They didn't shoot them down by dog fighting though they'd get to range and keep as much distance as possible they were never as manoeuverable as the defender but that didn't matter because the missiles were and could chase them effectively.

The defender went 155 the gun boat went around 80 and turned like a pig in a dog fight it loses at range firing multiple missiles it wins.

Also if your gonna insult someone's statement you need to explain why you think their wrong or you coming across as having no real argument and that does you no favours.

They didn't shoot them down by dog fighting though they'd get to range and keep as much distance as possible they were never as manoeuverable as the defender but that didn't matter because the missiles were and could chase them effectively.

The defender went 155 the gun boat went around 80 and turned like a pig in a dog fight it loses at range firing multiple missiles it wins.

Also if your gonna insult someone's statement you need to explain why you think their wrong or you coming across as having no real argument and that does you no favours.

From Wookieepedia:

Comparable to the Alliance's A-wing, the Missile Boat boasted a respectable maximum cruising speed of 125 MGLT. A pilot competent in energy management could push the craft's speed beyond 250 MGLT using the SLAM system.

I have to admit it's been about 17 years since I last played TIE Fighter Collectors CD ROM. But speed was never their problem, even without SLAM.

They didn't shoot them down by dog fighting though they'd get to range and keep as much distance as possible they were never as manoeuverable as the defender but that didn't matter because the missiles were and could chase them effectively.

The defender went 155 the gun boat went around 80 and turned like a pig in a dog fight it loses at range firing multiple missiles it wins.

Also if your gonna insult someone's statement you need to explain why you think their wrong or you coming across as having no real argument and that does you no favours.

From Wookieepedia:

Comparable to the Alliance's A-wing, the Missile Boat boasted a respectable maximum cruising speed of 125 MGLT. A pilot competent in energy management could push the craft's speed beyond 250 MGLT using the SLAM system.

I have to admit it's been about 17 years since I last played TIE Fighter Collectors CD ROM. But speed was never their problem, even without SLAM.

I remember diverting max power to engines and going 400+, I think. You could outrun Advanced Concussion Missiles! Good times.

Oh wow ... nice to see the Missile Gunboat is discussed again

Keep it up

Even if I feel that the Assault Gunboat is next

I can't help but feel people are trying to over complicate this, why not consider this.

1/2/3/3
Focus/Target Lock/Boost
EPT(at ps 6/8)/Missile/Missile/Missile/System/Mod*

1 White Banks
2 Green Straight
2 White Banks
2 Red Turns
3 Green Straight
3 Green Banks
3 White Turns
4 Red K-Turn
4 White Straight
5 White Straight
5 Red K-Turn

In the box include these 2 cards:

Missile: Missile Reload, 2 points

When you would discard a missile card to perform an attack discard this card instead.

Mod: SLAM System, 2 points

Missile Boat Only.

When you perform a Boost, use the 2 Bank or 2 Straight templates.


Edit:

Between the stress relief at speed 3 (not that I see it getting stressed often) and the speed 2 boosts via SLAM you get a reasonable facsimile of the Missile Boats speed. Having the SLAM as a Missile Boat only Mod stops any nonsense of inventing new actions which step on boosts toes.

Missile Reload allows you to stack missiles on the fighter without points bloat while allowing some interesting list building choices in regards to payload choice (e.g. a Concussion Missile, Assault Missile and a Missile Reload would give you 2 of either Missile at the start of the game). It also acts as a patch for other multi-missile ships (i.e. the Tie Bomber, though there's no reason the idea couldn't be extended to Torpedoes... 3 points maybe?).
Also it neatly solves the payload size to cost issue without clumsy reload actions, potentially broken Missile HLC's or having a single card straddle multiple upgrade slots.

I haven't included Torps on the Missile Boat so it's distinct from the Tie Bomber, along with it's improved dial. I imagine the base points would be some where 18-20 for a PS 2-3 and working up from there as it's not really up to much without upgrades.

As for Pilot skills on the high end pilots? Go crazy (don't go too crazy).

I'm all for a Missile Boat including some kind of eternal missile. YES, it would operate a lot like a cannon would work but if a ship can carry enough ammo it is all about the same difference.

The problem with a Missile HLC, as some people have already pointed out, is how would it interact with the existing ships in the game.

For example if you took it as a functional reprint of a HLC then suddenly the TIE advanced and A-wings would get a (welcome) boost, but is it necessarily the one they need? Even then how do you dictate which ships have enough ammo to run a Heavy Missile Cannon over others? In all fairness a ship toting up to 3 missiles has got near unlimited supplies in the context of an X-wing game, especially when you consider their functionality withing the game.

To get the most out of a missile you ideally need to invest 2 actions, a target lock and a focus. If you take a baseline Missile Boat without any modifiers or support, and assuming you've managed to get a Target Lock and then be in a position to actually fire on the same target, you've got 6 turns worth of missile right here.

The problem I see with the Missile Boat is what does boost realistically do for it, we're looking at a high-alpha hit and run style fighter, much like the Phantom, without the vaunted unpredictability and an action intensive attack which will more than likely over ride most uses of the SLAM upgrade.

With this in mind, I have thought of at least one Pilot Ability that may go some way to mitigate this:

"When you spend a Target Lock to perform an attack, you may immediately gain a Target Lock on the target of the attack."

The wording feels a little clumsy and someone may be able to make it neater, but what you have here is an effective modifier for missile attacks built in. Again it will get more effective if you further invest in a focus but you can lock and fire in the same turn with a touch more confidence in the attack.

As for cost, lets take the middle ground and say 19 points base for a Missile Boat at PS 2, we shall put this Pilot Ability on a PS 6 ship so following the general rule of thumb it would be 24 points.

How does that sound?

If one is worried about the potential of a "missile bank" that operates similarly to a cannon it could be made to require MULTIPLE upgrade slots. Something that took two slots instead of the normal one would really limit how many older ships could use something.

As for the boost it could provide to some of those ships I'd remind you that in the X-Wing video games it seemed to me like the A-Wing had more missile capacity than any other ship outside of the missile boat and the other tough Imperial fighter.