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Ushtarador wrote:
But 10 pathfinders give you less markerlight hits, are much less reliable (especially against -1 to hit) and get shot off the board by a light breeze. The tidewall also needs a fortification detachment which means you can't take a commander.

The drop count is high that is the main disadvantage, but then it depends on the rest of the army whether it's even worth optimizing for that.

No - 10 pathfinders doesn't get you less hits. 10 pathfinders gives you 5 hits. equal points in marksmen will give you 3 hits max...because...they are only firing 3 times. That is simple to figure out.


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Mandragola wrote:
Good points - except that stealths can’t deep strike.

Firesight marksmen are decent but I wouldn’t spam them. If I needed to put markerlights on hard to hit stuff I think I’d use fireblades or Darkstrider and then use the d3+1 hit stratagem.

Marker drones are my favourite way to get markerlight hits - I think. They can deep strike in with crisis suits or deploy with stealths - who in particular don’t mind using up a slot for a DC, as they couldn’t have put a gun there anyway.

There’s quite a lot to be said for pathfinders now though - especially now that ion rifles are so good. A couple of units of them in a tidewall shieldline and gunport would be decent, I think. It’s not a bad place to stick characters too if you want a low drop count.

I think tau pretty much have to give up having lower drop count unless they are running a full mecha list. Including fortifications has a defacto effect of reducing your max commanders to 2 also.

I think the best way to run marker lights is just to take pathfinders and put them in cover. 3 units of 8 fills your fast attacks for a brigade and it's cheap. Hiding a few in fire warrior squads seems like a good idea too.

Question to everyone - pathfinders have a scout move essentially before the first game turn - what is the order for that? Before or after seize the initiative?

 Xenomancers wrote:

Ushtarador wrote:
But 10 pathfinders give you less markerlight hits, are much less reliable (especially against -1 to hit) and get shot off the board by a light breeze. The tidewall also needs a fortification detachment which means you can't take a commander.

The drop count is high that is the main disadvantage, but then it depends on the rest of the army whether it's even worth optimizing for that.

No - 10 pathfinders doesn't get you less hits. 10 pathfinders gives you 5 hits. equal points in marksmen will give you 3 hits max...because...they are only firing 3 times. That is simple to figure out.

Thank you for completely ignoring the context and the post I was referring to?

Point for point they get less hits obviously, but on the other hand the Firesight Marksmen will still be alive even if you don't have first turn, or during the second turn, whereas Pathfinders are easy to eliminate. They also enable the Orbital Markerlight stratagem, and are a must-take if your army contains sniper drones (which incidentally became significantly better now that they deal mortal wounds). Finally, FM are also the second cheapest option behind Kroot hounds to unlock a 1 CP detachment for a third Commander.

Ushtarador wrote:

 Xenomancers wrote:

Ushtarador wrote:
But 10 pathfinders give you less markerlight hits, are much less reliable (especially against -1 to hit) and get shot off the board by a light breeze. The tidewall also needs a fortification detachment which means you can't take a commander.

The drop count is high that is the main disadvantage, but then it depends on the rest of the army whether it's even worth optimizing for that.

No - 10 pathfinders doesn't get you less hits. 10 pathfinders gives you 5 hits. equal points in marksmen will give you 3 hits max...because...they are only firing 3 times. That is simple to figure out.

Thank you for completely ignoring the context and the post I was referring to?

Point for point they get less hits obviously, but on the other hand the Firesight Marksmen will still be alive even if you don't have first turn, or during the second turn, whereas Pathfinders are easy to eliminate. They also enable the Orbital Markerlight stratagem, and are a must-take if your army contains sniper drones (which incidentally became significantly better now that they deal mortal wounds). Finally, FM are also the second cheapest option behind Kroot hounds to unlock a 1 CP detachment for a third Commander.

You literally said that pathfinders give you less hits. I think you might have miss typed it. It needed to be mentioned though because that is the thing that pathfinders have going for them - they give you MORE hits. IMO a fire-blade is a far better tool than a marksmen unless you are looking to use sniper drones because really - who isn't taking lots of fire-warriors?

Pathfinders scout move happens after seize. It's before the first turn and you kind of have to know who has the first turn before going into it. It's great for deploying safely behind a wall and then moving out if you get to go first.

