Just how good are proton bombs?

It depends on how many ships you can catch in the area of effect, and what crits come up.

But I'd say a weapon that has about a 1 in 5 chance of a one-hit kill on an A-wing, Z-95, Phantom, or E-wing, and that can be used against multiple ships simultaneously, is at least potentially pretty good.

Just how good are proton bombs?

Right now so/so. Once wave 4 hits the street very good.

I once used 3 proton bombs to kill two undamaged B-wings at the same time. Pretty epic! On the other hand, I don't expect that to really ever happen again. Most experienced players will not let there ships be in a position where this kind of thing could occur. So yes, they do have potential. But it's a lot of points to spend in a competitive tournament list. 15 or 20 points of Proton bombs could instead buy a whole ship.

After wave 4 is out, I'll be very tempted to try:

Gamma+Flechette torps+proton bomb x4 for 100pts (maybe drop one torp for losing initiative). Could also switch the torps for 3 ion pulses.

Fly up, stress a bunch of ships (or even double stress 2). Follow it up by dropping a bunch of proton bombs and K-turn while they are stressed. A good pilot can see it coming, but it will REALLY put them on edge

They really should be two points of damage. At one point they are somewhat lackluster. They are good against swarm players, but I wish they were two points of damage... then they would rock!

Most experienced players will not let there ships be in a position where this kind of thing could occur.

True, but the experienced player is in a bind: he or she is forced to either take the critical damage (hurray!) or maneuver in constant concern for ships that may get caught within the possible blast radius (hurray!)

Area denial can be even more powerful than damage.

Time to add bigger mines.

I think proton bombs are best used as a crowd control option. A wary player will probably go out of their way to avoid a potential bomb, and possibly forgo making the best move because it may put their ship next to a bomb. Rookie players might send many of their ships into a bomb, on the other hand.

So are mines best used on high PS ships or PS ships? I use then for crowd control...

Proton Bombs are potent in two ways.

1: Their damage potential is terrifying. They don't require an action to activate, or an attack to use, they just straight-up add damage.

2: They force your opponent into staying away from your 6, out of fear of that damage. This means that you'll ALWAYS be able to re-acquire them in your sights, as their only true safe-spot from your guns can be unexpectedly bombed at any time.

All in all, Proton Bombs (and Seismic Charges) are the most potent pieces of ordnance in the entire game, in my humble opinion.

good posts guys, keep them coming!

im looking at using this squad:

Scarlet Bombers (100pts)

Kath Scarlet + Gunner + Expert Handling+ Shield Upgrade + Proton Bombs (54)

Gamma Squadron Pilot + Proton Bombs (23)

Gamma Squadron Pilot + Proton Bombs (23)

iv been practicing some setup formations and have two similar tactics for dropping a Bermuda Triangle of proton bombs inside the asteroid field. the plan is to slowroll up the centre with the bombers tucked in behind the firespray, alter your speed depending on how fast they r moving on turn one and then hard 3 turn with kath and one bomber while k-turning with the 2nd bomber. you need to be flexible as there formations will vary but you stand a good chance of getting in 2 or even 3 crits on 1 and hopefully more ships.

SUMMARY:

starting formation (bombers facing kath)

B> K <B

turn one, both bombers sharp 3 turn into the middle, kath moves in front with 2 straight (like this)

K

^ ^

B B

trun two, creep fwd (vesus slow enemy ships: 2 straight with bombers and bump into Kath if u want to really go slow or 3 straight with bombers and 3 straight with Kath if enemy ships approaching fast)

turn 3 things happen

The bomber on ur left sharp 3 turns to the right, The bomber on the right 5 K-Turns and Kath sharp 3 turns to the left (u need to get some separation from Kath so she can drop he bomb)

B

< K v

B>

Turn 4, plan to get ur bombers out of the death trap, the stressed bomber that K-Turned has decent escape options (3 turns, 3 banks or 4 straight - depending on the asteroid formation at the time).

against a fast enemy you could accelerate this by a turn and drop ur bombs at start of turn3, just depends how it plays out. The goal here is to be flexible and react to what ur opponents ships do in turns 1-2.

This squad will win based on surprise. it is a bit reliant on drawing crits that are actually decent but even 1 unavoidable damage through a shielded ship is some good.

For your investment of 15pts into THREE Proton Bombs you are gambling that you will be doing 4-6 crits (much more damage is possible depending on their formation and number of ships). If they guess u r gonna drop 2-3 bombs early they will change formation and spread out.

Kath Scarlet is my finisher - with gunner she will deal consistent damage and expert handling late game is amazing. Bombers are decent dog fighters on their own - yes that 2 attack dice sux but that 6 hull is nice compensation.

Proton Bombs are potent in two ways.

1: Their damage potential is terrifying. They don't require an action to activate, or an attack to use, they just straight-up add damage.

2: They force your opponent into staying away from your 6, out of fear of that damage. This means that you'll ALWAYS be able to re-acquire them in your sights, as their only true safe-spot from your guns can be unexpectedly bombed at any time.

All in all, Proton Bombs (and Seismic Charges) are the most potent pieces of ordnance in the entire game, in my humble opinion.

I agree, if you time and maneuver right you are guaranteed to deal damage, unlike torps or missiles.

I also think bombs will be more popular once the new huge ships come out, as they are big and slow enough to be easily effected. Proton bombs also go through shields, bypassing that new action to regenerate shields with energy that was spoiled

In a store championship I got hit pretty hard by one, hit Dutch with the crit that took away his action bar. I would call that hit a game changer. Took me a few rounds to get rid of it, by that time the game was getting out of hand.

In a store championship I got hit pretty hard by one, hit Dutch with the crit that took away his action bar. I would call that hit a game changer. Took me a few rounds to get rid of it, by that time the game was getting out of hand.

I threw a single proton bomb that hit a B-Wing and a HWK. Both came up with the crit that kills your secondary weapon (I was running a standard 33 card damage deck, so I was surprised to see the only two copies come out at once), taking out a Heavy Laser Cannon and the HWK's only feasible offense.

The game didn't last very long after that, particularly as I had another Proton Bomb at my disposal...

Proton Bombs (PB) are great and can be game-changing when you get them off.

But I prefer Seismic Charges (SC) for one simple reason: If I'm running SC, my opponent forgets about them. If I'm running PB, I guarantee my opponent _won't_ forget about them.

He will often fly out of his way to avoid PB's, which can have a significant effect on its own. But it's usually 5 points spent to make my opponent fly better, meaning he will still get shots on me while avoiding being where my PB will hit him. So he's often attacking from the flanks, which means my firespray may not have a shot on him, or will have to fly out of its way to get the bomb in a good position.

SC I can drop mid to late game, and my opponent will have completely forgotten I have them by then, so they will often hit for a little extra damage. I just find I get better damage out of them because my opponent doesn't feel the need to avoid them like he does with a PB.

Expensive but always fun I view them a distraction tool. Your opponent is constantly wary when you will "drop da' bomb".

two variations of the squad i postd earlier, but which use mines...

SQUAD#1 (99pts)

Kath Scarlet + Gunner + expert handling

Scimitar Squadron Pilot + seismic charges

Scimitar Squadron Pilot + seismic charges

Scimitar Squadron Pilot + seismic charges

SQUAD#2 (100pts)

Bounty Hunter + Gunner + Seismic Charges

Gamma Squadron Pilot + Seismic Charges

Gamma Squadron Pilot + Seismic Charges

Gamma Squadron Pilot + Seismic Charges

thoughts?