Editing Plasma (section)

==Tau Plasma Weapons==

The Tau make extensive use of Plasma technology. In fact, almost all of their weapons are plasma-based in one form or another. Tau plasma weapons generally shoot the same globes of magnetically- shielded overheated plasma as imperial ones, but do not suffer from the "Gets Hot" rule as they are less powerful than Imperial models and are somewhat lighter. Unlike imperial plasma weapons Tau ones only rely on energy to fire, rather than a combination of energy supply and chemical fuel.

Many, '''''many''''' people somehow mistake pulse weapons with plasma weapons. Pulse weapons are below this section on this page for...some reason.

'''Fun With Fluff'''

Back in 8th edition, T'au plasma weapons got a substantial nerf. The lower power was a reflection of the fact that T'au weapons didn't Overheat. That meant people could choose whether or not their weapons overheated through the overcharge profile, and T'au having a lower Strength was both a meaningless and secondary nerf to Crisis and Broadside suits who have already suffered nerfs via cost increases. This made them utter ass in 8th.

9th edition fixed this so instead of having to overcharge and risk death, T'au plasma rifles are effectively always overcharged compared to their imperial equivalents without suffering any of the ill effects. Think of it as the difference between the plasma rifle in Doom versus the plasma rifle in Fallout to note the differences between the Imperial and T'au plasma long guns.

===Plasma Rifle===
[[File:PlasmaRifleProfile.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Plasma Rifle]]
Before 9th edition, the Plasma Rifle was essentially a Plasma Gun with its safety engaged. If players wanted their "Plasma" weapon that does blow up like a Plasma should with the reward of extra strength and wounds accompanying the dakka, check out their Ion arsenal below.

Indeed, the Plasma Rifle is the Plasma Gun equivalent for the [[Battlesuit]]s. The only difference it has to our usual Plasma Gun is that this thing is actually safe, relatively speaking, which translates to a smaller volume of shots compared to the Plasma weaponry of their oppositions. In practice, this is the only Plasma proper weapon widely available to the Tau since their Plasma Cannon below were in its field-testing stage by the time of the Taros Campaign. It seems the Earth Caste has been busy lately incorporating the lessons learned from building their own plasma cannons into the humble plasma rifle, updating it into one of the most potent plasma weapons for its size.

For the [[XV-8 Crisis Battlesuit|XV8 Crisis Battlesuit]], the Plasma Rifle is available as a primary weapon option and it packs a wallop! Sure it only kicks out one shot, but that one shot now has a 30" range and when it hits? It's a one-hit TEQ kill: S8 AP-4 D3. A couple of Plasma Rifles may be installed instead of the [[Smart Missile System]] over the shoulder of the [[XV88 Broadside Battlesuit]] – the same can be said for the [[XV104 Riptide Battlesuit]] as well. Commander Longknife also has his own experimental variant to complement the experimental Battlesuit, and his comes with two barrels. Commander Farsight also has a "High-intensity" plasma rifle, differentiating himself from the other Battlesuits.

The High-intensity Plasma Rifle is a much better variant overall, powerful, with the same range as the Plasma Incinerator as well.
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Tau_Plasma_Rifle.jpg|<center>Model</center>
PlasmaRifleCrisis.jpg|<center>XV8 Crisis</center>
PlasmaRifleBroadside.jpg|<center>XV88 Broadside</center>
PlasmaRifleRiptide.jpg|<center>XV104 Riptide</center>
PlasmaRifleFarsightFront.jpg|<center>''[[Farsight]]'s''</center>
PlasmaRifleFarsightBack.jpg|<center>''[[Farsight]]'s''</center>
DoubleBarreledPlasmaRifleSide.jpg|<center>''Longknife's''</center>
DoubleBarreledPlasmaRifleFront.jpg|<center>''Longknife's''</center>
DoubleBarreledPlasmaRifleBack.jpg|<center>''Longknife's''</center>
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{|class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable" style="background: white;"
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===Plasma Accelerator Rifle===
[[File:PlasmaAcceleratorRifleProfile.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Plasma Accelerator Rifle (''Placeholder'')]]
The lack of "Plasma" weaponry with the Tau does not mean they neglect working on this branch of their tech tree. The Plasma Accelerator Rifle is one of the recent developments available on the field.