 Xenomancers wrote:

Kdash wrote:

Ice_can wrote:
For 2k lists most tau lists I've thought of revolve around 2 battalions for 9 CP plus another detachment as points and units dictate.
I dont need fast attack for CP's I need troops for CP and screening and multiple detachments for commanders.

If you’re going for 2 battalions, you might as well just go for a brigade.

You’re likely going to want things from the other force org slots in your army anyway, so you might as well put it all together. Even with a brigade, you’re prob going to have enough points left over for another detachment of some kind.

I disagree - tau elites are expensive and still aren't really up to par. Riptide isn't worth it still (an ion head has practically the same damage output for 130 points less). Ghost keel is good but you can't afford to bring 3 of them. Everything else is really overpriced or do a job you don't really need done. You can take far-sight marksmen but really - they aren't worth a dang thing and just feel like a tax.

In 3 batallions the only unit you are taking which you don't want to is a single etheral or 2nd firebalde as the 9 required troop units are actually good units and not taxes. My 3x battalion takes 3x commanders long strike and 2 fire blades - 9 5x firewarriors. Same number of command points as a brigade but whats best is - 3 commanders.

I need to run more numbers, but, just from a quick look vs a Rhino, doesn't a nova charged HBC Riptide do double the damage an overcharging Ionhead does? Sure, i get it is at least 100 points more, but, you also get an extra wound and a 2+/3++, alongside a stratagem to always shoot as if you're at full wounds should you need it. It also gives you additional anti horde options.

As for "needing" 3 commanders, i'm not really feeling it right now. Sure, your 4 fusion blasters or 4 CIBs are going to do work, but what happens when i just sack a handful of drones and blast them off the table next turn? Or they kill a Wave Serpent then get ripped apart afterwards - likewise, they can't kill all the Guard tanks in one turn etc etc. And if you want to deep strike them, that's perfectly fine with me, as i'd have already bubble wrapped to ensure you don't get within 18" of my major units.

I'm curious as to what you're spending the other ~950 points of your 3 battalions on. I do agree on the 9 fire warrior squads though - even if mine are in a brigade and a battalion.


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 Xenomancers wrote:


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Mandragola wrote:
Good points - except that stealths can’t deep strike.

Firesight marksmen are decent but I wouldn’t spam them. If I needed to put markerlights on hard to hit stuff I think I’d use fireblades or Darkstrider and then use the d3+1 hit stratagem.

Marker drones are my favourite way to get markerlight hits - I think. They can deep strike in with crisis suits or deploy with stealths - who in particular don’t mind using up a slot for a DC, as they couldn’t have put a gun there anyway.

There’s quite a lot to be said for pathfinders now though - especially now that ion rifles are so good. A couple of units of them in a tidewall shieldline and gunport would be decent, I think. It’s not a bad place to stick characters too if you want a low drop count.

I think tau pretty much have to give up having lower drop count unless they are running a full mecha list. Including fortifications has a defacto effect of reducing your max commanders to 2 also.

I think the best way to run marker lights is just to take pathfinders and put them in cover. 3 units of 8 fills your fast attacks for a brigade and it's cheap. Hiding a few in fire warrior squads seems like a good idea too.

Question to everyone - pathfinders have a scout move essentially before the first game turn - what is the order for that? Before or after seize the initiative?

Biggest difference to me in regards to Pathfinders vs drones is three fold -
You give up additional battlesuit bodyguards
They suffer if you need to move them
They are way easier to remove.

One thing to consider in regards to fortifications is this -
4 markerdrones, a fireblade and a droneport costs 152 points. For 152 points you get 5 markerlights hitting on 2+. If they are all Sa'cea, they are 2+ re-rolling 1 shot per unit for free.

Now, it'll die super fast once your opponent realises what happens, but you can always start it off out of LoS and move into LoS for the Fireblade shot, or just hide and move the drones as they don't suffer the move and shoot penalty.
The question is - is it worth nearly double the points of 10 pathfinders for that 1 turn of markerlight shots?

I also agree that, as T'au you're pretty much always going to be giving up the +1 to go first as most lists will prob be in the region of 20+ drops.

Kdash wrote:
One thing to consider in regards to fortifications is this -
4 markerdrones, a fireblade and a droneport costs 152 points. For 152 points you get 5 markerlights hitting on 2+. If they are all Sa'cea, they are 2+ re-rolling 1 shot per unit for free.

