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OK, so I'm thinking about building up an Eldar army. The themes I want are a raiding force with enough punch to win scenarios, and that is high-tech, high-speed, and low drag. Basically, the fluff opposite to IG. In other words, I want it to look and act just like a sci-fi army, more like techy Star Wars than grungy and run-down.

I'd like it to have high-tech models and stuff, troop carriers, walkers, etc, sort of an "air-assault" theme of raiders.

Any and all thoughts appreciated, I know nada, zip, need to look at the codex and GW store to learn more.

Thanks!
Aman

Well, mech Eldar is fun to play.
I'd start with two full Dire Avenger squads in Serpents and either one unit of 5 Pathfinders or a Jetbike squad (3 Jetbikes plus Warlock).
Add a Farseer as support character and an Autarch for larger games as she can improve reserve rolls; sometimes you want to keep the army in reserve if you battle a very shooty army that goes first and there is insufficient terrain to hide the tanks.
Heavy support is important in an Eldar army. Two Fire Prisms are good for anti-horde. Add some more anti-tank by taking Fire Dragons in a Serpent.

Sounds like you are going to want to go skimmer heavy in your list. Nothing wrong with that. Here are some units you may want to consider.

1) You can field squads of dire avengers (10man including an exarch with blade storm) for your troops.
2) If you like the idea of infiltrating chamoline cloaked (predator style) snipers, then take some pathfinders as well. If the idea clashes with your "air raider" theme, then feel free to skip them.
3) Jetbikes are a solid troop choice as well. They are fast and fun and fit your theme well. A warlock with destructor and a singing spear is often a good addition to the squad.
4) For fast attack you can put in a squad or two of vypers. They are another unit that fits well with your theme. Single vypers with bright lances work for anti tank work or larger squads with scatter lasers or missile launchers work for anti troop and anti light vehicle jobs.
5) For heavy support, falcons (possibly filled with fire dragons) would work well for you. If you are not fond of the dragons in the falcon (aka snakes on a plane) then you may want to just go for fire prisms.
6) Fire prisms are great long range support and fit your theme well. Most people like to run them in pairs to take advantage of their combined shots.
7) You mention walkers in your theme so you may want to consider war walkers. They pack more fire power than another unit in the codex (and possibly the game).
8) For HQ I would recommend a farseer. Their army boosting abilities (fortune, doom, guide) are all extremely valuable. Fortune is great for units that will be taking a lot of fire. Doom helps medium and low strength attacks do significantly more damage. Guide helps mitigate the fairly low BS of most of the eldar weapons (particularly the heavy weapons).

Great, thanks for the feedback! I also did a little research at the GW site, and am working on a 1500-2000 list. I don't have the codex, so uncertain of points values, but since I'm going "theme" I figure the exact point totals don't really matter - just the unit slots. The goal is a fast-moving army that will use mobility to BOTH concentrate firepower at critical points on the battlefield AND avoid weapons that tear skimmers up. Special abilities of HQ/Characters would be keeping the skimmers alive long enough to do their stuff. So those are my goals. Here's where I'm going so far

HQ: Farseer and warlock bodyguard (to enhance army abilities). Possibly an Autarch on Jetbike?
[Should I get a Seer Council? Do any of the special characters enhance this type of army?]

Elites: 3 Wave Serpents (to transport squads around and give supporting fire)

Troops: Three squads Guardians / Storm Guardians / Dire Avengers to ride around in Wave Serpents.
1-2 cheap Guardian squads to protect an objective and add a little long-range firepower.
1-3 units of Jetbikes [+Shriekers?]

Fast Attack: Vypers and Shining Spears

Heavy: Falcon/Fire Prism, or Wraithlord and War Walkers (two differently themed groups) [stupid question: are Wraithguard "larger" models than Guardians? Are they supposed to go with the Wraithlord, or do they just share the name?]

Aman wrote:HQ: Farseer and warlock bodyguard (to enhance army abilities). Possibly an Autarch on Jetbike?
[Should I get a Seer Council? Do any of the special characters enhance this type of army?]

You have some decisions to make here. The first is if you want your farseer with warlocks or not. The farseer is a leader that can be run in a lot of different ways to do a lot of different things. If you put your farseer with warlocks, they become an extremely tough unit (you give the farseer fortune so that the whole squad has 4+ I saves that you can reroll if you fail). They are also a hand to hand unit that has the odd role of being very good at killing things with high toughness and bad armor saves. Since nothing with a toughness over 4 has an armor save of less than 3 (that I can think of offhand) there isn't much in the way of perfect targets for them. However if you are having a hard time bringing down things with high toughness, then these guys can really help you out. On the other hand, you can run the farseer without warlocks just as well. You could put him with your banshees, give him fortune, doom, and spirit stones and have him fortune the banshees, doom their target, and have him fight with them. Another option would be to have ride in a serpent with your dire avengers or guardians and give him guide. When the squad gets out of the serpent, you can leave the farseer inside and he can spend the game guiding whatever unit is nearby from that point on.

