Hi Nate,
the scatter Nova got a (surprise) nerf from FAQ1.5 into rulebook 1.5. The FAQ had the scatter at 2d6 for the maximum band, 1d6 for the lower. The rulebook added a 3d6 band.
That's the scatter nerf.
Thanks- I forgot about that, but the scatter nerf was intentional. What we found is that at range, 2D6 scatter was still scoring dead-on hits on battleship bases a little less than 1/3 of the time, in addition to the 1/3 of the time dead-on hits were actually rolled. The most common rolls with 2D6 ended up being between 5cm-9cm from the target stem, which isn't a lot of wiggle room considering a BB base is about 5cm across.
- Nate
Hey,
that's an overreaction because with the 2d6 the limitation on NC is warranted, with the 3d6 Much less.
See, hitting a battleship with a Nova Cannon is kinda wasted.
Because we should not forget (and in this thread I have a feeling this is sometimes forgotten.....):
* Shields do protect versus Nova Cannons. So versus most cruisers a roll of 1 & 2 means nothing, even if you rolled a 'HIT'.
* Ships can Brace for Impact versus Nova Cannons (the psychological aspect, brace or not, will it hit or not).
From personal experience:
Firing with Nova Cannon through all battles I used it:
First ever shot: HIT, 6 damage
following five shots, all scattered doing nothing.
Then another HIT, rolling 1 damage (vs shields).
Then another miss
Then another HIT rolling 2 damage (vs shields).
So, quite unimpressive really aside of the first shot it did nothing much for the subsequent 8 shots...
Against me:
Once a Wraithship was death in one shot (holofield rolled a 1 and being an Eldar I was too arrogant to brace). (5 hits, critical damage to kill it).
An Emmissary got crippled (3 hits, failed BFI rolls).
And a host of misses and scatters.
Again, fairly unimpressive.