Strategy thread: Killing Turrets

By J1mBob, in X-Wing

If you face Corran Horn w/ any fat turret….kill Corn Hole first. Trap him and go after him. Double stress him if you can or just pour as much fire on him as possible. 3 green dice is nice, but fickle.

If you face a Phantom….kill that first. The 4 red dice are no joke and you should try to trap it and kill it ASAP or it will eat your list for lunch while you chase the Decimator.

Kill the escorts first versus the turret is always going to be a debate, but yeah - when you've got something like corran, try to kill him dead - anything with regenerating health needs to stay down, and if he's packing R2-D2, he's not got a generic R2 astromech - which means he's probably nailed to the green manouvres, so he's actually more predictable than the pancake.

If it's a pack of TIE bombers or Z-95s - something with lots of toughness for its cost - then don't try and fight them first.

I think one of the strategies which might get some success is knocking down the escorts and then running away from the fat turret.

If you can manage this and minimize losses to keep your points advantage, getting approximately 40 points of kills down (say the price of 3 Z95s, Soontir, or Corran for example), running away for a while might be a decent strategy. Not going to say I think its the most honorable one, but nothings fair in war.

Its hard because fat turrets are often very fast with boost and can close the gap, but if the turret is hugging the outside of the board they are going to have limited maneuver options and may not want to come through the rocks to get you. If they do, you might be able to get a couple of turns of blocking/jousting in which may decide the game. On the other hand if you want to maintain your distance, small ships can go the opposite way around the outside to maximize the distance between the fat turret and them and also cut through the rocks to stay out of range. Would be frustrating for the fat turret player, but its nothing they havent done to all the real fighter pilots :P

I've had a huge amount of success with a combination of Prockets and Corran. If it's PS9+, I prefer to block it with a Prototype so it can't run away. Preferably both Tycho (Procket platform) and Corran previously acquired TLs, which is simple to do. Then you zoom in on the R1 engagement, F+E on Tycho, E with Corran. This is a requirement most turns in order to styme the hurt the 4 dice can do. If you feel dangerous, feel free to F with Corran as well.

Now you're throwing 13 dice in one turn, 8 with a single modifier, 5 with dual modifiers. Your expected <boom> count is 10.375. Now, if it's against a Decimator, that's just straight up damage. Against a YT-2400 (which isn't that large of a threat in all honesty), you're looking at 2.26 + 3.94 + 2.26 = 8.46 damage. And against a YT-1300, 1.25 + 4.31 + 2.25 = 7.81 damage. So, if you're strategic about when you do this (read, after you've done 2-3 damage), you can easily wipe out the target in one large assault. The YT-2400 falls apart really easily, as does the Decimator. The YT-1300 (especially with double droids) is the only one at all that presents an-ongoing challenge. But if you got 3 damage prior to the burst round, it's left with only 2 hull.

Furthermore, in my experience it's not uncommon for it to be sporting several crits - all of which can be devastating. Not only is there the obvious Direct Hit card, but all of the pilot crits are nasty, and most of the ship crits are too (exceptions being muntions failure and thrust control fire).

In short, a single burst attack round can often cripple any large ship (this is also how I deal with Aggressors), drastically turning the tide of battle. If you are successful in killing it that round, then Corran can run away and regen any shields that were lost, or your opponent can be upset that he failed to kill Tycho prior to him getting his rockets off (and now feels like he wasted those shots on Tycho).

Thanks Khyros, nice write up! Would you be willing to share your list?

Corran w/ VI, FCS, R2D2, EU

Tycho w/ PTL, DD, EI, Prockets, ATP

Prototype w/ CR

It takes awhile to get used to it. You NEED to make use of the fact that you're the fastest fleet in the galaxy, disengaging and reengaging on your terms is how you need to play it. Also, if you're ever caught by surprise, remember you can DD into an enemy to prevent the shot!

For vader on a Decimator to solely kill all of your interceptors he would have to take 18 damage to himself if no direct hits were drawn. I wouldn't say its broken, it is definitely a 100% anti fel hard counter though and I love nothing more than being ps 10 and boosting in range of fel and missing my first shot vadering him then activate gunner and miss again and vader and draw a direct hit. One of the most satisfying moments ever.

Exactly, range 3, not in arc, shoot twice, miss twice and opponent is destroyed. Not broken at all.