In fact, the Plasma Accelerator Rifle is also one of the deadliest inventions from Bork’an’s renowned science divisions, blending pulse-induction technology with a high-yield plasma generator. No, the gun does not have a metal detector mounted on it, probably. "Pulse-induction" most likely refers to their Pulse technology below which also shoots Plasma, though indirectly since it's not Plasma that comes out of the barrel. The Plasma Accelerator Rifle, on the other hand, uses Pulse technology in conjunction with proper Plasma technology. The result is a long-range armor-piercing weapon that is highly effective against both infantry and light vehicles. Now, plasma acceleration is actually a thing, and it does so through an electric field which we may correlate to the embedded Pulse tech. This E-field in particular is also special in its own way, since it also must be associated with the electron plasma wave (''plasma oscillation'') or other kinds with "high-gradient plasma structures" as well. Do not actually take any of our word for this, though, since the closest thing most of us get to being scientists is using a search engine. Relatively speaking since the Tau practically steamrolls through achievements, it really took the Earth Caste quite a while to figure out that they should try to combine two similarly "Plasma" weapon systems together. Although, since said “achievements” were due to the Eldar who abandoned them, it’s unsurprising their tech stagnated, takes a long time by modern standards to make advancements, and their advancements since said abandonment are mostly using what they already have in different ways rather than actual invention.

It seems to be a matter of time before those nerds figure out how to incorporate their Ion technology as well in order to unite the Plasma trinity together in a single frame. Right now, the Plasma Accelerator Rifle is probably still under the early stages of field-testing – a single Battlesuit may be found with one attached in a Bork'an force, and its effectiveness is at about the same level as Farsight's High-intensity Plasma Rifle with a little difference.
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===Tau Plasma Cannon===
[[File:TauPlasmaCannonProfile.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Tau Plasma Cannon]]
This is basically the Plasma Rifle, an enlarged Plasma Rifle grown a tad bit too big.

Because of this, they are more powerful than their little kinder and also fire more rapidly. However, a Plasma Cannon sacrifices some of its armor penetration power for this advantage, making it similar in damage output to an Ion Cannon. Unlike Imperial Plasma Cannons, this Plasma Cannon does not cover a small (''or large'') area with a Plasma blast; it fires in bursts, which means it is more suited for vaporizing singular big targets rather than groups of heavy infantry stupid enough to clump up. Since the Tau Plasma Cannon is essentially a main gun for a tank which is the [[Hammerhead Gunship|TX7 Hammerhead Gunship,]] a more proportionate comparison over the Imperium's side should be a Plasma cannon that is also worthy for their tanks – the Plasma Destroyer. No matter the weapon, the Tau Plasma Cannon is clearly better than any of the ''Gorilla'' counterparts in one factor other than not getting hot from playing it safe. For the size, it shoots pretty far. The smallest size over the Imperium that can shoot as far as their Plasma Cannon is the Plasma Decimator, which is fitted on the larger Dominus-class Knights. Along with the Fusion Cannon, their Plasma Cannon saw first blood during the Taros Campaign where it was [[Just As Planned|'coincidentally' being field tested there]]. This gave the Tau much needed boost in their little Weeaboo hands to counteract against heavy Imperial firepower at the time.

[[Forge World]] used to produce a variant turret for the Hammerhead Gunship for the twin-linked Plasma Cannon option. But since it "used to," your only choices of getting one are either finding people who sell it, finding alternative bits that look just close enough, whipping out your conversion expertise, or the [[Proxy|universal solution]].
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Tau_Plasma_Cannon.PNG|<center>Hammerhead Gunship</center>
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