47 replies to this topic

[Damien Tokala]

i've outfitted mine with 6 med lasers and 5 MGs, meant to be a bit of a core digger mech

[Koniving]

Sephlock, on 20 August 2014 - 09:46 PM, said:

I've been resisting outfitting my Novas like ghetto Stormcrows, because that just emphasizes how similar the Nova-Stormcrow relationship is to the Summoner-Timber Wolf relationship .

But there's really only so much you can do with the hardpoints...

What have your experiences with the Nova been?

Pretty good.

Small tip: 2 armor on the rear. All else on the front. Let nothing get behind you. Hit and run tactics. Remember to equip lower arm actuators. Though unlike the "most overpowered" Clan mechs aka the Stormcrow and the Timber Wolf, it is still possible for someone to hit your rear torso without being directly behind you, it's still difficult to do.

(Honestly it's not Clan weapons that make them OP. It is their hitboxes that allow them to stack so much armor on the front and virtually none on the back and the targeting computers.)

Enjoy!

[Lootee]

Everything about the Nova teaches you patience. Either learn to wait for the right time to get close and the right time to fire or get focus fired with FLD or shut down and die.

I play it like a HBK-4P that jumps and those same strategies still work. But the Nova has a HBK-4P on each of its arms. The stock config is really good at peekaboo groin punching attacks. Get behind a rock or building, stick out just your arm, pew pew. Tuck it back. If they shoot off your arm, no big deal you have a spare. You don't often shoot all 12 lasers at the same target anyway, and that level of crotch punching takes you to 90% heat immediately. 6 lasers in a salvo with the other 6 in reserve is what I normally fire.

The secret is being patient and waiting for the melee to start, and constantly keeping an eye on the heat gauge. 55-60% heat fire ok, 61% fire bad.

Edited by Lootee, 21 August 2014 - 06:09 AM.

[Cheb44]

DaZur, on 21 August 2014 - 04:18 AM, said:

I've interestingly grown quite fat on the dividends of my Nova...

Here's the thing IMHO... It's a medium mech that fights like a heavy, which in turn creates a mistaken dichotomy where pilots tend to pilot it like a heavy. Problem is, it's still only a medium, thus it dies like a medium.

​The well trained and cautious Nova pilot is the epitome of a "opportunist".... A Nova pilot is the the battlefield equivalent of a vulture, looking for damaged stragglers and or pilots locked into an engagement with another pilot, where it lend it's copious amounts of focused firepower to the fight.

The Nova pilot who presses like they are a front-line heavy will quickly find themselves dead or severely hampered due to aggregate damage.

It even kind of looks like a vulture

[SaltBeef]

It has a sister mech the dragonfly, ( viper ) that looks very similar. We need to get these two together again so they can go bowling.

[Rampancy]

ITT: People playing the Nova wrong

The nova is fantastic for poking due to its wide-slung arms. It can't ridge hump, but it can wall/boulder/etc. poke like a boss. What's better for poking-- short or long-range weapons? If you answered LONG, you are correct!

Ditch the small lasers. Run stock or near-stock Nova Prime, pack a nuke on each arm, and poke away at the enemy. Brawler Novas will kill you IF they can get within 250 meters without you having a chance to poke away at them from afar, but stock nova prime > small laser-packing nova prime in pretty much every other situation, and that carries over into their performance vs. other mechs.

Nova-B and S are a little trickier, but the standard 6cERML/4cMG build for the S with equipment of your choice is pretty decent, and I've found the cUAC-10, 3cERML, 1cERSL build for the B to be an okay mid-range skirmisher.

[xeromynd]

Builds I've found that work:

1.) 6xML 5xSL -- You've got a punch arm and a jab arm, if you can get behind them, or just into a good firing position in general, you're going to do some serious damage.
2.) 2xCERPPC -- and as many DHS as you can possibly fit. Just remember the low slung arms
3.) All SL -- You've got to be in close, but once you're there it shreds legs

[3rdworld]

Mech is way oversized. The arms are huge and carry the majority of the firepower. Not enough free tonnage.

IMO it is quite inferior to the scarecrow.

Edited by 3rdworld, 21 August 2014 - 06:40 AM.

[Mercules]

Unlike everyone else I'm willing to turn it into a FrankenMech. C-ERPPC in one arm, 6 C-SLs in the other, 4 MGs. I usually start popping shots past my team's heavy/assault mechs supporting them with the PPC then as the brawling starts I wade in with the smalls and MGs to slice pieces off wounded mechs. I've got enough heat management to pop the occasional PPC shot at close range and help the SLs along.

