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 Vineheart01 wrote:
i'll never understand why people hold the SMS's LOS ignoring rule so high.

You cant split fire your own guns anymore, and except a Skyray that took it over gun drones and already used its missiles, you have a better nastier gun already.
Ive never ever used my SMS on either riptides or broadsides unless you were in range and weak enough for me to try and get lucky. My IA riptides always have Fusions because that has been a boon for me more than i can count novacharging it to fire twice. HBC takes the SMS because if he fails his nova hes shooting troops anyway.

Theres a guy at my FLGS that will not shut up about it being so strong lol. Oddly enough all the games ive witnessed him play against tau, SMS never came into play anyway.

If you could take them on Crisis suits, even at 20pts a pop, ok that would be badass. 8 S5 AP5 LOS ignoring and ignores cover shots on a mobile platform...that'd be awesome.

I tend to shoot troops more than anything anyway, I tend to play the mission and that is more than likely to be objective based. SMS is particularly good at hunting infantry due to its special rules. I agree that it has better synergy with the HBC than the Ion (I also think it works extremely well with HYMPs on Broadsides), but I don't think the Fusion is particularly good for an Iontide either. You'll have to choose between using the range of the Ion or wanting to shoot the Fusion to get mileage out of it. But, different folks, different strokes. I'm not going to fault anyone for taking Fusion, I think its a good choice too. But I think the SMS is a overlooked and IMO it is more useful weapon, especially in the current meta.

I like SMS as well. It's great.

The BIGGEST reason I can think of taking Fusions on my Riptide which I've actually been really really considering is because of AV14. The Riptide would be a sturdy base that can shoot 2x TL Fusion blasts reliably (Usually opp won't wipe it out t1 or 2 or etc. lol) and it can do it's job IF NEEDED.

The reason I say this and I actually magnetized the Fusion Blasters last night (as well as my SMS) is because everytime I run into AV14 I have troubles. I can't reliably take down an AV14 vehicle unless I take a Hammerhead but even then I'd rather have more Skyrayssince ever a Hammerheads 1 shot isn't too reliable at it's job.

Nothing pops AV14 as good as melta and "getting there" with a Riptide is fairly easy with how durable you can make them. FNP, Attaching an Iridium Armor'ed Commander etc.

My other option is 2x Crisis Suits with Fusion Blasters deep striking. lol Not too bad of an option but I like diversity and this unit can pretty much only do 1 thing really well.. pop heavy things.


Edit: Where do I find the ruling for Crisis Suits taking 2x weapons and making them TL? I'm blind I guess and can't find it in the book.

You solve the problem of deepstike fusion suits being a one trick pony by strapping a flamer on them-ran out of heavy targets? go scorch something (or at least threat with it and force a response)

As for putting an SMS on a crisis-you can. but for 25 points, and only once as a signature system. (81 battlesuit) and with some strings attached.
I think they figured out just how notoriously annoying would it be to allow dedicated SMS battlesuits, never need any LoS, can reach far, and you will never ever catch them.

The Tau FAQ states you can take multiples of a single weapon without being forced to Twinlink them.

he mentioned signature system so it wouldnt matter about that faq.

Also is that the Farsight thingie for it? i dont see anything about that in my tau dex (dont have farsight)

How would Tau go about taking on something like a screamer star or seer star? or is it simply a case of wiping the rest of the army off the board and winning on objectives? I've not had any real issues with any of the other deathstars, like draigo wing or a harlestar, mainly because of cover stripping and the awesomsauce of O'vesa, but two competitive games today saw me struggling versus eldar and daemons. Would allying in Grey knights or Eldar help at all? I know they have some nice toys, but i'm not 100% familiar with the armies and i don't own the codices (yet)

 LValx wrote:

 Vineheart01 wrote:
i'll never understand why people hold the SMS's LOS ignoring rule so high.

You cant split fire your own guns anymore, and except a Skyray that took it over gun drones and already used its missiles, you have a better nastier gun already.
Ive never ever used my SMS on either riptides or broadsides unless you were in range and weak enough for me to try and get lucky. My IA riptides always have Fusions because that has been a boon for me more than i can count novacharging it to fire twice. HBC takes the SMS because if he fails his nova hes shooting troops anyway.

Theres a guy at my FLGS that will not shut up about it being so strong lol. Oddly enough all the games ive witnessed him play against tau, SMS never came into play anyway.

