Lore/Crunch-wise how do Pulse Rifles compare to the likes of

>>50150587
It fires more slowly, but much more powerfully than both of your standard bolter or a lasrifle. I imagine they're closer to a semi-automatic rifle in terms of RPM.

>>50150587
it's weaker and "safe" Plasma Gun

>>50150615
So basically to win against tau in the lore you have to get close.
And my IG always get btfo on tabletop.

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>that feel when your basic infantry weapon is S5

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Am I the only one that LOVES the look and function of the Pulse Rifle? It's this solid blocky thing that semi-auto fires blue pulses of highly penetrating rounds that in some cases literally blow the target away.

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>>50150615
I was under the Impression that Las rifles and pistols were semi automatic as well

>>50150729
Nah, Tau are pretty sweet all round from an aesthetic standpoint

What exactly does a pulse rifle shoot?

>>50150780

Plasma globes the size of ping pong balls.

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>>50150780

Rape at long distances

>>50150740
they are, some books also have them shooting 3 "round" burst or even full auto

I prefer carbines. Easy to carry them around inside a vehicle and in the streets.

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>>50150780
It turns little metal balls into plasma then launches them at people.

>>50150765
the core idea of the design is solid, but GW has been shitting up the tau more and more since their inception. 80% of their suits and vehicles look fucking retarded.

>>50150729

It's cool, but I feel like it's too long for an army that prizes mobility and mechanised warfare.

>>50151693
It provides a pretty unique role and supplement for all their heavy mechs. If your standard troop is almost like a designated marksman, they'd absolutely rape from afar while the mechs tear shit up, in close range.

>>50150587
Since nobody went into much depth:

Compared to actual legion-based Boltweapons and Hotshot Lasguns they're not massively more powerful, but do hit a notable bit harder. That being said their relatively slow rate of fire and general morphology ensures they're pretty much stuck being dedicated marksman weapons instead of designed for assault. Fantastic when you have a long range difference or entrenched position, drastically worse than a Boltgun in practicality once you hit close assault ranges.

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>>50153088
Consider that a heavy stubber is a .50 caliber machine gun, and the pulse rifle has more stopping power and penetrative capability than that, and it's suddenly really fucking scary.

>>50153577
Its stopping power is nothing short of scary, but that still leaves you with the issues of morphology and decently low rate of fire. Once you get into a close-assault firefight, where even one or two direct hits on the right spots can kill or cripple, something more akin to the Bolter would be preferrable.

In the end, a Pulse Rifle, by modern definitions, is a really nasty sniper rifle. Extremely good at what it does, but not an optimal choice for assault or close engagements.

>>50153619
I would more put it down as a 'battle rifle' (not super accurate terminology) over a sniper rifle, due to apperantly being nimble enough to shoot accuractly on the move. I suspect the gyrostabaliser (the circle on the front) aids quite a bit with that.

But no, for close range firefights it's gonna be awful.

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>>50153619
>>50153776
I mean, sure it's awful at close quarters, but the Tau as a whole are awful at close quarters. If they absolutely need to do CQC, then they'll call upon the Kroot and Gue'vesa. Otherwise, they just retreat until the enemy is a comfortable distance away.

>>50150615
What. Bolters in lore are vastly stronger than pulse rifles. Marines for the most part will actually shrug off pulse rifle shots, whereas with bolters those things tend to be one shot one kills.

>>50153841
In the Codexes they make of a point of saying that Pulse Rifles are stronger.

>>50150729
It doesn't though. Pulse Rifles are penetrators that don't have much kinetic impact. They don't knock you over, they bore a hole through you if they're able to penetrate your armor.

>>50153841
Bolters aren't one-shot kills against Marines by any means, you also have to consider that Marines themselves are incredibly deadly and accurate, and likely know where to aim against Power Armour. Tau, on the other hand, are capable of killing Marines with Pulse Rifles, but the general effect described is the pulses raking across the thicker plates.

That being said, the actual difference between proper Space Marine Bolters and Pulse Rifles in raw power isn't too huge, though Human Bolters are completely outclassed.

>>50150587

Pulse rifles are canon much better than any basic weaponry that IG/nids/eldar can bring to the table.

Bolters are fucking weird, because spess muhreens tend to powercreep/get nerfed to match the plot. You can bet your ass if it's some lone marines' last stand, bolters are instakilling rape cannons - in a big pitched battle with lots of big guns going around, they might as well be launching paintballs

Man, I love the Tau cause they got the future aesthetic with non-retarded tactics going on.

But I also really love the Kriegers too.

What do /tg/? Why no Tau Kriegers?

>>50153916
>Eldar

Debatable, the Pulse Rifle is vastly better in terms of actual force but Shuriken weapons are both much better at penetrating armour and have a much, much higher rate of fire. The Pulse Rifle is thus only better at long range in practical terms, quickly losing advantage the closer you get.

Remember, if 'how hard it hits and how hard it kills things' was the primary deciding factor of a weapon's quality, we wouldn't be going around with M16's.

>>50153860
And the codices are typically bullshit that claim obviously false stuff like the Chaos Gods being motherfucking omnipotent when they get their asses whooped on a regular basis. Plus their basic mechanism for damage it's pretty obvious that bolters are a fuckload more lethal. A bolt is either a supersonic or hypersonic 19mm shell with enough explosive force that one shot can send a 1 tonne object (space marine) flying backwards ten feet upon detonation. The amount of energy contained within those shells is fucking insane, it's basically a 30mm Chaingun with way better penetration.

Pulse Rifles meanwhile focus on punching holes through stuff, but don't have much in the way of explosive force. A bolt has an explosive shockwave where it can cause organ rupture within a meter, so poorly armored infantry standing right next to the impact site might die as well. The Pulse Rifle meanwhile is purely directed energy and has no real splash like an Imperial plasma gun.

It's basically a better version of the Hotshot, but uses plasma instead of heat.

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>>50151246
>Fio Se'Phi'Roth

>>50153894
I wouldn't say so given that seemingly ever god damn marine in the Horus Heresy get shot by a bolter and then falls over dead. I haven't read one yet where combat didn't instantly result in marines piling up.

>>50153965

When the fuck do Chaos gods get their ass whooped? I haven't read much 40k stuff since 4th ed

>>50153965
>Bolters knocking back Marines 10ft

Completely over the average. Boltguns usually don't kill Space Marines on hits to the thicker plates of Power Armour and the concept of it being hypersonic is only found within a few scare sources rather than the average. Meanwhile the Pulse Rifle's shots likely are at hypervelocity since they're technically railguns and the amount of force they impose compared to ammunition mass is ridiculous.

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>>50153960
>are both much better at penetrating armour
Shurikens are like the single shittiest weapon for penetrating armor besides the lasgun in 40k. Shurikens are meant for turning massed light infantry into chunky salsa. A very tiny disc around one molecule thick with fuck-all for mass isn't going to be penetrating much armor at all, and unsurprisingly they don't. Opening up against a marine with a shuriken launcher typically results in most just looking like pincushions with discs sticking out of the plate with one unlucky guy who took one to the neck.

Shuriken weapons are good for one thing and one thing only, dumping thousands and thousands of rounds into a crowd of Orks and telling greenskin superior biology to go fuck itself while it's reduced to sushi. Which isn't to say that's a bad thing, Orks are the most common enemy after all.

But I'd much rather have a bolter, pulse rifle, or gaus flayer.

>>50154067
Practically every story by Dan Abnett has bolters sending people fucking flying (even as much as six meters once), and pulse rifles don't have force. They're plasma, they burn through shit and pop out the other side while the guy shot realizes a couple seconds later that his heart was vaporized. You don't bring a pulse rifle to kill Tyranids.

