It’s the Champagne Supernova in the skyyyyyyy…
DesignA TRO3058 design the Supernova is a standard Mech but a common fixture in Clan forces. I’d like to think its inception came about because of a conversation something like this.
“Scientist Bob, you know the Extended Range Large Laser?”
“Of course Scientist Greg! It has a superb range, good damage, it is light and small.”
“Aff, and our weapons have a range advantage anyhow. So I ask you…how can we abuse this?”
And the love child of that thought experiment was the Supernova which we have the folks at Clan Nova Cat to thank for. An old machine that first walked off the assembly lines in 2846 the Supernova started out as a replacement for the aging King Crab’s in Clan service. Due to unforeseen technical issues with the King Crab’s structure (and it being built with integral Ferro-Fibrous armour) the Clan designers did what they did with most IIC like designs, they shed weight. And I would say that this thing, in my mind is basically a King Crab IIC.
Dropping 10 tonnes to go down to a not exactly svelte 90 tonnes the Supernova then went ahead and used no advanced materials in its construction. Standard engine, skeleton and armour mean this things cheap to produce and did not consume many resources.
Naming wise it’s a bit weird, folks initially thought that the Nova served as an inspiration and it was a case of Designers going “MOAR!” and making a bigger Nova. But newp, turns out that the Supernova is older than the Nova, and instead may have served as its inspiration. You can certainly see the heritage what with their weapons load and lack of advanced materials in construction. The only weight saving grace on the Nova being its much needed XL engine after all.
The engine is a 270 rated standard power plant, the Mech’s beating heart, and can power its weapons and move it at 56kph whilst a trio of jump jets are fitted for mobility. These stand out (at least for me) as not that many Clan assaults fitted Jump Jets as standard and on Omni’s are often seen more on city fighting variants rather than the norm.
Still the designers didn’t scrimp with the armour and slapped 14.5 tonnes of plate on the Mech giving it solid if not fully maxed out protection.
9/26/33/26 (8/10/8)
26/26/30/30
Still more than enough to take a pounding, and with its standard engine, its very tough to knock out and will require coring or leg/head ripping to finally put down.
The big change though came with the armament. Whereas the King Crab in most of its variants is designed to walk up to someone scream “I LIKE ICECREAM!!!” and then blow them apart with large calibre autocannons. The Supernova is built to engage foes when they are little more than a blot on the horizon. Although displaced by Omni-Mech’s the Supernova wasn’t retired but became a fixture in PCG’s and less prestigious units. Following their abjuration from the Homeworlds the Supernova became a common sight in frontline units of the Nova Cats and would remain so until their near extinction.
I don’t know what this means for the production of the Mech, it was popular in other Clan service so it could still be under construction even if the Mech’s original Clan is now sadly gone.
VariantsStandard – The standard version of the Supernova lives up to its name, both in the light show it produces, along with the heat. Going for a simple armament of 6 ER Large lasers, three in each arm, the Supernova has an obscene range and the ER Large can still do heavy damage, sure it’s no ER PPC, but it’s not to be ignored.
But this produces a MAMMOTH amount of heat and even when fitted with a (then) unprecedented 26 double heatsinks a full alpha will cause serious heat spikes. And repeated firings WILL shut you down. Much like the Awesome this machine rewards a pilot who bracket fires.
And that’s it, it’s a simple Mech that takes maximum use of Clan tech to engage at extreme range. Given a good pilot and firing point this thing can rain hate down on you and stop you before you get close.
2 – The Supernova 2 is a bit of an odd beasty but seems to be a more general purpose machine than its dedicated sniper forebear. Still it can engage at extreme range thanks to a pair of ER Large Lasers, one in each arm. Oh you spotted that huh..wondered where the rest are? Well they are gone, replaced with new toy syndrome in the form of four ATM-9’s. Even cutting the heatsinks down to a more modest 16 does not free up weight for more than 6 tonnes of ammo, meaning that some of the ATM’s flexibility is lost due to a lack of shots, and this machine can chew threw ammo at a scary rate.
