1000 points with a Battleforce huh? Well, good luck to you. Unfortunately, while you can use a lot of everything that comes in the Tau Battleforce, you can't play above 500 points with it yet. MAYBE 750.
Yep, your list has a case of "I'm spending points on stuff to keep up with my friends" syndrome. It could be optimized sure but we've all been there I'm sure. I myself broke into 4th edition with a Commander and two squads of Fire Warriors against my friend's Daemon Prince and 2 squads of Khorne Berzerkers. My 340 pts versus 500 points. Not a fun way to start out.
Anyway, onto the list.
Shas'o Mann wrote:
1x Shas'o with Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, and Fusion Blaster
Wargear:
-1x Shield Drone (converted from gun drone.)
-2x Gun Drones
-Hard Wired Drone Controller
-Hard Wired Blacksun Filter
-Hard Wired Multi Tracker
-Stimulant injector
-Iridium Armour Plating
Yep. Right there. assassin already touched on some good points but I'll add some to further explain.
>> You don't need 3 weapons. Three weapons were popular for a little while at the end of last edition but now everyone gives them a specific role. For a good all-around suit, use the Plasma Rifle/Missile Pod combo as assassin suggests. If you want something a little more shooty, try the Burst Cannon/Missile Pod combo. Burst Cannons aren't too bad below 1000 points and definitely could be of some use to force some dice rolling. Going with what assassin suggested is just fine.
>> You went a little overboard with the Drones since you can only have 2 max on any model with a Controller. Also, the suits have the Acute Senses rule which lets you re-roll any Night Fight checks so using a Black Sun Filter doesn't come up a whole lot. Feel No Pain is kinda nice but on only 1 model is kinda meh. Iridium Armor robs him of his ability to move away. Sure the +1 Armor is nice but if you don't have cover from that Lascannon blast, you won't live anyway.
Shas'o Mann wrote:1x Stealth Team: 2 Shas'ui with burst cannons, 1 Shas'vre with fusion blaster and markerlight.
Wargear:
-1x Markerlight Drone
-Hardwired Drone Controller
-Targeting array (everyone in the team has one)
>> Stealth Teams aren't too bad below 1000 points. Probably the only point level I'd bust mine out for. I'd just run them as straight suits though.
>> Markerlights are far more effective when you have more units to make use of them. I'd wait until you have more units before including these. You need to pack as many shots in as you can at this level otherwise you'll be outshot. And as Tau? You can't let that happen.
Shas'o Mann wrote:1x Fire Warrior Squad: 11 Shas'la with Pulse Rifles, 1 Shas'ui with Pulse Rifle, Drone controller, and bonding knife)
Wargear:
-1x Gun Drone(Sometimes I don't take it so the squad will fit in the Devilfish.)
>> Looks good but I'd remove the Drone.
Shas'o Mann wrote:1x Devilfish APC
Wargear:
-Flechette Discharger
-Decoy Launcher
-Disruption Pod
>> As assassin said, you'll get more shots out of the option he suggested. With just the Battleforce to work with you'll need to use all the models you can and the Devilfish isn't a terrible platform to use.
Shas'o Mann wrote:1x Kroot Carnivore Squad: 11 Kroot Carnivores, 1 Kroot Shaper.(All have Kroot Rifles.)
Every one was upgraded with a 6+ armour save
>> A 6+ save isn't too much to rely on. 1) You only save 16% of the time and 2) it's negated by 90% of the weapons out there. Just ask an Ork player. He'll tell you how many armor saves he gets to take each game.
[085] Shas'
el - Burst Cannon, Missile Pod, Targeting Array,
HW Multi-Tracker
[090] Stealth Team - Burst Cannon
[120] Fire Warrior Squad - Shas'ui x 12
[120] > Devilfish - Burst Cannon,
SMS, Targeting Array, Disruption Pod, Multi-Tracker
[084] Kroot Carnivore Squad - Kroot x12
[499]
Overall, not too bad. Like you said, armor is going to be a problem. The Battleforce doesn't give a lot of viable alternatives to punch it so you'll just have to make do for now. Hopefully, some of your friends want to play at 500 points. Suggestions of what to expand your force with would be this:
>> As you notice, your Warriors don't have special weapons like Marines. All off your special weapons are tied into your Crisis suits teams. For starters, I'd try to get a few more of the Crisis suits. They can perform whichever role you kit them out for and buying them is always going to be a sound investment. As a lot of Tau players say, you can NEVER have too many Crisis suits.
>> Pretty soon, you'll have to find a way to get a Railgun into your 1000 point list once you build up to it. Broadsides or Hammerheads. Both are good. Hammerheads for small games and Broadsides for large or small. I'd probably try your Devilfish as a Hammerhead once or twice to try it out. If you like it, then go purchase a Sky Ray box. Why? Because you can make all three tanks from it and extra bits are included! It's just cost-effective for the money you dish out.
Hope all this helped out.