1. Tomax Bren

2. Major Rhymer

3. Scimitar Sqd Pilot

4. Deathfire

5. Captain Jonus

6/7. Gamma Sqd Pilot/Veteran

Tomax

Deathfire

Scimitar

Gamma Vet

Jonus

Rhymer

Gamma Pilot

Rhymer's 4 or so points overcosted, or he'd be a lot higher up, and Jonus works amazingly supporting 3 aggressors but is otherwise a little meh.

Not sure why you've put the EPT generic so far down, either.

Space Invader has it right, apart from putting Tomax and Deathfire in the wrong order.

FWIW the last month on meta-wing has Tomax as pretty much the worst, Deathfire the only one with percentile performance >30%. Tomax may actually be down at #3 or #4.

I put tomax up there on the assumption at the moment that he has VI and is purely being used as a PS10 torpedo/missile delivery system, and we're ignoring his pilot ability entirely.

Once the PS war drops off, he always feels like he ought to be better, but he's costly and a fire magnet, so it may be that he's actually better placed much lower.

Deathfire is my most often used Bomber by a far cry. Tomax next, then the Gamma Vet. Most of the time I use it as a filler, not a centerpiece, so Deathfire at 17 points is a golden ordinance carrier. Additionally, Tomax, Scimitar, then Gamma for the TIE Shuttle.

I'm forgetting TIE Shuttles, too.

Oh, how I wish they were worth bringing. I love my Bomber Buddies, but they're just not that good.

Captain Jonus gets better as the game gets larger. He's fantastic in Epic, as it's easy for him to stay in range with a plethora of different ships with his so/so dial. It's just a planning thing.

Other than that, and aside from Tomax, worthwhile Bombers often need to go cheap to deliver. And ordnance isn't, so...

1. Tomax Bren

2. Captain Jonus

3. Major Rhymer

4. Gamma Squadron Veteran

5. Deathfire

6. Scimitar Squadron Pilot

7. Gamma Squadron Pilot

Rhymer's ability and high PS is great, but he pays far too much for them. Jonus makes an excellent support ship in a number of builds, and as always the lower priced generic trumps a 2nd-tier generic with ni Elite Talent.

1. Deathfire
   *big gap*
2. Tomax Bren
3. Scimitar Squadron Pilot
4. Gamma Squadron Veteran
   *big gap*
5. Gamma Squadron Pilot
6. Captain Jonus
7. Major Rhymer

I think I'm probably being quite kind to Tomax there, he should probably be in at #4 but people will cry if I put him there and it's not worth the aggro.

It depends what you’re flying with. Jonus can be near the top if you are flying alongside heavy weapons caddies. Tomax is brilliant, and frankly those are the only two I’ve got much use from.

Rhymer is garbage. Even with the cute Snap/Tactician combo. I'd rank them as follows:

Tomax

Deathfire

Gamma Squadron Veteran

Scimitar Squadron Pilot

Captain Jonus

Gamma Squadron Pilot

Major Rhymer

Tomax and Deathfire are semi-competitive. Great pilot abilities and a variety different ways to kit them out. Gamma Vets are probably the best generic ordnance carriers available to the Empire thanks to the EPT slot and PS5. Not so great in standard (generics are a dying breed) but they are hands down one of the best pilots in Epic. Scimitars are not so good as ordnance carriers because of their low PS, but do decently in swarms (either the UG or Tactician variant).

Jonus is hard to justify in a standard game, especially with all the built in modification we have for ordnance these days. He's great in Epic flying alongside a Raider or Bomber swarm. Vanilla Gammas have been entirely outclassed by Gamma Vets so you never see them anymore. Once upon a time they were pretty decent though. In the era of Deadeye Scouts they were actually pretty OK since they could alpha a Scout off the board before it ever shot. One of our locals made Day 2 at US Nats last year flying four Gammas. And then you have Rhymer...severely overcosted with a mediocre pilot ability. He's never worth the points you put into him. The best way to fix this guy is to give him a point reduction somehow.

