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So I have seen several people talk about using the Velocity tracker which gives the unit skyfire over the Early Warning Override which gives them Interceptor and I was wondering which you would prefer.

I really like the missileside variation of the Broadside so we will use that variant for the poll. 3 Broadsides w/ SMS and High Yield Missile Pods, Early Warning Override, and 2x Missile Drones would run you 282 points. For skyfire you would add in an extra 60 points and lose interceptor

The unit will get you 36 missile shots, 12 Str7 and Str 5 at BS3 and 12 at Str 7 BS3 (I would normally add in a commander with Drone controller to up that).

Which would you take Skyfire or Interceptor? I like Interceptor because it is useful for things like deepstriking terminators and drop pods and you can hit that heldrake before it cooks your dug in firewarriors. Skyfire will almost guarantee you a dead flyer though.

As I said above I would usually attach a commander with those really nice signature systems that ignore cover and twin link weapons.

Interceptor. No point adding points to something thatll kill any flier the first turn of fire anyway

Thatguyhsagun wrote:
Interceptor. No point adding points to something thatll kill any flier the first turn of fire anyway

You still have to hit it and get through armour 12 with your str 7 shots.

Edit: Real mathshammer below.

 Blaggard wrote:
W/O Skyfire - 24 shots, 4 hit, 0.667 glances and 0.667 pens.
W/O Skyfire W/ Tankhunter Dual Pod Commander - 28 Shots, 4.667 Hit, 1.426 Glances, 1.426 Pens
W/ Skyfire - 24 Shots, 8 hits, 1.334 glances, 1.334 pens.
W/ Skyfire & Tankhunter Dual Pod Commander- 28 shots, 8.667 Hits, 2.648 Glances, 2.648 Pens

I thought it might come to mathhammer. The question you have to ask is whether you are alright allowing that helchicken to roast your firewarriors or crisis suits while you wait to get shots off at full BS. Also are you taking into account the two signature systems that remove jink saves and make everything twin linked?

You might want to factor in the missile drone shots for the skyfire shooting. Yes they are hitting at BS1 but they should be good for a hit or two.

I already did. 12 shots from 3 broadsides, 4 shots from the commander and 12 from the 6 drones.
With skyfire the 12 broadsides hit 69 times, the drones still only hit twice.

The units I was using were:
Commander, 2* Missile Pods, Puretide
Broadsides, Pods, 6* Drones with skyfire or interceptor system, cannae take both iirc.

forgot to make the sides TL though. back ta mathhammer!

Edit: TL'd the Sides.
W/O Skyfire - 24 shots, 4 hit, 0.9445 glances and 0.9445 pens.
W/O Skyfire W/ Tankhunter Dual Pod Commander - 28 Shots, 6.333 Hit, 1.9352 Glances, 1.9352 Pens
W/ Skyfire - 24 Shots, 11 hits, 1.8334 glances, 1.8334 pens.
W/ Skyfire & Tankhunter Dual Pod Commander- 28 shots, 11.667 Hits, 3.5648 Glances, 3.5648 Pens

I need to get my hands on the codex, im assuming drones are BS 2?

 Blaggard wrote:
I already did. 12 shots from 3 broadsides, 4 shots from the commander and 12 from the 6 drones.
With skyfire the 12 broadsides hit 69 times, the drones still only hit twice.

The units I was using were:
Commander, 2* Missile Pods, Puretide
Broadsides, Pods, 6* Drones with skyfire or interceptor system, cannae take both iirc.

forgot to make the sides TL though. back ta mathhammer!

Edit: TL'd the Sides.
W/O Skyfire - 24 shots, 4 hit, 0.9445 glances and 0.9445 pens.
W/O Skyfire W/ Tankhunter Dual Pod Commander - 28 Shots, 6.333 Hit, 1.9352 Glances, 1.9352 Pens
W/ Skyfire - 24 Shots, 11 hits, 1.8334 glances, 1.8334 pens.
W/ Skyfire & Tankhunter Dual Pod Commander- 28 shots, 11.667 Hits, 3.5648 Glances, 3.5648 Pens

Ok I hate to do this to you, but if the commander fires then the units shots don't remove the jink and non TL weapons lose TL. The commander should have a drone controller I know its outside of the math we are doing, but those drones should be hitting non skyfire at BS 5.

By default, yes.
You need markerlights to increase Missile Drones any further and Drone Commander to increase gun, markers and sniper drones BS.

Interceptor could be useful against deepstrikers, you get about 9 S5 and 9 S7 hits. Against T4 that's about 9 wounds. Drones cannot intercept though.

valace: what? Drone controller doesn't give missile drones BS5. Jink also doesn't remove TL. If they jink they get a 5+ cover save then you roll for glance/penetration.

 Blaggard wrote:
By default, yes.
You need markerlights to increase Missile Drones any further and Drone Commander to increase gun, markers and sniper drones BS.

Interceptor could be useful against deepstrikers, you get about 9 S5 and 9 S7 hits. Against T4 that's about 9 wounds. Drones cannot intercept though.

valace: what? Drone controller doesn't give missile drones BS5. Jink also doesn't remove TL. If they jink they get a 5+ cover save then you roll for glance/penetration.

well thats lousy that they didn't include missile drones in the drone controller entry, I missed that.

