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ethereal
Shas'O R'Myr battlesuit
2 XV84 battlesuitx2
6 Crisissuits
6 stealth suits
6 broadside battlesuits
2 Devilfish
24 Firewarriors
11 Pathfinders
2 Hammerheads

Hey all Tau players, I am getting a new lot of models as I have listed above.
But I am not sure how to field them...

I've gone through tactics of how to use them but haven't been really successful...
I looked through the codex a lot and really don't have a good concept of what to do with all those upgrades...

So I kinda had an idea of what to write, but hopefully you can help me out with upgrades and stuff...
HQ:
Battlesuit Commandare Shae'os or something like that

Elites
3 Battlesuits w/ Plasma Rifles
3 Battlesuits w/ Plasma Rifles

Troops:
12 FireWarriors // Devilfish
12 FireWarriors // Devilfish

Fast:
6 Pathfinders

Heavy:
HH w/ Railgun
HH w/ Railgun
Broadsides w/ twin-lined railgun

I want to try to at least make a 2000 list if possible,
The upgrades I saw that are almost must take was:
- Blacksun filter
- Multi-tracker for suits
- Target Array +1BS
- Distruption pod

I'm not sure what should take these and there are still a lot more upgrades too...
So just wondering what you veteran Tau players can educate me~

i would use two groups of 3 broadsides, and only 1 HH.

The list actually doesnt look too bad just really think on what you want those battlesuits to do and gear them right.

Blacksun filter -cheap enough you can pretty much always take it easy, if points get tight i will always try to at least have it on my FW

multi trackers- i take this on all suits that are not TL, it can be taken on the broadsides but they usually dont get to shoot their smart missles anyway.

Targeting array- i take on a few things but i will cut it if i dont have points

You are generally better off running an 'el with a target array over an 'O to save points(the BS5 is the moneymaker anyways). However, I enjoy the merits of Ld10 and an extra wound. I take my 'os with stim injectors for FNP. Warlords being a victory point means survival is key. Regardless, the high BS of either justifies special weapons for an HQ. Shield drones are also generally advised on a commander. Multi tracker and two weapon systems are key, dont TL anything bs4 or higher. Put a blacksun on em, he gives the benefit to the crisis team he joins(you should join him)

TL plasma crisis are good at killing terminators, kinda. I would probably opt for helios with multi trackers. Decent against armor, good at killing nasty enemies at close range.Blacksun is required on any suit team with a missile pod. The team leader can hardwire, so consider shield drones, or a target array, or both.

With 12 warriors, the 'ui uprgade may be worth it. Blacksun is not really needed, as AP5 weapons wont ignore most armor, and Fire warriors embarked turn 1 dont really care. However, it is dirt cheap, so good way to fill points.

Pathfinders need a fish, and although tetras are better markerlight units, pathfinders are not bad. When itcomes to devilfish, you have 2 options, war or dumb. Dumbfish is stock+disruption pod. The transport is overpriced for what it can do, but the d-pod is a steal, manditory take. The warfish(or fish of fury) comes with the d-pod, target array, smart missile system, and a multi tracker. Move around, spam S5. Both have their merits.

2 broadside teams and 1 HH is solid, but 2 H-Heads and a single broadside are not bad either. Find which works best for you.
Hammerheads again need d-pods, and I always take the railgun. Burst cannons are the cheapest bottom guns and shoot a ton of dakka, good combo with the submunitions blast for crowd control. Smart missiles are okay. Multi tracker and blacksun filter are both good. Some people take sensor spines and park their hammerheads in hard to reach places.

Broadsides need a team leader with shield drones and a blacksun. Some people love the A.S.S., but I usually go with target locks or multi trackers. Smart missiles as secondary systems.

Tau is very flexible, and can be used for many things.

The most popular loudout on crisis suits are plasma rifle and missile pod. This a tad expencive, though in points, so you will just have to see what you want. Most opponents you will meet will probably be meq with 3+ armor save, so plasma rifle is good to have anyway. If you know you will face horde, you could say the PL is a flamer, very few players would object to WSIWYG.

