The Tau and 6th ed

[djpringle]

Over on the Advanced Tau Tactica someone mentioned markerlights being able to target Flyers, so if you can get a marker light hit at BS1 you can launch a seeker...don't have the BRB yet so cannot confirm

[Sarge.au]

One thing I have noticed, the are no rules for firing AT a skimmer, but the skyfire rules state that you can use your full ballistic skill when firing at flyers [...] and skimmers, so would it be right to assume that all shots fired at our tanks are snap shot only, unless having skyfire?

[IAMNOTHERE]

Think I've just saved some points on target locks and pathfinder rail rifles Those things were useful too.

[Thruster]

Page 27 - Stealth Field Generator has the Shrouded and Stealth special rules.

Shrouded = +2 cover saves
Stealth = +1 cover saves

Cover save bonuses from the Shrouded and Stealth special rules are cumulative (6th Rule Book Page 42)

Here comes Stealth Suits with 2+ Cover Saves in area terrain

[vitch]

The galaxy map on page 409-410 in the BRB. About 1 inch South West of the Tau Empire there is an area stamped 'classified'. Any one know what this is?

[otakuzoku]

Target lock being discarded is a big loss. they did not take the opportunity to fix drones. team leaders of crisis and stealth suites now being charters (look out sir) is a nice touch. the night vision is a boost. stealth suites have now become usefull.

[Ronin no Matsu]

I've done the math and guess what : Knarloc riders and mounted great Knarlocs are now totally worth it! Hammer of Wrath make everything different. Also, monstrous creature attacks are AP2 and they have the USR Fear!!! Plus, those two units have fleet so they are highly moveable!

[Sami]

Just a reminder, +2 on the vehicle damage table in 6th is the same as +1 in 5th.

[otakuzoku]

just read the sensor spines. i havent got to the veichal section yet but douse that mean i can park my hammer heads and Tetras in dangerous Terran ?. so i can now hide and fly tetras through forests ?

beefing up black sun on tetras now makes them one of our best units better

[Napoleon Blownapart]

Having read the faq which spoke nothing of it, anyone have ideas how jink and disruption pods will interact? One is obscured the other a cover save so they are not redundant in being the exact same rule, at least.

[Ronin no Matsu]

Since effects of the Shrouded and Stealth USR are cumulative, does it give our stealth suit a 4+ cover save in the open?

[Stonerhino]

Having read the faq which spoke nothing of it, anyone have ideas how jink and disruption pods will interact? One is obscured the other a cover save so they are not redundant in being the exact same rule, at least.

It'll be like 4th ed where moving was the same as not moving. Moving they get their jink save and stationary outside of 12" they get their obscured save. So basically you get a first turn/immobilized cover save. Otherwise they should be moving anyways.

[unknown_lifeform]

One thing I have noticed, the are no rules for firing AT a skimmer, but the skyfire rules state that you can use your full ballistic skill when firing at flyers [...] and skimmers, so would it be right to assume that all shots fired at our tanks are snap shot only, unless having skyfire?

No, skyfire weapons can only be fired at flyers, flying monstrous creatures and skimmers at full BS. If you want to fire at anything else (e.g. some infantry on the ground) you can only do so using snap shots. Basically, skyfire represents a specialist AA weapon with poor ability to target ground targets - only if you have both skyfire and intercepter can you target everything at your BS. Skimmers get shot normally by everyone (but do gain a junk save if they moved).

Having read the faq which spoke nothing of it, anyone have ideas how jink and disruption pods will interact? One is obscured the other a cover save so they are not redundant in being the exact same rule, at least.

Pg. 75 an obscured vehicle takes a cover save exactly as a non-vehicle would against a wound. Since disruption pods make the vehicle obscured it gives them a cover save, although I can't find it defined anywhere what level of cover it counts as. This seems to be an ommission from the FAQ, but it seems logical to say 5+ as that seems to be "standard" (and matches smoke launchers). So yes, they are a bit redundant. However you get jink even if the enemy is within 12" an you get disruption pods even if you haven't moved (for example, if your opponent goes first or you are stunned).

[Napoleon Blownapart]

No, skyfire weapons can only be fired at flyers, flying monstrous creatures and skimmers at full BS. If you want to fire at anything else (e.g. some infantry on the ground) you can only do so using snap shots. Basically, skyfire represents a specialist AA weapon with poor ability to target ground targets - only if you have both skyfire and intercepter can you target everything at your BS. Skimmers get shot normally by everyone (but do gain a junk save if they moved).



Pg. 75 an obscured vehicle takes a cover save exactly as a non-vehicle would against a wound. Since disruption pods make the vehicle obscured it gives them a cover save, although I can't find it defined anywhere what level of cover it counts as. This seems to be an ommission from the FAQ, but it seems logical to say 5+ as that seems to be "standard" (and matches smoke launchers). So yes, they are a bit redundant. However you get jink even if the enemy is within 12" an you get disruption pods even if you haven't moved (for example, if your opponent goes first or you are stunned).

It does actually say in the main book that vehicles that count as obscured even in the open for whatever reason get a 5+ save.

[unknown_lifeform]

It does actually say in the main book that vehicles that count as obscured even in the open for whatever reason get a 5+ save.

Ah yes, that's what I get for not reading to the end of the paragraph

[Fraf]

Just read the Hit and run rule and by my understanding if we give one model the vector thrusters they all benefit. when you add that to a farsight command unit you have a good build. put bodyguards in and he get a 2+ look out sir roll. so his survivability just went up some.

