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On the TIE bomber and punisher, what's worth the points: missiles or bombs?

A personal favorite of mine are the Cluster Missiles. I typically take ranged weapons over bombs, but then again everything has it's place (other words, both are useful if used properly.)

...of course this is coming from me, a new guy to the hobby, so take that as you will.

Bombs kind of suck right now. Deathrain (a TIE Punisher pilot) is maybe the only ship in the game who can effectively use bombs as a primary damage-dealing method. The only other time you see bombs in a competitive (or even casual) setting is as a 2pt filler on something like a Decimator or a Firespray. TIE Bombers in particular are crappy bombers.

Missiles and Torpedoes are not quite as bad as bombs, but are still overly expensive for what they do. You'll see them as filler on ships like Z-95s, but it's rare to see dedicated missileboats. The TIE Bomber and Punishers are slightly too expensive and squishy to justify their use as hard-hitting missile boats - they will so often just fail to kill their points back. Redline (a TIE Punisher pilot) is a big exception - he has the right pilot ability to make good use of missiles and torpedoes, and can deliver some brutal missile strikes.

The imminent release of Guidance Chips and Sabine Wren Crew is going to upset the balance of power when it comes to ordnance. Sabine is Rebel-only, so that doesn't really help TIE Bombers or Punishers who want to sling bombs. Guidance Chips, on the other hand, is a subtle but powerful buff to ever shot that your missile boats make, usually adding up to an extra hit result per shot. The jury's still out as to whether that's enough to make them a good choice, but it's definitely worth trying out some cheap TIE Bombers or Punishers with a couple of missiles on them.

We're also going to see new TIE Bomber pilots in a few months: Tomax Bren (who can re-use one-time-use cards) and Gamma Squadron Veteran (a generic with an Elite slot). Some interesting combos may exist that are worth using in a competitive setting. Long Range Scanners are also coming out, but Guidance Chips seems so obviously superior to me.

Redline does well with fcs, extra munitions, plasma torps, cluster missiles for 38 pts
Bombers are a little trickier, until the Imp vets comes out, it's really difficult to get bombers a target lock and the named pilots are a little expensive
Col. Jendon can pass out target locks but he's expensive as well

I love my Scum Y-wings with bombs. Having a bomb on a K-wing, just for giggles, is a blast.

Proton Rockets are fantastic for A-wings. Fairly useless on everything else.

Assault Missiles and Homing Missiles are overpriced for what they do. Meaning they usually do nothing for 5 points.

Cluster Missiles are awesome. Especially against VT-49s and VCX-100s. N'dru Suhlak loves these things. So does Redline.

Conc missiles will have a place once guidance chips comes out. Guaranteeing 2 hits (or one and a crit) in addition to whatever you roll and maybe having a focus on 4 dice, is pretty good.

Ion Pulse use to be Blounts go to. Even if you didn't have an ion control list, it's three points for a guaranteed damage and ion on anything. On others it's meh, probably never worth taking. Now Blount's go to will either be XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (what a mouthful) or my personal favorite:

Adv Homing Missiles. Which can have hilarious results (one-shotting an A-wing or E-Wing) Major Rhymer likes these too. Can be okay on other ships but that Range 2 only is pretty restrictive, you're only rolling 3 dice to try and get a hit through and discarding all of them for something that could just be one hull damage basically and nothing else. Which is still okay, but if you have to break through shields anyway (i.e. you don't have Wampa) then it's no better than just doing one regular damage.

Conner Nets can much more reliably spell the end for Ace pilots. Taking away their tokens and arc dodging maneuvers to set up a couple range band 1-2 shots from your other ships can easily change the tide of battle. In many situations it's better than them landing their own ship on an asteroid.

Cluster Mines and Proximity mines are a bit too fickle. They can do incredible damage to high agility, low durability ships, but they can also do absolutely nothing and the dice are unmodifiable.

Ion bombs are useless IMO. Seismic Charges are... meh. They've been in the game for a long time. They've never been "bad" but they were never good choices either. They benefit from Conner Nets (you can actually do both from the same ship in one turn) stacking two points of damage on someone by preventing them from barrel rolling away from the token. Charges also hurt formation flyers. Forcing them to either scatter or take upwards of 4 damage from a single 2 pt upgrade.

