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Hey DakkaDakka

How do you use Tau Pathfinders, do you buy Rail rifles/Ion rifles or do you use them with Marker Light only


LilleBror

2 squads of 5 or 6 men all with marker lights. Sit them in cover and shoot away

I use two squads of ten normally. Markerlights only.

Okay thank you very much

LilleBror

 DarthOvious wrote:
I use two squads of ten normally. Markerlights only.

That's over 200pts. What's points level do you play at and what's the rest of your army look like?

My 2k list runs a single squad of 9, but I also have an allied farseer for psychic support to hide behind either my riptide or iridium armor commander.

One of the biggest problems I run into with pathfinders is that they are pretty squishy. But it is a balancing factor for how good markerlights are.

I utilize 3X 5 man squads at 1850, but I have a list that can choose 13 targets to fire at a turn..... So I have to run more units of ML so I can spread more of the no-cover and BS bump love.

How do you guys feel about tetras? They get almost as many markerlight hits per point, but get to fire them at cruising speed instead of being stationary. That sounds like a nice deal, to me.

I love the idea of tetras.

LilleBror

Varying amount based on point level but markerlights only. They support missilesides very well. I love the idea of tetras but alot of people that play around here won't play against forgeworld because they feel it gives an unfair advantage since none of them use it.

Pathfinders to squishy take skyrays and mark'o

You should never use pathfinders. The only markerlights in your army should be on Skyrays.

Asmodai Asmodean wrote:
You should never use pathfinders. The only markerlights in your army should be on Skyrays.

Disagree. Whilst they give up first blood easier than most, most things in a TAU army can do that. They are superbly effecient markerlight delivery and have a carbine to boot.

Great screening unit too, given the ease of getting small squads and the benefit those small squads provide (as compared to say, 5 guardians, scouts or gretchin's etc).

I am also against the use of pathfinders. They are just too easy to kill and are more of a liability than an asset against armies such as the tau mirror match and eldar.

Pathfinders have nice models, but that's really about all they have going for them unfortunately, especially since once a Sky Ray has dropped its payload, its the most durable markerlight platform we have and marker drones + Mark'O have JSJ making them near impossible to be hit.

Skyray only shoots two marks.... Best case scenario you strip cover but then everything shooting at it has bs3. Taking more than one skyray means less hh which IMO are 100% superior in all ways to a skyray.

 Gitsmasher wrote:
Skyray only shoots two marks.... Best case scenario you strip cover but then everything shooting at it has bs3. Taking more than one skyray means less hh which IMO are 100% superior in all ways to a skyray.

Not sure if troll post. But no.

Asmodai Asmodean wrote:

 Gitsmasher wrote:
Skyray only shoots two marks.... Best case scenario you strip cover but then everything shooting at it has bs3. Taking more than one skyray means less hh which IMO are 100% superior in all ways to a skyray.

Not sure if troll post. But no.

Then how about you explain why 6 shot vehicle is worth it's points value over S10 ap1 or S6 ap 4 large blast on demand every turn.

 Gitsmasher wrote:


Then how about you explain why 6 shot vehicle is worth it's points value over S10 ap1 or S6 ap 4 large blast on demand every turn.

The sky ray and the hammerhead have different battlefield roles. The sky ray can swat those pesky enemy flyers with ease. not many flyers can survive 6 seeker missiles volley fired.
Once the Sky ray has shot its missiles, it goes from being a credible threat, with a stack of missiles, to almost no threat. the marker lights offer it no offensive capability whatsoever, and its a lot tougher to kill a sky ray than it is pathfinders. so once the sky ray has shot its bolt, so to speak, the enemy can focus on more threatening or squishy things like, oh, hammerheads, pathfinders, riptides and the like.

Even if there are no flyers on the field, the skyray has great Alpha damage potential versus MEQs, it is suprisingly good at dealing with one of the current greatest threats to MC's, in the form of grav bikers. a Mark'o can light up a bike unit, you then give your skyray BS5, and strip cover, and that turbo boosting bike squad with the nasty grav guns is very likely to be dead from the 6 seeker missiles.

Yes the hammerhead will deal with AV-14 better, and with longstrike has a reasonable chance of 1 shotting a landraider, and the submunitions gives a Hammerhead a decent chance versus hordes who often don't have the space to spread out fully, but it needs markerlight support to get the most out of it.

While there are many choices to get markerlights, some better than others, what pathfinders offer is a cheap way to get marker lights on the table. small squads are better even given the danger of having them slaughtered since they can spread the markerlights over multiple targets. Marker drones are really only good with a mark'o given despite the fact they will be BS5 from the drone controller, you are still paying a premium for the commander. and skyrays give you a more durable platform, with fewer markers overall, but great anti air capability.

One use i've not seen much of is using pathfinders, with a recon drone, to get a precision outflanking/deepstriking force on the table. shoot up the line in the devilfish, and get your reserves on where you want them. but even then, kroot can reliably guarantee where they come on anyway, and even kitted out to dal nasty damage with ion and rails, pathfinders are still squishy, and crisis suits offer a much better weapon platform.

