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The tau don't have psychers to go through the warp and don't have the webway. How do they do FTL travel?

They have a specialized FTL travel that "skips" across the warp like a thrown stone. It's much safer, but also much, much slower, being completely unable to cross the massive distances in the absurdly short times that warp-based FTL is able to do.

The Tau have traditional high tech engines. It's supposedly FTL but not as fast as Warp Travel or the webway (but more reliable). There was a story someplace of the Tau capturing and interrogating some humans about their warp drives and they couldn't believe that the humans had no idea how their tech worked. Blew their minds.

 Lance845 wrote:
The Tau have traditional high tech engines. It's supposedly FTL but not as fast as Warp Travel or the webway (but more reliable). There was a story someplace of the Tau capturing and interrogating some humans about their warp drives and they couldn't believe that the humans had no idea how their tech worked. Blew their minds.

That seems a little silly. Humans have no idea how just about all of their technology works. Why would Tau be surprised by one more instant of that on top of the thousands of instances they've probably heard by now?

It's in the 6ed codex I believe. Or possibly 6ed FSE. I know what he is talking about I read it in one of those. I'm pretty sure this was in the earlier days of Tau/IoM contact during the first big crusade they sent.

 Lance845 wrote:
The Tau have traditional high tech engines.

That's... not actually how Tau FTL works.

The Tau Empire uses technology known as "Gravitic Drives", letting their ships "fall" forwards, pulled by the drive's artificial gravity. They combined this along with reverse engineered warp drives to create their FTL technology. As they have no psykers, they cannot actually enter the warp; instead, like I said, they "skip" across the warp using their modified gravitic drives, with gravitic hooks letting bigger ships "carry" smaller ships behind them.

In an ironic twist, this means that unlike the Imperium, the Tau Empire is the one that doesn't actually know how their own drives work, being unable to use it to its full potential.

We've been retconned away from skimming the warp. The way our engines is described is similar but doesn't rely on pre-warp skimming anymore. It's in the newer lore pieces. It's bee a long time since I've asked people to source me it so I can't remember the exact book and page ect. They kind of work like star trek warp drives now.

 Melissia wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:
The Tau have traditional high tech engines.

That's... not actually how Tau FTL works.

The Tau Empire uses technology known as "Gravitic Drives", letting their ships "fall" forwards, pulled by the drive's artificial gravity. They combined this along with reverse engineered warp drives to create their FTL technology. As they have no psykers, they cannot actually enter the warp; instead, like I said, they "skip" across the warp using their modified gravitic drives, with gravitic hooks letting bigger ships "carry" smaller ships behind them.

In an ironic twist, this means that unlike the Imperium, the Tau Empire is the one that doesn't actually know how their own drives work, being unable to use it to its full potential.

Also your gonna have to make x number of resurfaces to "dive again"

Imperial is higher risk but in theory.... You pop out only where you wanted to. Might give a better chance of suprising someone.

 Gamgee wrote:
We've been retconned away from skimming the warp. The way our engines is described is similar but doesn't rely on pre-warp skimming anymore. It's in the newer lore pieces. It's bee a long time since I've asked people to source me it so I can't remember the exact book and page ect. They kind of work like star trek warp drives now.

... Star Trek warp drives work in functionally the same way as I described, but instead of the Warp they use "subspace", and the use of impulse drives (fusion rockets basically) for sub-FTL movement.

The lack of a warp drive is the single reason why Tau are generally seen as being unable to rival any other faction. They just can't travel or communicate on par with the other factions.

I think the Tau's FTL problems will be "solved" one way or another in whatever book they get next. If that's what you meant Melissia then we agree. The latest bit of lore is a Tau fleet "vanishing" with the strange warp... phenomenon of the Damocles gulf that is opening up rifts all over Tau space. One of their fleets vanished. The text says they were assumed to be destroyed, but it seems rather portentous to me. Would be hilarious if chaos tau become a thing.

What do the Necrons use?

I presume that doesn't use the Warp at all being they are anathema to the Warp?

