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 TheCustomLime wrote:
all of the huge mecha suit that are available and coming out for Tau I would say the anime comparison is warranted.

Ironically the army with giant robots that DON'T wield melee weapons, aside from one outcast, is the anime one. There is a Knight that has a giant lance as it's primary weapon. I don't really see Tau taking much from anime really.

I don't think thats necessarily true. I think its more we were only getting the good ones coming out of Japan then because thats all that made it over. But now we get all of anime coming out of Japan. So its more we're now actually seeing both the good and bad shows, not just the good ones.

 Gamgee wrote:
They came out in 2001. The death times of good anime coming to the west and being on TV. Oh sure there were exceptions but anime quality deteriorated overall.

Also Cartoons in general started to die off then. Sad Times.

So the aft end of the anime craze? makes sense.

 Tinkrr wrote:

in fact, I also found this:



Which is a Mech Warrior thing published in 1997 by a USA and German company.

Edit: I want to make it clear though, I'm not saying they're completely devoid of anime influences, but I am saying that's really no where near their main influence.

On the other hand, FASA (the American company behind BattleTech) took out a series of classic Mechs because, well, the artwork was straight-out ripped from Japanese Giant Robot animated series. They'd used at least some Macross artwork with permission but with ownership changes etc in the licenses it wasn't worth the risk of lawsuits to continue using them.

 Grey Templar wrote:
You know Anime stretches back way longer than that right?

Manga had the giant piloted robot concept as early as the 50s and 60s. Well ahead of Mech Warrior and Battletech. And it was popularized in the 70s with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazinger_Z

Sure, and Mech Warrior probably drew some inspiration from that, but took that inspiration and made it it's own Western thing that later influenced other things. Then again if you read the influences of the first anime mechs, they came from vehicles, German V-Weapons, and to an extent Frankenstein. More so, anime itself originated from Western roots of animation and propaganda, but it would be silly to say it's not it's own separate thing, just as it would be to say Mech Warrior is anime and therefor so is Tau, being even further down the line from it.

However, what's important, isn't that Mech Warrior pre-dates the Tau, it's that they actively said they were trying to make a light version of ex-suits seen in sci-fi, and that picture is one of the more prominent ones. What's important about that fact is that if you look at the design, from the shape of the guns, to the little wing things on the shoulder, and even overall form, you can see it looks very much like a proto-type for a Tau Crisis Suit. It's not just some random mech, it's probably most likely the main inspiration for the Tau Crisis (and later Riptide) suits, and it's clearly not an anime style mech suit either.

So yea, the model design so far points to Western origin for the mechs and Chinese origin for the foot soldiers outfits, neither of which is anime.

Problem with Tau is they are pure shooting and really don't stand any chance in close combat. Supporting fire, long range weapons, and only moderate mobility (for their non jet infantry) just serves to reinforce the playstyle of sit and shoot while maybe screening assaults to force lots of supporting fire. Tau have zero reason to want prolonged close combat as it prevents those enemy units from being shot at. Tau needs some units that want to be in close combat so it helps round out their arsenal and lets the Tau get some early board presence and allows for early close combat engagements with Tau that doesn't always involving trying to charge into the Tau supporting fire death ball.

All this focus on shooting makes Tau frustrating to play against as a successful Tau army never lets the enemy engage the majority of the Tau forces in close combat and on the shooting front few armies can go even with the Tau in a straight up shootout. A smart Tau will sacrifice units as needed to buy time and distance from the enemy but even then cutting through a 108 point fire warrior unit isn't very satisfying when the rest of the army continues to dakka down your forces. It honestly has less to do with how powerful Tau is but with how difficult it is for certain armies to go up against the Tau and how seemingly one dimensional their army is (its more complex than that but it comes across to others as very simplistic gameplay).

Spetulhu wrote:


On the other hand, FASA (the American company behind BattleTech) took out a series of classic Mechs because, well, the artwork was straight-out ripped from Japanese Giant Robot animated series. They'd used at least some Macross artwork with permission but with ownership changes etc in the licenses it wasn't worth the risk of lawsuits to continue using them.