If you could take them on Crisis suits, even at 20pts a pop, ok that would be badass. 8 S5 AP5 LOS ignoring and ignores cover shots on a mobile platform...that'd be awesome.

I tend to shoot troops more than anything anyway, I tend to play the mission and that is more than likely to be objective based. SMS is particularly good at hunting infantry due to its special rules. I agree that it has better synergy with the HBC than the Ion (I also think it works extremely well with HYMPs on Broadsides), but I don't think the Fusion is particularly good for an Iontide either. You'll have to choose between using the range of the Ion or wanting to shoot the Fusion to get mileage out of it. But, different folks, different strokes. I'm not going to fault anyone for taking Fusion, I think its a good choice too. But I think the SMS is a overlooked and IMO it is more useful weapon, especially in the current meta.

I actually think the HBC has anti-synergy with the SMS, because Nova charging either of the weapons has a similar effect. With the Ion Accelerator, you can Nova charge the SMS to go after troops or the Ion to go after vehicles, providing more versatility.

Can Tau Empire primary have Tau Farsight Enclave as allies?
Can Tau Farsight Enclave be primary and have regular Tau as the allies?

I don't have the book and I'm just curious if the Tau Enclave can be allies or if they have to be the primary.

Yes to both, IIRC.

Supplements are explicitly allowed to ally with the normal codex. The new Space Marines book has a unique one where different "chapters" can ally with each other, allowing two chapters in your army instead of 1 but removing any battle-buddy crap you migh have with other races.

As for the whole nova charging the IA and going after vehicles, i never do that unless i have to. Gets Hot! on a single shot as well as any possible save (some vehicles have invuls or you might not be able to strip cover this time around) can really nerts that idea fast. Then of course its only 1 HP unless you roll a 5+ on the pen result (4+ for open topped). Yeah Ordnance helps pen it but i'd rather plaster a group of marines or termies than try to get lucky to pass a 3+ for the Nova, 2+ for Gets Hot! if you have no TL, hitting the target in the first place, 4+/5+ to pen (AV13/14), and then a 5+ to explode. Unlikely, but possible.

Thats what my HBC riptide is for anyway. Nova charge that main gun and slap a buffmander in there he will rape any vehicle. Ive had him reliably 1shot landraiders. As i mentioned before i keep an IA riptide in case he fails the nova since the buffmander is a waste if he doesnt supercharge the gun.

I pose a question.
Do Tau fliers have a place in competitive Tau lists?

I just built my Sunshark Bomber, should be fun to use

 Kingsley wrote:

 LValx wrote:

 Vineheart01 wrote:
i'll never understand why people hold the SMS's LOS ignoring rule so high.

You cant split fire your own guns anymore, and except a Skyray that took it over gun drones and already used its missiles, you have a better nastier gun already.
Ive never ever used my SMS on either riptides or broadsides unless you were in range and weak enough for me to try and get lucky. My IA riptides always have Fusions because that has been a boon for me more than i can count novacharging it to fire twice. HBC takes the SMS because if he fails his nova hes shooting troops anyway.

Theres a guy at my FLGS that will not shut up about it being so strong lol. Oddly enough all the games ive witnessed him play against tau, SMS never came into play anyway.

If you could take them on Crisis suits, even at 20pts a pop, ok that would be badass. 8 S5 AP5 LOS ignoring and ignores cover shots on a mobile platform...that'd be awesome.

I tend to shoot troops more than anything anyway, I tend to play the mission and that is more than likely to be objective based. SMS is particularly good at hunting infantry due to its special rules. I agree that it has better synergy with the HBC than the Ion (I also think it works extremely well with HYMPs on Broadsides), but I don't think the Fusion is particularly good for an Iontide either. You'll have to choose between using the range of the Ion or wanting to shoot the Fusion to get mileage out of it. But, different folks, different strokes. I'm not going to fault anyone for taking Fusion, I think its a good choice too. But I think the SMS is a overlooked and IMO it is more useful weapon, especially in the current meta.

I actually think the HBC has anti-synergy with the SMS, because Nova charging either of the weapons has a similar effect. With the Ion Accelerator, you can Nova charge the SMS to go after troops or the Ion to go after vehicles, providing more versatility.

Yeah but the redundancy for the HBC/SMS combo isn't a bad thing. I think that the HBC excels in killing infantry, the SMS as well. The Ion may be more versatile but you trade utility for efficiency, IMO it isn't as effective versus infantry (though I think vs certain types of infantry it certainly has more potential, but scatter can be fickle and it relies more on Markerlights to excel).