Or get 15 marker drones - 5 hits/turn; as soon as you spend 5pts for a drone controller, you're getting more hits! (providing you design in a bit of room for synergy).

Razerous wrote:

Kdash wrote:
One thing to consider in regards to fortifications is this -
4 markerdrones, a fireblade and a droneport costs 152 points. For 152 points you get 5 markerlights hitting on 2+. If they are all Sa'cea, they are 2+ re-rolling 1 shot per unit for free.

Or get 15 marker drones - 5 hits/turn; as soon as you spend 5pts for a drone controller, you're getting more hits! (providing you design in a bit of room for synergy).

I agree, it's one or the other - either is going to get you the 5 hits that you want. With drone controller you'll get 3-4 additional hits for that cost.

I may be completely wrong/crazy, but, i'm seeing potential worth in a 70 point tax to turn 7 drops into 1 (5 characters +1 5 man squad + 1 drone squad) that can potentially keep out of LoS and is T7 with 10 wounds. Sure, it can still get alpha struck meaning you loose the drones, but it's no worse than losing x number of pathfinder units first turn, or forcing you to manta strike your drones, leaving you potentially without some protection.

As it stands, my list has 10 markerlights that hit on 2+ and 9 that hit on 4+, in addition to 2 stratagems that give free markerlight hits, meaning i will very reliably get stacks of 5 onto 3 targets for a couple of turns. Any more than that i kinda feel is a waste.

It's either 70 points on an attempt at protection, or 70 points on more markerlights.

 Fueli wrote:
Pathfinders scout move happens after seize. It's before the first turn and you kind of have to know who has the first turn before going into it. It's great for deploying safely behind a wall and then moving out if you get to go first.

So you have about a 40% chance to go first If you have less drops than the opponent. So in 40% of your games pathfinders are going to be able to pregame move right next you your commander (who should be standing right next to your out of LOS cover your path finders are in) Then you have twin linked 4+ to hit markers for 8 points a pop. That's what I am going for. If it's a shooting gun line that can wreck my markers I'll hide them and eat the -1 to hit first turn. It will probably just mean that only 2 targets get lit instead of 3.

Kdash wrote:

 Xenomancers wrote:

Kdash wrote:

Ice_can wrote:
For 2k lists most tau lists I've thought of revolve around 2 battalions for 9 CP plus another detachment as points and units dictate.
I dont need fast attack for CP's I need troops for CP and screening and multiple detachments for commanders.

If you’re going for 2 battalions, you might as well just go for a brigade.

You’re likely going to want things from the other force org slots in your army anyway, so you might as well put it all together. Even with a brigade, you’re prob going to have enough points left over for another detachment of some kind.

I disagree - tau elites are expensive and still aren't really up to par. Riptide isn't worth it still (an ion head has practically the same damage output for 130 points less). Ghost keel is good but you can't afford to bring 3 of them. Everything else is really overpriced or do a job you don't really need done. You can take far-sight marksmen but really - they aren't worth a dang thing and just feel like a tax.

In 3 batallions the only unit you are taking which you don't want to is a single etheral or 2nd firebalde as the 9 required troop units are actually good units and not taxes. My 3x battalion takes 3x commanders long strike and 2 fire blades - 9 5x firewarriors. Same number of command points as a brigade but whats best is - 3 commanders.

I need to run more numbers, but, just from a quick look vs a Rhino, doesn't a nova charged HBC Riptide do double the damage an overcharging Ionhead does? Sure, i get it is at least 100 points more, but, you also get an extra wound and a 2+/3++, alongside a stratagem to always shoot as if you're at full wounds should you need it. It also gives you additional anti horde options.

As for "needing" 3 commanders, i'm not really feeling it right now. Sure, your 4 fusion blasters or 4 CIBs are going to do work, but what happens when i just sack a handful of drones and blast them off the table next turn? Or they kill a Wave Serpent then get ripped apart afterwards - likewise, they can't kill all the Guard tanks in one turn etc etc. And if you want to deep strike them, that's perfectly fine with me, as i'd have already bubble wrapped to ensure you don't get within 18" of my major units.

I'm curious as to what you're spending the other ~950 points of your 3 battalions on. I do agree on the 9 fire warrior squads though - even if mine are in a brigade and a battalion.


