Yeah those two upgrades are nice, but enemies close pretty quickly anyway plus you need Pathfinders to be ahead of your Fire Warrior force to make use of that range. And microing the pathfinders so they don't die can be troublesome. Prevents from fighting on multiple fronts effectively. And those XV88 battlesuits which can be upgraded with either flamer or missiles are good.
Krotox units you get are useful but compared to the Hammerhead gunship it's an easy choice since you get 4 of them.
The Hammerhead gunships are the equivalent to the Eldar Fireprism and Space Marines Land Raider. I think it got the firepower of the Baneblade but 1/4 the hitpoints.
But I like to use pathfinders (I seriously wonder when people will realize that they are KEY to winning with Tau. FW and PF = win) so I'll try it out next game.
....Gonna miss those Hammerhead ships though
Is there a way to make units follow other units or a stance where they run away from enemies? Pathfinders need that. Running out of hotkeys :p