[Crossfc]

I was thinking. Since the Tau are such a shooty army. Where is the artillery? I suppose seeker missles count as our artillery but they are not blast nor can you indirect fire them. Here is what I was thinking. Smart Missle System have little drone AIs that seek out a target, why not use them to control larger warheads? Unlike a howitzer, we can have a missle battery. Such as a high strength barrage/blast missle/rocker launcher type vehicle.

[korik1]

Forgeworld has something called the Sky Ray turret which looks like a c**pload of smart missiles strapped to the turret, but I have no clue what the rules are like.

[Tsumishi]

Originally Posted by korik1

Forgeworld has something called the Sky Ray turret which looks like a c**pload of smart missiles strapped to the turret, but I have no clue what the rules are like.

I think it was supposed to be some kind of anti-air weapon that has a boosted hit rate against flying vehicles (as in for jets and rocket planes, not skimmers).

[joker1]

the sky ray is actually its own vehicle, you buy a conversion kit for your hammerhead and put it on top
the stats are:
Points, Front Armour, Side Armour, rear armour, BS
[ mace: Stats removed ]
it is armed with six seeker missiles and twinlinked markerlights on an anti-aircraft mount and a smart missile system.
korik was right it is an anti-aircraft tank, and can only fire the six seeker missiles once and can only hit targets designating by its own marker lights, not ones shot by other things eg. pathfinders
it is not really worth unless you really want it
for more pics go here:
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/campion.htm

Edit by RJay: How is it people still post stats of units/vehicles/weapons etc. You should all know it is against board rules, but if you didn't then you obviously haven't read them, so do so.

[Andromidius]

The Tau have little need for artillary, as they are a rapid-deployment strike force. If they come against something that's too big for their Hammerheads to deal with, they call in the Air Caste to bombard the area with aircraft. Howitzer-type weapons would only slow the army down and leave it venerable to counter-attacks (which is something the Tau avoid like the plague).

~Andromidius

[Khaldun]

Going from the mechtau perspective, artillery has to hold still to shoot. Therefore, it sucks.

from a gaming perspective, a whirlwind equivalent would be pretty nice. However, seeker missiles are what tau really use for artillery. If you want to bombard from afar, just get some laser designators on the target and bombs away! (think barracuda full of seeker missiles)

[mace]

The Tau are shooty, yes, but they focus on direct and accurate shooting. To them, artillery is too imprecise, and might destroy the objective more than clear it of enemy. As a result, they don't use artillery, and only in extreme circumstances do they get an aerial/orbital bombardment of some sort. And if you have drones controlling bombs, you don't usually get them exploding randomly off target.

[AuinMyrrath]

Fluffwize, the only long-range guided weapons they use excluding seekers are the Manta's drone-guided railguns *drool*.

Their blast-weaponry comes in the form of the Railgun Submunitions - it's long ranged, accurate, and can punch big holes in infantry.

[frankthetank]

Originally Posted by AuinMyrrath

Fluffwize, the only long-range guided weapons they use excluding seekers are the Manta's drone-guided railguns *drool*.

Their blast-weaponry comes in the form of the Railgun Submunitions - it's long ranged, accurate, and can punch big holes in infantry.

wow that sound cool can i see a pic?

[Zoomer]

It is an interesting thought, and one I believe is actually (fluffwise) already present. *Much like a modern airforce, artillery is replaced with high-precision guided weapons, whether precision rail slugs, long range missiles, or what have you. *Instead of a vulnerable, relatively limited field artillery piece, you have instead an aircraft that, in addition to firing missiles, can also perform reconnaisance, interdiction, and other support tasks as necessary.

In short, we don't have Earthshaker battle cannons because we have AI Cruise Missiles. *

On the other hand, that's something that's not reflected in the current Codex at all. *A possible thought would be to have a purchased "bombardment" option similar to the one the various Inquisitorial armies use. *At perhaps twice the cost, they can produce a certain ordnance blast effect with the normal (or lesser) scatter ranges an ordnance shot normally uses. *This could represent the long-range presence of dominant air and naval power, providing ground support with precisely guided weapons. *Fired like a normal shot, and more expensive because there it would be difficult (or impossible) to negate.

A Commander's upgrade, perhaps?