Now this is only an opinion, but I've been playing around with bombers with the new Imperial veterans and Ive come to the conclusion they are best as crew carriers, and not ordnance. In the end I'm disappointed, as I had hoped maybe they'd fill the role they were ment to fill

I've flown a lot of bombers in the past pre guidance chips and actually they work very well as tanky ships in numners, and mine layers.

I had a lot of success with proximity mines, but that's usually just fun games. Not competitive builds.

Was hoping the new Gamma veteran would change things but they haven't really.

Sure you can put dead eye on them, but you still need a way to modify.

That brings Jonus, or homing missles if you choose not to use Jonus. Guidance chips on their own just isn't enough and long range Scanners means whatever you tl early on, just avoids it, plus once in close you now can't change target lock

Homing missles are not cheap, so loading 3-4 Gamma Vets with them means you spend 15-20 pts just on missles. Maybe 10 if you choose to fly two.

Bring Jonus instead and give him Fleet Officer you have a good support ship, but he's still weak against high PS arc dodgers, and has low dmg output, his ability also doesn't effect him, so now it seems suited as a fleet officer carrier. Still a lot of pts just to support for ordnance imo

In different games my opponents was able to focus Jonus down behind the ships he's escorting and kill him before he was able to put to good use.

Granted I haven't tried them against lower PS ships, but the high PS ships didn't seem to phase by it

Imo it's the scouts that hurt bombers.

Bomber have no shields. Crits hurt them a lot. Unlike scouts they have 4 shields

They only have 6 hp. Unlike scouts they have 9

Their dial really limits what they can do.

So many times I wish for a turn other than a white 3 turn. All other turns are red.

Again compare that to a scouts dial.

In order to run as ordnance carriers they need ways to modify.

So again they need homing missles to at least keep the tl, or they need Jonus

Unlike scouts they don't need a support ship to make them work, and on their own have more ways to modify due to more upgrade slots.

Maybe I'm jumping the gun here, but so far my impression on them are not good.

Not when compared to other ships that can fill that role much better.

Spamming a list entirely bombers will not net you the same results as flying tripple u boats.

Not to forget that uBoats have a much bigger arc vs bombers, so it's easier to get things in arc

What bombers imo really need is a better dial.

Most ordnance you equip on them requires range 2-3

The only turn is a 3 turn so at times that just puts you to close

So now your left with banks or straight, and are very predictable, and very easy to avoid

Idk maybe it's frustration with them talking, but I am unimpressed with them as ordnance carriers.

Sadly I've had more luck running them with only crew, or Prox mines

Looking at what's available, if you want to run something that packs a punch, and can take a beating, scouts are the way to go when talking about ordnance.

Shields, more hp, better dial, bigger arc, plus a turret.

Ive only slightly touched E.U stuff so I don't know much about the scouts, but are they suppose to be better at ordnance than bombers?

As I said I've done well running 3-4 Scimitar with Prox mines followed by a Vader shuttle or oicunn, or 3 scimitar with rebel captive, Mara jade, and Tactician leading the way for tractor beam vessery, but any attempt with ordnance fails.

I have a friend who uses rhymer, but he's so costly and dies just the same.

Maybe if ffg reduced his cost, maybe he'd see more use

Idk, so far imo bombers as ordnance carriers still don't cut the Mayo

I think you raise a number of good points. I ran an old school Dutch Garvin and two Gold Sqdns with various Torps last night.

Was good fun but suffered from all of the points you raised above when compared to Scouts. (though I did managed a TL focus torpedo shot after K turning, quite happy about that)

Have you tried Deathfire or Tomax the Angry Tank Engine? Both are great. Tomax packs such a punch with crackshot, HM, EM, and GC or LRS. He has been worth his points when I have played him, especially since he can out-alpha strike most alpha-strikers because of his PS.

Deathfire is so mean for so cheap with Conner Nets and EM. If I've got the points, I've found it even worth it to put a missile and LRS on him.

