Previous to today's announcement, the TIE Advanced was the ship that could get the most value from Proton Rockets. Scum aside, the only other agility 3 ships that could take use Proton Rockets were the A-Wing and the Defender. The A-Wing has to give up Chardaan Refit to take the rockets making them effectively cost two additional points and the Defender was already getting 4 attack dice whenever Proton Rockets would have been usable.

Now that the TIE Advanced will be doing 3 dice + a crit at range one, is there any value to taking the Proton Rocket. It seems like a guaranteed crit result is probably worth two dice.

Is there any reason to take Proton Rockets on a TIE Advanced? It seems like the only real advantage is that they give a little more flexibility in target selection since they don't require a target lock.

Maybe on low-PS advanced with accuracy corrector? Two hits all the time at range, and if you get close use the prockets. I'd consider it because the low-PS advanced will have a harder time getting the TL on the appropriate ship to use the new hotness.

When rolling 3 dice, you're expecting 1.5 damage (+ action). In this case, + Crit as well.
When rolling 5 dice, you're expecting 2.5 damage (+ action).

In terms of expected value, the Prockets are slightly behind, as the Crit is better than the expected Hit.

In terms of Variance, the Prockets have both higher possible damage and possible lower damage.

So, yeah. RIP Prockets. Excepting when you decide NOT to take Advanced Targeting Computer.

FCS + Prokects might not be bad. Gain a TL in the previous attack, then unload 5 dice that's TL + Focused. However, I think Cluster missiles might be better.

3 dice + F: 2.25 hits, +1 crit. 3.25 total with one being a crit.

3 dice + F + Predator: 2.68 hits, +1 crit. 3.68 total with one being a crit.

5 dice with TL+F: 4.6875 hits

So, you're paying for an extra 1 - 1.43 hits, depending if you also loaded up with Predator. Given the choice between Predator or Proton Rockets, I would probably take Predator.

Err I actually would like to call "most value" into question. IMO, its the A-wing and Jake specifically that get the most out of them thanks to epts everywhere and innate boosts.

Imo, ATC overrides the need for rockets but they'll still have a place with tanky AC ties who will still have trouble punching through phantoms/falcons.

The proton rocket will do a bit more damage, but not sure its worth the extra 2 points if you have to choose between one or the other.

Assuming you only have the focus to shoot/modify it, the proton rocket should give you 3.75 damage.

ATC at range 1 with just the target lock will get you 2.5 damage (including the free crit). If you somehow had a target lock already and take a focus to modify, then it goes up to 3.25 damage.

So it's 2 points for an extra 1.25 damage most likely.

ATC doesn't require you to spend your TL, so it's reasonable to assume that you TL on turn 1, then get into range 1 on turn 2. So I think the TL+F stack is the more appropriate way to look at it. Otherwise, yeah, with only a single action you end up with an average of 2.5 hits either way, making the proton rockets redundant.

3 dice + F: 2.25 hits, +1 crit. 3.25 total with one being a crit.

3 dice + F + Predator: 2.68 hits, +1 crit. 3.68 total with one being a crit.

5 dice with TL+F: 4.6875 hits

So, you're paying for an extra 1 - 1.43 hits, depending if you also loaded up with Predator. Given the choice between Predator or Proton Rockets, I would probably take Predator.

0.75 + 0.75 + 0.875 = 2.375 expected damage vs PS3 or higher

Am I mathing this incorrectly? I know I'm not really allowing for damage from crits, but it's my understanding that those are fairly minimal.

Pedator can be used on any of the dice, so that is probably where you are making your mistake.

Lets calculate it manually.

3 dice + F = 0.75*3 = 2.25 hits.

Predator has a 1 - (6/8)^3 chance of letting you reroll (rolling at least 1 blank)

When you reroll, it has a 6/8 chance of being a hit. So predator gets you:

(6/8)*(1 - (6/8)^3) = 0.4336 hits.

Now spend the focus, add that to 2.25, and you get 2.6836 hits.