Nova Cannon limitations

[RCgothic]

Nova Cannon don't need fixing. I've twice demonstrated how you can face down 7 Nova Cannons from near Maximum Range and take no more than a couple of hits and a few lost escorts. I've given step by step instructions on how it can be accomplished. There's not a thing wrong with Nova Cannons. They force the enemy to close or be punished, but they do nothing to help once the enemy has taken the bait.

[Sigoroth]

Eh? How would you expect to do so? Sooner or later you'll run out of table space and still have to face the NC guns. Best way is to close. Staying at range is just begging to be shot to pieces later if not sooner.

I believe he's referring to gargantuan tables here.

Actually, it probably has very little to do with the sensors themselves and more to do with the targeting cogitators that are used in 'current' IN ships to predict target motion and time on target.  FFG had an interesting little thing in RT with an archeotech targeting system.  Or, at least, that's this week's fluff. 

Well I'm reasonably sure that they can detect ships from a fair distance, particularly if those ships are at combat readiness, but determining just what type and class those ships are is more difficult. Once an engagement has been initiated it's simply a matter of tracking where each ship has gone. Otherwise it's a bit harder to determine friend from foe. That isn't to say that there aren't also targeting issues that compound this. Both these issues are taken advantage of by Eldar and Dark Eldar each in their own way.

[BaronIveagh]

Eh? How would you expect to do so? Sooner or later you'll run out of table space and still have to face the NC guns. Best way is to close. Staying at range is just begging to be shot to pieces later if not sooner.
Hell yes it would be crippling and not tad. If you want to limit the NC then fix the NC and make it better. Then you put in limits on how many one can bring. Simple enough concept.

Remember, my gaming table is a 20' by 40' apoc table.  Not a regular 6'x4'.  Pinning someone down or making them run out of room is nearly impossible.

I was improving it.  Half the ammo prices, double the amount you can take, and then give NC point limits. 

[RCgothic]

Again, Nova Cannons do not need a limit. Even on a 20' by 40' table they are no more effective than on a 200cm one. I don't mean to sound bitter, but why is it the core rules mechanics can come under review, but we can't even change a ship profile?

[Admiral_d_Artagnan]

Remember, my gaming table is a 20' by 40' apoc table.  Not a regular 6'x4'.  Pinning someone down or making them run out of room is nearly impossible.

I was improving it.  Half the ammo prices, double the amount you can take, and then give NC point limits. 

I disagree. It'll take quite a bit but you can be cornered. Not impossible. Just difficult.

I don't want NC ammo in exchange for limits. I want better efficiency. Again, simple enough concept.

[BaronIveagh]

Again, Nova Cannons do not need a limit. Even on a 20' by 40' table they are no more effective than on a 200cm one. I don't mean to sound bitter, but why is it the core rules mechanics can come under review, but we can't even change a ship profile?

I agree that the ship profiles need reviewed more then NC does, and also do not understand why this seems to take priority.  But, if we're going to talk about it, we might as well share our views on the subject.  Personally, I'd just like to see less of them.  I find them about as irritating as all basilisk IC lists.

Ok, D'Art, since I missed it someplace here, how would you make it more efficient?

[horizon]

Less scatter on the bands. Return to FA1.5 (2d6 max scatter).

No limits on the NC.

[Admiral_d_Artagnan]

Horizon's is one option. My NC rules improve the accuracy by allowing Lock On among other things. My rules are in one of the Warp Rift magazines. NC improved with limits on the number one can take.

[BaronIveagh]

Less scatter on the bands. Return to FA1.5 (2d6 max scatter).

No limits on the NC.

*twitch*

If that's your stat, I'd say there should be a limit, say, 1 to 1 (1 ships of a type without for every one you take).  Possible exception for battleships

[Admiral_d_Artagnan]

Huh? Why? It was the old rules before they nerfed it further (2D6 max). Returning to it would be an improvement but not enough to warrant a 1:1 limit.

[BaronIveagh]

Hmmm.... meh, I'll give that a try first, assuming that I don't beat our member with the all NC fleet into a bloody pulp first.  It's one thing to lose, it another to lose to  guy that yells 'Fire the Wave Motion Gun!' every time he uses the bloody things.

[fracas]

another vote for no limits on nova cannon

[lastspartacus]

I havn't really had a comment on this argument until recently, where it has been my painful pleasure to come up against multiple opponents with nova cannon fleets.  The ability to start the game bombarding you with potentially crippling shots in your own DZ was quite a reminder of the NC power.
I found that this was especially effective against large base ships. 

This becomes even more dramatic once you enter the 2d6 and 1d6 band.
Scattering 1d6 on a large base is almost as good as a direct hit, and due to some below average BFI dice, my Battleship and Grand Cruiser
were both crippled by nova cannons before they could close to 30cm, along with a cumulative 5 hits on my cruisers.  This was with below than 33%
hit ratio.

I really love the idea of the IN torpedo wall, but multiple novas have been proven to be more effective, at least against my Chaos fleet.
Actually improving the nova is ludicrous.

I propose no limit, but the innacurate weapons always scatter 3d6.

[Admiral_d_Artagnan]

Then always be prepared to see NC fleets because the inaccuracy will always push people to bring in more NCs to offset said inaccuracy.

[BaronIveagh]

Then always be prepared to see NC fleets because the inaccuracy will always push people to bring in more NCs to offset said inaccuracy.

But if they're more powerful, wouldn't we see people take more of them because they're powerful?