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So as I've been refining my Mech Tau list, and have been looking at the relative value of adding the various wargear to the vehicles. Here's my thoughts on the matter:

Blacksun Filters are an autotake on any Skyray or Hammerhead IMO. For Devilfish they're probably not worth it, especially if it has an SMS.

DPods seem to be a pretty good buy - 15pts to decrease the chance of a failed cover save by 1/4 to 1/3? Yes, please, I'll have some. At least against any weapons that don't ignore cover, they seem to be an excellent buy, assuming you've got the points to spare.

I'm not the biggest fan of Sensor Spines, though they can definitely be useful. A 1 in 6 chance of becoming immobilized if you end your movement in terrain isn't that big of a threat, however, so if you're scrimping for points it's probably an easy way to strip out a few if needed. For those that are dozer blade fans, however, there's definitely an argument to be made for them.

Decoy launchers I think are probably a very underrated and underappreciated item, especially for vehicles like Skyrays, HHs, and DFish. On flyers it's a no brainer, of course. But, it also means that your skimmers get a 4+ invul against Quad Cannons and Icarus Lascannons - both of which are manned by things that have Precision Timing, Crack Shot, or other ways to ignore cover. Given how ubiquitous Aegis are - especially in the competitive scene - this is more likely than not to pay off over the course of a couple games. And, given the prevalence of Riptide / Broadside heavy lists with Early Warning Overrides, this gives your Mech Tau lists a lot more survivability against that heavy weight of fire. They can strip your cover with their Pathfinders, but the EWO gives them Intercept, which means you keep your 4+ invulnerable save against their fires - even if they're not Intercepting at the time. One can imagine that being a rude surprise.

Of course, I lose the majority of my vehicles in assault rather than to shooting attacks (unless we're talking about podded meltaguns and the like). Which brings us to Point Defense Arrays and Flechette Dischargers. Of the two, I feel that PDAs are the worse deal - at least in terms of defending the vehicle itself. Since only S5 or weaker weapons can be used, this severely limits the firepower you can toss around - so even if you do take it, you're likely getting 1 hit at best against charging units. That's not much. On the other hand, with a FD, you get an autohit against every single attacking model in B2B with your vehicle - which is a far better deal. Won't save you in all likelihood, especially against things like MEQ/TEQ/Chaos Spawns; against things like Wyches and Daemonettes and Orks, they can do significant damage. Potentially enough to tip the odds in your favor. So, if you do decide to take one of these the FD is the better choice. Whether it's worth it in terms of increased survivability is debatable.

Advanced Targeting Systems are an interesting choice, and I'm not certain how worthwhile they are. Precision shots are only so worthwhile, and the value of those shots depends highly on the S and AP of the shots in question. Getting a 5+ precision shot on a Crisis with two plasma rifles in rapid fire range is awesome; a 6+ on something with only 1-3 AP3 or better shots is less awesome. Sure, with SMS the picture changes significantly, as you'll likely get 1 or so per turn, but those are only AP5. Being able to snipe special weapons or Sergeants and the like is a nice perk, but not one that I feel is worth paying up for.

Automated Repair Systems... too low a chance to fix something that happens far too rarely to be worth the points. With a Decoy Launcher at least, there's a good chance you'll run up against something designed to kill vehicles that has Intercept, so odds are you'll get some use out of it in most games. With the ARS however... there's better way to spend your limited points budget.

Finally, Seeker Missiles. Depending on the rest of your list, these can be a terrible choice, pretty meh, or a really good idea. Depending on how many vehicles your list contains, you can carry out a pretty heavy alpha strike - especially with a bit of Markerlight support. These are excellent for taking out things like Quadcannons, Icarus, and Artillery platforms of all kinds, not to mention MCs and FMCs. With proper ML support, you can hammer down a couple high threat targets before they ever become an issue - even without it, that means that every single one of your vehicles has a 72" threat range until it's expended it's Seekers. Even just being able to throw out a volley of AP3 shots against MEQ heavy armies, or throw out a lot of S8 hits on FNP/2+ wound models that need to go away can throw a major wrench in your opponent's plans - especially if they were counting on using their relative survivability as a core tactic. Instagibbing Wraiths is always a good time. Keep in mind that Seekers aren't good anti-armor solutions - S8 AP3 struggles with AV12+, so use them in an anti-infantry, anti-artillery, and anti-MC role unless you really have to. That said, you'll need to build your list around an alpha strike to some degree; while all your vehicles will of course remain viable platforms after launch, those Seekers get expensive quickly. What's going to do more damage over the course of the game - 10 Seekers or another 9 Firewarriors? A question only you and the rest of your list will really be able to answer well.

Veskrashen wrote:
So, if you do decide to take one of these the FD is the better choice. Whether it's worth it in terms of increased survivability is debatable.

This is the wrong way to look at it. Just like in 5th, flechettes aren't to protect your tank, their job is to kill more than their cost in models if/when your tank gets assaulted. If you kill more than 10 points worth of models you've justified the cost no matter what happens to your tank after that. And if you're putting them on a tank that is going to get assaulted you're almost certainly doing more than 10 points of damage.

Automated Repair Systems... too low a chance to fix something that happens far too rarely to be worth the points. With a Decoy Launcher at least, there's a good chance you'll run up against something designed to kill vehicles that has Intercept, so odds are you'll get some use out of it in most games. With the ARS however... there's better way to spend your limited points budget.

IMO it's worth considering it since the cost is so cheap. A 1/6 chance doesn't seem like much, but you can still move/shoot as normal if you roll it, and it might save your expensive tank from becoming a useless paperweight.

 Peregrine wrote:

IMO it's worth considering it since the cost is so cheap. A 1/6 chance doesn't seem like much, but you can still move/shoot as normal if you roll it, and it might save your expensive tank from becoming a useless paperweight.

Given that you make the roll at the end of your turn, the tank has to survive another round of fire from your opponent before you can use whatever just got repaired.

I'm one of those dozer blade guys so I'll always be getting sensor spines.

Can't the point defense system aslo let the tank participate in support firing? If it does that makes it alot more useful in my opinion, especially on devilfish and piranas.

cryhavok wrote:
Can't the point defense system aslo let the tank participate in support firing? If it does that makes it alot more useful in my opinion, especially on devilfish and piranas.

Only with Str 5 weapons

Dracoknight wrote:

cryhavok wrote:
Can't the point defense system aslo let the tank participate in support firing? If it does that makes it alot more useful in my opinion, especially on devilfish and piranas.

Only with Str 5 weapons

What weapons does a Devilfish have which aren't S5? Seeker Missiles? Why would you want to fire a one use only missile when you need a six to hit?

Another 8 S5 shots going at a unit charging your Fire Warriors might do enough damage that that unit fails its charge.

Sure, it's less useful on any Hammerhead where they'll only have 4 S5 shots to contribute but on a Devilfish that's packing 8 shots, 4 of which are twin-linked, you can do some damage.

Good points here on PDA vs. FD. Maybe FD on HH/Skyray, with PDA on DFish if at all?