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Offline troup leader

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what are the tau?
« on: October 1, 2005, 08:12:45 PM »
as im sure almost everyone who knows of me knows that im stuck in the old days of 2nd ed. so can some one sumerize for me who the tau are. i have seen the models and i think they look like a cheap knock off of robo tec at least their deadnoughts. so some one please tell me about this army because i think they ar kinda cool in a way. full and everything. i dont need to know about rules or anything just what kind of troops they have and what their story is.

Offline The_Outcast

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Re: what are the tau?
« Reply #1 on: October 1, 2005, 09:03:17 PM »
Tau are a flegdling empire on the eastern fringe. They have four castes that bind together under the ethereals. The four cates are:
  • water- diplomats and traders
  • fire- they are the warriors pretty much the only you will see
  • air- pilots do ebery thing for the tau navy
  • earth- labourers and artisians

THey are technologically advanced. They have good weapons. Decent armour, and slighty low morale unless lead by an ethereal. They absolutely suck in HTH. Even worse than  guardsmen in HTH. THey are a very different race. The are pretty hard to use because of the tactical requires for them. BUt very manverable.

The_Outcast

Offline ::ËternaĺŇovice::

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Re: what are the tau?
« Reply #2 on: October 1, 2005, 09:04:26 PM »
...you are in for some looooong reading my friend. I'll give a summary that includes some of the stuff Outcast said. :D

    The Tau is the newest actual 'race' in the 40k world. The Imperium discovered them around 5000 years ago, making them a very young race fluffwise as well. Inhabiting the Eastern Fringes of the galaxy, the Tau are a extremely technologically advanced race that focuses on ranged combat. The Tau are small and somewhat frail looking, with grayish/blue skin. They are a relatively peaceful race, their main goal in the 40k world being to unite all the galaxy in the name of their empire or the Greater Good (a change in the 40k cycle, having a peaceful race instead of warlike aliens). However, not many other races want to join this so called Greater Good, thus creating conflicts that the Tau counter with some of the best weaponry to exist too date. The Tau originally were a savanna dwelling race, but through sudden changes in climate, they adapted suddenly and drastically, making them more intelligent and resourceful. These conditions made the Tau sudden burst upwards in the technological world.

     The Tau are divided into four main castes that are based on the elements. The Fire Caste are the warriors in the Tau society, being hunters in the ancient Tau history. The Water Caste are politicians, bureaucrats and diplomats. The Air Caste are pilots and messengers because of the fact that they used to have wings a long time ago. Finally, the Earth Caste contains the labourers, scientists and every-day specialists, making clothing, research weapons etc. There is also a smaller and much more mysterious fifth caste known as the Ethereals, who long ago united the Tau from their civil warring ways, for they have an uncanny ability to calm and to relax the Tau, making them inspiring, reknown and highly respected by the rest of the Tau civilization.

     Tau have very advanced and uniform ways of waging war. The basic trooper, the Fire Warrior, is not special himself, but is powerful non the less with the aid of Tau weaponry. The pulse rifle is a frightening weapon that is powerful and long ranged, making even the most basic Tau trooper a formidable shooter. Higher ranking Tau are allowed battle suits, such as the Stealth Suit, which allows the wearer too be hidden at all times, making them hard to target. Equipped with Burst Cannons they are infiltraters that destroy enemies by jumping out with their jump packs and unloading a hail of shots. The Crisis Suit is the main powerhouse suit in the Tau army, having a large quanitity of weapons too choose from and allows the wearer enhanced strength and toughness along with the jetpack described above. There are also fearsome battle tanks in the form of Hammerhead Gunships with insanely long range and devasting power. Broadsides are a variation of the Crisis Suit with twin linked Railguns (which are found on Hammerheads) on their shoulders. Finally, Pathfinders are scouts that lock targets for the rest of the army to decimate.

     Due too their dislike for close combat and weak bodies, the Tau have the Kroot, a mercenary race that they saved from Orks, due the close combat fighting for them. The Kroot are a savage race that feasts on the remains of the defeated but are good fighters and are equipped with Tau modified guns that make them good riflemen as well. Drones are also avaiable too the Tau as fire support of protection. Lastly, the new Tau codex will be releasing Vespids, an alienoid race that resemble blue flying Tyrani/Wasp things which the Tau also have as allies.

