Earth Alliance Nova Class Variants ## Nova Class Variants ## Nova Command Dreadnought (Rare): The Nova Command Dreadnought was a last ditch effort by the ship builder to squeeze one more drop of EF credits out of a dead assembly line. Immediately following the Earth-Minbari War, EarthForce needed to replenish the losses the Fleet suffered during the war, therefore, they were willing to buy just about anything. The Nova Command Dreadnought replaced the forward LPA's with HLC, and the aft LPA's with MLC. The command variant also had another C&C fit into the hull, with an enlarged sensor array. Unfortunately, the ship couldn't power all the weapons at one time. Its power deficit was even greater than the planned Nova variant fielding turreted double MLC on all weapons mounts. The handful that were built entered fleet service and were almost immediately assigned to the reserve fleets where most remained until the Earth Civil War, when they were reactivated to fight the Babylon 5 fleet, but actually never amounted to much during that conflict. All were scrapped shortly after the war. Nova Command Dreadnought (Zeta Model) Nova Heavy Battle Carrier (Unique): When the EAS Chandley arrived at the Fleet yards at Proxima III for a refit and repairs after a lucky encounter with the Minbari (ie, it got away), it was decided to try something new with the ship. Fighters were used effectively against the Minbari when employed in greater numbers. Carrier production had dwindled in recent years, and the Nova could only carry two squadrons of Starfuries. The ship was stripped of its side weapons and hangars were installed. Two twenty four ship hangars were installed in the now open space left by the departure of the LPAs. Two of the forward LPAs were replaced with four HLC. She put back to space two years into the war and served well, until the battle of the line, where, once her fighters were away, was caught by waves of Nials and gutted. In all, only two ships of this type were completed, the EAS Loknar being the other ship. The Loknar actually was used as a transport to ferry refugees away from Earth just before the Minbari surrender. Her weapons never worked correctly, and her hangars were filled with civilian shuttles when the end of the war came. She was scrapped just prior to the Earth Civil War. Nova Heavy Battle Carrier (Epsilon Model) Nova Assault Dreadnought (rare) The Assault Dreadnought was designed to move major amounts of troops into orbit and begin off-loading them for surface assaults. They were armed with four forward LPA's, and all side and aft LPA's were replaced with Heavy Plasma Cannons. All fighters were replaced with Breaching pods and assault shuttles. These ships were larger and more ponderous to operate than the Hyperion Assault Cruiser, and were never favorites with their crews, though they continued to operate until the decommisioning of Babylon 5. Nova Assault Dreadnought (Delta Model) Nova Dreadnought (Eta model, Unique) In attempt to create a dreadnought with faster firing weaponry, a Nova had all the Laser Pulse Arrays (LPA) replaced with Particle Blasters. While the ship could fire, turn, fire and repeat that process indefinitely, the LPA armed Nova was considered superior due to the flexibility it offered. Only one Nova Eta was made. Nova Dreadnought (Eta Model) Nova Testbed Dreadnought (rare) The Nova Testbed Dreadnoughts are the heavier versions of the Hectate class. They were constructed to test new weapons systems for the EA starfleet. The first, EAS Thunderbolt, was built to test the usefulness of the Heavy Particle cannon. The second, EAS Coughlan, was built to test newer EA secondary systems. The latest, EAS Foyt, was built to test new enormous weapons systems for the EA. It suffered severe damage when the reactors powering the enormous weapons went critical during combat simulations. The Foyt has since been repaired, and reassigned to testing a new generation of LCV's for the EA. Nova Test Dreadnought (EAS Foyt)