My 2 cents.

Torps tend to be a Rebel ordinance and Missiles tend to be an Imperial ordinance. Yes, I understand that that there are exceptions, but this is generally true. That being said, Rebels tend to have higher base firepower than their Imperial counterparts so they less need the extra oomph that ordinance provides with the exception of Z's. Z's and most Imperial ships have a base attack value of 2 so the points spent on the extra attack power (even if it is a one-shot boost) seems more justified.

To put it another way, why would I spend valuable points to increase my X-Wing's attack value from 3 to 4 for one shot? Now it may be worth it to increase my TIE Bomber's crappy attack value of 2 to 4 or 5 for 1 shot if the points and secondary effects are worth it.

I don't think non-discarding ordinance would be overpowered, even at the same or similar point costs. In STAW, torpedoes and missiles cost about the same 3 to 5 points depending on how many attack dice they use or if they get a conversion bonus and are 'disabled' after firing. To use them again you have to spend an action to 're-arm' your torpedoes. If you want to rely on ordinance you can but it gets very action intensive; you need an action to rearm your torpedoes and an action to TL to fire them. Even with all the options the game has for 'free' actions most torps only get fired once in a match, twice if you are lucky.

If X-Wing took a similar approach I think it would stay balanced. At least Bombers would actually be carrying a payload representative of what they would really be armed with and be the immediate threat they are shown to be in the old computer games.

I suspect things to still favor the HLC when the ordnance had TL requirement before it could even be used.

Why? If you can acquire a TL then you can usually also fire on the enemy, and you get the target lock right before you fire.

IF you can get the TL is a key there. If you do that's great because then you'd be comparing the naked ordnance to a HLC that can be modified by the same TL. If you can NOT get that TL when needed you couldn't fire that ordnance even if a target move into your sights but with the HLC that is not a problem.

The special properties of the non-discarding ordnance may need to be worked on but assuming 4 attack dice at at 7 points it would need some pretty good properties to be as good as the HLC.

The thing about Missiles and Torpedoes is they are one shot and best used against something with few green dice. This generally favors the Imperials using them more often than the Rebels. Imperials get more options for Missiles than Torpedoes. Therefore, you see more Missiles than Torpedoes on the table.

Wait until the Decimator comes out. With no green dice, it will become a magnet for Proton Torpedoes. Once the shields go down, the Torpedoes will come out. The ability to most likely have a crit is going to be great against big ships.

I think Munitions Failsafe pretty much makes Missiles and Torpedoes worth it. I have often wondered about taking Proton Torpedoes more often with MF.

The best use of Missiles or Torpedoes that I've seen is to them in pairs. Two Concussion Missiles have a good chance to destroy a ship, especially if they are X-wings (less green dice). OK...one of those is usually Vader...who gets a focus, as well.

yes, but I haven't seen too many decimators out yet (probably because they are only in pre-release and have not been publicly released yet.) Maybe if Decimators start to dominate the meta Proton Torpedoes or the Marksmanship Advanced Proton Torpedoes combo will come back into play.