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Sorry for the vague post but just wondering how people find using the Elysian drop troops FW list?

Been playing around with lists on Battlescribe and quite like the infiltrating beacons as support for both scions and D-99, though I'm wondering where I can find the most up to date rules for them.
Not sure if your allowed to say on this forum or not but when infiltrate was added to the forward observers doctrine was stealth removed? Wouldn't be a game ender but would make the initial force much more squishy.

Also people find that Valkyries are necessary? Combat drop is handy to get some turn 1 deep strike, but when all units have deep strike already I'm wondering in reverves manipulation through officers of the fleets and a comms relay would be satisfactory, to get units in on turn 2 and the points saved could get more effective fire power. Linked to this what would be the best way to protect squishy CCS's with their OoF and beacons, as drop pods seem to reliably destroy them turn one, been considering D99 executioner squad with coteaz to dump a lot of plasma into anyone who tries that but its a lot of points.
Speaking of D99 I'm struggling to get my head around them, executioner and extermination squads seem brutal, but not sure how to use their HQs when they lack orders and the troop slot seems weak, I'm guessing a 5 man squad with flamer and H-flamer suiciding to thins hordes and save points will be most effective.

Finally are long range ground scanners worth it and how do people tend to field them.

Many thanks for any help you can give.

Welcome to the drop troops!

The most update rules for the Elysian Drop Troops is in Imperial Armour 3 second editon. This has all the pts amounts and except for the IG codex you don't need anything else. The beacons are called tracking beacons and let any friendly unit DS without scatter if within 6"...which can be amazing if used well. The vets do not have camo cloaks with the infiltration option so they do tend to be rather squishy. However the infiltrating option can be very nasty if used with finesse and in combination with things like coteaz / assassin or the new raven guard detachment to help you get turn 1. Alternatively beacons are super useful with army wide DS and alternative deployment options is always nice.

The D-99 drop troops are located in Imperial Armour 4 second edition.

Combat drop actually works for more than valks. Drop sentinels are actually in many ways better combat drop units. Remember though that you need to have something on the table bottom turn 1 unless you want to auto lose every game. This is the true beauty of combat drop valks (which BTW are extremely hard to DS more than 2-3 on a table with essentially any models on it). It is extremely hard for most armies to kill a 1-2 DSing valks that are jinking and zooming when being placed to keep them alive. Even valks can stay out of range and LoS of most of the worst anti air. Personally I prefer to take 2 or 3 valks and at least 1 more combat drop so I can have 2 valks down on turn 1 to keep me on the board.

Elysian drop troops have a few advantages which can make them fairly formidable if they are taken advantage of.
1) 4x plasma company command squad when they use the ignore cover or tank/monster hunter order to buff themselves and any 3x plasma vet squads which DS near them are extremely damaging. They are even better when you bring along psykers to buff them. I usually just DS them in and don't bother putting them in a valk even if I purchase them one. This is ultimately your best and pretty much only source of ignore cover so you absolutely must make it count. This is also the single greatest reason that IMO the D-99 list doesn't cut it against tournament level lists. (note that I have played my elysian drop troops lists against copies of the GT winning lists and usually win, not against the GT winners though )
2) Punisher cannon vultures are amazing in the regular list and in the D-99 list with their BS4 they are just nasty.
3) 130 pts vendetta. This is what keeps the elysian drop troops able to keep control of the skies. There is nothing worse than playing as elysians and running into flyer based list when you don't have enough vendettas to combat them...it is just embarrassing.

Note that if you don't plan on using combat drop I would take allies to for turn 1 presence. The elysians pay for DS on all their units. Thus any elysian option to sit on the board and take one on the chin is going to be massively overpriced for the job.

The main reason for Valkyries is that you auto-lose at the end of turn 1 if you have nothing on the table. So you need a decent on-table element at the start of the game or you're going to lose before the game really begins. And that means either investing points into Valkyries or into some kind of durable units to sit there for a turn and let you start bringing in reserves on the second turn. Deep striking squads without transports is really efficient but those units don't contribute to your combat drop total and won't come in until after the first turn. So you can afford to take a few of those efficient no-transport squads, but you still have to invest heavily into Valkyries.

And of course this problem gets worse when you consider non-troops units. Vendettas/Vultures/Avengers/etc are great units but any points you spend on them are points that aren't contributing to your turn-1 presence (either by being on-table turn 1 or by adding +1 to combat drop). And those points add up fast, so once you pick your non-troops units you'll usually find that all of your infantry units have to have Valkyries to get a decent combat drop total. Managing this problem is probably the hardest part of making a decent drop troops list.

Cheers for the replies, does seem a tricky balancing act between Valkyries for first turn presence and harder hitting specialised units to provide the punch.

I must admit what's attracted me to the Elysians is the possibility of using them as infantry for 1st turn board presence for scion forces rather than standard guard as the infiltrating beacons seemed very handy for giving larger areas of accurate deep strike across the board. Was looking at 2 CCS and 3 forward observing veteran squads for this purpose but without stealth and after talking to you guys I'm not sure they'll last it, I currently use a similar set up with standard guard with the same units but in carapace and with forward sentries which can generally last the turn fairly but are all in my deployment zone so don't really inflict much damage for their points as well as not really having any synergy with the DS storm troopers (been using inquisitor servo skulls to mitigate that but switched on opponents with mobile armies shut them down very quickly). On an aside with this am I right in understanding focus fire is no longer used in 7th, can't find it in the rules; will save me a few point if my commanders no longer need camo cloaks to stop them getting picked out.

An alternative for first turn presence I've been looking at is Raptors with Lias Issodon, again units can be infiltrated forwards and being marines can be both hardier and dish out more damage as well as giving some reserves manipulation, but having the MEQ being sneaky and the GEQ dropping in seems all backwards plus the marines only have the one locator beacon. (miss scouts having locator beacons rather than teleport homers).

I'm planning on converting up some atmospheric aircraft with a WWII P-47/F4U aesthetic and using them as a "counts as" ravenwing support squadron with 5 speeders and a darkshroud. 13 HP with 2+ rerollable jink saves is pretty tough, and tolerable at 320 points, or the cost of 2 (and a bit...) valkyries.

Skyshield landing pads + infantry platoons can work, but as stated, you're paying a premium for the privilege of jumping out of the sky. Guardsmen do like 4++ saves though!

Aye the sky shield and platoon would definitely give a strong first turn presence but not the aesthetic I'm going for unfortunately.

Going of on a bit of a tangent (and sorry for picking obscure FW stuff) but just noticed that you can go for another elite drop troops vibe with tallarn desert raiders upgrade on Valkyrie mounted veterans with forward sentries doctrine. Move through cover would make grav chute insertion safer and allow them a bit more mobility while hugging cover, would also pair up nicely with plasma guns to reroll gets hot. Were Tallarn ever expanded on beyond that rule and the Mukaali riders (ie a full army list) out of curiosity?