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[Mishrak]

I've spent a rather silly amount of time the last few days trying out different scenarios and fittings for the Nova.  I think I've come up with a fit and a method of using it that is extremely effective.  Funny enough, it was the first one I thought of when I saw the ship.  TL;DR - HSA Tach Nova is a giant Hyperion on crack that deletes Cruisers and Destroyers.  I'll post some videos at the end if people like that sort of thing.

This is AI piloted as I don't really enjoy flying my own ships.  It is, however, micromanaged pretty heavily via fleet commands, especially Eliminate orders.

The Hull Mod that really makes this possible is Operations Center for its recovery rate.  This could probably be done without it but it would be a lot more tedious.



This of course is on a Flagship, not on the Nova.  I've built a reasonably decent fleet around an Executor and an Astral, but that fleet isn't really important to the success of the Nova beyond just being able to handle its own while the Nova works.

Nova Fit

[close]

Damage:
Range doesn't matter very much due to Fearless AI and that the ship's system almost guarantees it will be sitting on other ship's shield.  This takes full advantage of EWM's damage bonus and benefits from the ROF boost from S-modded AWM.  It's also very flux efficient when applying its damage, allowing it to not be grossly punished for overextending.  It has a spool up where it applies damage, and then a long cooldown where it can dissipate flux.  Tachyon beams are excellent at disabling whatever they're shooting, as well as stripping armor.  Phase Lances are the best medium beams for this as well.  A case could probably be made for IR Autolance, but the loss of hard flux over Phase Lance on the shield doesn't feel worth it to me.  Which by the way, I'm using the High Scatter Amplifier so everything is hard flux.

Mobility:
The ship boasts 98 speed at 89% combat effectiveness (Hull Restoration skill gives 5% per S-Mod) BEFORE Nav Relay and any Command Points on the field.  Add in Elite Helmsmanship and Impact Mitigation (100% Maneuver) and this ship is really fast and agile.  That doesn't even include it's Nova Burst system which makes sure that anything trying to escape will be unable to do so.  I opted to not get Systems Expertise as the AI gets a little more trigger happy than I want it to.

Support:
Burst PD is super good at shooting down reapers.  The range bonus from elite Point Defense is quite noticeable but hardly mandatory.  That would be the 8th skill if the preference is to stay at 7 skills on the Alpha Core.  Gorgon Pods are really strong against frigates.  If using these, make sure they're linked so they all fire at once.  Sabots are also a good option.

Hull Mods Thoughts:
Extended Shields, Accelerated Shields, and Insulated Engine Assembly really smooth one of the biggest weaknesses the ship has:  It's very exposed flanks.  Having 210 shields is basically mandatory as far as I'm concerned.  The other two just prevent a single frigate or fighters from disabling the ship.

S-Modding HSA probably isn't worth it at just 5% damage.  The 5 OP feel more valuable to me personally.  If it was 8-10% though...

While the Nova doesn't care /that/ much about range, some range helps it apply damage a bit sooner which is still good.  HSA Tachs with (without) ITU are 960(600) and Phase Lances are 640(400).  Of course Advanced Optics cannot be used with HSA.

[edit] Stabilized Shields is definitely a good choice on this ship with a base 400 Shield Flux/Sec.  Definitely more efficient than 15 Vents.

Why not Autopulse/Plasma/Gigacannons?
1) Flux - All of these loadouts use way more flux to fire, and while sim performance was very similar in a variety of scenarios, it would regularly get overfluxed in real combat due to incidental damage and flankers. An overextension felt way more punishing than with Tachs and the damage difference was not significantly higher.

2) Staggered Hardpoints - On a ship this fast and agile, autofire weapons need Gunnery Implants to track well which costs a skill.  The hardpoints also mean the guns won't rotate and their positioning is such that each weapon has a slightly different range.  So if putting Ion Pulsers and Mining Blasters on the Mediums, they do not actually have identical range.


3) EMP Arcs - I underestimated this at first, but Tachs applying EMP arcs with the longest range weapon and also the highest damage weapon improves survivability so much.  The ship it engages cannot fight back or run away.  Ion pulsers don't have nearly the same range and an Ion Beam is generally undesirable despite both of them being effective at disabling.

Videos

Sim tests


vs Modest Pirate Armada


vs 300k Hegemony (I almost get caught because bad)


vs Double High Danger Ordo - This is why I don't use Systems Expertise lol.


vs Single High Danger Ordo

[close]

[Edit: Fixed some typos]

[eert5rty7u8i9i7u6yrewqdef]

I've spent a rather silly amount of time the last few days trying out different scenarios and fittings for the Nova.  I think I've come up with a fit and a method of using it that is extremely effective.  Funny enough, it was the first one I thought of when I saw the ship.  TL;DR - HSA Tach Nova is a giant Hyperion on crack that deletes Cruisers and Destroyers.  I'll post some videos at the end if people like that sort of thing.

