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Nova Help


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#1 hordes1ayer2

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Posted 15 August 2016 - 05:46 AM

I have just bought my first nova. It is the nova prime. i am having trouble getting over 300 dam, is that normal or am i just bad? if im just bad please give tips. I hve the stock build of 12 er med

Edited by hordes1ayer2, 15 August 2016 - 06:21 AM.


#2 Bohxim

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Posted 15 August 2016 - 06:01 AM

Might wanna share your loadout too so it can be discussed.
Some players like 10 spl, 12 spl with less heat sinks, 10 ersl, 12 ersl or even a mix build like 6 erml and 6 ersl.
2 things help the nova shine,
First being elite skills with double basic improves the performance way more than any other mechs I've felt. Especially if you're running the 12ersl with over 20 dhs
Second, positioning. Try to hit stuff while they're engaging someone else or distracted somehow. Those extremely efficient small lasers will rip thru anything from the back/sides.
Just make sure you maintain a steady aim to concentrate the dmg properly into the correct components. 30 dmg per arm for less than 20% heat with insane cooling can tear thru most heavies in less than 4 seconds. Can also choose to run escorts to assaults to insta-core any lights trying to get the straggling assault. It's slow for a medium so try not to be the front line pusher as you might not be able to get into cover fast enough before taking serious dmg. Use jump jets to get better angles or flanks or even surprise attacks at a higher altitude than they expected you to pop out from.
Tl:Dr ver. Have steady aim, choose targets properly. Avoid direct conflict and have good SA


#3 Bohxim

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Posted 15 August 2016 - 06:05 AM

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...bb5f12b79482230
My favourite nova build

#4 process

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Posted 15 August 2016 - 06:31 AM

Stay in close cover, don't leave yourself exposed to longer-ranged foes, poke around corners with one arm bundle of lasers to prevent overheating and over exposure, and make use of your jumpjets to reposition. You can even poptart over obstacles at close ranges. Play conservatively as you unlock efficiencies.

#5 Omniseed

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Posted 15 August 2016 - 07:28 AM

Try trading that build for one with one arm full of SPL, and leave four of the ERML on the other arm, make up the difference with either two heat sinks or one heat sink and armor.
Or you could go six ERSL and a UAC/5, I've had a lot of fun with builds like that.

#6 Ingga Raokai

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Posted 15 August 2016 - 08:23 AM

or go with this, simple
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...eef76fb15b310ea
simple.. (choose the correct pods though for the quirks, look for the one related with the weapon)

#7 latinisator

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Posted 15 August 2016 - 08:53 AM

Nova build discussion threads from the past you might want to check out:

http://mwomercs.com/...-12-c-sml-puls/

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

#8 Tesunie

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Posted 15 August 2016 - 11:56 AM

The Nova has more energy hardpoints that it honestly knows what to do with. Unless you are using SPLs or ERSLs, you really probably shouldn't try to fill up all the hardpoints.

My current Nova Prime has 2 LPLs and 4 ERSLs. Lends itself to having a but more punch at close range, while maintaining a reasonable cooling level.

I've also done two ERLLs and 4 ERSLs before, till I realized that the Clan version of the LPL has almost the same range envelope as the ERLL...

I've also done 8 ERMLs before, but found it too hot and a little too close ranged for my preferences, as I don't like to be forced to close in if it isn't in my best interest to do so at that time. (One of the reasons I always try to have a long range weapon on my builds, but this is just me.)

If you wished to buy a few Omni-pods, you could replace an arm omnipod for the B and do an UAC10 (and 3 tons of ammo) and 3 ERMLs. Reasonable cooling and decent firepower that can continue to be placed on target.

A little harder to use, and not as heavy of a hitter would be if you replaced each of your side torsos with the S omnipods, as I also have a build with 2 UAC2s (and one tone of ammo) and 4 ERMLs.


I do around 200-300 damage a match from what I gather (without crunching stat numbers). Then again, I can be a bit of a sneak sometimes. However, I don't know how you play nor your skill sets, so none of these builds may work for your. But, if you are in the mood to experiment...

#9 Mazzyplz

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Posted 15 August 2016 - 12:37 PM

OP:

i play nova prime stock loadout (12 er medium lasers)

i can help you.


heres what you need to do:

1. make 6 weapon groups.
make 2 weapon groups of 3 lasers each, 2 weapon groups with 2 lasers each, and 2 weapon groups with a single laser.
make sure they are separated left/right too.

the way you fire these is; the 3 laser groups are your main guns. you can shoot 3-3-2-2 if you pace it.
the last 2 groups with a single laser are the extra bonus damage for when you need it. you will. and of course when you run hot try and use the 2 single laser groups or the twin laser groups. this makes it intuitive. just make sure you can trigger 6 buttons. i just use the keyboard.


