Warband construction questions

[Raghnall]

Ahh okay - so I guess the Tau don't use frags.
Just photon flash and EMP.

I've never seen any canonical example of Tau using other types of grenades, but it doesn't mean they don't. Plasma seems more their style than frag though.

Speaking as a self-proclaimed expert on Inquisitor weapon profiles:

Your not just a self proclaimed expert Marco. If I haven't said it before I will say it now; MarcoSkoll is an expert on Inquisitor weapon profiles.*

To pull the Pulse Carbine out of my RIA notes:

Pulse Carbine: Basic; Range F; Sg/Sm(2); 3D10 Fused Damage; Shots 6; Rld [3]; Enc 30

Comparing that to your RIA profile for a bolter, it seems suitable and appropriate. Of course it's a powerful weapon, but it should be, and it has clear drawbacks.

Sorry, on the reload - is that 3 actions to reload, 3 shots per action, or (based on the way you worded the ammo count) a 3 turn recharge?
Fire warrior PC game had 32 in mag (it says clip but I think that's just bad translation again) for both rifle and carbine.
Depending on reload rules, I'd suggest upping the shot count, as this is the Tau version of the bolter/lasgun, albeit a shortened version - in which case I'm wondering if range F isn't nearly shortening enough - perhaps B would be better?

RIA notation for recharge. Actually I agree with Marco. To quote the 40k wiki**:

propelling the newly produced plasma out of the gun at an extreme velocity while keeping it cohesive... As it is, residual energy and waste plasma, together with the heat produced by energizing the coil, necessitates two barrels to avoid overheating... allowing higher rates of fire with sufficient heat dispersal... 

While most of that is taken out of context it does indicate that pulse weapons, while better in that regard than Imperial plasma weapons, still suffer from problems with overheating, so a cooling period is appropriate. There is a limit to the number of shots in a magazine, but with the cooldown, it would take a minimum of 21 turns to empty a magazine, so I wouldn't worry about it.

*He does however appear to have too much free time.
**I could quote directly from the Codex but that would require me to walk upstairs, so maybe tomorrow.

[mcjomar]

Okay, so that's a 3 action recharge.
I guess that sounds reasonable.
Pretty much an entire turn ducking for cover and blowing on the gun (metaphorically speaking, he's wearing a helmet).

[MarcoSkoll]

Not quite on the recharge. [3] is three shots recharged at the end of any turn the gun isn't fired (so two full turns with no firing to completely recharge six shots). The [square brackets] originally showed up in the Stormtrooper Fanatic article, but I adopted it into the RIA as a faster recharge than the (round parentheses) option.

Lots of EDIT:
You'll see me using quite a lot of RIA terminology here and there; I'd add that "Fused" means the weapon treats cover as 50% higher, rounding down. (It's for projectiles that significantly break apart on initial impact - mostly stuff like explosive bolts, plasma pulses and the like. It's a way of applying at least some drawback to some of the most formidable weapons in the armoury).

Fire warrior PC game had 32 in mag

I'm not sure the video games are necessarily the most accurate source for weapons (for example, Space Marine essentially makes the Meltagun a short range flamethrower. Still, it's very useful in the Exterminatus "horde" mode).

The RIA tends to be a bit flexible about how I interpret exactly which versions of the canon, in any case. Where possible I try to go for the more realistic and/or balance-able interpretations. As at least one version of Tau weapons canonically has some heat build-up, that's both consistent with the level of electrical power needed for linear accelerators and a way of reining them in a bit.
An interpretation that gave them loads of damage, high rate of fire and lots of ammo wouldn't play so well in game!

I'd also personally recommend using the RIA version of Photon Flares, rather than the "Oh god, everyone in three miles has been blinded for some reason" version from the original rulebook, but I am biased.

[mcjomar]

So a range limiter on the photon effects? Or a gradual dropping off? say, comparable to the range of the launcher?

[Raghnall]

Actually, I had misunderstood those recharge rules as well*, on account of the fact I have never used them and didn't check on them when posting. In my defence, the only time they appear in the RIA is on power-feed lasweapons. Using the correct rules, it would be possible to empty a 32 round magazine in 15 turns, assuming you get enough actions. Still, I'm in favour of the recharge due to heat buildup. Probably more balanced than a conventional reload.

So a range limiter on the photon effects? Or a gradual dropping off? say, comparable to the range of the launcher?

Marco favours a rather different set of rules for photon flash grenades. Taken from the most recent version of the RIA:

Type: Grenade (Rng: E)* Area: 5yd Blast: 6 Dam: X Enc: 5
Any model within the area of effect must take a Toughness test at +30, but with a -10 penalty for each hit taken. On failure and each two degrees of failure, the target is stunned for one turn.
Characters with advanced bionic eyes and/or ears gain a single +20 bonus to this test.
The shockwave can travel around (but not through) terrain, but characters shielded in this way get a +20 bonus.
*Obviously this is for the thrown version and would be modified depending on the launcher, although to be fair, the RIA also uses Rng: E for an auxiliary grenade launcher.

*For some reason, I thought it was like the LRB's recharge.

[mcjomar]

Well, this is Inquisitor, and not the frontline, so perhaps this is the officer version, or is issued to those attached to various envoy missions/ambassadors/ethereals for those fire warriors who are part of such delegations, in case they are seperated from supply lines for whatever reason.

