News: No news is good news...

Login  |  Register

Author Topic: New to tau and 40k  (Read 3994 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Thor0298

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 14
  • Country: us
  • I *LOVE* 40k Online!
New to tau and 40k
« on: September 3, 2016, 12:33:05 AM »
So I've played through the dark vengeance missions and am using a borrowed eldar army to learn 40k. Have four games down with eldar so far.

I really like the look of the tau models and am thinking they are where I am going to start building an army.
Currently I have
Burning dawn
-10 Pathfinder Team (plus three Drones);
-TX4 Piranha,
-3 XV25 Stealth Battlesuits (plus a Drone)
-Ethereal on Hover Drone.

And I just picked up kill team so I have fire warriors too

I watched some tau games at my lgs. So I see marker lights are very important.
I was wondering what other purchases might help pull together a starter force and some good loadouts. I think the store I play at is pretty competitive but not super cheesy. Quite a few eldar, necron and marine players.

Here's what I was thinking for some of my units
Fire warriors pulse rifles

Stealth 3x Burst Cannons, 1x Leader (Fusion blaster, target lock, markerlight, homing beacon)

Pathfinders seem like a cheap way to get marker lights
« Last Edit: September 3, 2016, 12:37:32 AM by Thor0298 »

Offline Wyddr

  • Author Eminence: Hereticus Liber Daemonica | Fio'shas Shi
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5254
  • Country: us
    • My blog about SF/F stuff
  • Armies: Daemons, Imperial Fists, Tau, Ksons, Vostroyans
Re: New to tau and 40k
« Reply #1 on: September 3, 2016, 07:13:20 AM »
Hello! Welcome to the Tau!

A couple tips overall:

1) Bonding Knives are *never* worth it. Never pay for them.
2) Team Leaders and Shas'vre are almost always a waste of points, so skip them (there are some rare exceptions to this, but generally).
3) Markerlights are very useful, but you don't *need* them to make Tau work, especially with the formation rules available.
4) It is really, really easy to pitch away a lot of points on upgrades that you don't especially need, as most Tau units are pretty solid with their basic load-outs. Given that Tau units are super cost-effective to begin with, you could sometimes ditch a lot of random stuff and buy an whole new unit or two, which is better.
5) The Hunter Contingent is incredibly good, and you should aim to build it at your earliest convenience (point level permitting--I'd say 1250 point matches and higher it is totally doable).

Okay, with that said, about what you're thinking specifically:

Fire Warriors w/Pulse Rifles
This is my preferred load-out--the pulse rifle is flexible, long ranged, and generally useful. If you know you're going to be putting FWs in Devilfish (which I also love), giving them Carbines may actually pay off better. Personally, I prefer the flexibility of having that long range when needed, and I rarely miss the extra 3" of double-tap range the pulse carbine grants and pinning is almost never useful.

I don't especially like Breacher Teams, mostly because their optimal range is so short as to make them a suicidal unit (unless you're blasting away a small unit--like bikes or something--and there's nobody else there to counter-assault). They're a little awkward to use. Strike teams are more useful, I think. Then again, if you're dealing with Ravenwing bikers with crazy re-rollable jink saves, Breachers might seem more appealing.

Stealth Teams
Don't buy the fusion blaster. Just don't. You've got a unit that's a great anti-infantry unit that can also blow the hell out of AV10 and scare AV11 and you're cutting that firepower by a third to buy a single fusion blaster that's going to miss every time it's important, anyway. Stealths are not anti-tank units, and trying to make them so is counterproductive.

As for the markerlight or homing beacon on the Shas'vre, consider the points you're laying out and the benefit you're getting from them. Unless you plan on deepstriking a lot of Crisis Suits (Retaliation Cadre, for instance), I don't think the Homing Beacon is worth its cost *and* the cost of buying the Shas'vre in the first place.

The Markerlight and Target Lock are a slightly different situation--if you're low on Markerlights and need an extra, it's fairly cheap and also on a Relentless platform, meaning it can move around and still fire at full effectivness (hard to get with Markerlights). Depends on the rest of your army, though.

Pathfinders
Pathfinders are definitely the cheapest way to put Markerlights on the board. They are also the most fragile markerlights you can get. In my experience, once an opponent gets a taste of what markerlights can do, they will plan on killing your pathfinder teams ASAP. And they can, most of the time. I basically stopped using pathfinders because the damned things never lived to see Turn 3 and the Coordinated Firepower rules (from the Hunter Contingent) made them redundant.

One thing about markerlights is this: you can take too many of them, but it's hard to take too few. Too many and you suffer from markerlight overkill. You rarely need more than 3 or 4 markerlight hits on the same target (fewer with Coordinated Firepower). You also rarely will be able to effectively focus firepower on more than 2 enemy units a turn, and spreading out your shots more than that is counter productive. Accordingly, I don't take more than 6-8 markerlights spread across 2-3 units in a 1500-1750 point army. It's all I really need, and any more are taking away guns that *actually kill* the bad guys rather than simply target them. Even 3-4 markerlights is still perfectly useful. 12-16 is mostly a waste.
« Last Edit: September 3, 2016, 09:36:46 AM by Wyddr »

Offline The GrimSqueaker

  • The Badger on the Road | Staff Infection Officer | Debased Vassal Slayer | Title Barfly | XOXOXO Gossip Girl | Bent Over
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 19053
  • Country: nz
  • From the Fourth Necromantic House
Re: New to tau and 40k
« Reply #2 on: September 3, 2016, 05:41:43 PM »
I'd suggest Gun Drones as I really like them but Wyddr knows where I live and the last time I made that suggestion he sent me a very well worded yet slightly furious letter, through my window, wrapped around a brick. The letter was also on fire at the time.