2. use the jumpjets.
never forget this mech has jumpjets!! it's easy to forget. get up on the cliffs in maps like viridian bog. use it to hop through open areas. you gotta rely on the jumpjets to survive because it's not the fastest mech around.

3. remember you can peek left/right. having set up the weapon groups into smaller laser groups divided left/right will allow you to peek left and right with only your arm, and then you can twist away and wide mechs can get their side safe very fast just by twisting.
this is true with awesome and nova also.

4. shoot enemies that are distracted. try to make your shots stealthy. shoot their legs so they can't tell where the hits are coming from and they don't look up.
when your team is hitting them in the chest - shoot your lasers on top of more "powerful looking" shots from your team like blue large or large pulse lasers. that will make them ignore you.

5: act with support. if you are alone you will get caught by smaller mechs.


6: be smart, besides shooting legs - if you can snipe a main gun off a mech do it. if there's a mech that has arm mounted weapons and it's medium/heavy you can go for their arms you will melt them pretty fast - mechs like dragon, wolverine.

#10 Mazzyplz

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Posted 15 August 2016 - 12:43 PM

oh and if you got to brawl shoot your lasers from one side, back off, twist, jump - then use the lasers on the other arm.
shake like a salt shaker, wiggle your torso and shoot the first side again into rinse and repeat fashion.

#11 Dakkaface

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Posted 23 August 2016 - 05:14 PM

View Posthordes1ayer2, on 15 August 2016 - 05:46 AM, said:

I have just bought my first nova. It is the nova prime. i am having trouble getting over 300 dam, is that normal or am i just bad? if im just bad please give tips. I hve the stock build of 12 er med

If you're not used to managing heat well, and sidestepping ghost heat, the Nova will perform pretty poorly. 300 damage is on the low end of acceptable damage when I'm in a Nova.

Get used to staggering your fire. All the lighter Clan lasers - those 2 tons or less like ER Meds, ER Smalls, Small Pulse and Med Pulse are in the same group for ghost heat. If you fire more than 6, you will get smacked with buckets of extra heat. Get around this by firing one arm, waiting half a second, then firing the other.

Shed some of those medium lasers. While the range on the ER Medium makes it a good weapon for engaging at most ranges, it has an unpleasantly long burn time and it's heat is pretty high. Swap some or all of them to ER Smalls or Small Pulse lasers. Personally, I don't use ER Mediums at all anymore - my Nova build of choice is 12 ER Smalls, a Targeting Computer 1, Clan Active Probe, and fill the rest with additional heat sinks. Going all Small Lasers or Small Pulses will sometimes leave you unable to contribute, but be patient. The fight will come to you if you wait.

Pilot the mech like you are a skirmisher. Don't try to stare down a Kodiak or Atlas. You'll probably lose, even if they're torn up. move around to get angles on mechs that are already engaging a bigger mech. Alternately, find another Medium, Heavy or Assault to be your wingman, and follow them around. Concentrate fire on whatever their target is.

Make use of your Jump Jets. They aren't 100% necessary, but they'll help you get to places you'd normally not be able to, or attack from odd angles. You're stuck with 5 of them, so learn how and when to use them.

#12 Livaria

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Posted 23 August 2016 - 05:34 PM

If you're looking for some variety and fun while also being a good deal of effective I've made this Nova build.
I've named it the trinity since it uses three different types of weapons that are grouped in numbers of three.
It's good nova build that is very balanced for heat efficiency, damage, and range. Just alpha it's lasers with a one-two punch. And politely ask the cherry red torso to of your enemies to give up with it's machineguns.

Trinity

Edited by Livaria, 23 August 2016 - 05:49 PM.


#13 John Stryker

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Posted 23 August 2016 - 06:46 PM

Im bad at heat management. Every time I shut down and die I would yank out an erml in each arm and put in a heatsink to replace it. I ended up with 3 erml in each arm and as many heatsinks the thing could hold. Its not the best performing Nova of the 4 I own, but at least I know that I can abuse it a bit and it wont stackpole on me.

#14 Sjoerd

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Posted 24 August 2016 - 12:41 PM

One thing a nova will teach you is heat management. The other thing is play style.