Yes, some were but they seem to be mostly connected

LAMs are an extremely uncommon form of 'Mech capable of transforming between BattleMech and aircraft configurations, an ability that conveys great speed and flexibility at the cost of power and protection. The design of these LAMs, as well as several other 'Mechs, were leased from mecha designs used in The Super Dimension Fortress Macross and other anime series (see variable fighters); resulting real-world legal conflicts ended their official existence within the franchise. The Wasp, Stinger and Phoenix Hawk are the only published LAMs, found in the unrevised edition of Technical Readout: 3025, along with the other "lost" or "unseen" BattleMechs such as the Marauder, Crusader, Warhammer and the non-LAM versions of the Stinger, Wasp, and Phoenix Hawk.

This image however, was done by Mike Jackson who does state that he was influenced by anime mechs when he made this piece, but also wanted it feel more real and still be true to the Battletech universe. In other words, the prototypes of the Tau Crisis suits were a mix of Western mechs and anime, but themselves don't draw from anime.

 Tinkrr wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
You know Anime stretches back way longer than that right?

Manga had the giant piloted robot concept as early as the 50s and 60s. Well ahead of Mech Warrior and Battletech. And it was popularized in the 70s with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazinger_Z

Sure, and Mech Warrior probably drew some inspiration from that, but took that inspiration and made it it's own Western thing that later influenced other things. Then again if you read the influences of the first anime mechs, they came from vehicles, German V-Weapons, and to an extent Frankenstein. More so, anime itself originated from Western roots of animation and propaganda, but it would be silly to say it's not it's own separate thing, just as it would be to say Mech Warrior is anime and therefor so is Tau, being even further down the line from it.

However, what's important, isn't that Mech Warrior pre-dates the Tau, it's that they actively said they were trying to make a light version of ex-suits seen in sci-fi, and that picture is one of the more prominent ones. What's important about that fact is that if you look at the design, from the shape of the guns, to the little wing things on the shoulder, and even overall form, you can see it looks very much like a proto-type for a Tau Crisis Suit. It's not just some random mech, it's probably most likely the main inspiration for the Tau Crisis (and later Riptide) suits, and it's clearly not an anime style mech suit either.

So yea, the model design so far points to Western origin for the mechs and Chinese origin for the foot soldiers outfits, neither of which is anime.

The Tau also speak with Asian accents and seem to satire both Western belief in Japanese culture through the 90s (everyone is a salariman and works 27 hours a day and never takes a day off, but it's good for the company!) and the actual rise of the CCCP.

 Psienesis wrote:

 Tinkrr wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
You know Anime stretches back way longer than that right?

Manga had the giant piloted robot concept as early as the 50s and 60s. Well ahead of Mech Warrior and Battletech. And it was popularized in the 70s with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazinger_Z

Sure, and Mech Warrior probably drew some inspiration from that, but took that inspiration and made it it's own Western thing that later influenced other things. Then again if you read the influences of the first anime mechs, they came from vehicles, German V-Weapons, and to an extent Frankenstein. More so, anime itself originated from Western roots of animation and propaganda, but it would be silly to say it's not it's own separate thing, just as it would be to say Mech Warrior is anime and therefor so is Tau, being even further down the line from it.

However, what's important, isn't that Mech Warrior pre-dates the Tau, it's that they actively said they were trying to make a light version of ex-suits seen in sci-fi, and that picture is one of the more prominent ones. What's important about that fact is that if you look at the design, from the shape of the guns, to the little wing things on the shoulder, and even overall form, you can see it looks very much like a proto-type for a Tau Crisis Suit. It's not just some random mech, it's probably most likely the main inspiration for the Tau Crisis (and later Riptide) suits, and it's clearly not an anime style mech suit either.

So yea, the model design so far points to Western origin for the mechs and Chinese origin for the foot soldiers outfits, neither of which is anime.

The Tau also speak with Asian accents and seem to satire both Western belief in Japanese culture through the 90s (everyone is a salariman and works 27 hours a day and never takes a day off, but it's good for the company!) and the actual rise of the CCCP.

Japanese, or more broadly Asian, is by no means the same thing as anime in any way. Also yes, their Fire Warriors were based off of Chinese foot soldiers, according to the designer who made the sculpts.

