Knowing nothing else about the ships in Wave 4 but their stats, 3 of the 4 of them have only 2 hull (albeit behind shields). Introducing a 3 point Missile also revitalizes the A-Wing's potential for a 5 ship Swarmlet.

They are therefore the perfect targets for some Proton Bomb spam.

At 100 points, the most Proton Bombs you can fit in a fleet is 4, and that's only with Bombers.

(Sadly, fitting a Bounty Hunter with a Proton is 101 alongside 3 bombers, at minimum. )

That being said, loading up 4 Scimitars with a Proton leaves us 16 points of upgrades left over to strengthen our idea.

Being the Empire, we could just slide Dark Curse/Backstabber or a naked Bomber into the spot and call it a night, but that isn't necessarily ideal.

Q: What strengthens the effectiveness of Proton Bombs?

A: Knowing where your enemy will be when they go off.

Q: How do we know when that can happen?

A: Through Pilot Skill, Ionization, Intelligence Agents, or simply by predicting their movements well.

Q: Can we fit these in our fleet without sacrificing a Bomber?

A: Yes, Yes come Wave 4, No, and we as much as we can get already, respectively.

If we use 4 Gamma Squadron Pilots instead of Scimitar Squadron pilots, we have 8 points leftover to spend. If this "Flechette Torpedo" winds up being any good, we could load out with 4 of these, and brute-force our pilot skill. Being able to move after the swarms of ships (be it the 12 point Z-95 Headhunter, or the cheaper version of the other incredibly expensive ships, I expect to see low pilot scores all around) means that we can drop the bombs at our leisure.

Spending the points on Captain Jonus or Major Rhymer instead wouldn't make sense, as we'd have no ordnance to enable either ability.

If we use 4 Ion Pulse Missiles to stun the ships into a bombable area, we have 4 points left over: enough to upgrade two Scimitars into Gammas. This gives us half of the turn order advantage of the above fleet, with additional positioning control from our missiles, and seems to me to be the ideal 100 point fleet for combating Wave 4.

I'll post both below, for legibility's sake.

===============================================

Skilled Proton Bombs

Gamma Squadron Pilot

+ Proton Bomb

+ Flechette Torpedoes (Reminder: We don't know what this torpedo does yet.)

[25]

Gamma Squadron Pilot

+ Proton Bomb

+ Flechette Torpedoes

[25]

Gamma Squadron Pilot

+ Proton Bomb

+ Flechette Torpedoes

[25]

Gamma Squadron Pilot

+ Proton Bomb

+ Flechette Torpedoes

[25]

===============================================

Pulsed Proton Bombs

Gamma Squadron Pilot

+ Proton Bomb

+ Ion Pulse Missiles

[26]

Gamma Squadron Pilot

+ Proton Bomb

+ Ion Pulse Missiles

[26]

Scimitar Squadron Pilot

+ Proton Bomb

+ Ion Pulse Missiles

[24]

Scimitar Squadron Pilot

+ Proton Bomb

+ Ion Pulse Missiles

[24]

===============================================

Do y'all see any more counter-builds in the works? Any tweaks to my logic, or an obvious flaw to my fleets that could be countered by swapping out a ship? Please post in the comment section!

Looks solid. Bomber lists have been trying to make a showing for some time and the proton bomb weakness you mentioned + the 2 new missiles + and whatever the "munitions failsafe" is... Looking viable.

I am digging the proton/pulse build.. nicely done that... I have been wanting to shift from seismic to proton for a while.

Ever since the first time I dumped one off of Boba Fett into the middle of a TIE swarm I've been all about the Proton Bombs. "Here's a crit for you, and a crit for you, and a crit for you, Oh! and one for you too."

I call this my 3GS+ build

Gamma Squadron x3

Scimitar Squadron

Academy Tie

3 missiles

3 seismics

I've played around with the load outs and now I'll have even more options. Typically I just take 2 concussion and a cluster for punch vs. YT/Bwings. 27hp, decent dogfighting ability, auto damage, and missiles. As long as you don't get really hosed by the dice You're pretty much always in the game after alpha strike.

Ever since the first time I dumped one off of Boba Fett into the middle of a TIE swarm I've been all about the Proton Bombs. "Here's a crit for you, and a crit for you, and a crit for you, Oh! and one for you too."

Indeed, I love bombs... during a game, I had taken the shields off of an A wing, and then the next turn, my bombers caught it in a dual seismic drop to finish it off.. and damage anothe X wing nearby.. worked out nicely if I do say so myself.. lol

Ever since the first time I dumped one off of Boba Fett into the middle of a TIE swarm I've been all about the Proton Bombs. "Here's a crit for you, and a crit for you, and a crit for you, Oh! and one for you too."

Indeed, I love bombs... during a game, I had taken the shields off of an A wing, and then the next turn, my bombers caught it in a dual seismic drop to finish it off.. and damage anothe X wing nearby.. worked out nicely if I do say so myself.. lol

If you had dropped Proton Bombs, they could still have their shields on and died anyway. Those suckers deal face-up damage cards, not actual damage. It ignores shields!

Ever since the first time I dumped one off of Boba Fett into the middle of a TIE swarm I've been all about the Proton Bombs. "Here's a crit for you, and a crit for you, and a crit for you, Oh! and one for you too."

