Random refrigerator thought, but when did the Resistance come into possession of a bombing fleet? Was it before or after the attack on Starkiller Base, where the entire mission was to hit a large, stationary target with as many bombs as possible? Leia refers to the bombing fleet as if it’s a treasured part of the Resistance, and there are dedicated Resistance crews and everything.
For that matter, when did they get that cruiser and those support ships and their crews? Did they just happen to arrive right after the events of TFA? It’s heavily implied that all of the Resistance attack ships are devoted to the Starkiller assault, and they bemoan that they have no chance without the Republic fleet (which is comprised mostly of capital ships). If they had a massive cruiser the whole time, the Leia would surely have used it to match FO forces at the Takodana battle instead of arriving later in a dinky transport.
I wish I could turn my brain off and enjoy this movie, but it feels like I’m supposed to question these things based on TLJ’s technical plot that draws attention to just this sort of thing.
I’m not sure what the fleet would have done at Starkiller? Not to mention that’s literally a throwaway line in TFA about the NR fleet that I think I didn’t catch until my 6th viewing.
As for the bombers, they seem pretty unwieldy. I doubt they’d have been much of a threat against the hundreds of TIEs at Starkiller if they could be picked off so easily. Not to mention who even knows if they have hyperspace capabilities.
(as for the A-wings, I guess you just have to assume they were off doing something like whatever most of the X-wings were doing in this one)
I’m not really sure what about TLJ invites this much scrutiny? I don’t think there’s anything really technical about the plot. “Resistance fleet is faster so it can keep out of range until the fuel goes out”? I don’t really see how that’s much more complicated than other SW plots, it seems to fit right in with “Falcon needs to find a safe place away from the Imperial fleet to fix the hyperdrive so they can regroup with the rest of the rebels.”
If you don’t know how to turn off your brain from looking for plot holes that seems like a problem with you, not the movie.