Crisis weapons and Twin Linking and new FAQ.

[The Man They Call Jayne]

And what is Overwatch if not a shooting phase taken out of sequence?

[Railgun Convention]

A shooting attack taken out of sequence.

I can't help but notice it says in each shooting phase, implying there is more than one per turn, or else it should have been written as the shooting phase. Can you shoot in your opponent's shooting phase?

[Pottsey]

No you did not make it clear that it is not a mini shooting phase in the assault phase. If you play it to mean the way you say then you cannot nominate units to make shooting attacks for overwatch or pick targets when two people assault you. In which case over watch is pointless as you can never fire. Also overwatch says shoot as a normal attack, muti-trackers are a normal attack so you get them. A bonus that only applies in the shooting phase still applies for overwatch due to the rule "shoot as normal". You look at what you would normally get than apply that.

Forgetting the "as normal" rule for a second. Nominating which unit is making a shooting attack is in the shooting phase. If overwatch is not a shooting phase then how do you nominate who is making a shooting attack?

EDIT: What about Look Out Sir against shooting attacks which happens in the shooting phase. Are you saying you cannot Look Out Sir against overwatch as well?

What are you talking about?  Clearly you are not reading... so let me overview the two points you haven't read.

Overwatch is resolved as a normal shooting attack resolved in the assault phase.  The multi-tracker only works in the shooting phase.  Therefore the multi-tracker RAW does not work during overwatch.  It's cut and dry.

RAI on the other hand is a whole other can of worms, and I could see it going either way.

That can only be made more clear by bold facing that it's a normal shooting attack in the assault phase, and that the multi-tracker only works in the shooting phase.

Very clear.

Second, and this one really throws me for a loop... where does it say that precision shot, picking which assaulting unit to overwatch, or Look Out Sir must be performed in the shooting phase?  None of those things even mention the shooting phase in the rules, and thus are entirely unaffected by an interpretation that sees overwatch as a shooting attack made outside of the shooting phase.

Finally, in regards to your last point;

It does not need to be a shooting phase for muti-trackers to activate. Overwatch says you my fire as you would normally in the shooting phase. So you look at how the unit would normally fire in the shooting phase then apply that to the assault phase.  muti trackers would normally apply in the shooting phase so they cross over to overwatch via that rule.

The rules of the Tau codex specifically state shooting phase, not shooting attack. So yes, it does need to be the shooting phase for the multi-tracker to activate, it's the rule in the codex.

Now, maybe this will be FAQed because it is a disadvantage for taking suits with 2 weapons... but currently, RAW, the multi-tracker only activated in the shooting phase.

Over watch attack is resolved like a normal shooting attack following all the normal rules. The first rule for a normal shooting attack is during the shooting phase nominate the unit with a ranged weapon to make the shooting attack. If we cannot use muti-trackers as it is not a shooting phase how can we nominate the unit with a ranged weapon to make a normal shooting attack? Which in turn means it is impossible fire overwatch unless it really is a shooting phase.

[Carrelio]

Right, the shooting phase functions around shooting attacks. All shots in the shooting phase are shooting attacks but not all shooting attacks are done in the shooting phase.

[Pottsey]

Right, the shooting phase functions around shooting attacks. All shots in the shooting phase are shooting attacks but not all shooting attacks are done in the shooting phase.

All shooting attacks follow the rules for shooting attacks no matter when they happen. The rules for shooting attacks are nominating a unit in the shooting phase. Overwatch says you follow all the rules as per a normal shooting attack which includes the shooting sequence and the first rule/step which is nominating a unit in the shooting phase.  So either it's a shooting phase out of sequence or you cannot fire at all for overwatch.

EDIT:
Can anyone remember if any of the battlesuits in any of the battleports from gamesworkshop fired two weapons for overwatch?

[The Man They Call Jayne]

All the weapons in the WD Rep were all TL something or other.

[InsaneTD]

You don't need to nominate a unit to fire as it is a charge response. Normally only the charged unit can over watch, fulfilling the unit nomination requirement. The the Support Fire rule then modifies that so additional units can overwatch as part of the same response.

[Pottsey]

All the weapons in the WD Rep were all TL something or other.

What about MC do they in any of the battle reports overwatch with two weapons?

[The Man They Call Jayne]

It is mind numbingly unclear what the hell is happening in that batrep. The Riptide got charged by Hormagaunts, but it makes no mention of Overwatch.

Although, the Riptide would be allowed to fire 3 weapons in the official shooting phase. So it could fire its main gun and then ripple charge the secondary one, meaning it counts as having fired 3.

MC can fire 2. Multitracker is +1. Very handy.

[KCKitsune]

All the weapons in the WD Rep were all TL something or other.

They were also the most inefficient waste of points I have ever seen in a roster.

[Railgun Convention]

Random thought: Which pattern is most cost efficient?

Twin weapons get 2x the shots, but have a 50% accuracy rate sans markerlights on normal suits; Twinlinked weapons have 75% accuracy, but one set of shots. They are, however, cheaper.

A Crisis suit with dual weapons (fusion, plasma, missles) costs 52 points base; twin linked are 42 base. That makes them just under 25% more expensive, for a 33% rise in effectiveness. I think.

Come to think of it, the boost in power may only be 25%... I need to figure this out when I have more free time.

[The Man They Call Jayne]

You also have to consider the potential for all the shots to hit. It can get scary.

[Pottsey]

I think this is solved. You can fire two weapons for overwatch. The restriction for firing 2 weapons at once only applies to the shooting phase Pg 51 clearly says that. So the way I see it there are two outcomes. Either over watch is not a shooting phase so there is no restriction on firing 2 weapons in fact if you fit 3 or 4 weapons you can fire that many. Or Overwatch is a shooting phase in which case you can still fire 2 weapons as muti trackers now work.

[KCKitsune]

Random thought: Which pattern is most cost efficient?

Twin weapons get 2x the shots, but have a 50% accuracy rate sans markerlights on normal suits; Twinlinked weapons have 75% accuracy, but one set of shots. They are, however, cheaper.

A Crisis suit with dual weapons (fusion, plasma, missles) costs 52 points base; twin linked are 42 base. That makes them just under 25% more expensive, for a 33% rise in effectiveness. I think.

Come to think of it, the boost in power may only be 25%... I need to figure this out when I have more free time.

You have to take into account markerlights.  Since it is so damn easy to get 'lights, you can easily get 2 or 3 hits.  If you don't have to worry about cover then that 50% accuracy rate increases to 86% or even higher!

[Railgun Convention]

If you factor in markerlights...

TL BS3 goes from 75% to TL BS5 at 97.2%.
2x BS3 goes from 50%x2 to 2x BS5 at 86.7%x2, or 100% to 173.3%.

So that goes from 33% better, to ~75% better.

So with markerlights present, dual weapons become much more efficient. Which leads me to believe Twinlinked weapons are a waste of time, unless you're using flamers, which don't benefit from markerlights and are cheap. Actually...

Dual flamers are the same cost as a twin flamer. So unless you want to use a third weapons, always use dual flamers.

TLDR: Always use Dual weapons unless you want a third weapon.