You can field the pathfinders, and put fire warriors in their transport.

I would perhaps split up a group of FW from 12 to 6, and field more scoring units.

You are generally better off running an 'el with a target array over an 'O to save points(the BS5 is the moneymaker anyways). However, I enjoy the merits of Ld10 and an extra wound. I take my 'os with stim injectors for FNP. Warlords being a victory point means survival is key. Regardless, the high BS of either justifies special weapons for an HQ. Shield drones are also generally advised on a commander. Multi tracker and two weapon systems are key, dont TL anything bs4 or higher. Put a blacksun on em, he gives the benefit to the crisis team he joins(you should join him)

'O does seem much better, with that additonal wound, Ld, and BS totally justifies for the 25 points.
Multi-tracker allows the model to carry 2 weapons right?
But besides the special issue weapons all suit weapons when doubled are just Twin-linked?
Why would you not twin-link bs4 or higher? because there would be better damage with 2 weapons than just 1 twin-linked?

How do shield drones work, do I just put them in front so they always get allocated to? and if someone snipes my guy he just LoS to them?
and how many can I take in total? as it doesn't seem to really specify...

1 Blacksun applies to the entire unit though right?

TL plasma crisis are good at killing terminators, kinda. I would probably opt for helios with multi trackers. Decent against armor, good at killing nasty enemies at close range.Blacksun is required on any suit team with a missile pod. The team leader can hardwire, so consider shield drones, or a target array, or both.

What are Helios? couldn't find it in the book,

With 12 warriors, the 'ui uprgade may be worth it. Blacksun is not really needed, as AP5 weapons wont ignore most armor, and Fire warriors embarked turn 1 dont really care. However, it is dirt cheap, so good way to fill points.

How do you play Tau with the Devilfish? I hear a lot of people say embark them but they don't have any firepoints so how do you utilise them then?

Pathfinders need a fish, and although tetras are better markerlight units, pathfinders are not bad. When itcomes to devilfish, you have 2 options, war or dumb. Dumbfish is stock+disruption pod. The transport is overpriced for what it can do, but the d-pod is a steal, manditory take. The warfish(or fish of fury) comes with the d-pod, target array, smart missile system, and a multi tracker. Move around, spam S5. Both have their merits.

why do they need a fish? same question as above, not really familiar how to use them.

2 broadside teams and 1 HH is solid, but 2 H-Heads and a single broadside are not bad either. Find which works best for you.
Hammerheads again need d-pods, and I always take the railgun. Burst cannons are the cheapest bottom guns and shoot a ton of dakka, good combo with the submunitions blast for crowd control. Smart missiles are okay. Multi tracker and blacksun filter are both good. Some people take sensor spines and park their hammerheads in hard to reach places.

Broadsides need a team leader with shield drones and a blacksun. Some people love the A.S.S., but I usually go with target locks or multi trackers. Smart missiles as secondary systems.

D-pods are pretty much mandatory right now, 10 points for shrouded, hell yeah!
HHs shouldn't shoot Burst Cannons though right? as you should keep your distance most of the time?
Sensor spine allows me to move in terrain and not get the dangerous terrain test right?
How many guns do broadsides get to fire though? they are normal infantry though so only 1 gun? what would be the purpose of target lock if you can't fire more weapons?
And aren't you alllowed to move and shoot the railguns though?

How do seeker missiles work? so a unit marked with makerlight can get hit by a seeker missile from a vehicle counting as fired 1 weapon?
and then you can shoot another one at full BS though right?

'O is 25points more for an additional wound, +1 bs and ld
which is for the most part the same prices as 1 shield drone and a targeting array, but is fine to take the O if you have the points.