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 IXLoiero95XI wrote:
I pose a question.
Do Tau fliers have a place in competitive Tau lists?

I just built my Sunshark Bomber, should be fun to use

I think the Sunshark can be used competitively, so much of the Tau codex is underpriced that I think you can take "less than optimal" units that provide extra utility (though maybe at the cost of efficiency). It has very good mobility, something a lot of Tau units lack.

madtankbloke wrote:
How would Tau go about taking on something like a screamer star or seer star? or is it simply a case of wiping the rest of the army off the board and winning on objectives? I've not had any real issues with any of the other deathstars, like draigo wing or a harlestar, mainly because of cover stripping and the awesomsauce of O'vesa, but two competitive games today saw me struggling versus eldar and daemons. Would allying in Grey knights or Eldar help at all? I know they have some nice toys, but i'm not 100% familiar with the armies and i don't own the codices (yet)

I think there are a few ally options that can help quite a bit.

VS. Screamerstar
This deathstar is pretty much invincible, more-so than the Seers and more likely to get their preferred powers. Their shooting is formidable but can be very boom or bust. The other contents of the list will generally be FMCs, Fateweaver and some troops (though i've seen Khorne Dogs, Grinders, Drakes allied in, etc). A big weakness of the deathstar is that it lacks great combat punch. More than anything it is incredibly fast and durable, but it isn't exceedingly good in combat. It also lacks hit and run and attacks above Str. 5. If you ally in Eldar you can grab a Wraithknight. That should buy you quite a bit of time and he provides a nice 14-24" charge radius. He also isn't easy for them to shoot down or remove early in the game. I think the WK is one of the best counters to Screamer lists. You also get access to a Farseer who provides re-rolls to two units, greatly decreasing your dependence on markerlights (a win in my eyes). Best case scenario is that you land Misfortune. Their DTW should only be a 5+, if they happen to fail it, the unit should be decimated by Tau/Eldar firepower.

On the other hand Tau can also access Space Wolves, Grey Knights and Space Marines who all provide their own soft/hard counters. In my opinion Space Marines are the best ally choice due to being Bros of Battle. Tiggy has a very good shot at landing Misfortune. And once again the DTW should only be a 5+. The Thunderfire Cannon can help you attempt to snipe the Grimoire holder. I also think the Buff commander can work quite well with some SM units (Centurions come to mind). Space Wolves give you the Runic Weapon, or you can go really nuts and take Njal. I prefer 1-2 Rune Priests, Jaws in a pod is never a bad thing to have. GK can use Dreadknights, Paladins and the Inquisitorial Henchmen anti-Daemon guy, as well as the Storm Raven's mindstrike missiles (quite potent).

If you don't like allying (and some of this applies even if you do ally) there are still some good options available. Attach your Buff Commander to a Riptide (take HnR and if you ally Farsight take a Earth Caste Riptide for consistent 3++) make them Stubborn and tie up the Screamers and then try to HnR when you need/want to. Take an Ethereal to give out Stubborn and tarpit the Screamers with large squads of Kroot. Go MSU and deny multicharges as well as using reserves to make it harder to kill your troops (works best when going second). Reserve or spread out your shooting units and keep denying multicharges. Make him eat one unit at most a turn. Take the talisman to make it very difficult for him to get off FF and Misfortune.

VS. Seer Council
I think the Seer Council is a tougher match-up (not just for Tau, but in general). I believe the supporting cast is generally going to be superior because it is more reliable and less dependent on luck (FMCs can be awful with bad rewards/powers/grounding checks). Units like the Wraithknight/Serpents are very reliable. Units like Swooping Hawks and Spiders are very good at harassment and can be very tough to kill due to movement shenanigans. Overall I think that even with allies it is going to be a tough match-up because of Hit and Run and the debuffs they have available. Generally I see it run as either Eldar/DE with Baron, maybe Grisly Trophies. The other version i've seen is Tau with Buff Commander, Riptide and Kroot.

If you ally in Eldar you can get access to a Farseer or Eldrad. Eldrad gives a better shot at Misfortune but is also pricier and most likely less efficient if you cant really make use of his other rules. Jetbikes/Serpent riding troops help you out maneuver the Council, at least more-so than Fire Warriors/Kroot.

