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Trying to decide between the TL Rifle with its longer range and good str/ap or the shorter range but more shots TL Missiles. What has been people's experiences with them??

The missles are superior in ever situation. 4x the shots for just -1S is just too good.

 khylis wrote:
Trying to decide between the TL Rifle with its longer range and good str/ap or the shorter range but more shots TL Missiles. What has been people's experiences with them??

for overall cost effectiveness, the missile pods do win in every situation except against AV14 heavy armor. Personally I go for the rail rifles, but honestly it is just because I think they look cooler and I prefer traditional gun-line Tau. It will depend on your play-style to a degree and the setup of the board, but the missile pods invariably do more damage just from sheer volume of fire.

Missiles all the way.

I play mine with Railrifles, because Tau are cheesy enough and pretty much a strong setup against most opponents.
You are right that Railrifles have the supperiour range and strength, but even for AV13 the 4 S7 Shots are statistically better.
For AV 14 you have Fusionblasters :-P

There are some matchups where I play Missilesides though...
And for more range you can try the ethereal so the broadsides can run and shoot ;-)

Aeri wrote:
Missiles all the way.

I play mine with Railrifles, because Tau are cheesy enough and pretty much a strong setup against most opponents.
You are right that Railrifles have the supperiour range and strength, but even for AV13 the 4 S7 Shots are statistically better.
For AV 14 you have Fusionblasters :-P

There are some matchups where I play Missilesides though...
And for more range you can try the ethereal so the broadsides can run and shoot ;-)

Most of the time, HYMP is superior to the Rail Rifle, except maybe one situation, ID the T4 models. I had once faced Tau with 3 railsides. I was using SM ally with Assassin Execution Force, all four assassins went down in the first two turns, 3 of them were sniped by the ID rail shots.

Actually, even when ID T4 models, the HRR is still only better against targets outside of cover, with no invul saves and either armor 2+, or 3+ with at least 3 wounds.

I love the look of HRR, and if they were still STR 10 AP1 they would maybe make a good case, but str 8 ap1 v str 7 ap4 4 shot just not seeing a reason to field them

If the enemy needs S8 to die, I rather use Meltas than HRRs, or even a Hammerhead/Barracuda

I like to field both personally, missiles is good flyer deterrent and can reliably glance drop pods and other transports to death. The rail rifle is there to instakill T4 and is good at fishing for explodes against transports and most open topped vehicles. Especially when the railside gets tank hunter from the firebase cadre or a PEN CDR. Railside on his own without any buffs has performed exceptionally worse than the missileside does, but they both certainly have their role.

The HRR is highly superior for fluff points

I've only dabbled with Tau, however this is what I've found:

(Using the Firebase Support Cadre)
- High Yield Missile Launchers
- Smart Missile Systems
- 2 Missile Drones for each Broadside
- EWO on each Suit

~ Able to move + Shoot at flyers, w/ the twin-linking able to really throw some 6's. In a snapshot environment, move + shoot is perfectly functional.
~ SMS able to deny jinking.
~ aided with a couple markerlight shots, becomes nigh-unmissable letting you roll s7's like crazy.
~ overwatch fire OF DOOM.
~ able to deal with swarms as well as transports.
~ Were they to have s10 Railguns I'd probably prefer that, and get splitfire support system and have missile drones... but s8 shots just don't cut it for the Role and pts these suits play.
~ EWO is wonderful for creating a null-zone that opponents feel uncertain to get within... especially with flyers. Jink all game if not completely taken down.
~ if you need high strength versus AV14, then use your crisis and melt it into goo

I also really like throwing in an ethereal into that unit, to offer some good LD, as i've found time and again that a few drones dying can force fallbacks of the entire unit! (grrrr) once had a fresh unit take 3 drones down, then fall off the table after three consecutive failed LD's (unaided by anything like an ethereal).