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Yay first post!

So I have been bouncing around some ideas for the Tau, and thought these might be a way to improve the Tau without making them stupidly OP (LOL!RAILGUNS-PENETRATE-IN-STRAIGHT-LINE-FOREVER!LOLOLOLOL!).

!EDIT!: This has been edited to include the wonderful ideas people have shared on here. Please keep the ideas and criticisms coming!

Overall army:

---Drones no longer count towards the unit total for the purpose of panic tests from 25% shooting.
This will require some points juggling (as the Shield generator is 5 pts more expensive with the tradeoff of not causing the unit to have a liability towards morale checks from shooting, and the new rule might encourage gun drone spam), but makes infinitely more sense in fluff, and would make drones a bit more commonplace in the Tau armies. Plus, they still die in CC (and spamming them for suits could make the overall unit toughness a 3...), so it won't suddenly make the Tau an unstoppable CC badass.

---The Devilfish, Hammerhead, Skyray, Pirahna, and Drone Harbinger all start with a burst cannon (2 for the Skyray,Hammerhead, and Harbingers), and can exchange this for a single weapon system from the Crisis suit weapon systems for the points listed (Skyrays, Hammerheads, and Harbingers can instead purchase a TL weapon for the points indicated)

Wargear:

---Positional Relay: As in the rulebook, except a Tau player is restricted to holding only 5 units in Reserve.
Hopefully this will reduce the Positional Relay Shenanigans army lists I've seen in my local gaming club (Bring in expendable crap turns 1-3/4, and on turns 4/5 opt not to use the Relay ability and use the natural 2+/automatic Reserves, turboboosting Pirahnas and other such BS), as I feel, IMHO, that it's kind of an underhanded abuse of the item. This would allow deep-striking Tau armies to be feasible, but now you only have to deal with a single Pirhana squad instead of the rest of the army. (Disclaimer: I have never played as/against nor seen this army in use, so hopefully the bias is minimal)

---Airbursting Fragmentation Launcher: 24", Same S/AP/Type, No cover save, and Ignore LOS
I have yet to hear of this item in any Tau list outside of the promotional GW "No, really, your army needs one of everything" list in the back of the codex. In it's new form, the Launcher would act sorta like a low-S/Ap Hive Guard, but with a template. The points cost would be the same, or at least adjusted for fairness.

---Cyclic Ion Blaster: Points adjusted to make it worth it, as right now it's a crappy Burst Cannon with Rending.

---Vectored Retro Thrusters: No longer Special Issue
Hopefully this would allow for the possibility (While still hole-in-the-head insane) idea of a Crisis suit strike force, or at least one that isn't f d when it gets caught in a combat.

---Ejection System: Either cheaper, or allowable for someone with drones.
Just because this seems to be another cool yet never used item.

---Failsafe Detonator: Blast is S8 AP3 or 4 instead of AP-
This is fairly costed, right until you realize that it will do between diddly and squat to a MEQ in an assault ("6 wounds? Oops, I lost 1 guy. So sad..."). The lack of morale checks for 25% losses means that it won't screw over IG or Orks, even if they take heavy losses. That, or after the blast the area becomes a crater (Difficult Terrain like in a vehicle "Explosion!" result)

---Pulse Rifle (Basic Fire Warrior weapon): Rapid Fire, with 2x shots at 15", can buy the "Bipod" upgrade to allow you to fire it as a Heavy 2 gun (Which must be declared before the movement phase).
Tau fire warriors are too weak and too inaccurate to be viable at their current status. Even a squad of 12 gets shredded thanks to the 4+ save (which bolters eat for breakfast), but they shouldn't be tougher (They're not marines) or cheaper (They're not IG). Simply making them get 1 shot even if they move (making them a viable threat even when moving in on an objective, and keeping with the mobile aspects of the Tau army) or 2 if they don't (Making them a viable alternative in volume of fire to Crisis suits, so players have a choice of quantity vs. quality) would drastically help their viability as a unit.

---Pulse Carbine: Assault 2 Rending instead of Pinning, can opt instead to fire the weapon as a 12" S3 Ap- Sm Blast (Drones do not get TL for this firing mode and do not count as Rending).
This is simply so there's a reason to pick a carbine on Fire Warriors. It'll still be assault 1 at 18", but suddenly you can opt to have a 2-stage firing line that won't simply give the enemy a cover save (If you're lucky and manage to win the lottery of forcing a successful pinning test). It won't be as effective as ranged shooting, but if you'd rather have 1 shot that has a 1/6 chance of royally screwing a MEQ instead of making him ticklish, this could be an option.

---Kroot Gun: Assault 2 instead of Rapid Fire
(Disclaimer:I don't personally use Kroot, so this is conjecture) This seems like it might make bringing a lumbering, noisy (No Infiltrate) Krootox along a viable option. Dunno though (See Disclaimer)

---Rail Rifle: Ignores cover save from enemies that are not within area terrain.

---Honor Blade: Counts as a Power Weapon, not +2 to S
Why isn't this the default rule? An Ethereal will get eaten alive anyhow, and this seems like it'll at least let him possibly take someone with him if he's attacked, and he has crap WS, A, and I, so it's kinda a moot point.