Long story short. If you are going to use pathfinders, they are a cheap way to bring markerlights on to the table, and marker lights are 'THE' force multiplier Tau need. but they are squishy so they may not hang around, so always have other methods to support your units. Mark'o with a squad of marker drones, and sky rays are more expensive. but what you bring depends a gret deal on the rest of your army and what it is you are wanting from them

I am pretty sure that Tetras have been nerfed to having Heavy 2 twin linked markers rather than Heavy 4. No Target array and doesn't come standard with DPod. I think Tetras took a hit.

I have never been a fan of pathfinders but I do find the Marko a very expensive way of fielding markerlights. But I intend to play test some pathfinders to give them a chance.

ATO

where can I find the new rules for the Tetras.
LilleBror

 lillebror wrote:
where can I find the new rules for the Tetras.
LilleBror

IA3 2nd Edition

Okay thank you very much, then I probably go out and buy the book

LilleBror

One thing that really makes pathfinders bad for me is their terrible mobility. Look at the weapons in the pathfinder kit. The two huge cannons are both rapid fire, the carbine is assault, and the tiny spotting light is friggin' heavy 1. They are only standard infantry where as the marker drones, even at BS2, seem like a better idea. They can move 6" over any terrain and then another 2d6" in the assault phase to put them where you need them to go. While Pathfinders are stuck to moving at the slowest rate possible and then having to snap fire. Even their sole transport option doesn't really help them and is only really a means of moving the recon drone around.

And on that note I'd like to point out that the recon drone is the only reason I've ever used pathfinders in 6th. Deploy it with it's side along your deployment zone, pivot and scout forward, then move all out and turboboost on your turn puts the hull within 6" of the backtable edge. It's best done at the side of a table as well to corner it or the pathfinders in for safety.

The weapon options on pathfinders seem way too expensive for my taste. The railrifle looks fun, but the cost on top of the model for a BS3 shot just seems too much. I know one guy on dakka who swears by them and even runs darkstrider with them, but a single TFC will ruin your day.

If pathfinders had Stealth or something, i would use them for their weapons. Adding the guy that makes the target suffer -1T and using Railrifles is crazy powerful, but crazy easy to get rid of lol. 5+ armor, T3, no cover bonuses.

Or, if they could shoot from a damn Devilfish i'd use them lol.

Even if they had a cover bonus, the amount of weapons that are AP5 and ignore cover are just too high for me to risk that many points in that small of a wound pool. With Darkstrider it really seems fun and I want to try it out, but again just one hit removes so much from such an expensive unit.

Their transport is an issue all on it's own. If forgeworld came out with an 11/11/10 open topped skimmer transport for $80 I'd buy four and the book it came in day one. You know what. Now I'm going to proposed rules and making up one.

I always found it made no sense that Tau are all about mobility and shoot on the go, yet they have 0 ways to shoot out of transports AND their transport guns are crap.

Eldar at least have a nasty gun on their transports. What do we have? AV12 oh wait thats nothing these days (and eldar have that too lol)

 acekevin8412 wrote:

 DarthOvious wrote:
I use two squads of ten normally. Markerlights only.

That's over 200pts. What's points level do you play at and what's the rest of your army look like?

Either 1800pts or 2400pts apocalypse. My 1800pt list consists of:

Commander with a few systems
2 units of 12 Firewarriors
2 Units of 10 Pathfinders
1 Riptide with IA
2 units of Broadsides with HYMP & SMS
1 Hammerhead Tank With Longstrike
1 unit of crisis suits with fusion blasters (2 models)

Yeah I know that 3 troops minimum is usually ideal for objective games but we're a bit funny down at our store with our 1800pt games. A lot of players kinda forget about the mission type and that and usually just play for secondary objectives & perhaps kill points. Even if we do play a mission type I usually find that by turn 5 or 6 the game is pretty much decided by a player being tabled.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Alltheones wrote:
I am pretty sure that Tetras have been nerfed to having Heavy 2 twin linked markers rather than Heavy 4. No Target array and doesn't come standard with DPod. I think Tetras took a hit.

I have never been a fan of pathfinders but I do find the Marko a very expensive way of fielding markerlights. But I intend to play test some pathfinders to give them a chance.

ATO

Tetras are only 35pts now though, so they still do give out a good amount of markerlights compared to a unit of pathfinders. For 105pts you get 6 twin linked markerlights (4.5 average hits) compared to 10 that are not twinlinked (5 average).

I'm thinking fo getting some at some point but I'll need to wait until I can get to Warhammer World. I'm not going to pay postage.

Tetras also have the advantage of mobility, and being immune to lasguns.

maceria wrote:
Tetras also have the advantage of mobility, and being immune to lasguns.

True, some advantages and some disadvantages either way on both sides. I think the mobile advantage of the Tetra really excels in a Tau list with other mobile units.