I argued very strongly that a "Strike Orca" should be put into the list to replace the Scorpionfish but was overruled by the Army Champion.

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Isn't the idea that they have a niche in future tau variants once the main list is done

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Aye we do want a "tau tank list" once the core list is settled too.

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Drifting slightly off topic but...

What were you thinking for the "Strike Orca"?

/On topic

Having the tigershark as the only way to get drone formations (assuming such a thing must exist) i think is a good idea. It represents the tau radioing in for support because the situation is too dangerous for them to do themselves. A great example of this would be setting up crossfires, you don't want to put any of your nice expensive units in harms way, but dropping in some drones could work well. They are a bit of a one shot weapon as it were.

I find it dubious that drone squadrons would ever really start a battle deployed (unless they were buried underground as hidden AP mines or some such) They would be kept in reserve until a suitable mission was for them was found. Drone harbringers would be a similar way of deploying.

This sort of leads to random idea. Rather than mucking about changing transport capacities and unit stats trying to piggy back drone units or remove them from squads. Why not have a transport option for the drone upgrade. Something along the lines of





Can be modelled just using a normal Devilfish with the burst cannon cut off.

Thoughts?

I assume that you just made that vehicle up and it is not from the background. In general Drones can keep up with Devilfishes due to their 10cm extra move after shooting.

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... i hadn't forgotten that drones had jet packs.... noooo, never would forget that *hits head on desk*

The harbringer is from the Dawn of War games by Relic and is basically a drone manufacturer/transport
http://wiki.reliccommunity.com/Drone_Harbinger

Well thats not strictly true - after the first move they are 10cm out of coherency as it is measured then, not after shooting.

Ok with the Drone Harbinger being in Dawn of War I would be very happy to see it brought into Epic.

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I like the Drone Harbinger more and more. :-)

A conversion from a Skyray hull to a Harbinger looks quite easy, just two slabs on the back of the hull.

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Wasn't this idea shouted year ago as "it is only a computer game"?

So if no "true" representation of the Devilfishes Drone carrying capacity will be implemented then i greatly approve the Drone Harbinger

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In part I agree Meph, not least because the list is reasonably balanced now. My suggestions are only presented as a means to fine tune those aspects of the list that still niggle, while re-introducing drones to re-capture thier iconic place in the Tau list. Please note that I specifically have not presented statistics and have tried to generalise the kind of uses that might be made of Drones.

So for exampe IF FW were still considered to underperform in their combat role,
- Shield Drones can be used to alter the resilence statistics (Upgrade perhaps 2-4x Sdrones, consider reducing their AV)
- Weapon Drones could be used to bolster firepower and resilience (upgrade perhaps 2x Wdrones)
etc

(Note I am not saying that FW need this, merely using an example)

I have also avoided providing statistics. In the above example, we might decide that "grot" drones are more appropriate, effectively grots for Tau, providing both a boost to the formation size, resilience and combat capabilities.

Different types of Drones is just throwing in too many variables at this stage and is not really required.

The Harbringer is an interesting vehicle from a background perspective but I wont be adding new units to the Third Phase list, it does however look like a brilliant vehicle to add to a future variant list.

To be fair, a single Drone type and formation in the army list does not not really do justice to the huge variety of Drones or their widespread use in the 'fluff' (at least to me). But I do understand the point Yme. I was merely suggesting that any outstanding tweaking could be achieved in a more colourfull way.

Some of that might be do-able with some creative renaming in the unit data blocks. No change in effect, just in name.

For example, instead of calling the 15cm AP5+ Disrupt attack on the Fire Warrior stand "Pulse Carbines", call it "Pulse Carbines and Gun Drone". Same idea with the Pathfinder's Rail rifles (becoming "Rail Rifles and Sniper Drones"). Then the Tigershark can get a 3x 15cm AP4+ Disrupt attack called "Gun Drones".

Not sure about the shield drones... Frankly, I could see going to the 'Grot' rule, but I think that would be too much of a change at this point in the list.