As for their link to the CCCP, nope, I don't see it at all... And my birth certificate has CCCP on the front of it D:

 Vankraken wrote:
Problem with Tau is they are pure shooting and really don't stand any chance in close combat. Supporting fire, long range weapons, and only moderate mobility (for their non jet infantry) just serves to reinforce the playstyle of sit and shoot while maybe screening assaults to force lots of supporting fire. Tau have zero reason to want prolonged close combat as it prevents those enemy units from being shot at. Tau needs some units that want to be in close combat so it helps round out their arsenal and lets the Tau get some early board presence and allows for early close combat engagements with Tau that doesn't always involving trying to charge into the Tau supporting fire death ball.

All this focus on shooting makes Tau frustrating to play against as a successful Tau army never lets the enemy engage the majority of the Tau forces in close combat and on the shooting front few armies can go even with the Tau in a straight up shootout. A smart Tau will sacrifice units as needed to buy time and distance from the enemy but even then cutting through a 108 point fire warrior unit isn't very satisfying when the rest of the army continues to dakka down your forces. It honestly has less to do with how powerful Tau is but with how difficult it is for certain armies to go up against the Tau and how seemingly one dimensional their army is (its more complex than that but it comes across to others as very simplistic gameplay).

This is why i hate Tau, as they are the BANE OF MY ORK'S EXISTENCE!! And this is largely why others hate them too, there is little incentive to move when you can hit most of the board.

Note that i only hate Tau when im playing Orks, when i started Daemons in 6th (still using the old dex) i enjoyed fighting them as i had crazy maneuverability and big guns of my own to fight back with. Also the Soul Grinder was a godsend. Now i just dont fight Tau with Orks, as its not fun at all. I would much rather get in a shooting match with my Skitarri

If you're tired of the Tau hate you could always just play a less broken faction, I guess. I play Daemons and Eldar, and I've more or less become desensitized to the asshurt of my fellow gamers.

Ironically, Eldar are probably the army most influenced by Japan and Eastern philosophy, both from their iconography and philosophy of the individual's Path through life. Tau battlesuits are definitely influenced by Japanese mecha battlesuits.

Tau also just rub people the wrong way with the way their lore is presented. It comes across as Tau being the ultimate good in the galaxy, but they're actually no better than the Imperium in terms of oppression and just as racist as the Eldar. it's just that the Imperiaum and Eldar are more upfront about it.

 Vankraken wrote:
Problem with Tau is they are pure shooting and really don't stand any chance in close combat. Supporting fire, long range weapons, and only moderate mobility (for their non jet infantry) just serves to reinforce the playstyle of sit and shoot while maybe screening assaults to force lots of supporting fire. Tau have zero reason to want prolonged close combat as it prevents those enemy units from being shot at. Tau needs some units that want to be in close combat so it helps round out their arsenal and lets the Tau get some early board presence and allows for early close combat engagements with Tau that doesn't always involving trying to charge into the Tau supporting fire death ball.

All this focus on shooting makes Tau frustrating to play against as a successful Tau army never lets the enemy engage the majority of the Tau forces in close combat and on the shooting front few armies can go even with the Tau in a straight up shootout. A smart Tau will sacrifice units as needed to buy time and distance from the enemy but even then cutting through a 108 point fire warrior unit isn't very satisfying when the rest of the army continues to dakka down your forces. It honestly has less to do with how powerful Tau is but with how difficult it is for certain armies to go up against the Tau and how seemingly one dimensional their army is (its more complex than that but it comes across to others as very simplistic gameplay).

^This. Tau are a shooty army in a shooting-oriented edition. Due to bad internal balance, every Tau army looks much the same and are all very similar to play against. Kroot are supposed to be the CC screen, but they suck at that. They also have limited mobility, which reinforces the "sit in a corner and shoot you to death" stereotype. There are only a few armies that can compete wiht Tau in terms of shooting, and Tau have many ways to counter CC. For many armies, it's simply a bad matchup.

^^
Honestly this is what bugs me about the Tau, they have one of the worst internal balances ive ever seen, which is why virtually every Tau army looks the same, and that SUCKS. I mean i would totally play a Kroot army supported by some Crisis Suits, except that would be even worse than my Orks.

Sadly, the hate will be forever our companion. There are those who suffered under the Taudar rule in 6th and got bitter, those who hate mechas, those who hate the clean style of the Tau among the dirty and gritty grimdark of the 40k, those who hate because they aren't one of their loved factions, those who hate because... to each hater you find, tell this:



And carry on, Shas'la.

=====

For those inquiring about Fire Warrior inspiration...