>>50153862

I recall reading an account where a pulse round punched through a tank and sucked the crew through the quarter-sized exit hole.

>>50154080
Penetrating armour was probably the wrong phrase, but rather the amount of ammunition is so high it's probably going to be hitting the softer spots between your plates eventually, which against Astartes won't do much, especially from the front where you're all covered up. Against Carapace though? There's going to be more than a few ripping through that synthcloth between the ceramite/armaplas plates.

That being said, I concede to your point.

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>>50154116
>and sucked the crew through the quarter-sized exit hole.
Wat

>>50154113

People I remember, but not marines or anything in heavy armor.

>>50154113
How can something that launches matter not have force? It's not light. A ball of plasma is still a ball of matter equivalent to what went in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvrQciFL0ig

>>50154116
No, that was a hammerhead's railgun. It created a vacuum behind itself because of how fast it was going.

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>>50154116
That was actually a rail gun round from a Tau tank

>>50154128
>>50154080
You have seen Shurikens on the tabletop recently? AP 2 on a roll to wound of 6.

>>50154116
That was the railgun on a Hammerhead.

>>50154113
Even plasma has force at hypervelocity, considering it has mass. 'Burning through shit' isn't really a scientifically accurate concept for a smaller bolt of ionized matter either.

>>50154139
No, it'll be losing matter as long as it exists because plasma is not a solid, it's a gas. And I don't recall pulse rifles ever even being described by GW as turning solid ammunition into plasma, that's fan fiction the image posted above.

>>50154190
40k plasma weapon technology is nothing short of spacemagic, the bolts don't really dissipate before hitting their target nor have we ever heard of longer ranges really changing the impact of the weapon until it goes out of its self-containment range as a projectile. It's not unreasonable to suggest a Pulse Rifle hits with a decent amount of force if the pulse is fired at a high enough velocity.

>>50153619
are breacher squads any good?

>>50154262
Their equipment is nothing short of horrifying for close-range troops but the general biology of the Fire Caste (which summed up is even worse than Humans for soldiers, especially at close ranges) keeps their casualty rates really, really high in-canon.

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>>50154080
>Shurikens are like the single shittiest weapon for penetrating armor besides the lasgun in 40k.

They're better than bolters you dumb shit.

AP2 on a 6. They do better at penetrating armour than both bolters and pulse rifles. A squad of dire avengers or even guardians can potentially turn a good number of marines to confetti in the shooting phase.

>>50154190
Plasma is generally considered a separate form of matter to gas. It doesn't follow all the same rules.

>>50153965
Considering that the pulse rifles were developed because the Tau were getting their asses kicked to the curb by orcs I'm pretty sure penetrative capability was less important than pure tissue damage and stopping power. (6th Codex).

The bolter is probably closer to an automatic grenade launcher, say the MK 19. And the pulse rifle has a better chance of stopping an orc than that.

You have the "super penatrative" but shitty stopping power in Hellguns, which are pretty useless against orcs since just putting tiny holes in them won't really slow them down.

>>50154287
ah so blueberry flavored spore mines/Repentias

>>50153841
>Marines for the most part will actually shrug off pulse rifle shots
that's because they have power armour, not because pulse rifles are weak

Anyways what bolters have over pulse rifles is their versatility. Not only are they rugged and capable in any situation, you can also use all those wonderful special shells. Going up against kraken penetrator rounds is pretty scary when your dudes don't have power armour and no longer outrange the shooters.

>>50154142
That was really fucking cool. Funny though how the ricochet hit the camera man

>>50153960
>Remember, if 'how hard it hits and how hard it kills things' was the primary deciding factor of a weapon's quality, we wouldn't be going around with M16's.
And if it wasn't important at all, troops in Iraq wouldn't have been breaking out the m14

>>50153831
>I mean, sure it's awful at close quarters, but the Tau as a whole are awful at close quarters. If they absolutely need to do CQC, then they'll call upon the Kroot and Gue'vesa.

The have breachers as well specialised troopers that are specifically trained and equiped to do close range gun fights

>>50154774
Man breachers were such a mistake. Dunno why they couldn't just give the guns to vespid.

>>50154774
To be fair, though, such individuals are said to have a really high casualty rate compared to the rest of the Tau forces, especially Breachers. The Fire Caste just aren't biologically cut out for close-range combat, which is one of the main reasons why Tau spamming range is a thing in the first place.

>>50154825
>>50154842
I like the idea of breachers, gonna need someone with shotguns clearing out bunkers and space stations from pesky humans. The addition of the area shield drone is quite a neat idea.

Kroot will always stop to each stuff, so they are prolly gonna get distracted, and the Vespids aren't really suitable for cramped quarters due to size and I'm not sure how long reach the strain leader's helmet has.

>>50154455

Marines should just start hoarding Tau weaponry. Ultras with pulse rifles would be bonkers.

>>50154995
demiurge tunnlgard when?

>>50154155

Is that pic related supposed to be Tau or Imperial Guard?

>>50155243
Nah, the Astartes-pattern Boltgun is pretty much straight-up better for what the Marines do, with the design focused a lot more around versatility, especially with different kinds of ammunition. Meanwhile Pulse Rifles only hit a decent, but not ridiculous amount harder.

Scouts with Pulse Rifles, on the other hand, would likely see somewhat improved effectiveness except against heavily armoured targets, where Kraken rounds would outperform the Rifle.

>>50150765
>aesthetic standpoint

This Tau just look and feel the part, wish their was more Tau in the video games

>>50154420
Bolters are nothing like a MK 19, calcs easily put bolters as having 1 megajoule or more of kinetic energy, and that's just the impact as a slug and not counting the following up explosive. MK 19 grenades definitely cannot penetrate eight inches of super steel alloys like bolters can.

>>50150662
Not so much weaker. I believe it was the blood gorgons novel that had CSM's stating that the tau where difficult to fight purely because pulse rifles

>>50155399
Far weaker, Pulse Rifles struggle to penetrate Power Armour while proper legion-sized plasma weapons are used to drop Terminators.

Pulse Rifles fire micro-bursts of plasma, not a fist-sized bolt. Still, they're much more reliable, longer ranged and have a drastically higher ammo count.

>>50155399
Plasma Guns are over two million degrees Fahrenheit and have enough energy density that even if a plasma bolt fired by an Imperial gun misses you, it will still boil your flesh off and/or set you on fire. A plasma pistol is capable of vaporizing a one tonne marine, power armor and all.

>>50154134

There's this video of this crab being sucked into this pipe on the ocean bed through this tiny but incredibly pressurized hole.

I would imagine it would be something like that

>>50150587

What about dark eldar

Their dark lances and splinter weapons are pretty fucking crazy

>>50155629
Yes they are. Dark Lances are one of, if not the most, powerful infantry portable weapons in the whole setting.

>>50155629

I'm perfectly okay with Eldar of all things having the more advanced weapons.

Same with Necrons.

>>50155679
Tachyon Arrows still seem absolutely ridiculous.

>>50155523
>A plasma pistol is capable of vaporizing a one tonne marine, power armor and all.

A melta gun yes, plasma pistol/gun not really. There is a reason plasma doesn't instant death marines.

>The Librarian’s eyes went wide. There was a crater in his breastplate as large as a man’s palm, its edges still molten.
Plasma pistol point blank, Fallen Angels.

>>50155414
Seems like a good comparison, hell, pulse weapon dmg has been misstaken for being caused by plasma weapons by knowledgable characters in the fluff.

>>50155682

Those are one-offs, though, not a primary weapon.

