One must design the list to be appealing to newbies, not only to those who already play Tau.

I am against 3-ship squadrons solely on those grounds.

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It is a solution, but if it still leaves the squadron of 2 as a poor choice, it is a bad, and not good, solution.

I would advise balancing the squadron of 2, if nessesary, rather than papering over the cracks to conceal the inefficiencies beneath.

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If the squadron of 2 is left as a sub-standard choice, then it's nothing but.

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A formation size of 3 has been proposed to 'fix' the Barracuda squadron, with an 'upgrade' to 3 offered as a compromise.

If that leaves the formation of 2 unchanged, it is a poor solution... again, it would be better to fix the formation of 2 (being as it matches the pack size) than institute an awkward sized formation of 3 (in any form) IMHO.

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I cannot see any reason to have two different sizes of fighter formation that doesn't involve people wanting their own collection's model composition to influence the army list structure.

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The jump from 2-3 planes at 75 each isn't that fantastic. Yes the 3 strong squadron is slightly better as its more firepower in one go and more of it can get past defensive flak, but equally everyone is keen on 10+ activations and with the nessesity to get ML's with this army list I reckon most would probably plunk for 2 skyray upgrades in different places, occasionally taking 2 barracudas as a spoiling cheap formation (then again the list with lots of support slots and cheap formations isn't really lacking that), a similar position to the one thunderbolts found themselves in before the +1 to intercepts made their AA comparable to Hydra AA.

Edit - and if that means having to stump up for 3 packs of planes for 2 squadrons, so bloody what This is a game where a landing craft costs the same as one night in a B&B!

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Again, I am not pushing the three plane element, just offering. I recognize that we don't want to introduce barriers to entry for any army, but let's also be realistic that the Tau are not among the cheaper armies to field. In that context, another pack of aircraft is not a significant portion of the army purchase. That won't be the reason for leaving the squadron size at two.

My preferred solution path is as follows:

1. Make the two ship squadron slightly more attractive. The challenge here is that because it shares weapon systems with other aircraft, there is the potential to unbalance those as well, which is not a path we are going to go down.

2. If we don't get a simple solution out of Option #1, then I will choose to either leave as is or provide the +1 upgrade to the squadron size.

This issue is not going to turn into a major brawl. We are either going to solve it quickly and equitably or #2 will come into effect.

The only reason I am open to hearing about options is the fact that I would rather take Skyrays now then invest in Barras, given the need for strong Air caste representation.

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If you want to make them more attractive without ajusting stats, or squadron composition, you're left with dropping the formation cost from 150pts to 125pts.

Considering they partially rely on Markerlights for hitting ground targets, and their (offensive) AA attacks are slightly worse than a Thunderbolt, I reckon 125pts'd be fine.

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I am sure there are many of us with 3 Barracudas waiting to be played. A formation size of 2 which is upgaradable to 3 would help us who built our armies under past lists.

E&C, new players can buy 2 packs and convert the 4 Barracuda into an objective marker if they like (that's what I did).

I haven't given the present Barra a second look and it does not appeal to me. Maybe the Seeker missiles could be replaced with Missile pods (thus at least removing the need for a ML to use all it's attacks) to make it more useful?

As has already been mentioned, presently it is a jack of all trades, master of non and I'd like to see it be more effective at something (probably a more efficient AA platform to be honest, I do believe that is it's primary role).

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IMO for 150 pts these are fine at what a Tau player will pick them to do - intercept incoming air assaults.

This kind of comparison with different races is one of the factors that has stymied tau development - why do x have more TK? why do the tau not have something like a warhound? why don't tau have SHTs, indirect artillery etc. All of these have lead to changes in the list, new units etc, not due to a problem with the tau list but due to a percieved problem with a comparison of what another list is capable of doing, and have ended up damaging or producing problems within the tau list.

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This is a matter of Tau players rarely taking Barracudas because they (seem to) think that there are more cost-effective ways to get AA into their lists.

It's a matter of fixing a possible balance problem with an existing unit, not making new units up (and damaging the list's theme / match to the background in the process).

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