I don't think bombers are meant to be spammed. They provide Imperials and excellent hard-hitting tool that gives a good alpha-strike. I've always found it to be worthwhile to throw one in a triple ship list or in a toolbox list.

Edit: I think the lower PS bombers will primarily be shuttle carriers (other than Deathfire). However, from Gamma Squadron and up, they are you hammering instruments. Just because they can't be spam-and-win like scouts doesn't mean they are bad. They just require good support to take advantage of their big punch.

its no surprise that scouts outperform bombers. Old ship vs new and possibly only obviously OP ship.

I still say the bomber should have had a "Bombing Run" title which lets it equip bombs in its missile/torp slots in that box. Deathfire + clusterminesx3 and extra muntions. Just dodge the fine laying minefields then have a couple defenders trackerbeam people into bad positions

I've just played against a bomber (K-Wing) who made me feel like an idiot. But I get what you're saying. But if you teamed with an Ion weapon, can't you "guide" an opponent into a glorious death? Yeah, takes some good piloting, but that's what the game ultimately is about.

Something that I've always found helpful to bombers is to throw a nice arc dodger in my list, with imperials either the TIE interceptor or defender if I've got the points. Having those engage first, and then having the bombers follow up really helps extend the bombers life, as your opponent is usually trying to figure out how to wipe the arc dodger off the board because it's right there. Not sure how this would help against scouts though.

+++ B (100pts) +++

++ Imperial (Standard) (100pts) ++

+ TIE Adv. Prototype (34pts) +

PS 8 - •The Inquisitor (34pts) [Autothrusters (2pts), Proton Rockets (3pts), Push the Limit (3pts), TIE/v1 (1pts)]

+ TIE Bomber (35pts) +

PS 8 - •Tomax Bren† (35pts) [Crack Shot (1pts), Extra Munitions (2pts), Guidance Chips, Homing Missiles (5pts), Plasma Torpedoes (3pts)]

+ TIE Defender (31pts) +

PS 1 - Delta Squadron Pilot (31pts) [stealth Device (3pts), TIE/x7†]

One ps8 bomber its something that many people underestimate

We're 3 weeks in to a six week league right now and I've decided to run a bomber list every week.

Week 1: Gamma + Proton Bombs + EM x4 | WIN

Week 2: Gamma + Homing Missiles + EM x4 | WIN

Week 3: Scimitar + Prox x3 / Patrol Leader + Vader Crew | Narrow Loss (cam down to 1 die roll against Corran).

Love me some bombers. Once you get the hang of them they're super versatile.

I think Bombers still have problems. You have to play them with enough PS to fire ahead of Jumpmasters/Swarms, and IMHO you have to bring the ordnance that carries some modification with it to help out Guidance Chips (Proton Torps, Concussion Missiles).

At the point where your Tomax Bren is sat at 35 pts I'd rather be taking my 36pt Redline in the Punisher. My equivalent to vtarin's list above is Redline/Ryad/Inquisitor coming in at 100pts.

Redline (36)
Plasma Torpedo, Cluster MIssiles, Extra Munitions, Guidance Chips

Inquisitor (31)
Push the Limit,TIE/v1, Autothrusters

Countess Ryad (33)
Crack Shot, TIE/x7


I actually really like Evasiveness of Ryad as I think it synergises with her free Evade token and green flips to makes her annoying to shoot at, just couldn't quite squeeze it onto the list.

only reason im skeptical of the crackshot Tomax is unless you got another shuttle handing out free targetlocks he has to get a targetlock every round to fire. That kinda sucks when a Kturn would put you in a glorious spot, but now you cant fire torps.

I get it works on his main gun too but its only 2/3 dice

If whatever you TL early on avoids you, slowrolling will let you control a large part of the engagement area. A Scimitar with LRS, EM and Homing Missiles is only 23 points, and you can either TL a ship that simply can't get away (anything slow like a Y, B, G-1A or Lambda), or one that can't afford to get hit (any non-Defender TIE, small ships aces in general). This way you might be able to force the opposing ace into a duel with one of your own aces, where his ace has to roll and boost to avoid the missile, while yours can stock up on tokens.

