What memo did I miss about bombers not being effective?
Bombers vs high-turret targets are pretty much useless due to bomber suppression. Or at least that's my impression since Turret 4 ships already mean that a Bomber squadron has to roll 5+ to generate an attack, which then depends on armour values to actually cause a hit.
I''m re-reading stuff. And FAQ2010:
vs a ship with 4 turrets:
A wave with 8 markers attack: 4 bombers and 4 fighters
Turrets shoot down 4 fighters (but that's not important) the bombers are healthy.
Each bomber rolls D6-4.
Every fighter adds +1 attack.
So in the best roll of bombers you have 6-4 + 6-4 + 6-4 + 6 - 4 = 8 attack rolls.
Plus 4 more from the fighters = 12 attack rolls vs armour.
In the worst case, all bomber rolls are crap you still have 4 attacks from the fighters.
XR:
In above example when 4 fighters would have been shot the attacks rolls of the bombers would have been unmodified. Thus 4 times a roll of D6-4. In a good roll that would mean 8 attacks max.
When 1 fighter would have survived bombers would get D6-3 rolls, resulting in a max of 12 attacks.
If two fighters survive D6-2 = 16 attacks.
If four fighters survice = D6 - 0 = max 24 attacks
So in XR the possibility of 0 attacks exists in every circumstance but the high end is much much higher then FAQ2010. Making bomber runs way to strong imo.
FAQ2010 isn't ideal but it has more flatter line of damage possibility.