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Not to resurrect a dead thread, but it's not worth its own thread.

But in battlescribe for KT, gun drones are only described as having 1 pulse carbine, not 2 as they do in 40k, can someone with access to the book confirm if true? at work w/o book

 pumaman1 wrote:
Not to resurrect a dead thread, but it's not worth its own thread.

But in battlescribe for KT, gun drones are only described as having 1 pulse carbine, not 2 as they do in 40k, can someone with access to the book confirm if true? at work w/o book

"an MV1 gun drone has 2 pulse carbines" from the book

Thank you kindly @Jaynen

I find just taking 5 Stealth Suits works really well

My terribad Tau team (1 stealth, lots of fire warriors) is just about painted, but a couple questions came up in a recent game:

1. Do drones (MV1 etc) count as 'models' when it comes to casualties, for various Morale phase checks and so on? Do they count as 'models' for scenario scoring, like the one where you run off the board end? How about 'models' when calculating Scouting phase 20% stuff?
2. Does the DS8 turret count as a 'model' for Morale phase stuff? For scoring (should an objective let it be deployed in position)? For Scouting phase stuff?
3. Does the DS8 have For the Greater Good?

Regarding #2, the DS8 says it doesn't count as being out of action when its attendant moves away from it, despite it being removed. Sooooo is the play to intentionally leave it when overrun, say by retreating its attendant in response to a charge, making it poof away without counting for Morale purposes? Rather than risk it dying in combat and then counting for Morale purposes?

I feel like the RAW answer is yes to all my questions (i.e. drones and turrets are models like all models), including poofing the turret rather than having it die.

- Salvage

1. Yes, Drones have no special rules related to Morale, and as such are treated as any other models.

2. Yes, see above, unless you make it go poof.

3. Yes. Unless specified, all models on the datasheet benefit from a special rule. This also means RAW the Turret would give out the benefit of Bonding Knife to other models, but not benefit itself (definitely unintentional and probably gonna get FAQed).

MalfunctBot wrote:
1. Yes, Drones have no special rules related to Morale, and as such are treated as any other models.

2. Yes, see above, unless you make it go poof.

3. Yes. Unless specified, all models on the datasheet benefit from a special rule. This also means RAW the Turret would give out the benefit of Bonding Knife to other models, but not benefit itself (definitely unintentional and probably gonna get FAQed).

Nah, see, how it works is that whenever any tau near them start to waver is spins around and shoots a knife into them, so no tau want to run away near it. They learned this technique from the imperium

Hey friendly peeps of the greater good, my friend is interested in beginning a Tau Kill Team and, while she only has a box of Pathfinders and Firewarriors (I know Stealth Suits are the best, she'll be adding them in a bit soon), what's a good combo she can start with, with just those boxes?

Here's a thought from me to get started:

Fire Warrior Shas'ui - rifle, pistol, markerlight [Leader]
Pathfinder Gunner - ion rifle [Sniper]
Pathfinder Gunner - rail rifle [Demo]
Pathfinder Gunner - rail rifle
Fire Warrior Shas'la - rifle, pistol [Comms]
^ Tactical Support Turret - SMS
Fire Warrior Shas'la - rifle, pistol
Fire Warrior Shas'la - rifle, pistol
Fire Warrior Shas'la - rifle, pistol
Fire Warrior Shas'la - rifle, pistol
Recon Drone
Pathfinder
----------
100

Has some of the meta choices, decent multi-damage weapons, good body count. I personally dig fire warriors, but my stealth fusion suit is the MVP by far, followed by his plucky gun drone, which is waaay better than he ought to be

- Salvage

Cheers for that Salvage, looks like a cool and fun team. I'll send it her way

Worth noting that Bonding Knife ritual requires nearby units to also have that ability to benefit, so drones don't benefit from it since they don't have it, and likewise can't be counted by other units for purposing of giving the bonus.

From the Errata / Notes:

- Drones / turrets can give out Bonding Knife bonuses but not benefit from the rule themselves
- Drones Sv 4+
- Shield drones shrug wounds on a 5+
- Marker drones don't get -1 for moving and shooting their markerlight
- The DS8 turret does count as a model in the kill team

Some other FAQ as well, either general (attaking player rolls almost all injury rolls - but not savior protocol ones!) or not game-changing.

Originally I was going to use a shield drone to babysit my fusion shas'vre, but went with the gun drone on the advice of Sept Internet. I'm sort of tempted to swap back, but those 4x S5 shots are really legit, and my gun drone is already racking up a body count (2 orks!)

- Salvage

 Boss Salvage wrote:
From the Errata / Notes:

- Drones / turrets can give out Bonding Knife bonuses but not benefit from the rule themselves

...


- Salvage

I don't think this is correct with respect to drones. From the FAQ:

"Fire Warrior Bonding Knife Ritual: You can subtract 1 from Nerve tests for Shas’las and Shas’uis from your kill team within 3" of any other friendly models with this ability that are not shaken." [Underline added.]

Drones don't have the Fire Warrior Bonding Knife Ritual ability and thus do not trigger the bonus.

Basically, it seems to me that (post-FAQ), Fire Warriors only get the benefit if they are near other non-shaken Fire Warriors or a support turret. Pathfinders or Stealth Suits only get the bonus for being near other Pathfinders or Stealth Suits respectively.

Yep, you're right, I was thinking drones were also under those units, so inherited the rule ala support turrets. Definitely wrong.

And looking at the errata again, you're right that the bonding knife rituals now have specific names - or maybe they did before? But it's clear that a Fire Warrior doesn't care about 'Stealth Team Bonding Knife Ritual'.

So I guess I was just right about the turrets

In related news, played against DE in Terror Tactics this weekend. They jammed hard but it still would have been doable if I could roll 2 or 3+ to wound, or make an armor save. I think I landed 6 wounds (from dozens of hits, including a couple fusion shots) and made literally 0 armor saves, typically at 4+. Sad times. Oh! And somewhat ironically given my above posts, I never remembered bonding knife or friends within 2", so my FW spent half the game shaken and slowly getting carved up in combat.

- Salvage

EDIT: nvm, i'm blind

"People are complaining about Tau in kill team, boss!"

"Shoot! Quick! Buff drones, nerf fire warriors, breachers, and pathfinders!"

"Okay, it's published."

"Wait, hang on, what were they complaining about with the Tau?"

I heard the tactics from the T'au KT Box are pretty good, but haven't had a chance to read myself yet.

Opinions about it?

@scot: fire warriors and breachers were already useless anyway, weren't they? while drones are better now.

Right, I need to look those up still. Here's two I found real quick:

- The Baited Trap (2CP): Use when charged. Model hits his Overwatch shots on a 4+ instead of a 6+, for the remainder of the phase.
- Tandem Hunting Pattern (2CP): Two Readied models within 4" of each other may both fire during the Ready Fire! step, before any other player may choose a model to shoot!

Not bad! Expensive tho. Currently Stim Injector is the only Tau tactic I use in games, Uplinked Markerlights is always on the table but I still sorta think ML are a trap at worst, nice to have at best.

- Salvage

I found them:
Multi spector sensor suit looks to be the best to me, 1 cp and lets you ignore obscured models benefits (so you get no -1 to hit and -1 on injury roll) for 1 cp when shooting with one of your models

The others are situationals/expensive