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I have 750 and 1000 point armies written up and would like suggestions for making them semi-competitive for more casual play.
I would prefer not playing kroot or vespids if it can be avoided (I don't like how they look).
My friends allow Forge World stuff as long as it can deep strike or is non-stationary.

this is a kinda anti-meq with a little anti armor (I mostly play against CSM, SM, daemons, and necrons)

This is a more Well-Rounded list (I think)

I only own a single XV8 and 4 fire warriors right now but I can get anything up to about 250-300$ if need-be.
I hope that these lists aren't total crap, but have at it.

First off, I want to agree with you on kroot and vespid. I never use them either.
750 point list:
HQ - seems pretty strong, but why the AFP? I think that it would be better paired with the PR, especially since he has the improved BS.
FW - seem strong, might have to drop a couple though for points (see bellow)
Suits - don't need the BC. The FW give plenty of S5 AP5 shots and giving more to the suits is just a waste. I would TL the PR to improve their effectiveness.
Tetras - I know nothing about because I don't use Forge World. But I've heard that they are good, so I'll just go with that.
Hammer Head - It would be worth adding the SMS because the extra shots and blind fire are very helpful for positioning. I would also recommend the TL (target lock), so you can shoot the RG at tanks and the SMS at troops in the same turn.
Overall, with the changes I recommended and dropped 1 FW from each squad, you would under your point cost and have a much more effective force against high AS armies.

1000 point list:
HQ - same as before
FW - drop the 3rd squad and increase the 2 remaining squads to 8. This will give you more points for the changes and conventrate the fire power of the squads.
Suits - same as before, could possibly drop one of the GD for each.
Tetras - same as before
Hammer Heads - same as before
Overall, I give basically the same changes as before. It's up to you if you want to have more FW or GD to protect your suits. I think this will be a strong, mobile list that can bounce around to pick away at the enemy while the FW provide a strong fire base to fall back on.

These are both good lists that are suited to fight your local meta. On a side note, be careful about buying too much too quickly. Try to paint each squad/tank before buying the next. Otherwise you'll wind up with a huge To-Do pile and a daunting task! Good Luck

I like these ideas of a Tau army, i'm starting my own and am looking for some inspiration.

Question from another Tau noob. Why a Hammerhead and not a pair of Broadsides? You give up the submunition, but you get 2 x TL railguns vs. 1.

Well in general, I prefer tanks because they are much more maneuverable and have the ability for submunition, allowing it to be much more versatile.
In this specific case, the OP stated that he wasn't in need for a lot of anti-armor. Therefore it would be better to use a HH than broadsides.

Thanks for the suggestions
I actually played my first game not against close friends just an hour ago and it went well enough
I will definitely be thinking about the target locks on the HHs.
I prefer the Hammer Heads to the Broadsides for a number of reasons, the BS's are much slower and easier to kill is the main point but I really like the submunition for killing large numbers of infantry and the tetras usually allow me to hit pretty easily with the solid shot so I don't really need the Twin.

But HH vs BS is up to the player entirely, I've had people talling me that my choises were totally wrong and still done pretty good damage, so play what you like, if you have good tactics and your dice don't hate you, you should do fine.

Trust me when i say not to use the Hammer Head to do anti-tank, (about ten games off experience) the main point of the Hammerhead is to use the sub shot not the solid, 2 broadsides with targeting arrays and shield drones, stick it cover, if there is a building put it in that, you can add in the hammerhead later

I'm guessing the HQ runs by himself? If so you should drop the gun drones for shield drones, majority toughness/saves and add a TA and HWMT.

If your playing against a lot of meq armies I would suggest a squad of Helios suits (PR, FB, MT).

Run 2 8 man FW squads ATM and use the extra points for the shas'el
other than that its a great starting list.

When you decide to increase your army again for the third HS option I would go for a broadside team and squat them on top of a bastion and rain down AT fire everywhere.

^ sounds good to me.
Open question to anyone: do you ever use sniper teams? I have occasionally and they have been so-so. What's you opinion?

@freytag93 - sniper drones can be good but you have to work them into an army properly. I have two squads of them currently and will be getting a third for a pinning army list I am working on. With the stealth field generator they have 4+ cover save which is lovely, major downside though (which luckily my friends haven't noticed) is that with precision shots from sergeants etc if they kill the drone controller guy the whole squad is gone, because of this I plan on combining them with an aegis defence line with quad gun, you lose one marker light but gain 2+ cover save and a quad gun.

@xonoa - in your 750 list I probably wouldn't bother with black sun filter on your fire warriors. if you main enemies are marines etc there natural save will nearly always be better than the cover save from night fighting so you could drop 3 points a squad from that and then drop another 10 points a squad from losing the team leader 1 ld and 1A is not worth 10 if your not going for an infantry upgrade.
With your shas.el I would drop the AFP and replace with plasma like freytag93 said and with the points dropped on the fire warriors squad you can take shield drones instead of gun drones as currently your toughness is being lowered by the gun drones and you have no invulnerable save.
Tetras are awesome but may be a bit expensive at this point value considering its one armour 10 skimmer with only 2 hull points so can be glanced to death by bolters ( I use 4 in higher point lists )
Crisis suits again from the points drop on the fire warriors you could trade out the burst cannons for fusion blaster. I don't like burst cannons on crisis suits unless your specifically doing a squad of anti troop suits they have less range and the same damage as a pulse rifle I know 3 shots is nice but I prefer the enemy having no save.
Hammerhead is solid, target lock is a nice add on but is a bit pointless if your going to hide the hammer head at the back of your army. In smaller point lists I sometimes take the ion cannon as 3 S7 Ap3 shots can cause havoc on marine squads especially if your opponent has a devastator squad.

1000 list has a similar feel though you may consider dropping a tetra nd boosting the fire warrior squads to 8 men to make the survive longer.

Otherwise have fun and let me know how it goes.

What is used to defend against flyers in this list?