[UXO]

Is is really worth it to take this? Why would you want to give your opponent a chance to reroll a 6? I would think it would be better to take the immobilize and move out. Or is the thinking that even if a 6 is rolled the FW should make their saves. The prospect of losing mobility is too great not to take this chance? Has anyone had any personal experience where the reroll has backfired and how did it work out?

[MalVeauX]

UXO:

Decoy Launchers are essential really. Normally, if your skimmer is moving more than 6 inches, which it should be, it will be destroyed on a glancing damage chart roll of 5 and 6, because skimmers that are immobilized and moving fast are simply destroyed. Decoy Launchers gives you a re-roll should they get a 5 on you. That means you can get a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 as well as that 6 again. That's something like 68% chance to keep from being destroyed (someone else can fix the math for you if you'd like), when you were already going to be destroyed to begin with. Not bad odds for a cheap upgrade to keep your vehicle alive.

I have had the experience of the Decoy Launchers being re-rolled for the same effect (another 5). That destroyed the skimmer. But at least I had a chance to not be destroyed, because normally it would be destroyed. In other words, Decoy Launchers do not -hurt- your chances of survival at all. They only kick in when you're about to be destroyed, so having a chance to not be destroyed is of course a good thing.

[Jonathan]

I think they are a must as well for just 5 pts (IIRC) you could stop a 150-180 pt tank from going down, yes he oponent could roll a 6 but it would have gone down without the DL anyway

[UXO]

Oh I see. I missed the part about immobilized skimmers that are moving fast are auto-destroyed. I didn't realize they made a distinction and just thought Immobilized meant Immobilized. I knew in 3rd edition rules immobilized skimmers were goners but I thought that was changed in 4th ed. Well I'll have to include that then.

[khanaris]

Ordinarily, you have a 16.7 % chance of rolling a 6 and a 16.7% chance of rolling a 5. *If you roll a five, you reroll it. *Now you have a 33% chance of rolling a 5 or 6 again. *33% of 16.7% is 5.6%.

So:

Without decoy launchers you have a 33.3% of being destroyed by a glancing hit.
With decoy launchers you have a 22.3% chance of being destroyed.

For five points, and since you should never need to roll on the penetrating chart if you are careful, that is not a bad investment.

[Waldo_Pepper]

DL are a must have - the tau should be installing them at the factory. :P

[42]

waht you may have been thinkign of is that under 4th ed. rules if a skimmer moves under 6" and get immobilised they are not blown up...however your opponent can now inflicft glancing hits on you, and your mobility is seriously comprimised (just giving both sides of the story!) so make sure you can only be glanced (over 6" per turn) and with the decoys your survival chance just continues to rise!

--42

[dizzygamer]

DL are a must, just like smokes and Xarmour come on factory Rhino's DL come on our fishes .

there is no option