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 Xenomancers wrote:


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Mandragola wrote:
Good points - except that stealths can’t deep strike.

Firesight marksmen are decent but I wouldn’t spam them. If I needed to put markerlights on hard to hit stuff I think I’d use fireblades or Darkstrider and then use the d3+1 hit stratagem.

Marker drones are my favourite way to get markerlight hits - I think. They can deep strike in with crisis suits or deploy with stealths - who in particular don’t mind using up a slot for a DC, as they couldn’t have put a gun there anyway.

There’s quite a lot to be said for pathfinders now though - especially now that ion rifles are so good. A couple of units of them in a tidewall shieldline and gunport would be decent, I think. It’s not a bad place to stick characters too if you want a low drop count.

I think tau pretty much have to give up having lower drop count unless they are running a full mecha list. Including fortifications has a defacto effect of reducing your max commanders to 2 also.

I think the best way to run marker lights is just to take pathfinders and put them in cover. 3 units of 8 fills your fast attacks for a brigade and it's cheap. Hiding a few in fire warrior squads seems like a good idea too.

Question to everyone - pathfinders have a scout move essentially before the first game turn - what is the order for that? Before or after seize the initiative?

Biggest difference to me in regards to Pathfinders vs drones is three fold -
You give up additional battlesuit bodyguards
They suffer if you need to move them
They are way easier to remove.

One thing to consider in regards to fortifications is this -
4 markerdrones, a fireblade and a droneport costs 152 points. For 152 points you get 5 markerlights hitting on 2+. If they are all Sa'cea, they are 2+ re-rolling 1 shot per unit for free.

Now, it'll die super fast once your opponent realises what happens, but you can always start it off out of LoS and move into LoS for the Fireblade shot, or just hide and move the drones as they don't suffer the move and shoot penalty.
The question is - is it worth nearly double the points of 10 pathfinders for that 1 turn of markerlight shots?

I also agree that, as T'au you're pretty much always going to be giving up the +1 to go first as most lists will prob be in the region of 20+ drops.

Haven't actually played a game yet - all theory.

I think something like 3 railsides
2 Ion heads (one is long strike)
and a ghostkeel

are what I will build around

I've also toyed with using a skyray - 6 twinlinked missles turn 1 and then handing out 2+ to hit marker lights on fly keyword after that is real nice. Plus no one will want to shoot at it once it's dumped it's missles. lol.





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Razerous wrote:

Kdash wrote:
One thing to consider in regards to fortifications is this -
4 markerdrones, a fireblade and a droneport costs 152 points. For 152 points you get 5 markerlights hitting on 2+. If they are all Sa'cea, they are 2+ re-rolling 1 shot per unit for free.

Or get 15 marker drones - 5 hits/turn; as soon as you spend 5pts for a drone controller, you're getting more hits! (providing you design in a bit of room for synergy).

What do you give drone controller?

Not sure what you mean by 6 twinlinked missles, but in all seriousness longstrike is a better place for seeker missiles as is any hammerhead in his buff zone as thats hitting on 2's which is money every time throw in a markerlight and its 2's rerolling ones.

Battallion =coldstar, cadrefireblade and 3 5man firewarriors.

I'm playing around with longstike railgun and 2 ionheads supporting tau battalion, can'tdecied if borkan or tau for HBC riptide battalion.
I realy want to try a farsight crisis bomb as I realy like the idea of having units off board for turn 1 safety. And I think farsight is cool.

Though if dalyth sept trait worked on opponents turn 1 I might consider it but only working on turn 2, makes it real bad IMHO.

Longstrike should always have seeker missiles, I think. He doubles the number of markerlights on a target, so just one light lets him fire them, hitting on a 2+ and rerolling 1s - with +1 to wound vehicles and monsters. That feels like an ok use of 10 points, to me.

It’s harder to justify the railgun. To be fair, his +1 to wound does increase the chance of doing d3 mortal wounds - and the focused fire stratagem can make that a 4+. And I’d really love it if railguns were good.

But they are not. Ion cannons are far better and, inexplicably, cheaper. Every one of its d6 shots is nearly a railgun shot.