I think the problem is going with Gamma Vet and Deadeye. What about just going with Gamma Vet w/ Homing Missiles and Guidance Chip? You move after U-boats and you fire before them. Expected damage is 2.9, which means 3 Tie Bombers will probably kill one U-boat before it fires. They return fire and most likely kill one Bomber. You then take out another U-boat in the second round and it's a matter of mop up after that.

It gets harder to fly vs. Imp Aces, but not impossible. That's where LRS might be better. I think you need to split your TL on different targets. This way, he can't keep two of his ships out of the match for too long. Also, there is the idea of switching at the last minute to someone you think is coming in range. Let one or two stay out of the fight and fire at the ones that get close that round.

thats some baller luck even with ordnance modification shenanigans to take out a scout with 2 torps. 3 i could believe.

They have 5hp 4 shields. At best, you deal 8 damage, which means you NEED one of the 4 hits that didnt hit a shield to be a crit and suffer double damage. Meanwhile since you have 0 shields they can easily pop one torp, cause 3-4 damage with all crits going through, and have the other scout just pepper you normally rather than waste the torp on 1-2 hp. Or blast both of them and utilize turret to arcdodge and stay behind the bombers.

...i hate uboats...

look at this 28 point ship

Keeping it at 25 pts or lower is key so you can put four in a list.

Then again....maybe you can do:

Keeping it at 25 pts or lower is key so you can put four in a list.

Then again....maybe you can do:

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)

Deadeye (1)

Extra Munitions (2)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)

Deadeye (1)

Extra Munitions (2)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)

Deadeye (1)

Extra Munitions (2)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Guidance Chips (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)

Extra Munitions (2)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

When you face U-boats, expected damage with Proton Torps and GC is 2.7, which means you can kill one U-boat before it fires. The Scimitar can fire at another target to start that ship being worn down. You lose one Bomber that round, but should already have a head start on the last 2 U-boats. If he goes for the Scimitar, then you then have the Deadeye ships left.

Against Imp Aces/Palp Aces, you have one ship with LRS. Is that enough to keep one Imp ace out of the fight? If so, it's probably worth it. The Gamma Vets get Deadeye to fire at whomever they can.

oooops forget my last post

Keeping it at 25 pts or lower is key so you can put four in a list.

Then again....maybe you can do:

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)

Deadeye (1)

Extra Munitions (2)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)

Deadeye (1)

Extra Munitions (2)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)

Deadeye (1)

Extra Munitions (2)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Guidance Chips (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)

Extra Munitions (2)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

When you face U-boats, expected damage with Proton Torps and GC is 2.7, which means you can kill one U-boat before it fires. The Scimitar can fire at another target to start that ship being worn down. You lose one Bomber that round, but should already have a head start on the last 2 U-boats. If he goes for the Scimitar, then you then have the Deadeye ships left.

Against Imp Aces/Palp Aces, you have one ship with LRS. Is that enough to keep one Imp ace out of the fight? If so, it's probably worth it. The Gamma Vets get Deadeye to fire at whomever they can.

oooops forget my last post

73+27 = 100

I think Bombers still have problems. You have to play them with enough PS to fire ahead of Jumpmasters/Swarms, and IMHO you have to bring the ordnance that carries some modification with it to help out Guidance Chips (Proton Torps, Concussion Missiles).

At the point where your Tomax Bren is sat at 35 pts I'd rather be taking my 36pt Redline in the Punisher. My equivalent to vtarin's list above is Redline/Ryad/Inquisitor coming in at 100pts.