I'd put in for the Skitarii Ranger's Galvantic Rifles. They have the same range as a Pulse Rifle, but trade that extra power for increased armor penetration. Discounting the benefits of greater BS on the side of the Skitarii, they'd wreck an equivalent squad of Fire Warriors simply because they can make their armor saves against the Tau's fire while the Tau can't.

Of course, Tau have a better chance against armored targets because they come out with a higher chance of dealing wounds, and can even scratch the paint off AV11 until it dies. But Skitarii can pack lightning guns for Haywire for that job, while Fire Warriors just have EMP grenades, so have to get in closer where they suck.

>>50150587
i love the cyberpunk feel of tau

but all those fucking giant robots are stupid so i barely have any

also kroot suck. i want my space chickens to fuck up dudes in cc

>>50153894
>Human Bolters are completely outclassed.
Human bolters are identical in power

>>50153965
>And the codices are typically bullshit that claim obviously false stuff like the Chaos Gods being motherfucking omnipotent when they get their asses whooped on a regular basis.

No, they don't.

And the Chaos Gods never got their asses whooped by anyone.

>inb4 HH

The lore shows that they meant for Horus aka the "Sacrificed King" to lose. Also the Emperor can never face the Chaos Gods directly unless he want5s to die.

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>>50156515
How practical would it be to field a tau army with no battlesuits? I personally don't mind them, but I'm curious.

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Railguns as the main battle rifle when? It's funny how quickly they fixed all the issues from prototype to mass-production in a matter of years.

>30" S6 FP1 Rapid Fire

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If the Tau survive, mostly intact, for the next 200 years, how good are their odds of survival?

>>50151246
Wow. That's a lot of shots per magazine. How often do the power cartridges have to be replaced because magazine size is sounding like it is determined by that.

>>50157182

Someone is watching their backs from the shadows, so I say that pretty good.

>>50157182
Logically they would have way too good of a chance and that's why they're a fucking shit heap of a faction.

>>50157182
They would rule the galaxy since the Imperium would have collapsed by that time, the Necrons destroyed themselves in their infighting, and the Tyranids fleets were obliterated by the fighting during the End Times.

>>50157188
A power catridge should have enough energy for 50 shots. Unless I'm misremembering shit badly.

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>>50157182

They will end up creating a machine god.

>>50157182
They will be nommed by bigger Tyranid fleet

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Okay, so what's the minimum time, in your view, that the Tau would need to survive for the time being to be able to stand a chance against the bigger threats in the universe.

>>50157286
They can already stand against the bigger threats in the galaxy. They are a galactic superpower according to the fluff.

>>50156699
Now that infantry can take missile pod drones/turrets? Fairly.

Melta piranhas, some tanks, a core of fire warriors/pathfinders.. you'd at least be viable in a casual setting.

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>>50157310
Wait, really? I feel like I keep getting told how they're just one small crusade from being wiped out.

>>50157286

In 50 years they will double the number of planets.

>>50157328
How about you read ze recent fluff? The kauyon and mont'ka books.

>>50156664
And yet the Chaos Gods are specifically described as fleeing Horus' body in a fearful panic when Horus struck him down. That lore you cite also means nothing- it's the word of a fucking daemon. We have zero reason to take a DAEMON'S word over an omnipresent narrator from the old Horus Heresy fluff.

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>>50157362
Nope, not yet. Although I did hear they got their own Titan class battlesuit, so I guess they really are becoming a threat.

>>50157182
Nill. Chaos will end up destroying everything just like in the End of Times. Either that or the Imperium dusts off one of its STC's its got laying around and kills everything.

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>>50157310
>>50157332
>>50157362
>TFW you can't decide between your Krieger waifu and the only reasonable faction in the game

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>>50157398
If the Tau theoretically took over the galaxy, wouldn't their decreased warp presence and lack of psykers greatly weaken chaos?

>>50157398

Unlike fantasy, you can't afford having an End of Times lasting many centuries or thousands of years.

>>50157182
I'm sorta curious how the Tau are gonna handle the Imperium if they win.

Actual tau will be so massively outnumbered by gue'vesa that from the outside, it will look like the IoM just got a new coat of slightly less totalitarian paint and a tech upgrade rather than the Tau Empire growing bigger.

>>50157310
No they can't. Tau don't even know what a Black Crusade looks like, nor have any means to stop it. Once Chaos, Necrons, Orks, or even just the Imperium gets serious, Tau are fucked.

Literally the only reason why the Tau even are still around is because the Imperium jobs to them. The Imperium could have simply bombarded every single world seized by the tau during the Mont'ka campaign, but because of ((reasons)) they didn't. If the Imperium ever decides to just say "fuck it" and just orbitally bombard every planet, not even exterminatus, just unleash their broadsides and lances which is teratons of energy, they'd wipe everything off the planet surface in a minor extinction event.

>>50157419

>can't

Can.

>>50157428

The Imperium is on its last legs. It's over. It didn't even send a Titan Legion during the last crusade.

>>50157416
You know nothing of Chaos anon. Chaos doesn't need to draw power from anybody, or anyone. According to HH books and new Chaos fluff in general, they already have access to other universes to feed upon, can just create universes within the warp, and predate the 40k universe to begin with. The only hope anybody has of survival is if the Eldar and humanity unite under the God Emperor for a last stand, and that's not likely going to work.

Everything is going to get nommed, again.

>>50150587
Apart from only caapble of firing single shots and 3-shot bursts, while Bolters and Lasguns can switch to full-auto, Pulse rifles are sraight up suerior, with better damage and range, and they even have stopping effect of a bolter.

That being said, imperial guns can be outfitted with lots upgrades and special ammo in case of bullet throwers and bolters, making them orders of magnitude more versatile if you manage to get those upgrades, while pulse rifles are always stock standard with no room to grow.

>>50157423
I could see some sterilization happening if the psyker threats spiral too much out of control.

>>50153776
Wouldn't DMR be more appropriate? I dunno if there's a difference.

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>>50157450
>The only hope anybody has of survival is if the Eldar and humanity unite under the God Emperor for a last stand

WHAT PART OF SUFFER NOT THE XENOS TO LIVE DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND SOLDIER?

Seriously though, the Imperium really is its own worst enemy half the time.

>>50157441
>The Imperium is on its last legs.
Nigga have you even read any warhammer books, in any great amount? The Imperium's fine. it's far more stable and more powerful than it was during M32 with the Beast's invasion that nearly wiped out the Imperium to begin with. Not to mention the Admech actually has an STC stashed away on one world, guarded by an order of monks that hide its location. If they trip over it, they'll be drowning everything in titans before you can say nerf.

The only real problem the Imperium is facing is that the Golden Throne its failing. Which isn't just a problem for the Imperium, but everybody, because if the God Emperor kicks it then Chaos eats everything.

>>50157473
>Seriously though, the Imperium really is its own worst enemy half the time.
Same with the Eldar's arrogance. And their stupidity. Fucking Eldrad managed to fuckup the summoning of Ynnead so now it HAS to have every Eldar sacrificed.

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>>50157481
>I don't know anything about 40k: The Post

It's like you don't even know what Grimdark means anon.

>>50150740
There are hundreds of lasgun patterns with differend firing patterns. Some have full-auto, some don't. Most that do don't get to be turned to full-auto often, since in this mode they're quite power-hungry, eating entire power pack (which is 100 shots in single or 3-shot burst mode, half of that with overcharge) in just a few bursts.

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>>50157492
Better hope it wins the battle against Slaneesh then, cause if it doesn't...

>>50157383
It's not a word of a daemon.

