Expansions. They keep popping up across various forums, with threads ranging from serious discussion, to wishlisting, even begging
Relic for information. However, for all the talk there has been very little hard evidence from
Relic, and for the moment they seem focused on balancing the game and adding new content. This is great for players but it still leaves us wondering what their plans are for a future expansion. In the recent beta, however, some files have surfaced that point towards Tau being next on the list.
Tau are quite a real possibility for an expansion. They were released as a playable race for
Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, and
Relic have mentioned that they are fans of the Tau.
Below are the files extracted from
Dawn of War 2903101 Tau Campaign Caste Selection
903102 Shas (Fire Caste)
903103 The Shas compose the bulk of the military for the Tau Empire, and as such are the Tau most often used in the game. They average as tall as or slightly shorter than an average human, and are generally muscular. This comes from the fire caste's origin on the plains of T'au, the Tau home world, where they survived as hunters and warriors. Tau from the world of Vior'la tend to have slightly greater muscle mass.
903104 Fio (Earth Caste)
903105 The Fio Caste is composed not only of labourers and technicians, but also artisans, scientists and engineers. They are usually credited with the significant leaps in technology that the Tau enjoy. The members of the Earth Caste form the foundations upon which the Tau Empire is built. The inhabitants of this caste are generally short and stout of build.
903106 Por (Water Caste)
903107 The Por Caste is primarily composed of merchants and diplomats. They are tasked with seeking and maintaining diplomatic relations with the other species of the Tau Empire, as well as maintaining the ease of communication and cooperation between the other castes.
903108 Kor (Air Caste)
903109 Aun (Ethereal Caste)
903110 The Ethereals are the leaders of the Tau. They resemble the Fire and Water Castes physically, but are marked by a diamond-shaped ridge of raised bone in the center of their foreheads. Their origins are unknown, and most Tau will never refuse a request by an Ethereal.
9001400 XV22 Battlesuit
9001410 XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Commander
9001420 XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Shas'vre Bodyguard
9001430 Fire Warrior Squad
9001440 Ranged Infantry
9001450 !9001450
9001460 Kroot
9001470 Melee Infantry
9001480 Greater Good
9001490 You earn Greater Good points by killing enemy units and dying in combat. Spend the resource on the Tau's global abilities
9001500 XV88 Broadside Battle Suit
9001510 Air Caste Strike
So, let's analyse this. The first point of note are descriptions of each of the Tau Castes, different subspecies of Tau that have evolved for a particular role. First is the Shas, or Fire Caste, who would most likely be the stars of any Tau centred expansion, given that they are the race's warriors.
The Fio, or Earth Caste, could make an appearance as an army commander, acting in a similar way to the Ork MeK or Space Marine Techmarine.
The Por, or Water Caste, would be unlikely to be seen in the game, outside possible storyline assistance or as an NPC, due to the fact that diplomats do not fare too well on a battlefield.
Missing a description is the Kor, or Air Caste. These Tau make up the race's crew for their space fleet, as well as serving as pilots. They also would be unlikely to appear in the game, aside from a support power which I will come to later.
Lastly are the Aun, or Ethereals. These are the rulers of the Tau, who exhibit a complete control over other Tau by means of pheromones. If featured in-game, they could conceivably fill the role of a support commander similar to the Farseer, who buffs friendly units.
The next paragraph seems to be a possible unit list, and features many units from the tabletop game.
The XV-22 Battlesuit is experimental technology utilized strictly by commanders. They are single-man powered exoskeletons, equipped with customizable weapon mounts and jetpacks. The XV-22 was used by the commander of the Tau faction in
Dawn of War 1, Commander Kais. In the tabletop game it has lower fire-power than it's cousin, the XV-8 Battlesuit, but sports stealth abilities. This could be a ranged, stealth oriented commander from the Fire Caste, akin the the Kommando Nob. It could also be an armour upgrade to a standard battlesuit commander (See below), which gives him stealth capabilities.
The XV-8 Crisis Battlesuit is the standard variant utilized by the Tau. This could be the 'offensive' commander for the Tau, which is supported by the 'Commander' next to it's description.
Fire Warriors are the basic troop type for the Tau in both the original
Dawn of War and the tabletop game. They are lightly armoured ranged troops that deal a large amount of damage at long range, but fare very poorly in melee.
Opposites of the Fire Warriors are the Kroot, a completely different species, who specialize in close combat. Again they made an appearance in the first
Dawn of War, and in the tabletop game are very fragile but high damage melee troops.
The XV-88 Battlesuit is a heavy battlesuit used by the Tau. In the tabletop game It lacks jetpacks and moves quite slowly, but sports huge railguns, the equivalent of any tank-mounted weapon. In-game, these would most likely function as either a set up anti-tank, artillery, or a combination of both with the option to toggle between them.
The 'Greater Good' refers to the Tau's philosophy, which stresses working together for the good of the Tau nation as a whole. In-game it would appear that the Greater Good points are similar to Zeal or Biomass, and it could be spent for abilities.
The Air Caste Strike would seem to be the final support power, similar to other races abilities such as Orbital Bombardment and Rok Strike.
So, in overview it would seem that the three commander options would be;
Fire Caste Battlesuit Commander - Who would focus on dealing high damage at range, and could have the option to upgrade to a stealth armour.
Fio Caste Engineer - A commander with more options to build turrets and other buildings, but would have to deal less damage at range than the Fire Caste Commander.
Ethereal Commander - A support commander, who could buff friendly units, along with being passable in melee.
In the end, however, all this is just idle speculation. Is this
Relic testing a basic Tau build? Or is just remnants of a long dead build of
Dawn of War 2? In all likelihood we will never know, but I leave you to make your own interpretation and decisions as to what this really is. But, if tomorrow
Relic announce their intention to add an expansion based on the Tau, don't say I didn't warn you...