Finally don’t forget that his sms also gets +1 to wound vehicles and monsters, so it’s often worth firing at them. Might well do a couple of damage extra.

 vaklor4 wrote:

 fartherthanfar wrote:
Is it just me or are Kroot hounds a bit OP, I mean, for the price of a cultist you get a model with 2 attacks that hit on a 3+, has a -1 AP and an amazing 12" Mov plus potential reroll charge roll. Sure, they're Fast Attack Beasts so cant capture and have low Ld of 5 but that seems minimal as far as bad compared to all the extra they have over cultists.

I made a list which I feel is really quite strong. Am I missing something?

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/753196.page#9886214

You are missing something HUGELY important. Battlefield roles. Kroot hounds are fast attack, while cultists/brims/guards/gaunts are all troops. Yes, Hounds ARE stronger than most of them, but they also give a minimal amount of CP compared to their troop counterparts, which in almost anyone's opinion is far more important than having bubblewrap that bites.

I dont think I missed it as I mentioned they are Fast Attack beasts, I just dont think it justifies the amazing worth of stats vs price. troops are so easy to get in Tau with amazing Fire Warrior units of 5 models coming at only 35pts so getting 3 battalions is a breeze (as shown in the list I posted)

First turn slow bubble wrap is nice and all but with Fusion Coldstar Commander moving as fast as they do and needing to get up close to the enemy, they need their bubble wrap to be fast too to take the shots away from them. A 4pts models with 12" move sounds amazing synergistically, the fact they also deal decent damage in close combat is an extra cherry on the top that wasn't even necessary but just brings them to the OP level.

Sure, Kroot hounds can't grab objectives but for everything else they do have, and good variety of other models that can grab objectives instead and fill the troop slots with minimal points required as investments in hounds since they are so cheap (60 hounds costs only 240pts!!!) and troops too being cheap, I'm wondering why people aren't tripping balls on these guys.

Honestly, I think it has a lot to do with actual cost of the models. Hands up, anyone, who feels like it's worthwhile to spend $375 on that swarm of 60 hounds mentioned above. Even if you get them...uh... elsewhere, it's still going to run you about half that. If you were really selling out on the horde concept, you'd need at least twice that many. I mean, I think it'd be a viable strategy, but you'd better have some freaking deep pockets and a TON of patience to assemble all that resin.

What's the verdict on the Stormsurge? I'm thinking that one with the Pulse Driver Cannon, ATS, Counterfire Defense System and Shields might be pretty nasty, especially if taken in T'au sept (overwatching on 5's is NASTY with this many shots). Destroyer missiles are still lame, but then again they are one of the only ways this codex has of dealing mortal wounds (the other being the subpar rail weapons). Of course, it probably also does very well in Sa'cea sept to reroll one missed shot on its heavy weapon or a destroyer missile shot. It does have the Vehicle keyword, meaning that one stratagem that works like Astra Militarum's Defensive Gunners stratagem works for it.

I'm thinking it should find a good spot on turn 1 and drop anchors and then go to town. If you take the Blastcannon hoping to use the 6-damage shot, then obviously you shouldn't anchor, but to me that trick is too easy to avoid on a slow-moving model like a Stormsurge.

Ice_can wrote:
Not sure what you mean by 6 twinlinked missles, but in all seriousness longstrike is a better place for seeker missiles as is any hammerhead in his buff zone as thats hitting on 2's which is money every time throw in a markerlight and its 2's rerolling ones.

Battallion =coldstar, cadrefireblade and 3 5man firewarriors.

I'm playing around with longstike railgun and 2 ionheads supporting tau battalion, can'tdecied if borkan or tau for HBC riptide battalion.
I realy want to try a farsight crisis bomb as I realy like the idea of having units off board for turn 1 safety. And I think farsight is cool.

Though if dalyth sept trait worked on opponents turn 1 I might consider it but only working on turn 2, makes it real bad IMHO.

I'm stuck in the same place - borkan is really great but is laking the crucial +1 to wound stratagem.

I really like the idea of lighting up their biggest unit and shooting 6 railguns into it with +1 to wound. A good roll and you will probably get something like 6 mortal wounds in addition to your huge railgun damage as well. Borkan does let you make another number of shots reroll for 2 ion heads - that isn't terrible ether. I think I am going to run tau on everything. The over watch is so crucial I want as much of it as I can get. It really benefits the riptide. I think it's even worth it to give it counter fire defense system over EWO.


