So, made a list of bombers bit I'm wondering if running old school uboats is more effective? Anyway:

Gamma squadron pilot X3

Guidance chips

Dead eye

Em

Plasma torps

Cpt Jones

Shuttle title

(Whatever that 3 pt crew is that give focus to a friendly ship when a friendly ship misses an attack)

So Jonus shoots first at ps 6, potentially sets someone up with a 2nd focus after he misses his attack. Then the rest shoot at ps5 spending a focus with dead eye, rerolls from Jonus, 2nd focus from crew card potentially and then guidance chipping if needed. 3 torps being shot, with a bit more modifications then uboats and at a higher ps. Think it's worth using at a tournament?

Could you paste your list in this column? I'm not entirely sure I understand what your looking at... the last time I flew all imperial bombers was something like this (updated with modern cards of course)

The crucial question for me is whether the bonuses that Jonus hands out are worth more than another Bomber equipped with Torps. I can't decide if stripping one bomber of its munitions to make it a support ship is actually worthwhile.

Hot shot co-pilot will not be your friend, be careful.

You know, the problem with Jonus is that you get away with just giving your Bombers Homing Missiles for the same/less and have a better effect (full rerolls, no range one leash). So if you build quad bombers, don't fall into that trap. So how do you create a good quad bomber lists? There are several routes. One puts everything into the alpha strike and doesn't equip EM. It is easier to fly than the others, but limited in its potential to do things after your first volley:

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)
Deadeye (1)
Homing Missiles (5)
Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)
Deadeye (1)
Homing Missiles (5)
Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)
Deadeye (1)
Homing Missiles (5)
Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)
Crack Shot (1)
Homing Missiles (5)
Long-Range Scanners (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

The Crack Shot Veteran can be replaced with another Deadeye one or duplicated, would not run more than 2, though. It is a great tool to herd your opponent into your main force, but requires a certain understanding of the playstyle to do well.

If you want to go all in on Deadeye, this one is similar to your initial list:

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)
Deadeye (1)
Extra Munitions (2)
Homing Missiles (5)
Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)
Deadeye (1)
Extra Munitions (2)
Homing Missiles (5)
Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)
Deadeye (1)
Extra Munitions (2)
Homing Missiles (5)
Guidance Chips (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)
Fleet Officer (3)
TIE Shuttle (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

The Shuttle can block a bit and provide bombers that lost their focus with one, the Bombers get to have their shots quite well.

And finally, what I believe to be the best at the moment, a half way:

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)
Deadeye (1)
Extra Munitions (2)
Homing Missiles (5)
Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)
Deadeye (1)
Extra Munitions (2)
Homing Missiles (5)
Guidance Chips (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)
Extra Munitions (2)
Homing Missiles (5)
Long-Range Scanners (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)
Extra Munitions (2)
Homing Missiles (5)
Long-Range Scanners (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Which requires you to be good at using LRS - not a simple skill at all.

Now, tournament viability. The TIE Bomber has, compared to the old U-Boat, a massive problem in that it is easily removed before it gets to shoot. Fenn Rau is higher PS, Assaj is higher PS. You can win by dodging these and flying like a god. In a local tournament they are absolutely fine and will at least give you a reputation. Once you hit about 20 players your life gets really tough, though.

Crack Shot on Gamma Vets with Homing Missiles and LRS. Go all-in on the Alpha Strike.

Quad bombers is definitely not worth it from a competitive standpoint.

It worked for triple jumpmasters only because they were durable enough to survive long enough to fire at PS 3 and had wide firing arcs making escaping the shot more difficult. They also have a turret so they aren't completely useless once the ordnance was spent.

And that there is the crux of it. You CANNOT build a list that wins on the alpha strike alone. And that is what 4 TIE bombers tries to do. Because it simply does not have the tools to close out a game once the ordnance is gone.

Using one or two bombers in a list to give a boost to initial firepower is a good idea, but going all in is just creating a 'rock-paper-scissors' list that is going to lose hard to its counters (and there are plenty!)

Here's an example of a list that gets effective use out of a bomber:

Omega Spec w/ crackshot, title, FCS & targeting synch = 31

Gamma Vet w/ crackshot, proton torp, extra munitions & GC = 26

2 blacksquad Scouts w/ crackshot & adaptive ailerons = 21 x 2

99

Here we have a potent 'alpha strike', difficult target priorities and a list that can handle a variety of different ships. Its worst matchup is Heragator or similar high PS boosting turret (unless you can keep it from avoiding firing arcs). But has decent chances against most other things.

There's lots of other ways to build a list like this----I thought I'd just give one example.

Thanks for replies yall. Guess I'm not flying bombers this week lol I'm trying to find a good platform for plasma torps as my local meta is full of large ships and defenders. I have a list with nerra that I like, but was wondering if one ship with 2 torps is enough to make a difference.

Well, if you want to fly Imperials, and you are specifically looking to give Defenders and Large Ships a rough time, then how about something like this:

Inquisitor w/ PTL, V-1, AT & proton rockets = 34

Tomax Bren w/ crackshot, plasma torp, extra munitions & GC = 30

3 academy pilots = 12 x 3

100

Fly the academies in front of Tomax as a blocking screen (both large ships and defenders hate that). Inquisitor either flanks or joins the main squad, but a little off to the side. If you want an initiative bid, you could either drop extra munitions or the proton rocket. You could also drop extra munitions to trade in the proton rocket for either concussion missiles (1 pt bid) or homing missile on Inquisitor.