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Can somebody sell me the new broadside weapon option vs a twin-linked missle pod / missle pod suit loadout?

Broadside Pros:
SMS aswell, 2+ armor, can take missle drones,
Cons: Very low mobility, Significantly higher points cost, snap shots if moving.

Suit Pros:
Lower points cost, extremely mobile, can take different drones
Cons: 1/2 the shots aren't TL, 3+ armor save

Deathrain is still the best loadout in my eyes, suits don't have the survivability to get into 24'' range let alone 12" for plasma rapid fire unless they deepstrike.

JSJ still remains one of the core principles of the new Tau army and any veteran Tau player will abuse the hell out of it.

I hear everyone showering the Broadside with love yet this comparison leaves me wanting the suit.

educate me.

In my experience Crisis Suits die to everything, while the 2+ of the Broadsides means that most people just don't even bother shooting them (they are always behind stuff to get cover as well). People are used to torrenting T4 3+ saves to death from range, but massed 2+ save infantry that shoots heaps and doesn't just walk into Rapid Fire Plasma range tends to stick around all game. Surviability for shooting units is very hard to quantitively measure, but its a major factor for many fire support units. In terms of the game meta the Heldrake is one of the biggest factors people have to build their armies around atm, and the 2+ on the Broadsides means they will shoot down a Drake before it kills them, rather than getting eat over a couple of turns.

You are also ignoring the Broadsides secondary weapon system. With Smart Missiles you have another handful of twin linked S5 shots per suit, which with Ignore Cover make the Broadside much better at trimming down infantry than the Deathrain. When everything is twin linked you really don't care that much if you are snapping either, you still throw a brick of dice at people, and a single Markerlight hit and you are back to your base damage levels.

The other factor to consider is that if you are taking Crisis Suits are wasting slots which could be used for Riptides.

Its really really hard to compare two units in a completely different FOC slot. MP suits are competing for plasma/fusion suits and riptides which are usually crucial to victory against most if not all the races.

Missilesides put out more shots hands down, but like you said lack mobility and no longer have the range to ignore this problem. However, the alternative units in Heavy are usually for a totally different role since they have AP3+ or shoot pi plates for hordy armies. Missilesides will do more wounds on average than a single piplate yes but because of the range, by the time they can wound THAT many there isnt much time left to deal the damage. Not to mention backfield lascannons can pick them off and cant retaliate while ion/hammerheads can.

Missilesuits put out about half the dakka but are all over the place so the range isnt an issue anymore. They also arent twinlinked unless you take the buffcommander with sigsystems upgrades. It will kill infantry and light vehicles thats for sure, but only a little better than plasmas...and plasmas also take out armor.

I guess it solely depends on who youre fighting/what youre fighting. Taking 2-3 Ionheads could alleviate your AP issue....or a railhead for that matter lol...but what about air? Missilesides only do awesome against air because they put out SO MANY DAMN TWINLINKED SHOTS that they dont care if they need 6s lol

Aijec wrote:
Can somebody sell me the new broadside weapon option vs a twin-linked missle pod / missle pod suit loadout?

Broadside Pros:
SMS aswell, 2+ armor, can take missle drones,
Cons: Very low mobility, Significantly higher points cost, snap shots if moving.

Suit Pros:
Lower points cost, extremely mobile, can take different drones
Cons: 1/2 the shots aren't TL, 3+ armor save

Deathrain is still the best loadout in my eyes, suits don't have the survivability to get into 24'' range let alone 12" for plasma rapid fire unless they deepstrike.

JSJ still remains one of the core principles of the new Tau army and any veteran Tau player will abuse the hell out of it.

I hear everyone showering the Broadside with love yet this comparison leaves me wanting the suit.

educate me.

The Broadside is simply more shots with a long range. Oftentimes they don't have to move, especially if camping in a Bastion or behind an ADL.

But the kicker is...

You can have both. Hell, you can have a lot of both.

You can fill your Heavy slots with Broadsides, then have a Deathrain commander and bodyguard, then a Deathrain crisis unit. Do you really want to do that? Probably not, but the option is there. I have a Missileside unit and two sniper teams (one may be swapped for a Skyray or Hammerhead). Also, the IA3 2nd ed gives the option to take a Hammerhead with the equivalent of a HYMP.

Honestly, I would take Missilesides. They really do obliterate anything within 36". Crisis suits are better suited towards being plasma/melta carriers due to their mobility.