BFG:R Nova Cannon

[Admiral_d_Artagnan]

By lance shots, you mean you have to roll again after determining how many shots after rolling the direct hit or the template hit?

[lastspartacus]

Yup.

[Admiral_d_Artagnan]

Uh no, no additional dice rolling. Also basically nerfs the NC since now it has to roll for damage instead of the rolled D6 or 1 point automatically considered as damage.

[horizon]

Yeah, direct damage as per current NC is stronger then D6 lance shots. Or even 6 lance shots per default.

[AndrewChristlieb]

Average for a D6 is 4hits, average for 6D6 is 3hits (not a big difference and really the average for 1D6 could go either way). Where this really shines is in that you would need no extra rules or wording for lock on as you would just reroll any misses, making the nova very powerful when it hits (average 5hits give or take). Im not really a .fan of making the nova more accurate.... kinda takes away from its fluff a lot.

[horizon]

How do you come by that?

If I roll 1 D6 (current NC) a 1 means 1 hit (pity) a 6 means 6 hits (good, that is 2 shields down on a Lunar plus 4 damagepoints = crippled).
Rolling a 6 on a D6 = 16.6%

6 lance shots = roll 6 D6 to get a 4+. = average 3 hits = 2 shields down + 1 damage.
So you need 6 times a 4+ to get 6 hits.


D6 lance shots = much less.

[Sigoroth]

1D6 lance shots = exactly half of current NC damage.

[lastspartacus]

I know.  I proposed 1d6 lance shots for those who want, say, 180 point dominators.  According to the fluff, the nova shouldn't be better than a str6 torpedo salvo, or at least different in purpose but not better.  That was simply a proposal for anyone who wanted a nova as an equal option without costing more points or limitation.

[Sigoroth]

Well I personally don't find the NC to be all that strong. A fleet of pure NC ships lacks torpedoes, which are quite a strong offensive weapon. The NC is inherently unreliable and ceases to function entirely within 30cm.

[AndrewChristlieb]

I've gotta agree novas have proven very ineffective. They are way over priced for something that is only likely to get in a point or two of damage a game. When you factor in all the benefits of torps it just makes them look even worse. On the other hand there's nothing like the look on your opponents face when it direct hits with a damage roll of 6 and they didn't brace because the nova "never hits" or "doesn't do much damage" lol .

[horizon]

The NC is a psychological weapon and I like to keep it that way.

The v1.5 FAQ version (pre 1.5 rulebook) was okay. Max scatter of 2d6 above 60cm-150cm. Beneath 1d6.

[Sigoroth]

I've gotta agree novas have proven very ineffective. They are way over priced for something that is only likely to get in a point or two of damage a game. When you factor in all the benefits of torps it just makes them look even worse. On the other hand there's nothing like the look on your opponents face when it direct hits with a damage roll of 6 and they didn't brace because the nova "never hits" or "doesn't do much damage" lol .

Indeed, it is this occasional instance of one shot crippling that makes the NC a psychological weapon. In this role I don't think that the objective of the IN player is to get in the occasional shot and hope to roll a 6 against a non-braced target, but rather to force a disproportionate number of BFI orders.

[AndrewChristlieb]

True, the problem with forcing bfi is that its typically only one ship, unless its in a squadron AND your playing with the craptastic "one braces they all brace".
One does the trick in smaller games but in large games I feel that to get the full effect I'm forced to take at least 2 preferably 3 (forcing some bfi hopefully) and maybe being able to do some damage. this robs the fleet of a lot of flexibility where torps come in. Maybe this is all just a problem of accuracy tho? I never had this problem when it was a guess range. One nova worked perfectly.

[Sigoroth]

That's because when it was guess range it had a 99% accuracy. Of course you wouldn't have an accuracy problem under these circumstances! I think the accuracy is fine. Just ask a Tau player how scary NCs are.

[AndrewChristlieb]

I'd like to think I was a bit more accurate than that. What's the tau reference? Is that some fluff?