42 replies to this topic

[Tahu5]

ATTENTION! If this has already been posted pleas tell me. I couldn't find it posted anywhere so.

So I am about to buy the Nova. What I want to do with this Mech is flank around people and core them from behind. Should I do the 14 C-Small lasers? I could attach 6 heat sinks and AMS with 2 1/2 tons of ammo. Or should I do the standard nova-PRIME with the 12 C-Mediums, no AMS, and only 4 heat sinks? I also had one more build in mind. 12 C-Small Pulse is the other. It's the exact same build as the nova-PRIME except its just small pulls instead of mediums.

If you have tried any of these or something similar pleas let me know. Would love to know what your thoughts are. By the way, how is the Kodiak? One of them runs hot I think. If anyone has any anti bear builds . I tried flamers but I didn't work on my shadow cat. (3 is not enough I don't think).

[Tahu5]

(Anyone know how to post builds? I'll post a screenshot when I know how to put it in here.)

[GLaDOSauR]

Okay so....both of those builds are gonna be running really hot. I'd probably drop the ams in favor of more heatsinks in the first one.

Or, here's a nice build using some small pulse, and MG's.
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...d3586dc7bfb9400

[Tahu5]

Thank you. One more question, with the 6 small pulse will it strip armor off the back with an alpha (or pretty close)? Looks like a good build to make people mad which is what my whole goal is....

[Fox With A Shotgun]

Tahu5, on 19 May 2016 - 08:22 PM, said:

Thank you. One more question, with the 6 small pulse will it strip armor off the back with an alpha (or pretty close)? Looks like a good build to make people mad which is what my whole goal is....

Most players run with <10 armor on back. Even 2 SPL will do the job - 6 will likely kill them.

A tip for you though if you're doing this; be aware of common engines used on different mechs, In a Nova, you do not exactly have the luxury of being able to tank nor run away, so you gotta make sure they're really dead. 12 SPL is 72 damage against a single component, but to avoid ghost heat you need to split it into two hits which gives them some time to react. What you need to know is how to kill a mech in 36 damage or less, or at least force them to turn the nearly-dead side away from you.

Against an IS mech, some mechs generally have XL engines and you will find it much easier to destroy them by blowing off a ST. Fast-moving Centurions, Cicadas, all lights, Catapults usually run XL. These will give you an easier one-shot kill if you shoot the ST instead of the CT.

Another useful thing you can do is disarm a mech. Some mechs have uneven loadouts; the laser-boating HBK has all its guns on the right side, so blowing off the RT will take out 6 or 7 of its lasers. Atlai have an AC20 on their RT, and a bunch of SRMs on the LT - pick which one you want to break. This is useful if you can't kill the mech by XL check or by CT destruction before it turns around.

Edited by Fox With A Shotgun, 19 May 2016 - 08:33 PM.

[Tahu5]

Ok thanks. Do most people buff up the back armor? I noticed that DWFs only have like 28 armor in the back. Yet it has 94 in the front. Seems really suicidal if you get flanked... AS7 has the same armor count. Does the armor differ in strength from IS to Clan?

Also, something I have learned so far is how xl engines allow for more available tonnage for weapons. So is it safe to assume that an IS assault mech (for example) with lots of weapons (more than normal) is xl? Or is that a big leap, potentially suicidal?

Edited by Tahu5, 19 May 2016 - 09:54 PM.

[Nightshade24]

12 ER Medium lasers.

The aim of the build is not to fight over a long perioid of time but instead to deal IMMENSE damage with the 12 lasers (firing in groups of 6's) and then scurrying off to cool down, staying out of direct combat, or firing 6 (or chain firing) lasers in a sustained combat situation.
This can be a very powerful build with up to 400 meters (+modules) range so it is no laughing matter. But requires heat discipline.

12 Small Pulse lasers have a similar effect but with much better heat efficiency, shorter burn time, and lower range. Picture this as a more sustained brawling version of above.

12 Small lasers is like the above two but with extreme heat effeciency, you are able to fire much more often if like you are a normal mech.

6 medium lasers give you the best heat effeciency and allows you to fire on regular intervals

6 medium pulse lasers is like the first build but a bit easier on the heat and lower down the range and damage. best with the Nova S omnipods.


Up to you. I personally have 12 medium lasers.