With SM I think Tiggy helps quite a bit. Centurions can do a fair bit of damage to the Council if they have ignore cover (also makes the Eldar player consider if the +1 armor save is worth it). Runic Weapons are great and probably superior to relying on Misfortune. 5+ DTW with Fortune isn't easy to get through. GK can bring Paladins which do pretty well against Seers in my experience.

Generally vs a deathstar like this i'd advise to play cagey, attempt to go second (unless the board is bare and you can definitely alpha strike). Reserve as much as possible, use SMS to take down the annoying Jetbikes. Bubble wrap your objectives/troops and keep in mind HnR. Do not pour firepower into either deathstar if you haven't debuffed them.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ohh and try to get Scrier's Gaze, absolutely amazing if going second vs Deathstars (and most other armies). Can give you a good shot at keeping half your army off the board for half the game.

 Vineheart01 wrote:
i'll never understand why people hold the SMS's LOS ignoring rule so high.

You cant split fire your own guns anymore, and except a Skyray that took it over gun drones and already used its missiles, you have a better nastier gun already.
Ive never ever used my SMS on either riptides or broadsides unless you were in range and weak enough for me to try and get lucky. My IA riptides always have Fusions because that has been a boon for me more than i can count novacharging it to fire twice. HBC takes the SMS because if he fails his nova hes shooting troops anyway.

Theres a guy at my FLGS that will not shut up about it being so strong lol. Oddly enough all the games ive witnessed him play against tau, SMS never came into play anyway.

If you could take them on Crisis suits, even at 20pts a pop, ok that would be badass. 8 S5 AP5 LOS ignoring and ignores cover shots on a mobile platform...that'd be awesome.

Alot of the large tournaments have started to heavily incorporate BLOS terrain, which makes hiding things like minimum EJB squads and small units of kroot/cultists/deamons super easy. My NOVA list had alot of sms (5, but 2 were constantly being novacharged, so more like 7) and it was invaluable. Granted I have 4 MCs, an onager gauntlet, and farsight to punch armor if I need to, and I'm absolutely not afraid to get those into close combat.

What are you more experienced generals thoughts on the best allies for Tau that compliment or further make us more redundant and thus more durable? I'm torn between Eldar vs Tau Enclave.

 Vineheart01 wrote:
he mentioned signature system so it wouldnt matter about that faq.

Also is that the Farsight thingie for it? i dont see anything about that in my tau dex (dont have farsight)

Its from IA3 2ED, the 81 battlesuit.


As for the tau airplanes question-I highly doubt any except the IA3 barracuda would ever be competitive, the codex ones are just confused and don't know their jobs, and the remora is too much of a trololol option to just mess with people without getting much done because he is with too much defensive skills compared to offensive skills.

The baracuda on the other hand, is a ionhead that put on an engine too big and a few sidearms instead of armor and now he is a supersonic aircraft in FA. your guy if you ever wanted to play 6 hammerheads under 2000 points. they will also work well in a non-fort tau build, when used by a shrewed commander he can serve as a superior razorshark, and actually do his job as a strike fighter, because the razor got the air support side covered (and a bit better then the cudda), but not the ground suppression part. (and the sunshark figured out the part about guarding itself from enemy jets better then he god the hand of actually bombing x_x)

Way i see the fliers, overcosted anti infantry and not even that great at it. Bomber has a S5 AP5 pi plate that has a chance to not be available every turn on top of the usual burst/SMS option. For the cost, hell no. That bomb doesnt even ignore cover or is barrage either btw (unless im missing a Bomb general rule that does that)

Fighter is pointless. It costs more, is squishier, isnt around all game, and tries to do the same role as the Ionhead. Shorter AND weaker gun for more cost on a squishier platform waddafuq?
i wont even joke with those fliers. Both are slowed.

Nope, the bomb rule just means you do it in movement phase, it scatters only 1d6, you don't have to shoot the same target, and you cannot flat out after using one.

One would expect them to be somewhat like barrage, considering they literally drop from the sky.

And the fighter...he is not a wonnabe ionhead, he wonnabe everything.
Tiny bit ionhead, tiny bit quad gun, tiny bit air superiority, tiny bit supression. it just does not work.

Take the barracuda over them, at least that one packs the guns so he can actually follow his irrational attempt to get everything done himself. he is just a razorshark+1, but just requires more thought when used for his lack of shot arcs.