When Horus entered the Gateway to the Gods, future Abaddon's voice came out of it to mock him and the traitors. The gods knew he was going to fail.

And about Gyre. She is utterly loyal to Khayon to the point that she was killing to sacrifice herself to possibly permanent death for his sake. She wasn't your typical daemon.

>We have zero reason to take a DAEMON'S word over an omnipresent narrator from the old Horus Heresy fluff.

And we have ZE-RO reason to take the old HH fluff which was and ir being retconned left and right as valid. Unless you know the future of the BL HH series, you have no room to talk.

>>50157441
Every major faction has the ability to wipe Tau off the space map, but they're all too busy fighting each other. The reason the IoM hasn't just wiped Tau out, is that whenever they think about doing it, suddenly a new Black Crusade, suddenly some new planet turns out to be crawling with Necrons, or they have a new Necron death star out of nowhere, on to of all this they can always count of being under constant attack from nids, orks and chaos all the time at a scale that no other faction has to deal with.

The IoM has been on it's last legs for about 10000 years.

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Just finish the experimenting of Dyson Swarms and Starkiller weapons.

>>50157182
Considering rail rifles are planned to replace pulse rifles as standard striker team weapons in the "nearest future" I'd say the rest of the Universe if fucked if Tau manage to survive next 50 to 70 years without major setbacks.

>>50157508
>And we have ZE-RO reason to take the old HH fluff which was and ir being retconned left and right as valid.
How does that make new HH fluff, which was, and still is being retconned left and right valid.

All we can gather is that black library fluff is worth less than the paper it's printed on, regardless of time period.

>>50157517
Don't know if this is cannon or not but don't they also have a giant beam gun for clearing out Ork planets?

>>50157481
Nope, the timeline section says the Imperium is collapsing. It says that these are the final days of the Imperium.

Why did you lie to us like that?

>>50157428
More lies.

The Tau beat back massive Imperial crusades one after another. The lastest crusade had obe of the largest tank battles EVER fought by the Imperial.

The Tau beat back Tyranids, Ork Waaaghs!, and even the Necrons who they even surpassed in AI technology.

>The Imperium could have simply bombarded every single world seized by the tau during the Mont'ka campaign, but because of ((reasons)) they didn't

For some reason you didn't read the fluff. When the Imperial fleet was invading Agrellan, it was said that the Imperial fleets know how dangerous it is to invade a Tau world because of their manifold of defense systems.

>>50156699
About as paractical as fielding Imperial army without buying options from specialist and heavy weapons. Battlsuits kinda serve the same role, only with JSJ instead of meatshields for protection.

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>>50157533
That's it, I'm joining the Greater Good. Sorry Krieger waifu, it had to be done. I ain't living on rats and rice so I can die for some atheist a-hole.

>>50157428

The Tau have anti-orbital weapons often hidden in stealth fields or under the cover of shields.

>>50157508
>And we have ZE-RO reason to take the old HH fluff which was and ir being retconned left and right as valid. Unless you know the future of the BL HH series, you have no room to talk.
40k has no canon. Unless it is declared a heretic tome, it is still canon.

>>50156699
I haven't played in a few editions but I can imagine it would be really really bad.
You basically lose all your access to special weapons and a lot of your most mobile firepower.

>>50157539
The HH series fluff remained mostly consistent with each other because GW wants it to be the definitive story of the HH.

Already we are seeing retcons like Perpetuals, Cabal, where the Emperor really got his power, etc. So that renders what came before suspect.

>>50157541

It's from 6th edition. No idea about the cannon.

>>50157572
>Unless it is declared a heretic tome, it is still canon.

GW decides what's canon. When something new comes by it overwrites what came before it.

>>50157457
I could see some sterilization happening anyway. Most imperial worlds are hopelesly overpopulated only because manual labor is cheaper than servitors. There's no way tau could bring Hive worlds to their standards of living without reducing their populations by several orders of magnitude.

>>50157579
>The HH series fluff remained mostly consistent with each other
ha ha ha ha ha

At the start, yes. Ten years on? Fuck no. And if they keep dragging it out, it's only going to keep getting worse.

How come the Necrons are super advanced but can't figure out how to beat orks or get their bodies back, yet the Tau are already figuring out the former and weren't stupid enough to necessitate the latter? The Necrons can figure out instant teleportation, but they can't beat an ork or make an organic body...

>>50157551
>Nope, the timeline section says the Imperium is collapsing. It says that these are the final days of the Imperium.
Wow, which just contradicts practically every single black library novel from the same period which just shows the Imperium chugging along as normal.

Gee it's almost like the codices are piles of shit written from the perspective of their own factions with an unreliable narrator, instead of anything reliable.

>The Tau beat back Tyranids, Ork Waaaghs!, and even the Necrons who they even surpassed in AI technology.
No, the Tau have beaten back baby's first WAAAGH, Necron invasion, and Tyranid fleet which was just a splinter fleet. The Tau haven't fought Orks yet who are powerful and old enough to build flying planet battlestations, or use planets as weapons. They haven't fought Necrons that have gotten serious either, or a full scale Tyranid invasion which would not only out number the Tau, but probably outmass their collection of planets.

Ultimately the Tau fluff is all dogshit, and a perfect example of GW's shitty modern writing, because everything they fight is crippled or a minor version of the real deal so the Tau can win at the end of the day. Because if the Tau ever fight something full scale, they will be completely bulldozed because they only number in the billions against quandrillions of enemies, or enemies who are literally infinite. Plus at the end of the day, they're a literal dot on the map due to encompassing a space so small that some Chapters control a wider swath of territory.

>>50157606
>There's no way tau could bring Hive worlds to their standards of living without reducing their populations by several orders of magnitude.

Actually, the Tau wouldn't need sterilization. The 6th ED codex says that Tau are in a desperate need for manpower to fuel their empire. That's why the Tau go around targetting worlds with massive population to exploit this much needed resource.

In the Damocles novel, the Tau have been funneling humans from the hive worlds they have captured to the heartlands of their empire so that they can settle and work for the Greater Good.

>>50157587
Nope, that is not what the head of the Black Library stated years ago. Everything since then like shits like Laurie rank lower than him, ergo their word doesn't matter. You're taking the opinions of workers and peons and acting like they matter instead of what GW actually considers policy. Everything is canon so long as it doesn't have that big 'ol Heretic Tome marker slapped on it, because all information in 40k actually exists in-universe. There is no such thing as reliable, credible information on anything in 40k.

Therefore everybody here, discussing this shit is a total retard, because none of it matters. You do not know if anything in 40k is true, because most of it is lies.

>>50157621
How would they handle the psyker threat though?

And what are they planning to do about Farsight?

>>50157621
It'd be quicker and cheaper to supercharge bith rates of their existing population (remember: their reproduction is state-controlled) that re-educate imperial hive worlders to operate Tau manufacturing tech.

>>50157616
>they're a literal dot on the map due to encompassing a space so small..
>Chapters control a wider swath of territory.

You mean empty space? Empty space is not a valuable resource. The density of stars in the region is much higher. It's a densely packed star cluster.

>>50157636

Whatever the puppet masters behind the Ethereals say.

>>50157616
>Wow, which just contradicts practically every single black library novel from the same period which just shows the Imperium chugging along as normal.

Nope, it does not. Every novel set in the 990 + 41K period tells us how fucked the Imperium is.

For example, the Deathwatch nocel says that the Imperium is focusing on the 13th Black Crusade while Tyranids, Necrons, and hundreds of xenos races to do as they leave to the regions that are left unprotected by the Imperial needs for resources and men for the war against Abaddon.

>Gee it's almost like the codices are piles of shit written from the perspective of their own factions with an unreliable narrator, instead of anything reliable.