---Decoy Launchers: Glancing Hits get -3 to vehicle damage results, not reroll 'Immobilised' Results
This item is again never taken, but this might make it a somewhat viable option against Low-S (Relatively) AV weapons. However, this could also OP it when you include the almost mandatory Disruption Pods

---Ion Cannon: Heavy 5 Re instead of 3
Really, the only use of this is to kill MEQ and GEQ, but 3 a turn tops is simply pathetic, especially for the 90 pt chassis it comes on. Right now, however, 3 hits vs a large blast template (Submunition) seems like an easy choice.

--- Railgun: Hammerhead railguns can now fire a Hypervelocity shot or the Submunition Shot. The Hypervelocity shot is as follows: 72" S10 Ap1 Heavy 1 Lance.

---Sniper Drone: Default BS 3 (4 with the Targeting Array)
This unit is another example of only needing a slight tweak to make it worthwhile. the S6Ap3 shot is nice, but missing because you allocated markerlights to drop a cover save instead of BS is ridiculous, and this unit needs at least 4 markerlights to cause wounds on a MEQ with any sort of reliability (Especially when you're giving up a H-fish or broadside for them)

---Seeker Missile: Target does not get a cover save unless they are fully within area terrain.

Force Choices:

---Ethereal: I4 instead of 3, 5+ save (or 6+ invul?), Inspiring Presence is not affected by Night Fighting, may purchase a Pulse Rifle or Pulse Carbine for X points, comes default with a Pulse Pistol. In addition, the Honor Guard unit has a maximum size of 18 or 20 instead of 12, 8 Ld default (9 for the Shas'ui), and is Stubborn (and cost 13-14 pts per model instead of 12) .
This is to make the Ethereal not a complete waste of time. While the Honor Guard is nice, they still run just as easily as Fire Warriors when they take the 25% casualties, and the 50 point character that offers (IMHO) badly-needed morale rerolls at the cost of becoming a bullet magnet is a empty model for terms of shooting AND assaults. The +1 I will help him to whack first with his 3/4 attacks against average units (But not OPing him vs. stuff like eldar and other heroes). Plus, since getting a Honor Guard usually means he's not going to be hiding in a cozy d-fish, more models will help him survive long enough to offer the reroll instead of getting munched from shooting turn 1 or 2.

---Fire Warriors: Maximum squad size is 14 or 18, and the Shas'ui has BS 4 instead of 3. One squad of Fire Warriors in your army may all swap their Pulse rifles for Rail rilfes at the cost of +5 pts per model.
This is simply to help the inevitably APed Fire Warriors survive a bit longer and offer some return fire. This change to squad size may be unnecessary after the Pulse Rifle changes, depending on if they successfully become the glass cannon I personally believe GW meant them to be without the squad size help. The +1 BS on the Shas'ui is because 10 points for +1 A and +1 Ld on a unit that should never enter assault is a damned waste, especially with no change to WS.

---Devilfish: Can replace it's burst cannon with a suit weapon system for the points indicated (Maybe), and an (expensive and/or limited number per army) upgrade that would allow the D-fish to deepstrike. Otherwise drop it to 60/65 pts or so
This is my desperate attempt to find a way that a D-fish could actually be something every Tau player doesn't grimace about when they have to take it for their pathfinders. The deepstrike may actually not be unfair, since if you want to avoid getting broken ASAP with AT weapons, you need to be 12+" away for the disruption pods. However, at this distance, the Tau player probably won't be able to last-turn contest an objective without seriously risking their d-fish.

---Drone Squad: Moved to Troop instead of Fast Attack, Maximum squad size of 12 or 14, are Fearless, and does not count as a Scoring Unit.
Tau players tend to have a plethora of spare gun drones due to their uselessness on anything that's not a vehicle and that they shove a few in every box of anything with a Tau logo on it (Sorta like 'Nid rippers...), and they never get picked because that would get rid of either pathfinders (the backbone to many if not most Tau armies) or Piranhas (We'll ignore the poor stingwings for now). Now, they can be a fire support and contesting unit, but are still fragile enough that shooting followed by a charge will wipe them easily. They'd be a viable stopgap or speedbump instead of the Kroot meatshields, and while cheaper they have a faster response time with the jump packs to gaps in your defenses.

---Crisis suits (and broadsides): S4 T5 instead of S5 T4, and maximum squad size is 4 instead of 3.
Really, this is how the codex should have been in the first place.

---Pathfinders: The devilfish is no longer nessesary, but you may equip one D-fish in your army with the Marker Beacon rule for 3/5pts per Pathfinder squad in your army.
Self-explanatory. This is the unneeded crutch that makes absolutely no sense in crunch (Despite sounding wonderful in fluff). If markerlights were assault 1, then this would be an acceptable requirement (as well as being broken as f k), but as-is it's completely stupid and I've never seen it used for moving Pathfinders.

---Piranhas: Perhaps allow them to upgrade to a suit weapon system instead of just a fusion blaster, just for some variety. Other then that, speedy joy in a 65+ point package.

