Steel*Faith wrote:As for their in-system propulsion systems, they are far faster and more maneuverable than the Imperial Navy, never mind the Orks. As some have pointed out already, their pilots are biologically superior to human Imperial pilots, and are more naturally skilled, giving them an edge.
This is somewhat false, even in the lore the Tau ships are no better than the Orks or Imperium, and for the Kor'Vattra fleet are considerably worse (It was the Imperium stomping all over the Tau during the Damocles Crusade that forced them to develop the Kor'Or'Vesh, they are definitely not "far faster" or "more manoeuvrable" and their pilots superiority is exceptionally debatable (and less relevant when the Barracuda is inferior to the dominant space superiority fighters of most other races.)
Them being slow however is less relevant against Orks or Imperial Navy as it is against Eldar or the Space Marines. Against Orks, it only matters because they can't run out of engagement range, if the Tau don't do major damage before getting in close, enough to cripple the Orks, then the Tau are going to be manhandled. (Against Orks, the Tau should depend on their carrier strength.)
In terms of weapon accuracy potential, Tau should be #1. Their railguns are going to have far better long range accuracy than other races macro-weapons.
Not quite true, when you factor in those Macro-weapons are also firing with the same degree of velocities, several pieces of lore show that Imperium ship-to-ship Macrobatteries are accelerated using graviometric impellers (The same impellers that hurl a Nova Cannon at 99% the speed of light.) etc.
But yes you are right on the accuracy potential IF they have a Messenger or Custodian in range to provide the greater targeting data. (In the TT, the Messenger and Custodian gave a left column shift for accuracy for Railguns, nothing improved the accuracy of Ion Cannons or any other lances, and the rest was self-guided ordnance)
Other than that, most of what the OP said was well constructed and accurate, thanks for the write-up.
Thanks.
RedDevilCG wrote:Aye, it will be interesting to see how they handle it indeed considering the Manta is used as the Tau's version of a Titan when it appears on the battlefield, bristling with weapons and using the same gravitic wedge to shield front just like the Tau cruisers.
Not a gravitic wedge. The Manta only has energy shields. The Gravitic wedge can't even be mounted on the Tau's smallest escorts and the Gravitic Wedge is what gives them FTL capacity. Mantas are definitely not FTL capable :p
For some reason I thought their Mantas had a 4+ save, but now that I looked at the rules again I don't see that. Otherwise, their single Manta behaved the same as regular bomber squads.
"Mantas. Mantas are bombers, each marker represents a single vessel. They are well shielded and if intercepted by enemy fighters roll a D6, on a roll of 4+ the Manta is not removed. Mantas move 20cm. Whilst Mantas can carry large numbers of troops they are not used to board enemy vessels as boarding is totally contrary to the Tau’s approach to space warfare."
Bear in mind here, that shield is only considered protection against fighters. It offered no defence against Turrets at all.