I'm on a TIE Bomber high right now. Wave 7 & 8 stuff has me thinking about TIE Bombers almost exclusively in this game. This started with spoiling of Thread Tracers, which will help bombers tremendously, but since that is still quite some time away, I want to talk about what EU does to TIE bombers. As importantly, if the meta shift that is the speculated result of TLTs actually happens, we're going to see a noticable PS drop, making target lock acquisition easier. This won't be true against every squad, but it will be true against a number of important squads.

Scimitar squadron bombers are 16 points, with EM, 18. If you pack 4 in a squad, that means you've got 7 points per ship in weaponry. It also means you've got 24 hit points at AGI 2. Not the toughest list, but not falling over very quickly either. I think a decent basic loadout is 1 "killing missile" and 1 "control missile". The nice thing (or crummy thing) about the Bomber is that even "control missiles" aren't really a damage downgrade from their primaries.

Hypothetical squad:

Scimitar, EM, Concussion Missile, Flechette Torpedo = 24

Scimitar, EM, Concussion Missile, Flechette Torpedo = 24

I wouldn't go a full 100-points on PS2 missile carriers due to the difficulty in getting the initial target lock, while keeping the target within that Range 2-3 in-arc firing shot.

However, one or two of them in a list supporting other ships are certainly viable now in ways that they weren't before.

Once Tracer Missiles hit, with their ability to fire at any range as long as the attacker has a focus token, ordinance carriers will be in a position to do very well. You can also fit them onto all four of your Scimitars above if you downgrade the Protons to Plasma Torpedoes.

TLT is God and the Y Wing is his Prophet.

TIE Bombers relevant again, wooooo.

I'm not feeling 4 but 2 in a list is looking sharp. Support with an ace and an AP or a big gun like Vess and things are looking up for the bomber.

So in a 150 pt match adding a Tie Punisher will be cool! Or TWO Punishers mixed with 3 bombers!!!

I'd add in Jonus with a couple Tracer Missiles.

I recently played an Epic match where I took Jonus/Ryhmer flying formation. It was the most fun i've had with imperials in a long time. I can;t see taking them both in a 100 point list though yet, I'm still balancing that out.

very first problem: you won't be able to shoot off 4 missiles. I'd go with just EM and one killer missile. Its still too easy to bop a bomber. ITs only 1 health more than half the YT24, without the insane barrel roll.

Have you blown up half a yt24? yes you have.

I think four bombers would be a squad you see sometimes, much like the four tie advanced squads now running around, and the soon to be 4 y.wing tlt builds ...

I do look forward to bringing my bombers back on the table with the new wave, and ya know I like my proximity mines...

As for inhaling, guess it depends what it is brah...

I think it has a problem where it demands that you sink more points into items that are a little costly to begin with.

Here is a rule of thumb, If you are spending 12 or more points on missile/torpedo/bomb upgrades(to include Extra Munitions) it is better to dump those and just pick up an Academy/Bandit/Bynree or other cheap filler ship. It still slows down the tempo for the MOV while putting more health on the board instead of making some ships more expensive giving more MOV advantage to your opponent.

Extra munitions makes it easier to spend less than 12 points on those upgrades. If you got a build that requires a double torpedo well you don't have to lay down 12 point for 2x APTs anymore now it is only 8. So spend no more than 9 and slap EM on it for some value. Still remember that the more points you put on a ship the higher MOV tempo you give to your opponent.

I prefer to keep my bombers cheap. This wave has really opened up some options for cheap, annoying setups:

Scimitar Squadron

Ion pulse missiles

advanced homing missiles

extra munitions

munitions failsafe

25 points for 4 missiles that grant a specific effect on hit. Munitions failsafe is not strictly necessary but it works well on this setup since the missiles are all hit or miss. It's not a heavy damage build but for the ability to apply critical hits and ion large ships in one shot it's a good support ship at 24-25 points. You can double up on one missile type if you like since they are both 3 points

Once Tracer Missiles hit, with their ability to fire at any range as long as the attacker has a focus token, ordinance carriers will be in a position to do very well. You can also fit them onto all four of your Scimitars above if you downgrade the Protons to Plasma Torpedoes.