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 ZergSmasher wrote:
What's the verdict on the Stormsurge? I'm thinking that one with the Pulse Driver Cannon, ATS, Counterfire Defense System and Shields might be pretty nasty, especially if taken in T'au sept (overwatching on 5's is NASTY with this many shots). Destroyer missiles are still lame, but then again they are one of the only ways this codex has of dealing mortal wounds (the other being the subpar rail weapons). Of course, it probably also does very well in Sa'cea sept to reroll one missed shot on its heavy weapon or a destroyer missile shot. It does have the Vehicle keyword, meaning that one stratagem that works like Astra Militarum's Defensive Gunners stratagem works for it.

I'm thinking it should find a good spot on turn 1 and drop anchors and then go to town. If you take the Blastcannon hoping to use the 6-damage shot, then obviously you shouldn't anchor, but to me that trick is too easy to avoid on a slow-moving model like a Stormsurge.

I personally like the PBC. In borkan it is interesting what happens to it's threat ranges. At 26 inches it's firing 4x str 12 ap-2 4 damage shots (youll be ap-3 too with ATS). That would drop a few Custodes right in their tracks. Plsu the long range profile goes to 36 dropping str 10 2 damage shots. - 6 of them. Not bad.

Stormsurges went from awful to mediocre, in my opinion. They're probably still pretty overcosted, given that they really only have 1 weapon of consequence which either amounts to ~4 lascannons or...whatever you want to equate the blastcannon with. I think a Borkan blastcannon build is probably the best option, but a Tau version with CDS is certainly amusing. There's also the potential for a Dalyth super-heavy detachment giving an extra cover save, but really nothing that shoots at them is going to be using it's normal, non-invulnerable save.

Drone controllers now impact all drones.

Missile drones anyone?

Razerous wrote:
Drone controllers now impact all drones.

Missile drones anyone?

Missile drones with a DC come in at 40ppd vs a T7 3+ save target. That can be improved significantly by buffs. And if someone lascannons their broadside the drone can always take the hit.

There's an opportunity cost though. Where does the DC go? You can stick it on a broadside but they have a lot of other good options. And the drone itself could be a marker drone instead.

I've built mine now at least. For a long time I just left the bits on the sprue, but now I think there's a case for giving them a try.Unhelpfully, I think they'll turn out to be fine - neither amazing or terrible.

Mandragola wrote:

Razerous wrote:
Drone controllers now impact all drones.

Missile drones anyone?

Missile drones with a DC come in at 40ppd vs a T7 3+ save target. That can be improved significantly. And if someone lascannons their broadside the drone can always take the hit.

There's an opportunity cost though. Where does the DC go? You can stick it on a broadside but they have a lot of other good options. And the drone itself could be a marker drone instead.

I've built mine now at least. For a long time I just left the bits on the sprue, but now I think there's a case for giving them a try.Unhelpfully, I think they'll turn out to be fine - neither amazing or terrible.

So, I was tempted to run the 2 shielded missile drones that come alongside the Riptide, but, at 50 points, I felt like there were just other better options for the points.

The downside of the standard missile drones is that they will tend to be a 1 or 2 drone unit that can be easily targeted, giving up mission points super easily.

Kdash wrote:

Mandragola wrote:

Razerous wrote:
Drone controllers now impact all drones.

Missile drones anyone?

Missile drones with a DC come in at 40ppd vs a T7 3+ save target. That can be improved significantly. And if someone lascannons their broadside the drone can always take the hit.

There's an opportunity cost though. Where does the DC go? You can stick it on a broadside but they have a lot of other good options. And the drone itself could be a marker drone instead.

I've built mine now at least. For a long time I just left the bits on the sprue, but now I think there's a case for giving them a try.Unhelpfully, I think they'll turn out to be fine - neither amazing or terrible.

So, I was tempted to run the 2 shielded missile drones that come alongside the Riptide, but, at 50 points, I felt like there were just other better options for the points.

The downside of the standard missile drones is that they will tend to be a 1 or 2 drone unit that can be easily targeted, giving up mission points super easily.

The shielded ones are interesting. To be honest they are very similar. I don't think they are meaningfully tougher than normal missile drones - people will just shoot at them with small arms - though I guess they will resist stuff like heavy bolters marginally better. But they lost their T6.