Deal with it? Tau look stupid, and were an army designed to drag in the anime crowd. The hate is founded. Accept it or ignore it.

Also, I totally posted that before seeing the poster/image.

 TheNewBlood wrote:
^This. Tau are a shooty army in a shooting-oriented edition. Due to bad internal balance, every Tau army looks much the same and are all very similar to play against. Kroot are supposed to be the CC screen, but they suck at that. They also have limited mobility, which reinforces the "sit in a corner and shoot you to death" stereotype. There are only a few armies that can compete wiht Tau in terms of shooting, and Tau have many ways to counter CC. For many armies, it's simply a bad matchup.

I would disagree on them having bad internal balance in that most of their units can operate quite well on the battlefield. Sure Broadsides and Riptides are the most powerful units in the codex but most of their units can do their respected roles effectively. The only real stinker units are the Tau flyers which are just hot garbage while vespids, piranhas, and stealth suits are just too limited in their utility to be reliably taken. Even Kroot at least make for cheap sniper spam and can conga line a massive supporting fire wall. Fire Warriors, Pathfinders, Hammerheads, Skyrays, Crisis Suits, and even Sniper Drones are viable units that work decently well if used correctly. I think the codex as a whole has "aged" with all the power creep going on which down plays their overwhelming firepower while amplifying the design weaknesses of the Tau. I say this with the core of my Tau army being made up of Fire Warriors, Pathfinders, Crisis Suits, Hammerheads, plus a unit of HYMP Broadsides (zero Riptides in this army). In the tournament setting Tau is really needing to rely on the big guns to do the heavy lifting against top tier lists but for a normal pickup game Tau have a lot of viable options in their arsenal which is unlike say CSM or Nids who have a lot of stinker units.

Tau simply piss me off because they're inconsistent within 40k

Firstly, it was stated within their lore, that large battlesuits (Im talking about Riptide sized and larger) were far too costly resource wise and would put far too large a strain on weapons productions for their allies.

Out comes the Riptide because GW said so, feth the lore, we wanna sell models, makes it a MC because Walkers suck balls and they refused to balance the differences between the two, Tau Riptides fly off the shelves and the entire community find themselves within an erra of 40k with more hate than Chaos 3.5.

So why do people like myself who have collected Tau, hate them so fething much? Because they are by logic, exactly the thing I associate with the decline of popularity within the 40k universe from a gaming perspective, pay to win.

Too bad. I hate all the Space Marine hate I get, but do I write a thread about it? No. People are allowed to gate armies, Tau included.

 GoliothOnline wrote:
Tau simply piss me off because they're inconsistent within 40k

Firstly, it was stated within their lore, that large battlesuits (Im talking about Riptide sized and larger) were far too costly resource wise and would put far too large a strain on weapons productions for their allies.

This is the reason given for why the Tau had not yet developed larger suits. But once they encountered Titans and other large weapons of war this belief was reconsidered.

 Vankraken wrote:

 TheNewBlood wrote:
^This. Tau are a shooty army in a shooting-oriented edition. Due to bad internal balance, every Tau army looks much the same and are all very similar to play against. Kroot are supposed to be the CC screen, but they suck at that. They also have limited mobility, which reinforces the "sit in a corner and shoot you to death" stereotype. There are only a few armies that can compete wiht Tau in terms of shooting, and Tau have many ways to counter CC. For many armies, it's simply a bad matchup.

I would disagree on them having bad internal balance in that most of their units can operate quite well on the battlefield. Sure Broadsides and Riptides are the most powerful units in the codex but most of their units can do their respected roles effectively. The only real stinker units are the Tau flyers which are just hot garbage while vespids, piranhas, and stealth suits are just too limited in their utility to be reliably taken. Even Kroot at least make for cheap sniper spam and can conga line a massive supporting fire wall. Fire Warriors, Pathfinders, Hammerheads, Skyrays, Crisis Suits, and even Sniper Drones are viable units that work decently well if used correctly. I think the codex as a whole has "aged" with all the power creep going on which down plays their overwhelming firepower while amplifying the design weaknesses of the Tau. I say this with the core of my Tau army being made up of Fire Warriors, Pathfinders, Crisis Suits, Hammerheads, plus a unit of HYMP Broadsides (zero Riptides in this army). In the tournament setting Tau is really needing to rely on the big guns to do the heavy lifting against top tier lists but for a normal pickup game Tau have a lot of viable options in their arsenal which is unlike say CSM or Nids who have a lot of stinker units.