The final bit of spice, more than a hint of cinnamon is that this variant has a targeting computer for the lasers. I’m not too sold on this, I’d prefer the weight to go into ATM ammo, but that’s just me.
With the choice of ammo at the pilots command I’d still fit one tonne of HE ammo, anyone who gets close can then get 36 HE missiles fired at them, which could result in a brown pants moment.
3 – More a nod to the Standard, the 3 goes back to being a walking Jean Michelle Jarre light show and goes back to long range murder. For this role the weapons fit of the Standard is altered, out go 4 of the ER Large lasers, in go a pair of ER PPC’s (one in each arm) and a pair of Medium Pulse lasers in the head and chest. 23 Heatsinks don’t come close to dealing with the heat if you slap the big red GO AWAY button but here’s the spice. Well…more like a bottle of hot sauce. It’s got a targeting computer, so when it does fire, it’s all the more accurate.
I’m not sure if this is a better variant than the Standard, your mileage may vary, but both delete baddies at long range, the 3 does it whilst also glowing dull red whilst the Standard glows white hot.
4 – Yes that is the smell of strong cheese you can detect wafting off this monster. Losing some of the range of the Standard or 3 but gaining a better close in punch thanks to its dual ER Mediums (chest and head) and dual Heavy Medium lasers (left arm and right arm) this is the only Supernova to fit no ER Large lasers. In their place, a quartet of Large Pulse lasers are fitted. On and this thing retains the targeting computer of the 3. So yes, Clan pulse + Targeting computer cheese away! Eighteen heatsinks are overwhelmed by the main battery and a full alpha is very strongly NOT recommended, but with the TC and Pulse laser accuracy, you can do horrific things before you start suffering serious heat woes.
Whilst not having the biggest punch, the range and accuracy of the 4 mean it can brutalise a foe as they close and you can take pot shots at long range due to the Pulse/TarCom tag team. It can also reliably remove fast moving Mech’s and vehicles more efficiently than the other variants. Along with the Viper and Goshawk Prime this is probably (wisely) why we can’t have nice things.
Thoughts.Tough and with a hell of a slap the Supernova is a pain to kill. It’s so padded with heatsinks that critting something useful is rare and then its got a standard engine so is darn zombie like. Only the 2 has ammo issues but thanks to having many missile launchers and limited ammo if you go wild with it, you’ll be out of ammo before folks start breaching your protection.
The Supernova is fairly unimaginative, it’s a case of sit back and hammer away, watching your firing groups before pressing the big red button when you’re sure of a hit. With its typical (if slower than Clan average) assault Mech speed, but untypical (for a Clanner) jump jets the Supernova can often be left behind in an advance, but this suits it just fine as it works best at long ranges in any variant. As a hint, don’t take more than one Supernova 4 to a battle if you want your friends to not a.) Throw a chair at you, or B.) Be your friends at the end of the fight.
Speaking of fighting one, reflective armour and blue field particle systems if you REALLY wanna thumb your nose at this thing, but even in later years reflective armour isn’t that common and the BFPC is VERY rare.
So this means either being prepared to take a hammering as you close or having to deal with it through the simple expedient of lots of long range indirect fire LRM’s or plasma/inferno weapons. Anything you can do to drive this beast’s heat up and reduce the volume of fire coming your way is a good idea.
You could also eliminate its support. The Supernova lacks a raw smack down punch and instead must wear you down with repeated strikes. If you can weather that whilst eliminating its faster friends that cover its blind spots then you should be able to swamp the Supernova.
The Supernova has a lot of firepower but thanks to the huge heat burden it really can’t use it all.
If you are this close you've made a REALLY bad mistake
A Supernova 4, Goshawk Prime and Black Python prime.
As always, thoughts and comments are most welcome!
