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 Psienesis wrote:

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 PhillyT wrote:
Someone help me out:

Wasn't part of the reason the Tau have had such explosive technological advancement is because for them, 50,000 years passed while the planet was surrounded by the warp storms?

No. There were storms in the warp between the Imperium and the segment of the galaxy in which the T'au system is but T'au was never within a warp storm in the sense of planets in the Eye of Terror, for example.

It's the overflow of the warp into realspace which causes the weird time stuff to happen in the Eye of Terror. So the storms around what would become Tau space were bad enough to make warp travel through them impossible (at least if you intended to come out the other side in the right time frame and universe) but not strong enough to rip a hole in realspace and allow the warp to leak in.

So time would have flowed normally for the Tau race.

Citation needed.

How about a citation on time going faster?

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Yes, Tau natural lifespan is 80 "standard" years, rather than 120 like a human's is.

Which says interesting things about the length of a standard year in the Imperium.

Actually I think 80 is what Ethereals live to, but normal Tau only make it to around 40-50.

The Imperial Standard Year is how long it takes Terra to orbit Sol(365.25 days on Terra) so its the same as a year on Earth IRL.

Mankind on average lives longer than normal due to advances in medical science, and anyone with money can live far beyond the average. If you have money and/or connections you can live for hundreds of years. And thats without cybernetics or genetic manipulation.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 robam45 wrote:

 Ashiraya wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
Tau are mammals. They're a bovine-like species.

Nothing specific is mentioned beyond this other than they mature in roughly 10 terran years.

Thus we can assume gestation is relatively quick and the young are relatively precocious. We also know that Tau are educated in their caste at a young age till they mature.

The platypus is a mammal that lays eggs.

It's also a one-of-a-kind species.

It is unlikely to be the same with Tau.

Is this a real response? I can't fathom a human-being that thinks that since only one mammal lays eggs in their universe that it's unlikely that a fictional race in a fictional setting with a literally non-existent ancestral background can both be mammalian and lay eggs.

That is just so bizarre.

You mean like how laying eggs is an evolutionary disadvantage for big brained mammals, which would have to be born in gigantic eggs so large it might injure the mother?

Before you start berating people on science, make sure you actually understand the subject.

*Woosh* Way to miss the point, friend.

a fictional race in a fictional setting with a literally non-existent ancestral background

 EmpNortonII wrote:

I dunno. The Tau seem to have little trouble in developing new weapon systems to respond to new threats (unlike, say, the Imperium, which couldn't figure out how to strap anti-aircraft missiles to a Rhino without an STC). If the Tau had 50,000 years to develop, I think they'd be much further ahead of the Imperium than they are now.

Besides, 50,000 years would have left a LOT of Tau on T'au... and without conflict or worlds to colonize, where would they all fit? The speed of the three expansions seems to indicate a reproductive rate that would have left T'au with tens of billions of residents over 50,000 years.

Actually, I think you'll find that the Imperium has no problem strapping guns to nonstandard chassis (Land Raider Crusader, Prometheus, Aries, Leman Russ Demolisher, I'm looking at you).

It's the anti-air missile itself that they needed the STC for.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Yes, Tau natural lifespan is 80 "standard" years, rather than 120 like a human's is.

Which says interesting things about the length of a standard year in the Imperium.

Actually I think 80 is what Ethereals live to, but normal Tau only make it to around 40-50.

Still have yet to see a source for this.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Yes, Tau natural lifespan is 80 "standard" years, rather than 120 like a human's is.

Which says interesting things about the length of a standard year in the Imperium.

Actually I think 80 is what Ethereals live to, but normal Tau only make it to around 40-50.

Still have yet to see a source for this.

Yeah, and Aun'va appears to be well over 80.

 Furyou Miko wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:

I dunno. The Tau seem to have little trouble in developing new weapon systems to respond to new threats (unlike, say, the Imperium, which couldn't figure out how to strap anti-aircraft missiles to a Rhino without an STC). If the Tau had 50,000 years to develop, I think they'd be much further ahead of the Imperium than they are now.

Besides, 50,000 years would have left a LOT of Tau on T'au... and without conflict or worlds to colonize, where would they all fit? The speed of the three expansions seems to indicate a reproductive rate that would have left T'au with tens of billions of residents over 50,000 years.

