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So I was looking over the Tau Codex and started thinking about the new Stealth Suits.  You can get them a Support System upgrade which seemed nice, but is actually lacking.  There is no Special Issue.  Blacksun Filters are useless with 18" range and Acute Senses.  Multi-trackers have no point.  Target Locks are detrimental since they should concentrate fire.

The Targeting Array seemed like a nice idea until I ran through the math and figured out that paying 10 points on 3 Stealths is the same as getting a 4th Stealth, and has an equivalent number of hits.

The last was the Drone Controller.  Drones get Stealth for free...   hmmm...

A unit of 6 Stealths all with Drone Controllers and 12 Gun Drones will pump out 30 shots.  That's more than the Fish of Fury!  Since Markerlights now work on a unit basis, a single Markerlight increasing the Ballistic Skill of the unit by 1 would increase the effectiveness of the unit tremendously.  Since they are all stealthed, terrain matters less than range so size isn't as much of an issue.  They all have an 18" range and shoot and scoot and Deep Strike.

This unit weighs in at a heafty 300 points plus 10 for Team Leader and Bonding.  That's about 80 points more than the FoF but can't be dropped by a single lascannon.  They have an effective 24" threat zone and can only be gotten by fast units or must be cornered.  With the fusion blaster option, you loose a few shots, but could also churn out some high strength hits for vehicles, instakills, and TMCs.

What do you think?

I've tried it in a few games, and with markerlight support it's nuts, like wiping entire 8 man squads of MEQ in a round of fire. The most obvious problem was that the physical size of the unit is enormous. Hiding is no longer an option, blast weapons can't scatter off you, and if one assaulter makes it into BtB that's 300 points down.

Aside from a 12 man firewarrior squad set to rapidfire though, the stealth drone armada is the most cost effective markerlight consuming unit.

do the drones count as if they're in cover, if assaulted? as they get the other benefits of the holofield...


anyway standard 10 pts per shot (normal stealths or FW) costs 90 pts to kill a marine
drones are more accurate, so 6 stealths and 12 drones gets 5.22 marine kills


when markerlit though, they become Brutal McKillfast, with 1 marker they get 7 kills, with 2 its 8.55 kills.

compared to normal BS, the first marker increases their killy by 34%.
2 markers increases their kills by 63.8% (total)

therefore to be worth providing markers for this unit, the price of marker hits needs to be 100 pts per hit or less. which includes skyray!

Huge footprint, though. It would be a tremendously unwieldy unit.

Although, filling up all three elite slots with this unit would just be ridiculous.

Ezz

Hmmm. . . I like the idea of the massive number of shots, however basing a unit off of that versus others is misleading because the others are considerably cheaper.

Now lets work out the efficiency of them with an without targetting arrays, and then we will check on the gun drones. . . I will throw in the markerlight drones as well. . . These will all be versus Marines, if I am in the mood later I will do the math for IG as well. . .

4 Basic Stealth Suit: 12 shots, BS 3, 120 points

6 hits, 4 wounds versus Marines, 1.32 kills

3 TA Stealth Suit: 9 shots, BS 4, 120 points

6 hits, 4 wounds versus Marines, 1.32 kills

3 Basic Stealth Suits and 4 Gun Drones: 9/4 shots, BS 3 and BS 2 Twin linked, 120 points

4.5/2.2 hits, 3/1.45 wounds versus Marines, 1.46 kills, 0.24 pinning tests failed

3 Basic Stealth Suits and 1 Marker Drones: 9/1 ML shot, BS 3, 120 points

0.5 networked Markerlight hits, (will use an average of the two scores), 9 shots from burst cannons, 5.25 hits, 3.465 wounds, 1.143 kills

My overall opinion is that you should probably use the maximum number of stealth suits, but if you have the extra points you might as well add in the Targetting Arrays or the Gun Drones, depending on if you expect to see alot of template weapons especially heavy flamers. . .

I don't think the super-sized stealth unit is something that will work well in the long run. Against certain enemies it should work really well, but there are just too many things that can hurt it, and with such a hefty point-cost, it's going to attract every one-hit-wonder weapon the enemy has.

With the massive numbers of drones, you go off of the majority armor save. Could be bad with indirect fire (basilisks, whirlwinds). It also seems like range would be an issue. With such a large unit, and such short range, it seems you'd need to get closer than 18" to ensure the models in the back are in range, too. That means exposing yourself to more return fire or keeping distance and losing some shots.

It's certainly an approach worth considering, but overall I can't see it working that well.

Yeah, as Grimaldi said, the more models you have, the tougher it is to get them all into range and then out of sight.

Big stealth squads just aren't that smart.

With the massive numbers of drones, you go off of the majority armor save. Could be bad with indirect fire (basilisks, whirlwinds).

Explain to me how losing 3-4 12pts drones is somehow worse than losing 3-4 30pts stealths...I just cannot see the connection here.

It also seems like range would be an issue. With such a large unit, and such short range, it seems you'd need to get closer than 18" to ensure the models in the back are in range, too. That means exposing yourself to more return fire or keeping distance and losing some shots.

Well you always have 3" to work with anyway. you are either 18,21,24 or 27" or more away from the enemy since the los check is 2d6*3 so unless you need more than 2 rows which should fit into the 3" you should be fine.

Though if you plan on the full 18 models then the 3" won't be enough I imagine.

The point of this tactic is to so heavily saturate the target unit as to eliminate it in one round of firing.

If this could be achieved, you would only be vulnerable to return fire from supporting units nearby. Given the 6 inch jump back move and the Stealth effect, it might be possible to avoid a lot of this, and you've still got your 3+/4+ armour save too.