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Ok you can have a shas'el suit with targetting array (bs5) hardwired multitracker, Cyclic Ion Blaster, and Burst Cannon for a bargain 88 points. he cranks out 8 shots! at 18"

surely the plasma would be a better partner for CIB than burstcannon? maybe, lets check. plasma is 12 pts more so makes him 100 pts.

against marines: (the second number is kills per point, * 1000 for readability)

CIB & burstcannon - 1.48 kills (16.8 per pt)
CIB & plasma 24" - 1.62 kills (16.2 per pt)
CIB & plasma 12" - 2.31 kills (23.1 per pt)

against termies:

CIB & burstcannon - 0.85 kills (9.73 per pt)
CIB & plasma 24" - 1.04 kills (10.4 per pt)
CIB & plasma 12" - 1.50 kills (15.0 per pt)

against guard:

CIB & burstcannon - 4.17 kills (47.3 per pt)
CIB & plasma 24" - 2.77 kills (27.7 per pt)
CIB & plasma 12" - 3.47 kills (34.7 per pt)

ok conclusions. obviously CIB is useless against vehicles, and plasma is better than burstcannon, and plasma is better at termies than burstcannon.

but, surprisingly the CIB & BC is competitive against any infantry compared to CIB & plasma in the 12-18" range, which this suit is quite comfortable working in.

also its capable of putting 3 wounds onto T4 guys, which makes it better for nominating saves than the plasma suit, which has to be within 12" to get 3 wounds, at 24" it only gets 2.3 wounds

i think the CIB & burstcannon suit has a niche it can work in, but it has a pre-requisite condition, which is having bucketfuls of low-ap and anti-tank already in the list, such that a HQ slot is not really required to further duplicate this role.

if the rest of the list would be comfortable handling anti-tank, eg. lots of railguns and missiles, then this suit can be valuable for compensating for that low volume of shots. it chews up hordes, and is a stealth type unit, except it gets as many marine kills as 133pts worth of stealths.

The only problem I see is that 12-18" is a dangerous place to be against most armies, with assaulters being able to get you or shooters being able to rapid fire in return. I find it alot harder to use the IC status at 12"-18" then at 24"-36".

Being 'on the ball' as ever, I haven't even seen the new Tau codex, yet alone played with it.... But i'm not convinced by this 2-weapon combo. For range purposes, the first weapon you always is the missile pod - its only 4pts more and the S and range bonus more than make up for the shot loss - so for me the real question is what do i pair with the missile pod. CIB and burst cannons might be worth exploring here, but I think I'd always want the missile pod on a crisis suit, no matter what.

Don't forget, this guy can't really take on rear armour anymore, so you're losing the lone-commander D-S threat as well.

 

First, I think there's an error in your terminator calculations (or I might be wrong):

EDIT- I was wrong.  DOH  Fixed below.

Also, i agree with torgoch. The MP seems like a better weapon on a shas'el, if only due to range. While you're closing to 18" you can still take shots with the MP. You also have the option of paying it safe and still do some damage. Plus you still have 2 Strength 7 shots for rear armor. For reference:

MEq
CIB & Missle Pod - 1.39 (15.1 per)
only MP - 0.46 kills

Terminators
CIB & Missle Pod - 0.81 kills (8.8 per)
only MP - 0.23 kills

GEq
CIB & Missle Pod - 3.47 (37.7 per)
only MP - 1.39

While not as directly efficient, consider the MP can shoot 1-2 times before you close within 18" of most targets.

While I did not play this exact configuration in my one whole game with the new Tau 'dex (i fielded an 'o with MP, CIB, and BC and HWMT; upgunned, sure, but for a few more points he was knocking on the Rhinos' and Dreadnought's doors pretty well from the first turn), I was a bit underwhelmed with the CIB's performance against my marine opponent.

Invariably I would miss with at least 1 shot out of 5, and a couple turns nothing was ever wounded, and when it did, it was saved - don't think I ever rolled that Holy 6, maybe only once. Needing a 5+ to do anything is a great leveller with this weapon. I think I did more damage with the MP in the game...

I will still give the config another go, but considering the Toughness and save of marines, I would almost throw this back to the drawing board and get the old Plasma Rifle instead. 5 points more, but that will be almost assuredly 3 or more dead marines in the game than the CIB gave me.

I just tried the CIB out last night, against a couple opponents and I am actually rather happy with it, I personally used a Shas O, with a Missile Pod, CIB, Plasma Rifle, HW Multi-Tracker, HW BSF. . .

I normally use a Fusion Gun to deal with the extra vehicle threat instead of a CIB, but considering how close I have to get to use the Fusion Gun, the CIB seems a better choice. . .

i think you missed the invul save of the termies there winterman

torgoch, yea fireknife is the default config for suits for me. always will be. but, in an army with so much anti tank already, ie broadsides and 5+ fireknives in the rest of the slots, the need for missile pods is significantly reduced.

they're a good weapon, but i think they can suffer from over-saturation. you dont need the 6th crisis of an army to carry a missile pod as well as all those others you already have.

in this specific kind of army build, i am contending that there is room for maybe one of the suits to not need anti-vehicle capability, to focus on anti-infantry.
CIB is a great anti-infantry weapon. again, the 88 pt suit above gets as much marine kills as 133pts worth of stealths.
and, it can do that quite reasonably, jumping back to 23" isn't going to be hard to get something in between to be the closest target

i think you missed the invul save of the termies there winterman

GAHH. Yes that is very true. Gracias. Edited the CIB/MP.