Since they plan to eat the planet anyway, wouldn't it be easier to just kill everything via orbital bombardment, thus averting the possibility of having the ground troops wiped out and being unable to eat the planet?

Perhaps because the nids dont have the tech to do that and it would most likely dammage the DNA that could be absorbed.

Scrubbing bubbles, dude!

Deathbot wrote:Since they plan to eat the planet anyway, wouldn't it be easier to just kill everything via orbital bombardment, thus averting the possibility of having the ground troops wiped out and being unable to eat the planet?

You do know that the Nids Recycle their dead, so the total loss is minimal, even over years, especially when you factor in the fact they will get enough new material to replenish the energy suspended.

Don't forget the nids eat everything. EVERYTHING! Even the Air! Orbital Bombardment could mess with the Air!

Well, the whole thing about the tyranids is that they want to eat all of the biomass.

So any strategy that destroys the yummy, helpful biomass is pretty fail from their point of view. Which is why none of their weapons have anything to do with asplosions or fire. Plus, it doesn't matter if all of their gaunts get shot, because they're still biomass and can be eaten again to be 'reborn'

Orkestra wrote:Well, the whole thing about the tyranids is that they want to eat all of the biomass.

So any strategy that destroys the yummy, helpful biomass is pretty fail from their point of view. Which is why none of their weapons have anything to do with asplosions or fire. Plus, it doesn't matter if all of their gaunts get shot, because they're still biomass and can be eaten again to be 'reborn'

Yes, but if their ground forces are defeated they can't land the creatures they use to eat the planet. Therefore, if they can't reinforce them, their biomass is lost. Besides, matter is neither created nor destroyed. Explosions merely make it change form. Into gas. And the tyranids eat the atmosphere anyway.

Gwar! wrote:

Deathbot wrote:Since they plan to eat the planet anyway, wouldn't it be easier to just kill everything via orbital bombardment, thus averting the possibility of having the ground troops wiped out and being unable to eat the planet?

You do know that the Nids Recycle their dead, so the total loss is minimal, even over years, especially when you factor in the fact they will get enough new material to replenish the energy suspended.

Don't forget the nids eat everything. EVERYTHING! Even the Air! Orbital Bombardment could mess with the Air!

Mess with the air? How? And they can only recycle their dead if they can deploy the creatures used to eat the planet, which can only be done after the enemy is wiped out. So if their ground troops lose, they can't recycle them.

You know they deploy them WITH the creatures.

And if the first wave is defeated, they send a bigger 2nd wave.

Gwar! wrote:You know they deploy them WITH the creatures.

And if the first wave is defeated, they send a bigger 2nd wave.

And if that is defeated too? My point is that if the Tyranids in orbit over the planet only have so many they can make and send, and should they lose then the biomass of the soldiers is lost and the planet can't be eaten. If they just annihilated the enemy from orbit they could eat the planet at their leisure.

Deathbot wrote:And if that is defeated too?

They send a Bigger 3rd Wave.

Are you seeing the pattern here? Imagine a 60 Mile Long by 40 Mile Wide Block of Carnifexes, Zoanthropes and Bio Titans

You don't know -how- they eat planets do ya?

They use spores to pollute the land. These spores transform and mutate the land. They create Spore Chimneys to help speed up the total process and kill off all advanced life faster. They create acid pools to break down biomass. And they create Capillary towers that climb all the way up to the Hive Ships to feed the Biomass to them. It's not a creature. The invasion just prevents the Defenders from taking action against these measures.

So no, they don't deploy a creature to actually eat the planet. That's all done and grown from spores. Not some huge creature. well I guess Capillary towers -are- creatures... sort of... but they're not mobile and they die once the Hive Fleet abandons the planet. So if they seed enough spores into the atmosphere, then they don't really need to fight. The spores are toxic to most life forms. But that's boring. So they invade because it makes it more GRIMDARK

EDIT: Besides, when a splinter fleet attacks, it's usually part of a bigger tendril. If that splinter fleet was destroyed, and that tendril, which would likely number several times the galaxy's Ork population, really wanted that planet, it would jam a big middle finger into the face of whoever survived the first attack and send another one against them.

