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Veloxyll posted:Pretty much. As I recall from Battlefleet Gothic, the correct way to play Tau navy is to get as few Tau starships as possible. Because they are outgunned, weak as glass, and get wrecked in boarding actions. I just remembered that there is a reason why Kroot starships resemble ork roks. They gained the knowledge of spacefaring by eating orks who crashed on their planet in a rok. What I am getting at here is that kroot are basically a cross between tyranids and orkz and that is actually pretty scary.
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Aug 21, 2015 11:14
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The funny thing is the Tyranids would not be a problem if the Tau and Imperium worked together. Because if there's one thing the Tau CAN Wreck, it's the Hive Fleet before they've landed.quote:Hive Fleet Gorgon was a Tyranid Hive Fleet which invaded the Tau Empire in 899.M41. The Gorgon was a splinter fleet of Hive Fleet Behemoth that had been founded by those Tyranids who had survived the Behemoth's destruction during the Battle of Macragge and which began consuming poorly defended Imperial worlds to replenish its small numbers. By the time this splinter fleet made its way into Tau space in the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy, it had grown to become a full Hive Fleet in its own right. Hive Fleet Gorgon was relatively small in size compared to the other Hive Fleets that assaulted the galaxy, but it was characterised by an extremely rapid rate of adaption to new weapons and tactics that was astounding even for a species renowned for its ability to direct its own evolution to meet new challenges. In response to the pulse weaponry and long-ranged tactics of the Tau, the Gorgon's primary strategy was the utilisation of smaller and faster-breeding Tyranid organisms to accelerate its evolutionary process. As a consequence of this strategy, the larger Tyranid biomorphs were few in number within the swarms of the Gorgon. Hive Fleet Gorgon was finally destroyed in 903.M41 at the Battle of Worldspine Ridge on Kel'shan by the combined forces of the Tau Fire Caste and the Imperial Guard. In short, the Tau force the Tyranids to evolve into weak, small and numerous forms which the Imperial Guard has the sheer loving numbers to overrun. The Tyranids aren't impossible to fight, but it would require the Imperium and Tau to work together and not attempt to backstab one another. Which I think as of the latest lore, they actually are?
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Aug 21, 2015 11:37
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To be honest the Imperium has the 'sheer loving numbers' to overrun every other faction in the galaxy ten times over but unfortunately they don't have things like instantaneous, 100% reliable long-range communication or super reliable and safe and efficient FTL travel which would be necessary to actually get those numbers to mean something.
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Aug 21, 2015 13:32
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HerraS posted:To be honest the Imperium has the 'sheer loving numbers' to overrun every other faction in the galaxy ten times over but unfortunately they don't have things like instantaneous, 100% reliable long-range communication or super reliable and safe and efficient FTL travel which would be necessary to actually get those numbers to mean something. Also they're fighting everywhere. Literally Everywhere. Look at the Galactic map. Somewhere the Imperium is fighting SOMEONE. Tyranids, Orks, Tau, Eldar, Chaos? You name it, Imperium is fighting it. This was not loving helped by Robot Girlyman deciding that the best way to prevent another Horus Heresy was dividing everything up so if something went rogue then it wouldn't take half the loving army with it. Which was okay in theory, but in practice, it makes the Imperiums warmachine insanely inefficient, and left to their own devices, there's no one to notice that a Space Marine Chapter has gone and done its own loving Badab War quote:The Badab War was a major rebellion in the Imperium's history, lead by Lugft Huron and the Astral Claws. He first conquered the Badab Sector and decided he should rule all of it, like the Ultramarines ruling Ultramar. Then Imperial forces demanded the tithes. He refused. And three other chapters were honour-bound to fight with him. And thus began the most bloody rebellion in the 41st Millennium. And also the most famous appearances of a shitton of minor chapters that most people haven't heard of, who will probably never appear outside a few novel cameos and the Imperial Armour books. Pretty unique among wars in that it almost all fights were between Space Marines, with little Guardsmen (traitor or otherwise) in sight. This wound up spawning the Red Corsairs. Also it's another example of the Lamenters getting loving ruined.
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Aug 21, 2015 13:43
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Onmi posted:This wound up spawning the Red Corsairs. Also it's another example of the Lamenters getting loving ruined. To be fair, isn't that their thing? Is there any appearance they've had where they don't get their asses handed to them?
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Aug 21, 2015 16:36
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Lamenters should really consider changing their chapter name.
