Fusion blasters?

[BSM]

I've swapped my Fusions for Plasmas so I'll just roll out 9 fireknives and let the rail heads deal with heavy armour

[Rikimaru]

I've swapped my Fusions for Plasmas so I'll just roll out 9 fireknives

Why? elite fireknives suck.

[number6]

Why? elite fireknives suck.

You really wanna go there?

[Skarsgard]

Have I missed something? I am a big fan of my fireknives but you have obviously changed your mind on them riki?

[Tayne]

I can't speak for Riki, but I find Fireknive's inefficient. Plasma works best at rapid fire range, but by that point the enemy is already in your face. At 20 points per gun, that's a lot of points to sink into each model over, for example, Deathrains.

[Skarsgard]

True when you are dealing with targets that the deathrain and plasma are both equally good at but what about 2+ saves or FNP? Plasma rifles clearly trump deathrains here.

[number6]

True when you are dealing with targets that the deathrain and plasma are both equally good at but what about 2+ saves or FNP? Plasma rifles clearly trump deathrains here.

That.

And the whole point of crisis suits is the assault jump move. If you're using your screening units correctly, you should be able to jump into double-tap range, slag whatever your target is, and then jump back behind the safety of your screening units, safe from assault.

I'm not saying deathrains are bad suits. They're terrific suits. In fact, as Riki says, they're an excellent choice, and very strong armies can be built without any fireknives yet with an exclusive focus on deathrains.

But the mass fireknife build is still incredibly effective.

Now to cue up the popcorn and wait for Riki's wall of text explaining -- sorry, proving -- that without the added expense of targeting arrays (which are prohibitively expensive), fireknives are crap.

Sigh....

[Rikimaru]

Now to cue up the popcorn and wait for Riki's wall of text explaining -- sorry, proving -- that without the added expense of targeting arrays (which are prohibitively expensive), fireknives are crap.

Sigh....

Tut tut tut, is that provocation.
No wall of text because you summed it up nicely thanks. Just two things, JSJ into double tap range (which is only when Plasma is effective) leaves you 18" away from the opponents forces and that is to close. If the opponent is that close to your screening units then you have probably lost anyway because you have not stopped or reduced the opponents movement in the first two turns.
Which leads me to point two, this is where those 'expensive' (relative) TA's come in, having massed BS4 twin linked Missile pods is what stops those transports (and Railguns) and if you stop transports you do not need massed BS3 plasma. Fireknives only work at BS4 minimum with a multi and you cannot get that in large numbers in elites.

[Tayne]

I'm not anti plasma, I just think the Fireknife build is too expensive. Personally, one or two in HQ and add some onto the Broadsides work fine. The Missile Pods work at range, if the enemy has gotten close enough, I find plasma works better than SMS up close, AND it's far cheaper with twinlinked as standard.

[Rikimaru]

I'm not anti plasma, I just think the Fireknife build is too expensive. Personally, one or two in HQ and add some onto the Broadsides work fine. The Missile Pods work at range, if the enemy has gotten close enough, I find plasma works better than SMS up close, AND it's far cheaper with twinlinked as standard.

I built a list to deal with Nids before they screwed them with the FAQ because Plasma is nice against massed MC's. Didn't use the list for long though because the Plasma is to easily nullified by cover and unless you have masses of markerlights to reduce said cover you are not doing much and I didn't see many Nod lists after the FAQ. Couple that with the mediocre BS3 and you have a full unit of 3XV6's doing very little damage for the 60pts you invested in the Plasma.
I take two Plasma's on my BS5, multi equipped Shas'Els because you get value for the points paid and because I have not paid 180pts for the 9 BS3 Plasma guns I can spend points on stuff that works and ML's to remove cover saves if needed.