Originally Posted by
Twickster
Not depending on the warp is *not* a good thing. Basically, the Tau have established themselves as having better baseline tech than the Imperium and on a straight numerical basis punch above their weight. So why don't they simply steamroll through Imperium worlds and take the resources for themselves? Because they lack warp-based transport, that's why! Tau FTL is significantly slower than warp FTL, if much more reliable. However, that drastically limits their rate of expansion and battle capabilities - every faction simply has better logistics than they do.
The only faction that reliably and quickly travels without warp shenanigans in 40k are the Necrons.