Ships of the Novan Incursion.
Ruthless Alien Raiders in Living Ships. The Novans are described as hyper-aggressive aliens and this is reflected in their Morale chart. Ramming and Self-Destruct are expected tactics from the Novans.
"The most bloodthirsty and cold blooded race known to Man (Including Man himself).
First contact with the Novan empire came in 103PN and forced a sudden, albeit temporary truce between the warring factions. The Novan Empire, was, and still is, the only galaxy wide Empire known to Man. The early Novan incursions into Primary Known Space, although ruthlessly efficient and invariably successful, soon petered out into sporadic raiding, ironically removing mankind's last great unifying cause. The unexpected drop in the frequency of Novan raids has been attributed to internal strife, although this remains speculation."
Novans have a unique Zen Auto Repair system and Clever Metal self healing bio-metal skin that can heal hits from missiles but not energy weapons. Their Bridge also functions as Fire Control so they do not get Fire Control as a separate system. Their best weapon system is the Photon Torpedo, this is the best in the game, except it is wholly ineffective against Kennedy Fields. Novan Dart Launchers are also pretty good. With Clever Metal they have less need for point defence. They do not use Drones, but fighters are cheap. Most of my Novan ships have Inertialess Drives and will use it to position themselves for their next attack.
Clever Metal provides pretty good resilience against missile attacks, if is not total immunity. Missiles will still hurt a Novan ship and damage any components they hit. There has been a tendency when fighting against Novans to concentrate on Energy weapons. My Novans usually carry heavier Shield layers than most ships of their mass.
Novan ships are relatively expensive as they start with 30 points for their Bridge and Zen Auto-Repair. If you want Clever Metal then that starts at Mass 20 and means you spend at least 50 points before adding any weapons, shields or other equipment. You can of course build Novans without Clever Metal, but you still have to pay 30 points for their Bridge.
My standard vessels range from mass 20 to 35 which puts them in the cruiser class. Novans can build smaller ships but don't get Clever Metal below mass 20. Heavy Vessels go from 36 to 55 and Station Vessels have no mass limit.
My Novan fleet for Encounter One are all from Citadel's Star Cruisers range. These were produced back in the 80's. Some were reissued as Tyranids for Space Fleet or Battle Fleet Gothic and now go for ridiculous prices on EBay. I have seen some smaller ships from https://www.ravenstarstudio.com/ that would make good strike boats or Escorts but have not acquired any yet. Also some larger ships that could mean re scaling my current fleet to suit.
I must have been influenced by Chris Foss's wonderful paintings of spaceships as I did mine in black and yellow wasp markings. My ships have most of their weapons pointed straight forward. They are pretty much flying guns. These will always try to blast their way through the enemy line then come round for another go.
Edited 17th April 2023 - Ship diagrams amended to Gif, Snake Heads uprated to Mass 40.
13th April 2023 - Ship diagrams added
Citadel Star Cruisers - The League
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Novan Raiders
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| GW- Citadel Star Cruisers - The League |
SCL4 - Sinca Veche - Light Cruiser. Codename Vespid
One of the smaller ship classes seen in a Novan raid. The Vespids tend to act as scouts and skirmishers. Scouting ahead of and guarding the flanks of the main fleet. Their usual armament is a forward Beam array of St20 supplemented by four photon torpedo launchers. Their beam turrets can add to the forward array or hit targets on their flank. They are well shielded for their mass but like most Novans tend to neglect point defence in favour of Clever Metal.
