Quote:Doesn't damage battleship shields, takes a long time to start tracking, can be intercepted en-route, takes longer to reach the target, can easily kill team mates, has a minimum launching range...oh, and only has 70 shots vs the SN's infinite shots...
Fire Nova torpedoes at the front of a ship (target a vanilla capital ship's front components or turrets on a nonvanilla capital ship). You'll damage the shields that way. Supernovas are good at taking down shields as you can fire them anywhere on the enemy ship - however, Novas are better against capital ship's hull anyway. If you're fighting a gunboat which is constantly flying in rear-view - novas can be an option to take it down fast. Unlike the supernova, which could miss on the strafing gunboat, the nova is likely to hit the forward-moving gunboat. If they notice it going towards them, that's a good time for them to stop turret mode and dodge, allowing you to get closer to damage them with other equipment.
Novas have more range than the Supernova. The "long tracking time" is so they aren't used against fighters like they were in previous versions. Either way, if you're versing a smart capital ship pilot you'll be punished for going close enough to be able to kill yourself with your own nova torpedo. Friendly fire incidents can be avoided if your team mates don't fly close to the enemy ship - another suggestion is to warn (dumb?) teammates when you fire one. Sure they can be intercepted, but how many capital ships get escorts (gunboat missiles, fighters etc) to deal with bombers? Flaks can deflect the novas also (LNS-Equillibrium showed this well against myself and a Hacker bomber a while ago). So in theory this may be a downside, but in practice it is not really an issue.
Nova torpedoes are similar in price (the same I think) to nuclear mines, so they're not very expensive. A lot of pilots get 70 nuke mines everytime they dock, so price can't be the biggest issue.
Novas can be fired more often than supernovas due to the reduced energy requirement. They're great at stripping equipment from capital ships and doing lots of damage to unshielded capital ships (good in group fights with a supporting capital ship). Supernovas on the other hand may be more "easy to use" and "better against shields", but do less damage for more energy use.
Novas can also be used effectively against the smaller, more agile battleships such as the Osiris. They track and gain speed over distance, so they can be used to bombard the Osiris from a distance. The supernova on the other hand can miss often if the Osiris pilot dodges well, and the bomber can not go close to get a better shot due to flaks and turrets.
To sum up: nova torpedoes do more damage than the supernova as they are a different weapon with a slightly different purpose. The supernova is great at taking down shields and damaging the smaller capital ships - gunboats, small agile cruisers, etc. The nova torpedo is more suited at killing the bigger capital ships.
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