I would trade a novax for any direct fire t4 in 13 picoseconds.
I cannot even fathom how you arrive at a conclusion comparing telemazer to novax, might as well as compare interceptors to destroyers.
The difference is you’re not supposed to shield everything against a novax, you can rebuild dead loose mexes. There’s going to be large reclaim piles, you’re likely making mass fabs. You lose some efficiency but enemy spent 40k on a t4 that is only paying itself off in the next half a dozen minutes. It requires a major advantage in some theater (telemazer is not a tool where you hold advantage) because you’re 40k down in any of air/land/navy and if you’re fine with spending that you’re also generally at the point in the game you’re looking to find the win condition (novax is slow, telemazer is not). Most of the time, novax is supporting t3 arty which you are then building to break something actually important at this stage of the game.
Wanna argue it’s not fun go nuts, it’s really not that good. It’s an initial B tier t4 than falls to low C after the first one in a faction roster of D tier t4s.
In general t4s function as breakpoints. A GC is excellent because it not only wins a key fight but maintains control over it to enable you to use the reclaim and either snowball further or support other operations. A washer is excellent because it can prevent large concentrations of force without directly committing itself beyond the drop period. T3 arty is great because it pinpoints enemy win conditions late game, and if there are none it kills power which is the lynchpin for mass income. Nukes are great because they not only kill things, but deny the reclaim for the enemy without directly risking a commitment on your end. Novax just kills stuff on the enemy side in an annoying way (intel is good tho). Everything does that, it doesn't further you much at all. You don't win control over anything nor is anything important dying. It's good to sit around and snipe shields during an arty war, of course. It's a decent supplement to another win condition.