---Stingwings: Neuron Blaster uses a flamer template instead of 12" Assault 1.
(Disclaimer: I've personally never used Stingwings, and this is conjecture based on the codex and what other gamers have discussed) The Tau already have plenty of jump packs, so this one needs to be special. The 1/4 chance of popping a MEQ is nice, but the original limit of 1 shot each in a 11 bug squad with T3 and a 5+ save means they get munched by anything easily, even flashlights. The change to template makes them a viable and threatening choice. Sure, they die easy, but 2 or 3 of them dropping a couple flamer templates on an assault marine squad will be felt, and this way they'd offer a nice bullet magnet apart from the typical pathfinders and suits. Plus, picking off the leader with a Vindicaire or some such attack makes them nearly autobreak in morale checks, further making them an exemplary glass cannon unit, instead of the glass watergun they are now.

---Sniper Drone Team: 5 sniper drones and 1 spotter per team, Spotter can also buy up to 2 additional drones.
This additional size, along with the slightly improved Sniper Drone, help make this the somewhat more surgical alternative to mass Fire Warrior or suit fire. Better to hit helps them actually cause the MEQ-killer wounds they were designed for, while the 5 drones helps them absorb more than 1 round of fire. The target lock they already have helps them become an effective alternative to massed volleys against MC armies (*cough* NIDS *cough*), since currently you either hope to overwhelm their save or punch through it, which is a waste of shots if you're fighting a mech or horde list.

---Skyray Gunship: The gunship has the ability Reload (roll 1d6, if # is greater than number of remaining missiles on gunship, refill 1 missile).
NOTE: This is Killcrazy's awesome idea, not mine. Honestly, this thing has potential, but 6 krak missile shots for the whole game that use vital markerlights is not a great option, especially compared to the other heavy support choices. TL Missile Pod suits give you that many shots over the course of 2 turns for approximately the same cost, at -1 S and 36" range but not using the valuable markerlights. It's a cool idea, but just not worth it since most other stuff in the army can do the same thing or more for the same cost or less.

Special Characters: (*Cue laugh track*)

(Note; These are more of my comments on the characters and not really my attempts to fully balance the units)

---Aun'va (The Ethereal): Really? It's like a standard Ethereal fell out of the nerf bat tree and hit a substantial number of them on the way down. He can't join units, so unless he hides in a d-fish all game, he's a 155 pt upgrade to make your forces in TLOS Stubborn instead of less flighty. While it is nice that his death effect doesn't cause auto-breaks or something like that, the +2 to T doohickey that doesn't affect ID is like a tinfoil hat; It makes you feel safer, until you realize that it offers no benefit, especially when being hit with an ignore cover ID weapon (not hard to do at T3... :/). And again, his molasses-slow I3 guards will do somewhere between slim and nil in preventing their beloved leader from becoming a blue smear on the dirt in 99% of assaults.

---O'Shovah (Farsight, or The Hero in a Big Suit): All of the suck in the other two characters balance out Farsight. He's not OP (to forestall outcry to the contrary, more suits is offset by way less Heavy Support; i.e. High-S AT weapons), but he is a good solid character that the other two should have been.

---O'Shaserra (Shadowsun, or The Hero in a Small Suit): Shadowsun is almost awesome. Almost. However, her inability to join another squad as an IC is ridiculous. she's basically a 6 wound T3 model with a 4+ save, which basically means she gets eaten alive by any bolters/shootas/flashlights/rocks/spitballs that get can get range on her. The only way she can avoid becoming a stupidly easy target is by losing 30+ points of drones, over 1/6 of the original unit cost, so she can finally hide in another unit. Otherwise, she'd be a great addition to a stealthteam, allowing them to become a fearsome tank-hunter unit (IG would probably dislike 5 separate melta shots deepstriking next to a block of LR or something similar)

New Unit/Wargear Ideas:

---Target Designator Drone: Purchased as a normal drone, allows the unit to reroll 1d6 1s for to-hit in shooting this phase.
NOTE: This is TrollPie's idea, not mine.

---Point Defense Drone: Purchased as a normal drone, acts as a flechette discharger for units that assault the equipped unit.
NOTE: This is Killcrazy's idea, not mine.

---Shadow Caste Warriors: See this thread for details http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/384133.page

---Drone Harbinger: Costs~150 pts, can buy a secondary weapon system, has following abilities: Drone Factory (Can create 1d6+3 drones in the movement phase who act as their own unit. If the harbinger rolls a 6, it cannot make any more drones for the rest of the game), Uplink Node (If the drone harbinger is destroyed, all drone squads it has created are destroyed), Fire Control (All Drone squads within 6" of the harbinger count as BS3).
Ever played DOW1? While I rarely used it, the Drone Harbinger was a really cool unit, and fun to play with. I envision it as either a non-scoring troop choice (Like a Nid Tervigon. More connections to that unit to be drawn soon) or another non-HQ slot (Elite or Heavy Support?). You could make a single squad of 2d6 drones per turn, treating them the same as a standard Drone squad, and doubles means it can't make drones for the rest of the game. If the Drone harbinger dies, so do all squads of drones it has made in the game. In essence, this would allow you to make several fast yet small units of drones to contest and harass, but you'd be forced to counteract the drone's speed by keeping the harbinger well back to avoid a couple of AT weapons netting a lot of KP for a lucky opponent.

