Re: [FT] Nova Cannon Tactics

Nova cannon tactics?  There's quite a few different ways you can go
about
it.  (Before I say anything, let me clear up that as a house rule, we
allow
nova cannons to be scaled up in a linear fashion similar to plasma
bolts, so
that there's a reason to mount them on larger ships... read, you won't
have
to leave quite as much offensive hardware dormant in order to use them.)

One method is to arm more or less all of your "ships of the wall" (to
borrow
an HH term) with the things, fire them early and often, and force your
enemies to spend most of their movement playing dodgeball rather than
bending their maneuvers to a more coherent, aggressive end.  When your
enemy's movements are dictated by an urgent wish to not be annihilated
in
bulk, that makes it that much easier to gun them down with whatever else
you
may have.  Any fighter elements you have will appreciate this as well,
since
the phalanx/wall formations that make life most dangerous for them are
also
most vulnerable to nova cannon fire, and frequently they'll have to
divide
their task force or see at least some of their ships get hit.

The other method is to equip a few ships as "artillery support" and keep
them well to the rear of the formation to fire from a distance while
your
wall of battle is engaging them at closer range.  These ships would
probably
stay largely stationary, so that they can simply rotate and shoot
wherever
they want.  Yeah, this makes them basically sitting ducks if the enemy
task
force decides to go after them, which is why you deploy them in a
fashion
that your front line ships will have nice clean shots at their backs if
they
try it.

On a related note, as a weapon to support fighter assaults on a point
defense phalanx, plasma bolts are probably at least as deadly as nova
cannons.  Not only can you direct them in a far more flexible fashion,
but
they also can serve together with the fighters to oversaturate basically
any
practical amount of point defense.  Sure, a shameless min/maxer might
get
tempted to go overboard on the point defense to stop it, but if they do,
it
takes very little in the way of reserve forces of ships armed with
direct-fire weapons to give them a crushing reminder to keep it honest. 
;)

E
(aka Stilt Man)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Warren Shultzaberger" <carol.warren@prodigy.net>
To: "Ground Zero Games List" <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Friday, April 12, 2002 8:55 AM
Subject: [FT] Nova Cannon Tactics

> Hello, Everyone.
>
> We've found that a ship carrying the Nova Cannon operates best like a
> WWI single-seat fighter. Don't try to hit the enemy with the cannon's
> second or, worst yet, the third turn... Get close enough and smash
them
> with the first turn.
>
> Firing from a range where the blast takes more that one turn to get
> there simply makes the enemy break formation (great, if that's what
you
> want) and turn quickly out of the way.
>
> Triangulating on your targets is harder than you would think... Plus
you
> have to look out for the blast from other Nova Cannon ships.
>
> Finale note: veer off on the turn after you shoot... It's not fun
> overrunning the blast template when it expands and touches your ship.
>
> Warren Shultzaberger
>     "Natural laws have no pity."
>