(Professor Curly)
Tau List - 3000pts, 10 Activations

Core Formations
Crisis Suit Cadre – 400pts
-Supreme Commander
-x5 Crisis Suits

Fire Warrior Cadre – 550pts
-x10 Fire Warriors, x5 Devilfish
-Ethereal
-Sky Ray

Fire Warrior Cadre – 325pts
-x6 Fire Warriors, x3 Devilfish
-Sky Ray

Support Formations
Armored Interdiction Cadre – 400pts
-x6 Hammerheads w/ Railguns
-Sky Ray

Broadside Fire Support Cadre – 300pts
-x6 Broadsides

Recon Skimmer Group – 175pts
-x3 Piranhas
-x3 Tetras

Recon Skimmer Group – 175pts
-x3 Piranhas
-x3 Tetras

Kroot Kindred – 175pts
-Shaper
-x9 Kroot Carnivores

Air Caste Formations
Tigershark AX-1-0 Squadron – 350pts

Barracuda Squadron – 150pts

VERSUS

(Angel of Caliban)
Imperial Guard List - 3000pts, 9 Activations
700 Artillery (BTS)
-Hydra
-Commisar

550 Reg HQ
-Hydra
-Commisar

500 Inf Company
-Hydra
-6 Inf
-2 Fire Support
-Commisar

550 SHT Company
-Hydra
-Commisar

200 Sentinel
-Commisar

200 Sentinel
-Commisar

200 Sentinel

250 Maraurder

150 Thunderbolt

---------------

Deployment - there was a city all along the right side of the map, with a Cathedral and a ruined Workshop to the north. His basilisks hid behind the workshop, with the Hydra/commissar in front. To their left were some Sentinels, then the Superheavies. Then the Supreme Commander squad, then another group of sentinels to the left of them.

To the left of the board there were two woods with a clearing between. I Garrisoned my Kroot in the southern woods, he garrisoned the Support Squad Infantry Company in the north, but with a lot of guys out in the open. He also Garrisoned a screen of Sentinels in front of them.

In the top middle of the board were a few rocks the blocked LOS, and the bottom middle there was a hill. I Garrisoned my Broadsides on top of the hill (there was an objective in the southern woods, one in the bottom of the northern woods, 1 by the rocks, and 1 in the city on the left. He placed his blitz with the Basilisks, I placed mine behind the hill where my broadsides where).

To the very left were my Crisis Suits, then my Ethereal squad of Fire Warriors. Then behind the hill was Recon 1. The smaller fire warriors, then Recon 2, and then on the far right were my Hammerheads.

Turn 1 - Strategy Roll Tau

I immediately double up with my Hammerheads into the city, losing 1 to dangerous terrain. I still manage to pop up and mark the Basilisks, scoring a total of 5 hits. He saves 2, and 3 vehicles die - including the Hydra/Commissar! Leaving 4 left unsuppressed.

Sensing the time to strike is now, the Tau retain with an immediate strafing run from their Tigersharks! Sadly, 4 ones mean that all that is accomplished is another blast marker.

Sentinels then engage the Kroot in the woods. The Kroot counter charges trigger the infantry formation opposite them's overwatch, but mercifully little damage is done. Even with supporting fire against them, the Kroot kill 2 Sentinels for a lose of only one of their own. They go into the roll of +1, but still lose and break. The woods have fallen to the Imperium, but the Sentinels are broken and retreating.

The Ethereal senses the need to go back on the offensive and his retinue move on the double up to the clearing, firing mercilessly into the garrisoned humans. 10 stands of infantry are removed, and the formation is barely hanging on.

The Basilisks sustain fire on the smaller Fire Warrior squad, destroying 1 devilfish and 1 of the 2 stands of infantry that were inside. The Shas hold on though.

Barracudas go on CAP.

Thunderbolts go on CAP in response.

The Crisis Suits advance on the infantry in the woods and fire. Without their Fusion Blasters in range their fire is somewhat lackluster, scoring only 3 hits. Of those hits one is the Company Commander and another is the formation Commissar, which leaves the formation leaderless. The Crisis Assassination squad is a great success. The Guard infantry break and run.

Marauder bombers make a run on the dismounted Ethereal formation, triggering my CAP. He triggers his CAP on my CAP, setting up a brutal dogfight. My flak claims one Thunderbolt, his thunderbolts claim on of my fighters and I do no damage to the Marauders. I lose 2 stands of Fire Warriors and their devilfish, and take 5 blast markers for my trouble.