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Aug 21, 2015 16:43
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Onmi posted:The funny thing is the Tyranids would not be a problem if the Tau and Imperium worked together. Because if there's one thing the Tau CAN Wreck, it's the Hive Fleet before they've landed. Important to remember is that whilst the easiest way to fight Tyranids is to force them to use up more biomass than they gain, which the Tau are super great at because Plasma rifles don't leave biomass unlike most other weapons. However there's a fair chance that the current hive fleets are actually scouting fleets and barely represent 10% of the Tyranid total forces, considering each major Hive Fleet has been twice as large as the previous Hive Fleet and Leviathan managed to flank the entire galaxy and is as wide as about a third of the galactic plane. It is entirely possible that the next one will be impossibly large and require a concentrated effort by all the forces of the galaxy to stop. Also forcing the Tyranids to evolve in a certain way only works up until the Swarmlord or the Hive Mind catch what you're doing and decide to not play along.
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Aug 21, 2015 16:46
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habituallyred posted:To start with the Kroot are still going out and getting hired as mercenaries. iirc kroot are so mencenary that money functions like a drug to them, like if a kroot is getting paid enough for a job they're about as a high as your average slaanesh warrior and fight like they're on a whole cocktail of combat stimulatants
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Aug 21, 2015 16:49
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Kroot fight so they can eat, literally. They eat their enemies for new genetic material. This keeps them from stagnating or devolving -- all Kroot animals (hawks, hounds, gnarlocs, etc.) are subspecies of the single Kroot species.
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Aug 21, 2015 17:12
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It's unfortunate how much the Tau tabletop rules have moved away from more mercenaries and ally races. The Tau have assimilated far more than just Vespid and Kroot in their quest for the Greater Good! Neither of those are even the first at the table. The Nicassar were the first species encountered by the Tau (and sometimes said to be the first to join the empire, though that's contradicted elsewhere), a peaceful race of psychic space bears. They are kept hidden by the Tau ever since they learned of the Imperium's rampant xenophobia and, well, psyker-phobia. They have no warp travel of their own and tend to get towed by Tau fleets if they need to get somewhere, or else they just hibernate on sublight speed for centuries at a time. They're supposedly not suited to ground combat, but really, what Psyker is? It's maybe fortunate that the Tau haven't thought of doing what their enemies do and field that sort of dangerous power on the battlefield, since they are natively incapable of it. The Demiurg are the space-dwarfiest space dwarfs to have ever space dwarfed since 40k stopped making all the Space Dwarf miniatures. They are on some level allies to the Tau, but it's unclear if they're a member state or are interested in such an arrangement at all. They have some very strange, efficient and deadly mining technologies: their spaceships are so good at scooping up resources that firing at them can backfire as the vessels just absorb ammo and energies released by explosions and use them to fuel their mining gear, which of course consists of giant lasers. The Greet are ocean-bound invertebrates who primarly contribute manufacturing power to the Tau Empire via factories built with the help of the Tau Earth Caste. It's unclear how an invertebrate species came to be a manufacturing powerhouse, but that's the Tau Empire for you. The Nagi are - well , this was already mentioned, but they're mind control parasites. And now they are advising the Ethereals. You could take this to mean that they've set themselves up in positions of power and authority, but really, that's doing a disservice to the Water caste diplomats. They totally could broker a perfectly acceptable mutual treaty with a species like that. The Poctroon are notable for two things: Being the first sentient species to formally join the Tau empire, and for dying out entirely from a mysterious disease. The Tau moved in, renamed their home planet Bor'ka, and haven't looked back much. Not that this means anything, or anything. Other races have a Kroot-like arrangement with the Tau Empire, like the frog-like Galg, the dog-like Tarellians (Imperium scribes are not very creative when it comes to describing alien characteristics,) the ethereal (but not Ethereal) and highly skilled space-faring Ji'atrix, the Morralian and their Deathsworn, and a whole bunch of other similarly minor entries. A lot of them have the common trait of not necessarily being super enamored with the Greater Good but being very keen to get revenge on the Imperium of Man for its many, many, many atrocities. This is potentially one of the greatest dangers the Tau represent to the Imperium; the promise of a united front against humanity's aggression and brutality. A whole lot of this came about due to the work of a legendary Water caste ambassador, Por'O Dal'yth Kais Twi Lui'tan, better known as the Golden Ambassador. (Por'O is the same title as Shas'O, but instead of the Fire caste Shas he's a member of the Water caste Por. He also shares a name with our good buddy Shas'O Kais! No relation, of course.) So when you see the Vespid strains and the Kroot packs, it's worth remembering that they are no less triumphant conquests for the Tau Empire than anything the Fire caste may accomplish on Kronus.