Multi trackers lets you fire 2 weapon systems per turn. the suits must have 3 hard points filed so you can always take more than 1 weapon.
buying 2 weapon systems of the same type twin links it and of course bs 4 twin linked is better than bs 3 twinlinked but it comes down to available points and costs as suits can be massive point sinks.

shield drones are part of the unit that the controller is in. use them like front line grunts to take wound allocations. but if the controller dies the 1-2 that you took with him die too. you can make as many look out sirs as you want so long as it makes the previous ones/saves.

one bsf in the squad = all have night vision.

Helios is a fan made name for fusion baster, plasma, multi tracker suit.

generally fw are fragile so protectiing them in the fish for late game objective pick ups.

pathfinders MUST take a Dfish that is a requirement to take em.

dpods are 5 points and god yes they are da best.
burst cannons are just cheaper and you generally wont be shooting your rail cannon so close on any platform.
target locks let you shoot out of your squad not an extra gun.
broadsides unless they take a multi tracker only get one shot. as they arnt relentless can move but snapfires there rail gun if they move.

the codex has all the answers =/

After listening to everybody and looking at the codex a bit more this is the list I've come up with, let me know what you guys think

2000 points:

HQ:
Shas'O
w/
Twinlinked Misslepod
Plasma Rifle
Blacksun Filter
Stimulant Injector
Target Lock
Vectored Retro Thrusters

Elite:
3 x 3 XV8 Battlesuits
w/
3 Twin-Linked Missile Pod
3 Plasma Rifle
1 Blacksun Filter
3 Multi-Tracker
3 Target Lock
3 Targetting Array

Troops:
12 Firewarriors // Devilfish w/ D-pod
12 Firewarriors

Fast:
7 Pathfinders // Devilfish w/ D-pod

Heavy:
Hammerhead w/ Railgun, D-pod, Seeker Missile, Sensor Spine, Blacksun Filter
Hammerhead w/ Railgun, D-pod, Seeker Missile, Sensor Spine, Blacksun Filter
3 Broadsides w/ Twin-linked Railgun, A.S.S, 3 Target Lock, Blacksun Filter

all of your suits are illegal, twin linking takes up 2 hard points alone and so does the targeting array.

you also have to upgrade your crisis suits to team leader to get addition items.


careful though you are sinking a ton of points into a single suit that could be used to buy a second or 3rd suit.

EDIT: Because im board. with the items you listed i got
155 SHASO W/ PR,MP,MT,BSF,DC,2X SD, STIM

186 CRISIS SUIT W/ PR,FB,MT X3
186 CRISIS SUIT W/ MP,PR,MT X3
336 24 FIRE WARRIORS WITH EMP,PHOTON. SPLIT AS YOU WANT IT. I PERFER SQUADS OF 8

133 PATHFINDER X4 + DFISH W/ DPOD
133 PATHFINDER X4 + DFISH W/ DPOD

253 3X BROADSIDES WITH A.S.S, TEAM LEADER WITH BSF, TARGET LOCK.
253 3X BROADSIDES WITH A.S.S, TEAM LEADER WITH BSF, TARGET LOCK.
160 HAMMERHEAD WITH RAIL, BURST, BSF, DPOD

giving you 1795 so far. you can sprinkle in extra stuff here and there like max out seeker missles, though also would help to get an aegis w/ quad.

So how would you normally gear the suits up?
Just looked it up again, and finally saw the 3 Hard Point thing...

How would you be able to shoot 2 weapons then with the multi-tracker? have a plasma and missile pod seperate?

I am really confused how to gear them up now...

Its like having bolt pistols and a boltgun on a marine. you can fire one or the other but not both. if he had a multi tracker he could fire both during his shooting phase.

I usually run plasma fusion blaster due to my meta. but a missile pod + plasma works fine too. also note that if you look under support gear it shows hard-wired equipment with the same name from wargears. support equipment doesn't take up hard points.

