What to do with the Bomber Starship?

[Gallant Dragon]

The title is pretty self-explanatory.
Essentially, the Bomber Starships are currently just a fast, short-ranged version of the siege starship.
Any suggestions?
A new purpose?
Complete removal?

[Epsilon Plus]

I like them the way they are. They have less DPS than a Seige but a higher burst, and they're fast enough to chase other starships.

[colonyan]

I think both are distinctive.
Siege: Out gun some guardians. Multi-purpose.
Bomber: Strong asset against AI starship in hurry. Pinpoint dishing out important target.

[Lancefighter]

larger burst? really?

the siege outdps them insanely much, as well as generally have similar volley.

http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=1026

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Aren't bombers also much tankier as well?  I'd say all that gives them a good enough role.

King

[Echo35]

Bomb things.

 

[Lancefighter]

Lets be brutally honest here - You can have one of two ships, assuming they both do exactly the same job, exactly as efficiently, except for the below:

Would you rather a) a ship that MUST be withing hugging range to do its job
or b) a ship that QUITE LITERALLY outranges every single other ship you will encounter

[Winter Born]

I use Siege on offense and Bomber SS on defense

[Mánagarmr]

Aren't bombers also much tankier as well?  I'd say all that gives them a good enough role.

King

This. However, I wouldn't complain if they had a slightly higher refire rate. I tried to use them to bumrush a comstation in a Mk III system and they barely made it there, and certainly didn't last long enough to fire a second time. But yeah, they are a lot sturdier than the Sieges. They feel more like vanguards than bombard-ships really.

[Frozen Critical]

There will be a Time when you Will need the Bomber Starship Over the Siege

There Will

Just think , You can't Have a Bulky Siege in a Speed Invasion , Nor can you Use it to Chase Dreadnoughts Who can Simply Bombard your Slow Siege And Simply Move Away once you get in range , in those Situations , It's When you Call in the Bomber Starship

Besides , Sieges Don't Stand a Chance against ANYTHING that Outranges it , It'll Get Destroyed before it Even Manages to Fire off a Shot , If it EVEN manages to get into Range

[Mánagarmr]

Still...the Siege Starship outranges most ships in the game, so I'm not sure I see the point. (Also, what's with the eye-slaughtering capitalization?)

[Frozen Critical]

Range Doesn't Matter , i'd Prefer a Close range Attacker that Does Heavy Damage but Also receives Heavy Damage Then a Ship with Massive Range but has a Horrible Accuracy

[Mánagarmr]

Range Doesn't Matter , i'd Prefer a Close range Attacker that Does Heavy Damage but Also receives Heavy Damage Then a Ship with Massive Range but has a Horrible Accuracy

Ehm, what? If the Siege ship fires, it hits. What's this accuracy your speak of?

[Frozen Critical]

the Accuracy i Speak of is The Old and Much-raged Accuracy System of the Past And i am Attempting to Mess up your Mind

Seriously now , The Siege and the Bomber Starship Has their Own Pros and Cons , Leave them Alone

[wyvern83]

Imagine you are facing a large fleet of Hybrid Hives with full Drone sub-fleets. You throw your close range ships at it but because there are also high hp guardians and ion cannons in the system your siege ships which have greater range prioritize shooting those first while the Hybrids eat your fleet alive because nothing is specifically targeting them. Your fleet-ships have the choice of shooting the Hybrids or the drones and will probably do both from what I've been able to tell.

If you have Bomber Starships in your fleet, and you should in this case, they will focus on the Hybrids or whatever you've stuck your close range fleet-ship blob next to because they don't have the range to hit anything else and only attack non-fleet ship targets. They are much harder than Siege Starships and faster, so they'll be where you need them in this situation because of those factors.

I find both handy and as I see it they both have a role. The Bomber Starship is perfect for what it does because of the limitations and characteristics it possesses. You won't have to micro it to do the job because it'll be doing exactly what you want simply because where it is.

And by all means use Siege Starships too, while your Bomber Starships are keeping your fleet-ships alive by downing large hp targets for breakfast you can use your ranged ships and Siege Starships to keep guardians/golems/whatever away from your blob by shooting them while their on the other side of the system.

There is no reason not to use both anywhere the above scenario can take place. They may look the same except for their differences but they'll do different things first because of those differences so to me their roles are very different.