1 Deathfire

2 Tomax

3 Gamma

4 The rest I almost never use

I totaly enjoy proximity mine with deathfire. He is good at it with his low pilot value. I try several pilots for shuttle but I am not very confortable with this.

Why did everyone forget Xamot?

Tomax, Rhymer and Jonus all make great shuttles. Veterans make good Deadeye torp boats. Crackshot Tomax can really put the hurt out with the right loadout. Of course Deathfire’s mine drops are great, even if you only get 2.

But the most fun is Rhymer. Yeah he’s not cheap, but Snapshot Tactician is just mean. Advanced Homing Missles make a big no-go zone for a lot of ships. Plasmas and protons at range one (and a lot of missiles), Adv protons at two which is nasty for opponents that forget. Clusters missles too. But YMMV.

2 hours ago, DampfGecko said:

Captain Jonus gets better as the game gets larger. He's fantastic in Epic, as it's easy for him to stay in range with a plethora of different ships with his so/so dial. It's just a planning thing.

Other than that, and aside from Tomax, worthwhile Bombers often need to go cheap to deliver. And ordnance isn't, so...

Indeed. The Jonus AWACS shuttle (TIE Shuttle, Systems Officer, Swarm Tactics) is borderline broken supporting a corvette.

The Gamma Veterans are nice. The ability to fit Deadeye/Guidance Chips/Cruise Missiles/Extra Munitions in a 25 point package gives you a ship that categorically cannot be ignored.

Scimitars - I need to play with them in a heavy swarm context but they look like they should work - either as a swarm support (XX-23s and seismics playing howlrunner) or as a heavy swarmer in their own right with unguided rockets and lightweight frame.

regular gamma squadrons are once again a bit poo. There really is little point in the PS4 non-elite version - and any argument for the PS edge in epic that may have existed pre imperial veterans falls flat on its face with the existence of a PS5 elite generic for a mere 1 point more.

Rhymer is good as a snap shuttle. I'm not convinced there's much else he can do well. Range 2 Advanced Proton Torpedoes sound awesome but I'm not convinced they're worth 40 points on a moderately fragile chassis.

I'm going to be controversial here:

1. Scimitar

2. Gamma Vet

3. Deathfire

[big ol' gap]

4. Tomax

[even bigger gap]

Everything else.

I use Bombers a lot . I've gotten a rep for it. The Scimitar is out and out the best value, whether it be as an ordnance carrier or with the Shuttle title. The Gamma Vet, lets be honest, is just something you use to get a Scimitar with an EPT. Deathfire is solid for the price; I can't fault him, but I also rarely use Bombers for actual bombing. Tomax is theoretically great, but he requires too much investment. Tomax in a Gunboat would have been heaven.

The rest are... kind of pointless outside of Epic, really. Rhymer and Jonus are too expensive even naked, nevermind loaded with ordnance. Jonus might be better if his ability also worked on himself. The Gamma Sqdn pilot is just massively eclipsed by the Scimitar and Gamma Vet, which makes it redundant.

37 minutes ago, NakedDex said:

Tomax is theoretically great, but he requires too much investment.

Rhymer and Jonus are too expensive even naked, nevermind loaded with ordnance.

As a fellow TIE Bomber pilot I would respectfully disagree Tomax is great and is costed appropriately for ordnance alpha-strike list, but does require support to shine. Jonus ability was good until last wave as cruise/harpoon missiles make him somewhat redundant, however I expect him to be useful again once gunboat as a cannon platform hits the tables (and he is a cheapest Bomber/Shuttle that can get to PS8 and has a useful ability on top of that). If I would rank TIE Bomber pilots, it would be something like:

1. Tomax Bren/Scimitar Squadron (The best ordnance carriers from price/performance perspective)

2. Deathfire (I never used him, but I can see his usefulness in a bombs meta, so I'm relying on representations from others here )

3. Captain Jonus/Gamma Squadron Veteran (Cheap source of EPT, rerolls are always good )

4. everything else.