Indeed, I love bombs... during a game, I had taken the shields off of an A wing, and then the next turn, my bombers caught it in a dual seismic drop to finish it off.. and damage anothe X wing nearby.. worked out nicely if I do say so myself.. lol

If you had dropped Proton Bombs, they could still have their shields on and died anyway. Those suckers deal face-up damage cards, not actual damage. It ignores shields!

In my second tournament, I actually put a fresh A-wing and another ship out with a proton bomb. The other ship only had one hull left, but the A-Wing drew a direct hit. It was a thing of beauty.

I always like the looks on peoples faces when you drop bombs on them.. lol..

I actually had fun one night because the kid I was showing the game to read the bomb card and then was afraid to get behind me all night.. hahaha.. it was a fun romp through the asteroid field.. hahaha

I always like the looks on peoples faces when you drop bombs on them.. lol..

I actually had fun one night because the kid I was showing the game to read the bomb card and then was afraid to get behind me all night.. hahaha.. it was a fun romp through the asteroid field.. hahaha

The guy with the swarm that I dropped the proton bomb on, he hadn't seen bombs used before. I read him the card and the look on his face was priceless. The only word out of his mouth was ".....what?"

I love bombs. I need to fly more ships carrying them. I actually prefer Seismic Charges. Experienced players remember proton bombs. They focus on the ship and they are extra careful about not getting in their way. Seismics can be forgotten about quite easily. If you don't focus on springing them on the first couple turns, they become 'Surprise!' weapons.

Gamma Squadron Pilot

+ Proton Bomb

+ Flechette Torpedoes (Reminder: We don't know what this torpedo does yet.)

[25]

Yes we do.

Attack: 3, Range: 2-3. Discard this card and spend your target lock to perform this attack. After performing this attack, the defender receives 1 stress token if the hull value is ’4′ or lower.

I think it could go quite well with Proton Bombs.

bombers are all about the alpha strike, particularly against a swarm or large rebel list.

Jonus with squad leader, and 3 Scimitars. All four with Assault Missiles and Seismic Charges. first time you are in combat range, launch all four missiles. Likely 2+ will connect. on your k-turn pass, drop ALL bombs simultaneously.

Will nuke a TIE swarm, will heavily damage a group of x-wings. The X-wings can be destroyed quicklly. The reduced evasion on B Wings and Y wings then works in your favor due to your similarly reduced attack. Focus Fire one ship at a time, while trying to barrel roll out of arc whenever possible to get the most out of your hull.

Agreed, to a point. I wouldn't say bombers are *all* about the alpha strike, a swarm of bombers is a fun thing, just with some seismic charges. I just think bombs keep people on their toes, it's that.. hi, here I am.. moment in your day... even if they onow you have em, they don't know when you'll use it and sometimes they forget about them.. haha, that's when they are best.. 3rd or 4th turn in and Boom!!... hi, how are you shieldless X wing.. lol

I like it! Great job pointing out how this buffs the Proton Bomb. It could be a hard counter to a Super-Stealth Phantom!

Expect to be outnumbered 4 to 6 in the wave 4 meta though, so that alpha strike and follow up bombing run had better wipe out a couple of ships. I'm a big fan of Bombs in theory, I just never find a way to actually use them.

Agreed, to a point. I wouldn't say bombers are *all* about the alpha strike, a swarm of bombers is a fun thing, just with some seismic charges. I just think bombs keep people on their toes, it's that.. hi, here I am.. moment in your day... even if they onow you have em, they don't know when you'll use it and sometimes they forget about them.. haha, that's when they are best.. 3rd or 4th turn in and Boom!!... hi, how are you shieldless X wing.. lol

For instance, I was playing AGAINST a bomber group, I had a damaged x wing with R2D2 vs 2 remaining bombers, one undamaged. because of R2D2, I was able to limp to victory because the bombers were simply not able to connect two hits more than one round in a row, so I could heal a shield. Situational weakness, but a big situational weakness.

I am thinking Baron Fel with Jax and two Avenger TIE Interceptors and two PTL.

I would use the Avengers as blockers and the Baron as a suicied Lancer / diversion. I hate to say this but Jax is key to my plan. I will send him out and use him as a ability black hole. If Defenders and Phantoms are getting evade tolkens freely by doing other actions I am going to put a stop to it with Jax.

I also would like to add that if this were a 150 pt game I would throw in Turr with PTL, and two Alpha Interceptors.

Sorry...

Or instead of the Alphas give everything stealth device, OR use two RG tittle upgrades on Baron and Turr SD and Targetting computers. I want as many chances as possible to hit these ships... It prob is better to go for the two Alphas over the extra upgrades. However I do want the enemy preocupied with Baron and or Turr Jax must be ignored and at range 1 with enemies.

BIG fan of the bomber, more so than many people I know, but I rarely have any luck deploying bombs. I have found the key is the alpha strike. Launch your assault missiles, drop your bombs and K-turn. Mop up remaining ships before your low defense matters.

Thoughts? Anyone had other strategies work with bombers? This has worked for me and against me, is difficult to defend against especially if they have a proximity/oriented squad, so you joust and rock their world. Wins early, or fails after a long, slow match.

Also, "Flechette" means needles, according to some Wikipedia searching and according to Wookieepedia, in-universe Flechette Torps leave a "debris field" after they detonate. Predictions?