As far as the auarch goes, I'm not too fond of them. They have some decent hand to hand ability, but they are only one model and their power isn't that great. The ability to give you +1 to your reserve rolls can be a major benefit if you plan to have your army start mostly off the board (which is viable for an army that's mostly skimmers). In either case, I don't think putting him on a jetbike is a good idea for your setup unless you are taking shining spears (and they are another unit that I'm not fond of). Either way, you are better off arming him for close combat and putting him in a squad of aspect warriors designed for hand to hand.

Elites: 3 Wave Serpents (to transport squads around and give supporting fire)

Works great. I recommend banshees, scorpions and fire dragons. Hand to hand squads should be 8-10 strong. Dragons work out well at around 6 (which also means you can put them in a flacon). Exarchs are great for the hand to hand squads and are a waste for fire dragons.

Troops: Three squads Guardians / Storm Guardians / Dire Avengers to ride around in Wave Serpents.
1-2 cheap Guardian squads to protect an objective and add a little long-range firepower.

Dire avengers and storm guardians work out fairly well in serpents, although the storm guardians tend to be a throw away unit in this setup. Give them two flamers and lets them rip on enemies. Regular guardians should probably be left on foot to care for rear objectives and generally hold down your fort (so to speak).

1-3 units of Jetbikes [+Shriekers?]

Always put as many shruiken cannons on your jetbikes are you can (so 1 out of every 3). The increase in fire power (and more importantly range) is totally worth it.

Fast Attack: Vypers and Shining Spears

I'm fond of vypers. Missile launchers tend to work out best for them. They give vypers decent anti infantry power and the option of doing some anti tank work if they need to (BS3 kind of hampers that though). The best part about the missile launcher though is the range. You want to keep your vypers as far away from the enemy as possible and missile launchers allow you to do this and still do damage.

As for shining spears, I'm not fond of them. Sure they are a fast hand to hand unit that's fairly tough by eldar standards, but the problem with them is that they just don't do enough damage. They have S6 power weapons (when they charge) but they only have 1 attack each and they don't have a second hand to hand weapon to up the number of attacks they get. In either case, if you take them, this is a good unit to place an autarch with since they can really benefit from having the extra hand to hand power.

Heavy: Falcon/Fire Prism, or Wraithlord and War Walkers (two differently themed groups) [stupid question: are Wraithguard "larger" models than Guardians? Are they supposed to go with the Wraithlord, or do they just share the name?]

According to the fluff, wraithguard are basically smaller versions of wraithlords. Both are wraithbone constructs that are animated by placing an eldar spirit stone in them to give them intellegence. In game terms, wraithguard end up having a much different role on the battlefield than their larger brothers. As far as model size goes, wraithguard are larger than guardians but smaller than wraithlords (about the size of a terminator...although a bit taller and skinnier). Rule wise, there is no particular correlation between wraithguard and wraithlords. You can take one, both, or neither as you see fit and there is no particular combination that is particularly advantageous. One thing to keep in mind for both units though is wraithsight. Both units need to have an eldar psyker (farseer, warlock, or shadowseer) near them at all times. If there isn't one within 6", the unit(s) has to roll a die at the beginning of the turn. If they roll a 1, they can't do anything (move, shoot, fight in hand to hand) at all that turn. The chance is only 1 in 6 of this being a problem, but it is something to worry about.

Fluff wise the closest thing would be a Saim Hann army (aka Wild Riders). It's a great army and alot of fun. Now, fluff aside....

I'm actually rather fond of Shining Spears as far as the list you are proposing. They fit the bill for your play style as they are a scalpel in this army. One unit with an Autarch on jet bike can move fast enough and hit hard enough to take out key units and still get out fast enough to minimize return casualties. You don't need them to take on the entire army but they can move fast enough to get rid of what you can't shoot off of the table.

The Autarch is a solid choice for your army as well. The flexibility to equip him as needed is always a plus. With the high speed of your army as a whole, you can afford to put your army in reserves and minimize casualties from incoming fire on turn one. The Autarch really helps with the reserve rolls in a tactic like that.

Other than that I agree with what everyone above here has said. Have fun with it!!