Blimey, what does one do with TIE Bombers?

[Mr Mystery]

So....on their own, unupgraded, TIE Bombers aren't all that and a bag of potato chips. Though they are resilient.

But they can carry a lot of ordnance.

What do I equip them with? Help my Bolsy-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!

[Brenlak]

I just picked up a TIE bomber today and was wondering the same thing. Way I see it, ( keep in mind I haven't played it yet just pure speculation) I see three ways to use it. With Major Rhymer you can any of your missiles can go off at any range (cluster missiles at range three, nice), Captain Jonus, is why you field these guys in wings of at least two (he's almost a free target lock, considering you will be spending yours to fire your secondary weapon), and the other two pilots lets just call them Corey and Trevor because they aren't special. Haven't looked too much at the secondary weapons themselves, Protons are standard I guess, Advanced Proton look like they will go good with a pilot that would generate a free focus for an ally (then you can target lock the same turn). Assault missiles look like all kinds of evil fun, but I think I'm stuck on Major Rhymer taking cluster missiles( he will be able to take two once I get another bomber for his good friend Captain Jonus). How would a guy go about using bombs correctly? They look cool too. besides Concussion Missiles that's my arsenal addressed.

[kellyj]

2x Gamma Squad, Assault Missile x2, Munitions Failsafe.
3x Black Squadron TIE.

Slow play the bombers (moving speed 1 or 2 max) until you just get in range 3. Use the TIEs to outflank and corral stray ships towards the primary target. Each Bomber dumps a missile hoping to hurt/kill the primary while getting some splash damage on escorts. TIEs either finish off the primary or concentrate on a damaged ship.
Slow move the bombers 1 and repeat (or target the next threat if the primary was killed).
Hope your dice don't fail you.
PS4 should give you a match for most Rebel fleets and beat most TIE Swarm lists, though for variety you can lower the TIE PS and pick up a named TIE.

[Straight JaKeT]

If you play the bombers with the shuttle there is a shuttle pilot that can give out target locks. Combined with the named shuttle and weapons engineer you guarantee target locks first turn. Plus lots of hull to get through.

[Brenlak]

Wow Bombers and the shuttle sound sick!! What is Munitions failsafe? What ship does it come with?

[kellyj]

Munitions Failsafe comes with the Z95. Its a 1 point modification.

[Krefey]

They could be a lot more useful now with cheap flechette torpedoes to hand out stress to the enemy as well.

[Mr Mystery]

True, but I think I'd rather concentrate on just taking out the Rebel Fighters. Stress is good and all, but destruction is betterer.

[Kris Sherriff]

A common usage that has not been mentioned it using them Naked to bulk out a swarm list.
For only 4 points more than an Academy you add 3 extra hull points too your list.

When you consider that a Hull upgrade is 3 points it is a bargain even with the loss of manoeuvrability. They can also operate effectively as a flanker as the can generate there own target lock negating the need to stick to Howlrunner.

Bombs are extreamly powerful as they are a sorce of uncancelable (not sure that us even a word...) damage.
The proximity mine is fun but costs an action to use so the seismic charge is where it is at.
Just don't drop it on your own swarm.

[Patrick Boyle]

The problem with Bombers is related to the problems with ordanance generally; they're generally grossly overcosted for the benefit you get out of them. Take for example the Proton Torpedo, in a vacuum. 4 points for:
- a single shot 4 die attack, if it whiffs that's 4 points wasted
- you can only use it at range 2-3
- you must have a target lock to use it, and you don't get to use the target lock's rerolls for it

Compare that against say the Heavy Laser Cannon. For three more points than the torpedo, you can still only use it at range 2-3, but it's not a single shot and done, it can benefit from having a target lock, and you don't need to have a target lock already to fire it, so you can use it with Focus. It's the reason you almost never see Torpedos on a B-wing but will very often see a HLC.

Now there are ways to improve the torpedo's reliability; Jonus, Horton Salm, munitions failsafe, spending two turns to get both a lock and focus, but you're still throwing tons of points or turns after trying to get a single attack to work. A single attack that's not all that great for the effort it takes. Most of the ordinance has the same problem. There are some exceptions, like the assault missile and the upcoming proton rockets in rebel aces(which require you to have a focus token to fire them, but you don't spend the token to do so, so that you can use the focus with the attack), but generally they're all really tough to use.

Getting back to TIE bombers, the main problem is the requirement of a Target Lock to fire most ordinance; to be able to take enough of both bombers and missiles/torps for an effective strike, you need to take the lower PS ones, but because they're likely to move first they may not have range to Target Lock for the first turn of actual shooting. And at this point it's the range that becomes a problem, as the next turn you may be able to lock but your opponent will likely have closed the distance, coming into range 1, if they know they need to avoid letting you fire. Also, the bomber's durability is somewhat misleading. 6 Hull with 2 Agility can take a lot of punishment, but at the same time is very vulnerable to crits in the opening engagement. Getting hit with the crit(I forget the name) that strips your secondary weapons, for instance. And they're still basically an X-wing with a hull or shield upgrade, they'll go down to focus fire like one just as quick, and very likely you'd lose at least one before it gets to use its payload.

So, in the end it's probably best to keep them as cheap as possible, and know that their ordinance isn't going to do the heavy lifting for you. Flechette torps and seismic charges on scimitars. Proton bombs may even make a comeback; with all of the 2 hull ships running around now, E-wings, Phantoms, and soon to be A-wings again, the chance to slip through a Direct Hit on the crit card is tempting. The TIE Bomber's biggest utility is really their bomb slot, which I should note aren't stripped by the crit that would take your secondaries away, as Bombs aren't secondary weapons. Use one loaded out like that as support or filler. It's unfortunate but without serious errata or further new cards, a heavy torp or missile loaded Bomber for offense just doesn't work.