The Necrons use inertialess drives that allow for infinite acceleration.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Gamgee wrote:
I think the Tau's FTL problems will be "solved" one way or another in whatever book they get next. If that's what you meant Melissia then we agree. The latest bit of lore is a Tau fleet "vanishing" with the strange warp... phenomenon of the Damocles gulf that is opening up rifts all over Tau space. One of their fleets vanished. The text says they were assumed to be destroyed, but it seems rather portentous to me. Would be hilarious if chaos tau become a thing.

I... doubt that. It's possible, but I think the limitation on using the warp is a thing GW wants to stick to for Tau.

 Melissia wrote:
The Necrons use inertialess drives that allow for infinite acceleration.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Gamgee wrote:
I think the Tau's FTL problems will be "solved" one way or another in whatever book they get next. If that's what you meant Melissia then we agree. The latest bit of lore is a Tau fleet "vanishing" with the strange warp... phenomenon of the Damocles gulf that is opening up rifts all over Tau space. One of their fleets vanished. The text says they were assumed to be destroyed, but it seems rather portentous to me. Would be hilarious if chaos tau become a thing.

I... doubt that. It's possible, but I think the limitation on using the warp is a thing GW wants to stick to for Tau.

On the other hand, the Tau could make the same breakthrough the Necrons did back in the day.

Temennigru wrote:
The tau don't have psychers to go through the warp and don't have the webway. How do they do FTL travel?

The same way the Tyranids and Necrons do. With fuzzy math and poor science fiction writing.


Apparently there is this thing called the warp. Humans travel through it. Orks travel through it. Eldar use to travel through it, then they decided they didnt like it so they created an artificial warp, called the webway, and then they started torturing people.

Necrons dont use the warp. But they somehow travel faster than light. (Poor writing has them stealing the Eldar webway)
Tau dont use the warp. But they somehow travel faster than light
Tyranids dont use the warp. But they somehow travel faster than light.

Tau lack psyker gene, one of which is the navigator trait that allows the imperium to use the warp extensively, where as the tau only skim the surface of it.

 Big Mac wrote:
Tau lack psyker gene, one of which is the navigator trait that allows the imperium to use the warp extensively, where as the tau only skim the surface of it.

We do not skim the surface of it anymore. That is retconned. At least until new lore proves otherwise. Honestly the drives work the same, take the same amount of time, and generally are the same thing. For some reason they thought they felt the need to make that clear in the newer descriptions.

 Melissia wrote:
The Necrons use inertialess drives that allow for infinite acceleration.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Gamgee wrote:
I think the Tau's FTL problems will be "solved" one way or another in whatever book they get next. If that's what you meant Melissia then we agree. The latest bit of lore is a Tau fleet "vanishing" with the strange warp... phenomenon of the Damocles gulf that is opening up rifts all over Tau space. One of their fleets vanished. The text says they were assumed to be destroyed, but it seems rather portentous to me. Would be hilarious if chaos tau become a thing.

I... doubt that. It's possible, but I think the limitation on using the warp is a thing GW wants to stick to for Tau.

Gives new meaning to the "Devilfish"

 Exergy wrote:

Temennigru wrote:
The tau don't have psychers to go through the warp and don't have the webway. How do they do FTL travel?

The same way the Tyranids and Necrons do. With fuzzy math and poor science fiction writing.


Apparently there is this thing called the warp. Humans travel through it. Orks travel through it. Eldar use to travel through it, then they decided they didnt like it so they created an artificial warp, called the webway, and then they started torturing people.

Necrons dont use the warp. But they somehow travel faster than light. (Poor writing has them stealing the Eldar webway)
Tau dont use the warp. But they somehow travel faster than light
Tyranids dont use the warp. But they somehow travel faster than light.

The Eldar never used anything but the webway, which they did not invent. The old ones did. Since the Eldar are genetically uplifted by the Old Ones to be used as a weapon in the War in Heaven they adopted some of their tech after the war was over.

Tyranids use a type of creature called a Narvahl http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Narvhal .

