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Hello, more experienced creatures!
I'm a really new player, so to get a better grasp on the useful/viable/fun units and comps in the TAU Codex I'll post some of my list ideas...

EDIT After Reading the codex better I tweaked both list, and now I am pretty confident that they are at least passable :3

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"Heavy Infantry" 500pts (Farsight Enclave)

-The list should now work better it has reliable markerlights support, and the Plasma+Pod should be able to take care of any veicle in the 500pts tier and Plasma+Burst combo is in my opinioni able to take care of all kind of infantry exept the ones disgustingly numerous, am I wrong?

Hq:
1xCOMMANDER 122pts +2xMarkerDrones, Drone Controller, PositionalRelay

Troops:
2xCRISIS 120pts +4xBurstCannon,2xRetroThrusters, 2xGunDrone, Bonding Ritual
2xCRISIS 106pts +4xPlasmaRifles, Bonding Ritual
1xCRISIS 56pts +2xMisslePod, EarlyWarning

Fast:
6xDRONES 84pts +6xMarkersDrones
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"Defence Armada" 500pts
-I figured out that was the Fireblade passive that lets people shoot twice if they are stationary, so fixed that... I put a dedicated Crisis just to have better markerlight support, ther is an ankward 6 man team of Fw but I think that they still prove useful... Spammed shield drones, I think that's not optimal but the dices hate me so I prefer to be safe and have anyone protected, am I exaggerating?

Hq:
1xFIREBLADE 72pts +1xShieldDrone

Élites
1xCRISIS 42pts +1xShieldDrone, DroneController

Troops:
5xFIREWARRIOR 64pts +1xShas'ui
10xFIREWARRIOR 90pts +10xRifles

Heavy:
1xBROADSIDE 77pts +1xShieldDrone, Twin HeavyPod, Twin SmartPod

Fortification:
1xGUNRING 85pts
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Thank you in advance for the eventual opinions and tips
Bye bye :3

Yes, you can post as many lists as you want in the thread. Be mindful of us readers though, too many and you'll lose our attention. After all, we have cultures to assimilate As for the lists:

#1.
Marker Drones are good, Marker Drones with a Drone Controller on your BS5 Commander are better. However, the unit with the Drones can't benefit from its own tokens, so the Crisis Suits need Target Locks to allow them to engage different targets. Your Commander is a bit of a mixed bag. A very important rule when Tau list building is to always specialize your units. Equip each unit to do one thing extremely well. Multi-purpose Tau units just don't work. In general, Bodyguards are a waste of points. They do the exact same thing as regular Crisis suits for 10 points more. Your Commander is an Independent Character, so you pass Look Out Sir on 2+, auto-passing with the Bodyguards doesn't make much difference. Short of that, consider breaking up your Crisis squads into smaller units. It gives you more flexibility and you have the Troop slots, so might as well use them.

#2.
I like where you're going with this. Same rule applies to the Marker Drones and they need a BS boost. At BS2, they just aren't reliable. I like Carbines more than most Tau players, but in a gunline you want the 30" range of the Rifles. Carbines are better suited for a mechanized army. The Railgun version of Broadsides just isn't good. Always equip your Broadsides with missiles and lose the Velocity Tracker, you won't see any flyers at this points level. Other than that, this list has all the elements of an awesome gunline, so awesome thinking.

I hope this helps!

Man... I'm really not a fan of Tau, but even I can't deny that list #2 looks like a lot of fun, after a bit of optimization of course. The above advice is really solid, so I'd recommend tweaking the lists based on that, and giving us another iteration to comment on.

For a newer player trying to get the feel of the various units, the best advice I can give is: playtest. Tau are currently one of the most powerful codices in the game and there's a wide variety of effective units they can field. Throw a list together with units you are interested in, and play a friendly test game against a friend to try them out. If you're testing out new units with a friend, chances are they won't mind if you proxy before you decide what you want to buy next. Some things I'd recommend playtesting to see if you like:
- Broadsides with missile pods
- Ghostkeels
- Stealth Suits
- Piranhas
- Breacher Squads

Finally - This website has a great overview of the options available to you in the Tau Codex. Even if you only read about the various units, it will give you a good idea of how to field them effectively, and what their role on the table is.