This is AI piloted as I don't really enjoy flying my own ships.  It is, however, micromanaged pretty heavily via fleet commands, especially Eliminate orders.

The Hull Mod that really makes this possible is Operations Center for its recovery rate.  This could probably be done without it but it would be a lot more tedious.



This of course is on a Flagship, not on the Nova.  I've built a reasonably decent fleet around an Executor and an Astral, but that fleet isn't really important to the success of the Nova beyond just being able to handle its own while the Nova works.

Nova Fit

[close]

Damage:
Range doesn't matter very much due to Fearless AI and that the ship's system almost guarantees it will be sitting on other ship's shield.  This takes full advantage of EWM's damage bonus and benefits from the ROF boost from S-modded AWM.  It's also very flux efficient when applying its damage, allowing it to not be grossly punished for overextending.  It has a spool up where it applies damage, and then a long cooldown where it can dissipate flux.  Tachyon beams are excellent at disabling whatever they're shooting, as well as stripping armor.  Phase Lances are the best medium beams for this as well.  A case could probably be made for IR Autolance, but the loss of hard flux over Phase Lance on the shield doesn't feel worth it to me.  Which by the way, I'm using the High Scatter Amplifier so everything is hard flux.

Mobility:
The ship boasts 98 speed at 89% combat effectiveness (Hull Restoration skill gives 5% per S-Mod) BEFORE Nav Relay and any Command Points on the field.  Add in Elite Helmsmanship and Impact Mitigation (100% Maneuver) and this ship is really fast and agile.  That doesn't even include it's Nova Burst system which makes sure that anything trying to escape will be unable to do so.  I opted to not get Systems Expertise as the AI gets a little more trigger happy than I want it to.

Support:
Burst Lasers are super good at shoot down reapers.  The range bonus from elite Point Defense is quite noticeable but hardly mandatory.  That would be the 8th skill if the preference is to stay at 7 skills on the Alpha Core.  Gorgon Pods are really strong against frigates.  If using these, make sure they're linked so they all fire at once.  Sabots are also a good option.

Hull Mods Thoughts:
Extended Shields, Accelerated Shields and Insulated Engine Assembly really smooth one of the biggest weaknesses the ship has:  It's very exposed flanks.  Having 210 shields is basically mandatory as far as I'm concerned.  The other two just prevent a single frigate or fighters from disabling the ship.

S-Modding HSA probably isn't worth it at just 5% damage.  The 5 OP feel more valuable to me personally.  If it was 8-10% though...

While the Nova doesn't care /that/ much about range, some range helps it apply damage a bit sooner which is still good.  HSA Tachs with (without) ITU are 960(600) and Phase Lances are 640(400).  Of course Advanced Optics cannot be used with HSA.

Why not Autopulse/Plasma/Gigacannons?
1) Flux - All of these loadouts use way more flux to fire, and while sim performance was very similar in a variety of scenarios, it would regularly get overfluxed in real combat due to incidental damage and flankers. An overextension felt way more punishing than with Tachs and the damage difference was not significantly higher.

2) Staggered Hardpoints - On a ship this fast and agile, autofire weapons need Gunnery Implants to track well which costs a skill.  The hardpoints also mean the guns won't rotate and their positioning is such that each weapon has a slightly different range.  So if putting Ion Pulsers and Mining Blasters on the Mediums, they do not actually have identical range.


3) EMP Arcs - I underestimated this at first, but Tachs applying EMP arcs with the longest range weapon and also the highest damage weapon improves survivability so much.  The ship it engages cannot fight back or run away.  Ion pulsers don't have nearly the same range and an Ion Beam is generally undesirable despite both of them being effective at disabling.

Videos

Sim tests


vs Modest Pirate Armada


vs 300k Hegemony (I almost get caught because bad)


vs High Danger Ordo [still processing]


vs 2x High Danger Ordo [still processing]
This one took a few tries to get it right, and then it just had to suicide ram itself when the battle was basically won.  Oh well, you get the idea.

[close]

At 400 shield flux per second, stabilized shields is more efficient OP wise than vents. So, unless you've found some quirk, I reccommend replacing 15 vents with SS.

[crvt]

Very good is a bit much. Why would you bring a single Nova instead of 8 Glimmers or a Radiant(or 2 Radiants?)