All codexes agree that the Imperium is fucked.

>No, the Tau have beaten back baby's first WAAAGH, Necron invasion, and Tyranid fleet which was just a splinter fleet. The Tau haven't fought Orks yet who are powerful and old enough to build flying planet battlestations, or use planets as weapons. They haven't fought Necrons that have gotten serious either, or a full scale Tyranid invasion which would not only out number the Tau, but probably outmass their collection of planets.

Nope, the fluff has them fighting massive Waaaghs!, big Imperial crusades, a Hive fleet and many many splinters, and many other things.

So you acting like spoiled child ignoring fluff that is presented in the codexes and novels because of your FEELS. Grow up. Nobody cares about your opinion, only facts here.

>>50157636
>And what are they planning to do about Farsight?

Shadowsun was order to hunt him down.

As for the psykers, they have their ways. Though, they were never explained.

>>50157665
Okay, and how are they going to travel the warp once they have spread out too thin? Do you think they'll have developed the Necron method by then, or will they go with their standard method?

>>50157682

Personally I'd like something like the mass relays from Mass Effect, just for a change.

>>50157695
Maybe Star Trek style warp drives, or wormholes?

>>50157636

Tau have peculiar chemistry in their brain that prevents them from having a big imprint in the Warp. Perhaps it can be replicated. In any case, they already have all-psyker species under their rule like the Nicassar.

>>50157631
>Nope, that is not what the head of the Black Library stated years ago.

You mean the guy who no longer works for GW or BL?

And no. GW defines the canon. Newer trumps older sources. For example, Newcrons lore trumps Oldcrons lore. The Oldcron is obsolete lore that got thrown away. The Emperor being hotshit is similarly obsolete shit that will be thrown away.

>>50157666
do they please*

>>50157682
They invented THREE FTL drives in the last 300 years, each orders of magnitude faster than the previous one. Slingshot drive they used in the 3-d sphere phase is just few times slower than Warp drive. The drive they'd invent in the next century is going to supass Warp drive if the pattern continues.

>>50157715
I really need to catch up on the fluff, I'm the idiot who keeps asking questions in this thread.

>>50157715
Actually, in a period of thousand of years.

The Tau first engine in the FSE was STL
The Tau second engine in the SSE was near-light
The Tau third egnine in the TSE was finally FTL but slow compared to the Imperials warp engine.

>>50157722
Yeah. It took Farsight years to cross the Damocles gulf the first time with teh old generation FTL drives in 750-es M41, while Kor'Or'Vesh fleet crossed it in just two months in 999 M41

>>50157784
Is Farsight developing tech in any significant amount? Cause if he's not then I don't see him lasting long.

>>50157810

He's very good at stealing tech from the Empire.

>>50157822
He's not. His supporters inside the Empire are.

>>50157810
O'Vesa who is Farsight's long lived friend is developing a lot of technology for the Enclave. In fact, the Earth caste have an entire planet for their own in the enclave do to tinker and experiment.

Also the Farsight sympathizers in the Tau Empire leak and sent technology to the Enclaves. The Tau new space engine and schematics of the new Tau suits were smuggled to the enclaves by a hot headed Tau gurl.

>>50157822

It makes me wonder if he's getting support from a faction of the Ethereals.

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>>50157850
Aun'shi is very likely supporting Farsight.

Would it be possible for the Farsight Enclaves and the Ethereals to ever reconcile? Or any outcome that doesn't involve one wiping the other out?

>>50157897
There is a prophecy about Farsight succumbing to madness and becoming the "Mon'tshaar" aka the Flame that burns dark. This will lead to disaster for the Tau.

So far, the prophecy has been proceeding as was foretold. However, Farsight intends to change his fate. So it all depends on his ability to escape what destiny has in store for him.

>>50150587
Pulse Rifles are just the best basic infantry weapon in the game. Because of this, their basic infantry shoot better than anyone else basic infantry. Hands down.
Better than the older and higher tech Eldar.
Better than the better trained superhuman Space Marines.
Because blue-space-communist-techno-magic? Emperor fucking knows.

It is one of the reasons why I hate them and everything they stand for. They are some kind of fan-wank that got spooged all over 40k.

.. fuck the models look sweet though.

>>50157933
Consider how shuriken catapults are twice smaller, five times lighter and have three times more magaxine size it's obvious they're higher tech than pulse rifles - it's just that Eldar designed them as carbines for hip-firing on the run to capitalize on their soldiers' mobility that preven them from being a strong and long ranged as tau pulse rifles.

>>50157933
>their basic infantry shoot better than anyone else basic infantry.

No, they don't.

>>50154080
Nigga, Shuriken weapons got universal pseudo rending.
All to wound rolls of 6 have AP 2.
They can kill carnifexes.

>>50157710
Then show it where, directly, a chief GW exec stated such. Because all we have on the subject is the Black Library head. No conflicting statement has been made by a head of one of GW's departments.

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>>50155640
>mfw I have a Deldar Kill team with a Scourge that has a Dark Lance, and a specialist rule that grants it the double of it's range as additional range.

54 fucking inches.
Nobody is safe.

>>50158002
>>50158002
He said it on the old BL forums and it seems to only be his opinion. GW never made any official statement on the lore

And you never addressed the whole Newcron and Oldcron thing. What's the valid lore here. Which one will GW use to write its stories and expand upon? The old lore which says that all the Necrons are mindless slaves of the C'tan, or the Newcron lore which has Necrons being from various dynasties with conflicting agendas and goals?

All lore is equal right? So you are telling me that GW will write a story or a codex which say that Necrons are slaves of the C'tan and that there are only 4 C'tan in the galaxy.

>>50157106
the rail rifle isn't nearly that goo....(checks codex)
jesus, imagine that mass produced.

>>50158039
The only retcon in 40k it s a heretic tome. So yes, the information is still valid, even if it conflicts. Same with Rogue Trader.

>>50158149
According to the Munitorm series, the Tau are working on making the Railguns the mainstay weapon of Fire Warriors.

Replace the Pulse Rifle with the Rail Rifle for the average fire warrior. How things will be different in the TT?

>>50158168
Nope, you lie. it means that there is established canon where the newer fluff overwrites the older. The Oldcron lore doesn't simply conflict but it's obsolete to GW's setting.

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>>50158173
They'll be more capable of expanding and less capable of being wiped out.

Basically, every year the Tau gradually gain recognition on the galactic stage as an empire that can hold its own, and as a result the Imperium loses more and more ground to them.

The biggest threat to the Tau right now is internal, with Farsight as the greatest danger. A civil war would not be good for them at this stage.

But, should they get rid of Farsight or deal with that conflict some other way, then they will be pretty well set. The best chance the Empire has of wiping them out would be if they launched a big crusade right now, but of course they can't do that because they're always busy handling threats they consider bigger. But the longer the Imperium waits to launch a crusade against the Tau, the bigger that Crusade will have to be for it to be successful.

>>50158173
>How things will be different in the TT?
Broken. Worse then 3E necrons. Worse then windrider and wave serpent spam. Worse tehn cronssant swarm. Worse than the fish of fury.

Basically no one would play against Tau any more, because they would become That Guy army.

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>no fire warrior gf

JUST

>>50151246
I desire such a sexy weapon. Time to become a Gue'vesa or a Radical Inquisitor.

>>50153944
Even Tau have the good sense not to be mopey edge lords with a death wish.

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>>50158461
But no Krieger waifus with the tau...

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>>50150587
How do pulse rifles compare to this? https://youtu.be/X8luvCjDt4U

>>50158188
Except you have no proof, because no head of GW has stated anything since the old Black Library issue. Your idea of 'canon' in 40k is purely one of your own construction.