Actually, I think you'll find that the Imperium has no problem strapping guns to nonstandard chassis (Land Raider Crusader, Prometheus, Aries, Leman Russ Demolisher, I'm looking at you).

It's the anti-air missile itself that they needed the STC for.

From the wiki: "The Land Raider Crusader design originated from the Jerulas Crusade in 645.M39 when Artificer Simagus used ancient techno-arcana, recovered from the long-forgotten depths of a captured Hive City, to develop what would become one of the most feared tanks in the Imperium."

Reads less like it was developed and more like it was found. Certainly, it required a recovery of lost information. It wasn't a spontaneous development, like Shadowsun's stealth suit, the AX-1-0 or the Riptide.

Can we get back on topic to Tau reproductive rates and discussing what this race is like in infancy?

I'm pretty sure that both the land raider and land speeder were found by a guy named Land.

They have to be. Otherwise, the Land Speeder is very, very ironically named...

 Psienesis wrote:
They have to be. Otherwise, the Land Speeder is very, very ironically named...

I'm pretty sure they were made by a guy named Sea.

 EmpNortonII wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:

I dunno. The Tau seem to have little trouble in developing new weapon systems to respond to new threats (unlike, say, the Imperium, which couldn't figure out how to strap anti-aircraft missiles to a Rhino without an STC). If the Tau had 50,000 years to develop, I think they'd be much further ahead of the Imperium than they are now.

Besides, 50,000 years would have left a LOT of Tau on T'au... and without conflict or worlds to colonize, where would they all fit? The speed of the three expansions seems to indicate a reproductive rate that would have left T'au with tens of billions of residents over 50,000 years.

Actually, I think you'll find that the Imperium has no problem strapping guns to nonstandard chassis (Land Raider Crusader, Prometheus, Aries, Leman Russ Demolisher, I'm looking at you).

It's the anti-air missile itself that they needed the STC for.

From the wiki: "The Land Raider Crusader design originated from the Jerulas Crusade in 645.M39 when Artificer Simagus used ancient techno-arcana, recovered from the long-forgotten depths of a captured Hive City, to develop what would become one of the most feared tanks in the Imperium."

Reads less like it was developed and more like it was found. Certainly, it required a recovery of lost information. It wasn't a spontaneous development, like Shadowsun's stealth suit, the AX-1-0 or the Riptide.

Can we get back on topic to Tau reproductive rates and discussing what this race is like in infancy?

Right, we can, when you refute all the other points I brought up. Here's a few more: Vendetta, Medusa, Wyvern. Bale Wolf. Stormsword. Lots of Imperial vehicles that are field retrofits of other designs.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Yes, Tau natural lifespan is 80 "standard" years, rather than 120 like a human's is.

Which says interesting things about the length of a standard year in the Imperium.

Actually I think 80 is what Ethereals live to, but normal Tau only make it to around 40-50.

Still have yet to see a source for this.

Previous Tau codex gives an average life expectancy for Tau in T'au years.

Elsewhere in the same book it gives the number of standard Terran days it takes T'au to orbit its sun.

Combine those two and it gives an average life expectancy around 40-50 Terran years.

 Furyou Miko wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:

I dunno. The Tau seem to have little trouble in developing new weapon systems to respond to new threats (unlike, say, the Imperium, which couldn't figure out how to strap anti-aircraft missiles to a Rhino without an STC). If the Tau had 50,000 years to develop, I think they'd be much further ahead of the Imperium than they are now.

Besides, 50,000 years would have left a LOT of Tau on T'au... and without conflict or worlds to colonize, where would they all fit? The speed of the three expansions seems to indicate a reproductive rate that would have left T'au with tens of billions of residents over 50,000 years.

Actually, I think you'll find that the Imperium has no problem strapping guns to nonstandard chassis (Land Raider Crusader, Prometheus, Aries, Leman Russ Demolisher, I'm looking at you).

It's the anti-air missile itself that they needed the STC for.

From the wiki: "The Land Raider Crusader design originated from the Jerulas Crusade in 645.M39 when Artificer Simagus used ancient techno-arcana, recovered from the long-forgotten depths of a captured Hive City, to develop what would become one of the most feared tanks in the Imperium."

