Nova Flare
a bombing pattern in which proton torpedoes are dropped on a capital ship in an increasingly wider pattern. The first few torpedoes are tightly-grouped, and take out the section of shielding they hit. The remaining torpedoes explode in a pattern aorund the initial hole, causing the ship's shields to attempt to compensate for an ever-widening assualt. The shield generator on most ships cannot react fast enough to provide power to the growing destruction, and fail.