Tau Merchant Escort

Tau Merchant Escorts like most ships in the Merchan Fleet, focuses more on broadside and split arc weapons rather than frontal-hull weapons of the Protector Fleets. Because they are generally armed civilian vessels, Merchant Escorts don't get all that sweet warfare buffs, but they offset this by being cheaper and easier to swarm.

Destroyer

Basic

Kass'l

These are NOT the Orca Dropships you're looking for.

The Kass'l-class Gunship or the Orca-class Destroyer (Not to be confused with the other Orca) is a much more nimble vessel compared to the Kor'Vattra's other mainline escort, the Kir'qath. Equipped with both Starship Railgun Batteries and Heavy Ion Cannons, its only pitfall is that it lacks its own Gravitic Drive, the Tau being unable to manufacture them on such a compact scale. Instead, they are transported via the Gravitic Hooks of larger vessels.

The Orca represents the mixed lance/macro weaponry option for the Tau Merchant fleet's Destroyers. Weak on the damage numbers and so-so as far as crits go, but overall considering the price its not that bad of a value. Even though you really need both weapons firing to do worthwhile damage, the fact that the Railguns can fire out to 13,500 before modifiers is a nice touch, especially if you choose to pick the fleet upgrade that extends lances ranges by 4,500. Could be fun to field a swarm of little snipers using the Orcas.

It is armed with 2 Light Heavy Ion Cannon Artillery and 2 Double-Barrel Light Starship Railgun Turrets.

• Length: 1.3km
• Mass: 3.1 megatonnes; approx
• Crew: 26,000 crew; approx
• Acceleration: 3.9 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx

Ordnance-Boat

Skether'qan

Meet the worst damage dealer of the game.

The Skether'qan-class Starship or the Messenger-class Destroyer is not a true fighting vessel in its own right, possessing only a single small Heavy Starship Railgun battery.

Instead, it stays near larger ships and uses its excellent manoeuvrability to stay out of danger as it uses its sophisticated Tracking System to aid other vessels in a fleet in targeting enemy ships.

Unfortunately, it has one if not, THE WORSE crit numbers out of any ship, let alone an 'ordnance-boat' with its absolutely abysmal damage. This is made all the more hilarious as even though it is armed with a Heavy Starship Railgun, which in theory, should be more powerful than a regular old Starship Railgun, it is unable to fully utilize the weapon's potential due to the ship's shite engine power management. Which begs the question on why even mount these expensive and superheavy weapons on a ship that definitely could not handle its monstrous power consumption.

Its only saving grace lies within the Targeting Systems special ability, which increases the accuracy of Defense Turrets by 5% for the Messenger and all other allied ships within a 4,500 unit range. A few Messenger Destroyers can help supplement a Merchant fleet from facing possible Carrier focused players, possibly quite useful considering their use in multiplayer.

It is armed with 4 Light Heavy Starship Railgun Turrets.

• Length: 1.5km
• Mass: 3.5 megatonnes; approx
• Crew: 28,400 crew; approx
• Acceleration: 3.9 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx

Frigates

Basic

Kir'qath

A decent all-rounder.

The Kir'qath-class Starship or the Defender-class Frigate is an Escort vessel, and for a time was the only true Escort in the Kor'Vattra.

The Kir'qath is unusual for an Escort in that it is quite slow and not as manoeuvrable as the Imperial Sword-class Frigate that inspired it. It possesses greater firepower than a Sword, however, is equipped with both a multi-arc Starship Railgun battery and a respectable Torpedo salvo.

In terms of the games, however, the Defender is an equivalent to the Castellan-class Protector Frigate instead, but drops the extended range of that ships macros to drop the cost while actually upping its damage and cpm numbers slightly.

Thanks to the homing ability of the Tau Gravitic Launcher, having torpedo tubes on an escort is even more viable for them as a faction, since it allows them to launch salvos from longer distances which in turn makes it easier to combine strikes from multiple craft along with interceptor squadrons for coverage. You still need to be careful for highly manoeuvrable or just crafty players as they can still be dodged.

It is armed with 2 Missile Launching Gravitic Launcher, 1 Double-Barrel Starship Railgun Turret and 2 Double-Barrel Light Starship Railgun Artillery.

• Length: 2km
• Mass: 4.2 megatonnes; approx
• Crew: 33,500 crew; approx
• Acceleration: 3.8 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx

In Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 1 & 2

As aforementioned in the beginning, the Tau Merchants lose access to the Warfare bonuses that you can pick at the beginning of the match with the Protector fleet. One nice compromise is they have access to the Messenger's special defence turret boosting ability, only available on the Custodian Battleship for the Protector fleet.

Vessels of the Tau Kor'Vattra and its Auxillaries.
Spaceships
	Space Station	Tau Space Station
	Battleships	Battleship (Tau Merchant - Or'Es El'Eleath Stronghold - Warsphere)
	Cruisers	Light Cruiser (Tau Merchant - Tau Protector) Cruiser (Tau Merchant - Tau Protector - Bastion)
	Escorts	Escort (Tau Merchant - Tau Protector - Nicassar Dhow)
	Logistics	Il'Emaar
	Dropships	Orca
Landships
	Titans	KX139 Ta'Unar Supremacy Armour
Airships
	Flying Fortress	Tiger Shark
	Aerospace Vessels	Manta