---Krootox: (Profile undetermined, as I'm not as good at this kind of thing and i don't want to make it OP)
Yay for jumping on the MC bandwagon with both feet! I know FW has a krootox model, but having a tournament-legal MC and bullet sponge would be really nice for Tau. I envision something along the lines of a slower Trygon (no fleet, but T6 with 6W and a 3+ save), but Feel No Pain. Only 2 or 3 S4 or 5 attacks (Talons), but probably 1 at S8 (The beaky bite). Perhaps allow the Tau player to buy an upgrade to either give it a drone-controlled automatic Railgun, a single 72" S10 Ap1 shot with BS2 (Drone Controlled) that shoots at the nearest enemy target, and fires once at a target a Krootox successfully assaults, or something like a 18" S5/6ish Ap4 or 5 "Quill Throw" (Large blast template). This would provide a nasty foe for mech armies, but having only one High-S 2d6 pen attack to make landraiders shudder wouldn't be too OP, and the model would provide a nice bullet magnet. This would probably serve the same purpose as a Trygon for Nids; He'll probably die, but when he does he draws the enemy's fire away from squishier things, and if he doesn't die, he wrecks face.

Tactics:

Preface: These are (mostly) my ideas on abilities for the Tau FW squads to use. Some of these may be horribly OP, but if so please let me know how I can fix/replace them!

Only one Tactic can be chosen per turn at the beginning of the movement phase for all FW squads in the army, and each squad of FW must pass a Ld check in order to use them, and cannot affect units that are Falling Back (They may also opt to automatically fail the test and not receive the Tactic). All Commanders have access to Stand and Shoot as well as Evade, Evade!, and may purchase a single additional Tactic to reflect emphasis or additional aid from a particular Tau caste.

Default Tactics:

---Stand and Shoot: If charged, the squad may make a single shooting attack as if it were their shooting phase. Any casualties caused by this shooting counts towards the Tau player's CR.

---Evade, Evade!: (NOTE: This idea is from Killcrazy, and is not my own.) If charged, the squad may attempt to evade. Make a single Fall Back move as normal directly away from the charge before the opponent moves his troops (The unit does not count as Falling Back in subsequent turns due to this move) . If the result would take the unit off of the board, treat it as a roll of 2. After this movement, the opponent then moves his assault move as normal towards the squad plus an additional 1d3". If any of the FW squad are contacted by the enemy squad, the assault is successful, and the FW squad is treated as I1 and cannot use their grenades. (No further Evade, Evade moves can be made by the assaulted squad, although they may Fall back again if defeated in combat.).

Optional Tactics:

---Pulse Modulation (Earth Caste): All S5 Ap5 weapons in this squad (Burst Cannons, Pulse Rifles, Pulse Pistols, and Pulse Carbines standard shot) become S4 Ap4 or S3 Ap3 for this turn.

---Concentrated Volley (Fire Caste): All S5 Ap5 weapons in this squad (Burst Cannons, Pulse Rifles, Pulse Pistols, and Pulse Carbines) become Rending against vehicles, walkers, and MCs.

---Silent Hunter (Shadow Caste): The squad get a +1 to their cover save if in area terrain, or they get a 6+ cover save if they are not in cover.

---Orbital Signalling (Air Caste): The squad may double the effect of any markerlights they use this shooting phase (ie, 1 markerlight can boost BS by 2, or reduce cover save by 2, or reduce ld saves by 2. Any excess markerlights, such as using 2 to remove a 4+ cover save, are lost).

---Voice of Reason (Water Caste): If this squad causes a morale check on an enemy squad due to shooting, they take the test with an Ld modifier equal to the number of casualties taken from the shooting.

---For the Greater Good (Ethereal Caste): The squad counts as Fearless if above 50% of their original strength for this turn.

Please submit any abuses or ideas!

Your Kroot Idea was made legal in an FAQ a while back.

Ah. Must have missed that bit. I use and encounter Kroot players rarely, but I'm glad they fixed that particular rule. Now if only they'd fix Fire Warriors... :/

Needs more Knarloc kroot cavalry (would be sweet).

See my article Ideas for Tau Codex.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Ideas_for_a_5th_edition_Tau_Codex

It would be nice if Pathfinders were able to infiltrate.

Do you have any idea for what the Tau flyer should be?

Great ideas, for the most part.

I think that the AFL should still be large blast, though, as your model would be even worse IMHO. I also think that drones should get their own version of the pulse carbine that is pinning, as they are pretty nice for pinning units and rending might make them pretty OP.

Fire warrior Shas'ui NEEDS BS4.

The drone harbringer sounds cool, but 1D6 might be more balanced.

Otherwise, these are all really good ideas!

@Kilcrazy: Interesting. I like your changes to the Special Issue weapons, and I especially like your drone ideas (The Point defense drone is cool, although I'd change it to make a standard flechette discharger much more expensive). The SkyRay should come default with the Reload rule in the current codex, as that fits both fluff and gameplay much better than my idea. The Gue'vesa are cool fluff-wise, but kind of useless/redundant in the overall army, and the Tarellian dog soldiers are the opposite (A perfect fast shooty Tau unit, but I don't think I've read about them before).