The Recon on the left fails to activate and regroups to avoid Blast Markers.

The Superheavy Tanks march in front of the ruined workshop, getting into position for next turn. However their spacing leaves wide angles of attack for the Hammerheads to shoot through.

Smaller, non ethereal FW regroups and gets clean of blast markers.

Sentinels on the right double and fire at the Ethereal squad, killing 1 fire warrior. But the plucky Shas refuse to break.

The Supreme Commander squad makes a fateful double move towards the Ethereal - straight into the teeth of the waiting Broadsides. 3 Chimeras and 5 stands of infantry go up in one giant pyre, and their shooting at the Fire Warriors is ineffective against the 5+ armor save.

End Phase -
Tigersharks get out without further incident

Marauders get tagged as they try to leave by the smaller fire warrior unit's Sky Ray, losing 1.

The remaining Barracuda gets shot down by a Hydra as it tries to disengage. The Thunderbolt makes it off without incident.

Kroot stay broken. Ethereal Squad drop to 3 Blast Markers.

Regimental HQ sheds 7 of 9 blast markers accumulated from the Broadside overwatch. Sentinels from the Kroot battle stay broken, as does the Support Company infantry squad. Basilisks cut their blast markers to 2.

Turn 2 - Strategy Roll Tau

Hammerheads advance cautiously into the ruins to get back in markerlight range of the Basilisks and fire again. This time 7 AT5+ and 5 AT2+ shots deals out a massive 8 hits on the basilisks. 4 make their saves, but 4 die and the formation is now broken.

The Tau retain with their Crisis Suit Cadre. The Imperial Guard cling close to their Chimeras for cover, and the crisis suits only score 2 dead infantry and a dead chimera.

The Marauder tries to come in to bomb the Ethereal cadre again, but with 4 Blast markers from last round not even the Supreme Commander of the Imperial guard can get it done.

Tigersharks come in for another run on the Basilisks, straight into the Super Heavy Company's Hydra. The Tigershark armor holds true and the Basilisks are wiped out, scoring the "Break their Spirit" for the Tau.

Tau retain for their Broadsides, who advance and fire on the Supreme Commander Infantry Company of the Imperials. All that is left is 6 stands of infantry and a Hydra, and the formation breaks under the strain.

The lone Thunderbolt tries to intercept the Tigersharks, but Blast Markers prevent him from making an appearance.

The Ethereal Squad is ordered to advance at the double onto the broken Imperial Guard Infantry company that had been garrisoned in the Woods and scatter it. The Ethereal is unsure if this violent action serves the Greater Good, but the Supreme Commander convinces him. There are no survivors from the Imperial Guard company.

Sentinels on the right try and double to get into flanking positions on the Hammerheads, but fail their initiative and wander forward.

The smaller fire warrior squad advances, leaving one transport-less stand behind and taking a blast marker. They fire 3 seeker missiles at a sentinel squad, hitting and killing the Commissar Sentinel.

Those Sentinels sustain fire at the Ethereal squad to no effect.

The left Recon doubles up into the woods near the objective and fires Seekers at the Commissar-less Sentinels, killing 1 and breaking the formation.

The Superheavy Tank company engages the Hammerheads, cutting them down as the skimmers try to escape. But the damage had already been done.

Recon 2 on the right doubles up to the rocks and 2nd objective, firing at the broken sentinels by the Ethereal formation. All of the sentinels are wiped out.

End Phase

Tigersharks get out without further flak attacks.

Kroot Rally, Ethereal squad loses Blast Markers. Smaller Fire Warrior squad loses its blast marker.

Regimental HQ doesn't rally, but the remaining Sentinels on the left do.

Turn 3 - Strategy Roll Imperial Guard

Marauder bomber attacks the Ethereal squad again. The Ethereal makes his armor save, but 2 fire warrior stands are killed.

Middle Recon moves up and shoots at the Regimental HQ, there are only 4 units left.

Thunderbolt goes on CAP.

Smaller Fire Warriors fail initiative but move towards the city, Sky Ray leading the way.

Super Heavy Tanks try and double towards the Fire Warriors, but fails and have to move.