HQ:
2 units x Commander Shas'O
w/
Twin-Linked Missile Pod
Plasma Rifle
Hard-wired Multi-Tracker
Hard-wired Blacksun Filter
Stimulant Injector
Shield Drone

Elites:
3 XV8 Battesuits w/ Twin-linked Misslepods, Targetting Array, 1 Marker Drone
3 XV8 Battesuits w/ Twin-linked Misslepods, Targetting Array
3 XV8 Battesuits w/ Plasma Rifles, Fusion Blaster, 3 Targetting Array, 3 Shield Drone

Troops:
12 Firewarriors // Devilfish w/ D-pod
12 Firewarriors

Fast:
8 Pathfinders w/ Markerlights // Devilfish w/ D-pod

Heavy:
Hammerhead w/ Railgun, D-pod, Filter, Seeker, Multi-tracker, Targetlock
Hammerhead w/ Railgun, D-pod, Filter, Seeker, Multi-tracker, Targetlock
XV88 Broadside Battlesuit w/ 3 Twin-Linked Railgun, 1 A.S.S, Multi-Tracker, Filter

Fixed the list now, couple of questions though.
A.S.S confers to the whole unit right? since slow and purposeful is something that the entire unit has.

Also, is it better to split the pathfinders though? so you would have 2 4 model units of Pathfinders throwing markerlights around instead of 8 guys in a unit marking 1 thing a turn.

How do you use markerlights anyways?
Shoot and hit give token, next unit shoot if you use the tokens then get the benefits?

If your going to take 2 weapon systems, and unless you are ether a body guard or a team leader, there is no reason to take targeting array over a multi tracker, its a complete waste of points on your suits.

you also cant take additional wargear unless you upgrade your suit to a team leader and at that only 1 suit can in the elite squad.

as to your question.

a.s.s has limitations requiring the whole squad to take it. read the rules for it.

it is personal prefrences with pathfinders and i like being able to put markerlights on diffrent targets all together (though now i own tetras, and they are 10bilion times better). also there dfish have marker beacons which is great for my style of surgical deepstrikes.
markerlights are shot like a shooting attack that leaves tokens on the enemy, you may then with a different unit consume the tokens for the desired effect as listed in your book.

 Desubot wrote:
If your going to take 2 weapon systems, and unless you are ether a body guard or a team leader, there is no reason to take targeting array over a multi tracker, its a complete waste of points on your suits.

you also cant take additional wargear unless you upgrade your suit to a team leader and at that only 1 suit can in the elite squad.

as to your question.

a.s.s has limitations requiring the whole squad to take it. read the rules for it.

it is personal prefrences with pathfinders and i like being able to put markerlights on diffrent targets all together (though now i own tetras, and they are 10bilion times better). also there dfish have marker beacons which is great for my style of surgical deepstrikes.
markerlights are shot like a shooting attack that leaves tokens on the enemy, you may then with a different unit consume the tokens for the desired effect as listed in your book.

HQ:
2 units x Commander Shas'O
w/
Twin-Linked Missile Pod
Plasma Rifle
Hard-wired Multi-Tracker
Hard-wired Blacksun Filter
Stimulant Injector
Shield Drone

Elites:
3 XV8 Battesuits w/ Twin-linked Misslepods, Targetting Array, 1 Marker Drone
3 XV8 Battesuits w/ Twin-linked Misslepods, Targetting Array
3 XV8 Battesuits w/ Plasma Rifles, Fusion Blaster, 3 Multi-tracker, 2 Shield Drone

Troops:
12 Firewarriors
12 Firewarriors

Fast:
4 Pathfinders w/ Markerlights // Devilfish w/ D-pod
4 Pathfinders w/ Markerlights // Devilfish w/ D-pod

Heavy:
Hammerhead w/ Railgun, D-pod, Filter, Seeker, Multi-tracker, Targetlock
Hammerhead w/ Railgun, D-pod, Filter, Seeker, Multi-tracker, Targetlock
XV88 Broadside Leader w/ 1 Twinlinked Railgun, A.S.S, HW Filter, HW Multi-tracker
2 XV88 Broadside Battlesuit w/ 2 Twin-Linked Railgun, 2 A.S.S

