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I'm thinking about starting a Tau army. I love the rail weapons, I love how a lot of the Tau models look... but not really the crisis suits. Which is a bit awkward, since that's their signature unit and seems to be what competitive armies are based around, even after the points hike. But with the new points I don't feel *quite* as bad trying to build an army without crisis suits.

Patrol Detachment (T'au Sept):

HQ:
205 (-2 CP) Coldstar Commander w/High-output burst cannon, 2x Plasma, 1x Fusion, Stimm, 2x Shield Drone, Precision of the Hunter, Vectored Manoeuvring Thrusters
170 Longstrike w/2x Seeker missile

Troops:
80 Strike Team

Fast Attack:
105 Pathfinders w/3x Rail Rifle
105 Pathfinders w/3x Rail Rifle

Heavy Support:
145 Hammerhead
190 2x Broadside w/Heavy Rail, Twin Plasma

Total: 1000, 1CP

Lots of railguns! Probably too many. If that's possible . 2x Hammerhead Railgun, 2x Broadside Heavy Rail Rifle, 6x Pathfinder Rail Rifle. Plus several plasma rifles between the Broadsides and commander, and a decent amount of pulse/burst weapons scattered around.

The commander has a hilarious amount of movement. She should be pretty much immune to melee with her 16" flying dodge every time someone tries to charge her, but I worry that she's still not especially tough to shooting and could get caught out if she tries to get too adventurous on her own.

I'm also concerned about the pathfinders dying easily to... everything. No one even has to get close to them; bolter fire will mop them up. There doesn't really seem to be any way to help them out defensively via stratagems, HQ abilities, etc. I like everything the unit can do for offense, utility, and mobility, but does the weak defense doom them? Does anyone have experience using them?

Also, any advice on Tau in general is welcome; this is (I think) an unconventional list and I also don't have experience playing them, so I may be making some big mistakes.

I love railguns but perhaps this is too much. I'd drop the pathfinders to be honest, as you say they are incredibly brittle and won't survive very long. I'd swap them for some burst cannon stealth suits with marker drones. Easier to hide and you need some anti infantry fire in the list.

Now the commander, you say they have 16" move but they are limited by how far the drones can move. You'd be better off swapping for a regular or enforcer commander if you want drones or dropping them if you want a coldstar.

Otherwise looks good!

Ah, right, forgot about the drone movement. Seems like it's worth dropping the commander's drones, though then she's even more vulnerable to shooting.

I do like how the stealth suits look, but I'm not quite sure what purpose they'd serve in the army. Two marker drones really isn't much; I can get more than that on the broadsides, strike team, etc. And their firepower is significantly worse than pathfinders (slightly worse anti-infantry and much worse vs. hard targets). They seem like they'd mostly just be a speed bump. But maybe the army needs more speed bumps? I'm seeing how everyone ends up with crisis suits .

Do you have experience with stealth suits being effective? I'm curious what that looks like.

Pathfinders could take a recon drone for a few extra wounds... it helps a little bit but also puts them to 11 models for full blast hits. The way I'd normally try to help a glass cannon unit is via target priority, making sure the opponent has more immediate concerns than picking off the pathfinders. But the pathfinders seem like the only high-value, fragile unit in the Tau list and that they'd just be a magnet for anti-infantry firepower. If only they had extra rules for cover or something...

Here's an updated version. It drops the pathfinders and the commander's drones for for stealth suits, two squads of stingwings, and four marker drones (between stealth and broadsides).

I don't particularly like the stingwing models but they could be fun to convert as breachers riding drones! Or maybe a breacher riding a drone with a drone controller and some multi-drone kitbashing for the rest of the squad. I'm not sure what weapons would look like the neutron blasters, though.

Now the list feels like still lots of railguns but also lots of very mobile squads and redeployment. Fragile squads, though. They might try to dance around and just get smashed instead. Hopefully it would be fun to play, though!

Patrol Detachment (T'au Sept):

HQ:
175 (-2 CP) Coldstar Commander w/High-output burst cannon, 2x Plasma, 1x Fusion, Stimm, Exemplar of the Kauyon, Vectored Manoeuvring Thrusters
170 Longstrike w/2x Seeker missile

Troops:
80 Strike Team

Elite:
100 3x Stealth Suits w/Fusion, 2x Marker drone

Fast Attack:
60 5x Vespid Stingwings
60 5x Vespid Stingwings

Heavy Support:
145 Hammerhead
210 2x Broadside w/Heavy Rail, Twin Plasma, 2x Marker drone

Total: 1000, 1CP