Ok, I see where you are going, and also the difference in perspectives. I guess it depends on people's view of how big these things are and their offensive capability (and IIRC it is this element of the debate that has made it go round in circles for some time).
I was thinking of something that was little more than a sensor on top of a stick in the ground (just to give you a mental image you understand). What you are describing sounds much larger and more sophisticated, and more 'Drone' like.
Auxilliary formation seems a good call, and as to resiliance, we can juggle the use of unit type and armour value to give a reasonable vulnerability though LV and 5+ seems cool. However I would still recommend they are
not Fearless because IMHO that will make them far too resiliant.
So I guess this debate all boils down to perspectives of the kind of role they should perform:-
- If they are only there to ML nearby enemy formations, they should have no formal weapons at all and therefore no ZoC (And no activation or rally).
- Giving them some CC and FF capacity turns them into an area denial weapon that has ZoC, and is a more serious problem for the enemy. (But still no activation or rally)
- Giving these things any form of long range shooting capability automatically turns them into a 'normal' formation, because they need to activate to use the weapon. I would argue that at this point there is little distinction between the turret and a Gun Drone and thus good reason to combine the units.
For what its worth, from a 'non-Tau' perspective I would prefer they were a very cheap, unarmed 'sensor-on-a-stick'
(though I do understand the potential issues on game mechanics). IMHO their inoffensive nature actually makes the choice whether to engage or ignore them much harder, while it also provides the best distinction between this unit and the larger 'Drones'.
