if you have in front of you, at the same range, in your firing arc, a tie phantom uncloaked, and a tie bomber full with as many secondary weapons as possible which would you shoot?

Which provides the biggest threat in the long term? The ship with expendable ordinance, or the ship that can roll 4 red dice every turn?

yeah this question is a bit too conditional. Does the bomber have a lock on an important ship in my fleet? Do I have any other ships that can fire on the bomber/phantom? Is there a chance I can take out either ship before they fire? I'm afraid this question doesn't have a simple answer.

In regards to what wonder said, a ship that can roll 4/5 dice every attack is probably more of a threat overall than a bomber that will rely on TLs to get in good shots, but it depends too much on other criteria.

Depends on the point value, I think. If that Phantom is upgraded until it's worth 40+ points, and the TIE Bomber is a Scimitar with Seismic/Flechette/Flechette/Ion Pulse, I'm shooting the Phantom every time. If it's Rhymer with PTL/APT/APT/Concussion/Assault versus the cheapest generic Phantom, then he's the more valuable target (as well as, probably, the bigger threat over the course of the game).

It also depends on what I have left on the table. If I won't get another chance like this to kill the Phantom, and the rest of my list can deal effectively with the Bomber, then obviously I kill the Phantom.

I personally would take the shot at the uncloaked Phantom. Against a good player this may be your only good opportunity to get him.

Yeah, phantom. Never pass up a shot on a dodgy ship. If I see a bomber loaded to bear, I usually just ram them with whatever ship I absolutely CANNOT have missiled to death.

if you have in front of you, at the same range, in your firing arc, a tie phantom uncloaked, and a tie bomber full with as many secondary weapons as possible which would you shoot?

It depends on the conditions but I may give the nod to the Phantom.

1. When the Phantom is always rolling 4 or 5 attack dice that is almost as much as any piece of Bomber Ordnance.

2. Phantom takes 4 hits to kill vs. 6 hits; here what I'm shooting with matters but there's a better chance an one-shotting the Phantom than there is the Bomber.

3. Phantom is likely to be the more expensive ship and it it's not then the Bomber is probably low on numbers.

How many shots do I have? If it's only two ships I'll go for the Phantom. Odds are I can kill a Phantom in one turn with 2-3 attacks. A bomber is far less likely.

What type of ordnance? If they're Assault Missiles and I'm in a Swarm, I'm DEFINITELY going after that Bomber.

assume worst case scenario for your list and include your list

Have either of them already fired in the round?

Phantom of course. They both have four attack dice every turn, but the bomber has a lot more limits (need to get a target lock before shooting, minimum range, etc) on its dice and is a lot easier to kill later. The Phantom, on the other hand, can be a lot harder to kill if I miss my best opportunity. So you obviously get the Phantom off the table ASAP, and then finish off the bomber later.

In whose arc am I?

if you have in front of you, at the same range, in your firing arc, a tie phantom uncloaked, and a tie bomber full with as many secondary weapons as possible which would you shoot?

Neither, because they are both on my team.

Well, a R2 4F attack from a Phantom rolls 3 hits on average. A TL'd Concussion is only 2.68... Homing is 3.00, heck even an APT is only 2.5 hits. If we look at T+FL on the Phantom, vs ordnance w/ F, the Phantom is rolling 3.75 hits, which still exceeds all ordnance except the APT, but seeing as the APT is R1, the Phantom would be rolling 5 anyways, and then we're talking about 4.68 vs. 4.98... Jonus rerolls still don't really help the case for the ordnance since the natural attack is so close to 4 anyways.

So, short of specific situational exceptions, one should always target the Phantom over the Bomber. Such examples would be that you have 3 ships with the bomber in sights but only 1 with the Phantom, or the Bomber having a TL+F+APT on one of your folks, but you could potentially kill it before it gets the shot off... Or the bomber is injured and only have 1 hull, or the action situation is different... or maybe you're shooting with an ion turret, and maybe one of them is stressed... =P

Simple answer is take the biggest threat and eliminate it. If the phantom cloaks, then where is he going to show up next? The bomber's not likely to be as maneuverable so you can gauge where he's possibly going to go. The phantom's 4 attack dice are something to be concerned about and once he's cloaked he's harder to hit, so I would consider it the biggest threat. Throw anything you can at it.