For vader on a Decimator to solely kill all of your interceptors he would have to take 18 damage to himself if no direct hits were drawn. I wouldn't say its broken, it is definitely a 100% anti fel hard counter though and I love nothing more than being ps 10 and boosting in range of fel and missing my first shot vadering him then activate gunner and miss again and vader and draw a direct hit. One of the most satisfying moments ever.

Exactly, range 3, not in arc, shoot twice, miss twice and opponent is destroyed. Not broken at all.

If you're putting all your eggs in one basket like running all fragile arc-dodgers and run into something that hard-counters you...you're going to have a bad time. Nothing broken about that.

I run 1 of 3 lists that deal with most types of builds quite well. I'll provide the build, win/loss stats and how to play the particular build(strategy)

Build 1

Boba PS10/Rexler PS8

Firespray - Boba + VI + HLC + Rebel Captive - 50 points

Tie Defender - Rexler Brath + Predator + HLC + Stealth Device - 50 points

I am 10-2 with this build having only lost to 2 non-turret lists.

Strategy - Fly them Together - this list doesn't care about getting stress

Boba Moves last and shoots first. His goal is to strip shields or in the case of Phantoms, kill them outright before they get to shoot. I usually just Target Lock with Boba as he ends up being primary target for the opponent anyway.

Rexler then shoots at the same target and if any damage cards are dealt, uses the focus to flip them. Mostly I try to keep the focus for defence with stealth device and if SD works even once, it is worth the points. Even if it doesn't it is at least like a shield upgrade as long as you rolled 1 evade and cost 1 point less than shield upgrade.

I played a Chewie Leebo build with this and absolutely wrecked it. Boba was taken down but both Chewie and Leebo died. Leebo had at least 2 crits on him and Chewie had 4, 1 of which was injured pilot - lol.

Build 2 which I just started running recently

Rexler PS8/Kath PS7

Tie Defender - Rexler Brath + Predator + HLC + Stealth Device - 50 points

Firespray - Kath + Marksmanship + Mangler Cannon + Gunner - 50 points

I am 2-0 with 1 of the wins being against a fat turret

Strategy - Fly them apart - this list works better if you don't get Kath stessed but Rexler doesn't care

This one takes more planning as Kath can't change directions like Boba. Since Rexler shoots first, I try to keep the focus token for defence unless the other ship is close to death or I'm looking to hopefully flip an injured pilot crit or blinded pilot crit.

Kath is pretty simple, if you get an action take marksmanship. Now when she shoots with mangler she gets to change 1 focus to crit and 1 hist to crit dealing usually at least 2 crits. If the opponent evades the crits and the attack he still takes a stress and gunner kicks in to use primary with marksmanship still dealing another crit. If the crits get through then all the better but her goal is to stress them out so they are predictable and have actions denied. She ends up being target number 1 leaving Rexler to mop up.

Build 3 which I just started running this week and is pretty strong

Rexler PS8/Kath PS7

Tie Defender - Rexler Brath + Predator + HLC + Stealth Device - 50 points

Firespray - Kath + Predator + Mangler Cannon + Gunner - 50 points

I am 6-0 with 1 of the wins being against a fat turret and another against a double small scum turret build. The other build was Boba/IG88-C which ended up being the closest game.

Strategy - Fly them apart - this list doesn't care about getting stress

Pretty much the same as Build 2 except Kath stays alive longer by doing evade actions or focus actions instead of Marksmanship. 2 opponents targetted Kath first and the other one targetted Rexler but failed to even get a shot off on him. I found Predator was much more usefull than Marksmanship and like this build better. Kath only went down in 1 game and that was mostly due to 2 proximity mines. She lived in the other 2 games. UPDATE - just played 3 more games tonight and won all 3. First game was against Scum Boba/Kath and I won 100-50 - first time I lost Rexler in a game I won. Second game was against Echo/Kenkirk and I won 100-0. Last game was against Oicunn/Kath and I won 100-0. All 3 opponents are good players that have won and placed top 8 in tournaments.

Rexler was always my endgame ship and I only lost 2 games, both of which could have gone either way but the dice were really bad on my side for both defence and attack.

Every one of my opponents said they kinda like defenders but they cost too much. I laugh at this as Rexler was the one that destroyed them completely and I guess they never thought more about it cause everyone says the defender is too costly. In my game with Rexler/Kath(Predator) against Boba/IG88-C, Kath barely got a shot off. rexler killed both the IG and Boba on his own.