All of the things you have written here are proof of "poor internal balance". If the codex is basically a choice between "the new killy hotness" and "hot garbage".... there's no balance there. If the choice is between "well, any one of these 5 units is OK at their specific jobs.... but this one unit is da bomb at all 5 of those jobs and 4 more besides!" then you have poor internal balance.

That the power creep and meta-shift has only heavily favored the Tau is also something that gets them a lot of hate. Used to be, "Survive the shooting until you get to melee" was the trick to beating Tau... but since CC and vehicles have taken such the nerfs in the last couple editions, that is basically a pipe-dream for any CC-oriented army. Never mind the fact that the Tau have units that will simply never wind up in melee in most cases, meanwhile shooting your ObSec troops off the table from half a board away.

The Protoss are the Eldar, not the Tau. Sheesh.

 TheNewBlood wrote:

Tau also just rub people the wrong way with the way their lore is presented. It comes across as Tau being the ultimate good in the galaxy, but they're actually no better than the Imperium in terms of oppression and just as racist as the Eldar. it's just that the Imperiaum and Eldar are more upfront about it.

Actually, eldar is the most out of place faction in 40k. They just have the benefit of existing since 1st ed. If they were released today, no one would want anything to do with them. eldar is essentially a faction of noble-bright elves, coming in to save the day from the darkness of IoM and the warp, using their superior speed, cunning, firepower, and plot armour to win. Their aesthetic is also terribly out of place, garishly coloured troops march alongside multi-coloured clowns with smooth sleek lines. They're essentially the mary-sue faction of 40k.

Tau is outwardly good hidden behind a veneer of mind-control, genocide, murder of citizens, gene-modification, culling, gelding and slavery. The boxy aesthetic also fits the 40k aesthetic. They're the most subtly grim-dark faction in 40k. Other factions preach decay and destruction, but Tau is far more insidious, they preach an outwardly perfect society, in which no dissent is allowed, especially against the original Tau race, or your entire family/country/race will be annihilated.

Let's just say, 40k would improve tremendously if they squatted eldar and replaced them with Tau.

kburn wrote:

 TheNewBlood wrote:

Tau also just rub people the wrong way with the way their lore is presented. It comes across as Tau being the ultimate good in the galaxy, but they're actually no better than the Imperium in terms of oppression and just as racist as the Eldar. it's just that the Imperiaum and Eldar are more upfront about it.

Actually, eldar is the most out of place faction in 40k. They just have the benefit of existing since 1st ed. If they were released today, no one would want anything to do with them. eldar is essentially a faction of noble-bright elves, coming in to save the day from the darkness of IoM and the warp, using their superior speed, cunning, firepower, and plot armour to win. Their aesthetic is also terribly out of place, garishly coloured troops march alongside multi-coloured clowns with smooth sleek lines. They're essentially the mary-sue faction of 40k.

Tau is outwardly good hidden behind a veneer of mind-control, genocide, murder of citizens, gene-modification, culling, gelding and slavery. The boxy aesthetic also fits the 40k aesthetic. They're the most subtly grim-dark faction in 40k. Other factions preach decay and destruction, but Tau is far more insidious, they preach an outwardly perfect society, in which no dissent is allowed, especially against the original Tau race, or your entire family/country/race will be annihilated.

Let's just say, 40k would improve tremendously if they squatted eldar and replaced them with Tau.

99.9999% of their race is dead.

They have to carefully regulate their feelings, or else a chaos god will eat their souls.

Half the notable stories in their lore are about craftworld a nearly (Lyanden) or completely (Malantai) dying.

Count the number of times the Avatar of Khaine appears in Eldar lore and didn't die, and then point out the "plot armor"

 timetowaste85 wrote:
Deal with it? Tau look stupid, and were an army designed to drag in the anime crowd. The hate is founded. Accept it or ignore it.

Also, I totally posted that before seeing the poster/image.

That's exactly what the "deal with it" is for. I'm quite ok with people hating Tau - let them hate while I play.

 j31c3n wrote:
The Protoss are the Eldar, not the Tau. Sheesh.

Pardon?

