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So looking back at the published lore where tau stealth suits are encountered from a non-tau view point, I noticed they always seem to be discovered when standing in or around smoke.

This happens in Courage and Honour, Fire and Honour graphic novel, Savage Scars and Engine of Mork.

Would smoke normally affect or disrupt Tau stealth technology or is this theme just an error in writing ?

Any thoughts ?

I would imagine the smoke makes their silhouette easier to spot, the suit being a humanoid clear spot in the smoke.

I always figured it works just like a predators cloaking technology. So the smoke just makes their form easier to spot.

It's because the smoke will have to flow around the suit, revealing it's position. A little like throwing flower on them. It could also be a thing with their jetpacks having a tiny bit of thrust when readied that blows the smoke around.

Yup, the big clear spot sticks out, plus any backwash from their jetpacks will make the smoke move in a way that reveals them.

The Imperial Answer wrote:
So looking back at the published lore where tau stealth suits are encountered from a non-tau view point, I noticed they always seem to be discovered when standing in or around smoke.

This happens in Courage and Honour, Fire and Honour graphic novel, Savage Scars and Engine of Mork.

Would smoke normally affect or disrupt Tau stealth technology or is this theme just an error in writing ?

Any thoughts ?

Only that said novels would be less interesting if they ended with"... and then a Tau stealth suit blasted the hero in the back with a fusion gun."

Tanks and troops use smoke grenades to be hidden. People can't see through thick smoke. In order to see something because of said smoke, you'd have to be able to see through it.

So... you can't see the soldier standing in this smoke cloud?

Because it is hard to focus on their location, a Stealth Team can hide to at least some degree even when standing in open territory.
-- Codex: Tau Empire. "Stealth Teams". p43.

In seems to me the problem was those Stealth teams chose to stand in or around a patch of smoke, not the smoke itself...

But if the distortion field on Tau Stealth suits work by bending light around the suits, then if a stealth suit member moves in some kind of fluid, the during process of entering/exiting said fluid, the movement of the fluid would give out their locations easily.

 lcmiracle wrote:

Because it is hard to focus on their location, a Stealth Team can hide to at least some degree even when standing in open territory.
-- Codex: Tau Empire. "Stealth Teams". p43.

In seems to me the problem was those Stealth teams chose to stand in or around a patch of smoke, not the smoke itself...

But if the distortion field on Tau Stealth suits work by bending light around the suits, then if a stealth suit member moves in some kind of fluid, the during process of entering/exiting said fluid, the movement of the fluid would give out their locations easily.

Guys, it's just like the Invisible Man. Just throw paint on them!

That wouldn't necessarily work.

I assume the stealth field bends light before it actually hits the surface of the suit, thus any paint you tossed on them would end up inside the effect of the field. So you'd really only be able to follow the drops of wet paint.

It worked on the invisible man because his body itself lacked any sort of pigment or any other reflective or light absorbing material.

 EmpNortonII wrote:
Only that said novels would be less interesting if they ended with"... and then a Tau stealth suit blasted the hero in the back with a fusion gun."

Tanks and troops use smoke grenades to be hidden. People can't see through thick smoke. In order to see something because of said smoke, you'd have to be able to see through it.

Generally the smoke in said situations is Fog of War - a term that originally applied to the clouds of accidental smoke spread across the battlefield due to blackpowder weaponry but now just as applicable to accidental brush fires, burning wrecks and the myriad other things that can cause non-intentional smoke coverage that won't be anywhere near as thick or impossible to see through as the issue from a smoke grenade.

 DarkLink wrote:
So... you can't see the soldier standing in this smoke cloud?

Spoiler:

That certainly doesn't look like in to me.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:

 DarkLink wrote:
So... you can't see the soldier standing in this smoke cloud?

Spoiler:

That certainly doesn't look like in to me.

I believe we're supposed to be looking at the guy next to the vehicle, barely visible through the smoke.

Ah, that makes more sense

He's not really standing in it either. But then you're not really supposed to stand in smoke, you're supposed to be behind it.

I'd imagine so, especially if you didn't have any sort of gasmask or something

 jreilly89 wrote:

 lcmiracle wrote:

Because it is hard to focus on their location, a Stealth Team can hide to at least some degree even when standing in open territory.
-- Codex: Tau Empire. "Stealth Teams". p43.

In seems to me the problem was those Stealth teams chose to stand in or around a patch of smoke, not the smoke itself...

But if the distortion field on Tau Stealth suits work by bending light around the suits, then if a stealth suit member moves in some kind of fluid, the during process of entering/exiting said fluid, the movement of the fluid would give out their locations easily.

Guys, it's just like the Invisible Man. Just throw paint on them!

Not really, but by my logic, if you maintain a constant stream of paint pouring in the general direction of a stealth suit, just shoot at the out-of-nowhere empty space suspended in the air!

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
I'd imagine so, especially if you didn't have any sort of gasmask or something

Its not dangerous, just smells like gak

 Bobthehero wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
I'd imagine so, especially if you didn't have any sort of gasmask or something

Its not dangerous, just smells like gak

I was mostly thinking about it getting in your eyes or throat and irritating, like really heavy dust.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:

 Bobthehero wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
I'd imagine so, especially if you didn't have any sort of gasmask or something

Its not dangerous, just smells like gak

I was mostly thinking about it getting in your eyes or throat and irritating, like really heavy dust.

Eh, smokes not that bad, and even then, you have to be pretty much in it. You can stand like a foot away and be fine.