Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So, I dislike the fact that the Multitracker was taken away from Tau vehicles. This impacts Hammerheads the most, and I feel that because it is missing, Railheads are viewed as little more than the mandatory anti-AV14 weapon in a Tau list. I have always loved the Tau doctrine of mobility and firepower, and I feel the lack of a multitracker really kills that. But, I was considering alternatives to simply recreating the item for house rules. Given that the Hammerhead looks quite similar to the French AMX-13 and could be easily thought to contain an autoloading mechanism like the French tank, what about burst damage possibilities for the Railgun similar to Dire Avenger bladestorm? The AMX-13's disadvantages were that in order to reload the weapon, the crew would need to exit the vehicle and reload the magazine manually. However, modern autoloaders allow the crew to manually load the weapon once the magazine has been expended; but given modern autoloaders like the M1128 carry 12 rounds, I don't see running out of ammo to be a problem in a regular match.

Autoload - A Hammerhead with a Railgun may opt to utilize its autoloading mechanism during it's own normal shooting phase, changing the weapon profile of the Solid Shot to Heavy 2 and the Submunition to Heavy 2, Large Blast. The Hammerhead may not fire the Railgun again until the shooting phase after the next (meaning no Railgun overwatch during the opponents next two assault phases if Longstrike is taken). The Hammerhead's other weapon options do not incur penalties from this ability and may fire as normal.

This rule would make Railheads capable of dealing significant burst damage to a single target, and also increase their mobility. On turns where they are firing, they would operate similar to IoM tanks, trading mobility for firepower. On turns where they're unable to utilize the railgun, they would be able to redeploy or advance with other mechanized forces. The downside would be that you cannot fire the two shots at separate targets. I think the ability/upgrade should increase the Railhead cost 25 points, though, since the ability to put out that kind of alpha damage on the first turn could really wreck an enemy, and the Railhead is cheap enough it could be easily spammed.

If you're going to make a house rule to make up for the removal of multitrackers why don't you just take the simple approach and make a house rule that Tau tanks can shoot like fast vehicles?

Yup.

Or give them Power of the Machine Spirit. That's what I really expected them to do in the codex. Would call it somethign like Drone Assisted Targeting or other Tau-ish goodness.