Thanks for the advice :3

#1 Yeah, Now that i see the Commander of list 1 is a bit of an oddball, I'll tweak him and the whole list accoringly...
You say more but smaller crisis troops? I'll try to make some tweaks...
Ok the bodyguards are usless, good to know

#2 Noooo!!! So it's true! The very model that made me love the style of the Tau, the railgunned broadside, is not good on the field :c I'll stick to the not as sexy Rocket Launcher one...
On the troop side i know that the rifles have more range, but since the unit on the fortification are counted as stationary I thought "why not?"... 20 projectiles that reroll failed result of 1, it looked pretty scary :/ I would like an explanation on this...

I wrote many lists in these days, but I do not want to post them immedietely, I would like first to get an idea of basic units then move on to more specific formations...
I'll make a tread only for the units in the right, just to not have everything in this page -.-" It could get out of hand pretty fast

Really, thanks for the advices, I relly appreciated :3

Depending if your local meta is really competive or not. i would say go with the railguns if you really like them tua are strong enough that you dont have to have all the best options The rule of cool is important

ian wrote:
Depending if your local meta is really competive or not. i would say go with the railguns if you really like them tua are strong enough that you dont have to have all the best options The rule of cool is important

I haven't player in our local community in years, so I can't really tell if the meta is super competitive... But I remember a Grey Knights player that only player to win and everyone had to adjust to him...
So the point is that the missle pod is better than the railgun not that the railgun is bad per se, right?
Thanks for the time :3

They just suffer from being one shot however there twin linked and ap 1 with a long range so good at taking out light tanks ect

VentuKing wrote:
On the troop side i know that the rifles have more range, but since the unit on the fortification are counted as stationary I thought "why not?"... 20 projectiles that reroll failed result of 1, it looked pretty scary :/ I would like an explanation on this...

Being stationary doesn't actually affect either of the shooting weapons, they'll both shoot normally regardless of whether or not the fire warrior has moved. It's not that carbines are bad, they're fine, but in list #2 you've basically created a gunline army. The main thing you want in a gunline army is range and the 30" range of the standard pulse rifle is amazing for standard infantry (it's actually the best standard troops gun in the game). Plus they're rapid-fire so when you get within 15" you still get your 20 shots, which is only 3" less than the Carbine. Carbines are best used when pushing fire warriors forward to fight for board control, or held back to protect a gunline's from outflankers and deep strikers. At 500 points, you won't really need to worry much about this so having that extra firepower on your gunline is simply a better option. Range may not seem like a huge deal, but it will net you 1-2 more rounds of shooting per game on average than the carbines will. Not only this, but they have the possibility of glancing light vehicles to death before they can cross the table and deliver their assault units into your gunline.

Wait my bad, i got the rules wrong: the rifle is Rapid fire so it can be shot twice if the unit didn't move in that turn (right?) and the carabine is assault 2 so it can shoot 2 projectiles even if the unit moved...
So... they bot shot two times in a turn, but the rifle has more range wich is preferable over the ability to move and shoot 2 times in a small list... i get it...
So the Railway Broadsiders aren't bad as a super far away "sniper " unit... good to know
Thanks

VentuKing wrote:
The rifle is Rapid fire so it can be shot twice if the unit didn't move in that turn (right?)

The way Rapid Fire weapons work is you get 2 shots up to half of max range and 1 shot between half and max range. Assault weapons always get full shots up to max range. It looks like this:

Rifle = 2 Shots 1-15" and 1 shot 16-30"
Carbine = 2 Shots 1-18"

Movement has no effect on either. You always get your number of shots. The fundamental difference between Rapid Fire and Assault weapons is that Assault weapons let you charge into close combat after shooting them and Rapid Fire weapons do not. Granted, you don't want to be charging into assault too much with Tau, but if 1 Space Marines is left in a unit and you want to finish it off, charging is not a terrible idea. Charging can also be good for contesting or taking objectives. Assault weapons give you that flexibility.

That said, the 'real' difference between Rifles and Carbines is that Carbines have Pinning. That right there is why you take them. You sacrifice the reach and safety of the Rifle for the Pinning benefit of the Carbine. Rifles are your bread and butter, but the Carbine has its uses especially in mechanized lists where your units typically operate up close and personal.

Ah... I got the rules wrong... Again... Anyway thanks for the clarification, I think that i get it now... Maybe