Remember that you can only give VRTs to a monat crisis suit, as per the Tau codex (can't even take drones). So the only way this would work is by putting them on a bog standard commander and having him join a unit. Doable but costly, especially with only a 50% success rate.

they just deleted target lock from our armory...

When I skimmed the rulebook yesterday, I thought I read somewhere that any unit could now split fire if it passed a Ld test, so I wasn't really shocked when I read the FAQ and removal of target locks. However, I can't seem to find that rule again, which makes me doubly worried : 1) will my infantry really lose its ability to split fire ? 2) am I starting to lose my mind and read/remember things that were never there in the first place ?
edit : ok, found it, it's a new USR rule called splitfire. Makes you wonder why they didn't change target locks to give you that USR, especially since it's already less powerful than our old TL (need a Ld test and only one model can split, regardless of the number of models that have the rule in the unit)

So, do tau get anything with Skyfire?

yes, they get Imperial Guard/Space Marines allies who actually get the real anti-air weapons.

Over on the Advanced Tau Tactica someone mentioned markerlights being able to target Flyers, so if you can get a marker light hit at BS1 you can launch a seeker...don't have the BRB yet so cannot confirm

I can see no reason why markerlights couldn't hit flyers, however they don't get the skyfire rule. The FAQ clarifies that seeker missiles hit flyers on a 5, but since you have to hit first with markerlights at BS 1, there's no real advantage over trying to hit directly with another anti-vehicle weapon in the first place.

One thing I have noticed, the are no rules for firing AT a skimmer, but the skyfire rules state that you can use your full ballistic skill when firing at flyers [...] and skimmers, so would it be right to assume that all shots fired at our tanks are snap shot only, unless having skyfire?

When targetting ground units, weapons with the skyfire rule can only snap fire .... except for skimmers, which they hit at normal BS.

the night vision is a boost. stealth suites have now become usefull.

Keep in mind, though, that battlesuits lose the night vision rule as baseline (as per the FAQ). You need blacksun filters to get it. Overall, the effect is better, but you have to pay for it and not everyone can buy it (hardpoints limitations).

so i can now hide and fly tetras through forests ?

Sensor spines already allowed you to ignore dangerous terrain tests from the previous iteration of the FAQ.

anyone have ideas how jink and disruption pods will interact? One is obscured the other a cover save so they are not redundant in being the exact same rule, at least.

DP is permanent (althoug with minimum range) whereas you need to move to get jink and it can be ignored by IG hydra flakk tanks. Also you now only need 25% of the vehicle to be obscured to claim an actual obscured status, which is better than both jink and DP, and easier to get than in 5th ed. DP is not completely redundant, but unless you fight IG on a regular basis, it's not worth it anymore.

Since effects of the Shrouded and Stealth USR are cumulative, does it give our stealth suit a 4+ cover save in the open?

yes

[unknown_lifeform]

Keep in mind, though, that battlesuits lose the night vision rule as baseline (as per the FAQ). You need blacksun filters to get it. Overall, the effect is better, but you have to pay for it and not everyone can buy it (hardpoints limitations).

Good news! No hardpoint limitations. The night vision rules says that if one model has it the whole unit benefits. You can upgrade your Shas'ui/Shas'vre with a hardwired blacksun filter and the whole unit gets the benefit whilst he lives.

[xerxeshavelock]

<uMy feeling is that the changed is a mixed blessing. A negative is that to stay safe you used to be have to stay 12.1" away from the enemy - now you need to be 18.1" away from a standard unit (though you can now measure this with precision. This will mean more caution needed and an even more defensive playstyle. A positive that seems to have been overlooked is the ability for a Battlesuit to Deep Strike then use its 2D6 move after shooting. It means you can play them more aggressively as you can then cover etc.

Overwatch really adds to the desirability of twin linking as well. You almost want the enemy to charge Plasma Broadsides now....

Speaking of which - what order are stat modifiers applied? If you go to BS1 then add 1 for Targetting Array that'd be amazing! (rather doubting it though)

[Ronin no Matsu]

Remember that you can only give VRTs to a monat crisis suit, as per the Tau codex (can't even take drones). So the only way this would work is by putting them on a bog standard commander and having him join a unit. Doable but costly, especially with only a 50% success rate.

It's funny cause the french codex don't talk at all about not having drones while the english one do.

When I skimmed the rulebook yesterday, I thought I read somewhere that any unit could now split fire if it passed a Ld test, so I wasn't really shocked when I read the FAQ and removal of target locks. However, I can't seem to find that rule again, which makes me doubly worried : 1) will my infantry really lose its ability to split fire ? 2) am I starting to lose my mind and read/remember things that were never there in the first place ?
edit : ok, found it, it's a new USR rule called splitfire. Makes you wonder why they didn't change target locks to give you that USR, especially since it's already less powerful than our old TL (need a Ld test and only one model can split, regardless of the number of models that have the rule in the unit)

Well during the 4th ed. you were supposed to take a Target Priority test before using the target lock. So if we had the splitfire USR, it would bring us back to the way it was. But it's still quite stupid to just take it from us.

[Charistoph]

they did not take the opportunity to fix drones.

In what way did they need to be fixed? At least one change is good, the Drones attached to a Drone Controller wait till then end of the Phase before being removed, instead of instantly.

And the loss of Target Locks was stupid. I can see this being altered to granting Splitfire in a future Errata/codex. After all, Bretonnians lost Ranks with Lance Formation till their 3rd or 4th Errata.