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++ Supreme Command Detachment +1CP (T'au Empire) [29 PL, 596pts] ++

+ HQ +

Commander [7 PL, 192pts]: 4x Missile pod, 2x MV7 Marker Drone

Commander [7 PL, 132pts]: 4x Flamer, 2x MV7 Marker Drone

Commander [7 PL, 132pts]: 4x Flamer, 2x MV7 Marker Drone

Ethereal [4 PL, 70pts]: Honour blade, Hover Drone, 2x MV7 Marker Drone

Ethereal [4 PL, 70pts]: Honour blade, Hover Drone, 2x MV7 Marker Drone


++ Vanguard Detachment +1CP (T'au Empire) [71 PL, 1403pts] ++

+ HQ +

Commander Shadowsun [9 PL, 195pts]: 2x MV52 Shield Drone, MV62 Command-link Drone

+ Elites +

XV25 Stealth Battlesuits [7 PL, 132pts]: 2x MV1 Gun Drone
. Stealth Shas'ui w/ Fusion blaster: Fusion blaster, Velocity tracker
. Stealth Shas'ui w/ Velocity tracker: Burst cannon, Velocity tracker
. Stealth Shas'vre: Burst cannon, Velocity tracker
. . Markerlight + Target Lock: Markerlight, Target lock

XV9 Hazard Support Team [9 PL, 133pts]: 4x MV7 Marker Drone
. XV9 Hazard Battlesuit: 2x Double-barelled burst cannon

XV9 Hazard Support Team [9 PL, 171pts]: 4x MV7 Marker Drone
. XV9 Hazard Battlesuit: 2x Fusion cascade

XV9 Hazard Support Team [9 PL, 125pts]: 4x MV7 Marker Drone
. XV9 Hazard Battlesuit: 2x Phased ion gun

+ Fast Attack +

XV109 Y'vahra Battlesuit [22 PL, 465pts]: Advanced targeting system, 2x MV52 Shield Drone, Shield generator

+ Flyer +

DX6 Remora Stealth Drone Squadron [6 PL, 182pts]
. 2x DX6 'Remora' Stealth Drone w/ 2x Seeker missile: 4x Long-barelled burst cannon, 4x Seeker missile

++ Total: [100 PL, 1999pts] ++
Created with BattleScribe


With the new detachments in combination with the new drone and markerlight rules, this should probably be something viable to do with the tau now I think?
In total this will have no less than 22x Marker Drones, 4x MV52 Shield Drones (For protecting characters) and 2x Gun Drones (With the Stealth team, afaik they deploy together even when infiltrating).

Do you think this team will work or just get massively outgunned at this point level?

You don't need to buy a velocity tracker for all your stealth suits. It effects the whole unit and not just the model. So no need to pay extra.

The phased ion on the XV9 is not worth it, take more burst cannons. They're awesome.

Remora flyers have the drone keyword, so get a coldstar Commander with drone controller and enjoy some lovely 3+ to hit rolls.

The XV9s says you can take the ability of a support system rather than actually taking a support system. It's bad rule writing there, but RAW you get a free support system. Take ATS, works great with the burst cannons.

With marker lights the way they work now. Don't think you need 22. Though they are only hitting on 5s with your current list. Throw in some drone controllers and get more gun drones.

The recent faq that was just released makes shield drones useless. Especially the more expensive 3++ ones.

 taemu_touhi wrote:
You don't need to buy a velocity tracker for all your stealth suits. It effects the whole unit and not just the model. So no need to pay extra.

Excellent, I had missed this fact entirely

 taemu_touhi wrote:
The phased ion on the XV9 is not worth it, take more burst cannons. They're awesome.

How about Pulse Submunitions Rifles?

 taemu_touhi wrote:
Remora flyers have the drone keyword, so get a coldstar Commander with drone controller and enjoy some lovely 3+ to hit rolls.

You're absolutely right I need to have more drone controllers!

 taemu_touhi wrote:
The XV9s says you can take the ability of a support system rather than actually taking a support system. It's bad rule writing there, but RAW you get a free support system. Take ATS, works great with the burst cannons.

Yeah I've heard about this, but I figured it will be errataed sooner or later.

 taemu_touhi wrote:
With marker lights the way they work now. Don't think you need 22. Though they are only hitting on 5s with your current list. Throw in some drone controllers and get more gun drones.

The recent faq that was just released makes shield drones useless. Especially the more expensive 3++ ones.

So with a couple of drone controllers for better markerlight hits, what would be a proper ratio of marker lights to gun drones? As most of them will just double as extra wounds for the closest battlesuit, maybe more gun drones than marker drones is the actual way to go?

Going in order.

1. -

2. Depends on your playstyle. If you want something shooting from the backline than go with pulse submunitions rifle. However S6 is in a weird spot, as most vehicles are at least T7 it will make no difference compared to a S5 pulse rifle. If you are up against lots of T3 in your meta than maybe. But I would argue you might as well take the equivalent in points of fire warriors as it is significantly more shots especially when buffed by the ethereals you are already taking.

3. Whilst drone controllers are not as great as they use to be, you still need them for a drone heavy army. Watch out that its range is only 6" for MODELS, so no daisy chaining drones.

4. Knowing FW, errattas are slow. However even paying for the support systems, they are worth it.

5. Markerlights now are bit meh. You really either want 1 hit (reroll 1s) or 5 hits (+1 to hit). Shadowsun's drone also grants a unit to reroll 1s, so your stealthsuits can pretty much work independently. Depends on your playstyle how many you want. You can either go for target priority, and aim to get 5 markerlight hits a turn. Or you can sprinkle single markerlights across several units.

Lets assume you keep the current markerlight hits without the drone controller. 22 * (1/3) = 7.33 --> round to 7. So with drone controller, get 14 markerlight drones and change the remaining 8 to gun drones. Giving you 32 more S5 shots!