Wow. This discussion could give "Who's On First?" a run for its money

Here's the full scoop, all at once, to hopefully clear up any remaining confusion:

Normally, uncanceled attack dice results turn into damage.

Damage is resolved one at a time. For each damage:

--- If the target has a shield token, it loses a shield.

--- If it does not, it is dealt a damage card

------ For standard damage, that card is face down

------ For critical damage, that card is dealt face up

Sadly, "damage" is also a term which is used for how many hits your ship has taken. That's the "damage" which the Direct Hit card is referring to.

The Proton Bomb skips damage completely, and just deals a face-up card. That's why it ignores shields - because it doesn't deal damage.

The Direct Hit! card doesn't ignore shields, because it can't itself ignore shields, because it has nothing to do with shields.

Hopefully that covers everything

I don't understand why people are having such a hard time with this concept. The X-Wing rules rely on step by step determination on how damage is dealt unless a card overrides the rules.

With proton Bombs against an A-Wing at full strength:

- Proton Bomb detonates at R1 of A-Wing

- A-Wing is dealt one face up damage card, bypassing shields because of the card text "When this bomb detonates, deal one faceup damage card to each ship at range 1"

- A-Wing resolves the damage on the card face with shields remaining

- If the card is weapons malfunction, then the A-Wing reduces primary weapon value by 1, etc. If it is some other card text, then resolve that text.

No where does it say direct hits bypass shields. You only deal face up cards if all shields are gone EXCEPT for proton bombs. I will probably be taking more proton bombs, though I wish Y-Wings had a bomb slot now.

The ONLY reason anyone is talking about Direct Hit at all is that that particular critical specifically counts as two damage points, and as briefly referenced in the FF post, that's enough to instantly kill an A-Wing. Direct Hit is not special in any way, it's just particularly relevant to this example.

Now, I sincerely hope we can all agree on this and move on. Personally, against any ship but an A-wing, I'm far more interested in the chaos the Proton Bomb could yield. Against a swarm, imagine hitting 3 or 4 ships... now one's on fire, one lost its pilot ability, one can't fire its guns this turn, another has all turns as red maneuvers. You could SERIOUSLY ruin any opponent's plans. If they're dumb/unfortunate enough to end up in bomb blast range, of course – but I've found people often forget that you have bombs until the moment you bring them out.

This bomb might also slightly increase the value of Determination.

I think I mentioned it on another thread, but yes between the Proton Bomb and Auto Blaster Imperial Swarms may have changed rather drastically. Many run them together concentrating the most hits, and it takes skill and practice not to bump into each other. That's hard enough.

Now you're going to want to separate your swarms, ouch... coming in from different flanks, different groups colliding with each other, asteroids. How long will that take to plot your moves?

The Autoblaster isn't going to do anything to affect swarms. No matter how efficient it is, it's still only one gun, the swarm has always been willing to trade deaths. It can afford to lose a 12-point Academy TIE more than you can afford to lose a 26+ point B-wing on the return fire (which, on average, you will).

The Proton Bomb does have more potential, I think, if you can manage survive long enough to deliver it. Dropping it before you move rather than after means you have to absorb an extra round of fire to be in good position to drop the bomb. That causes issues.

Was also briefly discussed here:

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/83986-proton-bomb-speculation/#entry796445

Great, like A Wings were so OP they needed nerfing

The Autoblaster isn't going to do anything to affect swarms. No matter how efficient it is, it's still only one gun, the swarm has always been willing to trade deaths. It can afford to lose a 12-point Academy TIE more than you can afford to lose a 26+ point B-wing on the return fire (which, on average, you will).

The Proton Bomb does have more potential, I think, if you can manage survive long enough to deliver it. Dropping it before you move rather than after means you have to absorb an extra round of fire to be in good position to drop the bomb. That causes issues.

I see your point about Autoblaster and Swarms. Haha, it still is a very kick weapon system though. So maybe is better against larger targets.

I'm a little confused about absorbing an extra round of fire. Just like the Seismic Charge you drop it and move hoping others land on it.

I'm a little confused about absorbing an extra round of fire. Just like the Seismic Charge you drop it and move hoping others land on it.

The Proximity Mine drops as an action, the Seismic Charge and Proton Bomb drop when you reveal your dial. That basically means that you have one extra maneuver by your ship before dropping the Proximity Mine, which means that for a given spot you can drop it a round earlier, therefore receiving less fire.

Example: Say you want to drop it 6 ahead moves from your starting point. Proton Bomb is Move 3, Shoot, Move 3, Shoot, Drop. Prox Mine is Move 3, Shoot, Move 3, Drop, Shoot. It takes your action, but the timing makes them deploy slightly faster.

It took me a bit to figure it out, but got it.

A Proximity Mine may be easier to drop a distance but it just hits one ships if it gets run over. The Seismic Charge and Proton Bomb are all but guaranteed to be useful as you can drop them with no actions and they will go offer. They can potentially miss everything but there is also the potential that they can hit many ships.

Your opponent has harder time preicting when a prox mine will be deployed, the other bombs are more easily predicted since they deploy before the vessel moves.

Why would you draw a damage card if you still have shields? According to the rules:

For each damage or critical damage suffered, the ship must lose one shield token. If it has no shield tokens, it must receive one Damage card instead .

So you wouldn't draw the direct hit card untill your shields are gone correct?

Why would you draw a damage card if you still have shields?

Because in the case of Proton Bombs, it's not dealing damage like normal. The card simply says that the ship is assigned 1 face up damage card. This isn't damage in the same way that the other sources use, so shields don't mean anything in this case.