They do need Rippers to bring the Biomass to the Towers of course.

Yea, but Rippers take up so little biomass that it's hardly of concern. I mean they jump into the biomass pools when the job is done anyway

metallifan wrote:You don't know -how- they eat planets do ya?

They use spores to pollute the land. These spores transform and mutate the land. They create Spore Chimneys to help speed up the total process and kill off all advanced life faster. They create acid pools to break down biomass. And they create Capillary towers that climb all the way up to the Hive Ships to feed the Biomass to them. It's not a creature. The invasion just prevents the Defenders from taking action against these measures.

So no, they don't deploy a creature to actually eat the planet. That's all done and grown from spores. Not some huge creature. well I guess Capillary towers -are- creatures... sort of... but they're not mobile and they die once the Hive Fleet abandons the planet. So if they seed enough spores into the atmosphere, then they don't really need to fight. The spores are toxic to most life forms. But that's boring. So they invade because it makes it more GRIMDARK

EDIT: Besides, when a splinter fleet attacks, it's usually part of a bigger tendril. If that splinter fleet was destroyed, and that tendril, which would likely number several times the galaxy's Ork population, really wanted that planet, it would jam a big middle finger into the face of whoever survived the first attack and send another one against them.

No, I didn't know that. I started 40k last week, have fought one battle, and have devoted most of my research time to Chaos Space marines when I decided I like them best. And if they can deploy spores to eat the planet, then they should just be able to launch an bioweapon to kill anything on the planet to be good and sure. So why don't they?

Deathbot wrote:No, I didn't know that. I started 40k last week, have fought one battle, and have devoted most of my research time to Chaos Space marines when I decided I like them best. And if they can deploy spores to eat the planet, then they should just be able to launch an bioweapon to kill anything on the planet to be good and sure. So why don't they?

Because Fresh Things are so much tastier!

And because, as I said, Just launching off a bunch of spores and waiting for everyone to die just isn't GRIMDARK 40K ENOUGH

metallifan wrote:And because, as I said, Just launching off a bunch of spores and waiting for everyone to die just isn't GRIMDARK 40K ENOUGH

I dunno, watching people scream in agony as their skin dissolves and they die painfully, helpless to respond, seems pretty GRIMDARK to me.

Deathbot wrote:

metallifan wrote:And because, as I said, Just launching off a bunch of spores and waiting for everyone to die just isn't GRIMDARK 40K ENOUGH

I dunno, watching people scream in agony as their skin dissolves and they die painfully, helpless to respond, seems pretty GRIMDARK to me.

Not as grimdark as sending billions of beasts to make people scream in agony as their skin dissolves and they die painfully while bugs eat them from the inside out.

Or as GRIMDARK as watching them get torn in half by an angry Carnifex that wants it's din-din, and then getting your limbs torn off by gaunts when it drops you

I get it now. The Hive Mind simply wants to toy with the puny mortals, giving them some hope that they can win before eating them. Hope makes things taste better, clearly.

Deathbot wrote:I get it now. The Hive Mind simply wants to toy with the puny mortals, giving them some hope that they can win before eating them. Hope makes things taste better, clearly.

The Hive Mind does not have any concept of "Hope", it just Is.

Gwar! wrote:

Deathbot wrote:I get it now. The Hive Mind simply wants to toy with the puny mortals, giving them some hope that they can win before eating them. Hope makes things taste better, clearly.

The Hive Mind does not have any concept of "Hope", it just Is.

And how do you know what the Hive Mind thinks?

Alright... I'll finally say it.

Gwar! is so right it should be wrong.

But the Hivemind does use terror tactics often so you're right about the rest

Deathbot wrote:

Gwar! wrote:

Deathbot wrote:I get it now. The Hive Mind simply wants to toy with the puny mortals, giving them some hope that they can win before eating them. Hope makes things taste better, clearly.

The Hive Mind does not have any concept of "Hope", it just Is.

And how do you know what the Hive Mind thinks?

