Missile Pods

[Otsego]

I have read several posts lately that claim the missile pod is a good MEQ killer. I don't understand why, it doesn't negate a save or anything, it does wound on 2+ but that's it. There are other weapons in the Tau arsenal that are definately MEQ killers, but I don't think of missile pods as one of them. Don't get me wrong, they do have a role, and one that I utilise in every list. Am I missing something?

I decided to start a new thread instead of highjacking someone elses.

[hero]

Well i have just started tau but you basicly listed the reasons for why they are good MEQ killers. They have a good strength long range and mulitple shots. the more wounds means the more armour saves whiich equal dead men. Plus when you combine it with a PR you can kill around 2 MEQ'z at 24 or 3 MEQs at 12

[The_Giant_Mantis]

Maybe they mean in addition to the plasma rifle? I can see how that would work if you didn't want your suits to get too close.. Even so though, it seems a bit of a 'best of a bad bunch' option, as there really are no other weapons which work at that range.

Personally, though, I'd use plasma rifles and fusion blasters. I'm not sure how well that one's going to work out with my mediocre distance-judging skills, but hey, it seems like once you've cracked it it's a better option.

[Otsego]

Well i have just started tau but you basicly listed the reasons for why they are good MEQ killers. They have a good strength long range and mulitple shots. the more wounds means the more armour saves whiich equal dead men. Plus when you combine it with a PR you can kill around 2 MEQ'z at 24 or 3 MEQs at 12

If you are using a standard fireknife config, plasma and missile pod, then it would be (potentially) 3 dead MEQs at range and 4 at 12".

But that's not the point, I think of an MEQ killer as something that either negates an armor save or is an instakill, missile pods have neither of these. I think calling missile pods MEQ killers is missleading if not out right wrong. I realize I'm probably spliting hairs here but it just doesn't seem right. I guess it's more about proper target prioritization than anything else, if all transports, speeders, or anything else with a 4+ save is dead, then yes by all means go for the marines or whatever but that doesn't make them an MEQ killer. You will probably kill more MEQs with the same amount, points wise, of kroot or fire warriors if all you are doing is hoping he fails alot of armor saves, granted missile pods have a little further range.

[LittleBlueMan]

Well, I am fresh off of a space marine game vs. my mech tau in which i took 2 deathrains with target array.
They never miss (well occasionally).
Missilepods are excelent against against space marine ARMIES.
They take out rhinos nicely, they are definately good against spacemarines, as it will be 4 saves a turn the have to make.
They aren't straight MEQ killers. But they are definately very effective.

[xsickpeoplex]

its got decent range and decent strength.

combined with a plasma rifle and jump suit jump you can get a kills and force and force 2 saves while staying out of bolter range.

sounds good to me.

a fushion blaster is really effective but you can really get yourself in a world of hurt with them if the terrain isn't right!

[xbanditsx]

It is true that Deathrains aren't going to chew through a tactical squad (although they are going to give it a damn good headache). There are plenty of other things in your army that are going to do that. What they're really good at is wrecking mobility and and being frustrating as hell.

A Deathrain excels at taking down Rhinos and Razorbacks from a very safe distance, and suddenly all those marines inside are exposed to your plasma rifles, fusion blasters, railguns, and ion cannons. They also have to walk, which is frustrating to your opponent.

Deathrains can also knock down landspeeders pretty eaisily, which takes a very mobile heavy bolter and assault cannon off the table (always a good thing). They can also be used to hit Dreads, although the front armour of 12 takes a bit more time to crack.

In my 1000 point list, I run a single Deathrain. My main opponent plays Imperial Fists, and the first few turns almost always go like this: Turn 1 I pop his razorback which is carrying his command squad. Somewhere between Turn 2 and Turn 4 (depending on deployment and if I can get a rear armour shot or not) I take down his Dread. Any turns not spent shooting at the Razorback or Dread are spent taking pot shots at one squad or another, and I'll usually account for 2 or so marines.

That means that my 53 point suit accounts for a 70 point Razorback, a 100ish point Dread, and around 30 points of marines. That is 200+ points (and in a 1000 point game, that's 20% of my opponents army) from a single model who, because of JSJ and the range of the pods, has been killed a total of once in 10 or some games.

So no, Deathrains aren't MEQ killers per say, but I'd be pretty unhappy if I were a marine player staring at one or two across the table

[aussiedave]

I am a big purponent of the Missile pod on this forum and I might be the person you are talking about as saying that Missile pods are good MEQ killers.

If you got that from me i would like to apologise and make myself clear.

Missile Pods are great weapons against light armour (walkers, light tanks, killer kans etc) they just absolutely excel at this.
Once these things are dead, the missile pods next best thing is the MEQ. MP's don't pump out enough shots to kill hordes, but they have a good range, a nice strength to cause wounds really easily, and they have a good number of shots vs the average numbers in a marine squad.

So missile pods aren't nessecarily "These kill marines like nothing else" instead they are "these kill marines good, and i don't get shot back in return."

Or something along those lines.

Dave

[Otsego]

No one needs to sell missile pods to me, I use them always and to great effect. A deathrain squad can cause some major damage and I never leave home without them.

The reason for the post, I guess, was so that someone new, or fairly new, to Tau doesn't get the wrong impression of missile pods. They are great weapons and most opponents groan when they see them come out of the case, though not as much as when they see the pair of broadsides.

[nekochen]

Missile Pods are indeed a killer weapon.. but so is the AutoCannons (Another name for the human army) -- Medium strengh combined with long range and rate of fire, you can never go wrong with AutoCannons Especially when Tau gets an assault-variant of the same weapon plus it is twin-link capable like a Chaos Reaper AutoCannon.