These lists are by far my most successful in terms of wins versus losses. A total of 15 wins and only 2 losses. I came 2nd at a store tournament with Boba/Rexler too(would have won but the final table was my son against me and he really wanted the spring tourny ruler so I'll let you figure out what happened - lol).

I'm not afraid of fat turrets and in fact those were among my easiest games. Rexler, IMHO, is one of the most underrated pilots in the game for what his ability gives you. Having him with HLC, Predator and Stealth Device makes him a beast. I've beat, YT1300s, YT2400s, Decimators, Phantoms, Firesprays, IGs, Ywings, Bwings, Shuttles, Interceptors, etc with these builds.

Going 18-2 with these 2 ships against good players(top 8 regional player, top 8 SC players, Store Tournament winning players, etc)

These work well if you know how to fly them. I have flown Firesprays for quite some time now and usually have one in every build I run. I've now added the defender to the builds I run so basically I only run these 2 ships which happen to be my favourite ships in the game.

I don't complain about having to play against fat turrets. I love the challenge and the looks on their faces when they get beat by an "overly costly" Tie Defender list. I can't imagine adding anything else as these 2 ships together with these pilots have done well for me.

Bottom line is that you don't have to run a fat turret to beat a fat turret. Both of these ships require some fly time to learn how to fly them properly without landing on asteroids or debris fields.

The key to these lists is that they have adequate hull/shield, they are fairly maneuverable and they don't really care about stress(Build 1 and 3 anyway).

As you can tell I'm not one of these folks that keeps my builds or strategies a secret. I love to play the game and love it even more when I win against another good player!

Edited by Ynot

Reading through this, people have provided (myself included) specific strategies for specific lists. I'm going to take a few minutes here and talk about generic things to do.

First off, let's actually reverse this - what does a turret need to do to win? If you have a shot on the turret, the turret can shoot at you. That is its strength, but its weakness is that it doesn't bring as many shots. Therefore, it's imperative for a turret to reduce the number of shots incoming. The two ways to do this are by arc dodging some/all ships, or zooming out of R3 of some ships but leaving 1 in range so the turret can shoot at it. The YT-1300 and Decimator seem to fly rather similarly, both are often equipped with engine upgrade as their arc dodging tool The YT-2400 is typically stressed, with a R1 donut hole, and can BR+Boost. Since they don't like multiple ships on the board, a turret will almost exclusively focus fire until a ship is dead.

So, now that we've discussed the basic conditions a turret WANTS, in order to beat a turret, make sure he doesn't get those conditions. Ensure that all of your ships bear down on him in the same turn, so he can't single one of them out. Position yourself such that a boost will not be an arc dodge. Know when to block and when to pile on the shots and when to run away.

I'm not going to go into great detail about any of these, but I want to re-emphasize the running away aspect. Especially now that games are 75 minutes long, there's no reason to continue a fight when your better move would be to break the fight off and regroup. As a lover of Corran, you need to know what your movement is going to be prior to deciding on the double tap or not, but after playing him awhile, you're forced to learn the art of retreat. And believe me, it's an art. It often can mean splitting up your opponents forces as one of them gives chase while the other has to turn around, putting them in a weaker long term situation (even if they're getting a shot this turn and you're not). If you have a regenerator, then clearly it's important since you can get back your shields. But everyone can retreat and regroup to provide a unified attack again, which is much more effective than one off shots. Plus, it's typically easier to prevent the arc dodge when you're taking him head on (and the jousting efficiency of a turret is much lower than the rest of your squad).

Deciding on a strategy starts when you find out what your opponents squad is comprised of.

Step 1 - Most folks don't take asteroid/debris field placement seriously enough. This is the first part of your strategy. You want to place them so that it fits with your strategy against the squad you are playing.

Step 2 - ship placement and opening moves should also be decided as you are placing them down and seeing where your opponent is placing his/her ships.

Step 3 - is your actual attack/defence strategy. Decide if you are going to go after the opponent or let them come to you. Changing strategy mid game is usually not a good idea. Once you decide on how aggressive you will be, stay with the plan even if your dice rolls seem to be failing you. If you change strategy due to your rolls it will usually not work out for you anyway. Attack and Defence are 2 separate things but they go hand in hand with strategy -Are you going to keep your focus token for defence or use it on attack? If you are running low ps pilots then the decision is a bit easier as you will know if you want to use it for defence first before you shoot. If you are running high ps pilots then you have to decide.