@Dakkadood: Perhaps not knarlocs, but a "big" version of a kroot hound being ridden by a carnivore would nom infantry squads wonderfully. Keeping the +1 to cover save and the difficult terrain movement would mean they could threaten up to 24" of the board regardless of terrain

@Sabrx: Maybe, but assuming you're on a 4'x6' board, the Scout move allows you to position them wherever you need them to shoot on the board with their 36" gun. Infiltrate would just put them unnecessarily close to squads that could (and would) eat them for breakfast

@HappyGrunt: The Orca would be a cool choice. The model would be fugly as hell, but allowing it to carry a Devilfish/hammerhead/skyray a-la Stormraven or several squads of Fire Warriors (dropping 36 of them in rapid fire range to smoke an enemy squad or two would be awesome) would be cool IMHO. Otherwise a mini-manta (Stingray? ) would probably fit as a fast attack, with fewer shooty weapons but a bombing run ability or something.

@Yamgrenade: The pulse carbine already is pinning, but current Ld rules and abundance of Fearless makes it actually kinda worthless (And for shooting, if trying to have the drones contest an objective, pinning an enemy squad on it is a really crappy result). And I agree with the harbinger, but it does need a cutoff on certain rolls. perhaps 1d6+4 drones, and a 6 deactivates it?

I know it is pinning already, I was saying that drones should keep pinning, because rending drones would be kinda OP Maybe have it so they can elect to use their grenade launcher instead, so make it-

Pulse carbine- S5 AP5 18'' Assault 1 Rending (For firewarriors only?)

Pulse Grenade- S3 AP- 12'' Heavy 1 Small Blast, Pinning

This makes them more versatile and useful against more armies.

Your Harbringer sounds like a good design, maybe roll it back to +3 though.

Actually, removing the option for rending at all, and it'd be an awesome choice. The BS2 of the drones, even with the reroll, will scatter like hell, but that would allow for way more wounds against a horde army than the current 1 shot each. The assault 1 would allow for shooting while moving into position, and then grenades could fly once they got situated.

Also, @killcrazy, I think a better rule than Evade, Evade! would be Stand and Shoot. Basically, give Tau firewarriors (and maybe suits?) the ability to have 1 round of rapid-fire against any unit that charges them, with the kills from that volley going towards CR. That way, the 1 or 2 wounds the shooting from 6 FW would cause might offset somewhat the 3 or 4 dead FW from combat against a MEQ or whatever has charged them and not eaten them alive. Plus, against orks it'd be more like 6 wounds, dropping the boyz by 18 attacks (assuming 3 on a charge each). Maybe make the Evade, Evade! an expensive upgrade (Tactics for Shas'ui/Team Leaders, anyone?) that allows them that fall-back move (2d6) if they pass a Ld test vs the enemy consolidate (1d6), with a fail meaning they are caught and assaulted as normal, but without the ability to use their photon grenades as normal perhaps. This wouldn't be too bad because as a tau player I can verify that the Ld8 of a Shas'ui is barely better than dog crap (Adding extra incentive to add an Ethereal and his Ld reroll). Other tactics (all of which would be decided and rolled at the beginning of the turn) could include:

---Pinpoint Volley: The squad weapons all count as Heavy 2 instead for this round of combat.
This would allow for the long-range dakka that the tau need from their Firewarriors in order to get the kills they need against MEQs. ATM, they can get 1 or 2 wounds vs an MEQ, which will not be enough for a test. But getting 3 or 4 will cause a Ld test, and over 2 or 3 turns will whittle something like an Assault squad from 10 FW-eaters to more like 3 or 4 (But at the cost of immobilizing the squad and making it vulnerable to other assaults)

---Silent Hunter: The squad gets a +1 to their cover save. If the squad is not in cover, they instead get a 6+ cover save.
Basically, give the squad the benefits of going to ground without removing the shooting. This would add surviveability, but at the cost of a possible extra shot per FW from using the Pinpoint Volley above.

---Rain of Fire: All S5 (aka Pulse Rifles, and Pulse Carbines) gain Rending for shots against vehicles.
(DISCLAIMER: I can already guess this may be waaay OP) This could allow a viable Tau army without a suit or H-head/skyray in sight. A squad of 12 FW would get 6 hits, 1 of which would rend (In the Math-hammer world) and pen a transport, or possibly glance a larger object like a tank or LR. While not guaranteeing a popped vehicle, it would certainly give the Tau more options apart from H-heads, broadsides,a nd seeker missiles vs vehicles (It could also support the idea of deep-striking a D-fish or Orca, if it's the Tau flyer, with fire warriors, as 12-24 rapid fire shots into an armor 10 squishy leman russ rear, or even into a LR or Monolith, could actually have some results apart from muffled laughs from inside the target)

These would give Tau a similarity to IG's orders, but if the orders were made on Ld8 (Instead of the 10 from the IG's command squad) and were army-wide instead of on a per-squad basis, it could be viable. Turn 1, give them the +1 cover save, turn 2 give them 2x shots at the people now in range, and turn 3 give them the Rending vs vehicles or the fall back or the Stand and Shoot attack. Also, the tactics would only benefit Fire Warriors, and not suits, drones, vehicles, or kroot/vespids, so as to not make suits still the best choice in the army.

