"All-Around" SC (and weapons banks question)

[jsfinis]

That is, the supposed "ultimate" strikecraft like the NR's K-wing and IR's TIE Defender. Note that both of these strikecraft are coded as "bombers"; they prioritize targeting ships. 

My question is, do these strikecraft still take down enemy SC during their bombing runs, despite their behavior? I also notice other SC like TIE Bombers have laser weapons as well; I guess these lasers differ from the lasers on a standard TIE (i.e, I can't imagine TIE Bombers shoot down enemy SC en-route)? Just wondering if I should still mix in TIE Interceptors with Defenders for proper SC defense, given the Defender's "bomber" behavior, or if the Defenders do a 2-in-1 job of shooting ships and enemy SC both (but just prioritize movement towards ships).

In the same vein, many ships have 2 banks of the same weapons (e.g, turbolaser, turbolaser, ion). Are they different weapons the same way a TIE Bomber's laser (I'd assume) differs from a TIE's laser?

[Corey]

The lasers on something like a TIE Bomber and TIE Fighter aren't any different except in some damage and sometimes firing rate. All bombers should be using their other weapons while performing bombing runs if something flies into their range, as far as I know (and it wouldn't be possible to make them not do it).

As for double weapons on other ships, those are used for when a ship had some different combination of singles, duals, quads, etc of the same weapon type. The text tooltip comes from the weapon type, so the text will display the same, but you'll notice some of their bursts have different graphical effects.

[jsfinis]

The lasers on something like a TIE Bomber and TIE Fighter aren't any different except in some damage and sometimes firing rate...

Very cool, thanks Corey! That's interesting then, since TIE Bombers have something like 8 laser to the Fighter's 2; within their immediate vicinity, they could probably do an even better job clearing enemy SC. I'd imagine "researched" interceptors are the ones with increased firing rates.

Since SC tend to oscillate back and forth along an axis between two opposing carrier groups, and the inefficiency of "fighter"-coded SC having to wheel about and chase other SC (unless they're significantly faster)... "bomber"-coded SC could actually be a lot more useful as they can engage enemy SC en-route along the axis, snipe enemy SC as they are remade at the source, and put damage on enemy ships as well.

I guess you can't really mod SC speeds; in SoGE I remember being confused by the E-wing having the same tooltip stats and speed (tested by racing two squadrons end-to-end) as the X-wing despite being a researched, "superior" fighter (and I still don't know in what way it's superior). Otherwise, having elite interceptors be noticeably faster would really help them chase down enemy SC more efficiently and gain air superiority before the bombers have done all the damage they can do and the battle is already over. 

In some of Sins' earlier builds, people used to recommend all-bomber squadrons due to the inefficiency of SC-to-SC combat, and relied on flak for point defense. I think that changed as we came up to Rebellion when fighters got a buff to damage against VeryLight bomber armor, and could really "strip the skies clean".

[Orrawran]

I find these questions to be true.