nerfed so hard there's literally no "good" time to take them. You'll get orders of magnitude more from 6 SLs at a cost of 1 additional ton.

[Ovion]

They've been nerfed into uselessness?

Since when?

I still do about the same (if not better) with my Ember and Locust, and my Kit Fox does pretty well, with the MGs taking out stripped components pretty easily.

I'm looking forward to getting my own Nova tbh.

[Tremendous Upside]

Ovion, on 15 July 2014 - 11:42 AM, said:

They've been nerfed into uselessness?

Since when?

I still do about the same (if not better) with my Ember and Locust, and my Kit Fox does pretty well, with the MGs taking out stripped components pretty easily.

I'm looking forward to getting my own Nova tbh.

I can absolutely, positively guarantee you'll take off components faster with 6ERSLs than with 4MGs . The one knock against 6/6 is having all your weapons in your arms. It's a risk. In 100+ games, it's bit me in the rear twice. Maybe 3 times... 66 pts of firepower is still a LOT of firepower on a 50 ton mech, and just like the DWF, if you can sustain a rate of fire behind a heavy first punch, you're going to rake in the damage and kills...

[Kampfer]

12 ERMLs is the only build I could really get into. It's all about how you play it, it doesn't do well on maps like Caustic Valley typically and not because of the heat but because of the lack of hit and run possibilities. This mech was born to be a hit and run mech. Fire off your golden swords of retribution then run away, cool off, and hit them again from another direction.
The build is not very well designed for prolonged face to face combat, however if you are moving in a group and they are not focusing on you can do very well in the open. This mech is not very well designed to be a point mech leading the charge and going for all the glory. It's better to play as a thief in the night and back stabbing.
if you find a sniper or LRM boat alone and standing still, as long as your aim is stead and you only hit the CT, almost ANYTHING will die.
I can't tell you how many times Meds and Heavies have complained in chat about how the heck they died to ML damage in under 3 seconds, not as many assaults but you get the idea

[Linolea]

Kampfer, on 19 July 2014 - 01:23 PM, said:

12 ERMLs is the only build I could really get into. It's all about how you play it, it doesn't do well on maps like Caustic Valley typically and not because of the heat but because of the lack of hit and run possibilities. This mech was born to be a hit and run mech. Fire off your golden swords of retribution then run away, cool off, and hit them again from another direction.
The build is not very well designed for prolonged face to face combat, however if you are moving in a group and they are not focusing on you can do very well in the open. This mech is not very well designed to be a point mech leading the charge and going for all the glory. It's better to play as a thief in the night and back stabbing.
if you find a sniper or LRM boat alone and standing still, as long as your aim is stead and you only hit the CT, almost ANYTHING will die.
I can't tell you how many times Meds and Heavies have complained in chat about how the heck they died to ML damage in under 3 seconds, not as many assaults but you get the idea

Been giving 12 CERML another chance. With a mote of patience and a bit of footwork, it really is pretty brutal. I run each arm as a weapon group, then groups 3 and 4 as 4 lasers from each arm, in case I need to dial it back on hot maps. been seeing a lot of success.

[Rattler85]

Any good suggestions for surviving in this mech? I know to swing my torso a lot. I have found that you must not be the center of attention for even a single medium or heavier.

[Gasoline]

Rattler85, on 23 July 2014 - 05:21 PM, said:

Any good suggestions for surviving in this mech? I know to swing my torso a lot. I have found that you must not be the center of attention for even a single medium or heavier.

Hit'n'run, take pot shot while peaking out with just one arm and duck back. Or try to get behind the enemy and do a delayed alpha (one arm, wait 0,5 seconds, fire the other arm). Don't crest hills and don't fight an uphill battle.

Cover and peaking edges is the easiest way to survive. Torso twisting is nice and fine, but the Nova torsos can be hit so easily from pretty much any direction. Using the arms as your shields will cost you half of your firepower. I usually try to catch LRMs with my back (yep) It's pretty rare I got ever flanked in my Nova so my backarmor is usually fine.

One on ones can actually be done, depending on variant and loadout. A 12 ER Small Laser Nova doesn't have that many options to snipe. The B can actually be a great brawler if it gets close and personal.

[Ivanzypher]

I just use my Prime stock. Actually I dropped 1 heatsink for a mkI TC. I freaking love the thing. Fire one arms lasers, half second gap, fire the other. Back off to cool down. Thats 84 damage in a couple of seconds. Sneak up behind an atlas? He's dead. Can kill mediums and lights in one volley straight through the front armour. Pull side torsos of heavies and lighter assaults in one volley. But for the love of god, unbind that alpha strike key. You don't want to catch that by mistake.

[Rattler85]

I am getting better at hit and fade. Also poking one arm out, firing all the weapons on that one arm and retreating works rather well.

[Rampancy]

NVA-B (UAC10)

Took this guy for a spin again. Nice little brawler. I've seen some people running it with an additional half ton of ammo and no cERSL, I like having the cERSL for backup, though. Nice to have something left if the arms get blown off.