>>50154319
>citing modern eldar rules
I thought everyone agreed to just ignore that horribly broken shit?

>>50158602
Nope, it's from Laurie Goulding.

>GW has stated anything since the old Black Library issue

Nope, that guy's statement wasn't official either.

So we assume that GW's canon works as any fictional canon.

And again, you ignore the newcron situation. Show me anywhere,any source since the introduction of the Newcrons that talks about the Oldcron lore as if it's a thing. If it's still valid, then GW would use it, right? It won't disappear from the face of the earth.

>>50158637
>Nope, it's from Laurie Goulding.
No, you mean a piece of text that has been resposted on this board that completely removes the context of the post. And Goulding isn't the head of the Black Library.

>
And again, you ignore the newcron situation. Show me anywhere,any source since the introduction of the Newcrons that talks about the Oldcron lore as if it's a thing. If it's still valid, then GW would use it, right? It won't disappear from the face of the earth.
No, the burden of proof is on you to show, where specifically, GW has stated it to be non canon.

>>50150587

Kicks the shit out of basic imperial weapons. Not quite as good as Gauss or Shuriken though.

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>>50158668
>No, you mean a piece of text that has been resposted on this board that completely removes the context of the post. And Goulding isn't the head of the Black Library.

GL is quoting a different head of BL. He quoting the current head whom he works with. The quote you talking about comes from the previous head who hasn't been working for BL for nearly a decade.

>No, the burden of proof is on you to show, where specifically, GW has stated it to be non canon.

No, the burden of proof is on you. You are one saying that GW has to established canon despite the fact that GW has one.

>GW has stated it to be non canon.

Newcron codex.

>>50158684
Shuriken and Splinter weapons are pretty god damn horrifying if you think about them.
Same goes for monofilament weapons.

>>50153088

They are significantly more powerful though. Plasma slugs are a big jump in armour pen and raw strength. They also have burst fire. Longer range too.

>>50150587
They lack the versatility (Different ammunition types; Kraken rounds etc.) and rapid fire of the bolter.

Their weapons severely lack variety, which have the potential to hurt them immensely (Hive Fleet Dusa comes to mind)

That being said, they are stronger than the lasgun and edge out the Hellshot in most scenarios.

They are roughly comparable to Base Admech
weapons, Eldar infantry, Standard bolters unmodified and without special munitions
stronger than IG/Ork/Tyranid but ultimately weaker than Upper Echelon weapons (Dark Eldar/Eldar/Necron)

>>50154080

>I have never read anything about shurikens ever!

Shurikens "cut through power armour like flesh" according to Deathwatch: Swordwind. They are monomolecular shards that fire hundreds of rounds in the space of seconds. There is no other basic weapon as good as penetrating infantry armour. They have Blade Storm for a very good reason.

>>50158694

For clarity sake.

Marc Gascoigne who was an editor and publisher in at BL? said this on the GW forum nearly a decade ago :

"Keep in mind Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 are worlds where half truths, lies, propaganda, politics, legends and myths exist. The absolute truth which is implied when you talk about "canonical background" will never be known because of this. Everything we know about these worlds is from the viewpoints of people in them which are as a result incomplete and even sometimes incorrect. The truth is mutable, debatable and lost as the victors write the history..."

"Here's our standard line: Yes it's all official, but remember that we're reporting back from a time where stories aren't always true, or at least 100% accurate. if it has the 40K logo on it, it exists in the 40K universe. Or it was a legend that may well have happened. Or a rumour that may or may not have any truth behind it.
Let's put it another way: anything with a 40K logo on it is as official as any Codex... and at least as crammed full of rumours, distorted legends and half-truths."

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>>50158724
BL forum*

There was NO head of GW or BL ever commenting of GW's canon. It's just editors stating their opinions or quoting their bosses.

Here is the current editor in BL quote about the canon. (picture related). I'll go with the guy who currently has a job in the GW franchise.

>>50158698

I think the most horrifying aspect of them is that they're often said to be very quite. Little more than a whisper. Imagine being johnny guardsman and being on your post for routine guard duty. Then as you're lighting your cigarette you hear a gentle whine. You turn to your buddy to ask if he heard that and he just fucking comes apart.

>>50158694
>GL is quoting a different head of BL. He quoting the current head whom he works with. The quote you talking about comes from the previous head who hasn't been working for BL for nearly a decade.
Which doesn't matter because Laurie has no proof for shit. He's claiming to speak on behalf of another guy who hasn't spoken up. His word means nothing, it's just as worthless as Gav Thorpe's and ADB's opinions because he isn't the head.

It also doesn't matter that the guy no longer works there. It's the highest statement we've received from inside GW as of yet, and nothing of a higher authority has repealed it.

And the burden of proof is not on me, it's still on you because you have not posted a canon policy released by GW. Instead you have just posted an opinion piece that is also completely out of context. Laurie is talking about minor retcons for name changes.

>>50158719
And according to Gav Thorpe they do jack shit to power armor with shuriken fire only dropping a couple marines when opened up on. I'm going to take the loremaster of Elves over some random GW fuckface.

>>50158732
>There's a branded term for non-canon books. It's Heretic Tomes. Everything else is canon, until/unless GW says otherwise.

Holy fuck it's just what I've been saying all along! Unless it's labeled a Heretic Tome by GW, it's still canon.

>>50158748
>It also doesn't matter that the guy no longer works there. It's the highest statement we've received from inside GW as of yet, and nothing of a higher authority has repealed it.

see >>50158732
>>50158724

He has the same authority of Laurie Goulding. Both are (were in the case of Mac) editors at BL. His statement is not higher than the other guy. Laurie's statement is more recent though.

>And the burden of proof is not on me,

Yes, it's on you. In the case of no official statments of how their canon works. We go with how canon works by default. You got to prove it isn't the case.

>>50158763
>until/unless GW says otherwise.

Which means until GW overwrites it by newer canon like what he says in >>50158694

>>50158773
>Yes, it's on you. In the case of no official statments of how their canon works. We go with how canon works by default. You got to prove it isn't the case.
Wat.

No it's on you to prove that there is even a canon policy in that case. Canon is something declared by a COMPANY. There is no 'default assumption' regarding it, merely an open question because no statement has been made. Only the IP owner has the authority to make a canon policy, that is the default.

>>50150672
You always have to get close to Tau to win.

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>>50158755

That's not actually true. Nowhere is it stated shuriken are ineffective against marines in Thorpes series. Even if it did, that series has been retconned in a number of ways and this instance would be no different. Shuriken are explicitly stated to effective at piercing armour in Munitorum saying that they can even punch through walls. Almost as if constant laser stream of imperceptibly small munitions is a really good way of finding any chinks in eye lenses, breathers of joints.

>>50158792
It goes without saying. Do you see WoW making a canon policy? Or any other gaming setting? No.

You are the one claiming that GW has some special snowflake canon policy method. I want to see where GW said that.

>>50158741
Yeah.
Lorewise they apparently don't make that much of sound, though that is hardly ever reflected in vidya.

>>50150587
Do any IG use autoguns/stubbers in the lore? If so, in what situations? I feel like they would be good against the nids. I know that the heavy vehicles ones are supposed to be a compromise between bolters and lascannons in terms of balance between anti-infantry and anti-armor.

>>50158964
Auto-guns and stubbers require vast hoards of ammo though. They are also stated to be much MUCH weaker and heavier than the base Lasgun in the lore.

Besides, the lasgun have unlimited ammo, ridiculous amt of ways to recharge and bigger range.