Yeah Novas are good at killing ships, but e.g. a Radiant is better and capable of breaking lines, while not having any of the survivability issues.
For the loadouts, I imagine just plasma and less medium slots would be better. Or perhaps a mix with Kinetic Blasters could be nice.

Personal impression is that a Nova is doing fine if you always pull it back when it charges too far, or if you always make sure to have it target small groups of enemies. But there are plenty high DP ships that'll do as much or more damage-per-DP without requiring such attention.

For what you're doing, consider using Wolfpack for command points.

[CapnHector]

Very good is a bit much. Why would you bring a single Nova instead of 8 Glimmers or a Radiant(or 2 Radiants?)

Yeah Novas are good at killing ships, but e.g. a Radiant is better and capable of breaking lines, while not having any of the survivability issues.
For the loadouts, I imagine just plasma and less medium slots would be better. Or perhaps a mix with Kinetic Blasters could be nice.

Personal impression is that a Nova is doing fine if you always pull it back when it charges too far, or if you always make sure to have it target small groups of enemies. But there are plenty high DP ships that'll do as much or more damage-per-DP without requiring such attention.

For what you're doing, consider using Wolfpack for command points.

I am not sure about the Nova. However, HSA Tachyon Lances are genuinely very competitive with Plasma Cannons. You get less DPS but higher burst and the weapon also causes devastating EMP arcs by itself. For example a Radiant fit along these lines:



Is extremely strong and survivable. It pops even other Remnant ships like popcorn and is not reliant on missiles, which will generally run out in a multi-Ordo fight (although missile based layouts will be stronger vs single Ordos).

[Fenrir]

I personally found Nova very fit with high scatter amplifier, negating most of the range trade off from it's extreme speed, while benefiting from the low flux consumption of beam weapons.
My Nova got 2 tachyon lances, 2 gravitions and 2 ir autoalances.

Welcome to steal or friendly discuss.

[Mishrak]

At 400 shield flux per second, stabilized shields is more efficient OP wise than vents. So, unless you've found some quirk, I reccommend replacing 15 vents with SS.

Good catch.  I definitely missed this.

Very good is a bit much. Why would you bring a single Nova instead of 8 Glimmers or a Radiant(or 2 Radiants?)

You're missing the point.  I'm not trying to argue that the Nova is better than 8 Glimmers or 2 Radiants or [insert whatever other optimal meta comp]. The fact is, it is good at the role that I've been using it in and it's effective at 40 DP.  Could Alex improve the ship?  I think it could be improved.  Are there better options?  Sure there are.  But it is fun and it is effective.

For the loadouts, I imagine just plasma and less medium slots would be better. Or perhaps a mix with Kinetic Blasters could be nice.

It has the same issues as Autopulse fits.  It's not better imo.

I am not sure about the Nova. However, HSA Tachyon Lances are genuinely very competitive with Plasma Cannons. You get less DPS but higher burst and the weapon also causes devastating EMP arcs by itself.

That was my observation.  I kinda memed about HSA Tachs in .95 but it is nice to see them coming to life with all the new S-mod stuff.

I have no idea why my Ordo vods didn't process last night.  I'll try to upload them again.  I did notice that the damage was starting to struggle a bit against Alpha cored Remnants, but I suppose that's to be expected.

If I had anything to criticize for the Nova design it would be how ineffective the ship is with non-beam weapons.  Maybe in the player hands its fine, but 6 hardpoints is pretty brutal.  I tried everything I could think of and they all had the same issues. Of course the Radiant is several orders of magnitude better even at 60 DP at essentially the same role.

[itBeABruhMoment]

I find that 4 ion pulsers, two autopulses, and prioritising caps is the way to go with the Nova. With expanded mags, unloading 4 fully loaded ion pulsers and 2 fully loaded autopulses is 24300 damage without accounting for any reloading. You can compound this further by smodding expanded mags, which gives the ship the sustained dps of 6 ion pulsers and 3 autopulses. If the nova boosts into an enemy, most ships cruiser and below are dead in seconds, and any ships that survives the salvo are likely fully disabled from the ion pulsers. After the salvo it has a ton of flux, but with a speed of 80 it is fast enough to back away from most ships large enough to threaten it, vent, and attack again. The ship still has the glaring weakness of being terrible when facing mutiple enemies at a time but it's possible to work around this. Just keep it on a defend order with allies to prevent it from getting isolated or boosting into the middle of a group of enemies. If you see a isolated enemy ship, give the Nova on an eliminate order and watch it get deleted.