Step 4 - analyze your entire strategy after the game is over especially if you lose to determine where you went wrong. Sometimes you haven't made any mistakes and were failed by the dice - this happens and there is little reason to change the strategy. If your dice are average and you lost to a list you expected to beat then something is wrong in your strategy. Figure it out and go from there.

The time to work on different strategies is during casual play. Once you get to the tournament you should already have a solid list you know how to fly against the different types of builds and be comfortable flying it. This is the real key.

Some folks keep trying different builds all the time if they lose and figure it was more about the ship/pilot/upgrades choice rather than a strategic fail. Most good players can any average list and do quite well with them.

Strategy is more important than squad choice. If you have a great squad and poor strategy you will lose. Likewise, if you have an average squad and solid strategy, you will have a good chance at winning. If you have a good squad and good strategy you will have a good chance at making the top cut.

I attended 1 tournament where a guy running a great dash/corran build ended up in 2nd last place just due to lack to a solid strategy. We all know that list is good and has won many events but if you are lax about your strategy you will see it matters not what you run.

New players put far too much effort into building squads rather than learning about proper strategy and flying.

New players put far too much effort into building squads rather than learning about proper strategy and flying.

I agree with this. That's why when I see responses that are just lists...I shake my head.

I've seen good players take clown lists to a tournament and make top 8. It isn't as much "what you fly(play)" as it is "how you fly(play)"

This is also why I kinda chuckle at the "this ship is broken" threads. It isn't the ship that is broken, it is just that folks have figured out a very meaningful combination to play on them and have learned how to play that to the amximum effectiveness.

I run Rexler a lot. Everyone I beat says "defenders are neat but too costly". I just shake my head at that statement as my costly Rexler just tabled them. I think he is quite fine but you have to put the correct upgrades on him to get maximum effectiveness. I guess you can say I am playing him how the developers of this game envisioned him to be played and made his cost accordingly.

Ive read talk about lists and talk about flying and even attack strategy but for me the strength of fat turrets is their staying power. Typically the longer the match goes on the more likely the turrets are to prevail. They have a larger margin of error in both shooting and HP. Personally I like to just go for the biggest possible Alpha strike. They can't wear you down or shoot you while you can't hit them if they aren't on the table. It seems almost counterintuitive to think of taking out a Deci or Fat Han in turn one or two of shooting but it can be done. IMO it's the best way to go. C3PO, R2D2, Rebel Captive, Issard, etc are great turn after turn but they don't change the game much of they aren't around more than a couple of turns.

the staying power of fat turrets mostly comes from once per round effects (evade tokens and 3po). Basically, it's not at all impressive if they can't arc-dodge a good portion of the squad (or if you roll poorly, which sucks because they're always rolling back)

If you face Corran Horn w/ any fat turret….kill Corn Hole first. Trap him and go after him. Double stress him if you can or just pour as much fire on him as possible. 3 green dice is nice, but fickle.

If you face a Phantom….kill that first. The 4 red dice are no joke and you should try to trap it and kill it ASAP or it will eat your list for lunch while you chase the Decimator.

Kill the escorts first versus the turret is always going to be a debate, but yeah - when you've got something like corran, try to kill him dead - anything with regenerating health needs to stay down, and if he's packing R2-D2, he's not got a generic R2 astromech - which means he's probably nailed to the green manouvres, so he's actually more predictable

Encountered this list last night.

I got tabled because I didn't go after horn. Won't be making that mistake again!

My regionals list was a pair of HLC TIE Defenders (named guys), and Rexler Brath had an Ion Pulse Missile. I would deploy my rocks in a lose formation in the middle of the board, and I'd tend to attack out of the rocks. With fairly fast HLCs (like the ones on Defenders) I like to be towards the middle of the board and behind the turrets. Between rocks, the table edge, the threat of the Ion Pulse Missile, and good position, it makes it really easy to keep the guns on target. Unlike massed ships relying on primaries, HLC Defenders are tough to kite. A single one can still punch some damage through most defenses, and two will only take a few turns to drop any ship in the game.