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Aug 21, 2015 17:19
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Rulebook Heavily posted:It's unfortunate how much the Tau tabletop rules have moved away from more mercenaries and ally races. The Tau have assimilated far more than just Vespid and Kroot in their quest for the Greater Good! Neither of those are even the first at the table. Also, let's not forget the repeated Tau efforts to open diplomatic negotiations with the Necrons, and one attempt to negotiate with the Tyranids. 
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Aug 21, 2015 17:26
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To be fair, they had the right idea about the Necrons, they just ran into the still brainwashed ones.
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Aug 21, 2015 17:28
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This was pre-Newcron, back when the Necrons were still a mysterious elder race of unknown motivation that seemed poised to be the ultimate force of Order in the setting and their moments of personality made them very creepy rather than the totally-not-Tomb-Kings they got retooled into. A shame, in my opinion. I really liked the Oldcrons. Just can't get into the Newcrons at all.
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Aug 21, 2015 17:34
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The main problem with the Oldcrons was that we already have Tyranids. And Chaos Demons. And a bazillion other 'unthinking forces of total slaughter with no actual face or personality'.
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Aug 21, 2015 17:38
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True, I definitely think the Oldcrons should have had more personality and they did show glimmers of it, but I'd have much preferred the existing concept get polished up and given more personality rather than the total redo they go. I loved bits of fluff like Xenology, the short stories where the Necrons didn't kill anyone and only seemed to be after specific objectives, and the like. I liked the idea that they clearly had a plan that wasn't simply "unthinking force of total slaughter," they just weren't inclined to tell everyone what their real agenda was.
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Aug 21, 2015 17:42
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jeez, that's way more tau member races than i expected. also, i laughed at this:Rulebook Heavily posted:The Nagi are - well , this was already mentioned, but they're mind control parasites. And now they are advising the Ethereals. You could take this to mean that they've set themselves up in positions of power and authority, but really, that's doing a disservice to the Water caste diplomats. They totally could broker a perfectly acceptable mutual treaty with a species like that. The psychic Space Worms come from the planet
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Aug 21, 2015 17:54
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NewMars posted:To be fair, isn't that their thing? Is there any appearance they've had where they don't get their asses handed to them? Well what else would you expect from a factionw hose emblem is a literal bleeding heart.
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Aug 21, 2015 18:05
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I like the necrons best as people who just want you to get off their lawn. Cranky old dudes who wake up to push you away from their stuff then bugger off again.
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Aug 21, 2015 18:59
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I read that long rear end story about Taros that someone posted earlier while I was bored at work. It was fun, are there any more long, easy to read, pulpy stories about Tau killing things? I never really liked what I'd seen of 40k lore and since Tau are kind of not super 40kish I guess that means they are OK by me. I'm tickled by the idea of a bunch of new kids on the block from some backwater regional power stomping on the most powerful force in the galaxy by saying "wait it's the the 40 thousandth century and we've got railguns and poo poo, why the gently caress are they trying to charge at us with swords?" Which is basically my response to 40k also. I prefer them as naive and flawed dudes who genuinely mean well, albeit maybe not exactly by human morality than I do of them all being mind controlled, forceful sterilizing grimdark Stalinists though. I guess they were too un-40k for people who actually like 40k. Plus I think their aesthetic (at least their infantry dudes) is pretty cool and sort of unique, it looks kind of what someone from the 50s might imagine a space army to look like. Definitely better than the shoulder-pads and skulls thing everyone else has!
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Aug 21, 2015 19:21
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Really, the big reason Tau work is because they bring in some contrast and the setting sorely needs it. It helps get across everyone else's crazy deal and helps make, say, the chainsaw swords look equal parts dumb and metal when someone shows up who doesn't play that way and legitimately stands out as a different approach.
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Aug 21, 2015 19:24
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Night10194 posted:Really, the big reason Tau work is because they bring in some contrast and the setting sorely needs it. It helps get across everyone else's crazy deal and helps make, say, the chainsaw swords look equal parts dumb and metal when someone shows up who doesn't play that way and legitimately stands out as a different approach. I agree, the tau are a fine and distinctive addition. The slight downside is that before the dumbness was understated, a true rarity in 40k. Chainswords, for example, are cool but totally impractical and this is reflected in their tabletop statline, str: user ap: -, with no special rules except that it's a melee weapon. That statline is the equivalent of riflebutting and it's only real advantage is that it's one-handed wpn, leaving your other hand free to smite foes for an extra attack. Tau coming in and doing everything sensibly and succeeding for it makes the situation a little more overt.
