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Hey there I just got back into Tau recently and a thought has been going around in my mind for a while and that was if the Tau have battlefield medics and if so would they be part of the fire caste or earth caste has anyone come across any info that may help out.

The Tau population is hardly large, it wouldn't make sense for them to have no system to deal with the wounded?

My guess would be fire caste: Air is for spacecraft and pilots, water is negotiators and bureaucrats, and earth is engineering and construction. Given field medical falls into none of these categories and takes place on a battlefield, it makes the most sense for the medics to be from the warrior caste.

They supposedly use automated drones, operated by the Earth Caste.

I think that there should be an official drone model that you would connect to a squad (Fire Warriors, Pathfinders, battlesuits) that would give a stat like Toughness or your armor save a boost, for a good price, though. Can't have people spamming their entire army full of them.

Something else the Tau should get is an engineer drone or something that can fix the vehicles. I've had way too many times where an IG player flew a Valkyrie over to me during an Apocalypse match and blew off my Hammerhead's railgun, with no way to get that tank's points value into the battle without using a Seeker Missile.

So yes, the Tau have Medics, but they're not fieldable.

qlmaX5 wrote:I think that there should be an official drone model that you would connect to a squad (Fire Warriors, Pathfinders, battlesuits) that would give a stat like Toughness or your armor save a boost, for a good price, though. Can't have people spamming their entire army full of them.

Something else the Tau should get is an engineer drone or something that can fix the vehicles. I've had way too many times where an IG player flew a Valkyrie over to me during an Apocalypse match and blew off my Hammerhead's railgun, with no way to get that tank's points value into the battle without using a Seeker Missile.

So yes, the Tau have Medics, but they're not fieldable.

Hopefully later on if they decide to redo the tau again GW might include a medical drone that you can field, but instead of boosting your armour save the drone gives your squad the Feel No Pain rule like the medics in IG have. I also like your idea of a drone that does repairs on your vehicles but instead of a model it could be in your vehicles upgrades like thousands of microdrones that conduct emergencey repairs when on a roll of is made if your tank or piranha becomes damaged or immoblised

Well, FW have a Tx-4 technical drone (capacity not disclosed) but it might be in the next tau codex or something. Given the Skyray and Piranha were FW first, GW next, one can hope.

A medical drone would also be a good option. I want them to call it an Fx- drone. (Star Wars fanboi in me).

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Tau/TAU-BATTLESUITS-AND-DRONES/TAU-DX-4-TECHNICAL-DRONES.html

The DX-4 is a very versitile Drone unit and can be equipped for a variety of functions from surveillance, medical treatment through to breaching obstacles. The DX-4 can be used to mark the Observation point and Medicae facility Stratagems or attached to a squad to make them Combat engineers. Pack of 2 complete resin models. Models designed by Mark Bedford.

Bold text is my emphasis.

If they had Non-Drone Medics, they would most certainly be part of the caste they medic for.

In our armies, you don't have Air Force Medics in an Army Operation do you?

A Xenos-ified NHS?

Gwar! wrote:If they had Non-Drone Medics, they would most certainly be part of the caste they medic for.

In our armies, you don't have Air Force Medics in an Army Operation do you?

The US marine Corps uses Navy Corpsman as they don't have medics, however techinally the Marnies are their own branch but a department of the Navy.

qlmaX5 wrote:I think that there should be an official drone model that you would connect to a squad (Fire Warriors, Pathfinders, battlesuits) that would give a stat like Toughness or your armor save a boost, for a good price, though. Can't have people spamming their entire army full of them.

Something else the Tau should get is an engineer drone or something that can fix the vehicles. I've had way too many times where an IG player flew a Valkyrie over to me during an Apocalypse match and blew off my Hammerhead's railgun, with no way to get that tank's points value into the battle without using a Seeker Missile.

So yes, the Tau have Medics, but they're not fieldable.

Judging by the current trend of buffs given by medic models in squads, it would be more likely to give FNP than a stat boost.

Yeah I can imagine earth caste medical drones operating on the field, with a more serious field hospital away from the main lines of battle, operated by earth caste (they are workers, not warriors in a manner of speaking).

Battlefield medics would most probably be Fire caste, because their primary role is to move around and survive on the battlefield.

High level medics might be different castes depending on their specialities.

For example, I can imagine Water caste being good at general practice and psychiatry, thanks to their inborn communication skills.

Apart from that idea, I don't see any particular reason why a doctor has to be from any particular caste. I expect there are doctors in every caste who treat their own caste members primarily. Hospitals are probably staffed by all castes.