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I bought a tau battlesuit recently, and i went with giving it a plasma rifle and a burst cannon. I'm wondering if this is worth it, and if so, how can it be used? I don't have any of the other models/the tau codex yet, bar a marker drone and 12 firewarriors, but i have researched enough that i will probably understand your answer.

My thinking is that Tau have enough Str 5 AP 5 weapons already... Fire Warriors, Drones, Burst Cannons on vehicles, etc. Adding a burst cannon to a suit is just overkill in that area.

Missile Pods add range and strength, Plasmaguns add AP 2, Fusion is your melta, and even the flamer adds a template weapon. Mix is up and see what you like once you start playing, but another 5/5 gun really shouldn't be needed.

Id personally shy away from the flamer on suits. Simply because when your close enough to use the templates, your to close. If you can flame my Orks, your GOING to be assaulted and whiped out.

Missile pods are a solid option, good STR and range. Not saying the burst cannon is bad, if you play against hordes or something then it would be a good idea as far as anti troop goes

There has been a good bit of discussion on the setup you describe. I believe it's referred to as a Bladestorm. It has actually proven to outperform some more popular suit makeups when looking at an effectiveness vs efficiency rating.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/360480.page

I would say yes burst cannons can be made to work, but it all depends on what the rest of your option it. yes your FW are already strength 5 and yes your Devil Fish and Hammer Head will also have burst cannons, but your hammer head will certainly never be firing the burst cannon, and it will be on occasion only where your devil fish will be able to with any effect. The we all know relying on your FW to take out enemy troops is just plain suicide much of the time

So as stated on that topic the burst cannon can equal more kills b/c it has one more shot than the MP, which if put on 3 suits is 3 more shots. However the missile pod does allow for much much greater range. But when the burst cannon it added to the power of a PR to 3 suits I have seen then go in and wipe out and entire enemy unit, getting rid of the need to be at a distance from the enemy unit. Its really all gonna depend on what your strategy is for your whole army. Overall I would say that you could either go PR BC MT getting in at rapid fire range and try to gamble getting in close or go with PR MP MT or TL MP and stay at a big safe distance, but greatly lower your chances of killing your enemies troops etc. In the end either could work depending the the circumstances. personally I go two teams with PR BR and one team with TL MP that sits way far away from the enemy and is basically a last ditch reserve in case the other suits fail to eliminate the enemies troops and get wiped out.

Thanks, guys, now i can justify not ripping the burst cannon off of my model
Also, i will consider this tactic when building my army. Thank you for your help, the greater good thanks you too.

Edit: new question: should i take a leader, and if i do, what special stuff should i give him? a drone controller? what do you think?

well that again depends on the rest of your army set up and personal preference. You really could just equip him with a burst cannon and PR if youd like, though a lot of people prefer using the CIB. I personally dont b/c its got terrible strength and you have wo roll a 6 to get any sort of bonus for it. But ya equiping shield drones can be very good for your leader. that way he can just link up with another squad to give that squad a shield bonus as well.

Why are you not magnatising your models. It's really easy to do and avoids these situations. I personally would not use them because s5 weapons are already in abundance in the rest of the army.

I actually have a bunch of Suits already made in my Tau army, however I plan on ripping all their guns off and magnetizing them. as well as my Hammerhead, and my stealth suits. Though I am doing this more as a money saver than anything. also I like to mix things up, and I believe that every different race you face that your Suits ought to be set up differently.