Old vs New sniper drone teams

This was one of my favorite units in the old codex and I would almost always take a full unit of 3 teams.

Old codex:
Overall the biggest thing I loved in the old codex was the ability to spread these teams out to cover all avenues  Then you add in the networked marklight which made it easier for them to boost their own drones. That and the ability to hit 4 different squads on the same turn with just 1 squad. The downside of course was if the spotter died the whole team died and at 240 points for a full squad they cost more than a 3 man non-upgraded broadside team.

The good:
3 separate teams in 1 slot that you could spread out.
stealth field- always made attackers roll for night fight
networked marklight
target lock on drones
rail rifle was ap3 str 6

The bad:
expensive at 80pts a team
rail rifle was only hvy 1
spotter dies everything dies

New codex:
With the new codex overall I am happy with the changes. The full unit is now much cheaper (174 points). The drone controller allows the drones to use the bs5 as there bs. The guns have a much longer range, sniper and are rapid fire. They are also able to stick around if the controllers die but revert to bs2. The things I don't like are the stealth though I listed it as a good. This is because they will normally be in cover so any little extra bit is great. But I think the night fight rolling was better in most cases. The other big one for me is they are no longer separate units but 1 giant unit. hiding a 12 man unit is much harder than a 4man.The higher ap and str x also make it harder for them to just straight off kill all those pesky 3+ units. Though the sniper ability somewhat makes up for this with it always wounding on 4+ and 6's be just plain beautiful.

The good:
much cheaper (58 for marksman and 3 drones)
If marksmen die drones stick around
higher BS
Stealth
support fire
longer range gun that is rapid fire and sniper

The bad:
1 giant unit
marklight
ap5  str x gun
stealth
lower ld
no bonding knife option for marksmen
no blacksun filter

Conclusion:
Overall I am really looking forward to getting a game in with these guys because I think they will be able to contribute quite a lot to my tau. It will be interesting to see how they handle themselves. At the moment my plan for my 2.5k (common amount for most games I get to play) I will be running a unit of 9 drones and 2 marksmen. Just wish they still had that networked marklight.

One last parting shot. BOOOOOO to missile drones being broadside exclusive. My firewarriors really needed them.

aruki

Ps. painting update thursday or friday.