6 hours ago, thespaceinvader said:

Tomax

Deathfire

Scimitar

Gamma Vet

Jonus

Rhymer

Gamma Pilot

Rhymer's 4 or so points overcosted, or he'd be a lot higher up, and Jonus works amazingly supporting 3 aggressors but is otherwise a little meh.

Not sure why you've put the EPT generic so far down, either.

Rhymer is 5pts over costed easily. Tomax is probably 1-2pts overcosted and Jonus is also 1-2pts overcosted, or the scimitar is 1pt undercosted.

The bomber pays way too much for PS and pilot ability in the named pilots. Only Deathfire is on a traditional curve.

I would probably rate the Scimitar above Deathfire for the moment with the current upgrades and the flexibility of the title but that could easily change. Otherwise I think this is a pretty solid list.

3 hours ago, GrimmyV said:

Why did everyone forget Xamot?

I've got a custom bomber all blue with red and silver accents in honor of Tomax. Xamot is the one with the scar so not included on the bomber.

Tomax and scimitar are far and above the top two. Scimitar for the cost, tomax for his pilot ability. Reusable crack shot is outstanding for an alpha or brings a mod of sorts to unguided rockets, and a cool hand/fleet officer/LWF shuttle can be a semi sturdy token fountain.

I love TIE Bombers! They’re the first ship I ever bought two of, way back in Wave III, my favorite wave! Thus, my opinions on Bombers are very controversial.

48 minutes ago, Kieransi said:

Gamma Squadron Pilots are just bad. Never pay extra for a few extra Pilot Skill on a generic if there’s no EPT slot...

Almost every small base ship has em, but why? Why?!???!!!

sure there’s that one rebel Astro that gives and EPT to them. One.

and Green Squadrons get two epts!

but what’s the point? There’s no PS war below 7-9, predator isn’t nearly as popular as before, yet we still get a steady stream of these guys. I just don’t know.

I've seen quite an interesting Rhymer at our local club with shuttle, snapshot, tactician and rebel captive. A very nice little combo, if probably too expensive to really make it worth while...

14 minutes ago, The Penguin UK said:

I've seen quite an interesting Rhymer at our local club with shuttle, snapshot, tactician and rebel captive. A very nice little combo, if probably too expensive to really make it worth while...

He's a ton of fun to play, but that price point makes it hard to find wingmates that can punch hard, nor is there much Imperial synergy that can capitalize on stress dealers. Sure, the stress can help your (pocket)aces by denying actions and shutting down dials, but field results have been unimpressive.

42 minutes ago, GrimmyV said:

Almost every small base ship has em, but why? Why?!???!!!

sure there’s that one rebel Astro that gives and EPT to them. One.

and Green Squadrons get two epts!

but what’s the point? There’s no PS war below 7-9, predator isn’t nearly as popular as before, yet we still get a steady stream of these guys. I just don’t know.

Agreed. A dream “fix” card for me would be

Seasoned Veteran

Title, non-unique only, cost 0

Your upgrade bar gains the EPT icon. You may not equip this card if you already have an EPT slot or have a Pilot Skill of 2 or lower.

12 hours ago, DampfGecko said:

Captain Jonus gets better as the game gets larger. He's fantastic in Epic , as it's easy for him to stay in range with a plethora of different ships with his so/so dial. It's just a planning thing.

Other than that, and aside from Tomax, worthwhile Bombers often need to go cheap to deliver. And ordnance isn't, so...

Completely agree. I also think Gamma Vets are great for epic squadron building (multiple copies kitted the same way).

9 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Indeed. The Jonus AWACS shuttle (TIE Shuttle, Systems Officer, Swarm Tactics) is borderline broken supporting a corvette.

The Gamma Veterans are nice. The ability to fit Deadeye/Guidance Chips/Cruise Missiles/Extra Munitions in a 25 point package gives you a ship that categorically cannot be ignored.

Oh my. I gotta give that Gamma Vet build a go. . .I was killing B-wings with a vengeance with Cruise Missiles last time I played.

Just to be a thicky. . .the advantage of Deadeye is not to have to select a target during the Declare Actions phase?