[Fox With A Shotgun]

Tahu5, on 19 May 2016 - 09:04 PM, said:

Ok thanks. Do most people buff up the back armor? I noticed that DWFs only have like 28 armor in the back. Yet it has 94 in the front. Seems really suicidal if you get flanked... AS7 has the same armor count. Does the armor differ in strength from IS to Clan?

Most people strip back armor as usually you won't be getting shot by teammates. This is, however, with the assumption that your teammates are competent enough to watch your back. Which, in public queue, is not necessarily true. With good map awareness and seismic sensor, though, you should be able to get away with it. My Kit Fox usually runs just 1 or 2 back armor, and my Dire Whale only about 8-10.

Armor strength does not change between IS and Clan. An IS 100-tonner and a Clan 100-tonner will both have the same total armor for each component. It's just how people choose to distribute this armor that makes the difference.

Quote

Also, something I have learned so far is how xl engines allow for more available tonnage for weapons. So is it safe to assume that an IS assault mech (for example) with lots of weapons (more than normal) is xl? Or is that a big leap, potentially suicidal?

That's the idea. A mech that goes faster than it normally does (while carrying the same weapons loadout) or carries more weapons than normal is typically XL-engined. Over time, you'll be able to make on-the-spot calls as to whether or not a mech is running XL or not. Cutting through 60 armor + 30 internal struct, for example, is much easier than cutting through 90 + 45. If both ends up killing the enemy mech, then you've just saved yourself some damage, time or both.

Edited by Fox With A Shotgun, 19 May 2016 - 10:40 PM.

[epikt]

I personally found the sweet spot to be 12 ER small lasers, or 10 small pulse lasers.
14 ERSLas is annoying because of the ghost heat limit of 6 lasers. 12 lasers allow you to shot everything in 2 salvos. Also the 2 additional lasers are in the torso, not really aligned with the others.
Both loadouts have the same alpha strike, the ERSLas have better cooling while the SPLas deliver more precise damage (and also allow you to alpha strike, if you really need to, and thus to poptart).

[Tahu5]

All:
Ok. Thank you guys! Sounds like I should do 8 small lasers and 4 small pulse for heat management. Wondering if I should get one the clan MK comps for the extra laser range or if I should go with more heat sinks? And are Cool Shots really worth using?

Hit points on armor and internals. I keep seeing you guys say that armor count + internal. Does anyone know how much dmg it takes to take of 20 armor? Or does it depend on the mech class (Light, Medium, Heavy, Assault), or something completely different?

Fox With A Shotgun:
A Dire Whale? Is that like the Dire Fox, only it lives in the water?

epikt:
I would probably do on laser in each torso just incase I lose my arms. Find it a common target when I go against a nova. People disarm them and leave because the have no weapons, rendering them useless. Similar to the shadow cat. People take off the right torso if they are running 2 lasers because they just lost all there weapon systems, or the left torso because of C-ECM.

[John1352]

The Nova is fairly slow for a medium mech at 81 (87.1 with speedtweak) km/h. It is great with any of the red laser builds at close range, however you'll often find that maps are too open/teams are too far apart for you to be useful in the first half of the fight.

To kill a mech, you need to destroy certain components, (CT, head, or both legs on ANY mech, one ST on a mech with an innersphere XL, both STs on a mech with a clan XL). A component is destroyed when the internal structure runs out of health.

For example, killing this Nova: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...a644ad7d274bfa1 through the front CT would take 48+32, or 80 damage. Killing it through the rear CT would take 16+32 = 48 damage.

PS: I ignored the "quirk" of Novas there, that gives them + 12 bonus structure in the CT. It would actually take 92 damage to the front OR 60 damage to the back to kill it.

[Zelumbras]

While the 12 ERML is an insane beast, you will have immense trouble with heat, which means that after each shot you will have to cool down for ~20 seconds. One missed shot and you are toast!

Therefore, I run the Nova with 10 ERML, which leaves two tons for either two additional heatsinks or AMS.

Edited by Zelumbras, 20 May 2016 - 08:11 AM.

[Tahu5]

John1352:
I understand the L/R/CT, head (still haven't gotten that headshot haha), an bot leg destruction for different mechs and the engine types. Figured that out pretty early on. I have been playing off and on for about the past 1 1/2 - 2 years now.

So from what you said, it takes 1 dmg to destroy 1 armor correct?