Reads less like it was developed and more like it was found. Certainly, it required a recovery of lost information. It wasn't a spontaneous development, like Shadowsun's stealth suit, the AX-1-0 or the Riptide.

Can we get back on topic to Tau reproductive rates and discussing what this race is like in infancy?

Right, we can, when you refute all the other points I brought up. Here's a few more: Vendetta, Medusa, Wyvern. Bale Wolf. Stormsword. Lots of Imperial vehicles that are field retrofits of other designs.

You actually have that backwards. The books go out of their way to say that the Imperium's vehicles and weapons are all based on STC designs.

In contrast, the Tau Codex goes out of its way to talk about Earth Caste enginners and scientists inventing weapons. The burden of proof is on you, not us, to show that any particular design was invented and not found as an STC.

I have, however, admitted that the Mark VIII Space Marines armor is a new invention... that took the AdMech 10,000 years to create. Note- this is longer than Tau civilization has existed.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Yes, Tau natural lifespan is 80 "standard" years, rather than 120 like a human's is.

Which says interesting things about the length of a standard year in the Imperium.

Actually I think 80 is what Ethereals live to, but normal Tau only make it to around 40-50.

Still have yet to see a source for this.

Previous Tau codex gives an average life expectancy for Tau in T'au years.

Elsewhere in the same book it gives the number of standard Terran days it takes T'au to orbit its sun.

Combine those two and it gives an average life expectancy around 40-50 Terran years.

What page? I don't remember that anywhere.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Yes, Tau natural lifespan is 80 "standard" years, rather than 120 like a human's is.

Which says interesting things about the length of a standard year in the Imperium.

Actually I think 80 is what Ethereals live to, but normal Tau only make it to around 40-50.

Still have yet to see a source for this.

Previous Tau codex gives an average life expectancy for Tau in T'au years.

Elsewhere in the same book it gives the number of standard Terran days it takes T'au to orbit its sun.

Combine those two and it gives an average life expectancy around 40-50 Terran years.

What page? I don't remember that anywhere.

I don't have my old Tau dex anymore, but it was around the area where it described T'au itself(the calender) and then the other bit was somewhere in the generic fluff.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Yes, Tau natural lifespan is 80 "standard" years, rather than 120 like a human's is.

Which says interesting things about the length of a standard year in the Imperium.

Actually I think 80 is what Ethereals live to, but normal Tau only make it to around 40-50.

Still have yet to see a source for this.

Previous Tau codex gives an average life expectancy for Tau in T'au years.

Elsewhere in the same book it gives the number of standard Terran days it takes T'au to orbit its sun.

Combine those two and it gives an average life expectancy around 40-50 Terran years.

What page? I don't remember that anywhere.

I don't have my old Tau dex anymore, but it was around the area where it described T'au itself(the calender) and then the other bit was somewhere in the generic fluff.

Would be that 3rd of 4th edtion?

It was the previous codex from the one out now. I think it was 4th edition that one came out.

Thanks. I have the 3rd with me, I have to go find the 4th.

Its the one with this cover.

Yeah, that's the fourth (although it might be the third as well, mines missing it's cover ).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Well according to the third, a tau year is 297.74 terran days.

A T'au year is 300 terran days.

The only reference to any Tau's age in the 3rd ed codex (apart from Farsight's unnatural lifespan) is Aun'shi, where it describes 40 as old.

However in the most recent codex we have Puretide being described as old at 80 years (and that's 80 imperial years as the timeline is measured in terms of M41, something the Tau wouldn't do if they were using their own timeframe) and he still hadn't retired from military duty.

So either Puretide spent an accumulated 30-40 years in stasis during his campaigns (which is silly as his military service was spent capturing the closer worlds to T'au), or the 40 year old age lifespan has been retcon'd.

Also, Puretide is described as being kept alive for many more decades. So I'd put the earliest estimate of his death at 110 years after he was born. And he wasn't just stuck in a fridge during those decades, he was teaching the brightest Fire Caste cadets (including Shadowsun and Farsight).

Stasis had only been invented very shortly before he died.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
Stasis had only been invented very shortly before he died.

Yes, you're right. The stasis used by Shadowsun et al. was prototype tech. So 80 is the new 40 for the Tau.