Makes me think a recharge of [6] or more would be appropriate for the attached photon launcher specific to this model of pulse carbine (or maybe a recharge of 3-6 turns outright?). After all if it's an (essentially) ammo-less gun, then the launcher would logically also be, maybe as an experimental weapon provided by the Earth caste for field testing.


E: semi related question - would a Tau fire warrior be able to maintain their own guns? Know how to recharge/rearm when away from logistics and supply lines usually enjoyed by line troopers?

[MarcoSkoll]

perhaps this is the officer version, or is issued to those attached to various envoy missions

That's not really the intention. When I use recharging mechanics, it doesn't mean I think the shot capacity is completely unlimited, but rather that it is not of concern within the course of a game.

That might be because factors limit how fast the weapon can be discharged, or just because it has an insane number of shots in the first place; Given it's very uncommon to see a lasgun need reloading in game, one fed from a backpack supply does not need a number put on it for a game (and said powercells can be easily recharged from power sockets, or even strong sunlight, between games).
Unless it's actually important to track both recharging and a shot count (such as for Imperial plasma guns, which both have relatively low capacities and questionable safety measures), I don't want to complicate things by doing so.

In the case of Tau Pulse weapons, I imagine that the Tau have ultra high capacity batteries, hyper-capacitors or compact fuel cells from which to provide power, as well as thermal energy recovery, half-bridge discharging (potentially even sequentially, driving each coil with the inductance of the last) and the like to maximise the potential efficiency of the system.

To me, that says the shot count of a pulse weapon is probably pretty high, possibly some hundreds or even thousands of shots before either the power cell or magazine* run dry.

*The description of Tau Pulse weapon describes "a particle which breaks down as it leaves the barrel". Given the potentially broad definition of particle, I'm choosing to interpret it as a small metallic fragment (from a large internal supply), which works better than interpreting it as a subatomic particle.

Firstly, subatomic particles don't break down into plasma (that'd be rather like saying "this flour broke down into a cake"). Secondly, the single most energetic subatomic particle we have ever witnessed (usually known as the "Oh-My-God particle") is believed to have been a proton travelling at 0.999999999999999999999995c. This is ludicrously fast, some 40 million times more energetic than is possible with the Large Hadron Collider, but is still "only" about the energy of a thrown baseball; Not exactly the most lethal.

The intention is that this represents a relatively standard pulse carbine. I'm just disagreeing with Fire Warrior as to what the capacity is, partly because that isn't itself even that close to the figures quoted in Imperial Armour. In either case though, those numbers are high enough that a character is all but guaranteed not to exhaust that many shots in one game. (Once overheating, the length of the game, the chance of the character being taken out, the chance of the character having killed everything on the table, etc are taken into account).

Makes me think a recharge of [6] or more

Again, [6] refers to the number of shots recharged at the end of a turn it's unused. It's not a good idea to track recharge by actions - it just plain doesn't make sense that a gun cools down faster when carried by a lithe assassin than a wounded mutie. (Or not at all, should it be dropped!)

To jump back slightly to the above note, Imperial Armour says the Photon grenade launchers are single shot, with the grenades suitable for either launching or throwing.

E: semi related question - would a Tau fire warrior be able to maintain their own guns? Know how to recharge/rearm when away from logistics and supply lines usually enjoyed by line troopers?

You'd have to assume that they could to some extent, although how many spare parts they carry is another question.

[mcjomar]

My lack of imperial armour books is showing here.

To jump back slightly to the above note, Imperial Armour says the Photon grenade launchers are single shot, with the grenades suitable for either launching or throwing.

Hmm - from a campaign perspective, that'll prove an interesting one then - how would a tau operating within the imperium as part of an Inquisitor's warband get access to more of these?

If the power source is, to all intents and purposes, infinite and/or rechargeable given access to suitable power sources/materials, that would leave the ammo for a carbine launcher to be the core ammo related supply issue facing such a tau.
Obviously, yes, parts could be an issue.

The only vague solution I could think of is if the inquisitor has a network of operatives within the gue'vesa.
They could, at times, funnel parts, ammo and so on, to her or other parts of the imperium for study (and minor supply of the Tau she has found a use for).
Unless the Tau are using the fire warrior for information gathering, in which case he might occasionally find himself moving to meet suppliers from his own government to acquire equipment, supplies, etc. Or something like that.

[MarcoSkoll]

how would a tau operating within the imperium as part of an Inquisitor's warband get access to more of these?

For a few suggestions:

- The Tau is still occasionally being resupplied on his mission.
- The Inquisitor is having them specially made. It is technology the Imperium possesses, so I expect they could be made compatible. (It might even be a cover to closer inspect Tau technology).
- The Inquisitor is having them collected from battlefields. (Although probably isn't telling).
- The Tau has a reasonably large supply (more than he carries on his person), but has still got to be somewhat sparing about them.

[mcjomar]

I'd be more inclined for the first two rather than the last two as it has the potential for plot hooks, campaigns, and intra-warband dissent.
Which is reasonably likely for any group of people working in close concert - not all happy families all the time.
Especially in the world of Inquisitor.