The T’au are masters of technology. While the other empires of the 41st Millennium have long stagnated, using millennia-old designs and fearing innovation, the T’au Empire make up for the youthfulness of their dominion by constantly innovating and developing. The forces of Dal’yth, for instance, have all but mastered stealth field technology, outfitting anything from their Fire Warriors to their tanks with the latest patterns. In 9th, if we use all the drones, this is roughly 500 points + wargear. I'm not that familiar with most other factions combat patrol boxes, but looking around it seems like they range from about 380 up to around 620 points in 9th. Since this is going to be a "balanced" game in a box, similar to the current Kill Teams, it seems likely we'll see some tightening of the rules and point values to bring the boxes' contents more in line with each other. A Ghostkeel has the For the Greater Good rule, like almost all Tau units, allowing it to fire overwatch in support of nearby units. The whole team also has the Infiltrator rule, like their smaller cousins, allowing them to deploy anywhere onto the field outside the enemy deployment zone and more than 12″ from enemy models. You can level it as a secondary skill in case you are trying to finish off a city or hero that are already damaged but most of the time you will use the accuracy buff.

It wouldn't make sense to start anywhere else, since the most distinct mechanic of the faction is "Utopia". Shas'vre Dasir of the T'au Sept, one of the first recruits for Aun'Va's "Ghosts of N'dras" program, wearing combat fatigues and a battlesuit harness. T'au Empire Forces This little unit really should not be underestimated, at 30 cost they are responsible for the majority of complaints against tau by overfilling the enemy board with drones. Also, useful to grant other vehicles their adjacency bonus.Just look at the terrain at your disposal and try to place somewhere with good and diverse bonuses, including the nearby tiles since tau don't love overly specialised cities. So, this is the section where i give tips on the actual city development. As i said previously, i will focus on a "utopia compliant" approach, though i know other strats exist.

Photon grenade: honestly this one is pretty OP. As a free action cut the dmg of the target non-vehicle in half next turn. Incredibly valuable in some contexts to protect your high value units. Each Ghostkeel is piloted by single, highly trained Shas'vre, a former XV25 Stealthsuit Team veteran. This focused warrior is supported by an integrated artificial intelligence (AI) that assists him in operating the Ghostkeel's many complex systems and monitors his physical and psychological well-being during extended operations. As Ghostkeel pilots spend long periods of time isolated in enemy territory, many form unusually strong bonds with their Battlesuit AI. Indeed, in some cases these eccentric warriors become so introverted that they prefer the company of their suit's AI to that of other Tau. XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuits are typically deployed in squads of one to three Battlesuits. Pilots in squads consisting of multiple members are usually ritually bonded to one another according to the Tau custom of Ta'lissera, which is symbolised by a knife design painted onto the squad leader's armour.Of course, terrain bonuses may make it more favorable to go with the second option but there's no downside to adding influence as well afterwards.