On the other hand the opportunity cost is arguably lower. The riptide can't take other drones anyway. An IA riptide can probably take a DC without too much bother, as it doesn't realy need an ATS - which would be very expensive anyway.

Something I've considered is a firebase with a unit of 3 broadsides, a riptide or two (or maybe a stormsurge ,but I'm not a fan), and a bunch of drones. Stick shadowsun in there to call Kauyon twice. One way or the other, there's not likely to be much of a turn 3. Your drop count might even be low enough to sometimes get first turn, which would hurt.

I have a really dumb question...

I'm really new to playing 40k in general (I've really only previously painted and followed the lore), and extra new to Tau, but I love their look and they seem really freakin' fun. So I jumped in.

But one thing I'm not sure how to approach is keeping track of which drones are in what unit. By that I mean, if I deploy a unit, the drones become a separate unit...and if I move them near other drones to make a great drone swarm of death and destruction, what's the best way to keep track of different drone units? I feel like a bunch of 2 drone units is going to be a pain to keep track of - for me and my opponent. Am I overthinking this?

It is but it's unfortunately the way GW decided to make it work in 8th edition.
I wouldn't worry about it as your opponent will probably blast them off the board sharpish anyway as they are targetable as GW made them a unit of their own. Cheers Guys.

Personally I think having drones in a single mass swarm unit is probably more effective than adding them to squads and vehicals as units of 1 and 2's as your giving your opponents easy firstblood or destroy a unit targets.

But to answer your problem I would suggest painting a unit colour stripe or such either on the drone to make units identifiable or on the base, if you feel its necessary.

Yeah it's going to be an issue, and not just for drones. The official way Fire Warrior units are distinguished is by those tiny little stripes and dots on them, which are too small to really see if you've got a load of guys. Some other solution, like different coloured shoulder pads or something, is almost certainly needed.

Painting bases is one option. For drones you could try painting rings round the stalks, or colouring the actual bases. But I tend to leave my drones' bases detached for transport, to reduce breakages, and sorting them out at the start of the game would be a pain. Instead I've used different colours on the aerials, which works fine until they break off!

Mandragola wrote:
Yeah it's going to be an issue, and not just for drones. The official way Fire Warrior units are distinguished is by those tiny little stripes and dots on them, which are too small to really see if you've got a load of guys. Some other solution, like different coloured shoulder pads or something, is almost certainly needed.

Samurai style back banners would work well as unit identifiers.

 Fenris-77 wrote:

Mandragola wrote:
Yeah it's going to be an issue, and not just for drones. The official way Fire Warrior units are distinguished is by those tiny little stripes and dots on them, which are too small to really see if you've got a load of guys. Some other solution, like different coloured shoulder pads or something, is almost certainly needed.

Samurai style back banners would work well as unit identifiers.

True, and they'd look amazing, but I'm not making 72 of them!

I do think my Fireblade is going to be converted so that he's waving a big banner instead of a knife, but that's kind of a seperate issue.

Mandragola wrote:
Yeah it's going to be an issue, and not just for drones. The official way Fire Warrior units are distinguished is by those tiny little stripes and dots on them, which are too small to really see if you've got a load of guys. Some other solution, like different coloured shoulder pads or something, is almost certainly needed.

Painting bases is one option. For drones you could try painting rings round the stalks, or colouring the actual bases. But I tend to leave my drones' bases detached for transport, to reduce breakages, and sorting them out at the start of the game would be a pain. Instead I've used different colours on the aerials, which works fine until they break off!

With drones, the stripes and dots are meant to be bigger than the ones that are on the helmets for the Fire Warriors.

You could also paint the rim of different drone units with different colours for an easy visual marker.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:
You could also paint the rim of different drone units with different colours for an easy visual marker.

Problem then becomes what do you do for the Drones that are 'tied' to a specific unit/vehicle?

Supposedly the thing would be to use the same scheme for the unit and its drones. There'd be no problem distinquishing the two units from each other, and they'd stand out from other things.

The trouble with it though is that it breaks up the colour scheme of the army. I'd prefer not to have to do that, if at all possible.

Mmmm, what about using the antennae? Have a unit with no antennae, a unit with two, a unit with one on the left, unit with one on the right, unit with antennae modified in some way (or perhaps using spare support system bits from crisis kits) etc.

Can have quite a few variations in there whilst keeping the paint scheme consistent, albeit at loss of parts consistency.