The tau are probably the shootiest army in DOW, and rather unique considering they have no turrets and very varied unit types. The first reaction to understanding the tech tree is to bulid an uber force and march in guns blazing, but this is never a good idea, and here you will learn some basic tips on being a clever and indivivdual tau gamer.
Step 1
Establish a strong flow of resource. Tau are very expensive in terms of both power and requisition (an 8-man fire-warrior squad costs nearly 1000 req.!!!) A good starting point on a 4-player map is about 4 SPs captured by 3 stealth-teams, which should be built and dispatched immediately. keep these teams moving and capture as many points as you can before the enemy starts crusading around the map.
Step 2
Tau efficiency revolves around stealth and attrition - that is, letting other idiots duke it out in a bottleneck and toss hundreds of lives away, then steadily inch your way forward and make a mess of his base while he's not looking - don't gather your troops and throw them "over there", THINK!!!! A good commander does'nt lose a man, avoids fighting and causes minimal destruction. I personal build a nice big, balanced force on the fringes of my base's nearest SPs, and send an expeditionary force of about 5-6 beefed-up Stealth-teams buzzing around the map and into the enemy base. some Devilfish transports are an excellent distraction to your main sneaky assault, as some players think they're getting swamped when all those burst cannon tracers start hammering their guys and they can't see what the hell is shooting at them.
Step 3
Attack on two fronts. Capture the enemies source of economy and stop them from reinforcing their front lines. whether you're using the proposed stealth-tactic above or an augmented version of your own, it always pays to have the player breaking out in sweat when he sees the second, bigger force rock up behind his troops and start killing off his dreadnaughts. Otherwise, I strongly suggest using the stealth-suits and their fusion blasters. I remember, at one LAN party, I was insulting a guy called TIm for chasing my kroot around the map, and then this other guy Sam said "Come on Matt, we all know you suck at DOW, what you have done all game anyway? n00b!!" I responded with a low chuckle as a i activated the jetbacks on my swarm of stealth-suits and flew into his base. ha, ha, ha. revenge is sweet.
Step 4
Know what they can take on and what they can't, as once they're revealed they're minced meat against infantry. Don't forget to use their jetbacks, and don't be afraid to venture into the middle of the map as all the other players are usually too scared to go there. but, NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOUR OPPONENT!!
Tips
- Find out where your enemies troops are going (the route to the place) and intercept the juicy, expensive units with stealth-suits or an appropriate unit. a player will usually be concentrating on the main battle and will expect his fresh grey knights to rock up when suddenly they don't! (another example of attrition)
- Don't forget to retreat.
- Don't go places where your troops will be at an immediate disadvantage (instead of trudging up the hill, send your battlesuits flying up to disrupt any troops while simultaneously moving your other guys)
- Know your limits
- YOU HAVE ALREADY WON. A COMMANDER WHO IS ALREADY VICTORIOUS SEEKS TO MERELY SHOW THE ENEMY, WHILE A LOSING COMMANDER FIGHTS TO PREVENT THE INEVITABLE.(VERY IMPORTANT)
- Still losing? Play a skrmish 4 way against Insane AI and last as long as you can, then, save and watch the replay and mimick what the AI does.
- Use the Kauyon outpost to pimp your firewarriors. Oh, and don't forget to use kroot, they are quite powerful when used appropriately.
Warnings
- if you can't handle this style of tactics, DON'T USE IT! Many players need to do a lot of experimentation to get to their prime.
- this is NOT a guide to success! use with caution and good luck!!
