I have been playing EAW since it came out and am still having trouble finding a use for these units.  I mainly play as the Empire in campaign (never play multiplayer) and I usually have 1-2 in my fleet but I can't tell if they actually do any good at all.  The missiles seem to slow to hit fighters, too inaccurate to hit a ship and I even use barrage on the space station and does minimal damage. My question is are they even worth the cap hit or is it better to just go with VSD and ISD's.  And what are some helpful tips if you do use them.

just increase the specs of the unit in one of the xml files in your data folder. (if you have extracted it)

They are great agaisnt mass units, or I find they are awsome used agiasnt large capital ships and space stations.

A great tactic is using there bombard ability and target enemy space stations. This causes a TON of damage and can really change the tide of war. Two broadsides bombarding a station can knock out shields and get all hardpoints to yellow condition in less then 2 uses of the bombard ability.

Ok but do you find them very useful when say targetting a squadron of X-Wings, I mean do the missles have any chance of finding their targets?  It just seems like it would be better to go with another Vic then a broadside at least it gets Tie Bombers.

In 1on1 I don't think they are very usefull. I like to play 3on3s a lot (or 4on4 but they don't work very often...) and I tend to build a lot of them (nearly the whole pop cap). Five of these babies kill everything from fighters up to larger corvettes within seconds. (One Missiles can kill a squadorn of fighters or can take out the whole shield of a Neb-B)

 

They lack of power against Mon Cals (but still do) but therefore your companions have SDs. And without fighters Rebels are screwed.

IMO these are the most powerful units in the game, if used correctly. Get a group of 3-4 of them, keep them behind your cruisers and use tartans and fighter screens to take out corvettes/gunboats that target your broadsides. Then with the Broadsides: target the hanger on the space station first, then the shield generator, then switch your focus to any enemy capital ships. Once those are eliminated finish off the space station. You don't even have to move any ship within range of the space station except for the occasional TIE in order to have line of sight.