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Hey I have been playing Tau for a few years now and with the release of the new codex interested in developing a fun and competitive list.
I regularly play against Slice n Dice who writes up alot of our battles.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/recentTopics/showTopicsByUser/35053.page
Unfortunately his nid seem to have the better of my Tau so any and all suggestions would be great.
You can get an idea of our lists and playing styles on the above link.
Slice's nids are really well painted and worth a look any way.

Generall thoughts about army selection.
I'm interested in fun games and lists that are close to the spirit of the army.
If you are the kind of person who thinks Space Wolves list consisting of 3 squads of 5 Longfangs with missile launchers fits the above descrition please look move along.

I find the biggest weakness with Tau is dealing with T6+, W5+, Sv3+ monsters ie all the big bugs in a nids list.
Alot of people prefer Rail Heads over Ion Heads but I don't. Ion heads for me are a good way of dealing with these monsters. Now you can pie as well with them.
Having said that you need to resist the pie temptation untill all the big things are dead.

With the release of 6th I am not sure on the best configuration of the suits. Multi trackers as standard means that different weapons are great for massed fire however twin linked is a bonus for those snap shots (fire support).

Tau must move! It is easy to castle up but things will get into hth and as every tau player knows it won't be pritty. Having multiple fire bases as tau have long range will also help.
Fire warriors in a devilfish are important for Line Breaker, grabbing back objectives and turnig your oponent around.
I keep thinking about deep striking suits but I worry about the lack of shooting while they are off the table.

Finally the best config for broadsides...
Rails are good taking wounds off monsters and a good place for skyfire.
missile are good at well lots and losts of shots. I think they would have trouble with big things skyfire wouldn't be as good.

Well my list for you to comment on...

HQ
Commander (missile pod, cyclic ion, vector thrustors, Neuro web, Drone Control and 2 gun drones)

Ethereal

Elite
2* Crisis Battle Suits (missile pod, plasma rifle and 4 gun drones)
unit with commander

Riptide (TL plasma, ion accelerrator, stim injector, Early warning and bonded)

Troops
6*Fire warriors (leader)

6*Fire warriors (leader)

6*Fire warriors (leader)

6*Fire warriors (leader)

6*Fire warriors (leader)
Devilfish (disruption pod)

Fast
6* pathfinders (leader)

6* pathfinders (leader)

Heavy
Hammerhead (ion, smart missiles, disruption pod)

2* broadsides (Rail, smart missiles and velocity tracker)

Consider making a larger squad of FW's to protect your ethereal and make the most of invoking the elements(fluffwise, would you send an etheral into battle without a large bodyguard). Also, with your ethereal, do you need the 'ui's in each squad? You have pathfinders for markerlights, so you don't need the 'uis there. You are paying for that heroic ethereal bubble, might as well use it.

Consider the signature chip on your commander to give the crisis team monster hunter. Should help put those big nasty bugs to bed.

What are your plans for the fish? Might want to take the overwatch system to protect the fish as well as nearby warriors. Assaults against armor are lethal in 6th, so anything helps. Supporting fire to bailout warriors is also nice. Not sure you need the d-pod, the main AT shooting in a bug list I can think of is zoa's and hive guard. Hive guard ignore cover, and Zoa's can be denied.

I like railheads with sub-munitions over ionheads for the new codex. The small blast is nice to fry hordes, while the single shot is decent to put wounds on the big ones. I know you prefer the Ion head, but it costs more, and pie plates thin the horde that assaults you. S5 is powerful, and en mass can drop those big bugs. Focus the big nasties down, one at a time.

If you cut points here and there, a third crisis suit for the crisis team, or more fire warriors would be a good place to spend points.