I'll note that I think heychadwick's advice was really good, and it was almost exactly the opposite of what I did when I faced fatties. This is because he was flying a bunch of 2-dice guys (large footprint, range matters a lot), and I had a pair of HLC Defenders (small footprint, range doesn't matter). This illustrates how much strategy matters when you're planning to defeat something.

Hey Biophysical, can you share your double Defender list? I bought two of them a while ago and sure do want a reason to bust 'em out... :)

Edited by J1mBob

Rexler Brath, HLC, Hull Upgrade, Predator, Ion Pulse Missile

Colonel Vessery, HLC, Stealth Device, Lone Wolf

Rexler Brath, HLC, Hull Upgrade, Predator, Ion Pulse Missile

Colonel Vessery, HLC, Stealth Device, Lone Wolf

Can you explain the reasoning behind not putting either Stealth Device or Hull Upgrade on both Defenders? (I'm a new player. I've flown this list a few times after seeing your post, and I really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing!)

Why not take Engine Upgrade instead? After all, a missed shot, because the target being out of arc, is usually one missed shot too many...

Edited by John Tenzer

Most of the time I do not know what my opponent is going to bring to the table. At best I know the faction.

Therefore building a specific counter is not possible.

What is possible is to adapt the tactics involved.

Whatever ship-type I have on the table, I must adapt to what my opponent brings. On the other hand he/she has to adapt to what I have brought myself.

Whit large-based, turreted ships I tend to go all-out against them. Yes, it will cost me.

But it will cost me more when I don´t. They are the ships that can take a shot from almost anywhere. Sure a Phantom or Corran are nasty, but they are more difficult to target. Hunting them leaves the big-turreted-b*@§#*d free to pick off my squad one-by-one. So. The turret has to go first. Whatever is left will be fought with whatever survived.

And the sooner I go all-out, the more ships I will probably have surviving the encounter.

All ordnance, all primary weapons, everything on the large. Try to burn it in one round of combat. :angry:

Rexler Brath, HLC, Hull Upgrade, Predator, Ion Pulse Missile

Colonel Vessery, HLC, Stealth Device, Lone Wolf

Can you explain the reasoning behind not putting either Stealth Device or Hull Upgrade on both Defenders? (I'm a new player. I've flown this list a few times after seeing your post, and I really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing!)

It comes down to action optimization. Rexler tends to want his actions to do damage. Early on, he'll often place a Target Lock on an important enemy ship and let Vessery chew on it for a while, and often in the mid and late game I'm spending my Focus for damage (or to activate his pilot ability) to try and kill ships earlier. By not having a Focus for defense, any Stealth Device he would have is much easier to break. The Hull also gives a little insurance against crummy dice so both ships don't get double-hosed by early poor defense rolls. Vessery can keep the damage up pretty well with his pilot ability, so I don't feel bad about keeping his Focus for defense. His PS of 6 is also nice for Stealth Device, because a lot of heavy hitters in this game are above that, so I'll know if I need to use a Focus to protect the SD against those shots. If I don't, I can use it to boost his attack and have a high likelihood of scoring 4 hits. Furthermore, the SD/Lone Wolf combo makes Vessery extremely powerful against massed attacks. 2-dice swarms just bounce off him. Even 3-dice swarms have a lot of trouble at range 3, and if they don't get lucky and break the SD early at range 2, they still might not do much damage. Overall, Rex is offensively oriented and the Colonel is a bit more defensively oriented. This makes Rex the obvious target, but going after him 100% early on can come back to bite my opponent, because I can usually take out their biggest gun, leaving Vessery vs supporting ships, and supporting ships have such a hard time getting through Stealth Device + Lone Wolf. Long story short, the two upgrades give the ships different strengths against different opponents.

Why not take Engine Upgrade instead? After all, a missed shot, because the target being out of arc, is usually one missed shot too many...

Against high PS Turrets, engine upgrade doesn't really do that much for me. PS8 is good, but not amazing, so there's lots of ships that I won't be able to arc dodge very well. I also rarely want to be closer to a turret, because the HLC gives a range advantage over primary weapon turrets. Against lower PS turrets, a Barrel Roll often lets me keep a ship in arc without getting closer to them. Against higher PS turrets, engine doesn't do anything. Most Arc Dodgers are higher PS than 8, so I couldn't counter them especially well with engine anyway. All this being said, if I felt like I was going to see a lot of PTL Dash and Aggressors, I would seriously consider dropping Ion Pulse Missiles and Hull Upgrade for Engine Upgrade and an initiative bid. That would let Rex deal with both of those targets a bit better. I was expecting a lot of Han and Chiraneau. I only faced Han once all day, and no Decimators. Ion Pulse is a pretty sweet upgrade on it's own right, though, so it's a tough decision.

