So since there is no competitive build for Rhymer AHM in standard 100 point competitive format played a match where I had an opportunity to give it a try without powering down my list. We played a variant of furball which was only 60 minuets (slightly too short) but you choose two 33 point small fighters. When one dies the ship that gets the kill gains a bounty point and the secondary ship takes to the field in the next turn. The points are 2 points per kill with an additional point per bounty point that ship has gained. There were also a few bonus points to encourage getting kills. 1 point for 1st kill, 1 point for 1st to gain 3 bounty points, 1 point for first to gain 4 or more points off a single kill (kill a ship with 2 or more bounty points).

Enough on the format, well I couldn't EM 2 AHMs on Major Rhymer because that would be over 33 points. So my build was Rhymer w/ VI + EM + AHM + MF. which ran at 33 points. My secondary was just a Defender with Ion canon nothing too fancy. Well across from the match was a TIE Phantom the perfect prey for AHM to score a sweet direct hit. Well went after it and only suffered 2 damage (one was a blinded pilot) from an allied Kihrax (we were in teams of three and were not restricted by faction for teams and secondaries) which did stop a single round of firing I had on the TIE phantom. But in short 1st attack missed a cloaked phantom, 2nd round no firing but got TL, 3rd round K-turn out of range, 4th round got blinded so could not attack. 5th round in range and scored a hit against a decloaked phantom on flipped damaged engines. final round after the opposing team just tied the score had a range 3 shot on a decloaked phantom. rolled 1 hit. Phantom rolled 2 evades. Game was a draw and AHM Rhymer failed to kill a 2 hull ship with AHMs.

So my thought on AHM, without Rhymer it would just be unplayable, yet with Rhymer it is still overcosted and most of the cost comes from needing Rhymer to make it playable. Thought about Deadeye but a TL should be better than focus with 3 attack dice, but face it 3 firepower dice is just not enough, that why we have HLCs, TLTs, and range 1 3 PWTs. Sure it could one hit kill an E-wing, Phantom or other 2 hull ships but the thing is the only 2 hull ship that is not 3 agility is a Z-95 Headhunter. Without Munitions Failure filling a mod slot and adding another point to this overcosted ship build it is just not worth it.

So to sum it up TIE-bombers still suck, there are no good missile secondary weapons, and again the Maj Rhymer AHM is just asking for a Soontir to flank its sides and blast him to oblivion without a single AHM being fired.

Yes it also was my big hope that Rhymer becomes a viable choice with AHM.

I tried it a couple of times. Best what I came up with was:

Rhymer, EM, AHM, VI, PB: 37 points

AHM and PB (Proton Bombs) are the only weapons that ignore shields - if combined Rhymer would ideally kick the **** out of ships without scratching their shields.

I came down to the thought that a PS9 bomber with 2 Proton Bombs is pretty ok - not so crazy about the AHM though. They need more punch.

Well across from the match was a TIE Phantom the perfect prey for AHM to score a sweet direct hit.

The sweet target for AHMs is a fat Han or Dash, or Admiral Cheerios. Someone who your are almost guaranteed to hit and so force them to operate with a crit for a long time.

AHM is not a killing weapon, it is a disabling weapon. You don't use it to destroy the enemy directly, you use it to make it easier for your other weapons (and ships) to destroy the enemy.

AHM is pretty good against b-wings, Falcons and Firesprays ... etc...

I've got a theory (as yet untested) that the Advanced Homing Missile might be a good upgrade for Talonbane Cobra. He gains significant benefits from being at range 1 or range 3 from an enemy, so there's a lot of effort from opponents going into getting into range 2. Why not punish anyone who does with a crit that hits through shields?

Advanced Homing Missiles, meet LT. Blount; Z-95 pilot extraordinaire.

So to sum it up TIE-bombers still suck, there are no good missile secondary weapons, and again the Maj Rhymer AHM is just asking for a Soontir to flank its sides and blast him to oblivion without a single AHM being fired.

So much nope. Standart Homing Missiles are kind of reasonable with EM, a perfect fit for TIE Bombers, especially if you also replicate something else, say Seismic Charges, bringing you to a nice 25 point build (thanks again to the wonderfull person that found it ). Once the Tracer thing releases they will actually be scary. Ion Pulse Missiles were really good in the two ship meta and will still be nice when fighting aces (take a look at this Boba: http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Scum%20and%20Villainy&d=v3!s!116:27,-1,41,61,53,-1:1:-1:U.126;109:140,36,-1,23,-1,-1:-1:15:). Procket Jake also disagrees with you, as does Cluster Missile/Glitterstim N'dru. And last but certainly not least, Assault Missiles have a place in epic, where they really screw up your opponents formations (which are important, since it makes flying a lot of ships a lot less taxing). Epic does matter!

And on the topic of AHMs: They do have a place, Blount just loves them. Takes a bit of manouvering to get into that zone, but it really does hurt.