I think that actually explains a lot. It's like someone who isn't familiar with the game wanted to make something that's trying to be decent at a lot of roles and super easy to use since the weapons can rotate for decent firing arcs.

The one bonus that the fighter has over the bomber is that while both their large blasts suffer if you roll a 1 before or after (effectively both have Gets Hot), only the fighter will continue to have use for it's main weapon.

What are you more experienced generals thoughts on the best allies for Tau that compliment or further make us more redundant and thus more durable?

I'm torn between Eldar vs Tau Enclave.

Eldar:
-Fast troops for grabbing far Obj late game or contesting
-Great stable platform for S10 guns (Wraightknight) Which IMHO is a better choice than a Hammerhead if wanting to take some S10 firepower
-Less reliance on Markerlights with a Farseer that can TL your guys. You can hop your buff commander more now that you can put Guide on your Crisis Missile Squad or Nova'd RipTides
-Wave Serpents hahah, they are so good

Tau Enclave:
-More Tau shooting! Cheap and effective!
-Can make use of Marker Lights
-Crisis Suit squad I almost always take (Missile Pod squad) can now be troops which for my personal lists is a huge help. I usually have Missile Crisis Suits with a Buffmander Tanking + Marker Drones

Really that's up to you. As you've listed they both have their upsides and as allies they don't really have any drawbacks if made right.
Taking Eldar there is no tax as they have some good troop options and a waveserpent or jetbikes could fit in well with any army.
Taking Enclave you're forced to take a unit of crisis suits, but those can easily be worked in to fit in good with the rest of the army.
It's more along the lines of what you're interested in getting and what you want to play. I already have the models I want/need to field enclave so I started collecting eldar to give me something new to try.

How do you guys deal with Drop Pod armies? Any specific deployment tips etc.

On the list building part, interceptor support system can help.

On the field-first check out what is in the pods, and try to figure what they aim for (for example, melta teams aim at tanks) and what can kill them

Then, deploy in rings. so that the rings push the pods further away due to no landing zone, and deploy the things that they will likely want to kill and can threaten them in the hard-to-reach places.
if possible- doit with rear armor facing impossile-to-hit angles. (for example, your ionheads should be protected against AT vets, but we up front against deathwing)

Try to put interceptors in a place they could shoot at likely landing zones. unless the interceptor unit is really good and you want to protect it, deploy it in the utmost ring, as it might as well take the fire-it wont be able to shoot on your turn anyway, giving them 2 turns to kill it before it shoots the second time, they don't need to rush that unit, they do need to rush the ones who didn't intercept.

Take advantage of terrain, place your rings in an area that gives you good cover from incoming fire, or next to hazardous terrain they might fall into (remember-if its hazardous but not impassable-they might scatter there. mysterious lakes have a high chance to turn out to be really nasty to whoever walks in, and forests are not much better. if you got some strange unique terrain like a lava lake or the like that is extremely dangerous-even better. nothing lethal though, lethal is considered impassible so they wont scatter there, it can be used like a "wall" though.)

Remember that in a drop pod army, more often then not the first turn is everything. if they cant do serious damage to targets of importance on the first drop, they get in trouble fast.

Drop pods often DO lots of damage on the first turn though. Lol. Unfortunately drop pod armies are quite good.

i find pod armies are easy enough to counter... just a few things:

1. dont let them place the pod on top of your unit. its got to be placed in a legal deepstrike posistion. and yes, they CAN mishap.
2. pods generally transport infantry or dreads. and only 50% of the pods arrive first turn. castle up in a corner, and make it impossible for them to surround you, then counter with alot of high str, low AP blasts and shots. plasma suits and riptides work awsome here. even salvosides can dish a pretty hard hurt on a sm infantry unit.
3. a pod list often relies on "pinning you" in place and shooting you up. get out of the kill zone, by reserving as much stuff as you legally can, and deepstriking it elsewhere into the battle. pods then have a choice: spread out and get weaker, or cluster up and try to kill off what they can. either way, when you come in, - pick targets, isolate and destroy them focus on sterngaurd/grav/dreads first - all of wich can be dealt with by your fast moving riptides and crisis.

4. don't let the pod player cheat with his pod placement.
the rules only say if you would land in a hazard that would cause a mishap, reduce scatter to avoid. it does not allow you to increase scatter. (or travel in a diffirent direction) - making sure you deploy in a way that prevents pods from landing in the middile of your forces, and makes them either drop mid table or away from you to avoid the mishap goes a long way in mitigating the alpha strike.