What're your thoughts on these ideas?

I thought of an idea once, for FW.
Wargear:
Micro-Targetter-10 points
A micro-targetter allows all 1s to hit when shooting to be rerolled
Then a TA for 20 points. Combine that with an assault 1 weapon and they could be pretty viable. Personally I think carbines should just be made assault 2, since GLs don't really fit the Tau theme of specialisation on all units.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Orcas are too big for standard games, save them for apocalypse.
Skyrays could be loaded with alternative missile racks, e.g. standard tank-hunter Seeker Missiles or high explosive Seeker Missiles- e.g. R72" S4 AP3.
All Battlesuits and all their wargear options should recieve a Improve suits a bit. 25 points for a 2-wound jetpack marine that sucks in CC and isn't as accurate, and doesn't even have weapons? A standard Fireknife costs nearly 70 points, and despite being one of the best options in the Codex is still overpriced. If all suits got BS4 and a 20% cost decrease on all wargear they would be more in line with newer codices.
Make Stealthsuits 20 points with the new suit upgrades, and allow them to take as many FBs as they want.

True, but the Tau have a massive lack of templates in their army, something that really comes and bites them in the ass when they have to fight orks or a Nid swarm. Perhaps allow them to buy a Carbine (Assault 2 Pinning 18" S5 AP5) or a Photonic Launcher (Heavy 1 Sm. Blast 18" S3 Ap-), with carbine being a free swap from pulse rifles, and the Launcher being an additional 2 or 3 pts per model. The micro-targeter is cool, but would need to be more like 2 or 3 pts per model for it to be worth it for FW; Otherwise, they'd be the price of a SM for -1WS, -1BS, -1S, -1T, -1 Sv, -1 Ld, and without the ATSKnF or heavy weapon options.

Another idea I was bouncing around (may or may not fit Tau very well, but seemed fun):
---Shadow Warriors: WS3 BS3 S3 T3 1W I3 A2 Ld8 4+Sv, with free bonding knife, Furious Charge, Hit and Run, and stealth fields. While the squad is at their original number (Taken no casualties), they can reroll missed To-Hit rolls (and/or possibly their to-wounds). Probably 10-15 pts per model, with a close combat weapon and a pulse pistol.
This would be an option that, would give Tau a non-kroot melee option. It would be a Scoring Troop choice, which could infiltrate/Outflank/Scout (Or 2 of the above 3), never deep-strike, and while they'd be difficult to hit, the enemy would have to dedicate at least 1 squad's fire at them to knock off their ability to reroll the to-hits. It'd follow the Tau ideology of being a glass cannon, but without becoming DE (Lower I, no poisoned or fancy attacks, slightly tougher) or Assault marines (Slower, only on a roughly even footing with I and S on turn 1 of the charge). Plus, it'd allow a Tau player to make an all-stealth army without using Kroot. Dunno though, as this seems very much on the verge of being against the doctrines and feel of the Tau army.

Thoughts?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I agree, Orcas are a bit on the large side (And climbed back up the ugly tree for another go after the first fall). The ability to load HE seeker missiles would be nice, especially if they still could be markerlighted onto a squad with infinite range.
As for the suits, all they really need is T5 (I'd take S4 T5 over S5 T4 any day of the week) and/or a 2+ save by default. The 2 wounds mainly sucks because almost everyone will ID them with krak missiles, lascannons, and such. If all I had to worry about for ID was battlecannons, railguns, and orbital strikes, that'd be much more fair (Especially with all the Tau tankbuster weapons).
And yes, Stealthsuits should be able to take 2 weapon systems, not start default with the gakky burst cannon.

I have thought about a melee Tau unit, and have some fluff for it as well- When the Tau were first discovered, the Imperials took some of the primitive fire caste as samples. Due to warp anomalies, the ship carrying the samples crashed into a jungle world far from T'au. Because of the tight spaces in the jungle, they developed hunting skills with melee weapons and primitive pistols/handbows and therefore know stealth, assassination, and close-quarters combat. They join their brothers and form the dark 6th caste, the Shadow caste. (I stole your name )

Anyway, I like the idea of better stealth suits (perhaps a new model piloted by the Shadow caste) and the orders sound pretty cool. If etherals could order them with 10 Ld it may make them a bit more viable (While still mostly trash.) The carbines are also good, because right now they are trash, and with this they make fire warriors and drones more viable, especially since drones can jet pack and fire on the move.

yamgrenade wrote:They join their brothers and form the dark 6th caste, the Shadow caste.

^^ WIN. That would indeed be some awesome fluff.

