Camouflage - Tau: The Tau's approach to battlefield camouflage and identification largely remains a mystery to the Imperium's forces. To the casual observer, Tau vehicle camouflage utilises the same principles of concealment, confusion and recognition as the Imperium, but the Fire Caste have refined these principles to suit the Tau's method of waging war.Tau patterns try to combine concealment and confusion aspects into one colour scheme. On the desert Mining World of Taros during the Taros Campaign, the vast majority of Tau Hunter Cadres used subtle diffused patterns with long blending distances. Given the distances that vehicles would be visible over open desert, this made perfect sense; providing the most effective camouflage at long range. Notably, most Tau vehicles and aircraft use a two-tone scheme, in which camouflage is added as another tone of the base colour, drawing on natural patterns which are often symmetrical. For example, a Devilfish transport in a blue night-time concealment and disruption pattern might be dark blue with lighter blue stripes. In this way, the Fire Caste has developed a system of camouflage that does not use contrasting colours.Some Hunter Cadres, most likely those assigned to different battlefield roles, use variations of basic patterns. Tau Commanders are often given leeway to use their own personalised colour schemes if they wish. Tau Hunter Cadres also use a trim colour. This colour, used sparingly on all of a Hunter Cadre's vehicles, may be to aid recognition on the battlefield. Alternatively, there may be some traditional or ritualistic reason behind the choice of colour; the true reason often remains unknown to the Imperium.Recognition of Tau vehicles does not seem to be an important issue. This may be due to their advanced communication and tracking technology, making visual recognition less of a factor for Tau forces, but this is little more than speculation. Vehicle markings and numbers are used, but are less intrusive than those found on Imperial Guard tanks and vehicles. The disciplined Fire Caste also does not allow the addition of slogans, vehicle names or kill markings (all common to the Imperial Guard) on their vehicles. On Taros during the Taros Campaign, no Tau vehicles were seen with such "unofficial" crew additions. There was also no instance of Tau forces being seen to employ campaign badges.The principles of Tau vehicle numbering and lettering are unknown to the Imperium at this time. Notably, regardless of the Tau Sept from which a Hunter Cadre is drawn, all Fire Caste vehicles bear the badge of their caste, which is also the symbol of the race's homeworld Sept. Tau aircraft bear the badge of the Air Caste who serve exclusively as their pilots.All Tau forces bear the colour of their Sept, usually in the form of a series of stripes applied to their weapons and/or armour. Whilst many Septs also have a preferred primary colouration for their forces, it is the Sept colour, and not the colour of their armour, that denotes which Sept the Tau warrior or vehicle hails from. However, whilst all members of a Sept bear the same Sept colour, the markings themselves may differ to distinguish between different teams and/or ranks. For example, white is the Sept colour of the T'au Sept, and this is shown on all Battlesuit and infantry armour as a series of stripes. Infantry squad leaders of the rank of Shas'ui are normally identified by the Sept colour also being applied to their sensor vane and/or shoulder plate. Tau Battlesuit pilots of the rank of Shas'ui, on the other hand, bear a single white sensor vane to denote their rank, whilst a Shas'vre Battlesuit team leader will bear a full white helmet. In turn, Tau Commanders piloting Battlesuits will often bear inverted primary and Sept colours on their helmet.However, by no means are these colour schemes and patterns universal. The Tau are renowned for their adaptability in the theatre of war, and are willing to use alternate armour camouflage schemes to better suit their environments, such as lighter colours for snowbound worlds, darker colours during urban campaigns, or natural colours for jungle environments, as well as change their visual leadership identification markings to confuse the enemy. No matter what camouflage is displayed, however, the Sept colour will remain the same throughout.