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Is there something in the Tau codex that says you fire all markerlights army-wide first before any other guns are fired?

I just played a Tau army and the player went through and fired all of his marker lights from each unit first. Then he went through and fired regular weapons from all the other units and the regular guns in the unit that fired the markerlights. Now he was only using split fire on those units that had it, so that wasnt an issue.

But here is an example,
a unit of broadsides with 4 marker light drones
a unit of pathfinders with 4(i think?) marker lights, 3 ion rifles and their regular pulse rifles

the broadsides' drones fired the marker lights on the target and only got one hit. Then the pathfinders marker lights fired and got 3 hits. then the broadsides fired and used the 3 marker lights to remove cover and increase ballistic skill by 1.

No, that's against the rules (and it's never worked that way IIRC). When firing a unit you must fire the entire unit.

I would think they fire as a unit, the Drones would at the same time as a the broadsides(a squad). then the pathfinders or the other way around.

Hmm, i am a fool for not recognizing this mistake when he was playing.

All weapons in a single unit fire simultaneously unless given special rules.

NETWORKED markerlights, of which the drones or Pathfinders are not, have this permission, because the rest of the unit may use a networked markerlight.

Other wise it's shooting as with any other ranged weapon.

maceria wrote:
All weapons in a single unit fire simultaneously unless given special rules.

NETWORKED markerlights, of which the drones or Pathfinders are not, have this permission, because the rest of the unit may use a networked markerlight.

Other wise it's shooting as with any other ranged weapon.

Sort of correct.

All fire from a unit is resolved before moving on to another unit.
The shots are demonstrably not simultaneous - wounds are allocated and casualties removed between weapon types.

Networked markerlights don't have permission to fire, switch to another unit and resolve that shooting, and then come back to the markerlight unit - they never have.
You simply have permission for the firing unit to be able to use the Networked lights.

So normally a unit that fires marker lights in addition to other weapons cannot benefit from their own marker lights?

 Icculus wrote:
So normally a unit that fires marker lights in addition to other weapons cannot benefit from their own marker lights?

Correct, it's even written into the rule itself:

Support Systems - Markerlights wrote:Note that as markerlight counters are removed from the target before the shooting attack is made, it is impossible for a unit to benefit from its own markerlights.

(Note that Networked Markerlights have a specific exception to this).

No wonder I was tabled. I will demand a rematch. I think things will go quite differently.

 Icculus wrote:
No wonder I was tabled. I will demand a rematch. I think things will go quite differently.

While he didn't play the markerlights correctly, listbuilding is a huge part of the game vs Tau. PM me and I'll give you a bunch of pointers on how to beat Tau.

He's going to be really unhappy when he finds out that his Markerlights don't work how he thinks they work.

Works like this...

1. Nominate a Unit to Fire.
2. Select a Target.
2a. Declare that you are using any markerlight counters available on the target unit
3. Choose a weapon
4. etc. etc.

Now, in the case of a Networked Markerlight, you fire that as your first weapon and then immediately have the option of using those counters before you fire any other weapons.

You can NEVER, NEVER, NEVER fire a weapon from your first unit, fire weapons from your second unit and then go back to your first unit. That would be making two shooting attacks with the first unit and you have no permission to do so.

rigeld2 wrote:

maceria wrote:
All weapons in a single unit fire simultaneously unless given special rules.

NETWORKED markerlights, of which the drones or Pathfinders are not, have this permission, because the rest of the unit may use a networked markerlight.

Other wise it's shooting as with any other ranged weapon.

Sort of correct.

All fire from a unit is resolved before moving on to another unit.
The shots are demonstrably not simultaneous - wounds are allocated and casualties removed between weapon types.

Networked markerlights don't have permission to fire, switch to another unit and resolve that shooting, and then come back to the markerlight unit - they never have.
You simply have permission for the firing unit to be able to use the Networked lights.

Hmm, I had read the changes to shooting in 7th that the shooting in a unit is simultaneous, all nominations and to hit, but the wound allocation is then by weapon. My mistake. With the rules refresh cycle I sometimes get stuck in last edition!