The Supreme Commander orders in the Tigersharks on the Baneblades and despite all efforts, neither the thunderbolt nor the Tigersharks take any damage. The lead baneblade takes 2 DC worth.

Sentinels by the City/Superheavies double over to the forward Recon dealing no damage.

Ethereal Squad advances on the sentinels that had rallied and fires pulse rifles at them, killing 1.

Crisis Suits retain and fire at the Regimental HQ after a double move. This is enough to wipe out the broken formation.

The only remaining unbroken/suppressed Sentinel sustains at the Ethereal, but the armor saves me again.

We called it there.

End of game - Tau Victory! 3-0 (Take and Hold, Break Their Spirit!, They Shall Not Pass)
-------------

Thoughts:

Hammerheads were very good this game. Broadsides could have served the same role if I had needed them to through garrisoning forward, though not as effectively unless I devoted a Recon to the assault as well. Basically, the lack of integrated Markerlights makes it harder to attack with Broadsides on their own. Who would've figured? Both Hammerheads and Broadsides performed when the cards were down and I needed them to though. The Hammerheads + Tigersharks really chopped those artillery platforms up though, even if that was all they did.

I think he got too fixated on my BTS. The Marauders+Thunderbolts making a run at my Hammerheads was what I was worried about more than anything. A good run by the Marauders would've broken the Hammerheads (6 bomb hits, plus 2 more shots from lascannons could've killed ~2 Hammerheads with minimal luck, which would've been enough to break them, a run from the Thunderbolts would've finished the job if it didn't). If that had happened first turn, his Artillery Company would've been 7 strong and I would've had no way to attack them besides the Tigersharks. That would've freed up his Super Heavy tanks to move to face the main push of my army, as well as let his Sentinels on the right move to the left sooner.

He also used his Overwatch on the garrisoned infantry company too soon, although not sure how much difference it made in the long run. If they hadn't used it when they did, I was going to call a Coordinated Fire with a Recon, Ethereal, and Crisis squad. Recon runs up to markerlight - if they overwatch the Recon, Ethereal runs up and things proceed exactly as they did. If they still don't overwatch, I run up the Crisis and take the hits on the chin with 3+ armor and invulnerable saves. Then things going like they did, and so on.

Advancing the mechanized company into the Broadsides was also a mistake. Broadsides once again prove pivotal in the defensive role, completely bouncing what was at the time the most dangerous formation he had. Not sure what else he could've done at that moment though.

Hammerhead mobility + integrated markerlights did let me seek and destroy pretty well. He wasn't really familiar/used to the Tau, so he didn't think that he might need to actually have a buffer from the south. Something as simple as Garrisoning a Sentinel squad on his Blitz, then using the scout coherency rules to spread them out would've stopped my offensive/severely slowed it down. At the very least, it would've made the direct assault that I did much harder, if it was possible at all. I certainly couldn't have gotten 'inside his guard' like I did (the minimum range of the Basilisk indirect fire, that is).

I was glad that I had both Hammerheads and Broadsides, although I can see advantages to having double of either one. This game pretty much needed both though, to work to the 100%. I never looked at my Broadsides and wished they were Hammerheads.

On things other than Hammerheads/Broadsides...

Supreme Commander was key in getting everyone to do what they were told. Very good buy this game.

5 Crisis Suits can really chop things up. Was doubling all game this game though, so they lost some potency. Especially since the Fusion Blasters were out of range a lot.

The Ethereal Squad is damn hard to get anything out of. Tons of units with good saves all the time. Fearless really adds a depth to their resilience. I certainly didn't feel the need to coddle them. I shoved them into the front lines from turn 1. Never let me down.

I still like the 3:3 Recon Cadres. There were times I wished I had more missiles, but if I had needed to (for example) garrison the Broadsides forward to get to the Basilisks more directly, I would've really needed to garrison a Recon with them. 5:1 Piranha cadres can't swing that. Maybe it is the fluff-nut in me manifesting itself. Commander Puretide preached a balanced approach, and it seems to me the balanced approach is definitely the most effective overall. Tools for the job.

Kroot did their job admirably. Heck, I was going into the roll-off at a +1 in that initial assault. I just rolled double 1s for the resolution. That easily could've been a loss for the Sentinels and then we have a whole new factor to consider - a bunch of angry Kroot assaulting the infantry company. They would've had to expend their Overwatch then. And against Marines or other teleporting armies, they are invaluable in pushing the enemy into places they don't want to be. Like in front of a Fire Warrior formation on overwatch.