My thoughts were that they would have WS4 or 5, I4, S3 T3 (They're not in suits, they have seperate generator packs), and they have a number of abilities tied to if they've taken casualties, or how many they've taken (Sorta showing their strong pack and brotherhood ties). So they get the to-hit reroll as long as they're above 50%, and if the unit is reduced to 1 model, that model is Stubborn and gets Feel no Pain (no to-hit reroll though). So shooting at the unit is nessesary to remove the reroll that makes them more effective, but if they lose too many, suddenly the last guy goes into a suicidal Die-Hard rage and becomes more dangerous. Also, allowing the Ethereal to take veteran FW or veteran Shadow Warriors (+1 WS, +1S Possibly, +1A, +1I possibly, and they get reroll to wound as well. However, at 50% they lose the reroll wounds but keep the reroll to-hits. The Survivor's Rage would instead make him Fearless instead of Stubborn, FnP, and perhaps eternal warrior?). However, the unit would be hampered by no or very limited drones/wargear that could be taken (Along the lines of a kroot carnivore squad), so they'd be a one-hit wonder. They wouldn't be better stealthsuits, they'd be stealthy assassin types, with less/no shooting but fast omnomnom of small MEQ or weaker squads (combat squad=yes, full tac squad=maybe, assault squad=no).

darkPrince010 wrote:True, but the Tau have a massive lack of templates in their army, something that really comes and bites them in the ass when they have to fight orks or a Nid swarm. Perhaps allow them to buy a Carbine (Assault 2 Pinning 18" S5 AP5) or a Photonic Launcher (Heavy 1 Sm. Blast 18" S3 Ap-), with carbine being a free swap from pulse rifles, and the Launcher being an additional 2 or 3 pts per model. The micro-targeter is cool, but would need to be more like 2 or 3 pts per model for it to be worth it for FW; Otherwise, they'd be the price of a SM for -1WS, -1BS, -1S, -1T, -1 Sv, -1 Ld, and without the ATSKnF or heavy weapon options.

I meant per squad, I've now increased price anyways to 10 pts per squad.
I agree with giving Suits T5. Damn Log Fang spam...

Oh, in that case, it's well costed. I roll enough 1s to jump on that like a rabid badger. Maybe make it a sort of converted Marker Drone or something, so they can use it as an ablative wound if gak goes down...

The T4 suits is so damned annoying because of the preponderance of S8+ weapons. I think (IIRC) the older codexes had way fewer S8+ weapons, so it was a more acceptable risk. But now, with everyone and their granny toting a lascannon or missile launcher around, it means the crisis suits basically get to kill a couple of transports or MEQs before getting splattered.
People wonder why Tau hate horde armies, and it isn't because we can't deal with them in volume of dakka; It's because they turn 3 full Crisis suit squads into half of 1 in 1 or 2 rounds of shooting tops with a missile swarm.

Also, what're people's thoughts on giving the Gun Drones their TL carbine OR a single non-TL Photonic Launcher (The template) shot? Or should that just be a different type of Gun Drone? I'd like to reverse my previous statement, and say that Rending on the FW carbines actually would be needed, to make it a worthwhile purchase if the Photonic launcher is a seperate gun (perhaps call the Rending carbine a Channeled Ion Blaster, as homage to the Cyclic Ion Blaster?)

darkPrince010 wrote:

yamgrenade wrote:They join their brothers and form the dark 6th caste, the Shadow caste.

^^ WIN. That would indeed be some awesome fluff.

My thoughts were that they would have WS4 or 5, I4, S3 T3 (They're not in suits, they have seperate generator packs), and they have a number of abilities tied to if they've taken casualties, or how many they've taken (Sorta showing their strong pack and brotherhood ties). So they get the to-hit reroll as long as they're above 50%, and if the unit is reduced to 1 model, that model is Stubborn and gets Feel no Pain (no to-hit reroll though). So shooting at the unit is nessesary to remove the reroll that makes them more effective, but if they lose too many, suddenly the last guy goes into a suicidal Die-Hard rage and becomes more dangerous. Also, allowing the Ethereal to take veteran FW or veteran Shadow Warriors (+1 WS, +1S Possibly, +1A, +1I possibly, and they get reroll to wound as well. However, at 50% they lose the reroll wounds but keep the reroll to-hits. The Survivor's Rage would instead make him Fearless instead of Stubborn, FnP, and perhaps eternal warrior?). However, the unit would be hampered by no or very limited drones/wargear that could be taken (Along the lines of a kroot carnivore squad), so they'd be a one-hit wonder. They wouldn't be better stealthsuits, they'd be stealthy assassin types, with less/no shooting but fast omnomnom of small MEQ or weaker squads (combat squad=yes, full tac squad=maybe, assault squad=no).

Because of their small number and so that Tau doesn't become completely HtH, they should be 0-1, but should be troops or fast attack so they don't become too expensive. They should also be armed with either a large two-hand katana (+1 Strength and 6++ due to Tau fiddling) or two daggers (+1 A and 5++ In CC).

They shouldn't really have huge ties with the Etherals, because they just met and don't have the fear of returning to Mont'au.

I was thinking a 0-1 Troop, but a Scoring Unit, so you could have 1 or 2 (depending on if you took the Veteran Shadow Warriors with the Ethereal). I love the 2-hand katana idea for fluff, and the option to have both would be nice so they can deal with MEQ a bit better.