An inertialess drive that allows for infinite acceleration sounds great. Although it doesn't explain why Necrons would stay in the Milky Way if such a drive existed as the space between Galaxies would become just a thing of no consequence.

They were basically amazing inventors weren't they? No reason why the Tau could not follow such a path of accelerated invention. After all Humanity were supposedly doing the same until the Mechanicum ruined everything.

Mellow wrote:
An inertialess drive that allows for infinite acceleration sounds great. Although it doesn't explain why Necrons would stay in the Milky Way if such a drive existed as the space between Galaxies would become just a thing of no consequence.

They were basically amazing inventors weren't they? No reason why the Tau could not follow such a path of accelerated invention. After all Humanity were supposedly doing the same until the Mechanicum ruined everything.

Still life in the galaxy to exterminate. Can't move on with a job 1/2 done

Mellow wrote:
An inertialess drive that allows for infinite acceleration sounds great. Although it doesn't explain why Necrons would stay in the Milky Way if such a drive existed as the space between Galaxies would become just a thing of no consequence.

They were basically amazing inventors weren't they? No reason why the Tau could not follow such a path of accelerated invention. After all Humanity were supposedly doing the same until the Mechanicum ruined everything.

Post the War in Heaven the Galaxy was in such shambles that the Necrons went to sleep for the long nappy naps. In their eyes the Galaxy is theirs. They can start looking towards getting new stuff after they finish reclaiming their old stuff. Kids are still on their lawn.

The Necrons technological advancement did not happen in a vacuum. The Necrons advanced rapidly both from C'tan intervention and harvesting technology from the Old Ones after they crushed them in the War in Heaven.

Add in that all of the greatest minds of the Necrons are Immortal entities now. Each generation of Tau hae to spend a good portion of their lives going to school and catching up to their predecessors before they can make any advancment. The necrons just advance.

Basically the Tau don't have the tools of the Necrons path of accelerated invention available to them. Nobody does.

Also before the War in Heaven they had untold thousands of years to develop their technology to begin with.

Mellow wrote:
An inertialess drive that allows for infinite acceleration sounds great. Although it doesn't explain why Necrons would stay in the Milky Way if such a drive existed as the space between Galaxies would become just a thing of no consequence.

There must be some limit to it or else they would leave. They also wouldnt use the Dolem gates to enter the webway if they could just get wherever they like with inertialess propulsion quickly .

Mellow wrote:

They were basically amazing inventors weren't they? No reason why the Tau could not follow such a path of accelerated invention. After all Humanity were supposedly doing the same until the Mechanicum ruined everything.

The men of iron ruined everything. The mechanicum has just failed to put it all back together.

No idea. I'm jsut going off of my knowledge from battlefleet gothic and supplements relating to it, as most of the time 40k lore does not otherwise touch on such topics.

Wasn't the Inertia-less drive of the Necrons retconned into "They forced access into the Webway using something called Dolman Gates"?

By and by, the 1/5 speed of the Tau (versus the average for an Imperial warp drive) is based on their old style of fleet. Their new development fleet was stated to be able to maintain their FTL speed for up to 5 times as long, and so would be at least faster over long distances compared to their initial drives (though still below that of the Imperium).




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Lance845 wrote:

Mellow wrote:
An inertialess drive that allows for infinite acceleration sounds great. Although it doesn't explain why Necrons would stay in the Milky Way if such a drive existed as the space between Galaxies would become just a thing of no consequence.

They were basically amazing inventors weren't they? No reason why the Tau could not follow such a path of accelerated invention. After all Humanity were supposedly doing the same until the Mechanicum ruined everything.

The Necrons technological advancement did not happen in a vacuum. The Necrons advanced rapidly both from C'tan intervention and harvesting technology from the Old Ones after they crushed them in the War in Heaven.

The Tau are well-known for their tendency to take other race's technologies, reverse-engineer them, and apply them to their own tech: They've done so with Ion Cannon tech, their initial warp drives (whether that old fluff is still good is unknown), and a few other things.

