[Rayza09]

I like to deep-strike many of my Crisis Suits (preferably with Meltas for pesky tanks) and a re-roll of the scatter dice can be the difference between a 150pt unit dying/useless and a dead tank.

Looking for opinions on whether the single aspect of the Marker Beacon is enough to take Pathfinders (which Ive never used) and the Devilfish (whats the best way to outfit the MB Devilfish?)

Crisis Suits include 2 commanders and 2 elites units (1 commander w/ melta, 1 elites with twin-melta, remainder anti-infantry). I also run 2 Hammerhead Gunships (Railguns) and 2 Broadsides. Thanks

[articulategrunt]

Make sure to equip the devilfish with the sensor spines in case you wind up facing a "what you see is what you got" type player and aside from that the pathfinders are great in their role. Personally i like to add a couple guys equipped with rail rifles but that is just me. Some advocate equipping the devilfish with all sorts of stuff, me I keep mine pretty simple, basic "free" gun drones, and a disruption pod(hope I remembered the name right I'm horrid at that). I'm thinking there is something else I add but I would have to check my play list which is at home. Oh yeah I attach a couple seeker missiles for the extra boom with spare markers.

[Antisocialnerd]

If your planning on using transports you might as well get the pathfinders you get four extra guys and a beacon for 48 points well worth it in my opinion for the extra tactical options they bring i.e markers scout rule re roll deepstrikes.

I'm building a list at the moment to maximize the beacon and pathfinders in general at the moment will be posting soon maybe you could use it as a template give it a few tweaks and use it since it looks like your going to use a similar type deepstriking army.

as for Dfish equipment i always put a disruption pod multitracker and the gun drones on.

seekers are optional but usually get there as well as flechettes but thats a case of how many points do i have and how heavily i plan to tank shock.

@arti whats the deal with the sensor spines they have nothing to do with the beacon their the thing that allows you to go through cover without a terrain test.

[articulategrunt]

@ Anti, I thought the sensor spines which the pathfinders devilfish came with for free were what gives you the ability to reroll deepstrikes (admitedly I dont have any of my paperwork on me so i cant verify). I also have a number of "if its not there you dont have it" type players locally so I recommend adding it if you have it. Multitracker was what I was forgetting too so thanks on that. With the multi and sensors on the maneuverability of the Devilfish just becomes wonderfully insane.

[Antisocialnerd]

Originally Posted by articulategrunt

@ Anti, I thought the sensor spines which the pathfinders devilfish came with for free were what gives you the ability to reroll deepstrikes (admitedly I dont have any of my paperwork on me so i cant verify). I also have a number of "if its not there you dont have it" type players locally so I recommend adding it if you have it. Multitracker was what I was forgetting too so thanks on that. With the multi and sensors on the maneuverability of the Devilfish just becomes wonderfully insane.

No the pathfinders devilfish doesn't come with the sensor spines for free sensor spines are an advanced collision detection grid that allows you to drive through or even park your Dfish in terrain maybe even dangerous terrain without taking tests and naturally gaining a 4+ save from being in cover.

As far as i know the marker beacon has no physical representation.

[maddosammo]

Originally Posted by Antisocialnerd

As far as i know the marker beacon has no physical representation.

it doesn't

[tehlegend]

The marker beacon has no physical bit to represent it. As long as you can draw a line from the devilfish to a point on the field, your marker beacon effect will be legitimate.

and yes, it is worth having this benefit if you are aggressive with your crisis suits. If you take alot of long range equipment and sit them back dealing damage at range, then not so much.

To be fair though, if you're going to be buying path finders, you probably want to do it for the markerlights more than a simple deep strike correction ability.

The marker beacon should not be confused with the Sensor Spines upgrade. As ASN said, it makes it safer for you to move through terrain... To further elaborate on it, it not only makes it safer, it completely negates all dangers from landing in all types of standard terrain (special house rules not withstanding). Regardless of the terrains designation, the Devilfish ignores all dangerous terrain checks, meaning you can even go so far as to land on top of an impassable object so long as you can physically place your model on it, and disregard any checks your opponent will undoubtedly want you to take. (note that landing on impassable terrain is not mentioned in the Tau codex, but we gain the benefit from the wording on the rules detailing Skimmer Movement in the BRB)

However, it is worth noting that terrain no longer confers a cover save to a vehicle simply for the vehicle being in it. As retarded as most competitive people are about this rule, it is one of the most clearly written ones in the rule book (and trust me, they've got their fair share of badly worded rules...) A vehicle only gains a cover save from terrain if its hull facing is literally 50% obscured by surrounding objects from the point of view of the shooter. Models with an armor value are explicitly differentiated from standard infantry models in the rule book for this and many players still stick to the old 4th ed. rules to gain additional benefits, which they shouldn't have. While this means that we won't be gaining cover from sensor spines, it shouldn't matter since we almost always have the Disruption Pod upgrade anyways.

[Antisocialnerd]

@tehlegend Sheesh thats a bit strong don't you think obviously common sense applies to the cover 50% is a general rule of thumb even for infantry i.e if less than half the unit is in cover it doesn't get a cover save this applies to vehicles as well in a roundabout sense i've never played anyone nor do i think that anything can get a cover save if more than half of it is out of cover from the point of view of the firer.

This applies equally to tanks trying to get cover behind a single tree or a 40 unit ork horde trying to get cover from a barrel.

Of course i can't speak for the people you play with but i think it's pretty obvious even if you knew nothing about the rules that you can't claim cover in such circumstances but i'll be sure to attempt to explain the minute details of stuff in future for fear of being rated retarded by you......maybe reserve yourself a bit when it's not really necessary.

[Irtehdar]

Originally Posted by Rayza09

I like to deep-strike many of my Crisis Suits

Dont do that. Ever. I have never seen a table layout where the best use for suits would be through deep strike.

Originally Posted by Rayza09

Looking for opinions on whether the single aspect of the Marker Beacon is enough to take Pathfinders (which Ive never used) and the Devilfish (whats the best way to outfit the MB Devilfish?)

You dont buy the Pathfinders for the Marker Beacon. You buy Pathfinders for the Markerlights. And if you have ever gone to battle without Markerlights your doing it wrong.

So in short yes take the pathfinders. Always bring the pathfinders. But not for the deepstrike ability.

Originally Posted by Rayza09

Crisis Suits include 2 commanders and 2 elites units (1 commander w/ melta, 1 elites with twin-melta, remainder anti-infantry). I also run 2 Hammerhead Gunships (Railguns) and 2 Broadsides. Thanks

Theres no real advantage to having more than 1 commander for Tau. Personally if I could I would run without them completely because the commanders are really just overpriced suits.

[Antisocialnerd]

Deepstriking suits is great especially with fusion blasters i deepstrike them in single suit tank hunting units that cost 69 points with the pathfinders backing it up you can be really aggressive and get into melta behind your opponents tanks wreck them then take cover behind the wreck in you assault move it's fantastic not only are you immediatly getting your points back potentially two or even three times your points back your also in cover and a serious threat behind enemy lines.

I agree with your second point

For the third it depends on what your doing with them a BS5 suit may be expensive but i think it's worth it depending on how you equip it an use it.