Trust me, when tracers hit I will be all over that.

22 points for a double-Connor Net bomber is really good in the current meta. Too bad the meta is being exploded tomorrow. I think TLT's and Connor Nets like to face the same targets and TLT's are just flat out better against other lists.

I personally don't think EM does **** to fix ordnance by itself

does it fix bombs? Oh hell yeah. **** things don't give half a **** about horrible action efficiency or spiky dice (unless you're dumping proximity/clusters), and conner's are just so **** nasty that EM is more than worth it as just another conner's @ half price

ordnance though still suffers immensely from horrible action efficiency, one-shot status (which, combined with horrible action efficiency, causes some horrible crap-shoot scenarios), and low PS locks, even if it can make for a nice TLT counter. Personally don't think we'll be seeing any competitively (apart from select pilots like stim N'dru and possibly Redline) until wave 8 hits with its magical Inq. Tie + Tracers + Mod (also Pogostick Torp Boats with R4 + Recon specialist + Deadeye)

at the very least, do try to get jonus in there

very first problem: you won't be able to shoot off 4 missiles. I'd go with just EM and one killer missile. Its still too easy to bop a bomber. ITs only 1 health more than half the YT24, without the insane barrel roll.

Have you blown up half a yt24? yes you have.

It's definitely true that I can't expect to get all 4 shots off with more than probably 2 bombers, but the EM advantage is that you gave the flexibility to be able to bring a couple of warheads and use the best ones for the situation before they die. The bombers that live longer can use more.

http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v3!s!49:126,-1,14,-1,24:-1:-1:;49:126,-1,14,-1,24:-1:-1:;15::-1:-1:;28:18:5:15:M.1

Proxied extra munitions with some ion tokens. This is currently my favorite Imperial Squad at 100 points. The bombers can both drop seismics and fire off missiles in a single turn if needed, backstabber and Soontir do their things.

Eh, IMHO, EM should have been 0-cost. IE., it's only "cost" is the opportunity cost of eating up one of your munition slots.

At 2 points, it's nice, but you really have to build the list around secondary weapons for it to start to kinda even out. But, even then, you'd almost always have been better off taking another fighter. (Consider - just taking a pair of flechette torps is literally identical in cost and slot usage at the moment to taking a flechette torp + EM. But does anyone see flechette torps being runaway leaders in the game?)

If the 2 ship meta keeps being a thing, EM can do wonderful things for munitions generally. It lowers the price of munitions, and can make viable a ship tanky enough to survive a couple rounds against a Falcon, and get a couple devastating hits off.

It is a fix. Just, it is a fix to a problem that most weren't complaining about. I do suspect the ordnance fix that most wanted is in Wave 8.

TLT is God and the Y Wing is his Prophet.

TIE Bombers relevant again, wooooo.

Meh, just load Bombers with Cluster Missiles. Y-Wings don't like Cluster Missiles.

TLT is God and the Y Wing is his Prophet.

TIE Bombers relevant again, wooooo.

Meh, just load Bombers with Cluster Missiles. Y-Wings don't like Cluster Missiles.

In my experience, nobody likes Cluster Missiles except the player using them. More attacks is more chances to punch through enemy defenses. If you run the missiles on the cheaper pilots like scimitars, you have room to put in some higher pilot skill aces to attack first and strip defensive tokens. If they go for your bombers, they're ignoring your Soontir/Whisper/Echo and allowing you to freely attack with that ship. If they go for the defensive arc-dodging ace, they might either miss their attack or more likely, their firing arcs will be dodged.

Jonus enhanced Cluster Missiles are very, very painful...

Until you get run over by a tantive

Until you get run over by a tantive

Step 1: Don't fly directly in front of Huge Ships.

Step 2: Target Lock that giant metal space whale.

Step 3: Fire off Cluster Missiles!

Step 4: ?????

Step 5: Celebrate Victory.