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What disadvantage does a main detachment hailing from the Farsight Enclaves have, compared to one from the main Tau Codex?

Apart from having their own relics (like the Earth Caste Pilot Array) instead of those of the Tau Empire codex (such as the Puretide Engram Neurochip).

I mean, being able to take crisis suits as troops and have a 7 man strong bodyguard including a riptide for Farsight is not a disadvantage, right?

So is the normal Tau codex really only good if you want to play as Shadowsun, Aun Va or use any Tau relics like the MSSS?

The standard Tau systems are generally better/cost effective. I'll go into that in a minute.

The only down side really is that to take suits as troops you have to take a three man squad. Also any unit that can take bonding ritual takes it. Effectively a 1 point tax on most things, even solo suits which is completely pointless. Really bonding ritual on them at all is pointless, but regardless it is worth it to have 5 easily filled troop slots for jet pack objective takers.

The warlord traits are about average with the Tau ones. More focus on traits beneficial to suits, but still decent.

The wargear itself is all expensive. The fusion sword is twin-linked fusion + the upgrade for 50 points S8 AP1 attacks.
The amulet is rather expensive as well (forget the cost currently) but it's the only actual psychic defense the army has and gives 5++ to the wearer. Not bad, but not great.
The Mirrorcodex is friggin' expensive. 50 points for a random chart is just too rich for my blood. The only other effect is 5+ initiative stealing.

The Warscraper drone clocks in at just under 50 points, but gives you the ability to outflank the owner and it's squad with acute senses and gives some difficult terrain tests.
-Honestly want to try bringing a commander with dual burst cannons and ATS, three man squad with dual burst cannons, and all gun drones. Outflank and tear into some enemy units.

There is no disadvantage really. You can still ally normal Tau with them as well. The closest I see to an advantage is losing the main wargear options for rather lack luster choices (Yes losing lots of cheap wargear and effective wargear is worse than getting a few good pieces) and the bonding ritual tax.

Personally I love taking Enclave in low point games. Suits are very versatile and fit a number of roles well. Making them scoring for 1 point more is worth it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also to add in, the main codex is still fine on it's own.
Firewarriors and Kroot are both good troop choices while suits can be rather fragile in certain conditions.

They have two different styles really, but both are good as a stand alone.

So is the normal Tau codex really only good if you want to play as Shadowsun, Aun Va or use any Tau relics like the MSSS?

Thing is, the signature systems from Codex: Tau are the best part of either book. The traditional Buffmander is one of the single best characters in the game. That alone makes it hard to pass on Tau for the Farsight Enclave.

Honestly that's the one thing I never understood. The pricing of the signature items is incredibly different.
The upgrades for the buffcommander come in at 50 points. The mirrorcodex in comparison comes up very short of that since the table applies to Imperium only, is rolled on each turn, and the later is not important if you are going first anyways.

The Tau wargear is very cheap and good. The Neuroweb System Jammer and Onager Gauntlet for example cost 7 points together and have no downsides for their benefit. The repulsor field and failsafe aren't really that great. The repulsor field for example costs the same and has the same effect only in overwatch as two flamers while having no actual shooting profile outside of that. Iridium armor gives two huge stat boosts, going to T5 and 2+ save is amazingly good when combined with a 2+ LOS.

So on Tau: Onager Gauntlet, Iridium armor, NWSJ, PEN chip, MSSS, and C&C node as good choices and cost a total of 82 points.

For Farsight: Warscraper, ECPA (A waste on anything other than a Riptide),Fusion blades, Mirror codex, and Amulet.
Total cost is over twice as much as the standard book for marginal benefits.

Well, the main codex signature systems are a bit OP.
And enclaves got mostly bad ones. Only the ECPA and the talisman are worth even considering.

Also, warlord traits. The enclave have such terrible traits some of them are downgraded BRB traits and the only one really good (1-time shred aura) does not fit the codex consider high S weapons all around making wounding not a great issue compared to avtually hitting and the main codex got the same deal except to the more useful hitting. the main codex overall got far more impressive traits, with a few possibly game changing.