All:
Next question. Is the time that it takes the fire related to amount of dmg? Like if you fire the Small Pulse has a duration of 0.75. Does that mean that the dmg it does isn't really 6, it's actually 4.5? Or does it mean something else completely?

I am looking at the NOVA-PRIME and the NOVA-S because of the laser quarks. The PRIME has an -8% heat generation for all lasers, plus a -5% generation of heat for ER lasers. So they stack to be -13% heat generation for ER lasers. The S has not as good of a benefit to start with (-5% for all lasers), but the pulse laser benefit is -5% heat generation. So they stack to a -10% heat generation for pulse lasers. The heat created by the lasers is also different. The small lasers (ER and Pulse) is 3, where as the ER medium is 6. You only get 7 dmg out of the ER medium, but you get 6 dmg out of he small pulse and 5 out of the ER small. The small lasers do 1-2 less dmg, but for 3 less heat, less duration time and less cool down time (2.25 for the ER small and small pulse, 3 for the ER medium). So over all I am assuming that I will deal out more dmg if I use a mix of ER small and small pulse?

Next question is do I want more pulse lasers or more ER lasers? Because the quarks on the PRIME are geared towards ER lasers, where as the S is geared toward pulse. The PRIME has a better over all laser heat generation with -8% instead of-5% like the prime, but is it worth it if I use more pulse?

Sorry if I am rambling or repeat stuff.

Edited by Tahu5, 21 May 2016 - 09:23 AM.

[epikt]

Tahu5, on 20 May 2016 - 07:24 AM, said:

Find [the arms] a common target when I go against a nova. People disarm them and leave because the have no weapons, rendering them useless.

Indeed.
But to be honest a Nova with 2 ER smalls is almost as useless as a weaponless Nova.

[TercieI]

epikt, on 20 May 2016 - 06:22 AM, said:

I personally found the sweet spot to be 12 ER small lasers, or 10 small pulse lasers.
14 ERSLas is annoying because of the ghost heat limit of 6 lasers. 12 lasers allow you to shot everything in 2 salvos. Also the 2 additional lasers are in the torso, not really aligned with the others.
Both loadouts have the same alpha strike, the ERSLas have better cooling while the SPLas deliver more precise damage (and also allow you to alpha strike, if you really need to, and thus to poptart).

+1 for 10 being the right # of SPLs. I favor smalls, though. And oddly, I favor 11.

[Tahu5]

Haha. Nice. 11 is good.

True on the 2 lasers being pretty much useless. But its better then nothing right?

Edited by Tahu5, 20 May 2016 - 02:31 PM.

[John1352]

Yes, 1 armor does take 1 damage to destroy.

A CSPL does 6 damage over 0.75s. if you only keep it on target for 0.25s you'll do 2 damage.

[Tahu5]

Thx guys!

I need this last question answered and I should be good. NOVA S or NOVA PRIME? I am thinking prime because of the quarks of -8% heat genoration. Is that the best one? I am looking at the laser quarks. -8% on all laser heat genoration, -5% additional heat for ER lasers for the NOVA PRIME. Or the NOVA S with -5% all laser heat genoration and -5% auditional heat for pulse lasers.

Edited by Tahu5, 21 May 2016 - 09:31 AM.

[Leone]

Not the way I would ask the question, but a solid one none the less.

Personally I'd go with the S variant for the triple ams capacity. It is the only Blackhawk with an ams CT. Triple ams, an twelve er smalls is a favourite of mine, right behind the quad machine gun build. (That said, if your more of a striker'n a brawler, you'll prolly prefer the Prime.)

~Leone.

Edited by Leone, 21 May 2016 - 09:54 AM.

[latinisator]

Tahu, the quirks are on the arms. You know the Nova is an omnimech, quiaff? Meaning you can take any Novas CT and equip the arms / side torsos and legs you want.
Get the Prime,play for years. Grown tired of the ER heat quirk? No problem, just swap the arms from Prime to B, done.
Just take the CT you want (Prime, A, B, C, S) and then do as you like.

edit:

You may also want to check this thread

http://mwomercs.com/...od-nova-builds/

or these pages

http://metamechs.com...er-guides/nova/

https://www.mechspec...ova-builds.221/

Edited by latinisator, 21 May 2016 - 09:58 AM.