 DarthSpader wrote:
i find pod armies are easy enough to counter... just a few things:

1. dont let them place the pod on top of your unit. its got to be placed in a legal deepstrike posistion. and yes, they CAN mishap.
2. pods generally transport infantry or dreads. and only 50% of the pods arrive first turn. castle up in a corner, and make it impossible for them to surround you, then counter with alot of high str, low AP blasts and shots. plasma suits and riptides work awsome here. even salvosides can dish a pretty hard hurt on a sm infantry unit.
3. a pod list often relies on "pinning you" in place and shooting you up. get out of the kill zone, by reserving as much stuff as you legally can, and deepstriking it elsewhere into the battle. pods then have a choice: spread out and get weaker, or cluster up and try to kill off what they can. either way, when you come in, - pick targets, isolate and destroy them focus on sterngaurd/grav/dreads first - all of wich can be dealt with by your fast moving riptides and crisis.

4. don't let the pod player cheat with his pod placement.
the rules only say if you would land in a hazard that would cause a mishap, reduce scatter to avoid. it does not allow you to increase scatter. (or travel in a diffirent direction) - making sure you deploy in a way that prevents pods from landing in the middile of your forces, and makes them either drop mid table or away from you to avoid the mishap goes a long way in mitigating the alpha strike.

The bolded isn't correct, the pods can be placed on top of your units, however they will then mishap unless they scatter far enough to avoid the 1" bubble.

I would say that kroot are your friend. Use them to surround your more valuable units and push the enemy back by denying the pods space to land. Spreading out a la point four above can be a good plan, but reserving too much against a full pod army can lead to your on table forces being destroyed before you can get your reserves on.

no they can not. show me in the rules where a drop a pod or any deep striking unit is allowed to be placed on top of another one.

when you put a deep striking unit on the table it has to be placed in a posistion thats not within 1: of the enemy, and not in impassable terrain.

Does the farsight from farsight enclave have a warlord trait or does it default back to: through boldness victory?

I notice a lot of people who make a riptide death star put farsight into the deathstar, which is okay as he protects the unit in cc, but I was thinking what if you made a unit of 3 crisis suits with two 2 plasma, flamer and one 2 plasma, retro vector trusters? You could make a nice little deep striking unit that pumps out 14 plasma shots, or 10 plasma 2 flamers. The unit is scoring and can reliably beat most troops in cc and has hit and run.

Yes he keeps his warlord trait. And yes you have the option to DS him with that nasty unit.

The reason people put him in the star is for wound allocation and his high initiative. Combo that with a buff commander and his VRT and the unit can survive CC and hit and run easily.

 grrrfranky wrote:

 DarthSpader wrote:
i find pod armies are easy enough to counter... just a few things:

1. dont let them place the pod on top of your unit. its got to be placed in a legal deepstrike posistion. and yes, they CAN mishap.
2. pods generally transport infantry or dreads. and only 50% of the pods arrive first turn. castle up in a corner, and make it impossible for them to surround you, then counter with alot of high str, low AP blasts and shots. plasma suits and riptides work awsome here. even salvosides can dish a pretty hard hurt on a sm infantry unit.
3. a pod list often relies on "pinning you" in place and shooting you up. get out of the kill zone, by reserving as much stuff as you legally can, and deepstriking it elsewhere into the battle. pods then have a choice: spread out and get weaker, or cluster up and try to kill off what they can. either way, when you come in, - pick targets, isolate and destroy them focus on sterngaurd/grav/dreads first - all of wich can be dealt with by your fast moving riptides and crisis.

4. don't let the pod player cheat with his pod placement.
the rules only say if you would land in a hazard that would cause a mishap, reduce scatter to avoid. it does not allow you to increase scatter. (or travel in a diffirent direction) - making sure you deploy in a way that prevents pods from landing in the middile of your forces, and makes them either drop mid table or away from you to avoid the mishap goes a long way in mitigating the alpha strike.

The bolded isn't correct, the pods can be placed on top of your units, however they will then mishap unless they scatter far enough to avoid the 1" bubble.

The bolded part IS correct.
A deepstrike must first be placed in a place where you can actually place the model, furthermore, even if the model COULD stand on impassible terrain (such as jetpacks), you STILL can't place the deepstrike origin there.