[Mishrak]

Did you try this outside the sim?

The 2 Autopulse + 4 Ion Pulser definitely hits hard but has a had time punching stronger armor.  It blasts through its flux very rapidly and if it can't dissipate its flux, it can't re-engage to apply damage anymore.  It ends up being quite vulnerable to even the slightest pressure.

Because of the issue of dealing damage to armor, I settled on 2 Auto + 2 Ion + 2 Mining Blaster, but the flux is still a huge issue even with max caps.  I even tried the s-modded cap hull mod.

[Edit] - Updated OP with Single and Double Ordo videos

[crvt]

I mean, you don't have to fill every hardpoint.

S-modded HSA lances + phase lances are about same dps/flux as plasma. Certainly nicer burst, but it isn't like Nova has an issue chasing down retreating ships.

But it is 90 OP + s-mod to have 300 more dps than 60 OP 2x plasma, while at the same flux efficiency.
2 plasmas and a single kinetic blaster should already outperform, and then you have extra 18 OP for caps and a s-mod slot.

Personally would prefer 3x or 4x kinetic blasters + 1 plasma, I think.

Would be interesting to try HSA with rift cascade emitters instead of tac lances, since at close range the rifts should be doing a lot of damage(mostly trading EMP for even higher burst)

[Mishrak]

idk, cursed fit stuff

I hadn't really considered running without full front mounts.  Something that actually pairs pretty well now that I think about it is running a Gigacannon alongside the single Plasma.  It looks kind of absurd but it's a perfect recipe honestly.  Good flux efficiency, good burst damage. The burst damage is mid when it matters.  You still want an Ion Pulser for arcs and good extra shield pressure.  Add in a Kinetic Blaster.  All the ranges match more or less.  That frees up a fair bit more OP to fit all the utility shield mods as well.

I simmed 4 KB + 1 Plasma and it just didn't feel very good to me.

I just took this into an Ordo and it did OK.  Seems like maybe dual Ions might be better than the KB, but it's hard to say.  Could also be a scenario where you swap the blaster depending on what your fighting.  Mining Blaster vs armor bros perhaps? 

Spoiler

[close]

[close]

[edit]
I don't feel like it's better than the Tachs still, personally.  The more I fly it the less I like it tbh.

[Lawrence Master-blaster]

I mean, you don't have to fill every hardpoint.

Yes you do

[itBeABruhMoment]

Did you try this outside the sim?

The 2 Autopulse + 4 Ion Pulser definitely hits hard but has a had time punching stronger armor.  It blasts through its flux very rapidly and if it can't dissipate its flux, it can't re-engage to apply damage anymore.  It ends up being quite vulnerable to even the slightest pressure.

Because of the issue of dealing damage to armor, I settled on 2 Auto + 2 Ion + 2 Mining Blaster, but the flux is still a huge issue even with max caps.  I even tried the s-modded cap hull mod.

The Nova has 4 medium missile slots, just fill them with finishers like breaches or harpoons to deal with armor. Also the flux spike doesn't matter that much. Even if it fully unloads it only gets up to about half flux if you max caps, at which point it's opponent is likely dead or has its weapons disabled anyway. Also the nova isn't supposed to keep slogging after a strike, it's meant to run off, vent, and do it again. Don't treat is like an onslaught

[Mishrak]

The Nova has 4 medium missile slots, just fill them with finishers like breaches or harpoons to deal with armor. Also the flux spike doesn't matter that much. Even if it fully unloads it only gets up to about half flux if you max caps, at which point it's opponent is likely dead or has its weapons disabled anyway. Also the nova isn't supposed to keep slogging after a strike, it's meant to run off, vent, and do it again. Don't treat is like an onslaught

That's a negative ghost rider.  If you watched any of the non-sim vods I posted, you would see how I'm using the ship.

I guess it should have been obvious, but I never noticed the wording on the Tachyons.  The EMP can arc through shields based on hard flux.  That is precisely why they're the best weapon for the job.  I couldn't figure out why Ion Pulser just didn't feel the same, but now I know why.  It has to hit armor or hull.  So everything up against HSA Tachyons is nearly totally disabled and can't fight back effectively.

Nothing else has this capability (Ion Beams and Pilums but no), so I think that solidifies the initial weapon loadout as the best extremely good for it.  I'll update the screenshot with the Stabilized Shield change.

Which missiles to use is the only thing left to really figure out but I think it's kinda safe to just run sabots and call it a day.  The extra flux damage is always amazing.  DEM spam probably has its place but I'm not sold on it yet.