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So its no mystery that tau plasma is underwhelming s6 ap-3 1d. rapid fre, no option for overcharge. So i don't see tau really pushing the envelope in plasma, as that is the whole concept with Tau's plasma, keep it safe for the user. ( I am aware they violate this in ion weaponry) So lets drop plasma in points still from its already fairly cheap 11 pts to like.. 8, and make a new weapon to fill that role.

Cyclic Rail Repeater (battle suits only)-
Earth caste engineers have pushed rail technology further, fusing a modified pulse blast with specialized rail rifle ammunition, and created a new accelerant source. By encapsulating the solid projectile in a contained pulse blast, and placing it into a cartridge, they were able to greatly reduce the size, and maintain or the damage of the rail weaponry. It does require a substantial amount of power to maintain the pulse field, so a battlesuit or vehicle source of power is required, so it's not yet been implemented into general infantry, but near-production units are being fitted to battle suits at this time. Vehicles have yet to be remodeled to incorporate this technology.

20 pts - Assault 2 R 30" S7 Ap-4, D d3 (a to wound roll of 6 causes a bonus mortal wound)
Special rule- experimental Ammo- on a to hit of 1 (After re-rolls and modifiers), the weapon is destroyed (at the end of the phase, after other to hit/wound rolls) and can not fire again. [Borrowing from fusion blade here]

You're comments, or other constructive ideas for tau are totally welcome.

As a wish, sure, I want more rails too. But it's not feasible with the circumstances we are in.

XV8 and XV85 had new models released within the last 5 years so no new models and no new weapons. It seems possible, for better or worse, that CIB and AFP become commander only items since there is only1 model for each and only in that kit. In that case, I certainly think CIB could be upgraded, and I really want it to because d3 shots on an overcharge is irritating.

As for the weapon breaking, ouch. And considering the model I would bring it up to assault 3. If IG are any indication our codex could see a massive decline in points for weapons since we're BS4+ throughout. Meaning commanders would be a higher cost body but stack on underpriced weapons (if they wanted to keep things easy).

I like our plasma guns, it's the imperial version that is too good and hurting balance.

If I may add a wish. Its a stratagem. 3CP select a friendly unit of Pathfinders and an enemy character greater than 18" from this friendly unit. The selected unit may target this character even if it is not the closest enemy target.

Imagine, 7 ML and 3 railrifles targeting a character. It wouldn't die automatically, our shooting is only fair after all. Plus it requires setup and survivability and positioning but it's a fun option to consider.

I wanted the gun to break instead of "Get's hot" model slain, as that leaves the model still eligible to take objectives, or at least punch something. Saving the user, which seems to be more in line with non-ion tau, to fight another day.

Bringing a multi tracker would let you reroll 1s by default, or markerlight support (a reason to bother bringing a few more units) to stay as far away from 1's as possible

Definitely 100% wish-listing, 0% chance it would be implemented.

You've made a cheaper, shorter-ranged Missile Pod with vastly better AP here; the 1s-to-hit downside is almost completely irrelevant in Tau given Markerlights.

I don't know if there's a good way to get something into that stat bracket that isn't either just a better Missile Pod or just a worse Missile Pod. Maybe leave the Battlesuit railguns to the Broadsides.

How about just a rapid fire 2 Plasma, it's lower strength and doesn't have overcharge, so the damage potential across the board is similar but ultimately lower than standard plasma.

 AnomanderRake wrote:
You've made a cheaper, shorter-ranged Missile Pod with vastly better AP here; the 1s-to-hit downside is almost completely irrelevant in Tau given Markerlights.

I don't know if there's a good way to get something into that stat bracket that isn't either just a better Missile Pod or just a worse Missile Pod. Maybe leave the Battlesuit railguns to the Broadsides.

Quite a large number of current tau lists come w/o markerlights. So this incentives bringing more, which is flavorful, and also psudeo balancing, as you are minimum 16pts of outside soft support to get that 1 ml.

Missile pods suck, for the price. It's not terrible they are better than missile pods at shorter range, with more drawbacks. missile pods should be cheaper/better. Using them as a point of comparison is like using pre-8th ed vespids as comparison for fast attack.. they existed, but were terrible for the price.

How about just a rapid fire 2 Plasma, it's lower strength and doesn't have overcharge, so the damage potential across the board is similar but ultimately lower than standard plasma.

because at 2 less strength than the option to overcharge, and 1 D instead of at least d3, its not going to do the same damage, it wounds fewer things less impactfully. 2ndly, doing the imperial thing but worse isn't that flavorful. Rail-weapons are one of our unique things. why not make more of it? I can concded to maybe ap-3 (same ap) due to the shorter barrel with faster cycle, but i'd rather adjust points.

Dunno i like the idea of the plasma staying weaker but cheaper and more base shots as its supposed to be mulching through elites not tanks. leaving fusions as your normal anti tank weapon.

perhaps make it like assault 2-3 giving you more options to be mobile.

 Desubot wrote:
Dunno i like the idea of the plasma staying weaker but cheaper and more base shots as its supposed to be mulching through elites not tanks. leaving fusions as your normal anti tank weapon.

perhaps make it like assault 2-3 giving you more options to be mobile.

Assault 2-3 makes it better (ie consistent), but the reality of the new to wound chart, anti-elite is anti tank S, but the damage being 1,2,3 d3, d6, or 6 determines its value as anti-tank more than S outright. to wound a SM on a 2+ requires s8.. to wound a LR on a 4+ requires s8.. doing 1 d makes it anti-infantry, doing 6 damage makes it anti-tank (anti everything, but non-mortal doing 6 damage to a gretchin is a bit of a waste).

As proposed (baring the bonus mortal wound from time to time), these are better anti Teq/Custodes than anti LR or brimstone mob

What you talking about anti elite wound be around st 5-6 wounding on 3s
anti standard infantry being from 3-5 often wounding on 3-5.
anti tank is around 7-9 wound tanks in the 3-4 range on average some times on 5s for less efficient targets

2+ to wounds shouldnt be the end all be all status quo for anti anything.

 Desubot wrote:
What you talking about anti elite wound be around st 5-6 wounding on 3s
anti standard infantry being from 3-5 often wounding on 3-5.
anti tank is around 7-9 wound tanks in the 3-4 range on average some times on 5s for less efficient targets

2+ to wounds shouldnt be the end all be all status quo for anti anything.

It is when your army struggle with both volume of fire, and propensity to miss.

Well realistically the only way they are going to fix that is to adjust points and hopefully fix the marker light system because those two things are what would fix those problems.

Why did you name the thread "fixing plasma flavorfully" and then just make up a new gun to take it's place?

In any case, I don't see why you're against giving plasma more shots. More shots is actually way better than +1S given the current wound table. (S7 only wounds T3 on 2+, just like S6)
And if you give them more strength you're stepping on the toes of Fusion. Rapid Fire 2 plasma would be worth so much more than multiple damage.

Maybe give Tau plasma more range? Make it more like an Eldar Starcannon than an Imperial Plasma Rifle. 36" Rapid Fire 1? It would let Tau Crisis Suits dance around enemies at 18" range (2 shots) and make it hard to charge them.