The nova is specificy build for pop tart and corner poking. Especially the prime stock is ment for looking around a corner, melt the face of the other mech and retreat. At the moment you start yanking out the ml's, you are yanking out the soul of a nova. Every build runs hot.
Try adjusting your play style. It might work.

#15 Tesunie

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Posted 24 August 2016 - 01:03 PM

View PostSjoerd, on 24 August 2016 - 12:41 PM, said:

At the moment you start yanking out the ml's, you are yanking out the soul of a nova.


There are stock builds that run with no ERMLs at all... Actually, none of the other Novas (in game) have ERMLs stock...

#16 Ruccus

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Posted 25 August 2016 - 01:08 AM

Simplest route for making the Nova Prime a bit more potent is just to swap out the ERMLs with SPLs. Map the weapons on each arm to one mouse button (left for left arm weapons, right for right) and just don't press one mouse button within half a second of the other to avoid overheating. I own a 12spl Nova and enjoy playing it, and whenever I'm in another mech and I see a 12spl Nova I know enough to never want to get within 200m of it unless I can match it in firepower (which I rarely can).

The simple tactic is to follow a heavy or assault mech and add to their damage, and don't get caught out in the open where a long range mech can hit you without you being able to respond. Your quick 72 points of damage when added to an assault's alpha strike can cause a world of hurt to a mech very quickly, plus a light won't want to pester your assault mech friend when he sees you standing nearby with a dozen spls.

If you find yourself unable to avoid LRMs, buying the NVA-A left and right torsos and swapping two heatsinks for dual AMS and a ton of ammo can help take the sting off of LRM boats, giving you time to close the gap to take them out inside their missile range. A different tactic is to add 'no heat' firepower by getting the NVA-S torsos and add 4 MGs plus a ton of ammo. The idea is that a one-two punch of the SPLs will open up a hole in the enemy mech but cause you to run hot, so that's when you fire the MGs into the opening to try to crit something inside and finish off the enemy mech.

#17 maimaimi

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Posted 06 September 2016 - 02:40 PM

novas are pretty awesome and very versatile, the main point about a nova is that you have the burst firepower advantage, never forget that. In a face to face fight a nova wont beat an assault, but in a oblique fight where you use cover nova can shine using alpha strikes and short duration engagements to cripple any other mech it comes across.

pop tart 2PPC/4MG (this has solo killed multiple assaults in one battle)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...b0cf90db4ba9f01
excellent all purpose mech, deadly in both close quarters and range

The Mealtdown (surprisingly nova CAN run 12ERML's if you fire 6 at a time due to its laser quirks)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...fdb077fe86190ff
this load out requires excellent heat management, the general fight pattern you end up using is run in, shoot 3 volleys(gets you to 98% heat), hide.
This is not a brawler, its a fire support assassin. If you can manage to avoid getting bogged down and have a effective firing strategy you will be the main damage dealer on your team! not much can compete with 120+ damage to the face in 3 seconds. only problem is if you fail heat management you die by overheat(6xERML@40% heat, 12xERML@300% heat).

brutal little 30LRM support mech (when you run out of missiles just swap to brawling with the 6ERSL's and 2MG)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...5ed2b7a14cdd05b
when you want to be lazy

Edited by maimaimi, 06 September 2016 - 02:52 PM.


#18 Tesunie

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Posted 06 September 2016 - 03:29 PM

View Postmaimaimi, on 06 September 2016 - 02:40 PM, said:

brutal little 30LRM support mech (when you run out of missiles just swap to brawling with the 6ERSL's and 2MG)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...5ed2b7a14cdd05b
when you want to be lazy


Hum. And I thought the LRM Nova was my signature... Except I do 5 ERSLs and a TAG instead. Does rather well most times.

#19 maimaimi

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Posted 06 September 2016 - 03:54 PM

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...275aa27cf10eed5

this is what i am currently experimenting with, its a pretty weird build but has excellent heat management and DPS

its a mean little mech that can go toe to toe with assaults
Posted Image

Edited by maimaimi, 06 September 2016 - 04:12 PM.


#20 Tesunie

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Posted 06 September 2016 - 04:02 PM

View Postmaimaimi, on 06 September 2016 - 03:54 PM, said:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...275aa27cf10eed5

this is what i am currently experimenting with, its a pretty weird build but has excellent heat management and DPS


Sounds like my Nova B. I've been running it like this, and it's been really fun (and good). Provided the UAC doesn't jam on the second shot (as always). (I placed UAC10 cooldown module on, and it seemed to help prevent the jams.) Good cooling. Good damage output. Yeah... Posted Image





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