10 Tips for Bomber Pilots[]
By Carbon | Original Source
- When playing as a TIE bomber on Hoth, remember that the bombs explode at 600 meters. While it may look like your shots are hitting from 2500m out, they are probably exploding halfway there and doing nothing.
- B-Wings and Y-Wings are both excellent anti-fighter craft. By sacrificing a wee bit of maneuverability by not picking an xwing, you gain superior firepower, anti-capital ship weapons, and heavier armor. The Y-Wing also has a boost that when activated seems to be slightly faster than the X-Wing's normal top speed.
- The B-Wing can rotate its fuselage around its cockpit. Press and hold your countermeasures key, X by default, to orient the guns where you want them. I prefer to have mine below me. An icon of a B-Wing will be on the very outside of your HUD - this is not a friendly B-Wing, but an icon telling you the current position of the rest of your ship.
- Often, you'll do rolls to attempt to shake off enemy fire, especially if you don't want to make sharp jukes. Remember that the B-Wing's gun axis movements are exactly the same as a roll in most situations, allowing you to keep your guns centered on a target (unlike manual rolls, which are difficult to perfect) while still rolling them around your cockpit to make you harder to hit.
- Remember your torpedoes! Even if you're an X-Wing, you still have anti-cap ship ammo, and while the bombers are usually good at anti-fighter work, your teammates will not like a bomber thinking he's an A-Wing while the Corellian Corvettes are pounding away at your fleet. You can also use the torpedoes in some anti-fighter situations if you're a good shot.
- Don't hang behind a enemy capital ship and pound it with lasers. While this is an effective technique if you're 1. actually moving, 2. want to take advantage of a common blind spot and 3. have torpedoes, the damage put out by even a bomber's lasers is not worth the risk of being completely stationary near a ship most of your enemies will be flying near.
- Out of bombs? Don't suicide or jump into fighter combat just yet! Imperial Bulk Transports (the giant red and grey things that sorta look like the letter H) and Gallofree Medium Transports can both repair and rearm your craft. Fly near them to gain the benefits. Repairing is usually pitifully (like, 1 point every 2 seconds) slow, so don't rely on it when you could simply go on a bombing run and get another ship if you're destroyed.
- Use ion cannons (if you have them!). Ion cannons are faster than regular lasers and torpedoes. The B-wing has extremely fast and rapidfiring anti-fighter ion cannons that can partially knock out a enemy's systems and make him stop in his tracks, useful for getting behind someone and taking him out without a big circle chase. The Y-Wing's turret gunner has a ion cannon shot similar to the B-Wing's, but this time it's best to use it when more than one TIE is chasing you and you need to focus on one at a time. The TIE bomber (except for the Hoth variant) also has a ion cannon that is good for three uses, but is usually used against capital ships as it is so slow and large.
- If you are good in a bomber, use it. If you are mediocre in a bomber, use it. I always pick the B-Wing, as it has tons of armor, good anti-fighter capabilities, and a good supply of bombs. The Y-Wing absolutely shreds fighters with a decent turret gunner and can boost as well.
- If you're in a Y-Wing, don't make circle turns. You are EXEMPT from the circling game that goes on among other craft. Simply fly straight and allow the TIEs to follow you, while your turret gunner takes advantage of the stability and armor and picks them off. Making turns will make your turret gunner fire randomly into space trying to hit something, and reduce your survivability overall. If you don't have a turret gunner, you can also quickly hop into the backseat and take out TIEs - you can even stop in the middle of a firefight, wait for "smart" TIE pilots to see you as easy pickings, then take out a bunch of them one by one.