People please we can all pretty much agree that they lay eggs like chickens or the platypuses... Also fun fact Easter is a real b17ch for tau infants... And that's why we hide the eggs!

 Psienesis wrote:
Even if she did, this is a period of time that might last a few weeks, at best. Babies don't nurse *that* long, and Tau mature quickly. Their childhood is a few years long, at best, followed by a brief adolescence, with maturity reached at, what, ten years?

Many Mom's that nurse, nurse for up to 1-1.5 years as normal.

Babies don't need to be nursed, but nursed babies tend to be healthier, have less weight problems, and have fewer issues than formula fed babies. Not that formula feeding is bad or wrong, there are just benefits to nursing that formula cannot replace (of course, 30 years ago or more it was considered better to formula feed, so it comes and goes).

If the mother Tau produces milk, some form of milking/nursing will be of benefit (as otherwise it can become painful as my wife can attest to). This can be done on a system that weens the baby off and minimizes discomfort. No reason to think they would not nurse, as you suggest, and just keep it shorter in duration.

Of course, in a greater good society, it is also perfectly logical to have 'mothers' come off line for whatever the required duration to ensure a 'healthy' baby, gender 'rights' would have no place in such a society.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Tau are mammals. They're a bovine-like species.

Nothing specific is mentioned beyond this other than they mature in roughly 10 terran years.

Thus we can assume gestation is relatively quick and the young are relatively precocious. We also know that Tau are educated in their caste at a young age till they mature.

Also, with Tau being Tau, it's quite likely that they have breeding programs for the various castes - or at the very least for the Fire Caste.

Whether or not these are literally outed as breeding programs amongst the Tau themselves (Ethereals not withstanding) is up for debate. I wouldn't be surprised if earning a promotion came with a male having a new mate assigned to him / being able to claim one, basically disguising the intent. Or something along the lines of participating in a campaign / tour having the arbitrary reward of a few weeks spent in the company of attractive, lusty tau babes.

Tau are not bovine, they just have hooves. Just like goats, horses, pigs, ect.

 morganfreeman wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
Tau are mammals. They're a bovine-like species.

Nothing specific is mentioned beyond this other than they mature in roughly 10 terran years.

Thus we can assume gestation is relatively quick and the young are relatively precocious. We also know that Tau are educated in their caste at a young age till they mature.

Also, with Tau being Tau, it's quite likely that they have breeding programs for the various castes - or at the very least for the Fire Caste.

Whether or not these are literally outed as breeding programs amongst the Tau themselves (Ethereals not withstanding) is up for debate. I wouldn't be surprised if earning a promotion came with a male having a new mate assigned to him / being able to claim one, basically disguising the intent. Or something along the lines of participating in a campaign / tour having the arbitrary reward of a few weeks spent in the company of attractive, lusty tau babes.

Not likely, given that male and female Tau are otherwise completely equal in society.

Heck- our foremost general is female. If anything, she is getting attractive, lusty Tau beefcakes.

I would guess the Tau use genetic matchmaking to pair up.

 Maniac_nmt wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
Even if she did, this is a period of time that might last a few weeks, at best. Babies don't nurse *that* long, and Tau mature quickly. Their childhood is a few years long, at best, followed by a brief adolescence, with maturity reached at, what, ten years?

Many Mom's that nurse, nurse for up to 1-1.5 years as normal.

Babies don't need to be nursed, but nursed babies tend to be healthier, have less weight problems, and have fewer issues than formula fed babies. Not that formula feeding is bad or wrong, there are just benefits to nursing that formula cannot replace (of course, 30 years ago or more it was considered better to formula feed, so it comes and goes).

If the mother Tau produces milk, some form of milking/nursing will be of benefit (as otherwise it can become painful as my wife can attest to). This can be done on a system that weens the baby off and minimizes discomfort. No reason to think they would not nurse, as you suggest, and just keep it shorter in duration.

Of course, in a greater good society, it is also perfectly logical to have 'mothers' come off line for whatever the required duration to ensure a 'healthy' baby, gender 'rights' would have no place in such a society.

... did you just claim that maternity leave is a VIOLATION of gender rights?

Fifty bucks says you're a white American male that votes Republican.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Grey Templar wrote:
I would guess the Tau use genetic matchmaking to pair up.

I imagine it's a little more like Farscape's sebaceans.