BFG:R Nova Cannon

[Taggerung]

Fair enough Andrew, good fluff reason however...1 in every 500 points for imperials is not making it rare....at all really. So if that was the basis for the argument then it's totally flawed . Keep them with the same restrictions. It still means almost half your fleet can be NC ships if you want.

[horizon]

Its implied that the nova is rare in the IN, but Admech have no shortage of anything... because they build whatever they want. However I have no problem playing against someone that has a fleet thats nova heavy. I also like to play with random terrain and know where the aaf button is 

That is truth.

The AdMech even has the option to give NC to the battleships with torps. (Not that 9 torps are bad....).

Compared to current situation 4nc per 1500pts is a limit to what is possible.

[Plaxor]

The restriction isn't supposed to make it 'rare' it's only to prevent ubiquity. 1/10 cruisers may have a Nova Cannon and there really isn't any reason that 3 could be in the same battle, it's just unlikely. It's comparable to house rule launch bay restrictions.

The BFG:R Admech was mainly done up by Sigoroth. Iirc Each vessel saw a 15 point drop from official rules and random upgrades were changed into mandatory purchases (each was given a cost between 5 and 20 points). The Ark was reduced further due to it's requirement that it be the flagship (forcing the player to 'waste' the free fleet commander upgrade) and the CLs were automatically given the 30cm lance, without having to sacrifice their torps.

Oh and I think the escorts saw some slight changes, particularly in the way of the marine escorts, as they lose quite a bit without a Marine crew.

[afterimagedan]

I just have to say, I am so glad this is being discussed. I haven't played BFG in a while because the last game we had, we were trying out the lock-on rules on a fleet where a friend was using Admech with 2 novas. They pretty much ended the game in the first round of shooting and comments about the NC being nerfed started to fly, things got heated (very, very rare and I hate when it happens), and we have just been playing 40k since.

Either way, I have felt naked without semi-frequent BFG games so it's time to get back into it. Also, I am pumped to see Plaxor back.

[Plaxor]

Either way, I have felt naked without semi-frequent BFG games so it's time to get back into it. Also, I am pumped to see Plaxor back.

Thanks, good to hear. I hope you find the current version of NC rules to be much more fair. I know that no matter how the NC looks someone will be disappointed (as is with everything). Unfortunately as human beings we are all somewhat biased, in the case of the NC we all bring to mind the times that a fleet equipped with them ended the game before it even started, but we don't count how often the weapons did nothing, or weren't the most viable weapon (see about half of the missions).

I'm happy to note that I've gotten MUCH better at using photoshop, if I was this good from the start so many things would've been so much easier!

I know I got part way through Tyranids, and unfortunately they will still have to wait a few months; I'm trying to get everything 'just right' in the order of how it appears in the book. Tyranids are towards the end of the rules section, and due to their low.... popularity and complex rules they are a lower priority.

As a reminder I have a blog about this subject; http://strategicconclave.blogspot.com/

I'll be posting some of this information there, but for those of you interested in helping, I have a number of tasks that would be extremely helpful (and aren't that much time consuming).
These include:
Checking documents for typos and visual errors.
Forming a Table of Contents (telling me which page for each section)
Forming an Index
Forming an updated cheat sheet (basically revising the official one)
Cataloging the Rogue Trader/Dark Heresy/Deathwatch/Black Crusade images (I'll be posting a list later, but I forgot to mention which were 'very useful' and which weren't.)
Creating various rules for racial defenses and transports.
Working out the 'flaw' of Tyranids in campaigns.

[Plaxor]

Oh I posted the 'Alpha' version of the rules earlier today. It is quite a beautiful document (and I'm glad to note that I'm averaging 20mins per page on complex revisions), I fixed all the odd page size issues, made the document uniform, filled in all the white space, and made it look like it was actually 'published'.

I fixed a bunch of rules conundrums, and I know I planned on going through each of the fleets first, but I figured I should finalize the beginning before moving on to the rest. With that in place, and my improved photoshop skills, I hope to make the Alpha version of Imperial Fleets sometime next week. Fortunately the documents get shorter after that! Although I suppose they are a bit less refined.

[afterimagedan]

This rules pdf looks awesome. Skimmed it; I will read it in more detail later on.

[Thinking Stone]

Hello everyone,
After much study, the Stone has rolled back....
Just some thoughts on Nova cannon: when deciding the scattering distances, we must also keep in mind that when you fire a shot in one direction, it doesn't chage direction in-flight (unless it is a torpedo, etc.). So a Nova cannon shot will go in the same direction as when it is fired (as far as I'm aware, they don't incorporate directional thingies); the scatter distance thus represents initial targetting error, so I think it is sensible to greatly increase the range bands. One can think of this as being an arc-length scatter exaggeration—an error of 1 degree in the initial targeting is still an error of 1 degree at 150 000 km but the transverse distance error (the scatter) increases massively.

Also, the background suggests that Nova cannon actually need to travel a certain distance before the explosion is at maximum power, so I don't think the increase in power at long range is a bad thing; after all, what are weapons batteries, torpedoes and lances for if Nova cannon trump them at shorter ranges? Otherwise, I'm sure the Dark Age of Technology would have resulted in at least battleships all mounting Nova cannon everywhere (or at minimum on every battleship). Their disadvantage is the fact that they need to travel for a while before causing maximum damage. Then again, background can always be modified....

Finally, seeing as (when I last checked) attack craft fleets tend to be on the powerful, desirable side of things, fleets could do with an anti-carrier option—I'm sure military technology realised this at the time of the Nova cannon's creation.

Thinking Stone