# Why aren't eldar weapons better?



## GabrialSagan (Sep 20, 2009)

Eldar are suppose to be one of the oldest and wisest races. Their understanding of science and engineering beyond human or Tau reckoning. Why is it then that Tau make better guns?


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## C'Tan Chimera (Aug 16, 2008)

Because the Tau boast an extraordinary technological anomaly as they advanced this far within 6000 years. They also have far more recources available then the Eldar. Remember that the Eldar are far past their prime (They may have very well bested the Tau had it been during their civilization's peak) while the Tau have yet still to even reach the top.


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## Kalshinko (Oct 22, 2010)

Not all thier weapons are better. But it's a balance issue too.

Tau in CC are bad.......really bad so of course they have to be much better at shooting. Eldar have a lot of CC to take that is fairly decent.


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## chromedog (Oct 31, 2007)

Supposed 'balance' issues.

Eldar weapons in 2nd ed WERE superior (well, the non-'standard' weapons anyway, since brightlances*, starcannons, etc weren't around in as larger numbers - and every army used the same profiles for 'lascannons, missile launchers, plasma cannons, etc'). The Shuriken catapult was a superior storm bolter (but one that was a standard weapon for a cheap infantry squad). The Shuriken cannon was a viable secondary weapon for the falcon as its range & shots was comparable to the scatter laser, but it had a better ASM.


*Brightlance was originally an 'ancient weapon' only available to certain Exarches or Seers.


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## MEQinc (Dec 12, 2010)

Because the Tau are at the peak of an advanced technological society and the Eldar are post-apocalyptic survivors of a psykic race.


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## Azezel (May 23, 2010)

MEQinc said:


> Because the Tau are at the peak of an advanced technological society and the Eldar are post-apocalyptic survivors of a psykic race.


This exactly.

The Eldar are essentially at the Mad Max point of their civilisation, it's all over and the few that remain are struggling to get by with a fraction of one percent of their past technological and material might.

The birth of Slaanesh really did a nummber not just on the Eldar and their society, but on their technology. Before the fall they rellied almost entirely on psychic tech. Technologies which, for all we know, they still have, but _cannot use_ because doing so opens them up to the predations of She Who Thirsts.

Take a modern human army and tell them they can't use any guns or tanks because a god will rape them, and see how they do wiith the pointy sticks that they now must use. Same deal. Eldar are fighting with what they consider to be pointy sticks, and still holding their own against the younger races.


And for the record, Tau tech isn't noticably better than Eldar tech, the Tau just deploy it more lavishly while the Eldar are limited by their Path system.


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## Phoebus (Apr 17, 2010)

That's also a good point, MEQinc. The Eldar, as a race, do not have the resources and infrastructure as the Tau.


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## Akatsuki13 (May 9, 2010)

MEQinc said:


> Because the Tau are at the peak of an advanced technological society and the Eldar are post-apocalyptic survivors of a psykic race.


I don't know if I'd say that the Tau are their peak. That would imply that they are at the pinnacle of how they will develop and have nowhere to go but down. I'd called them a young rising star as a race or an ascending race.

But anyway, I wouldn't say that the Eldar weapons are inferior to the Tau. Yes, they balance things in game to ensure that there aren't a few uber powered races that can dominant the other.

Ultimately when it comes to their weapons, it boils down to how they fight and how they view warfare. The Eldar view war in typical terms, favoring agility and their psychic powers while possessing a diverse lineup of specialists. While the Tau view warfare unlike humans and most of the other races. They see warfare as hunting and it affects every aspect of ground-based warfare for them. Their two philosophies on warfare from which the greater bulk of their strategies are derived, Kauyon and Mont'ka, are both at their core hunting techniques. Which is why they focus on speed and range with their weapons.

It isn't that the Tau pulse rifle is more powerful than its Eldar counterpart, the shuriken catapult, it's just that they are designed and used differently. The pulse rifle is more along the lines of a typical rifle while the shuriken is more like an assault rifle. The pulse rifle can gun down an Eldar before they can fire back but up close an Eldar can pump more shots into a Tau at a faster rate.

