Nova Cannon limitations

[RCgothic]

No, he actually made a very good point. Even if Nova Cannons were demonstrably broken vs Chaos, SM and Orks (which they're not), taking an all-nova fleet would leave you hideously vulnerable to that weapon's hard counter, which in the Nova Cannon's case there are a fair few.

[BaronIveagh]

You left out non-NC IN, which are almost as slow as SM.  Select a target squadron and fire 8 of them, and even at range, with scatter, you're probably going to hit something.

[horizon]

Why does that scatter never work for me.

[BaronIveagh]

Why does that scatter never work for me.

I play IG in 40k.  Anything that we have that's worth firing scatters.  As my father once told me, 'aim for the center, you're bound to hit something'.  If you volley fire NC from 8 ships at a given squadron, you're guaranteed to hit dead on at least once.  Since the dice only have six sides.  Anything that scatters onto anything else is bonus, but it's more likely if the ships are all 15cm or less from each other.

[Admiral_d_Artagnan]

If I recall correctly (since I don't have a 40k army anymore), the blast template of Basilisks and vehicles with similar weapons are much bigger than the one for the NC in BFG.

[horizon]

Why does that scatter never work for me.

I play IG in 40k.  Anything that we have that's worth firing scatters.  As my father once told me, 'aim for the center, you're bound to hit something'.  If you volley fire NC from 8 ships at a given squadron, you're guaranteed to hit dead on at least once.  Since the dice only have six sides.  Anything that scatters onto anything else is bonus, but it's more likely if the ships are all 15cm or less from each other.

Well, I'll tell my opponents they should keep their ships close together if I show up with Nova Cannons.
And Ill no longer spread my ships and thus keep em close so my opponents can have a succesfull scatter.

[BaronIveagh]

Why does that scatter never work for me.

I play IG in 40k.  Anything that we have that's worth firing scatters.  As my father once told me, 'aim for the center, you're bound to hit something'.  If you volley fire NC from 8 ships at a given squadron, you're guaranteed to hit dead on at least once.  Since the dice only have six sides.  Anything that scatters onto anything else is bonus, but it's more likely if the ships are all 15cm or less from each other.

Well, I'll tell my opponents they should keep their ships close together if I show up with Nova Cannons.
And Ill no longer spread my ships and thus keep em close so my opponents can have a succesfull scatter

LOL All I have to say is that 15cm isn't that far (since the template is 5cm across).  If they're farther apart then that, your squadron is not in cohesion.  Though I've always wondered if you measure from the center or from the edge.  I've always measured from the edge, myself.

[horizon]

Measurement is center.

My capital ships never fly in squadron. And escort squadrons are spread out if I face NC, when lines close they mass vs ordnance.

Also: if Nova Cannon is shot above 60cm the scatter is maximum 3x6 = 18cm. So with ships at 15cm I need to roll high plus the direction needs to be precisely correct.

Under 60cm the scatter is 2d6, so a maximum of 12cm, a ship at 15cm.... heh.

Under 45cm the max is 6cm.

And in both cases the direction needs to be good as well.

[BaronIveagh]

Measurement is center.

My capital ships never fly in squadron. And escort squadrons are spread out if I face NC, when lines close they mass vs ordnance.

Also: if Nova Cannon is shot above 60cm the scatter is maximum 3x6 = 18cm. So with ships at 15cm I need to roll high plus the direction needs to be precisely correct.

Under 60cm the scatter is 2d6, so a maximum of 12cm, a ship at 15cm.... heh.

Under 45cm the max is 6cm.

And in both cases the direction needs to be good as well.

Which means under 45cm, you can only miss on a six and you have about a 50% change to get the hole on the base. (base is 5cm across, template is 5cm across, and we're measuring from the center.  

I tend to squadron for the better LD and squadron firing rules.  After all, a str 12 lance hit is much better then a bunch of str 3's.  As long as you hit.

[Sigoroth]

I tend to squadron for the better LD and squadron firing rules.  After all, a str 12 lance hit is much better then a bunch of str 3's.  As long as you hit.

Er, no, it's not.

[BaronIveagh]

I tend to squadron for the better LD and squadron firing rules.  After all, a str 12 lance hit is much better then a bunch of str 3's.  As long as you hit.

Er, no, it's not.

\

Against one target, it is.  With a single lance hit your odds are 50/50.  The Gambler's Ruin dictates that for each success, your odds of loosing the next toss double.  Admittedly, it's an 'all or nothing' approach, but I've generally found it works to roll the fewest dice for the most damage possible. 

[Sigoroth]

I tend to squadron for the better LD and squadron firing rules.  After all, a str 12 lance hit is much better then a bunch of str 3's.  As long as you hit.

Er, no, it's not.

\

Against one target, it is.  With a single lance hit your odds are 50/50.  The Gambler's Ruin dictates that for each success, your odds of loosing the next toss double.  Admittedly, it's an 'all or nothing' approach, but I've generally found it works to roll the fewest dice for the most damage possible. 

Wow. Learn some stats.

[BaronIveagh]

I tend to squadron for the better LD and squadron firing rules.  After all, a str 12 lance hit is much better then a bunch of str 3's.  As long as you hit.

Er, no, it's not.

\

Against one target, it is.  With a single lance hit your odds are 50/50.  The Gambler's Ruin dictates that for each success, your odds of loosing the next toss double.  Admittedly, it's an 'all or nothing' approach, but I've generally found it works to roll the fewest dice for the most damage possible.  

Wow. Learn some stats.

I never look at stats.  Either a shot hits or it doesn't.  There are better odds of lesser hit by rolling a larger number of dice, but it's better to kill a ship and then hit the next ship, and the next ship.  Since I tend toward lance/AC heavy fleets these days, this process works fairly well.  Further, I don't have to spend an hour mathhammering my next move.  If I use AC to cripple cap ships and kill escorts, there are fewer targets to engage.  Every ship I lance to death at 60cm is one that I don't have to worry about later.

Each ship that is killed outright reduces my foes combat effectiveness when he finally does close.  It's not about individual shots, I'm not aiming to cripple their ships, I'm aiming to cripple their fleet.

[Vaaish]

Sig, I've seen this in play many times. Regardless of statistics, I tend to roll better when I roll more dice than if I roll one or two. One of my friends is even worse. It's been a running joke that somewhere in the world is a person who makes every brace save to offset my friends failure to roll 4+.

[BaronIveagh]

Dice are just random number generators.  A difference in the texture of your skin as you throw the dice, or a variation in the table surface can create a totally different roll.

In my case, I tend to roll high firing, but if I have to BFI I'm screwed.  So I tailor my fleet in my favor.

When I play IG I do the same, I tend toward one shot kill weapons like a Vanquisher or Executioner.