I've had Ion Bombs stuck in my head the past few days and trying to find a good use for them. They were introduced in Wave 7 and have since gone way under the radar.

I have a feeling they have been largely ignored as Seismic Charges come in at the same squad point cost of 2 and actually do damage. I feel it is folly for us to ignore the implications of the Ion bomb though. Anything caught in Range 1 when it blows is guaranteed (minus Baffling ships) to be doing a one straight next turn. Even in the case of Electronic Baffle equipped ships you've forced your opponent to take a damage which is a win/win in my book.

Now let's ignore the above and assume we should never take Ion bombs as Seismics are better in every situation in which we currently know how to use bombs. Can we find any out of the box uses for Ion bombs still? The idea that got me on this train of thought was trying to use ion bombs to ion some of your own ships that normally wouldn't have access to the one straight maneuver possibly catching your opponent off-guard (disrupt very high level 2-3 turns ahead planning) or allowing your usually speedy ships to more slowly approach. The ships that could potentially benefit from this include:
- Most Tie ships: Fighters, Interceptors, F/Os, Advanceds, Adv. Protos, Defenders, and Phantoms

- Scum ships: Kihraxz and Scyk,

- A-Wing

I think a few of the above can be removed from the list of ships we want to actively ion as self-ioning a Phantom, Interceptor, Defender, Adv. Proto, or A-Wing seems like a good way to lose an expensive/fragile ship in one turn.

The biggest hurdles I keep running into when trying to squad build around this idea are:
- Most cases I can think of that would want to self-ion, i.e. possibly a miniswarm or a couple of snipers, I don't have many points left over to round out the squad after the bomb carrier to make a squad that looks like anything more than a joke.

- Ioning your own ships telegraphs your next turn's move to the opponent, so unless you have also ioned his ships or expertly blocked him it is not going to be in your favor

Two squads I came up with real quick that could possibly employ this tactic to hopefully good effect:

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (20)
TIE Bomber (16), Extra Munitions (2), Ion Bombs (2)

Academy Pilot (12) x 5

“Howlrunner” (20)
TIE Fighter (18), Juke (2)

Fly 4 Academies and Howl together leave the Bomber and an AP in front for blocking and bomb drop-age to better setup following turn's ion 'joust'?

or

Syndicate Thug (22)
Y-Wing (18), Bomb Loadout (0), Extra Munitions (2), “Genius” (0), Ion Bombs (2)

Tansarii Point Veteran (27) x 2
M3-A “Scyk” Interceptor (17), Attanni Mindlink (1), “Heavy Scyk” Interceptor (2), Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

N’Dru Suhlak (24)
Z-95 Headhunter (17), Cluster Missiles (4), Cloaking Device (2), Attanni Mindlink (1), Guidance Chips (0)

Fly N'Dru as flanker, Y-Wing and Scyks together-ish. In this squad I would most likely favor just Ioning the opponent or Ion the Scyks when they are at Range 3 of a target and try to block with the Y-Wing to setup the 2 turn double HLC shots.

Both of these lists feel very gimmicky and maybe that's because the idea of self-ioning is a bit gimmicky but it just seems like there might be something here with the ion bombs.

Can anybody else think of some out-of-the-box uses for Ion Bombs and/or take my idea to a better level?

Deathfire for ion kamikaze shenanigans without risking damage.

I used redline loaded out and had ion bombs on him. It was great, most everyone forgot they were on him. Won a game by ionizing a decimator and having it fly of the edge. I think they are great little control pieces for two points

You can build a slightly sub-par CrackSwarm that can go 1-Forward for two rounds.

http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v4!s!49:126,-1,-1,-1,137:-1:-1:;18:140:-1:-1:;12:140:-1:-1:;12:140:-1:-1:;12:140:-1:-1:;12:140:-1:-1:&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron

The good part is that the Bomber activates and moves first.

I used redline loaded out and had ion bombs on him. It was great, most everyone forgot they were on him. Won a game by ionizing a decimator and having it fly of the edge. I think they are great little control pieces for two points

I think this is the place, TBH. You put them on a ship that wouldn't normally bother with them, when you have some spare points, for the element of surprise. Redline, Decimators, Firesprays etc.

Dedicated bombers want Conner Nets. And nothing but Conner Nets, they're by far and away the best bomb upgrade in the game.

Think it will find more play with the new bombers. Alphastrike, bomb drop during 5k-turn, green straight for focus/target lock.

I agree that putting it on a lot of ships you wouldn't expect to be a fun aspect. Catching someone by surprise is the best way. I almost regret that Bombs are becoming a thing as I would often catch people that knew I had bombs off-guard. Still, I can think of a few people:

Emon is a good example. He gets 3 bombs, but he doesn't want to spend too many points on them. At 2 pts, Ion gives him options.

Deathrain is good as you can do the throwing out the front and BR out of the way. Yes, you will probably have people expecting it, but sometimes they forget as I don't really see Deathrain all the time.

Anyone with Sabine is another example. Any Rebel with a crew can now take a Bomb. Also, the Ion Bomb will cause at least 1 damage to someone. I mean, stick an Ion Bomb on a B-wing! No one would expect that. Put it on a HWK. There are a lot of options there. Put her on Dash or the Falcon.

I have a way to use Ion Bomb, but it's not really "standard". I've been playing Mission 1 a lot. That's the shuttle escort mission. I find it a really fun scenario as there can be a lot of strategy involved in the game. I've found Ion anything can win you the game. I've won games with Ion Torpedo and stopping that shuttle for one more turn. You can also Ion the escorts so that they drop behind the Shuttle. There are always those cheap ships trying to give Evade tokens, or Biggs, or a HWK with some bonus. If you can hit them and not the Shuttle, then the Shuttle tears off at speed 2 while the rest fall back. I used an Ion Cannon on an escort and it really screwed with my opponent's plan. Ion Bombs can really just mess with an enemy formation. Even on the defensive for that mission. If the enemy is coming at the shuttle and is all bunched up....just drop the bomb! You can get those guys to sail right past the Shuttle as you keep on moving. It can buy you a whole extra turn or two as they then have to turn around. It can win you the game at the right moment.

In Heroes of the Aturi Cluster, there are a number of missions that involve ionizing things, especially radar dishes on space stations that are all pretty close. One bomb dropped around them can put you in a winning position for the mission.

I used them once on a Boba/Iggy list. I was up against brobots and ioned one which essentially took it out of the fight long enough for me to finish off his other ship. Made life way easier for me. Super worth it in that situation.

I love bombs in general and I'll usually add them in when I can't afford others. They are often forgotten about, but can help swing a game. The ability to get the double ion on a large ship can help. I've done it to my one ships before to catch an enemy ship and keep them in arc. Opponent didn't think I'd tag my own shuttle, ion bombed me and his Dash, kept me in his donut hole (other ships/obsticules prevented the BR he was counting on).

Best recent use I got was tagging a YV-666 Bossk right when he miscalculated and did a hard 3(red) and flew over a debris field. Double stressed and I dropped the Ion bomb onto him. Wasn't much he could do after that point.