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First off let me state the the Falcons will not be transporting any units.  They will strickly be used for mobile fire power/Anti tank hunting.  I'm building an Alaitoc strike force and would rather include 2 Fire Prisms instead of 2 falcons since the Fire Prisms are cheaper and I'm stapped for points in the list.  Was wondering how effective they were opposed to Falcons. 

They can insta kill a statured demon prince. That's pretty effective.

If you aren't using them for transports at all I'd suggest running the Prisms. What you lose in a couple of shots from the additional guns you can probably make up for in effectiveness with the str 9/10 shots.

Definitely the Fire Prism for the role you describe.

The Falcon's greatest strength is delivering troops since a Holofield only protects against getting destroyed but almost guarantees that any glancing/penetrating hit will result in the inability of the tank to shoot in the following turn.

The Fire Prism is cheaper than the Falcon, has a BS4 and most importantly can use its speed and 60" range to actually stay out of range/LOS of enemy return fire.

The Shiruken Cannon is a sure upgrade (considering how cheap it is), but don't get tempted to sit within 24" of the enemy to use it unless there are absolutely no AT threats that can shoot back at you. While any of those threats remain, stay back out of range and LOS and use the superior range of the Prism Cannon to hit your opponent.

for your list i say prism as well.

 

as somebody who also has one shot wonder tanks(tau hammerheads with railgun). even though i hit on 3s and have the SMS for extra shots, only having one main gun makes me wich i had more when i roll that single 1 or 2 :S

Thanks I have been siding more and more with the Prisms I have just never seen them in use since the new codex not to mention that I can throw down a STR 6 AP 3 pie plate and take out marines like its nothing.

Well, I still think the Falcon is the better choice in almost all regards, but since you specified that you wouldn't be utilizing the Falcon's greatest strength (its transport capacity) the choice becomes obvious.


But in most armies, the Falcon is, by far, the better choice IMO.

Hey Yakface you got a night job to or are you just a night owl. I can't imagine to many people would willing stay up this late unless they are parting or just can't sleep.

Night job and a night owl, so the job isn't so bad for me.

I am an all  or nothing kinda guy. But it strikes me that if I am a MEQ player I will see 2 prisms and say...

"Oh, well all I have to do is stop one from firing and they aren't so scary anymore."

I think if you are going to use the prism then you need to go all out and use 3. That nifty S6 AP3 pie plate is dependant on 2 prisms being able to fire.

ender502

One armament destroyed result on a Prism takes out the prism cannon and makes the tank useless the rest of the battle. The Falcon loses the bright lance and still has about 6 strenght 6 shots coming your way. Just more pros and cons to consider.

True. But the range of the prism is what ensures it's survivability more than anything else. I concur with Yak. In most cases the Falcon is the go-to vehicle, but in this case, a cheaper vehicle with a better BS, and a longer range, etc. works better.

Capt K

Plus with the shurican upgrade you still have 3 BS4 S6 shots at 24" on a fast, hard to kill, scoring unit vehicle.

depends on the roll you want either the falcon or the fireprisms. if they are tank hunting, than falcon i would suggest, if they are meant to take on infintry, than fire prism. It depends on your army and what it is lacking

I'd actually argue that the main advantage of the falcon is its transport capability, and that the falcon will, in general, be a better anti-infantry platform than the fire prism. As soon as a decent opponent sees the prism across the table, they should be assuming ordnance formation with the maximum dispersal possible. And the fire prism with its S9 (or 10) gun is far better than the 2 S8 shots you're going to get out of a falcon. The falcon gets an advantage against light vehicles...but then again, an Eldar army shouldn't have a problem destroying light vehicles.

I think the main decider for me ends up being that a fire prism is BS4, its to damn expsencive to get a good bs for our marine popping and anti-tank fire. I personally hate Fire Dragons so I don't use the standard FD Falcon mix.

My Fire Prisms: Holofield, Spirit Stones, the holofield protects me just in case while the spirit stones work to ensure he will only ever get to glance. Even if they never get to fire if they can force his fire power on them for 4+ turns I will be satisfied. (works great but ravenwing going first will kill them very very quickly.

P.S. Necrons don't enjoy being shot at by fire prisms. Early Focused Combo shot on the Heavy Destroyers, and Destroyers, then alot of the focused ones on the squads of necron warriors, seperating the squads from each other. With 3 Fire Prisms you can make a side crumble within 2 or 3 turns and after that he should phase out on roughly turn 5.

This works great against the stationary blocks of necrons that always get their will be back rolls, if you run into a teleporting lord make him your primary target first though because of the teleporting trick can crush a fire prism quick.