While they won't have quite the same advantage as the Necrons (C'tan actively helping them), they do have a plethora of exceptional technology (DAoT stuff, Necron tech, Dark Eldar tech, etc.) to scavenge and, consequently, jump ahead of their natural progression.

Add in that all of the greatest minds of the Necrons are Immortal entities now. Each generation of Tau hae to spend a good portion of their lives going to school and catching up to their predecessors before they can make any advancment. The necrons just advance.

The Warzone Damocles: Mont'ka book confirms that at least one of the Earth Caste engineers (specifically, Farsight's Riptide-pilot bodyguard) has developed nanomachines that successfully extended his age.

Not immortality yet, but not entirely impossible to achieve either.

Basically the Tau don't have the tools of the Necrons path of accelerated invention available to them. Nobody does.

To some extent, the Tau have similar tools, just of lower usefulness (reverse-engineering, but without guidance; increased lifespan, but not yet immortality).

I wouldn't expect the Tau to match the Necron's acceleration of invention, but it is certainly very open to massive acceleration.

 Melissia wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:
The Tau have traditional high tech engines.

That's... not actually how Tau FTL works.

The Tau Empire uses technology known as "Gravitic Drives", letting their ships "fall" forwards, pulled by the drive's artificial gravity. They combined this along with reverse engineered warp drives to create their FTL technology. As they have no psykers, they cannot actually enter the warp; instead, like I said, they "skip" across the warp using their modified gravitic drives, with gravitic hooks letting bigger ships "carry" smaller ships behind them.

In an ironic twist, this means that unlike the Imperium, the Tau Empire is the one that doesn't actually know how their own drives work, being unable to use it to its full potential.

They know how it works, they're just physically unable to use it to its full potential cuz no psykers. If you can't navigate in the warp and can't ward your ship, all you're doing is serving up a spaceship full of Tau to some daemon as a snack every time you try to make a jump. Or you get an Event Horizon situation where your ship returns possessed who knows where and when. It happens sometimes for the Imperium but it would be literally EVERY time for the Tau. The "skimming" technique prevents this, even if they can't travel nearly as far with it.

Interestingly, the Tau have a race of psychic allies called Nicassar, but the Nicassar have no FTL tech and are apparently unable to use Imperium FTL tech (which makes sense, since Imperium FTL tech is built around Navigator mutants and the Astronomican). Nicassar actually have to hitch a lift with TAU ships if they want to get around faster.

It would actually make for pretty fun fluff if the Tau started experimenting with using the Nicassar to get true warp travel and various nasty accidents happened along the way. The thing is, Tau seem to be a lot more careful with their R & D than humans. They seem very wary of psychic powers in general (like when they sterilized a bunch of humans over it) which is probably why they don't have the same track record of accidentally creating horrific monsters and opening up portals to hell that humanity does. Still, if the Ethereals got to the point where they decided it was necessary for the greater good...

... then it's likely that the Tau empire would realize that the Warp is pretty much the worst possible place to be without an equivalent to gellar fields and probably decide to shut down Warp travel until they could develop something like that.

 Gamgee wrote:
I think the Tau's FTL problems will be "solved" one way or another in whatever book they get next. If that's what you meant Melissia then we agree. The latest bit of lore is a Tau fleet "vanishing" with the strange warp... phenomenon of the Damocles gulf that is opening up rifts all over Tau space. One of their fleets vanished. The text says they were assumed to be destroyed, but it seems rather portentous to me. Would be hilarious if chaos tau become a thing.

funy I interpret that differantly. that GW has no intent of addressing it anytime soon and instead is going to sue that to have the Tau pop up somewhere were otherwise they'd not be able to go

From Battle Fleet Gothic.

The Tau reverse a Warp drive (probably Imperial) from a wreaked ship that was found on a moon in their home system. As the Tau do not have a psy presence (but are not blanks) they are unable to stay in the warp (strange but this was BFG days) and get ejected at high velocity.

Kinda like putting a ball into water