Best Commander Configuration?, how do you equip yours?

what do you consider the best equipment for a commander and his bodyguard?

You could as well ask what is the toughest opponent you could face.

That question is - sorry to say it that harsh - as incomplete as it is stupid. But before you get mad at me let me explain this.

The question is incomplete since you merely asked what is the best configuration for your commander. Maybe this sounds hard but if you really use Tau and know their style of battle you should know that each unit depends on each other. So one could not say a thing about one unit without being reminded on the rest of the battle force.
So if your question should be complete you should either set the 'limits' more clearly ( e.g. the 'best' config in a 1000 mobile Tau army that has mostly standard troops ).

The question is stupid since it would indicate that there is a 'perfect' config for a commander - which surely never exists. Truth is that one can have a Shas'o armed to the teeth and still be unable to hit the floor while some Shas'el with 'unnecessary' stuff can be THE killer of the battle. Also it depends on how you use your commanders so that their configuration becomes 'perfect'. If you have your commander be part of a team then it would be a good thing using that command gear ( so that the others benefit from it ) while it would be a waste if you use him mon'at.
Also your style is responsible for the effectiveness of your units and their gear. A Shas'o that is used for ranged attacks should have ranged weapons and maybe some ml drones. A cc commander might need iridium armor, shield drones and some injectors. Maybe a self-destruct device might be a nice idea here.


So you see that your question might either lead to no answer at all or to many different answers that each has its reason to be used. And this might confuse amateur gamers more than it might help them.
If anyone answers this question then I say he or she should not only tell the configuration but also in which army and for which style ( and maybe against which enemy ) this configuration is used. Otherwise it would be useless.

I still hope you are not mad at me and see why I posted this - not to make fun of you but to show you how difficult this question is to answer ( you could've also asked what is the best song / movie / game in the world ).

I am. You can state your point without resorting to such harshness. Calling something stupid adds nothing to the discussion, it can only antagonize people and potentially scare off new members. So the question is difficult to answer and has no right answer. such questions can lead to lively discussions where people can learn alot about an army and how to play it.

I agree with your point that there is no, and cannot be a, perfect configuration but you can say so without being hostile.



As to the question. Because of the vast number of Marine and MEq armies I generally prefer to run my commanders, and most of my suits with some variation of the helios configuration (plasma rifle, fusion blaster, multi-tracker).

I know alot of people will say that your odds of a kill are just as good with a burst cannon or CIB but I find, for me, it works much better to deny the enemy an armor save at all rather than count on the odds to ensure they fail a certain number.

The helios is also very good vs Terminators, which are a perennial headache for me, and enemy tanks if I can get close enough with the FB.

What I find effective against what armies:
For these outfits i'm just puting in the 3 hard points, duke em out with the Harewiring as you would see fit. I ALWAYS GIVE SHIELD DRONES. THOSE LITTLE TROUBLE MAKERS ARE JUST EXTRA WOUNDS TO P-O YOUR OPPONENT.

Chaos/Space Marines/Sisters/D-Hunters/Necrons
Plasma rifle
Cyclic Ion (kills more than you'd think. The 6 to wound for AP1 rox)
Shield Gen

Cannon fodder armies(Guard, Orks, Nid swarm, Eldar guardians, Dark Eldar)
Burst Cannon
Airbursting Frag
Shield Gen
Gundrones on this one

Vehicle Based armies (armoured comp.,Speed Freaks, Armoured Eldar, Big nids, or other Rhino Rushes and etc)
Missile Pod
Fusion Blaster
Shield Gen


Love the shield generators.

Yeah, I'm a fan of shield gens too. 4+ I save makes something with multiple wounds REALLY hard to kill.

hmm, sorry, ok. the reason i am asking this is because while i am magnetising the rest of my suits, is hard to have a really good looking commander while doing that. my army actually consists mainly of battlesuits. my list is going to look something like this

commander with 2 bodyguard
commander with 2 bodyguard

3 x battlesuits
3 x battlesuits
6 times stealthsuits

12 x fire warriors
12 x fire warriors (these may be reduced to six men if points are tight)

8 x gun drones

2 x broadsides

its subject to alot of change... but you get the general idea.

i was thinking about CIB, BC, MP, HWMT on the commander as the CIB and BC have the statistically the best GEQ killing abilities at 18" whilst the second best MEQ killing abilities (PR, CIB combo is slightly higher) at 18" allowing me to keep my commander at a reasonably safe distance. the missile pod is there because i could not think of anything else worth taking up the third battlesuit slot and so that i waste the shash'o's BS5 as little as possible

thanks in advance!