Of course that's just talking about their basic guns. I'm not even going to start with the actual tech and the other, more sophisticated weaponry. But a lot of the weaponry of all the races produce similar results through different means regardless of the actual tech involved. Personally, I'd give the actual tech nod to the Eldar.


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## .Kevin. (Jan 10, 2011)

To put it simple in my view it's like Tau are at home and Eldar come over to play a game. Obviously Tau can access anything being more models, glue, food in the kitchen etc quickly while Eldar has to deal with what they brought over to taus, AND they can only carry so much coming over to Taus house.

Pretty much Eldar are on craftworlds flying around they can't really stop gather resources and build an empire like before, and if they go all out releasing anger and emotions it could screw them back, it's like a little kid being a shit at your FLGS you can't express how you feel without consequences lol


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## Warlock in Training (Jun 10, 2008)

I think Eldar Weapons are far superior in many ways. The Brightlances can do things the Lascannon cant. Their skimmers are second to none. They have tech like the D-Cannon thats quite common and standard issue on their High Tech Wraithguard. They have Dead Warriors in Wraithlord/Guard that can outperform Dreads, Sentinals, any Walker anyday. They have Force Fields on every Tank. Their Scatter Lasers (use) to be superior to IGs. Eldar Plasma weapons do not overheat. Dark Matter weapons (DE Tech) are awsome in Fluff and Gameplay. Has anyone Looked at the DE Gear for Haemonculas and Archon? Its sick. They have Gear that opens Webway Portals anywhere. Lets not forget Webway knowledge that the Emperor was unsuccesful uncovering. Thank You Magnus. Craftworlds are the baddest Spaceships I know of minus the World Engine. Also think about what Eldar gear themselves with. Power Weapons are revered and Force Weapons few. Yet eldar equip Squads like Banshess with these blades like Russia Equips third world countries with AKs. The Witchblade is also Vastly superior to the SM Force Weapon. Their is also the famous Jetbikes that put everyone elses to shame.

Eldar have the goods. What they lack is numbers and srong bodies. They rely on their Tech which is superior to most races to carry the day. Also Unlike Adeptus Mechanus or Tau, Eldar Weapons (like their fighting) is a ART. Their like Samurais where its all a artform more so than cost efficient/surplus.

The only ones that beat them in Tech is Necrons, and thats debatable as Necs use solid tech where Eldar use Warp tech. Tau are catching up but they cant even travel far into the galaxy yet.


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## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Reason why Eldar weapons "suck": _Not approved by the Adeptus Mechanius of Mars._


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

Doelago said:


> Reason why Eldar weapons "suck": _Not approved by the Adeptus Mechanius of Mars._


Reason why Imperial Weapons suck: _Built by superstitious fools._


Eldar tech is warp based, everything is constructed from wraithboneand powered by refined energy sources superior to the reactors of Imperial "equivalents." 

Given the amount of time the eldar have had to achieve this, I almost would have expected them to be better, but remember the eldar were playing arrogant layabout for a good few millennia.


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## Warlock in Training (Jun 10, 2008)

Who cares about Bigger Guns when I can buy a Eldar Sex Slave.


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## LukeValantine (Dec 2, 2008)

Reason 1
Game balance

Reason 2
The best weapons are either gone, or are not seen in small scale battles.


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## Aramoro (Oct 7, 2009)

Pretty much is game balance

Deathspinners where Save or Die large templates. 
Shreiker Cannons made people explode killing their squad mates with splintered bones. 
Wraithguard were AV10, with 2 wounds, penning the armour either knocked them over for a turn, did a wound or made them explode in a small template which killed anything on a 1. Their Wraithcannons had 16" range and a 50/50 chance of killing the target, if they didn't they moved it 2D6" in a random direction. 
VibroCannon hits used to be a strength equal to the toughness of the target.