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Aug 21, 2015 20:06
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my dad posted:Eres Badlands followed up by Hyperion Peaks since we'll get the second attack right away. Then, we're ready to start culling the herd. chiasaur11 posted:I feel a bit uneasy about using a chaos artifact, but heck. Our glorious leader's done this before. It should be fine. theblastizard posted:What's wrong with a tasteful shrine in the service of the Greater Good, symbolizing the glory of combat and severing of the enemies heads?  Right, let's see if we can secure Eres Badlands, then we'll talk about Hyperion Peaks.  We have half-an-hour to secure enough kills to activate whatever this doohickey runs on. It's strange, Shas'o, a machine that's powered by dead bodies? Who knows if it works. Probably another "Warp Myth". Should be easy, though. We'll take up a defensive perimeter and kill all the Necron that come out of their stinkin' holes! Yeah, it'll be easy, but not for that reason. As we've discovered, the Necron take forever to field an army. We're gonna be spending a lot of time just searching out for something to kill. Oh. Here's the plan, the Pathfinder's recon says there are three bases, east, west, and north of our position. We'll split up our forces and camp at the exits of each base and kill whatever comes out. Honour Guard, head north. Earth Caste Drones, build a base and sent all recruits East. I'll hold off the west on my own. Honour Guard, while en route, scout out this "Chaos Relic" and secure it. Of course, Shas'o.  We are nearing the approximate location of the relic. The decor leaves something to be desired. Found it. There's nothing here but a strategic point. Stingwings, keep watch over that location. Surely it's important in some way.  CAPTURE FOR ME A RELIC AND I CAN ENSURE YOU ARE SUPPLIED WITH KROOT.  We'll get your relic. Shas'o, there's a lot of creepy poo poo out here. Hahaha, the Necron Lord thought it could take me in a one-on-one firefight!  ... ... Where's it coming from? How could plasma bolts be striking me from nothingness? Hahaha! --- Get better tech, you over-sized VHS cassette tape player. Oh, and here come your Necron Warriors. A little late, your Lord is already deactivated. What have you got to say to that? Haha, uh, wait, did you say something? Got a burst of static there. Oh, uh, sorry, Stealthsuits, what was that? We have one relic, taking another. There's, uh, some creepy stuff here, though.  Like, piles and piles of dead bodies, some strung up on-- Sorry, what was that last part? I couldn't hear you, there was the oddest burst of static. Huh, maybe this relic is affecting our comms? Fought our way to the northern base. Not much resistance. We'll hang out and wait for them to spawn more units. Shas'o, can you hear me? Yes, but you keep cutting out. All that static. Weird. Try changing comm channels? Will do.  Kroot, here, we are advancing on the eastern base. We've found all your Necron battle units. It's about time. Necron Lord to the west has reactivated and brought reinforcements. It insists on bringing a lot of Wraiths, for whatever reason. Heavy Infantry, can't be reinforced. It's fast, can upcapture strategic points, but not capture them. It's a detector, takes reduced ranged damaged, and has a brutal melee. Can also temporarily phase out of reality allowing them to avoid enemy fire (though they can't attack while in this form). Sound dangerous, but they're not, really. Don't know why the Necron Lord bothers when it could field more Flayed Ones. Haha, Shas'o, the Necron have advanced to our outpost. We shall rack up the body count for you. I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. What is with all this static? Ah, well, we've achieved the sufficient body count. Took long enough, lousy Necron. Vespids, has the "artifact" shown any change? Uh, yes, Shas'o. Requesting permission to get far, far away from the artifact.  Well done, Shas'o, how do-- Sorry, can't talk. I feel great and I need to take, no, I MUST take the Hyperion Peaks!  Wot's that? Someone wake da boss, dere's a bunch'o dem grey-skin fellas comin' in! Now where'z dey gettin' to? We ain't even had no fightz yet! Buncha grotz, dey are. Let's try something a little more unorthodox this time. Battle group, head east! Capture that relic and prevent the enemy from holding it! My plan is to leave nearly my entire army here to guard this relic. If the Orkz can't get it, they can't field Squiggoths. That'll give me the time I need to destroy their production facilities. You see, here's the fun fact about this map: you can't build anything but Listening Posts on it. Yes, yes, and that restriction holds true for attackers AND defenders. Anytime I take down a Barracks or a Stronghold, that's one less possession that the Orkz can never get back. Now, the Orkz are unique in that they are also allowed to build Waaagh! Banners, but those are more of an annoyance than any real threat to the mission. Now, let's get on with it. I'll start in the northern base. The Orkz have few detectors, for whatever reason. No sign of their Warboss, and any Big Mek can easily be avoided. I've been blasting the Ork units to herd them backwards in the event that I do get detected, that way they can't swarm me and prevent me from jetpacking away--which is something they can do. Enough melee attacks will prevent me from activating my jetpacks entirely, but a well placed rocket can also knock me out of the sky. That takes care of all the northern base's production buildings. Da basez! Deyz all explodin'! Did youse weird boyz muck up da buildin' planz or sumat? What we'z builded is da best! Don'tcha never goez trashin' on our stuffz or we gonna bash yer head'in!  