What to do if you don't have bombs?

[RFS-81]

Thrawn's recent thread about tech probabilities must have jinxed it, because in my last couple of games, I didn't have any bombs in my tech tree below level 25, and I didn't survive long enough to find out if I have Neutronium Bombs. How do you work around that? Just use 5-rack missiles instead of bombs?

[Sullla]

The same thing that you do with most other tech holes in Master of Orion: tech to a higher level and hope you have what you're missing, trade for what you need, or steal what you need. Failing that, you don't always need to remove missile bases if you're willing to take heavy enough casualties with your transports...

[bjg]

On high tech levels beams are quite powerful. Projectors are also a good option. I am not a big fan of bombs anyway, because you can't use them against ships.

[haphazard1]

Bombs are special purpose weapons for destroying missile bases. (And bombing colonies into extinction, but that is generally a seceondary purpose.) You can attack planets with beams, but you need a significant tech lead to overcome the halving effect if the defender has decent shield tech. Ideally one has both beams and bombs, but if the tech tree does not cooperate you use what you have.

If I do not have a good bomb in my tree, then teching for the next higher rung in Weapons and hoping for a better bomb tech is usually my first response. But if I go another rung and still do not have a bomb, things get tough. Missiles can work, if you have good ones and your target's shields are not too strong. Similarly, torpedoes can sometimes work. But if the enemy has good shield tech.... Well, spying is a possibility. Trade with another AI can sometimes get you a bomb tech, although the price is likely to be painfully expensive.

Worst case, you can do as Sullla said and go for swarm tactics with your transports. You can lose a lot of pop that way, though, especially if the enemy has good missile tech. Sometimes you just will not be able to crack their planetary defenses. Maybe you can still win by council, if you have enough planets and planetology tech to grow your pop big enough.

[RefSteel]

Just to add a couple more:

- I practically never use missile 5-racks. There are exceptional cases, but it's virtually always better to use 2-racks (and hit-and-run tactics if needed, even though this means spending time en route back and forth from a different colony) instead. The 5-racks have shorter range, and require your ships to hang around longer, taking more attrition for both of these reasons.

- If all else fails, you can always take out the Guardian and then build a fleet with Death Rays. They're nowhere near as efficient against bases as bombs, but they'll do the job if necessary!

[Ianus]

And Black Hole Generator will always do in a pinch. And in desperate cases Death Spores or equivalent can be effective albeit messy in a number of ways. But yes there are almost always options.