Yeah, I messed up the multi-tracker for the double weapon sys Battlesuits...
Fixed the list up again, this book is kinda confusing compared to my DE book which has like squad leader can take this this this, and normal guys can take this this and this.
Thanks for the help

Tetras are FW though right? how good are they?
And the thing is not everybody accepts FW stuff, hopefully we get something better in the new book~

 Makutsu wrote:

HQ: OK
Elites:
3 XV8 Battesuits w/ Twin-linked Misslepods, Targetting Array, 1 Marker Drone (I ASSUME THE MARKER DRONE IS ON A TEAM LEADER?)
3 XV8 Battesuits w/ Twin-linked Misslepods, Targetting Array OK
3 XV8 Battesuits w/ Plasma Rifles, Fusion Blaster, 3 Multi-tracker, 2 Shield Drone ASSUMING THE SHIELD DRONE IS ON TEAM LEADER

Troops:
12 Firewarriors
12 Firewarriors

Fast:
4 Pathfinders w/ Markerlights // Devilfish w/ D-pod
4 Pathfinders w/ Markerlights // Devilfish w/ D-pod

Heavy:
Hammerhead w/ Railgun, D-pod, Filter, Seeker, Multi-tracker, Targetlock TARGET LOCKS ARE POINTLESS ON HAMMERHEADS, BASICALLY ONLY FOR PHRANA SQUADS AND TETRAS
Hammerhead w/ Railgun, D-pod, Filter, Seeker, Multi-tracker, Targetlock
XV88 Broadside Leader w/ 1 Twinlinked Railgun, A.S.S, HW Filter, HW Multi-tracker MULTI TRACKERS ARE KINDA POINTLESS UNLESS YOU ARE SHOOTING UP CLOSE
2 XV88 Broadside Battlesuit w/ 2 Twin-Linked Railgun, 2 A.S.S

Yeah, I messed up the multi-tracker for the double weapon sys Battlesuits...
Fixed the list up again, this book is kinda confusing compared to my DE book which has like squad leader can take this this this, and normal guys can take this this and this.
Thanks for the help

Tetras are FW though right? how good are they?
And the thing is not everybody accepts FW stuff, hopefully we get something better in the new book~

Yeah this book is a case of old thats for sure. soon though soon.

yes Tetras are forge world. fast skimmers with heavy 4 markerlgiths and can get bs4. + squadrons of 4 per FA slot.

HQ:
2 units x Commander Shas'O
w/
Twin-Linked Missile Pod
Plasma Rifle
Hard-wired Multi-Tracker
Hard-wired Blacksun Filter
Stimulant Injector
3 Shield Drones

Elites:
3 XV8 Battesuits w/ Twin-linked Misslepods, Targetting Array
3 XV8 Battesuits w/ Twin-linked Misslepods, Targetting Array
3 XV8 Battesuits w/ Plasma Rifles, Fusion Blaster, 3 Multi-tracker // 1 leader same gear w/ 3 Shield Drone

Troops:
12 Firewarriors
12 Firewarriors

Fast:
4 Pathfinders w/ Markerlights // Devilfish w/ D-pod
4 Pathfinders w/ Markerlights // Devilfish w/ D-pod

Heavy:
Hammerhead w/ Railgun, D-pod, Filter, Seeker, Multi-tracker
Hammerhead w/ Railgun, D-pod, Filter, Seeker, Multi-tracker
XV88 Broadside Leader w/ 1 Twinlinked Railgun, A.S.S, HW Filter
2 XV88 Broadside Battlesuit w/ 2 Twin-Linked Railgun, 2 A.S.S


Hopefully fixed up everything, this book is pretty tedious and with the FAQ changing so many things...

You cant have more than 2 shield drones per controller....
if you need to kill more points take up to 2 seeker missiles per tank. or better yet upgrade your firewarrior with a shas ui? upgrade for better ld and mabye save face in Challenge.

Just gonna give the Devilfishes a SMS, and the leader of Broadsides a Multi-Tracker.

Just at 2000 points.