Talk:TIE Punisher Expansion Pack/@comment-27613051-20170505190004/@comment-454133-20170505195018

It's also worth noting that ships like the TIE Punisher and K-Wing shouldn't be heavily loaded. Consider these two ships:

“Redline” with FCS, Extra Munitions , Plasma Torpedoes , Concussion Missiles , Homing Missiles , Cluster Mines , Conner Net , Guidance Chips ] (51)

“Redline” with FCS, Extra Munitions, Plasma Torpedoes, Guidance Chips] (34)

The first redline has 6 missile/torp shots and 4 mines. There's a hard limit of firing only one missile/torp per round, as there's no Ordnance Gunner effect. Even assuming someone else is granting target locks with an officer (so redline can drop mines and fire torps in the same turn)... that's still at least 6 rounds of combat that the boat has to survive to use that much ordnance. If it dies early, that's points wasted, and it probably won't survive that long. Half your fleet is invested in this one ship, so will likely be focus-fired to death, and only one agility means that 9 health will go down fast.

Compare that with the 2nd redline. It one has only 2 ordnance shots; for 4 more points it could upgrade to 4 ordnance shots if really needed (toss in a concussion or cluster missile). Instead of half your fleet, you're investing only about a third of your squad points. This frees up more points for more wingmen or better-equipped wingmen, and that ultimately means you can kill enemies faster and push the advantage.

That is a Redline that's serving its role very well -- deliver hard-hitting Ordnance to take out a target early, and push the advantage. After the torps are expended, Redline's role is to harass with its 2-dice attack and soak damage (the upcoming Unguided Rockets will improve this late-game role for only two points).

So why would a ship have 6 ordnance slots if you should only be filling 2 or 3 of them? Simple: options. A TIE Punisher or K-Wing can mix and match Bombs, Torps, and Missiles to create the loadout it wants (usually with Extra Munitions), e.g. 1 bomb and 1 missile, or 2 missiles. In my opinion, you should rarely fill every slot   (only load heavy for super-casual/silly fights).