[Malcolm Vordermark]

Unless you're taking advantage of all those hard points or making a poptart out of it the Stormcrow probably does it better. That being said I can see it having some niche to fill, but most of them would be found in a competitive environment where weight restrictions and knowledge of which map is next are things. In environments where tonnage is a consideration perhaps you could take 4 Novas instead of 3 Stormcrows (If we're working off the concept of an entirely Clan team upgrading an Adder to a Nova is probably a good idea). If you know the map will be a close range knife fight I could see the using a nova with some combination of ER ML, ER SL, and MG to fill out its possible 16 hard points, outperforming the Stormcrow. Or a scenario where jump jets are a must.

Not sure what builds I will use once I buy it for cbills but I expect I will find one good build, one "meh" build, and have no idea of what to do with the third mech.

Edited by Rouken, 21 August 2014 - 06:56 AM.

[Reitrix]

6x CERML
6x CERSL
4x CMG.
By waiting the .5 seconds between firing the LA (3x3) and RA i can dump all 12 lasers in less than 2 seconds. without overheating.
The CMGs are my high heat trollguns, which occasionally secure kills for me after stripping away all the CT armor of anything smaller than a 65 tonner.
I also like Legs. Legs are delicious. Especially when facing people who shave leg armor for the extra tonnage on heavies/Assaults.

Overall my favorite Medium 'Mech, ever.

Edited by Reitrix, 21 August 2014 - 07:05 AM.

[0bsidion]

I've just done awful in the Nova. I've tried a few different builds in the thing but I still haven't found one that clicks. So to answer your question it's been pretty much famine.

[Mystere]

Sephlock, on 20 August 2014 - 10:26 PM, said:

Yeah, it's best to engage a distracted or isolated target ...

You can say that again.

The Nova taught me to appreciate scavenger tactics even more.

Previously, I was mostly just either a surgeon with a laser scalpel, or a suicidal maniac with a whole lot of luck.

Edited by Mystere, 21 August 2014 - 07:45 AM.

[CDLord HHGD]

I outfitted my Nova with 6x MLs (split between to two arms) and 6 SLs (again spit) and had 3 MLs on one button, the other 3 on another button and all 6 SLs on a 3rd button. Butter....

[DaZur]

I run mine with 8 CmLas and max HS...

I split them between the Rt & Lt arms and specialize at peek-a-boo shots and or fire them in chain and offer up a nearly 10 round- 8 CmLas constant area suppression volley.

In fact 90% of the time I never group fire and just rip off 4 to 8 quick chain shots. I save the massive alpha for kill-shots. (Backs shots are the most tasty and tender morsels)

Edited by DaZur, 21 August 2014 - 08:16 AM.

[Mister Blastman]

Yeonne Greene, on 20 August 2014 - 10:03 PM, said:

Those low-slung weapons are what really do it in. However, if it was arranged like a Blackjack it would absolutely devastate.

This.

[CDLord HHGD]

Yeonne Greene, on 20 August 2014 - 10:03 PM, said:

Those low-slung weapons are what really do it in. However, if it was arranged like a Blackjack it would absolutely devastate.

But it's not and never will be....

Why can't my Chevy be built Ford Tough?
Why can't my Ford be "Like a Rock"?

Edited by cdlord, 21 August 2014 - 08:24 AM.

[SaltBeef]

Mopars are better!

[TamCoan]

My worst has been the nova-b. Always seemed to have not enough hard-points and always lost the UAC arm first. The heavy weapons in the arms means it loses the actuators and really limits the field of fire. Plus the short range torso weapons just seemed odd.

I finally tried something drastically different with it. I stripped it down and put a UAC5 in the RT and an ERPPC in the LT and as much UAC ammo as it could hold. The thing became a hard-to-kill beast.Those huge arms are now huge shields, I lose nothing by getting one shot off. Many opponents will stop focusing you if they see you armless and you are in the middle of a team brawl. "Oh an armless nova, he has no weapons so I can focus fire on the madcat." My success with that mech has gone up tremendously.

[0bsidion]

TamCoan, on 21 August 2014 - 09:00 AM, said:

My worst has been the nova-b. Always seemed to have not enough hard-points and always lost the UAC arm first. The heavy weapons in the arms means it loses the actuators and really limits the field of fire. Plus the short range torso weapons just seemed odd.

I finally tried something drastically different with it. I stripped it down and put a UAC5 in the RT and an ERPPC in the LT and as much UAC ammo as it could hold. The thing became a hard-to-kill beast.Those huge arms are now huge shields, I lose nothing by getting one shot off. Many opponents will stop focusing you if they see you armless and you are in the middle of a team brawl. "Oh an armless nova, he has no weapons so I can focus fire on the madcat." My success with that mech has gone up tremendously.

Interesting idea, I might try something like that but with a LBX-5. With the UAC5 you really need to be able to pack on several to be effective. It's damage output by itself doesn't really compare with the IS version. 4 UAC5s work decent on my Direwolf but even then it still takes several volleys to kill anything with it. On the other hand with the ERPPC stripping away armor and the UAC5 providing low heat DPS, I can see how it might work well.