Warhammer 40k

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They have really, really big guns, and more to the point, unlike the other factions they can reliably mass-produce them. If even a low-level Warhound Scout Titan gets taken out that's a massive loss representing years of labor. Meanwhile the Tau can and have wiped those out with a single lucky alpha strike from a modified Tigershark. On a rather more practical level, how easily can the Tau replace a couple of Stormsurges and their crews versus the Knight they just gave their lives and war machines to take down? Or a Stormsurge versus a Baneblade? For better or worse, there are no true irreplaceable relics in the Tau arsenal from a height of power never to be regained. They're still on their way up in the galaxy, and they're being smart by taking advantage of the fact they're small fry to steadily expand whenever someone gets distracted.

Also, having a single, big badass that can't be replaced is just as dangerous. Even if takes the simulated deaths of 80 Space Wolf Terminators to down a Primarch in mock combat, that's still a net win for the Rout.
The T'au would have been broken by an event of similar scale to the devastation of Baal, or the plague star shit the Ultramarines have to deal with. The only reason they exist is story contrivances and plot armor of similar grade to Cato Sicarius himself. Their mecha would be impressive, but then you consider that the greatest enemy in the setting isn't particularly effected by guns, and are more so effected by sword and flame. Nor is their technologies, because the necrons are so technologically advanced that that their technology looks like magic to the ignorant.

The one time in recent memory they actually spent anytime in the warp, they all went as nuts as lorgar, they couldn't cope whatsoever.

If the hive mind every had a reason to actually go at them, or chaos, or the imperium. They would fold immediately. It wouldn't even take a legion, it would take a mere few chapters. Hell maybe even just the Black Templars.

Tl;dr T'au are a waste in the story because they are not as numerous as orcs, they aren't as technologically advanced as necrons, and their warriors aren't nearly as effective as those from the imperium.
 
The T'au would have been broken by an event of similar scale to the devastation of Baal, or the plague star shit the Ultramarines have to deal with. The only reason they exist is story contrivances and plot armor of similar grade to Cato Sicarius himself. Their mecha would be impressive, but then you consider that the greatest enemy in the setting isn't particularly effected by guns, and are more so effected by sword and flame. Nor is their technologies, because the necrons are so technologically advanced that that their technology looks like magic to the ignorant.

The one time in recent memory they actually spent anytime in the warp, they all went as nuts as lorgar, they couldn't cope whatsoever.

If the hive mind every had a reason to actually go at them, or chaos, or the imperium. They would fold immediately. It wouldn't even take a legion, it would take a mere few chapters. Hell maybe even just the Black Templars.

Tl;dr T'au are a waste in the story because they are not as numerous as orcs, they aren't as technologically advanced as necrons, and their warriors aren't nearly as effective as those from the imperium.

I think a Tau Fire warrior is better trained armored and equipped than your average Guardsman. The problem with the Tau is the scale of what they are against. They are the coolest kids in the sand box, but that sandbox is in the middle of a monster truck rally. The Imperium probably leaves enough Guardsman to die, cause it isn't worth evacuating them, a year to genocide the entire Tau race.

The threat of the Tau is how quickly they are developing. If left unchecked by the galactic powers another couple thousand years and they could possibly be a major threat.
 
The threat of the Tau is how quickly they are developing. If left unchecked by the galactic powers another couple thousand years and they could possibly be a major threat.
This is perhaps the most optimistic sentence ever written for something having to do with 40k, almost on par with "Tyranids will get a new model this decade".

The idea of the T'au being left alone for a couple thousand years is plot armor so amazing that is makes Ragnar Blackmane and Cato Sicarius look like stupid jobbers.

Like T'au can never ever catch up now. Because the Silent King and his Crypteks are back. The Necron are no longer technologically stagnant.

Again the problem with T'au is that they don't have a monster truck, and that the logical jumps and plot contrivances needed for them to get a monster truck is completely asinine. They will always exist and continue to exist purely on plot armor. Just crash The Rock into their stupid fucking homeworld and awaken de Lion on their worthless asses.


Tl;Dr
Who would win? The T'au or One Fella that makes your head hurty?