Jaxler wrote:
Most of the arguments I see are either about tau being too noble bright, being animie inspired or about them being OP and annoying

I'm getting some 2007 nostalgia

 Tinkrr wrote:

 j31c3n wrote:
The Protoss are the Eldar, not the Tau. Sheesh.

Pardon?

Protoss are psionic, came before the Tau even existed, are few and are an old civilization in the galaxy.

They're much closer to the Eldar than the Tau

I like Tau because they are the most Sci-Fi of the factions.

As many posters before me have said, the problem with the Tau is the lack of interaction they bring in a game of 40k. They'll most likely sit still in the movement phase, or move in to LOS or range if they have to. Come the shooting phase, they'll blast you to kingdom come to the best of their ability. Then in the assault phase....they move away. They don't even take part in the psychic phase. This is made worse by the fact that while other races CAN play in this way (Hi there eldar!), it seems to be the ONLY way tau play. GW appear to have completely missed the opportunity to get the alien auxilaries to round off these issues, with both kroot and vespid simply being cheaper shooters for the army to take advantage of. You'll see similar 'hate' directed toward necrons due to their 'walk forward while firing game play.' Interestingly, you see less of this attitude towards imperial guard, likely due to the fact that they're not very manoeuvrable and so easier to catch, and the fact that while they're still bad in CC and nothing to write home about in the psychic phase, at least they take part. They're arguably also just plain weaker.

People taking a shot at Tau for being too 'good' though...I'm afraid they're just missing the point.

Fingers crossed, GW might do something interesting with Vespid or Kroot in the new codex, though I wouldn't hold my breath.

 Vector Strike wrote:

 Tinkrr wrote:

 j31c3n wrote:
The Protoss are the Eldar, not the Tau. Sheesh.

Pardon?

Protoss are psionic, came before the Tau even existed, are few and are an old civilization in the galaxy.

They're much closer to the Eldar than the Tau

Gonna chime in here and say that I think the Protoss definitely have links with the Eldar rather than the Tau, though my Starcraft knowledge is hardly stellar. They're an ancient dying race of highly psychic technologically advanced aliens whom have lost their homeworld(s). I'm pretty sure the 'Immortal' unit is a dead protoss put in a walker as well! Even if they're physically very different, the back story definitely has similarities.

Tarvitz77 wrote:
As many posters before me have said, the problem with the Tau is the lack of interaction they bring in a game of 40k. They'll most likely sit still in the shooting phase, or move in to LOS or range if they have to. Come the shooting phase, they'll blast you to kingdom come to the best of their ability. Then in the assault phase....they move away. They don't even take part in the psychic phase. This is made worse by the fact that while other races CAN play in this way (Hi there eldar!), it seems to be the ONLY way tau play. GW appear to have completely missed the opportunity to get the alien auxilaries to round off these issues, with both kroot and vespid simply being cheaper shooters for the army to take advantage of. You'll see similar 'hate' directed toward necrons due to their 'walk forward while firing game play.' Interestingly, you see less of this attitude towards imperial guard, likely due to the fact that they're not very manoeuvrable and so easier to catch, and the fact that while they're still bad in CC and nothing to write home about in the psychic phase, at least they take part. They're arguably also just plain weaker.

People taking a shot at Tau for being too 'good' though...I'm afraid they're just missing the point.

Fingers crossed, GW might do something interesting with Vespid or Kroot in the new codex, though I wouldn't hold my breath.

 Vector Strike wrote:

 Tinkrr wrote:

 j31c3n wrote:
The Protoss are the Eldar, not the Tau. Sheesh.

Pardon?

Protoss are psionic, came before the Tau even existed, are few and are an old civilization in the galaxy.

They're much closer to the Eldar than the Tau

Gonna chime in here and say that I think the Protoss definitely have links with the Eldar rather than the Tau, though my Starcraft knowledge is hardly stellar. They're an ancient dying race of highly psychic technologically advanced aliens whom have lost their homeworld(s). I'm pretty sure the 'Immortal' unit is a dead protoss put in a walker as well! Even if they're physically very different, the back story definitely has similarities.

Yes. StarCraft came out years before the Tau were even released. Everyone knew at the time: Terrans = Space Marines, Zerg = Tyranids, Protoss = Eldar. It was pretty blatant, although Blizzard did plenty to distinguish their factions from their 40k counterparts. But Protoss absolutely, definitively, borrowed nothing from the Tau, because barring time travel it physically would not have been possible.