In this new era of ship activations, are we seeing the traditional Clonisher fleet not being used or as effective before wave 3? Or are the bombers too strong now?

I personally think they are still effective. There are certainly more counters and ways to deal with them though. As a matter of fact the whole game has shifted to seeing a lot of 4 and 5 activation fleets with flotillas. You will still see a stacked Demo in many fleets.

With flotillas it's now much more difficult to ensure you have both activation advantage and low bid. To get both you need 6+ activations. Five doesn't cut it anymore.

I prefer the rhyMSU myself, 2x GSD, 2x gozi, light autoball and light rhymerball.

Lately I've been doing a 2nd player Demo since the number of things that can survive a typical triple tap has basically tripled. (that was a lot of T words...) Going after a juicy target as first player after forcing an activation, and then killing it, is much more challenging than it used to be.

It's still viable, but it's hard to absolutely guarantee the triple tap without dropping at least one Raider for two Gozantis. Adding Kalus and Impetuous are a good, cheap solution to help the DeMSU archetype with the current squadron heavy meta. Still, activation count and the squadrons themselves aren't DeMSU's real problems in this wave. It's always functioned by ignoring squadrons, and most dedicated carrier fleets are four activations. The Interdictor and it's Targeting Scrambler is the main problem for DeMSU moving forward.

It's still viable, but it's hard to absolutely guarantee the triple tap without dropping at least one Raider for two Gozantis. Adding Kalus and Impetuous are a good, cheap solution to help the DeMSU archetype with the current squadron heavy meta. Still, activation count and the squadrons themselves aren't DeMSU's real problems in this wave. It's always functioned by ignoring squadrons, and most dedicated carrier fleets are four activations. The Interdictor and it's Targeting Scrambler is the main problem for DeMSU moving forward.

But interdictor is non competitive /cheeky bastard

To add on to the above there are now more counters and it's even less forgiving than it was before wave 3-4. As Truthiness stated the DeMSU wants to ignore the fighters/bombers and quickly table the opponent before any bombers can destroy it. With more activations being the norm and harder(for a gladiator) to destroy flotillas being able to provide squadron commands it becomes that much harder to table anyone. Targeting scrambler is a counter but it is a points suck so you will have other advantages against an interdictor fleet. G-8 shutting down your engine tech may also be an issue. In general it's still viable if you know how to play the list and have a plan for each of the above scenarious. If you try to fly in like normal blindley focused on a triple tap you'll be gravely disappointed by a lot of fleets in wave 3-4.

This is my take on the five activations Empire.

A little more staying power than the Clonisher.

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 399/400

Commander: Admiral Ozzel

Assault Objective: Precision Strike
Defense Objective: Hyperspace Assault
Navigation Objective: Dangerous Territory

[ flagship ] Imperial I-Class Star Destroyer (110 points)
- Admiral Ozzel ( 20 points)
- Relentless ( 3 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- High-Capacity Ion Turbines ( 8 points)
= 147 total ship cost

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 53 total ship cost

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 53 total ship cost

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 53 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
- Expanded Hangar Bay ( 5 points)
= 28 total ship cost

3 TIE Interceptor Squadrons ( 33 points)
2 Aggressor Assault Fighters ( 32 points)