| NOVAN | Ship | Vespid | Scout Cruiser |
| Core Systems | | No | | Mass | Cost | Comments |
| Bridge |  | 1 | | 1 | 30 | [ ] |
| Reactor |  | 1 | | 1 | 0 | [ ] |
| Main Drive |  | 1 | Strength 5 | 1 | 6 | [ ] |
| Secondary Drive | | 1 | Strength 5 | 1 | 6 | [ ] |
| Manoeuvre Drive |  | 1 | | 1 | 1 | [ ] |
| Inertialess Drive |  | 1 | | 1 | 5 | [ ] |
| Defence | | No | | | | |
| Shield St 4 |  | 3 | | 3 | 15 | [ ][ ][ ] |
| Shield St 3 |  | 2 | | 2 | 8 | [ ][ ] |
| Point Defence |  | 2 | | 2 | 6 | [ ][ ] |
| Weapons & Systems | | No | Facing | | | |
| Beam St5 |  | 4 | Forward | 4 | 24 | [ ][ ][ ][ ] |
| Beam St5 | | 2 | Turret | 2 | 12 | [ ][ ] |
| Turret |  | 2 | Port, Forward, Starboard | 0 | 16 | [ ][ ] |
| Photon Torpedo Launcher |  | 4 | Forward | 4 | 12 | [ ][ ][ ][ ] |
| Probe |  | 1 | | 1 | 8 | [ ] |
| Hull and Cargo | | | | | | |
| Hull | | 24 | | | 0 | [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
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| Clever Metal | | Yes | | 0 | 24 | |
| Cargo Holds | | 0 | | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | | | Mass | 24 | 173 | Points |
SCL3 - Moinesti - Light Cruiser. Codename - Hunter Killer
Often Encountered in the front line of Novan Raids, the Hunter Killer's are brutal gun ships. Their fire is concentrated in their forward arc with a St30 Beam array plus four photon torpedo launchers. Unusually for Novan's they carry a pair of turreted Bolt Launchers for peripheral defence. They are heavily shielded and will usually make a head on attack to punch through the enemy line.
| NOVAN | Ship | Snake Head | Command Carrier |
| Equipment | | No | | Mass | Points | Comment |
| Core Systems | | | | | | |
| Bridge | | 2 | | 2 | 32 | [ ][ ] |
| Reactor | | 1 | | 1 | 0 | [ ] |
| Main Drive | | 1 | Strength 5 | 1 | 6 | [ ] |
| Secondary Drive | | 2 | ST5 x2 = Total ST 10 | 2 | 12 | [ ][ ] |
| Manoeuvre Drive | | 2 | | 2 | 2 | [ ][ ] |
| Inertialess Drive | | 1 | | 1 | 5 | [ ] |
| Defence | | No | | | | |
| Shield St 4 | | 4 | | 4 | 20 | [ ][ ][ ][ ] |
| Shield St 3 | | 2 | | 2 | 8 | [ ][ ] |
| Shield St 2 |  | 2 | | 2 | 6 | [ ][ ] |
| Point Defence | | 3 | | 3 | 9 | [ ][ ][ ] |
| Weapons & Systems | | No | Facing | | | |
| Tractor |  | 1 | | 1 | 3 | [ ] |
| Turret | | 1 | | 0 | 8 | [ ] |
| Beam St 5 | | 6 | Forward | 6 | 36 | [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] |
| Beam St 5 | | 4 | Turret | 4 | 24 | [ ][ ][ ][ ] |
| Turret | | 4 | All Round | 0 | 44 | [ ][ ][ ][ ] |
| Photon Torpedo Launcher | | 4 | Forward | 4 | 12 | [ ][ ][ ][ ] |
| Fighter Bay |  | 4 |
| 4 | 20 | [ ][ ] |
| Fighters | F | 32 | 8 Fighters in each Flight | | 64 | F F F F F F F F
F F F F F F F F
F F F F F F F F
F F F F F F F F
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| Probe | | 1 | | 1 | 8 | |
| Hull and Cargo | | | | | | |
| Hull | H | | | | 0 | [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
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| Clever Metal | | Yes | | 0 | 40 | |
| Total | | | Mass | 40 | 431 | Points |
SCL6 - Rimnicu Villa - Cruiser. Codename Head Hunter
Novan Headhunters are amongst the largest of their 'Standard' vessels. It is unsure whether the 'Death's Head' design on their prow represents a supernatural entity or their impression of humanity. It certainly does not resemble any known Novan entity examined so far.
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