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Perhaps I just have too many hangovers from 4th ed but I'm having some head scratching when it comes to working out how to fire the Skyray.

Do the markerlights count as 1 weapon system or can |I only fire 1 at full BS and the other a snapshot if I move? What about missiles? Say I have to move to get LOS to a flyer, does that mean I can fire 1 missile at BS4 and then snapshot everything else? If this is the case, why do I keep seeing Skyray's mentioned in Tau discussion threads as being super competitive? I'm going to need more than 1 x BS4 S8 missile to knock down those Helldrakes ASAP.

Markerlights are weapons. They cannot wound, however, they can force a grounding test.

The markerlight is fired in the same way as any other weapon system, therefor anything which changes the ballistic score of any weapon would also apply to the markerlights. This would obviously including the whole scenario related to movement, as it is the easiest way to change the ballistic score of a vehicle. In fact, and I could be remembering something incorrectly, but because you are forced to fire the networked markerlights first there is no option available to fire it as one of the snap-shot weapon. The only choice would be to fire them at full ballistic score, as the weapon your firing first, or not fire them at all in order to choose another weapon to fire first.

The reason it is devastating is what happens if the unit doesn't move more then 6 inches. It can fire the networked markerlights first, use them to boost it's own already decent ballistic score, and then fire all the missiles at a single target in one massive volley. Even if you have penalties, the marker lights themselves allow you to increase the ballistic score of snap shots as well as normal shots. This makes it quite possible to fire all missiles with a 50/50 chance of hitting regardless of how much you have moved prior, more then enough to make most flyers think twice about coming out of reserves with this thing on the table.

Personally, I rather the vector tracker on a missile/ion wielding battle-suit for my anti-air needs but that is irrelevant to this rule discussion.

JinxDragon wrote:
The markerlight is fired in the same way as any other weapon system, therefor anything which changes the ballistic score of any weapon would also apply to the markerlights. This would obviously including the whole scenario related to movement, as it is the easiest way to change the ballistic score of a vehicle. In fact, and I could be remembering something incorrectly, but because you are forced to fire the networked markerlights first there is no option available to fire it as one of the snap-shot weapon. The only choice would be to fire them at full ballistic score, as the weapon your firing first, or not fire them at all in order to choose another weapon to fire first.

The reason it is devastating is what happens if the unit doesn't move more then 6 inches. It can fire the networked markerlights first, use them to boost it's own already decent ballistic score, and then fire all the missiles at a single target in one massive volley. Even if you have penalties, the marker lights themselves allow you to increase the ballistic score of snap shots as well as normal shots. This makes it quite possible to fire all missiles with a 50/50 chance of hitting regardless of how much you have moved prior, more then enough to make most flyers think twice about coming out of reserves with this thing on the table.

Personally, I rather the vector tracker on a missile/ion wielding battle-suit for my anti-air needs but that is irrelevant to this rule discussion.

that is not going to work. Each Markerlight fires separate. So one Marklight is bs4, the other is BS1 if you move as are any none ML guided Seekers. or you can burn the token for BS2 seekers snapshotted on the target.

What makes the skyray nice is the Skyfire Markerlights to raise the BS of any snapshots against flyers.

Stompzilla wrote:
Perhaps I just have too many hangovers from 4th ed but I'm having some head scratching when it comes to working out how to fire the Skyray.

Do the markerlights count as 1 weapon system or can |I only fire 1 at full BS and the other a snapshot if I move? What about missiles? Say I have to move to get LOS to a flyer, does that mean I can fire 1 missile at BS4 and then snapshot everything else? If this is the case, why do I keep seeing Skyray's mentioned in Tau discussion threads as being super competitive? I'm going to need more than 1 x BS4 S8 missile to knock down those Helldrakes ASAP.

ITs good because you aren't suppose to move the skyray. If it remains stationary you get to fire all of its weapons at full BS (which includes all 6 missiles)

 CrownAxe wrote:
ITs good because you aren't suppose to move the skyray. If it remains stationary you get to fire all of its weapons at full BS (which includes all 6 missiles)

Gotcha. I knew I must be missing something. Of course, stay still = fire all weapons. I knew there was a way to fire all 6 missiles. Too used to playing Eldar - always on the move!

It does work Barnowl,

The first marker light hits at full ballistic score while the second marker light snap shots but none of that changes the fact they are networked markerlights. This means any of the shots which connect can be used to boost the snap shot rate of the weapons fired afterwards, including the seeker missiles. While it won't be able to bring the snap shots up to the same score it begins with, it still can get a respectful ballistic score of 3 with only a little bit of luck.

The core element on why it works so well as anti-air comes from what happens when you do not move. I don't know why I posted more then 6 inches, because movement of any sort is what sets the limiters, but I did mean what happens when you do not move. This is what I was addressing when I meant it can fire all it's weapons at full ballistic score.