I do miss the Skysweep Missile Defense Cadre. It's just a spear in the ground "You will not fly here" style unit. Barracudas didn't perform the interceptor function like I was wanting them too. I didn't think you could CAP a CAP though, although it was an interesting dynamic. Wasn't something I was expecting. Any reason the Burst Cannon on the Barracuda doesn't have an AP rating, like what the Thunderbolt storm bolters do? Just looking at the stats it seems the Thunderbolt is a slightly better interceptor for the same cost. Not sure what I'm thinking specifically... Don't want a point drop... not sure what I'm thinking to be honest. Anyone else feel the same or is it just a ghost of bad dice from this game?

Tigersharks continue to dominate the skies. I often find myself not targeting their 'intended' targets, but I don't see that as a problem. More a quirk of my games.

Things that still niggle at me -

Kroot Hounds. Maybe make them 4 for 50? They seem to lack a great deal of versatility that their Kroot Carnivore brethren have...

In regards to the HHs I have to say though that before being assaulted to death by the SHT company you really only managed to destroy the artillery company and they have 5+ armour. There's absolutely no argument from me that HHs aren't deadly versus light armor.

I'm going to reserve my judgement on the changes t othe Tau until I get to play a game. I'm starting to think that the Fusion heads with 4+ MW will be more critically helpful and perhaps I needn't worry about the Rail-head to hit stat.

On your comment about Angel not knowing Tau that well, in my experience, you'll find that once he plays against them more often that your nasty looking army gets less nasty looking and very fragile. You also didn't have the problem of a Leman Russ formation to deal with which handed you a pretty big leg-up.

In terms of the Ethereal though if you'd not saved him from the Marauder attack the entire FW formation would have broken

Thanks for another report.

A few points-
Counter charges don't trigger Overwatch fire (1.12.4 Counter Charges FAQ).

According to RAW (rules as written), this isn't allowed but a lot of players like to CAP enemy CAP as it simulates Fighters escorting the bombers.

I have found this aswell and have usually stuck to more Skyrays spread around the ground formations. It's worked well (except against Thunderhawks but then only Necrons and Eldar have much of a say about T/Hawks).

I used to use Kroot a lot. In later games, I moved away from them because they didn't have the mobility to keep up with the mechanised formations. They certainly are a useful road-block but a formation with no armour saves tends to be in trouble when assaulting (unless it's a no-brainer assault on artillery or something similar, which the opponent should never allow to happen).

Looking forward to your next batrep!

Quoted for truth.

_________________
Just call me Steve.

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And yet, I don't think the Fusion-Heads would've performed as well for me this game. The range just didn't match up well. Would've given the Superheavies something to be afraid of though. Of course, all of this leaves the Ion Head in a bit of a pinch.

For Fire Warrior support, Fusion-Heads have range overlap and give the formation versatility in addition to adding anti-infantry shooting.

On their own, Fusion-Heads are can openers and Rail-Heads are "You can't hide" hunter style units.

Ion Cannons... I dunno. I don't know if I'll ever look at (for example) a Fire Warrior formation and say to myself "You know what this needs? MOAR AP SHOOTING!"

Oh well. I'll meditate on this some more.

So... Is there an upside to this "your army is fragile" thing? Seems pretty doom and gloom, and I'm not sure what makes these guys specifically more fragile.

When opponents start finding ways to Engage the Tau more it will be a lot harder for the Tau to keep winning.
Some armies are obviously better at Engagements than others. I've played most of my Tau games (sadly not since 6.3 came out) against Marines and it is very hard to keep them at arms length.

Every other army in the game can do Engagements (both CC and FF) better than the Tau and that's what your opponents will need to realise. When they do, it will be... more challenging for you .

_________________
Just call me Steve.

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Want to play Iron Warriors in Epic Armageddon? Click HERE
Some of my Armies.
My Hobby site.

For example, did you take notice of how easily your entire HH formation perished when assaulted by the Baneblade formation? And you made saves during that engagement. Sure people can argue that "the Baneblades are War Engines with RA and it will hurt no matter who you are," but that is the sort of thing that happens versus Leman Russ Companies too.

