Tau Logistics

Darmalus · Post by **Darmalus** » 2008-09-15 04:47pm

This is a bunch of related questions.

How long can Tau ground forces fight on their own in a prolonged conflict? For example, if a ground force were to land, but the Imperial Navy shows up and turns their orbital support into space dust, how long could they carry on before they run out of ammo and fuel?

Do pulse rifles have ammo, or are they like IG lasguns and only need electricity? I know the IG can recharge their clips from their vehicles, or even by tossing them into a bonfire, so can the Tau do something similar, or do they require something special?

For vehicles, how are Tau vehicles powered? Is it promethium, magic crystals, fusion, something else? How long could they run on a full tank of fuel? If no spare parts were available, how long could they operate before becoming useless? How easy are they to repair? I understand many parts of a Leman Russ could be made in a blacksmith shop as long as you were careful and knew what you were doing, which lead me to ask just how low tech can you go before there is no hope of patching up a Hammerhead or other Tau vehicle?

Comparing Tau and Humans, who has a wider variety of environments they can survive and thrive in? A wide variety of edible foodstuffs? Who requires less support when if come to medical aid, to get comparable levels of recovery from similar injuries?

Vanas · Post by **Vanas** » 2008-09-15 05:28pm

I'm not a Tau expert, but as I recall, Pulse guns are projectile weapons, so they'll have a limited stock of ammo, as will their missiles and rail rounds.

As for the rest, Tau forces aren't really built for long wars of attrition, as the Tau 'don't believe in them'. Without orbital support or the home advantage, they're pretty much boned. Their army's based around their short supply lines allowing them to use all their high-tech stuff where it's needed and can be shipped back for repairs etc, rather than the Imperium's universal stuff.

Zor · Post by **Zor** » 2008-09-15 05:54pm

Vanas wrote:I'm not a Tau expert, but as I recall, Pulse guns are projectile weapons, so they'll have a limited stock of ammo, as will their missiles and rail rounds.

Railguns and Missiles yes, Everything i have read on Tau Pulse Weapons is that they are Plasma Weapons

Teleros · Post by **Teleros** » 2008-09-15 07:27pm

For example, if a ground force were to land, but the Imperial Navy shows up and turns their orbital support into space dust, how long could they carry on before they run out of ammo and fuel?

In short, not very long. Tau military doctrine relies upon good logistics, intelligence, mobility and maintaining the initiative - start taking those away from them and they get flattened. I can't remember what (if anything) it says about vehicle fuels for the Tau, but I'd be very surprised if they could use just about anything as fuel in the same manner as many Imperial vehicles can.
As for ammo... well I'd've thought the Imperium has the advantage there as well, although lasgun barrels etc will still need replacing - a lascannon with ruined barrel is just as useless as a railgun with no ammunition after all.

Comparing Tau and Humans, who has a wider variety of environments they can survive and thrive in? A wide variety of edible foodstuffs? Who requires less support when if come to medical aid, to get comparable levels of recovery from similar injuries?

IIRC, IA:3 mentioned the Tau being better suited to hot, desert conditions than humans. The Air caste are also better suited to space and make better fighter pilots than humans - however, the Imperial Navy tends to have more actual experience than Tau pilots.
No idea on medical technology, foodstuffs etc, I'd have to go check through various books for that, and I've got sleep to catch up on

. The Codex, IA:3 & the Xenos biology (I forget the name) books should have most of the info you need though.

Railguns and Missiles yes, Everything i have read on Tau Pulse Weapons is that they are Plasma Weapons

Well plasma weapons will still require fuel, recharging etc, so supplies will still be more of an issue compared to IG lasgun maintenance.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2008-09-15 07:52pm

Zor wrote:
Railguns and Missiles yes, Everything i have read on Tau Pulse Weapons is that they are Plasma Weapons

Plasma weapons still need some kind of material to turn into plasma, they don’t provide independence from ammunition supplies.

Lord Revan · Post by **Lord Revan** » 2008-09-15 08:13pm

I think we talked about before and one of the main weakness the Tau have is their overreliance on speed and mobility in battles/wars, take those away and the Tau start getting flatten (while it's game and not lore, a good example is a battle (read:game) report where most of the Tau army got killed in melee by a chaplain (in terminator armor) and an assault terminator since the SM player was able to limit the mobility of the Tau player.)

Zor · Post by **Zor** » 2008-09-15 08:26pm

Sea Skimmer wrote:
Zor wrote:
Railguns and Missiles yes, Everything i have read on Tau Pulse Weapons is that they are Plasma Weapons
Plasma weapons still need some kind of material to turn into plasma, they don’t provide independence from ammunition supplies.

Fair Enough, although that could be simple Hydrogen or Deuterium.

Zor

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-09-15 09:32pm

Zor wrote: Fair Enough, although that could be simple Hydrogen or Deuterium.

Zor

Which is still going to require specialized facilities to process into ammo packs, even if nothing else is required (which I doubt).

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2008-09-15 11:01pm

Well you might not need anything more specialized then a simple screw on valve assembly to go from a large storage canister into a magazine, but you would need some kind of major equipment to extract and purify the gas. You also need a way of powering that equipment. Still, it might not be anything too massive (say back of a hummve sized) if its something simple like hydrogen you need, but that’s a big difference from needing no resupply at all.