Oh and TIE Bombers are fantastic as cheap mine platforms. EM kind of makes me want to own 5 instead of just my lovely 4. Their stats also say that they never really sucked, they are only outperformed slightly by the TIE Fighter and a bit less comfortable to fly. Good ship to make a tanky swarm of hitpoints.

AHMs are large and huge ship hurters for real. I think they have their uses.

Advanced Homing Missiles, meet LT. Blount; Z-95 pilot extraordinaire.

Yep. Say buh-bye, Corran.

Advanced Homing Missiles, meet LT. Blount; Z-95 pilot extraordinaire.

YUP...

I've got a theory (as yet untested) that the Advanced Homing Missile might be a good upgrade for Talonbane Cobra. He gains significant benefits from being at range 1 or range 3 from an enemy, so there's a lot of effort from opponents going into getting into range 2. Why not punish anyone who does with a crit that hits through shields?

I ran a list with Talonbane with predator glitterstim and AHM when I first got him for exactly this reason. It was a while ago so I can't really remember how it worked out :/ I'm pretty sure I did hit with them though.

*cough* Maarek Stele *cough*

Ouch. And after he fires it, he still has the ATC to keep hurting.

When did Rhymer become the only ship capable of carrying AHMs?

Or is it because it only functions at range 2 that it is considered bad? Because in that case, Tactician would like a word.

Maarek Stele with AHM and Munitions Failsafe. Don't base your whole list around it, just use it if you happen upon a good shot with it as the combo is only 4 points.

So the standard if a ship/weapon system is any good or not is to fly it once, in a non-standard format, with an artificial points limit, allied with ships of any faction that it probably wasn't tested with, against one of the most prolific arc-dodgers around, to see if you can land a critical that only has a 21% chance of being drawn? Yeah, seems legit.

I've used a variant of the ship build that the OP suggested, but in a normal 100-point squad environment. Rhymer + Crackshot + EM + 2x AHM + MF = 36 points, with 4 Zeta TIE/fo escorts. Ridiculously fun to fly. I'm often facing Brobots or Fat Corran lists, but another guy in the group loves bringing A-Wing swarms so CS can help with getting one crucial shot through at an opportune time. I fling the Zetas forward to get in and block up the flight lanes to try to minimize any actions.

Talonbane Cobra with Glitterstim and AHM seems like it would work.

My main issue with AHM is that it's only 3 reds meaning it's really only reliable against low-agi ships like B-wings or big turrets. And against those targets, I find Plasma Torpedoes much better.

Granted, those are different slots; but on ships like the Punisher I always take Plasmas over AHM.

Well, you're more likely to benefit from a critical hit on a big hull than on a smaller ships.

So to sum things up...

You tried AHMs on one pilot, tried to hit a phantom, and failed to get a direct hit card. Your conclusion was that both AHM and Major Rhymer are useless. Furthermore, you conclude that all bombers and missiles useless.

This seems like a logical conclusion, and is definitely not an overreaction.

*cough* Maarek Stele *cough*

*cough* and his BFF LT. Colzet *Cough*

Well across from the match was a TIE Phantom the perfect prey for AHM to score a sweet direct hit.

See, that is your problem, I think. A Phantom is a terrible target for a one-shot weapon. Yeah, IF you manage to hit and IF you score the direct hit it would be amazing, but how'd that work out?

The sweet target for AHMs is a fat Han or Dash, or Admiral Cheerios. Someone who your are almost guaranteed to hit and so force them to operate with a crit for a long time.

AHM is not a killing weapon, it is a disabling weapon. You don't use it to destroy the enemy directly, you use it to make it easier for your other weapons (and ships) to destroy the enemy.

Yup. Played Rhymer with PTL, AHMs, EM, MKIIs against a Whisper build. I actually got the Phantom in arc and was about to send a Homing missile his way. I think I rolled two hits and of course he rolled 2 evades. Against the Phantom you have to be pretty lucky to land them...Rhymer just doesn't do enough with them to justify the point cost. The whole time I was thinking I'd rather have something else for the 35 points. Like Soontir..

Lt Blount would disagree that there is no good use for Adv Homing Missile.

They were cool for two weeks after the Raider came out.

Maarek + AHM was a good thing.

Then two weeks later, the new Damage Deck came out, and now it doesn't matter anymore. Because nothing in the new deck is going to truly cripple a ship.

1. TIE Bombers are awesome

2. Major Rhymer is over costed, but is strong enough for consideration thanks to AHMs and TIE mkII.

3. Whiffing once on a cloaked Phantom is hardly indicative of anything.

4. Seriously, AHMs are both cheap and nasty.

5. Extra munitions has done plenty for ordnance carriers. Scum Boba with Slave 1, EM, K4, and Cluster Missiles is a special kind of terrifying.

6. Seriously, TIE Bombers are awesome.

For the same cost you can take Plasma Torps, try again game designers? :s