Hope this helped, and I hope this makes you rethink your thoughts on the Tau being knockoffs, they're totally original and different from the rest of the 40k world. Enjoy!
« Last Edit: October 1, 2005, 09:05:40 PM by ::ËternaĺŇovice:: »


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Offline troup leader

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Re: what are the tau?
« Reply #3 on: October 1, 2005, 10:40:10 PM »
thanks. that anwsers all of my questions but you have to admit they do kinda look like robo tec guys. are they lots of fun to play?

Offline The GrimSqueaker

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Re: what are the tau?
« Reply #4 on: October 1, 2005, 10:44:26 PM »
Your best choice is to view a copy of the current Codex. Mainly to free your mind form the more base attacks against common sense, grammar, and spelling you've seen in the posts below.  ;)

The familiarity between RoboTech and the Tau is the same with any Mecha based design. Not unknown and certainly a factor we will see again.
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Offline downundercadet07

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Re: what are the tau?
« Reply #5 on: October 1, 2005, 11:02:47 PM »
Tau are extremely fun to collect/play for a number of reasons.

1. Tau have some of the best models in the game, with both the Kroot and Tau plastics being very sharp looking, and easy to paint. If I had to rank all the models in 40k according to how cool they looked it would go like so:

Infantry Models
-- Space Marines and Tau/Kroot Tied for first

Vehicle Models
-- Eldar first, then Tau second

2. Tau are probably the most realistic army in the game. The vehicles and suits are the main killers of the army, and the infantry acts as support, seizing important positions, or attacking exposed units.

3. For some reason, people always expect Tau to get stomped, although they are one of the strongest anti-marine armies in the game (and if the rumors about Vespids are true, about to get a hell of alot stronger) so you always get props if you are reasonably skilled at playing Tau.

6. They are the next army in line to get a codex, so I would hold off a few months before getting anything besides FW and Kroot and Tanks, stuff that we know won't change.

7. Tau are without a doubt Forgeworld's favorite race. They are to forgeworld what Marines are to games workshop. Times a million.

8. Tau have the best fluff in the game in my opinon. I mean, they are the only race that really stands out by not being completely xenophobic a-holes. They are ambitious, and in a good position to expand. Most of the 'good' races are dying out or dwindling while the 'bad' races expand or at worst, stay the same. The tau are probably the only race that can claim moral high ground, and they are expanding steadily. Viva la revolution! They are becoming the race that humanity was supposed to be. Strong, technologically advanced, accepting of other cultures, and dynamic. Plus-- deamons can't eat their brains! Bonus!  :o

8. I started playing Tau three years ago, and now I'm dating a supermodel. Coincidence? I think not.
« Last Edit: October 1, 2005, 11:09:10 PM by downundercadet07 »

Offline ::ËternaĺŇovice::

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Re: what are the tau?
« Reply #6 on: October 2, 2005, 12:19:13 AM »
Continuing on what downunder has said...

Tau are really fun but...how do you say, unlike Orks, which are insanely crazy, awesome and yelling kind of fun, Tau are the kind of fun  in which your proud too play Tau, it's great when you play Tau and your glad your playing Tau. So let's go over some good things about Tau, in terms of looks and gameplay

1. Tau look cool. They have a clean slick look, that is both cool looking and impressive (like Eldar but Eldar look at tad better). With their mechs and slick tanks, who wouldn't want to model these guys!

2. Tau are fair. Their gaming style isn't insanely powerful, nor are they pitifully weak. They suck in CC, they rock in ranged. Like hordes of troops? Gets tons of Kroot and Fire Warriors. Want reliable and powerful? Get some Broadsides. Tau are well rounded and have a bit too offer everyone.

3. Fluff is cool. They're different from the rest and people like this. Not everyone in the world wants too kill people and the Tau are the more naive race of the 40k world. 

4. Tau are entertaining too play. There are lots of things you can do with Tau, if you decide you don't care about winning and just want to do something crazy/stupid, Tau offer plenty of enjoyable choices.

Just some points I wanted to...point out.


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Offline Rick

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Re: what are the tau?
« Reply #7 on: October 7, 2005, 10:21:20 AM »
Tau are the best looking army IMO.  And the most fun to paint
« Last Edit: October 7, 2005, 10:22:41 AM by Rick »

Offline Teulisch

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Re: what are the tau?
« Reply #8 on: October 10, 2005, 01:04:53 AM »
tau have their own video game too (its a bit buggy though- ive had a few playability problems with it myself, which is why i havent beaten it yet. at specific points, the door wont open, and you egt stuck at a dead end).