Broadsides, here, we're doin' alright. The Broadsides were too slow to make it to the relic with the rest of my army, so I left them just barely out of sight near a popular Listening Post. Without a specific Tau Cadre HQ to hunt, the Orkz in the Peaks are especially stupid. Hopefully they won't notice the Broadsides melting them. Aaaaand here is where I run into trouble. It turns out I had forgotten that there were TWO relics on this map. I forgot about the one to the south. *sigh* No big deal. Only the Warboss and his Orkz hordes are patrolling the centre of the map, so I'm going to have to take the long way around to an undefended sector. Oh, and Waaagh! Banners aren't normally a problem--but these upgraded Waaagh! Banners are a nightmare. Their detection range and rockets can match my own range, meaning I'm going to have to risk being visible to blow them up. Not while the Warboss is nearby, so I'll skip these for now. By the Ethereals! We're trying to join you, Shas'o, we really are, but we keep running up against fields of Waaagh! Banners! Yeah, keep jetpacking. See, with no ability to build real buildings, the Gretchins can't replace those structures I knock down. Yet, they want to keep building to prevent me from winning this attack. Their response is to create massive clumps of Waaagh! Banners in secluded places. Shas'o, we're done for! We've been-- Heh heh, thought we'z wouldn't notice, dinchya? We've made it through, Shas'o. You keep advancing, we'll keep the second relic out of enemy hands. Good. South base down. That's two, one more to go. That's it, that's the last base. Now the Orkz can't replace their squads. They can reinforce existing ones, sure, but they can't build new ones. No new squads, no new vehicles, no new Gretchins. More Waaagh! Banner fields. Right, so this has been going on for a while (completing this mission against the Orkz is prime reason why people shouldn't do VLPs of RTSes), so it's at this point I risk a gamble-- --I decide to throw what remains of my army against the Ork hordes to try and finish them off quickly. Or, at least wipe out their strongest units. If I can wipe out the Squiggoth, the Leman Russ tanks, the Killa Kans, the Warboss, and the Mega Heavy Nobs, it's enough for me. If I can, for a moment, explain why this mission is particularly difficult for Tau: we get shafted on units. The tank column provided is predominantly Kroot. Not a problem, as they're great in melee, but they don't provide any Fire Warriors. Not one. In fact, here's a list of units the Tau don't get: Fire Warriors, Stealthsuits, Crisis Suits, Devilfish Carriers, Drone Squads, Drone Harbingers. Granted, I get that the Harbingers aren't included because they're too costly power-wise, but everything else could have been at use here! The Kroot have no fire support! The Hammerheads can sort of fill that role, but drat, this map would be so much easier with a few groups of Fire Warriors. I hope you have a fleshed out Honour Guard, otherwise you're gonna lack many of these units. Anyways, I finally get to see the true size of the Ork Horde and immediately regret my decision. Ah, well, let's give'em a show. Boss, dere dey are! Grrr, back agin, are ya? Chop'em up, boyz! You ever see a Skyray Missile Gunship do its thing with a fully upgraded Missile Barrage? It's a work of art!   Absolutely beautiful. Between that and the Gnarlocs, the Squiggoth is dead--which is good. It would've taken ages for me to kill it by myself. Not me Squiggoth? Youze grey-skins are da real monstaz here. However, the Kroot are overwhelmed and the Orkz push through to my vehicles. Yer little bird boyz ain't nuthin' to me'n my boyz. This is all that remains of my ill-advised distraction. They only succeeded in wiping out the Squiggoth, the Leman Russ tanks, and some Big Meks. The Warboss, Mega Heavy Nobz, and Killa Kans are still around. With no means of production, this map turns into the most boring game of "find the last Waaagh! Banner". My Fire Warriors and I will slowly eliminate the roving remains of the Ork Horde-- --while the remains of my tank column take out Waaagh! Banners from a safe distance. It'z you! Youze ruin'ded ever'thing! Gorgutz iz gonna have me head if I'z let youse leave diz place, so don't thinkz yer goin' no where! Oi'm Boss Toe Choppa and I rule diz mountain fer Gorgutz! Me! ME! Uh, uh, uh, uh, S-s-shas'o?! Yes, yes, concentrate fire, kill the Ork. It wuzzn't s'ppozed ta end dis way! Ugh, and it looks like we missed a Big Mek, slowing us down even further. Fortunately, I find the final Waaagh! Banners. I feed it to the Gnarloc. By the Ethereal, I almost circumnavigated this mountain looking for it.    