Sorry, duplicate post, where is the delete button!

the Thunderbolt is a slightly better interceptor for the same cost. Not sure what I'm thinking specifically... Don't want a point drop... not sure what I'm thinking to be honest. Anyone else feel the same or is it just a ghost of bad dice from this game?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Thunderbolts are better shooting undefended aircraft in the rear 4 dice on 4+. Barracuda get 2 4+ and 2 5+. However most players stay outside the 15cm defensive fire range, and yes, the Tau have 360 degree burst cannons. They also have better ground attack manouvrability being fighters not fighter bombers and with a marker target has superior ground firpower as well - a 45cm AP4+/AT5+ stand off attack and a closer in 30cm AP3+/AT4+ attack.

If they had a ground AP attack from those guns their cost would increase. Beleive me they are better cheap. You can rationalise it as thye are drone controled and they are focusing on air threats

Also the Tau have excellent long ranged flak, as a result you can normally create no fly zones. A skysweep formation or a couple of skyrays in the vicinity stop thunderbolts dead, often literally.

For example, did you take notice of how easily your entire HH formation perished when assaulted by the Baneblade formation? And you made saves during that engagement. Sure people can argue that "the Baneblades are War Engines with RA and it will hurt no matter who you are," but that is the sort of thing that happens versus Leman Russ Companies too.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
A small point but why are you within 30 of the baneblades? Thats what you have those disposable recon formations for! Failing that if you have AT3+ guns just retreat and keep firing on advance, preferably whilst popping up.

A feature of tau lists we have tried is out activating the opposition to allow the important formations free reign when it comes to their actions.

Chris, the Hammerheads had already activated to fire on the artillery. If he'd moved away from the feature he was on he would not have been able to pop up to fire on them as the basilisks would have been closer to the terrain. The Baneblades had been within 30cm from the start of the 1st turn.

As far as I can tell they doubled forward to mark them - really there a better tactic would be a co-ord fire order with a markerlight formation to zap forward and mark them and then only advance or similar the hammerheads. Even so its hard to comment without seeing the board, but I am surprised the basilisks were in the open, most deploy them in or behind cover - behind of course making them immune to overwatch fire.

Also I was surprised they could reach them on turn one - with a 30cm move and 30cm ML range that is only 90cm, surely not enough to reach the other deployment zone?

Even if I had moved a recon formation up to mark them, it wouldn't have mattered. The Basilisks had deployed behind a LOS blocking piece of terrain. I had to double the Hammerheads towards the building in order to 'pop up' and see them at all. The only way I could've held the Hammerheads back would've been to go around the entire city - right into the Super Heavy tanks.

Thinking about it, I don't know how I got the Hammerheads up that far though. Hmmm... I think I may have hit the 'move 5 cm forward' button too many times. I'm not sure, it's all pretty hazy (night 2 of no sleep). His basilisks were on the line to try and get as much behind the LOS terrain as possible. It just happens that it didn't help him so much in this case. My apologies, though. In the long run I don't know how much difference it would've made, although the 4 1s my AX-1-0s rolled that first round might've been karmic justice without me realizing it lol.

In any case, it went like this:

I doubled up (regardless, I looked again and I still made it to Pop-up range even without my 'oops') and fired at the Basilisks. I had to do this, otherwise I would not have been able to see the basilisks at all.

He marched his Baneblades to within 30cm (but couldn't see me as I popped back down).

I advanced again, to get the basilisks into marker range (I had killed the closer ones and I was barely in range the first time). I wanted the Basilisks dead, and had nothing but Hammerheads and Tigersharks to make it happen. Well, Barracudas but they were busy. I figured that with the AT2+ and AP5+ Seekers, the Hammerheads were my best shot t0 (at least) breaking the Basilisks for my Tigersharks to finish off. I honestly didn't care what happened to my Hammerheads at that point.

Forlorn Hope - Despite what everyone keeps saying, the Tau will commit troops and equipment to suicide missions if it serves the Greater Good. Annihilating the greatest enemy threat (Basilisks), with the added benefit of weakening the enemy AA so Tigersharks could operate freely is something that would be worth the sacrifice. Once the basilisks were down, he only had his air power to try and match my focus on the left flank - everything else was either too slow (Super-Heavies), too weak (Sentinels), or stuck either making a suicidal charge or watching my advance without opposing it (Supreme Commander infantry company).

It was almost guaranteed for the Hammerheads to die, but their attack left his position indefensible. Too spread out to oppose my concentration of force on the left.

