So... Ion Torpedoes do full damage (with an attack value of 4) as well as cause the ion range effect? Am I understanding that right?

That seems kinda awesome. They really don't like swarms these days do they?

You are reading it correctly, and yes they ARE awesome. :-)

Hmm...dang it! There goes TIE swarms.

And then when they're all ioned, you drive a truck into them in the form of Oicun with intimidate, Mara Jade, and APL. Weeee!

And then when they're all ioned, you drive a truck into them in the form of Oicun with intimidate, Mara Jade, and APL. Weeee!

Yes, yes you do.

And then when they're all ioned, you drive a truck into them in the form of Oicun with intimidate, Mara Jade, and APL. Weeee!

Screw the VT-49 - fly a Gr-75 into them and just end the game now.

Oh yes. Much love for this card.

Remember, you have to spend your target lock, so you're likely only doing 2 successes on the attack die. If the target gets even one evade result, you're doing only one anyway. This gives a slightly worse chance to hit than Ion Pulse Missiles + Target Lock (the IPM don't have to spend theirs), which is 3 dice w/ re-roll, or 2.25 successes, for 2 points less (and no blast effect, obviously). My whole point is that the Ion Torps are the least accurate way to Ion something. Every other way gets a token to boost the attack. As swarmy things often have high defense, this can be problematic.

Long story short, bring Munitions Failsafe.

New TIE Bomber Alpha strike: 1 Ion Torpedo, 3 Flechette Torpedoes, followed by four seismic charges and a maniacal laugh.

Hmm...dang it! There goes TIE swarms.

Assault Missiles didn't break TIE swarms, and Ion Torpedoes won't either. As Biophysical says, this is(like Assault Missiles) the least accurate way you can spend 5 points on ordnance; against a ship with 3 Agility and a focus token, Ion Torpedoes have only about a 40% success rate unless you can figure out how to modify them somehow (which of course costs additional points).

I think the threat of the ion Torp will do more damage than the weapon itself. If you are flying a tie swarm and you see the guy on the opposite side of the table has ion torps on 1 or 2 of his ships, you have two options, keep our swarm together and hope you can survive it, or split the swarm up and therby reduce its effectiveness, Either way, if your meta includes tie swarms, they are gonna feel the effects of this weapon. Similar to the effect of assualt missiles. The difference is i think ioning a group of ties is worse than simply giving them each 1 damage. The next round of play becomes incredibly difficult to survive for several of your ships, assuming your opponent is a halfway decent pilot

I think the threat of the ion Torp will do more damage than the weapon itself.

That depends on what else is in the list. If a TIE swarm is headed straight at you, and you deal a bunch of ion tokens, now you have a slow-rolling swarm that can attack you again, maybe even at range 1. The torpedo isn't inherently scary. What do you do to make those TIEs really think twice about formation flying? Oicunn and a Rebel Transport have both been suggested, and I think that's a great idea. You could also wait and use it on the mass K-turn of the swarm, if they choose to perform that maneuver. The only other thought I had was to send your torpedo delivery person straight at the swarm, and bring the rest of the squad on the flank.

The only other thought I had was to send your torpedo delivery person straight at the swarm, and bring the rest of the squad on the flank.

That would probably be my strategy. I'm a big fan of flanking. In fact i play pretty much the opposite of a swarm. Split my team up and get them in a pincer. Or at least have one or two powerful flanking ships

While certainly awesome, I think there is a huge overreaction regarding them 'killing Swarms for good'. It is still a one shot, so totally at the mercy of the dice, and is still only Ion for one round. That means the one time you shoot it has to be the right time, it has to hit, and then you have to capatilize on it next turn, where you are also at the mercy of the dice. And they are pricy. Like most of the time when a new missiles or torpedo comes out, I think people are giving them too much credit and losing the reality of their ficklety through the rose colour.

I think Ruthlessness is a bit of a better Swarm counter. Still, it will slow Biggs and those he's protecting a bit.

Would be fun to run Corran as a flanker with the Ion Torp and perhaps Outmaneuver or something like that along with FCS. Focus, try to strip tokens with the primary weapon, acquire TL, launch torp in End Phase. Next round run two Green sqrd with PR and PtL into their faces and we should see some carnage. Not gonna kill a swarm, but certainly is gonna make a fun start. ^^

You're also not doing anything other than ioning nearby ship(s). They don't take a damage like assault missiles cause so all you get is the swarm moving straight ahead 1 then business as usual.

I think Ruthlessness is a bit of a better Swarm counter. Still, it will slow Biggs and those he's protecting a bit.

Why not both Ruthlessness and Ion torp? "I'm not shooting at you, but please help yourself to 1 hit and an ion token."

I think the problem with a weapon like this is it is really only good in certain situations. If your know you will face a swarm, stock up on these things or assault missiles. If you know you are gonna be facing a falcon, leave the glass cannons at home. If you know your opponent will be using at least one low agility ship, take a cluster missile or 2. If you know you are going to be up against multiple large ships, take some Ion Pulse missiles.

But if you don't know, which we usually don't, you take what you think will be a good choice in any situation you may face. You take the list that has the best chance of winning against a variety of squads. Hence why ships like the interceptor, bomber, A-wing, etc don't get a whole lot of play time. Its not that they aren't good at wat they do, its just that what they do is pretty specialized. "I'm the best at what I do"... but what I do isn't always what is needed.

So the ion torp falls in that category of it could be really useful, or it could be somewhat a waste of points. You won't really know until your opponent places his ships. In a casual game, that is all well and good. Experiment, have fun. But I don't think these things will see a whole lot of play in tournaments.

Well, it is most efficient against swarms, no protesting that, but as long as there are small ships in a build you can always find use for it. It could either give you one round of "peace" to regroup or give you an easy range 1 shot with your squad. I could personally fly Hobbie with R2-D6, PtL and Ion Torps for 34p to have the option of ionizing potentially the whole enemy squad, or part of it.

It is after all the only thing that can ionize with 4 dice and you can use the opponent's squad against him by firing at a low agi ship to ionize a high agi ship.

yeah, i was a little leery about how good of a chance they have to hit