31 replies to this topic

[Angel of Annihilation]

JagdFlanker, on 27 August 2014 - 05:40 AM, said:

disagree - with the hunch and head weapons above your cockpit and smart use of cover you can keep almost your entire body under cover and lay down a beating while taking almost no damage in return. nova ALWAYS has to expose itself fully, except on corners (it's biggest strength)

I find corners a bit of an issue myself. Your so wide that your weapons are mounted quite a distance away from the cockpit which means when you expose the cockpit to line up a shot, your exposing 1/2 or more of the mech rather than just an arm.

lockwoodx, on 27 August 2014 - 06:17 AM, said:

Saying you enjoy the stock nova is a big fat endorsement for ghost heat.

No because whether Ghost Heat was present or not, you still have the same heat issues with a Nova. Even without Ghost Heat I don't think you would be able to really fire and sustain more than 6 at once with only 18 DHS. Also I am pretty sure I would have the same 4 groups of 3 used in a cycle I do now and by using it that way, Ghost heat might as well not even exist.

[Mechteric]

Agent 0 Fortune, on 27 August 2014 - 08:22 AM, said:

I run my Nova with 10 ER Medium Lasers. I found that 12 (two groups of 6) was just a little hot to manage, but by dropping two lasers and adding two heat sinks I was able to find my sweet spot.

I actually dropped down to 8 ER Mediums, then threw on a BAP (HD) and Targeting Computer I (CT) along with a couple extra DHS. I might try back and forth with 10 to see if I like it more, but so far 8 really hits that sweet spot of being able to continuously put out damage which is great when being on the offensive.

Edited by CapperDeluxe, 27 August 2014 - 09:38 AM.

[verybad]

I do like the prime, it punishes the greedy and rewards the frugal, it's like a wise martial art monk's mech.

[Scratx]

Yes, stock Nova Prime is fun and effective. It's also a harsh mistress. You screw up and fire everything, you die. You screw up heat management, you shutdown. You screw up tactical positioning, you're useless. (low-slung arms)

If you know about ghost heat, it's a great teaching tool, too. Really punishes you for making mistakes.

On the other hand, it's glorious uber damage for a 50 tonner when you pull it off.

[Wolfways]

It's great if you don't get caught in a brawl...which happens in just about every match

[deadmedo]

I love the prime's 12 er ml. I use 4 groups, 6 left, 6 right, 2left-2right and 1left-1right.

[Sorbic]

My first run with the trial Nova landed on Alpine and my results were much like yours. 4kills, 5 assists and 603 dmg. Funny enough my next match was also Mordor. Unfortunately I didn't fare as well (wasn't just heat) as you and netted a little over 300dmg and no kills.

It's workable but just doesn't bleed heat as fast as I'd like for a more sustained damage build. Currently I'm running 6ML and 4SL which means I can fire a lot more often but it's not as entertaining. Thinking of going back to stock...

Edited by Sorbic, 27 August 2014 - 10:33 AM.

[Ph30nix]

there is nothing wrong with the nova prime if you know how to manage heat or you know how to manuver yourself for ambushes.

one of the best ways to use it is to get behind an enemy and core them from behind before they even know what happened

i see novas as the rogues of MWO

[Escef]

verybad, on 27 August 2014 - 09:45 AM, said:

I do like the prime, it punishes the greedy and rewards the frugal, it's like a wise martial art monk's mech.

I usually tell people it's a boxer. Left, right, bob, weave, left, duck, right...

Anyway, a well used Nova Prime is scarey as all hell. Each arm outguns a BoomJager.

[Angel of Annihilation]

Wolfways, on 27 August 2014 - 09:50 AM, said:

It's great if you don't get caught in a brawl...which happens in just about every match

Even then it isn't an issue. My favorite and best performing Stormcrow only mounts 7 C-ER ML and it brawls just fine. The point is, that as long as your not trying to fire all 12 C-ER MLs all at once you can keep up a very significant rate of fire in a Nova.

Firing 6 MLs for example is easily sustainable in a brawl and I find that if I cycle through a group of 3 C-ER ML, firing 0.5 seconds apart, I can fire roughly 8-9 bursts in a row before getting critical on the heat provided I am starting fresh anyway. 8 bursts x 21 damage = 168 damage fired off in roughly 4 second before reaching 95-97% heat then after about 3-4 seconds of cool down, I can start cycling in 3 lasers ever other second and pretty much keep up the rate of fire for as long as necessary.

So while you really can't lay into an enemy with full alphas and take advantage of the "On Paper" 84 firepower rating (unless you are sure you can take him out with one shot and aren't going to be a sitting duck for his buddies), you can achieve a very, very high sustained firepower, doing tremendous amounts of damage over a 10-15 second time span.

[Joseph Mallan]

I am not. I might be able to become one, but for right... no. I have a very itchy Alpha trigger. and with 2 Alphas in a Nova Prime I killed myself.

What a Blaze of glory though!

[Theaus]

I see that there is an energy spot in one of the torsos of a different varient. So I hope to one day. See a 13 ml laser Nova on the battlefield