>>50155629
>>50155640
What are the Darklight weapons even?
Anti matter guns?

>>50159115
Two Words:
>Gauss Weapons

>>50158964
'Try Again' Bragg

>>50159143
How are they relevant to the Darklight weapons?

>>50153965
ok sperg calm down

>>50153965

>Codexes don't count because of this shit I just made up

>>50158964
>>50159022
Auto-guns are said to be largely as effective as lasguns, but strategically they cause unnecessary logistical issues due to an entirely new ammo supply being needed. Their high rate of fire is the main advantage. They're probably great for cqc.

As for stopping power, I think they actually have an edge over lasguns. Laser are better at cutting through armor, but they fire a very thin beam which cauterizes the wound. Bullets will generally cause nastier wounds.

So the autogun can have some tactical advantages against some enemies, but the lasgun is more versatile and a Bette strategic choice.

Now autocannons, on the other hand, are the opposite in terms of versatility. From the wiki:

"Although the Autocannon is quite common, its popularity is rather inconsistent. Many Imperial commanders shun use of the Autocannon, maintaining that it serves no role fully. It lacks the firing rate of a Heavy Bolter or Multi-Laser, meaning that its anti-infantry power is limited. It also lacks the sheer armour-piercing hitting power of a Krak Missile or Lascannon, and thus cannot be deployed to destroy enemy armour. It is, as a result, chided by many commanders.

However, although many disapprove of the Autocannon, there are just as many who hail it as a tactically vital weapon. Its supporters argue that its versatility is its best attribute; that it can in fact be useful against both infantry and armour. Although it cannot tear through ranks of infantry like an Assault Cannon can, or bring down enemy armour to the extent of a Lascannon, it can still support an army in any eventuality. However, it is against the Tyranids that the Autocannon finds its true calling. The ability to deliver larger volumes of heavy firepower is vital in combating the larger Tyranids such as Hive Tyrants and Carnifex, which lack the natural armour to require the penetrating power of a Lascannon, but are too tough to be threatened by a Heavy Bolter."

assuming a 1:1 comparison on a purely killing basis, there is no contest, a pulse gun outranges and outdamages both the lasgun and the bolter

when you consider factors such as logistics and strategy, things even out a bit, the pulse gun perfectly suits the tau, the increased range synergies with markerlight spam and not dying in CQC, while the lasgun can be crapped out by the million, allowing you to field large amounts at once

this entire discussion is similar to a supposed question in the US officers exam "panther or T-34". it doesnt really matter what you pick, but how you consider both their strengths and weaknesses and apply them.

>>50159466
> Laser are better at cutting through armor, but they fire a very thin beam which cauterizes the wound

70% water, lasers do great against human flesh and make much nastier wounds then any bullet can.

>>50159466
As >>50160124 said, lasguns nasty. Fluff wise they superheat the water in your body where they hit leading to a nice explosion, that can take your arm off. So quite the opposite of cutting through armour.

>>50150587
Lasrifle will take off a hand.
Pulse rifle will take off a forearm
Bolter shell will take off an arm
Kraken shell will take off a torso.

There. Happy now?

>>50153894
>That being said, the actual difference between proper Space Marine Bolters and Pulse Rifles in raw power isn't too huge, though Human Bolters are completely outclassed.
Human bolters are only infinitesimally weaker than SM bolters, ignore the idiocy of DoW 2 saying SM Bolters are .998 cal instead of .75

>>50162275
Human bolters are physically lighter and have shorter barrels. The biggest difference would be a loss of recoil compensation and long range accuracy. You would also lose initial gyrojet speed (with a lower max speed) which reduces total range and makes them less effective in CQC.

The difference in power wouldn't be too much. The loss in range and accuracy would be huge. The loss of CQC isn't important because if you're firing a bolter point blank without heavy armor you're fucked anyway.

>>50159115
Prevailing AdMech theory is that they are either remotely tethered to or contain a black hole. Each shot siphons a small mote of 'exotic matter' from the aforementioned phenomenon. The destruction of everything in the shot's path is either the result of intense Hawkings radiation or matter being collapsed into the space of an atom by the tidal forces exerted by the hyper dense substance being projected, thereby appearing to simply vanish.

>>50159197
My guess would be that he's a Necronfag trying to imply that darklight a shit because his faction has electromagnetic flayer guns.

>>50150740
Most are, theu vary. The simolest are single shot that have to be recharged after every shot, the most advanced can fire in any mode you would like at any rpm you like, also talking barrels and modifications esentially making them the equivalents of muskets to SOCOM's Mk.18 carbine. Depends on the unit, their homeworld, their role, and their supplier. From hat I understand the majority of cadian style rank and file troops lasguns are semiautomatic.

>>50153776
Somewhere between battle rifle and DMR. Battlerifles are standard issue weapons, that use full rifle rounds as opposed to an intermediate round. I don't know how to correspond with directed plasma. A DMR is a rifle designed to provide more accurate fire than the typical line rifle but to be widely issued, about one in every squad. If they all have them and they aren't shooting cases like we describe, it is hard to decide if they are either.

>>50151246
>Silicon Steel
You mean cast iron?

>>50151246
In older fluff they used to shoot the metal bold surrounded by a thin sheen of plasma but they changed that.

>>50154190
>>50154371
To follows similar rules about dissipation, but all plasma weapons use magnetic bottling to prevent that.

>>50153841

>Bolter S4
>Pulse Rifle S5

lol

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Gauss weapons are the most powerful in terms of lore.

Especially gauss blasters like the ones found on warscythes

>>50150729
I personally hate the square ass rifles, love them functionally though.

>>50153841
Nope, pulse rifles are notably stronger, marines only tank them better than tau do bolters, because marines tank everything better.

>>50165700
Nope. See >>50162770

Both on the tabletop and in the fluff, dark lances and the like are basically the most potent firearms a human-sized creature can run around with.

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>>50151246
>hundreds of feet per second
Wow, it can match my paintball gun. I'm shocked.

>>50150587

they have greater stopping power than las-guns, -shoota's, fleshborers and are better at penetrating armour too.

they have a better range than any other basic infantry gun in the setting baring the ranger long rifle, but are unwieldy in a close quarters firefight

the eldar guns are worst on a round per round basis but the bullet hose nature of the weapon makes it incredible in a close range fire fight

the bolter is strictly speaking a better firearm due to its versatility, but standard bolt rounds are again shorter ranged than the pulse rifle

the dark eldar guns have the advantage of being essentally hollow point rounds that some sadistic fuck wrapped in acid and poison and so are likely to kill from even grazes or fleshwounds, but have shitty armour pen comparable ROF

the admech and the necrons shit all over tau tech, the necrons in particular due to the "flay you at an atomic level" aspect of their weapons giving them incredible armour pen and stopping power, allowing them to even wreck vehicles in large numbers

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>>50158233

the biggest threat to the tau right now is the unholy shitstorm of a hivefleet heading directly for the eastern fringe

the second biggest threat to the tau farsight waking up and realising the etherials are fucking pricks and splitting off from them entirely, which is looking pretty fucking likely.

the third greatest threat is the fact that they're sharing space with the sautekh Dynasty on the eastern fringe, the only reason this is the third greatest threat is because its only a potential one Imotekhs a fairly reasonable guy by necron standards but if they're naive and stupid enough to poke necron ruins (which they are) he'll slap their shit

>>50156699

It'd be practically immobile unless you want to shell out for Devilfish, and rely on its Heavy Support slots to get things done. Hammerhead time.