So one time I challenged a turret player to play a swarm. He didn't want to until I offered to play a turret list. I went with super dash and 3 A Wings, he went with 7 academies and dark curse.

He spread out all of his ships in a line across the entire board and just had it collapse on me because I was stupid and thought I could bust through along the edge. So what happened was that Dash was blocked for like 4 turns straight while it got pummeled. I feel like if I wasn't stupid and I didn't joust Dash into the swarm I might have been able to pull a win out because it came down to like 3 a wings vs. 3-4 TIEs and as a swarm player I was blown away by his out of the box approach.

Maybe try that? Large boost and barrel roll with dash is super dumb though, I probably could have beat his swarm with Dash had I not jousted like a dummy but it's worth a try. Half of your arcs are going to get dodged anyways so what does it matter if half your swarm is halfway across the map? They're only one 5 straight from being in the fight anyways.

So one time I challenged a turret player to play a swarm. He didn't want to until I offered to play a turret list. I went with super dash and 3 A Wings, he went with 7 academies and dark curse.

He spread out all of his ships in a line across the entire board and just had it collapse on me because I was stupid and thought I could bust through along the edge. So what happened was that Dash was blocked for like 4 turns straight while it got pummeled. I feel like if I wasn't stupid and I didn't joust Dash into the swarm I might have been able to pull a win out because it came down to like 3 a wings vs. 3-4 TIEs and as a swarm player I was blown away by his out of the box approach.

Maybe try that? Large boost and barrel roll with dash is super dumb though, I probably could have beat his swarm with Dash had I not jousted like a dummy but it's worth a try. Half of your arcs are going to get dodged anyways so what does it matter if half your swarm is halfway across the map? They're only one 5 straight from being in the fight anyways.

A swarm actually flown as a swarm! See you don't need ol' Howler, she's just a crutch.

So one time I challenged a turret player to play a swarm. He didn't want to until I offered to play a turret list. I went with super dash and 3 A Wings, he went with 7 academies and dark curse.

He spread out all of his ships in a line across the entire board and just had it collapse on me because I was stupid and thought I could bust through along the edge. So what happened was that Dash was blocked for like 4 turns straight while it got pummeled. I feel like if I wasn't stupid and I didn't joust Dash into the swarm I might have been able to pull a win out because it came down to like 3 a wings vs. 3-4 TIEs and as a swarm player I was blown away by his out of the box approach.

Maybe try that? Large boost and barrel roll with dash is super dumb though, I probably could have beat his swarm with Dash had I not jousted like a dummy but it's worth a try. Half of your arcs are going to get dodged anyways so what does it matter if half your swarm is halfway across the map? They're only one 5 straight from being in the fight anyways.

A swarm actually flown as a swarm! See you don't need ol' Howler, she's just a crutch.

To be fair there is a scene in one of the movies of 5-6 TIEs flying in a formation, so it's not unthematic for TIEs to fly in formation. If anything it's the rebellion that flies in blobs and the Imperials that fly in neat formations. Besides, past a certain point the formations break up anyways. I think the definition of a swarm is the number of ships and not the (non)formation they fly in. Dual Firespray lists tend to fly loosely and cycle in and out of the fight too, and a 2 ship list isn't a swarm.

I agree that swarm players have a prejudice towards flying in neat formations even without a Howlrunner or Serissu. For a few reasons:

1.) It looks cool.

2.) It's easier to deal with and less time consuming to choose one maneuver for all 6-8 of your ships.

3.) Easier to concentrate fire.

bring Kavel with the obligatory blaster turret and agomech buffed by VI and extra hull.. then have 3 thug Ys with locked down blaster turrets.. thats a potential 19 red dice!!!!!

I haven't read the whole thread, but anyone have success dropping proton bombs and scoring early crits? I have not tried myself.

The problem with Proton Bombs is that you have to drop them after a fat turret moves. So, you have to have a high PS to do this. How many ships have PS 9 that can drop bombs? I'm only thinking of Boba Fett.