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I think a Tau Fire warrior is better trained armored and equipped than your average Guardsman. The problem with the Tau is the scale of what they are against. They are the coolest kids in the sand box, but that sandbox is in the middle of a monster truck rally. The Imperium probably leaves enough Guardsman to die, cause it isn't worth evacuating them, a year to genocide the entire Tau race.

The threat of the Tau is how quickly they are developing. If left unchecked by the galactic powers another couple thousand years and they could possibly be a major threat.
Pretty much this. You're right @Love_Machine011 the Tau are utterly inconsequential on a galactic scale. Which is why the big boys tend to leave them alone. They die easy yet have very big guns, so they're not a good prey choice for the DEldar, for da Orkz dere's not enuff o dem for a proppa scrap unlike wiv da 'umies, and so long as they stay away from the Maiden Worlds the Craftworlders pay them zero heed, and due to their shitty, weak warp presence Chaos doesn't want a damn thing to do with them. They're barely a blip on the Imperium's radar... which is why the Imperium's gotten lax and let them get too big to be easily squashed given the endless, bigger threats out there. Will agree with you on the warp storm and random Nid invasion saving them as dumb ass-pulls, but its not like GW can competently write themselves good outs, considering how the Squ-
 
Pretty much this. You're right @Love_Machine011 the Tau are utterly inconsequential on a galactic scale. Which is why the big boys tend to leave them alone. They die easy yet have very big guns, so they're not a good prey choice for the DEldar, for da Orkz dere's not enuff o dem for a proppa scrap unlike wiv da 'umies, and so long as they stay away from the Maiden Worlds the Craftworlders pay them zero heed, and due to their shitty, weak warp presence Chaos doesn't want a damn thing to do with them. They're barely a blip on the Imperium's radar... which is why the Imperium's gotten lax and let them get too big to be easily squashed given the endless, bigger threats out there. Will agree with you on the warp storm and random Nid invasion saving them as dumb ass-pulls, but its not like GW can competently write themselves good outs, considering how the Squ-
The squats will comeback and immediately cuck them with their superior squat technology and genocide them like the lesser beings they actually are. Or you know what, I'm just gonna tell Azrael that L*ther and the Fallen are planning on joining forces with the T'au to write informative pamphlets on the secrets of the Dark Angels chapter, and drop them all over imperium worlds like the Americans did before they nuked hiroshima.
 
Don't be ridiculous. There are no traitors from the Dark Angels, just like there are no wolves on Fenris.
No no no, you're mixing it up. You're supposed to say there ARE wolves on Fenris.

But as a final tac on the TQ. After all these years of the smurfs getting made fun of, rightfully because of ward. The jokes don't make as much sense anymore. Besides the basic shit of them being poster boys, they do get fucked with nowadays. The Indomitus crusade was ended because of the plague stars, and Cato Sicarius has been humbled. While other factions seem to get a free pass and don't get nearly as much shit. I usually make this point with the space wolves being just as bad in a lot of places and bringing up Ragnar Blackmane. However, I've always held the T'au being almost as bad as ward era smurfs, even if they are set up differently in how they are.
 
I mean, you're not wrong about them getting free passes on shit, like I said above. But I'd argue that's because of GW's utterly terrible writing that can't write anything that isn't a major galactic threat, and yes, even a single one of those would wipe out the Tau, especially since well, the Tau Septs have very little info written about them on population density, never mind the Tau auxiliaries. The last time we had the Tau getting all hands on deck for a major threat was the Damocles Gulf Crusade, and things have progressed big for them since then. I imagine the Tau would be a much bigger threat if their Gue'vesa were fully mobilized to arms, with the resulting deeper integration into the Tau Empire proper as a full unique caste instead of some random auxiliaries. If Mantas are bad now, just wait until a single one can roll off a full platoon of Leman Russes. Swap out the gun drones and Crisis suits and you might be able to fit a couple Chimeras in a single Orca.
 
In my opinion there is something that makes the whole grimdark Warhammer 40k thing fall apart and that's death. In a book I was reading 2 space marines killed monsters filled with human souls and when the monsters died the souls were happy and left. Now I can't take any death in 40k serious anymore. Entire planets get destroyed and billions die? So what? Their souls are free now. There isn't even a clear answer for what happens after death in 40k or am I wrong? Orks, eldar, humans etc. all have different beliefs.
Different species, different afterlife. Makes sense to me.

