Nova

## Purpose

### Description

Fires laser bolts that damage enemy targets and repair allied structures. Capable of flight.

## General

### Abilities

Repair Field:* Repair Speed: 2.5/sec
* Range: 7.5 blocks

### Manufactured in

 Ground Factory:* 30  Silicon
* 20  Lead
* 20  Titanium)

## Research

### Research Cost

2100  Silicon
1300  Lead
1300  Titanium

The **Nova** is a Tier 1 Ground Unit on Serpulo produced in the Ground Factory using 30 Silicon, 20 Lead, and 20 Titanium. It shoots laser bolts that damage enemies and heal damaged structures, as well as build and boost itself over obstacles. In addition, it carries a healing pulse that restores 10 health to nearby damaged units every 4 seconds.

Novas can be upgraded into Pulsars through the Additive Reconstructor directly, through Payload Conveyors, or by being dropped in through units with payload such as the Mega.

## Strategies

### **Against**

Although its significantly improved mobility and range over the Dagger makes it seem more threatening, the AI used by the enemy makes it behave like one, neglecting its abilities to charge straight at your walls. Due to this, it actually has a lower damage output than the Dagger on account of its decreased firerate. Even in large groups, their group healing does not restore fast enough to actively increase their survivability under fire. The same strategies against the Dagger apply: use splash damage turrets like the Arc and Lancer to take care of swarms. The Lancer's high base damage can one-shot them, making it a solid hard-counter turret.

In the much more practical environment of PvP, Nova rushing can be a dangerous tactic in 1v1s as you will require both anti-ground and anti-air turrets to prevent them from simply boosting away and accumulating more over time. Luckily, your own units are able to clean them up if they get scratched by Scatter fire. Flares are a decent counter as they can weave in and out of attacks while being way cheaper to produce.

### **For**

Back in Version 6.0, the Nova was valuable for being able to outrange the Lancer. Couple it with a Micro Processor that could make it fire its maximum range and a command group of 8 was enough to win against every early-game enemy base. Any Ripple attacks would be flown over.

Unfortunately, the good days for this unit on offence are gone and replaced with a laborious job on defence. Their rate of healing on a single block is substantial for their cheap cost compared to the Poly, while their boosting ability and moderate range can kite and counter lone tier 3 units like the Spiroct, Fortress and Quasar. However, in the early stages of the campaign, it is much more feasible to leave defending for the turrets to do and focus on actual dedicated support units like the Mono line.

## Changes

 Version 6.0, Build 126.2
 Version 7.0, Build 127
 Version 7.0, Build 128
 Version 7.0, Build 136
 Version 7.0, Build 138.1
	+ Old description: "Fires laser bolts that damage enemies and repair allied structures. Capable of flight."
	+ New description: "Fires laser bolts that damage enemy targets and repair allied structures. Capable of flight."

## Trivia

* The Nova is a unit adaptation of Version 4.0's Tau Mech, an upgrade of the default player ship that carried healing lasers.
* The Nova is named after the supernova, an event in which a star explodes at the end of its life, violently ejecting its contents into space. All members of the Nova line of units are named after stars, celestial bodies, and constellations.