Distrort Cannons were my favorite, 24" range (Which you could double and auto hit with Guide) Anything it hit was destroyed on a 1-4 (Vehicles only got hit on a 4+), 6 displaced you 2D6" in a random direction, but 5 was the best result. There choices were

1. Target is moved to a random table edge
2. 4D6 in a random direction
3. 6D6 in a random direction
4. D6 in a radon direction but upside down, but otherwise unharmed. vehicles were immobile and you couldn't fire turrets and other guys had to spend a turn getting up. 
5. 2D6 in a random direction and 10 meters in the air, falling down and causing hits
6. 2D6 in a random direction and 10 meters underground causing it to explode with a blast template

See those are proper weapons.


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## LukeValantine (Dec 2, 2008)

Mind you alot of ranged weapons in 40k are really poor imitations of how effective they should be. Sorry imperial fan boys, but your crappy 9 shot grenade lauching machine guns don't count. Stuff like gauss weapons, eldar weaponry (Not the rank, and file crap), and I would argue some demonic powered super weapons (Oddly enough they exist in fluff, but not in game at all?). Stuff that is more or less a accurate presentation of fluff, imperial crap, Tyranids (Biological weapon can only be so effective against mechanical death machines, and Tau).


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## Akatsuki13 (May 9, 2010)

I don't know about that. Yes they tone down the power of some of the weapons, but that tends more to be with the common rank and file weapons like the bolter, that an army with have more of. Though I will admit that I've never played with or against the Eldar, Necrons or Tyraids. But I have played as the Tau and CSM, and against the SM, IG and Orks. In my experience, generally the TT does differ that much from the fluff when dealing with stronger, less prevalent weapons. Here's a great example involving the Tau railgun used by their Broadside Battlesuits.



> One of their light walkers carried a weapon of lethal effect. It fired a form of ultra-high velocity projectile. I saw one of our tanks after having been hit by it. There was a small hole punched in either flank - one the projectile's entry point, the other its exit. The tiny munition had passed through the vehicle with such speed that everything within the hull not welded down had been sucked out through the exit hole. Including the crew. We never identified their bodies, for all that remained of them was a red stain upon the ground, extending some twenty metres from the wreck.


With the railgun having a Strength of 10 and AP 1 verses the Leman Russ's SA of 13, your chances of destroying the tank with a direct shot are fifty percent on the damage roll. So I would say that matches the fluff quite well.

I can think of some other examples but this is probably the best I have. Also, in regards to daemonic super weapons (and super weapons in general for that matter), in the fluff those tend to be rare if not unique so they wouldn't be available to most Chaos warbands and in must situations since they would utterly annihilate the other player's force rather quickly which wouldn't be fun for a game. Though you could create such a weapon for a special campaign mission or an larger scale game, like Apocalypse. In fact, my friends and I actually did the former once for a big SM and IG vs CSM campaign we had created.

Ultimately, GW tries to balance the fluff with the gameplay and for the most part it works. Some things have to weakened so that some of the armies don't become uberpowered in relation to the others. Personally, I think that they balance things quite nicely.


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## Lex (Nov 20, 2021)

MEQinc said:


> Because the Tau are at the peak of an advanced technological society and the Eldar are post-apocalyptic survivors of a psykic race.


Not really, they scrapped what was relevant from their worlds, most advanced stuff were not really taken, but those were the big stuff, not small things like plasma guns.


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## Lex (Nov 20, 2021)

Azezel said:


> This exactly.
> 
> The Eldar are essentially at the Mad Max point of their civilisation, it's all over and the few that remain are struggling to get by with a fraction of one percent of their past technological and material might.
> 
> ...


Not really, they scrapped what was relevant from their worlds, most advanced stuff were not really taken, but those were the big stuff, not small things like plasma guns.Also, the eldar had time thousands of years to develop, I don't think that such an intelligent race would not be able to do it in the meantime.