Orks become part of Gork or Mork, be part of the great duel between them for a while, then they are reborn.

Eldar without soulstones get slurped up by Slaanesh, with soulstones they are stuck in them until their people recover their stone and place it in their infinity circuits which is their afterlife.

Humans are absorbed by the emperor or placed in an afterlife under his care, unless they are chaos worshippers.

Chaos worshippers are fucked or blessed, depending on who you ask.

Necrons are stuck in their metal bodies.

Tyranids have one singular entity for whom an afterlife exist, and even that's more like a routinely-updated backup than an actual afterlife.

The Tau have nothing, as far as I know. They just fade into the warp.

That's all the species I can remember right now.
 
It always fascinates me the Tau are so naive they can’t comprehend a galaxy with empires as large as the imperium. Also if i’ve read right doesn’t most if not all of the Tau empire fall under the old territory of the Sautekh Dynasty?
 
I actually like the Tau because hey're the opposite kind of dystopia to the Imperium. The Tau go the Brave New World direction compared to the Imperium's 1984.

Their plot armour is blatant & shit but it's nice they're kept around just to see them keep shitting their pants when they come across new stuff. The Damocles Crusade, Farsight discovering demons, the Fifth Sphere Expansion getting whacked etc.
 
The Tau have become a lot less naive in recent updates. Turns out getting smacked around by the galaxy only for last-minute ass pulls to save your ass instills a major sense of paranoia instead of wide-eyed naivete. They've definitely taken on a far more brutal character since their interactions with the IoM.
 
In my opinion there is something that makes the whole grimdark Warhammer 40k thing fall apart and that's death. In a book I was reading 2 space marines killed monsters filled with human souls and when the monsters died the souls were happy and left. Now I can't take any death in 40k serious anymore. Entire planets get destroyed and billions die? So what? Their souls are free now. There isn't even a clear answer for what happens after death in 40k or am I wrong? Orks, eldar, humans etc. all have different beliefs.
That's not a bad thing though. Too much grimdark can turn it into self-parody without snips of hope thrown in. Getting to rest easy with the Big E or in some soulstone is a nice recompense for the shit they go through living.
 
This is perhaps the most optimistic sentence ever written for something having to do with 40k, almost on par with "Tyranids will get a new model this decade".

The idea of the T'au being left alone for a couple thousand years is plot armor so amazing that is makes Ragnar Blackmane and Cato Sicarius look like stupid jobbers.

Like T'au can never ever catch up now. Because the Silent King and his Crypteks are back. The Necron are no longer technologically stagnant.

Again the problem with T'au is that they don't have a monster truck, and that the logical jumps and plot contrivances needed for them to get a monster truck is completely asinine. They will always exist and continue to exist purely on plot armor. Just crash The Rock into their stupid fucking homeworld and awaken de Lion on their worthless asses.


Tl;Dr
Who would win? The T'au or One Fella that makes your head hurty?

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That "If left alone" was a pretty big if. The Fourth Sphere seemed to properly teach the Tau that the rest of the galaxy is a lot greater than their good.

There are at least a few minor factions floating around the galaxy that are closer in size to the Tau than the Tau are to the other proper factions. The difference is they've been locked in a status quo with the major powers for a long time, and in an that give the Tau have managed to go from spears to tech that can match or surpass the big boys in comparable number.
 
I actually like the Tau because hey're the opposite kind of dystopia to the Imperium. The Tau go the Brave New World direction compared to the Imperium's 1984.

Their plot armour is blatant & shit but it's nice they're kept around just to see them keep shitting their pants when they come across new stuff. The Damocles Crusade, Farsight discovering demons, the Fifth Sphere Expansion getting whacked etc.
Truth be told, that was one of my favorite parts of the Psychic Awakening. Having the Tau stumble across the Death Guard and what was left of the Fourth Sphere and basically shit their battlesuits while going "holy fucking Ethereals what the hell man" was a pretty fun move on GW's part.
 
I think everyone can sympathize with the Tau in that regard, at least. Mostly because even your average Guardsman basically just shrugs whenever things go from bad to worse because when you're from a hive world chances are the battlefield is a safer place than back home, but the Tau are... well, their attitudes are a lot like ours would be upon seeing all this shit in person: "Can the galaxy not be a grimdark shithole FOR FIVE MINUTES?!"
 
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