Shas'o, with the Fury and Forward Base upgrades, our attack is going to be unstoppable! New reports are coming in. Oh, yes! The Imperial Guard have finally taken back their territory from the Necron. It's nice to hear about the little guy getting a win for once. So much for the Necron being big bad scary space horrors. Shas'o, you have a-- No! Stop! I don't care if I have a call, it can wait. But Shas'o-- Besides, you really need to learn how to screen calls. The Necron tried to take it back, but were repelled. Yup, they really are kind of useless. Shas'o? Quiet! What else? Davian Thule is attacking the Panrea Lowlands with all his combined might. What!? Shas'o, I have Davian Thule on hold. Would you like me to take a message? Ha, tell him to "frig off". Let me know how the reports go, I'm sure this won't take long. SHAS'O, THEIR ADVANCE HAS BEEN SURPRISINGLY RAPID. THEY HAVE ALREADY BUILT A BASE WITHIN OUR BASE. DAVID THULE HAS ARRIVED WITH HIS ENTIRE HONOUR GUARD. Oh, boy. These are Terminators, the most veteran of Space Marines. Extremely slow, but they carry incredible weaponry and can withstand similarly incredible punishment. The do have the ability to teleport short distances with the proper upgrades. This is a Grey Knight. Not sure what their deal is, I don't think they're even part of the Blood Raven chapter. They're a brutal melee unit, fast with a lunge ability, and have their own Psyker powers. They're specialized to combat the Chaos Daemon units, but can be dangerous pretty much anywhere. Their morale is unshakeable. There's "Tool" himself. Standing behind him is a Chaplain, a command unit with powerful melee that increases healing of nearby Space Marines. To his left is a Land Speeder. It's fast, can hop short distances, and is great at cutting down infantry. Hmm. The Panrea forces could be in for a fight. Alright, men. We do this for the Emperor. Rush their base. Dismantle it. Then dismantle the aliens! O'Kais will rue this day. Alright, first Fire Warrior squad ready! Oh, uh. W-who are they? Why are they running towards us?  Crisis Suits, joining the battle. B-by the Ethereal, there are so many! Why are there so many? Ah, we don't often get to see the Air Caste since they're mostly preoccupied fighting the naval battles in orbit, but here's an Air Caste vessel dropping off some equipment. All Tau vehicles are brought in by the Air Caste to our Vehicle Beacons. Our range doesn't work if they keep running up to us! Guh-- This planet shall be purged. Of the heretics, the mutants, and you, xenos! Broadside Battlesuits are helping clear the battlefield. The devastation is remarkable. No time to gawk, take out their Chapel-Barracks! Incoming heavy armour! The Dreadnought is part armoured support platform and part siege weapon. It's very powerful regardless, but can also be upgraded to specialize in anti-infantry or anti-vehicle combat. Fire Warriors have located one Space Marine base. We will destroy it!  Really? You're the xenos that the Blood Ravens have had so much difficulty with? Drones reporting that the Space Marines are reinforcing from the west! "I don't like playing as the Tau", they said, "they don't have any turrets", they said. Drop-pods incoming! That's not all, alien. Contact our fleet in orbit. Have them bombard the planet at these coordinates. Something's happening-- Ahhhhhhhhh!! By the Ethereals. Ready a transport, get me to that battlefield! Shas'o! Did you think you had defeated us all, alien scum? We welcome the target practice! Welcome this, xeno! Swarm those Battlesuits! I have arrived on the battlefield. O'Kais, how nice of you to join us. I was worried you wouldn't come. You're wasting my time, Thule. What, no stupid joke? No inane reference to ancient human popular culture? Did you lose your idiotic caricature of me? Well actually, Thule, I never left! I've been inside you all along! *spits* Filthy xeno scum! Hmm, Thule brought Predator Tanks. Lots of armour, great at cutting down infantry. When fully upgraded, it's effective against everything. Vehicles, buildings, you name it. Broadsides, cut it down quickly. No matter how many of us you cut down, alien, we shall return to see the Emperor's will done! Soooo, your Emperor wants to see you cut down by plasma fire? O'Kais, I will finish you! Do you hear me? Finish you! FINISH YOU! I WILL RIP YOUR-- Hey, Thule, I bet my Broadsides can knock down your last base before you have the chance to warm up your orbital cannons. --AND TEAR YOU LIMB FROM-- Heh heh heh. Alright, War Council, here's the scoop: that took a lot out of me. (And it has become a massive update). So in the future, despite us having the Fury bonus, only select one target at a time. Otherwise updates are going to become kind of unwieldy. Unless one of your turns is simply a movement to get the army in place to attack a Stronghold. We will accept that. With that in mind, where to next?