Look up the rules for the Multi Spectrum Sensor Suite and Command and Control Node.

One allows the unit to ignore cover and the other makes everything twin linked that isn't aready.twin linked. The only restriction is that the IC with those items can't fire in the shooting phase with the rest of his unit.

they only work during the "current phase" during the Tau's shooting turn, AKA not during their movement phase since that isn't your shooting phase. Page 73.

So with skyfire that'd work, mathshammer:
W/ Skyfire, C&C & Ignore Cover: 24 Shots, 12.6667 Hit, 2.111 Glances, 2.111 Pens
W/ Skyfire, C&C and Tankhunter - 24 shots, 12.667 Hits, 3.8704 Glances and 3.8704 Pens, if they Jink: 2.580 Glances and 2.580 Pens.

Personally I'd take the Tankhunter. If they jink and still survive then they're firing at snapshots.

Edit: Yay edits.

Point is Broadsides with interceptor are not going to kill AV 12 fliers when they come in from reserve. Only the broadsides get to fire interceptor so you only have 12 TL S7 shots to take down a AV12 flier at BS 1.

Assuming you have tank hunters you only have an 18.68% chance to outright destroy an AV 12 flier without a 5++ save.

Now just replacing skyfire with interceptor and using the same 12 shots you have a 99.25% chance outright destroying an AV12 flier without a 5++ save.

I dunno I'd rather have skyfire...

 Tarrasq wrote:
Point is Broadsides with interceptor are not going to kill AV 12 fliers when they come in from reserve. Only the broadsides get to fire interceptor so you only have 12 TL S7 shots to take down a AV12 flier at BS 1.

Assuming you have tank hunters you only have an 18.68% chance to outright destroy an AV 12 flier without a 5++ save.

Now just replacing skyfire with interceptor and using the same 12 shots you have a 99.25% chance outright destroying an AV12 flier without a 5++ save.

I dunno I'd rather have skyfire...

An if someone pods in or comes in from reserve in another way?

Sucks about those two systems maybe skyfire is the better way to go, just hate seeing a squad of firewarriors roasted.

Personally I think velocity tracker is too expensive. 60 points is a lot to pay for skyfire. You are better off spending those points on markerlights. Makerlights are more useful when your opponent doesn't have flyers. Yes I know markerlights snap shot at flyers too but you only need one or two to hit. As for intercept I am not really sure what I want to intercept, not flyers for sure. If you want anti-flying maybe a fireblade or Aun'vu body guard manning a quad gun.

I will choose Skyfire everytime because if you dont manage to completely kill it when it arrives, and lets face it this is a dice game so you wont, then you need to still be able to kill it the next turn.

The only advantage i see is with interceptor you might force them to jink which makes them less accurate right?(dont have my BRB friend is borrowing it) Or unable to shoot. Either way......i think id rather be able to continue trying to kill it in later turns when my poor dice rolling fail to kill it the first try.

Was thinking of setting the squad up on a Skyshield Landing Pad, but might go with the D line instead for the quad gun, between that and the missilesides with skyfire should have everything covered.

I preffer interceptor. My reasoning:
The tau are best when there units are integrated and working as a cohesive whole. A squadron of marker drones or a squad of pathfinders can replace the need for skyfire on most any unit. And Interceptor allows you to do something you otherwise would not be able to do. Either way though, my preffered flyer hunter is crisis suits teams of three with FB, skyfire, interceptor, and 2 marker drones each... Not broadsides, I use broadsides to kill everything else.

What about interceptor being used to throw all those high strength shots at any nasties deep striking within range of the missilesides? Skyfire can't do that; adds some versatility to sides against lists that don't bring fliers.

Target lock and Missile drones....

Skyfire, better chance of hitting and killing the target. Interceptor just gives you a high chance of wasting your shots on snap fire and failing to kill anything.

You are better off spending those points on markerlights.

Not really. 60 points is 4x marker drones, which averages less than one hit per turn. So with the velocity tracker you're shooting at BS 3, with the marker drones you're shooting at worse than BS 2. And that's not considering the fact that marker drones are a fragile high-priority target and therefore likely to be dead just when you need them most.

Makerlights are more useful when your opponent doesn't have flyers.

IMO flyers are so dominant in 6th that you have to expect them. Declining to take the most effective AA options because you might find the rare player without Vendettas/Helldrakes/Scythes is a pretty bad idea.

An if someone pods in or comes in from reserve in another way?

That's what Riptides are for. Non-flyer reserves are probably going to take a lot more damage from the pie plate of death than from some "autocannon" shots. It's pretty much a 72" radius "no deep strike allowed" zone.

Just in regard to the maths hammer, the Helldrake gets a 5+ invun anyway I believe, essentially an auto jink. Or I've been playing it horribly wrong

I didnt realize you had to have both skyfire and interceptor.....dont even bother with iterceptor on broadsides. Complete waste as far as anti AIR is concerned. But say something outflanks on your ass and gets blown to bits by interceptor before it gets a chance to shoot at anything. That could potentially be lethal lol