So, not Gun Drones even though I really, really like them.
Quote from: @TracyAuGoGO
Tact is for people who are too slow witted to be sarcastic.
Drink
Knights Tippler
Quote from: Surviving the World
If you can't make fun of something, it's probably not worth taking seriously.

You have to love the smell of science in the morning. It smells of learning.... or perhaps a gas leak.

Offline Wyddr

  • Author Eminence: Hereticus Liber Daemonica | Fio'shas Shi
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5254
  • Country: us
    • My blog about SF/F stuff
  • Armies: Daemons, Imperial Fists, Tau, Ksons, Vostroyans
Re: New to tau and 40k
« Reply #3 on: September 3, 2016, 07:27:42 PM »
No gun drones with the following exceptions:
1) The free ones on Devilfish/Pirhana. They're pure gold.
2) A small team to make a Hunter Cadre into a Hunter Contingent.
3) You make them all Marker Drones for a slightly more durable, mobile, and slighly less accurate version of Pathfinders.

Otherwise, don't pay points for gun drones.
Sheild drones in Crisis squads are cool.

Edit: Oh, and in Stealth Teams, gun drones make sense. Two of them is cheaper than a single stealth suit, but has comparable firepower.
« Last Edit: September 3, 2016, 07:36:38 PM by Wyddr »

Offline Thor0298

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 14
  • Country: us
  • I *LOVE* 40k Online!
Re: New to tau and 40k
« Reply #4 on: September 4, 2016, 06:26:40 PM »
Thanks for the tips. Much appreciated!  I also got the start collecting box today so I'm starting to assemble. The fire warriors shas'ui I was thinking of skipping for both units. Is the only benefit to take drones?

Offline Wyddr

  • Author Eminence: Hereticus Liber Daemonica | Fio'shas Shi
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5254
  • Country: us
    • My blog about SF/F stuff
  • Armies: Daemons, Imperial Fists, Tau, Ksons, Vostroyans
Re: New to tau and 40k
« Reply #5 on: September 4, 2016, 09:46:31 PM »
FW shas'uis get you a slightly higher Ld and are a teensy bit better in close-combat, too. But yeah, generally not worth it. The only time I take them anymore is if I'm kitting out a foot-slogging squad that I expect to be soaking casualties, but I don't have the points to give them a Fireblade. Even then, I'm torn. 

Offline The GrimSqueaker

  • The Badger on the Road | Staff Infection Officer | Debased Vassal Slayer | Title Barfly | XOXOXO Gossip Girl | Bent Over
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 19053
  • Country: nz
  • From the Fourth Necromantic House
Re: New to tau and 40k
« Reply #6 on: September 4, 2016, 09:58:07 PM »
Fire Warrior Shas'ui just aren't worth it. Even with a role such as Wyddr suggests you're depending on your battle plan allowing it and your opponent to be thinking elsewhere. Better to use the points on more bums in seats (and Gun Drones).
Quote from: @TracyAuGoGO
Tact is for people who are too slow witted to be sarcastic.
Drink
Knights Tippler
Quote from: Surviving the World
If you can't make fun of something, it's probably not worth taking seriously.

You have to love the smell of science in the morning. It smells of learning.... or perhaps a gas leak.

Offline Wyddr

  • Author Eminence: Hereticus Liber Daemonica | Fio'shas Shi
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5254
  • Country: us
    • My blog about SF/F stuff
  • Armies: Daemons, Imperial Fists, Tau, Ksons, Vostroyans
Re: New to tau and 40k
« Reply #7 on: September 5, 2016, 07:52:49 AM »
But you can't buy gun drones for Fws w/o the Shas'ui, if memory serves.

Offline The GrimSqueaker

  • The Badger on the Road | Staff Infection Officer | Debased Vassal Slayer | Title Barfly | XOXOXO Gossip Girl | Bent Over
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 19053
  • Country: nz
  • From the Fourth Necromantic House
Re: New to tau and 40k
« Reply #8 on: September 5, 2016, 02:44:20 PM »
I mean Gun Drones in general, not as an exact upgrade. You can never have too many Gun Drones.
Quote from: @TracyAuGoGO
Tact is for people who are too slow witted to be sarcastic.
Drink
Knights Tippler
Quote from: Surviving the World
If you can't make fun of something, it's probably not worth taking seriously.

You have to love the smell of science in the morning. It smells of learning.... or perhaps a gas leak.

Offline Wyddr

  • Author Eminence: Hereticus Liber Daemonica | Fio'shas Shi
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5254
  • Country: us
    • My blog about SF/F stuff
  • Armies: Daemons, Imperial Fists, Tau, Ksons, Vostroyans
Re: New to tau and 40k
« Reply #9 on: September 5, 2016, 02:47:37 PM »
I mean Gun Drones in general, not as an exact upgrade. You can never have too many Gun Drones.

You can if you're paying for them instead of the 25-30% cheaper firewarrior. ;)

Offline The GrimSqueaker

  • The Badger on the Road | Staff Infection Officer | Debased Vassal Slayer | Title Barfly | XOXOXO Gossip Girl | Bent Over
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 19053
  • Country: nz
  • From the Fourth Necromantic House
Re: New to tau and 40k
« Reply #10 on: September 5, 2016, 04:30:38 PM »
Of course, we all know that Fire Warriors are the gold standard. However, as the old saying goes, a drone in time saves nine.
Quote from: @TracyAuGoGO
Tact is for people who are too slow witted to be sarcastic.
Drink
Knights Tippler
Quote from: Surviving the World
If you can't make fun of something, it's probably not worth taking seriously.

You have to love the smell of science in the morning. It smells of learning.... or perhaps a gas leak.

 


Powered by EzPortal