Sally fucked around with this message at 09:49 on Aug 22, 2015 |
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Aug 21, 2015 20:10
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North Vandea. Kill the Space Marines.
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Aug 21, 2015 20:19
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Cythereal posted:North Vandea. Kill the Space Marines.
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Aug 21, 2015 20:21
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Alternative plan: Tyrea. Destroy the Eldar base there so that we never have to put up with the Northlands defense ever again.
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Aug 21, 2015 20:27
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Dr. Snark posted:Alternative plan: Tyrea. Destroy the Eldar base there so that we never have to put up with the Northlands defense ever again.  That would be a mistake.
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Aug 21, 2015 20:37
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I think we should wait to kill the necrons before attacking the Eldar. Maybe they'll decide to retreat?
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Aug 21, 2015 20:38
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Nah, purge the hairetic.
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Aug 21, 2015 20:39
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That was a Grey Knight. There's probably an Inquisitor around here. You should kill them before they accidentally blow up the planet trying to place a collect call.
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Aug 21, 2015 20:41
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If they havent blown the planet up yet they probably arent going to since the planet has something important enough to die for. A planet full of hostile life with no strategic worth tends to get orbitally bombarded pretty fast.
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Aug 21, 2015 20:52
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That's if they want to blow it up. I'm talking about the accidentals.
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Aug 21, 2015 20:55
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Kill Taldeer. Because gently caress the eldar.
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Aug 21, 2015 21:03
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Kuno posted:I prefer them as naive and flawed dudes who genuinely mean well, albeit maybe not exactly by human morality than I do of them all being mind controlled, forceful sterilizing grimdark Stalinists though. I guess they were too un-40k for people who actually like 40k. The crazy thing is, even as mind controlled, forceful sterilizing grimdark Stalinists the Tau are still 40K's naive do-gooders. That being said though, I don't really like the Tau myself. I don't mind that they're trying to do the right thing or that they have an anime aesthetic- it's that they're kind of coddled by the writers, fluffwise. Like, most of the rules that govern the other 40K races don't seem to apply to them. For example, take psykers- the Tau freely admit psykers into their Empire, including human ones, yet to date have suffered none of the consequences that might entail. The Eldar literally have to adopt split personalities to keep their greater sanity intact, humans have to bind their psykers to the Golden Throne to keep them relatively safe, yet the Tau Empire's psyker population seems to keep trucking along because the writers don't want the Tau to have to deal with Enslaver plagues and the like. An Eldar Craftworld (Iyanden) is eaten by a Tyranid fleet, yet the Tau manage to fight one off with relatively few problems- and the Eldar are second only to the Necrons in terms of technology. I dunno, it's like the writers are going 'see how badass these guys are? Buy their models!'. To me, the Tau would be more badass if they had to deal with all the poo poo that the 40K universe can throw at them yet still keep to their principles.
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Aug 21, 2015 21:04
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Seriously gently caress the Eldar. I just finished up an IG campaign, and dealing with her endless Banshee hordes nearly gave me a conniption.
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Aug 21, 2015 21:05
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Iretep posted:If they havent blown the planet up yet they probably arent going to since the planet has something important enough to die for. A planet full of hostile life with no strategic worth tends to get orbitally bombarded pretty fast. I don't think the Inquisition could orbitally bombard Kronus. I mean, I have no idea what sorts of devices the Inquisition use to bombard planets, but considering there are six other fleets in orbit around Kronus, besides the Space Marines, who are all blasting the poo poo out of each other, I don' think they'd have the opportunity. The biggest gameplay caveat of Dark Crusade--that you have to move on foot because there's no air support--depends on there being a massive space battle going on just over all our heads. (It's why getting Pavonis is such a big deal, since it allows us to sneak transports through the ridiculous orbital guns).