As for Ethereals, I was thinking it'd be more of like them having pledged a blood oath to protect him (Recall that the fluff suggests the ethereals may have some sort of mind control or pheromones or something on Tau), but if they don't have the fear of mont'au, perhaps that would mean the basic guys are all stubborn, and the veterans are fearless perhaps?

I'd like a pulse carbine to be assault 2, its supposed to be smaller, more portable, and intended for close action (which to me translates into firing quicker too)

I would love to see drones as fearless....that shouldnt have to be explained, they're robots. and as a troops choice would be cool as well

I like farsight as he his, but I would also like it it if he gave an I+1 or even a WS+1 to your whole army, its in the fluff that not only does he train his troops for fights against the orks but also for close combat in general

@Darkprince

That would be pretty cool. Veterans should be pretty damn expensive then.

Another idea would be to have them get a choice to have a dagger and a pistol or maybe a handbow?

@Dualface

A +1 WS should already be in this. It makes him much better.

@Dualface: Agreed. I think assault 2 instead of assault 1 rending might be better for the drone carbines. As for farsight, the +1 WS and +1I should both be automatic, and bump his unit cost up to compensate.

@yamgrenade: That's what I was thinking originally, was a sword and a pulse pistol (so they'd be one of the 2 units including ejection system pilots, that carry them). So maybe they can pick between the katana, 2 daggers, or the dagger and pistol.

And sniper drone spotters

Yeah. Honestly, I'm surprised Ethereals didn't have one too. Another possible upgrade for the Shadow Warriors could be the team Leader/Mont'ui (since I figure mont'au means something along the lines of darkness or night, why not use that prefix? ) can get 2 of the pulse pistols (count as TL). Probably not 100% accurate in fluff, but it'd look damn cool

Well, Mont'ka is the killing blow, And Mont'au is the Time of terror. I belve "Mont" means kill. Anyway, If there is a sargent, he needs to have a FREAKING POWER WEAPON. Tau have literally none, except for Far-sights sword, and no-body uses him anyway.

Perhaps a "Hypervelocity Spike"? Gives the unit in question a single S10 Ap1 attack on the first round of combat (basically a point-blank single railgun shot), possibly even allowing for a viable way for Tau without EMP grenades to assault a vehicle! (Oh, and give the Shadow Warriors the option to buy EMP grenades too).

As for Farsight, the only reason I'm not taking him is I'd be a suit or two short of the full crisis potential, and our local tourney organizer apparently whines whenever that many crisis suits shows up

As for the name, I dinked around on here (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Tau_Lexicon) and was thinking the prefix could be Erra (From Shadowsun's "Shaserra," with "Shas" meaning fire~sun?). Perhaps instead of "Erra'la," since they're outside the caste system and ranks, they could be "Erra'hui" (Hidden Shadow) or for the veterans, "Erra'es" (Powerful Shadow) or something along those lines.

@darkPrince010, I prefer my Evade Evade idea to the Stand And Shoot idea because

1. I think it will work better.
2. I think opponents will find it fairer, since they at least can try to push Tau infantry off the map by charging them.
3. I think it is more Tauish in the sense that the Tau are a fire and manoeuver army.

However, Stand And Shoot might be an option -- there's no reason to restrict Fire Warriors to only one response.

@yamgrenade, there are lots of reasons why Tau might have melee units however the fluff says they don't and most players choose Tau because of the differences compared with the other factions.

Hmm. Perhaps have Stand and Shoot and the Evade, Evade! be default tactics, and have the 2x shot, the +1 cover save, and/or the Rain of Fire be optional additional purchases for the army or commander? Just a thought.

As for the melee unit, while it doesn't fit the fluff if it was a regular caste, the fluff of it being from samples lost on a distant jungle and Tau staying in a primitive, tight-spaces jungle seem like they'd shift their tactics to combat more suited to the area. As for the army and overall crunch, it's still just as fragile as a standard FW squad, and you can only have 1, possibly 2 of the squads total in the army, preventing the entire force from being entirely these new melee troops.

yamgrenade wrote:I know it is pinning already, I was saying that drones should keep pinning, because rending drones would be kinda OP Maybe have it so they can elect to use their grenade launcher instead, so make it-

Pulse carbine- S5 AP5 18'' Assault 1 Rending (For firewarriors only?)

Pulse Grenade- S3 AP- 12'' Heavy 1 Small Blast, Pinning

This makes them more versatile and useful against more armies.

Your Harbringer sounds like a good design, maybe roll it back to +3 though.

Sadly the game has turned into a CC fest and tau are - in effect - showing up to a sword fight with a pocket knife. I would not be averse to seeing the tau changed to allow for more fire.

Pulse Rifle - heavy 2 30" S5 - This preserves it as a firepower unit but takes away any mobility.
Pulse Carbine - assault 2 18" S5 - This puts the carbine as the mobile choice.

But then you have as much use for rifles as we do for carbines now...Tau that have no mobility are doomed to fail. I see it every game when they try to dig in, because all that happens is they get rushed and killed.

The shadow caste is just cool and badly needed. Don't stress out about them tooooo much