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## Lex (Nov 20, 2021)

Phoebus said:


> That's also a good point, MEQinc. The Eldar, as a race, do not have the resources and infrastructure as the Tau.


That's irrelevant, especially seeing that eldar basically crate their resources from the warp, so the "resource problem" is null ! Not only do they create their materials, but they also create crystals that are used in generators.While all other races have to resort to mining and extracting resources, the eldar create their very energy source in the form of crystals.Basically, imagine creating uranium, but no toxic waste, that's eldar.


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## Lex (Nov 20, 2021)

Akatsuki13 said:


> I don't know if I'd say that the Tau are their peak. That would imply that they are at the pinnacle of how they will develop and have nowhere to go but down. I'd called them a young rising star as a race or an ascending race.
> 
> But anyway, I wouldn't say that the Eldar weapons are inferior to the Tau. Yes, they balance things in game to ensure that there aren't a few uber powered races that can dominant the other.
> 
> ...


Not really ! All tau use pulse rifles because they are good for all types of encounters and enemies, small or big.


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## Lex (Nov 20, 2021)

.Kevin. said:


> To put it simple in my view it's like Tau are at home and Eldar come over to play a game. Obviously Tau can access anything being more models, glue, food in the kitchen etc quickly while Eldar has to deal with what they brought over to taus, AND they can only carry so much coming over to Taus house.
> 
> Pretty much Eldar are on craftworlds flying around they can't really stop gather resources and build an empire like before, and if they go all out releasing anger and emotions it could screw them back, it's like a little kid being a shit at your FLGS you can't express how you feel without consequences lol


Eldar create their resources, as well as energy sources, imagine creating uranium for your reactors, but not toxic waste, that's eldar.


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## Lex (Nov 20, 2021)

Warlock in Training said:


> I think Eldar Weapons are far superior in many ways. The Brightlances can do things the Lascannon cant. Their skimmers are second to none. They have tech like the D-Cannon thats quite common and standard issue on their High Tech Wraithguard. They have Dead Warriors in Wraithlord/Guard that can outperform Dreads, Sentinals, any Walker anyday. They have Force Fields on every Tank. Their Scatter Lasers (use) to be superior to IGs. Eldar Plasma weapons do not overheat. Dark Matter weapons (DE Tech) are awsome in Fluff and Gameplay. Has anyone Looked at the DE Gear for Haemonculas and Archon? Its sick. They have Gear that opens Webway Portals anywhere. Lets not forget Webway knowledge that the Emperor was unsuccesful uncovering. Thank You Magnus. Craftworlds are the baddest Spaceships I know of minus the World Engine. Also think about what Eldar gear themselves with. Power Weapons are revered and Force Weapons few. Yet eldar equip Squads like Banshess with these blades like Russia Equips third world countries with AKs. The Witchblade is also Vastly superior to the SM Force Weapon. Their is also the famous Jetbikes that put everyone elses to shame.
> 
> Eldar have the goods. What they lack is numbers and srong bodies. They rely on their Tech which is superior to most races to carry the day. Also Unlike Adeptus Mechanus or Tau, Eldar Weapons (like their fighting) is a ART. Their like Samurais where its all a artform more so than cost efficient/surplus.
> 
> The only ones that beat them in Tech is Necrons, and thats debatable as Necs use solid tech where Eldar use Warp tech. Tau are catching up but they cant even travel far into the galaxy yet.


First of all, most guardians rifles should be as good as firewarriors rifles, but it's not the case ! Second of all, eldar don't have weaker bodies, they are as strong as humans and tau are ! They are just very fast , have strong ligaments for betteer movement and everything, and live for a thousand years.The eldar body is not only as strong as that of a human, but it resists better in time and movement, they can also fight more before exhaustion than humans or tau.Also, eldar seem to like laser more than plasma, look at swooping hawk.A swooping hawk gun is basically as good as a pulse rifle ! Maybe not as good when it comes to raw damage, but faster and pretty damn good when it comes to range.


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