Proton Bombs are just too damned expensive. Getting 2 for 7 points is better but still not enough to justify spending 7 points. That's just a ludicrous amount for 1-2 time use munition that may give you useless critical damages. (they could also win you the game but it's just too risky). You can buy a Heavy Laser Cannon for that much and do much more reliable damage.

Proton Rockets are fantastic for A-wings. Fairly useless on everything else.

Not bad on either variant of the TIE advanced. On an A-wing there's a nominal 2 point cost increase, because you could have had a Chaardan Refit if you hadn't taken them.

On the TIE punisher, it really depends on the pilots. On TIE bombers.... I wouldn't say bombs are great, but mines (the ACTION- type bombs) are pretty good - you can overfly someone and dump a proximity mine in their face, even with generic pilots.
Missiles are okay but need a bit of thought. Guidance Chips are nasty (obviously) but with generic pilots getting that initial lock takes some doing - either take range 1-2 missiles, or someone with S-Thread Tracers, or Long Range Scanners.

The latter is okay but not amazing. I think it's best used for a solo bomber with one long-range missile 'plugged in' to a squad as filler, or as a budget option for an imperial firespray (Slave 1 can take it, giving him a 'free' target lock before the first engagement). If you're taking lots of ordnance there's better options.

locarno24 wrote:

Proton Rockets are fantastic for A-wings. Fairly useless on everything else.

Not bad on either variant of the TIE advanced.

Regular Advanceds don't come with the boost action stock, cost more points, aren't generally taken with Push the Limit, rely on consistent damage with AC or making their primary hurt more with ATC and dont come with an extra EPT slot for crack shot (on generics) to make that proton rocket shot really hurt. And Jake Farrell will always have a focus and be able to take a boost or barrel roll. Not doing so would be a waste.

A-wings really are the only thing Proton Rockets are good on.

The TAP has yet to be tested and studied yet. It could possibly be as good a proton rocket carrier but considering two parts of its wombo combo is target lock and evade and proton rockets requires a focus and range 1, it's not looking super great.

Bombs are great...if on the right ship. Deathrain (or any Punisher) along with the odd K-Wing are already targets for death, so putting bombs on them can be a waste. This ship likely dies before they can use them.
I've used Scum Y-Wings (now with extra munitions) and have had either 8 Seismic or 6 Prox-Mines between them. I've had instances where I've dumped mines on a gagle of TIEs who K-Turned the whole swarm ontop of the 4 mines I just dropped and even suckered in Soontir Fel for some free damage. Last night I dumped a Prox Mine onto Carnor Jax and killed him...which then let my other ships use their tokens against Palpmobile.
The other useful thing about Bombs is you can use them to corralle your opponent. His move may force him into rolling away from a bomb...putting him into R1 for your autoblasters. They can also force an opponent to boost away from an injured ship ruining his firing arcs.
The one irritating thing about Mines is your opponent is the one who rolls the dice. On more than one occasion I've had opponents roll that 1 key hit to kill his ship...only to have him Palpatine it to a miss.

Thug Life Bomb list: 4X Thug+Unhinged Mech+ Autoblaster turret+ Bomb+(2 or4) Extra Munitions+...
Either Seismics on each (for 8 total) or Prox Mines (where 2 ships get 1 mine and 2 get 2 with the extra munitions).
100 points eitherway.

KellyJ wrote:
Bombs are great...if on the right ship. Deathrain (or any Punisher) along with the odd K-Wing are already targets for death, so putting bombs on them can be a waste. This ship likely dies before they can use them.

I assume you mean putting bombs on Redline would be a waste, not Deathrain? Deathrain is the one with the pilot ability that buffs bombs, taking him without bombs is a complete waste of points.

The one irritating thing about Mines is your opponent is the one who rolls the dice. On more than one occasion I've had opponents roll that 1 key hit to kill his ship...only to have him Palpatine it to a miss.

This is one of many reasons why conner nets are great. No dice to roll, just automatic damage.