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I share Honda's caution.
I also completely understand Lion and E&C's concern with E:A rules vs. the background.
Understand that we've arrived where we are as an excepted abstraction from fluff.
Also, realize that the E:A tau is a list with numerous abstractions because in order to align with how they perform in fluff and core design 100%, they would simply become way too powerful in E:A.
Examples:
Tau would be the end all in a FF if we truely gave them their stats they should have by comp to other imperial armies. The reality is that this makes us extremely good in what E:A refers to as engage actions as long as we were not in b-t-b with the enemy.
Backing up a bit, one starts to wonder - why is tau so good at E:A firfights (engage) when they are supposed to be bad at combat?
You either have to argue that point with the nay-sayers, or you artificially imbalance them to be worse at FF than they should be. Afterall, having Tau issue engage orders constantly to get into FF and wreck the enemy doesn't seem all that Tau-ish either to some players... however, if there were two orders FF engage and CC engage - then the Tau would seem right to issue FF engage orders. Alas, that is not this game.
So, we backed off as Tau issing engage orders constantly and out gunning other lists was getting outrageous back in the day.
Artificial FF and low CC scores mean you have to offset that balance in regular shooting.
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crisis, drones and stealth's don't use move shoot move and stay hidden in cover. Instead, they have good initiative and good armor.
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Stealths and SGDT have stealth field generators, they would not be able to be seen outside of 30cm range. Instead, they have good armor.
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Stealths, crisis, and gun drones all Deep strike in 40K and in fluff from high altitude air craft. In E:A, on the stelaths teleport due to their espionage and sneek attack fluff.
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broadsides are infantry in fluff and in core design just like crisis, they are the same size as terminators, are more durable, and are no bigger than Crisis suits. Nay sayers have CS offering a sympathetic ear and to date, they are still Light Vehicles.
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In fluff and core design, you have multiple shas'os in a single force org or formation. In E:A - we get one per the entire army of formations.
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In fluff, both the Tiger and the AX-1-0 are fighter bombers. In E:A, they are both currently bombers, but we are moving the Ion-Tiger to a FB to further differentiate it from the AX-1-0 and make it more worth its points. The AX-1-0 remains a bomber to keep it balanced.
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The Manta would have more hits and be a flier WE if we made it align with fluff. It would enter and leave the table in blinding speed deploying troops and providing titan class fire support throughout the battle. That would also make it only engagable by AA weapons. It would become impossible to kill in the course of a 3 to 4-turn game. So it moves 20 and is a support craft that can always be seen.
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Markerlights are weapons in fluff and in core design. They are fired to hit and they give benefits chosen by the tau player to other units yielding a force multiplier that no other army can benefit from. As a result, we can make an entire unit of guns +1 to hit per individual marker shot on the target unit, not to mention, we can remove the cover saves, give negatives to make them run and illuminate the target unit in night fight conditions... as well, we can launch seekers at 2+ to hit or increase the hit probability for our vehicles. Mind you - the number 1 use is to make crisis, stealth, broadside, SGDT, vehicles and FW shots hit better. Seekers are actually the least used of the Markerlight in core design game, and in fluff the markers deliver terrible damage from guided shots - both missile and non-missile.
Howver - in E:A, we simply only affect guided munitions, and the best they get is +1 no matter how many markers are illuminating the target. ML are also not weapons in E:A.
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Sentry Turrets in core design are individual units that mark, detur and suprise the enemy only when activated. In E:A, they are a unit of 6 that teleport and can be destroyed before they deliver any benefit.
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Seekers are not unlimited range in E:A like they are in fluff and core design
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I could go on, but I think I've made the point. You see... Tau are a veritable abstraction in E:A as it compares to both core design and fluff. This is from many months (years) of testing now. It stems from old Tau codex, Jervis initial influence, and JG/CS influence on how the list is to be developed.
Two fundamental design concepts more than anything else drive the rule abstraction we have today in E:A Tau
1) ML in E:A are artificially imbalanced negatively driving abstraction of the guided system and weapons that benefit from the ML.
2) FF are artificially imbalanced negatively driving the force shooting range/proficiency abstraction.
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To mess with either of these is to redesign the E:A Tau list in its entirty due to the severe effects it will have throughout the list.
I strongly caution messing with guided muntions range as you are tampering with both items 1 and 2 above in doing so.
Cheers,
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Rob
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