Before voting allow me to explain.

Do you think the Tau are at a higher tech level than the Imperium? That is they have discovered more of the mysteries of science.

Or do you think they are not? Instead what they have so far discovered they intelligently and innovatively apply. A comparison would be iPhones vs other technologies The iPhone isn't technologically better, but does give, by all accounts, a superior user experience and allows people to pick up and use it successfully far more quickly.

The Imperium has fantastic technologies at their disposal. Their starships are better than the Tau for instance, the Tau can't come close to stuff like titans (forget how silly they are for a second), instead use spaceships that must have the crews sweating as they try desperately not to crash all the time. The difference is the Imperium understands none of it. They manufacture the same items for 1000's of years, knowing only how to load the ammo and pull the trigger, no doubt after saying a prayer and bathing their left hand in incense before removing their left shoes. The Tau can take inferior technologies but apply them correctly for a superior end result, improving out any design flaws. For instance they might not have macro cannon armaments on the battleship, but would have an automated loading system for the railcannon that was a darn sight more efficient than a hundred sweating men, not to mention easier on the logistics.

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Two-fold.

* Tau have the Manta, so why build a Titan at all?
* In space the Tau have guided super fast missiles
* In space Tau have tracking systems (better turrets, no shift above 30cm)
* In space Tau have shorter ranges
* They make Warp Dives, much safer then daemon inviting Warp Jumps
* Tau have stealth suits
* Tau have no teleport
* Tau have drones who do a lot, more then servo-skulls

Alas, I cannot give a definite answer.

However I do think Tau can and will surpass the Imperium.

So go to M42-M43 and I will say yes.  

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I do think the Imperium has all that, its just mated with a lawn mower or being produced on forge world xe 6 and stock piled on the 3rd moon because the factories on vb 19 shut down with a software virus 2341 years ago and the de bugging magicians have been delayed leaving Mars due to an incorrectly filled in form 213vm/45r where they disagreed on their dates of birth - one putting the day he was made into a cyborg the other the day he joined the machine cult. But don't worry they have been placed in stasis on the moon orbiting deg 2 while the matter is resolved!

Oh and stealth technology in the Imperium was at one time wide spread, sadly Arch Magos Martin 11011101110001 had a dream where a manifestation of the machine god (with authentic rubber keyboard) informed him stealth technology was to be restricted to inquisition spy cameras and the tea mugs for all Magos above the 3467th level pending re-evaluation. This dream followed the incident in which a stealthed kill team attempted to assassinate him due to a previous dream in which the Mk5b.11 rebreather was banned, negatively affecting two regiments fighting on the airless world of ryan 4 and leaving them somewhat short of breath.

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'Abolish red trousers?! Never! Red trousers are France!' – Eugene Etienne, War Minister, 1913
"Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography."
General Plumer, 191x

I'd just say Tau have more *reliable* technology... and are willing to innovate, so that makes them "higher" tech.

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Mark me for better-than-Imperial tech.  

Tau tech is often lighter and harder-hitting (the basic pulse weapon is as powerful as a heavy bolter, for example), or less likely to kill the operator (plasma rifles).  There's a few cases where it's not as good (missile pods versus Cyclone, and a Fusion blaster is bigger than a meltagun) but it's certainly put to better use, and more importantly, *the Tau know how it works*.

There's this great line out of RT, where it's talking about how to start some device... take the blessed oil, etc... and then push the button labeled 'ON'.

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"For the Lion and the Emperor!"

Im pretty sure the Imperium has higher tech, and more effective tech. Its just not handed out to everyone.

Remember that the technology that spacemarines use (and the genetic tech they represent themselves) is very advanced. Its a 40k game thing that bolters are inferior to pulse rifles, for example. And even in 40k a plasma gun is better (just not well maintained!).

Its not just space marines. Some of the wierd and wonderful things that the imperium can produce outstrip the tau in other areas, eg the technology behind the Eversor Assassin or the Vindare's rifle.

And then the ability to fuel a battle tank efficiently with a wood burning generator (one of the STC versions of the Leman Russ) is, in itself awesome technology!

I think TRC is on the nose in the first post about efficient use of tech vs actual tech level. The point is that the Imperium's tech is rationed and not used rationally.

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They are free, yes, but not entirely free; for they have a master, and that master is Law.

Compare movie marines weapons to tau weapons - I think thats a better representation of the fluff.

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They are free, yes, but not entirely free; for they have a master, and that master is Law.

Yes you can have endless silly examples.

Tau
"Etherial sir, we have developed a weapon that can scour continents!"
"Excellent valued underling, mount it on our fleet and embark for Terra!"

Imperium
"Most high archmagos, we have discovered the plans for a bomb that destroys worlds!"
"Excellent underling, how does teh blessed STC say it should be delivered?"
"Sorry most robotic one, the file was partly corrupted."
"Hmm, no matter, assemble the hand cart and it shall be wheeled to its detonation point!"

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'Abolish red trousers?! Never! Red trousers are France!' – Eugene Etienne, War Minister, 1913
"Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography."
General Plumer, 191x

I would go for "yes, tau tech is most assuredly more advanced than Imperial"

The catch is that Imperials have a better grasp on psionics, genetic engineering and Warp physics (or at least, access to better technology or resources relating to these things - I doubt anyone could recreate the Navigator Gene these days).

I'm in the "Imperials have more advanced technology" camp.

I think with the Tau, it's more a matter of technology distribution. I figure nearly every individual in the Tau empire has access to near-state-of-the-art technology. A human, on the other hand, would have to by pretty high up the social ladder to have anything better than a board with a nail in it. Of course there are probably a million or a billion times as many humans in the galaxy as there are Tau.

Say you could scrape together all the best tech in the imperium and equip one guy with it, then did the same with a Tau. Now have both of them fight each other; the human would win hands-down. Better armour, better guns, better fields. In fact, by this measure, the Tau would lose to Orks, too.

What is clear, however, is that the average Tau individual has access to a much higher level of technology than the the average human. That wasn't the question though.

I'd say Tau have the usual human drive for trial and error evolution that the Emperor has forbidden.
Any part of mankind not under the sway of Him would have the understanding of SCT and the ability to improve on them too.
Much the same as Tau.
(This is the only part of BattleTech I don't agree with, the los-tech.)

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so far we can only reach slight speed.- Erik M
092b85658e746a91d343e53509d357744e56f641

Loads of time in history Erik our tech level has gone down. We are a funny species

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'Abolish red trousers?! Never! Red trousers are France!' – Eugene Etienne, War Minister, 1913
"Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography."
General Plumer, 191x

For example?

Roman Empire, relatively high tech level, even had concrete. Empire falls and what follows is known as the dark ages when theocracy was fairly important (40k draws a lot from this) and progress reverses.

More basic various tribal level peoples have lost the ability to make fire (I think that happened in New Zealand or Australian or near them at some point) at different times in history.

The indus valley civilisation came, did quite well and simply disappeared with towns and cities being abandoned and people moving back to villages.

In south America you had stone age level tech but massive populations using agricultural techniques that are only starting to be understood now (its all about legumes).

I'm sure a quick search or a more historically minded board member would have some more.

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If using E-Bay use this link to support Tac Com!
'Abolish red trousers?! Never! Red trousers are France!' – Eugene Etienne, War Minister, 1913
"Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography."
General Plumer, 191x