EDIT:

To answer your question, the Basilisks were deployed in an open area, behind 2 very large BLOS buildings, on the other side of a city full of ruins that I couldn't shoot through. He was well hidden. The Hammerheads just happen to be extremely good at reaching out and touching the enemy, no matter where they are on the board.

Oh no question you can get to weapons range, I just don't think you can get to markerlight range.

You should try using the deployment overlays for vassal, these let you exactly see the places your troops can go in!

Also against guard have you considered making the bugger play corners? As you are fast skimmers you can often win simply on that basis. Though lacking any really effective deep strike the arty company may actually be quite good in that set up

Have you considered a diferent weapons package to attack such a target? A garrissoned formation moving forward to markerlight it, and let a few missiles off, then a co-ord fire action with a 5/1 piranha/tetra group with a skysweep formation? Just over 4 hits on average, 3 blast markers minimum and with roughly 3 kills it would break. Further your air defence would be forward ready to protect your bombing runs (attack within 30cm of the skyrays and any interceptors will get shot up by them before they get to fire on you!).

I'm just testing using the tournament scenario, no funky deployments. As you yourself implied, winning a corners deployment game doesn't really /prove/ anything, other than "Mobility is good."

I didn't want to vary the list I'm using to test too much, to be honest. Biggest change was losing the Skysweep for Barracudas and a Sky Ray in the Hammerhead formation.

I figured Barracudas +extra Sky Ray would cover my AA needs. I am currently unconvinced of that. I still think the roles of the Thunderbolt/Barracuda should be reversed. The Thunderbolt being slightly better at strafing, the Barracuda being slightly better at intercepting.

Fluffwise, the Barracuda has maneuverability (Fighter vs Fighter-bomber) and firepower on its side. Thunderbolt has a heavier build and flat out top speed (though the Barracuda actually cruises faster).

My thoughts keep coming back to the missiles. Instead of Missile Pods have the Barracuda Missile Suite. Reduce the Ion Cannon stats accordingly - having it be a more rapid fire, less strength weapon makes sense to me.

Barracuda Ion Cannon - AP5+/AT6+/AA5+
Burst Cannons - AA6+
Barracuda Missile Suite - AP5+/AT6+/AA6+

Or something of that ilk. Markerlights make them comparable at ground attack, but that is another ~100+ points invested, so it balances out in my opinion. Also makes the regular Tigershark more distinct in a "this thing actually /is/ much better at ground attack" way.

That's just me, though. I take it there is no interest in changing the Barracuda? I'd be interested in doing tests with that as well, if there is a possibility of that being up for debate. Obviously, not as fervent on that issue as the AT3+ Hammerhead Railgun though.

Speaking of that, I personally think it is fine. Angel of Caliban said he thought AT4+ was fine, but his main thing was the Markerlight bonus to hit. Of course, I told him that before now Markerlights didn't do that. Everything was just +1 better at shooting. If I recall he decided that the Markerlights are better than just being naturally +1 better at shooting.

AT3+ still doesn't capture the "Our tanks were useless" feeling that is implied by the 3rd/4rth edition Tau codices, but it does good enough. AT2+ on a marked target on the advance is certainly enough to make someone think about breaking cover into the midfield.

Anyway, I'm out for now.

Corner deployment is *part* of the Tournament scenario... a strategic choice that is often overlooked... just playing Tau "long edges" when you have the chance to use a higher-than-the-opponent's SR to potentially use corner deployment isn't playtesting to a full potential.

It's all part of the game!

Point taken.

So then, anyone interested in doing the next test game? Or if you think it would be better I can just be a reporter while two people of comparable skill (ie not only played 3 games) play. After all, I'm biased towards my idea of AT3+ hammerheads. I'd like to see what someone else does with them.

I can send the Vassal mod to people - PM me if you need it.

On an unrelated (though constantly brought up by me) note, any great disagreement to make Kroot Hounds 4 or 5 for 50pts, instead of 3? Currently they cost (individually) more than a Kroot Carnivore, but can do less. No FF is really just a straight downgrade. Shouldn't cost you more. Else, make them better at CC. Something to make them not just a "Carnivore minus the gun."

I'll keep pondering the Barracuda. In the meantime, any word on possible changes to Stealth Suits? I remember it being brought up, but can't remember where.