Some further Tau Analysis

I've been continuing to play around with lists and got a game in against Spaguatyrine.  He ended up winning still, but I did much better than old Tau two weeks ago.  I played a Tau only 1850 list:

Commander w/ Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Target Lock, Vectored Retro Thrusters, Irridium Armor, Puretide Neurochip.
Cadre Fireblade
3x Crisis Suits w/ Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod
Riptide w/ Ion Accelerator, Positional Relay, Early Warning Override
Riptide w/ Ion Accelerator, Positional Relay, Early Warning Override
12x Firewarriors
12x Firewarriors
10x Kroot
10x Kroot
10x Pathfinders w/ 3x Rail Rifles and EMP grenades
6x Pathfinders
3x Broadsides w/ 2x Railsides and 1x Missileside all with Velocity Tracker
Skyray w/ Smart Missiles
Hammerhead w/ Smart Missiles, Submunitions

The trick to this army was to get a Riptide across the board to bring in one Pathfinder and two Kroot squads from the back table edge.  It sort of worked.  I messed it up by sending the Pathfinders at a different target and left the Kroot unsupported.  Had I used them in a more concentrated fashion it might have worked better.

I'm starting to think the Commander is a little to pricey for what he does.  He's got some great upgrades and is pretty tough.  You can kit him out to do just about anything.   Though with the decreased cost of everything else in the codex, you can take a unit just about anything else instead for the same points cost.

People who are complaining about Broadsides being nerfed have obviously been forgetting to fire the Smart Missiles.  OMG, Smart Missiles   Not just an afterthought anymore.  30" range, twin linked, no LOS, and ignores cover.  I'm think of running Devilfish just so I can have some more.  The Missileside is especially impressive.  Broadsides really shine when using supporting fire overwatch.  Though I may have been playing suits and supporting fire wrong.  I didn't notice that the wording on the multi-tracker was changed to "may fire an additional weapon in the shooting phase"  I'd like to think RAI is that the suit can fire both weapons in overwatch, because overwatch follows all normal shooting rules.  But RAW seems to go the other way.  Still just firing a bunch of ST5 twin-linked shots during overwach is nothing to sneeze at.  Counter fire defensive systems may be a reasonable upgrade for Broadsides if not taking the Velocity Tracker.

Pathfinders are way too squishy now with their lower armor save.  It means they need to go to ground just about anytime they are shot at.  Which means snap-firing their marker-lights.  And leadership 7 without a Shas'ui sees them running off the table half the time.  Drone Squadrons may be the way to go for markerlight support.  With JSJ you can hide them out of line of sight and make them a little more survivable.  They are only BS2, but with an attached drone controller commander(expensive) or by chaining marker light hits from a Fireblade, that can be mitigated.

Still loving Riptides.  Can't bring myself to build a list without two in it.  5 points for interceptor on that Ion Accelerator is criminal.

I'm thinking of changing the load-out on my one crisis suit squad.  I need a little more tank busting ability for when facing Necrons and their armor 13 skimmers.  Plasma/Fusion over Plasma/Missile seems better.  Twin-linked Fusion may also be good.