I stopped buying new models before the tau came out. If i had the extra cash, i would probably get some Tau. they are on par with the eldar for coolness of some of their models. Ive been playing eldar since 2nd ed (and i want my genestealer cult back!). The tau are a lot of things ive always wanted the eldar to be. I should probably read the tau codex... theres a tau army at the store i play at, and it gets used a lot.

Offline 7thcadian

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Re: what are the tau?
« Reply #9 on: October 10, 2005, 10:42:39 AM »
Ive always wanted to play Tau. They have some sick looking units. Sadly, they are aliens, and thus, are enemies of the imperium of man. I reeeeally like the battlesuits though. I here they are wicked hard to kill.
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Offline lord_guru32

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Re: what are the tau?
« Reply #10 on: October 10, 2005, 01:24:00 PM »
crisis suit = 2 marines but with better weapons. only thing that makes em hard to kill is the fact that you can jump out of, shoot, and jump back into cover
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Offline imran_tayab

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Re: what are the tau?
« Reply #11 on: October 13, 2005, 03:57:01 PM »
its funny how tau are similiar to eldar int the way that they both have ool looking models. i wouldve got tau if my firends had not told me to get eldar seeing as i didnt know much about tau but in 3 months time when they get their update im going to buy the battleforce and codex so i have an eldar and tau army.( fluffwise the eldar have joined the tau  empire and have realised they're dying out) imo tau rule!!!
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Offline ::ËternaĺŇovice::

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Re: what are the tau?
« Reply #12 on: October 13, 2005, 04:06:25 PM »
Lol the way you put that is hilarious:

"Oh crap....we're almost extinct, we should ally with some random race and make sure our survival will be confirmed"
"Yes we should, but with whom...the humans are stupid and have no technology so they're out"
"Yes...and the Orks are green, so they're out, Necrons are ugly, so they're out, and Nids will eat us, so they're out"
"No way we're going with Chaos so....lets go Tau!"
"Yeah the Tau are good, they're smart like us, they have pretty looking vehicles and they're buildings look like ours, lets join they're uh...Greater Good thingy"
"Agreed, too bad they're blue..."

Heh heh....that should be in a comedy.


I started playing Tau three years ago, and now I'm dating a supermodel. Coincidence? I think not.

Current Projects: Slow Process of Ordering Warmachine Models. 0% Done.

I'm the Self Proclaimed Greatest Noob on 40konline!

Offline GuardiansRock

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Re: what are the tau?
« Reply #13 on: October 13, 2005, 04:14:12 PM »
I totally agree.  Tau are bad ass!  I picked up Eldar because I like the look of fielding lots of grav tanks and Guardians in an army cause they look damn good.  Then I found the Tau, and for my purposes, they out Eldar the Eldar.  Sure they dont have striking scorpions & howling banshees but who the hell in the first place decided after 38000 years that we would revert to fighting with swords and chainsaws because we could kill our oponent in the 3rd turn?  Tau rule!

Offline Trokair

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Re: what are the tau?
« Reply #14 on: October 14, 2005, 08:18:52 AM »
tau are an intresting race. they are ignorent of the wrap and all that it contains (deamons and chaos) the yknow how to do shot wrtap jumps but not long ones.
i used to play tau (before they all got smached when i moved) and now play eldar (saim hann) becous they where the only thing arund that was even more manoverebal on the filed then tau (ok there are some others but siam hann is the fasted (as far as i know))
when i playd tau they where fun. tacticly they where caliging at first until i figured out how to use them.
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Offline WeaponZero

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Re: what are the tau?
« Reply #15 on: October 17, 2005, 02:56:23 AM »
  Tau, are semi-amphibian humanoids.  With a rigid caste society of common cause ethics.  Much akin to modern theory of communism.  They are highly technological and prefer ranged combat over hand to hand.  Utilizing advanced technology and constantly expanding their current designs to defeat/overcome obstacles.  Advanced Power armored jump suits (battlesuits) and the incorporation of other xeno races that are willing to work with the Greater good of the Tau Empire. 

  If you enjoy games with tactics and creating multiple support layers for your strategies, then Tau can be very rewarding to a patient player or skilled tactician.  Dice be praised if you roll average results.  Of course Dice decide the games end result, its still a matter of fun.  Fun is all according to the player of course.
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Offline troup leader

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Re: what are the tau?
« Reply #16 on: October 19, 2005, 02:39:04 PM »
you know 2nd ed eldar is kinda like that. they are very shooty and if used right they are lots of fun. i think if i ever switch to 4th i would take a tau army.

 


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