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Aug 21, 2015 21:09
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I say Orestan plains to prevent the Guard from nabbing the necron stronghold from us. Then we can start a clockwise victory lap around the map.
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Aug 21, 2015 21:13
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Blind Sally posted:I don't think the Inquisition could orbitally bombard Kronus. I mean, I have no idea what sorts of devices the Inquisition use to bombard planets, but considering there are six other fleets in orbit around Kronus, besides the Space Marines, who are all blasting the poo poo out of each other, I don' think they'd have the opportunity. The biggest gameplay caveat of Dark Crusade--that you have to move on foot because there's no air support--depends on there being a massive space battle going on just over all our heads. (It's why getting Pavonis is such a big deal, since it allows us to sneak transports through the ridiculous orbital guns). Exterminatus can take many forms, but most of them either rely on a large fleet (Planetcrackers, black-hole bombs, other fun and tasty stuff that takes a suitably dramatic Long Time To Fire) or drastic action on the ground, and is only granted in the cases of a) An influential Inquisitor holding a grudge, or b) The knowledge that the planet is definitely lost to the Imperium, and could be a major galactic threat if left alive. Of course, once an Exterminatus is called, nothing short of a military miracle can stop it, and it doesn't leave anything standing. They burn the atmosphere, orbitally bombard flammable/explosive resource sites, send the most horrifying targeted biowarfare that the Imperium can muster (And lo, it is pretty loving bad), and basically kill the planet and everything on it stone dead. At best, a lifeless, resource deprived husk is left. At worst, there's an asteroid belt of very small asteroids.
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Aug 21, 2015 21:27
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Blind Sally posted:I don't think the Inquisition could orbitally bombard Kronus. I mean, I have no idea what sorts of devices the Inquisition use to bombard planets, but considering there are six other fleets in orbit around Kronus, besides the Space Marines, who are all blasting the poo poo out of each other, I don' think they'd have the opportunity. The biggest gameplay caveat of Dark Crusade--that you have to move on foot because there's no air support--depends on there being a massive space battle going on just over all our heads. (It's why getting Pavonis is such a big deal, since it allows us to sneak transports through the ridiculous orbital guns). Well a traditional exterminatus is out then. Orbital bombardment is only the simplest way to destroy a planet since the imperial fleet just needs their ships to do that. The imperium has multiple ways to do a proper exterminatus though some are only limited to space marines and inquisitors. Virus bombing is basically throwing a virus that spreads to all organic material and turns it into green sludge. This can kill a planets entire population in minutes. The process also produces a huge amount of flammable gasses so after the planes a pile of green crap its easy to burn it as well. Another way to do exterminatus is using cyclonic torpedoes. The normal kind just explode and usually burn the planets atmosphere out and maybe cracks the planet in half. A two stage cyclonic torpedo on the other hand uses melta to first bore into the planets center and then detonates, destroying the entire planet. Two stage cyclonic torpedoes tend to be used on stuff like dead worlds with necron tombs in them.
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Aug 21, 2015 21:32
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JamieTheD posted:Exterminatus can take many forms, but most of them either rely on a large fleet (Planetcrackers, black-hole bombs, other fun and tasty stuff that takes a suitably dramatic Long Time To Fire) or drastic action on the ground, and is only granted in the cases of a) An influential Inquisitor holding a grudge, or b) The knowledge that the planet is definitely lost to the Imperium, and could be a major galactic threat if left alive. Iretep posted:Well a traditional exterminatus is out then. Orbital bombardment is only the simplest way to destroy a planet since the imperial fleet just needs their ships to do that. The imperium has multiple ways to do a proper exterminatus though some are only limited to space marines and inquisitors. Virus bombing is basically throwing a virus that spreads to all organic material and turns it into green sludge. This can kill a planets entire population in minutes. The process also produces a huge amount of flammable gasses so after the planes a pile of green crap its easy to burn it as well. Another way to do exterminatus is using cyclonic torpedoes. The normal kind just explode and usually burn the planets atmosphere out and maybe cracks the planet in half. A two stage cyclonic torpedo on the other hand uses melta to first bore into the planets center and then detonates, destroying the entire planet. Two stage cyclonic torpedoes tend to be used on stuff like dead worlds with necron tombs in them. 
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Aug 21, 2015 21:42
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| # ? Jun 9, 2024 11:29 |
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Basically, anyone who wins naval superiority has already won in 40k, but they still prefer to hash it out with chainsaws.
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Aug 21, 2015 21:43
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