I Wrote a Tatactica on this topic in the Tau Art of War Section but personally i prefer lone wolf commanders primarily because of his IC status, in brief these are the configurations i use:

Shas'O and Stim Injector plus the following weapon configs

Orks/Battle Sisters equivalent:
-Firestorm
-Twin Missile Pod and Burst cannon
This config absolutely rips through the Ork and sister ranks with 5 high powered hits that also ignore the Ork's armour, the sheer number of shote means that even sisters have gotta fail some saves, also possesses secondary anti vehicle capability

Marine Equivalent: there are 2 options
-Ion Knife-Plasma Rifle and Cyclic Ion Blaster->mathematically the most efficient but expensive
-Burning eye-Plasma Rifle and Twin Fusion Blaster->slightly less efficient than the above combo but is more economical and has anti tank ability
note:to get the most out of the above configs, u have to be in RAPID range

Imperial Guard Equivalent
-Firestorm-Twin Missile pod and Burst Cannon->most reliable to cause casualties
-Thunder Storm-Mass Killer with the ABFP and Burst Cannon->potential to kill massive numbers of infantry and can pin, also fairly cheap when you use a Shas'el and twin link the Burst Cannon (Twin BS4 is the same as BS5)
-Ion Storm-CIB and ABFP-> mathematically the most efficient against light infantry, potential to pin but the most expensive configuration a Suit can take (note:this config ONLY works on a Shas'O)
-Flamer-seriously these are KILLER against squishy opponents because they dont require BS and can be kept cheap

these are the commander Configs i Use, my Crisis Configs are just a variantion of the following configurations but as a guide i've mathematically crunched the probabilities to aid in your choice of weapons:
-BS3 hits 50% of the time
-Twin BS3 is a 75% chance to hit
-BS4 hits 2/3rds of the Time
-Twin BS4 is the Same as BS5
-Twin BS5 has a 97% chance of a hit

Remember its usually a trade off because:
-some configurations may have the same efficiency but remember that if you're a gambler then go for the one that can POTENTIALLY do more)

if you want an in depth guide then read the Tau Tactica i wrote, post me if these are helpful for you

because i spent a lot of time calculating the Odds of EVERY configuration against EVERY possible opponent so please use my hard earned time

I was all about missile pods when I first started playing, but I got pretty disenchanted on them with actual use. They don't have the rate of fire to make a dent in GEq/horde armies, they don't have the AP to actually kill MEqs very often, and they don't have the S to make a dent in a combat tank.

I have pretty much stopped using MPs all together.

Magnus, What's the problem with magnetizing them? I magnetized all my suits and except for a tendency for some pieces to rotate you can't even tell. Granted, I used Forgeworld suits and maybe that makes a difference... Maybe we could give you a hand on how to keep your commander flexible.

It seems that my words of un-wisdom eventually led to some very good answers to this question.

I have to say that I am pleased with the answers for they give more than just a statement but tells you against which enemy and in what combination they are used. This is much more helpful than merely posting the name of the gear.

It was my intention to call things by their names - I would not have been true if I would've said the question was a good one. Maybe it was harsh but I learned that sometimes a little well-dosed 'offensive' behaviour can be worth more than thousand gentle words. By doing so I made my point clear and - obviously - inspired all following posters to be more specific with their posts.

Well, you can blame me for many things but I still think that my words did not hurt as much as they helped this topic. And I do not see how this could scare off new posters - in fact this proves them that the members here are honest and that everyone is allowed to say what he or she thinks. If someone calls me and my topics stupid - fine to me as long as there is some reason behind it. I gave one and so I am fine with it ( I can not stand unreasoned critics ).

As one might have figured out there is no 'best' configuration for a commander.
I myself have used many combinations to various effects.

It would take some time for me to recall all the configurations I used for my commander and even more to write them down. Also I can't tell what my battleforce consisted of and what my enemies were when I used the configurations.

I had a commander with iridium armor, a plasma cannon, a missile pod and a hard-wired multi-tracker. This combo was used in a small battle when I faced SM. My commander had to play the bait and to knock out many enemies at the same time. He did quite well but due to the fact that I had two Sniper Drone teams and two Fire Warrior teams he was not the main part of my battleforce.
So this configuration was used to get some attraction and to withstand the incoming fire.

I also used one configuration that had a single commander equipped with a plasma cannon, a missile pod, a multi-tracker and a hard-wired drone controller plus two gun drones.
Here the commander was accompied by some equipped crisis suits as well forming up a mobile support force. My fire warriors were pretty much static and support came from my Hammerhead ( to that date I had no Sniper Drones ).
This allowed me to project some firepower everywhere I wanted and it made sure that my Shas'o would survive at least two hits.

As you can see I used some things quite often. The plasma cannon and the missile pod are not the best weapons but they are what the opponent thinks they are. And so my opponent directs his fire on the Shas'o spending much needed shots.
The plasma cannon is okay and the missile pod also but they are no super-weapons nor can they re-roll misses ( in my configurations ).
Since a Shas'o has better stats at slightly higher costs I use that profile rather than that of a Shas'el.
And due to the better skills I use a multi-tracker to allow both weapon systems to be fired at once.

These were just two configurations I remembered and these were used when I battled Space Marines. But in each case I used a different strategy and a different troop selection so that one should not look at the Shas'o alone. It is a much better thing to look at the whole composition at first and then figure out how each part could improve the total ( or make up faults of other parts ).

And to all new members out there:
Don't be shy and do not be scared. It was all meant to give you some honest answer to such a question that can not be answered with one sentence.
I hope this thread helps you somewhat and I would like to hear your configurations as well. If you can tell us against which enemy you used it and - if you remember that - what your battleforce consisted of except for your commander. Those of you who want could add their intentions about their configurations ( what you had in mind when you equipped them with the gear - and how you used them in the battle ).

Be assured: I am not here to critize you nor to make anyone here look bad. Maybe my intentions to help do not shine through very often but all I want to do is help. Even if I use harsh words ( and those are rather rare in my case )

thanks for the help, after my post, the amount of people who read my Tactica doubled and its makes me feel really happy