Tomax with Crackshot, HM, EM, and LRS or GC is only 32 points. Tomax out-PS's Redline and will last about the same amount of time with 2 agility but less HP vs. 1 agility with 3 more HP. With putting any bomber in your squad, it is about having the follow-up to destroy whatever they put a heavy hit into. Tomax can also hit Soontir and other high-agility targets with regularity thanks to the token-denying of HM, and the amazing Crackshot. Also, because of infinite Crackshot, he is not useless when his munitions are spent.

I play casual (not competitive) 90% of the time, but here is a list I have had some success with

Gamma Vet with predator, LRS, EM, homing missle, and seismics (I occasionally add prockets face punching)

I run 2 of these. predator lets you modify your dice, and you have the option to spend your TL if you want to, or keep it. I lock two different enemy ships, of course, then

Vessery with the x2 title, twin ion engine and outmanuver.

vessery gets a free lock off one of the painted targets. I joust with the bombers and flank with vessery. Drop my first seismics as I pass, usually 5 k with the bombers, and shoot again. face punching with prockets is an option as well, and still gives you 4 dice without the need to spend your target lock.

Like I said, I play mostly causal. This would shoot before U-boats, and I have run plasma torps a couple of times instead.

Players cannot ignore the bombers or vessery, and the x2 title makes vessery hard to kill. I love it when they turn to go after vessery, because I can slow roll the bombers and keep firing away.

We're 3 weeks in to a six week league right now and I've decided to run a bomber list every week.

Week 1: Gamma + Proton Bombs + EM x4 | WIN

Week 2: Gamma + Homing Missiles + EM x4 | WIN

Week 3: Scimitar + Prox x3 / Patrol Leader + Vader Crew | Narrow Loss (cam down to 1 die roll against Corran).

Love me some bombers. Once you get the hang of them they're super versatile.

As I mentioned I've done well with other bomber builds

Its using them as ordnance carriers that I'm overly not impressed with.

Just because you win a game with them does not mean it is good. I'm glad it won though, at least it's not a total loss lol

Having them as mine layers or bombs I find works better than ordnance

Now take those lists to a regional and let's see how they do?

That's a true test.

I was really hoping that we would see bombers become more competitive, but the only way I can see it is as crew carriers.

It just seems like it's a number of things.

As crew carriers they are usually less threatening so therfore not target priority. If they become a target that means something else that you don't want getting shot at isn't.

Load them up with missles, and now your a priority, your behind two evade dice and no shields. 6 hull. A lot of times the only dmg to get through is a crit

They usually don't die in the first engagement, but not too long after

Slow rolling them is the fairly obvious factor, but having no one or two white turn makes it hard to go after a ship that you know very well is going to get behind you.

It also makes them very predictable. Have a ship do a 4-5 straight then boost barrel roll and now you cant use your missles, and/or have no shot at all.

Tomax has a cool ability, but again I feel for point costs there are better options. Out there. He still has the bomber dial and stats so still very susceptible to crits

Idk I feel that if you want to use ordnance, the uBoats kind of stole that show.

Leaves bombers as crew carriers or mine layers

Out of all the fixes for bombers I think making them have a better dial (even ywings have options with droid to help their dial) would have helped a lot

And turning their banks green isn't enough.

What I think they need is at least a white two turn

I play casual (not competitive) 90% of the time, but here is a list I have had some success with

Gamma Vet with predator, LRS, EM, homing missle, and seismics (I occasionally add prockets face punching)

I run 2 of these. predator lets you modify your dice, and you have the option to spend your TL if you want to, or keep it.

You can only re-roll the dice once, so you can use Predator, but you can't then use the TL. I get leaving the TL for Vessery, though.

Out of all the fixes for bombers I think making them have a better dial (even ywings have options with droid to help their dial) would have helped a lot

I'm not bothered by the dial, to be honest. Then again, I prefer to 5 K-turn over the hard turns. It's just better is what I've found.

bomber has a pretty **** good dial for how sluggish theyre suppose to be.

Im not a fan of the 5k, but i make it work. Its usually blocked less if at all because a 5k is so rare nobody thinks about it.