Fire Warriors would have to be taken in gunline without transports. And a Cadre Fireblade and Ethereal would go a long way in getting the most out of those troops. Pathfinders are great for Markerlights and they can hold some powerful special weapons as a few-of. Tetras are more mobile if you only want Marker Lights and want them survivable. Otherwise, you can spend that Fast Attack slot on a flyer. You can pretty much just ignore the Elite slot.

>>50166637
>the eldar guns are worst on a round per round basis but the bullet hose nature of the weapon makes it incredible in a close range fire fight

You mean shuriken weapons specifically?

Fluff describes them as cutting through power armour like stubbers cut through flesh. They have basically zero stopping power but a burst of shuriken fire can instantly decapitate a Marine. Their weakness isn't their penetrating power or their lethality (they're way better than bolters AND pulse rifles for killing armored foes), it's their effective range. They cut through solid bulkheads at relatively close ranges but the projectiles degrade comparatively quickly.

There's a reason they have rending.

>>50166779
That smug motherfucker has no right to be that comfy.

>>50158501
Better yet, a tau waifu for a krieg shota
http://imgur.com/zCAXuZo

>>50157182
>>50157398
>>50157423
I'm gonna LOL if the Tau survive the End Times by being too small and insignificant for any of the major powers to put any effort into crushing.

>>50168457
They're gonna get fucked by the nids cause of their genestealer world.

>>50157621
Oh, boy. Are the Tau going to get Culturally Enriched? Imagine the fanboy tears when their Gueva'sa peons start a civil war in the middle of their empire...

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>>50168327

>>50168327
WTH am I looking at?

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>>50168327
I must know the story to this.

>>50168457
Actually, the Imperium did put effort into fighting the Tau (Kauyon and Mont'ka'). the Imperium got defeated.

So please go be a loser somewhere else.

>>50166779
>the biggest threat to the tau right now is the unholy shitstorm of a hivefleet heading directly for the eastern fringe

Leviathan has a few splinters in the region. The bulk of it is in Segmentuum Solar heading towards Terra.

And Imotekh is focusing on the Ultramarines because of the whole Stars of Khaine and Damnos thing.

The Tau are alright. The Imperium is fucked.

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>>50169532
I don't know where this idea that the Tau could be crushed by the Imperium at any time comes from, if that was really the case the Imperium would do it right now before the Tau start mass producing rail rifles, riptides, and combat naval vessels. The Tau beat back a minor crusade when they were much less developed than they are now, and it will only get worse from there. It's important to understand that the Tau are small, but efficient. They don't have the massive waste that the Imperium has, so they are able to do a lot more with the little they have.

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>>50168522

I think that they picked that step at random. It was conquered in 999. This means that the uprising is future event since i happens 20 years later, if I recall correctly.

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>>50168327
This reminds me, what would happen if the Tau learned how to make Kriegers of their own? Like they learned Vitae Womb and took a new colony and started breeding their own guevesa Krieg troopers? Would they want to do that?

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>>50170010
The Tau Krieg troopers would look and act like regular Krieg troopers, just dying for the Greater Good instead of the Emperor of Mankind.

>>50170010

They already have baby factories where they can breed Tau in one of their genetic experiments, according to Black Library. It's not too far away.

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>>50170010
My guess for the biggest reason they might not make Krieg style troopers is because they don't fit in well with the tactics that the Tau are used to using. The siege style heavy attrition warfare is not favored by the Tau.

However, it is possible that they would be incorporated as a type of meatshield to keep the enemy in place while the rest of the Tau armies outmaneuver the Imperium army. The static warfare of the Tau Kriegers could delay the enemy long enough for orbital and aerial bombardment, and flanking to take place. Plus it has the added bonus of the Tau Krieg troopers never rebelling against the Tau thanks to their indoctrination.

>>50168559
>>50168570
>>50168732
There was this series of stories where Krieg lowered the draft age even further (usually 15) to compensate for the heavy losses on Vraks.

Basically, they added a "jr" legion like Cadia to add to their loss absorption and manpower capacity for their main regiments and the Cadians weren't pleased when they saw these soldiers and did not appreciate the comparison. They started calling them 'Blackshields' just so that people don't get the wise idea of calling these things Whiteshields which I suppose made sense because their helmets were black and krieg couldn't be assed to pony up the black paint stripe.

They were known to have a heavier attrition rate due to their inferior training and were usually placed at the fronts where warm bodies shooting en masse were to be most useful ie meatgrinder operations. Krieg eventually recovered from the losses that they could keep up with the tithes but still decided to deploy a few legions of these just because they were so damn useful to the main regiments that they were attached to and the survivors who lived past their first year also made great soldiers they were absorbed into their main regimental force.

I'm not sure if this was all an excuse to write /ss/ stories featuring the Krieg or writing smut was a way to get attention for his OC but the write/draw fag did a couple of stories where these soldiers had encounters with varying females back when the weekend smut general was still a thing.

To my memory we had like three stories, A Grenadier and a Ratling, An Engineer and an Earth caste and an Officer and a Hospitaller Sororita. The pic story was featured a truce between Imperium and Tau due to a DE incursion and the Engineer in question was a survivor from a distraction suicide mission who found and liberated an earth caste. He later realized that the conflict ended in a three way wipe, and he was stuck planetside with a Tau that followed him around like a lost puppy.

>>50168552
>Gue'vesa start a multi planetary Civil war
>Tau begin to panic
>They think its a pro Imperium
>Oh shit oh shit oh shit
>Supression cardre surprised when the Gue'vesa aren't shooting at them
>In fact they seem to be killing each other
>They realize its an internal conflict over the interpretation of the greater good
>Other tau get recruited into either sides cause
>Begin to panic for real as the empire literally gets torn in two with full on fanatics on either side
>This will later go to Tau history as the 'Greater-Good heresy'
>The winner forms an inquisition of sorts that is designed to root out survivors of the opposition
>Tau populace gets terrorized by its own ruling class
>Exasperated Ethereals going "B-but were right here!" as the high lords of Tau begin plotting their next cull

>>50154134
You're not /k/ at all are you? IRL some of our hypervelocity anti-tank munitions do almost literally that. They're really fucking hard, go really fucking fast, and create a hell of a vacuum.

For an additional dose of real life horror, depleted uranium penetrators are self sharpening and set fire to the air inside a tank as they fly through them. For a few milliseconds, you're being shredded by microflecks of slightly radioactive, flaming material right before whatever is left of you and your friends gets sucked through a hole the size of your thumb at jettisoned out of your tank.

Not big on 40k but i remember seeing pics of Ultras with tau style guns and armor. Anyone mind shedding some light on that?

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How good is Fire Warrior armor? Is it as good as carapace armor?

>>50153996
shot by other marines aiming, and hitting at throats, faceplates and other weakpoints, however, most bolters can penetrate power armor easy enough, especially at short ranges, Space Marines can take a lot of Punishment still.

>>50157402
>the only reasonable faction in the game
Orks?

>>50150587
Tau pulse rifles are actually less powerful than IoM plasma weapons, but they shoot farther and dont explode in your face like IoM plasma weapons.

>>50170010

Clone troopers would happen.

>>50174221
Carapace amour tends vary in effectiveness depending on where it's made.

I would guess that Tau armour is in the upper region of flak armour effectiveness, and more standardized than Imperial equipment.

>>50166182
when you're dealing with high-energy balls of plasma, velocity isn't such a big deal.

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>>50174505
Welp, I'm ready for this

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>>50170010
>>50170045
>>50170132
Actually, this made me think. Apparently the Tau have trouble reproducing among themselves, so if they do have baby factories on the way that would greatly aid their manpower (taupower?) problem. Pluse they could use the baby factories to produce humans, kroot, vespids, and other species to bolster their army.