The things which draw me to the Storm rather than the Nova:
Light Tank - In games I have always valued speed over strength or bulk. Yeah I loved flying the Y Wing but it was sloooow. If I got hit in the A Wing it was game over but you could take on 3 targets in the time you could reach one in the Y. Call me impatient. Having speed also lets you dictate an encounter. If it's going south, I can just turn tail and stroll off. Yeah it's not going to be faster than anything in the air but I'd expect it to be faster than anything that can threaten it on the ground (Just don't remind me the pillion position on the Drake Dragonfly can fit a shot-gun passenger with a rail gun).
If I want to live, I take a slow bulky Tank of a craft, but if I want to
play? Heh, it
is a game, after all
Easier to transport - this'll definitely fit in a ship I own where the Nova definitely doesn't fit in any of the ships I own. I had a Tonk. It turned in to something which I could go places in.
Energy Weapon - An unlimited ammo tonk? Yeah the cannon is less powerful but energy weapons have an advantage over unshielded armour over ballistics and never running out of ammo is one hell of an advantage. I just hope Hurston has worked on the range and projectile velocity or it's an assault vehicle rather than a tank and at that point you'd be wanting a pair of repeaters for mowing down rather than a canon for a stand-off slap.
Yeah it's not really anything special, but at least now it is something :-)