Because I know the fluff? Because I have been reading about 40k since I was 8? And Playing since I was 10?

Google "Lexicanum", its a big Wiki about 40k and WHFB Fluff. Read and be Edumacated.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

metallifan wrote:Gwar! is so right it should be wrong.

How I wish I could sig that, but alas, I hath a Moral Code to only siggify Rules Agreements

Gwar! wrote:

Deathbot wrote:

Gwar! wrote:

Deathbot wrote:I get it now. The Hive Mind simply wants to toy with the puny mortals, giving them some hope that they can win before eating them. Hope makes things taste better, clearly.

The Hive Mind does not have any concept of "Hope", it just Is.

And how do you know what the Hive Mind thinks?

Because I know the fluff? Because I have been reading about 40k since I was 8? And Playing since I was 10?

Google "Lexicanum", its a big Wiki about 40k and WHFB Fluff. Read and be Edumacated.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

metallifan wrote:Gwar! is so right it should be wrong.

How I wish I could sig that, but alas, I hath a Moral Code to only siggify Rules Agreements

Thanks, but if the Hive Mind was operating on pure logic, with no emotion, it would have thought of the bioweapon. I mean, I'm just one mind, while it is the collective mind of quintillions.

Here are some Samples of what we "Know" about Nids:

The more I learn about these aliens, the more I come to understand what drives them, the more I hate them. I hate them for what they are and for what they may one day become. I hate them not because they hate us but because they are incapable of good, honest, human hatred.--- Inquisitor Agmar on Tyranids

As I looked into its dead black eyes, I saw the terrible sentience it had in place of a soul. Behind that was the steel will of its leader. Further still I could feel its primogenitor coldly assessing me from the void. And looking back from the furthest recesses of the alien's mind... I can only describe it as an immortal hunger. It is this we cannot kill. --- Chief Librarian Tigurius of the Ultramarines

Don't forget that the Tyranids are an entirely Alien Entity, they are not even from our Galaxy. They do not think like us. It does not run on Logic, it runs on Hunger. Desire to Feed, to Survive.

In the planetstrike book, the larger nid creatures allow the fleet to combat the planet at all levels, from the bacteria on up. It describes how the fleet fights orks with bio-titans and swams even while the fungoid spores and phage cells duke it out.

The mobile creatures are just there to protect and harvest the nid plantlike creatures that actually harvest the mineral resources of the planet. Once all resistance is crushed the rippers and undescribed "sessile" nid creatures harvest the resources from the planet and move them to the digestion pools. Then the hive ships slurp it up through the towers, drink up the atmosphere and move on.

Gwar! wrote:
Here are some Samples of what we "Know" about Nids:

The more I learn about these aliens, the more I come to understand what drives them, the more I hate them. I hate them for what they are and for what they may one day become. I hate them not because they hate us but because they are incapable of good, honest, human hatred.--- Inquisitor Agmar on Tyranids

As I looked into its dead black eyes, I saw the terrible sentience it had in place of a soul. Behind that was the steel will of its leader. Further still I could feel its primogenitor coldly assessing me from the void. And looking back from the furthest recesses of the alien's mind... I can only describe it as an immortal hunger. It is this we cannot kill. --- Chief Librarian Tigurius of the Ultramarines

Don't forget that the Tyranids are an entirely Alien Entity, they are not even from our Galaxy. They do not think like us. It does not run on Logic, it runs on Hunger. Desire to Feed, to Survive.

Awww, cheer up Tigurius. The Imperium has something that makes it completely unbeatable. Plot armor!

The gaunts etc.. are all there to just protect the Hive Fleet as it collects.


They are basically Security guards for transports of biomass.


If they did not invade and destroy then the umans etc.. could possibly harm the collection.

That's it.

In the rule-book it has quite a detailed step-by-step acount of a tyranid invasion.

Because you can't have a game where one side deploys and the 'nid player just looks them in the eye and says "We release spores into the atmosphere which kill all your soldiers and turns them into yummy soup".

Mostly because it means that GW can't sell any tyranid models, but also because it would mean that there would be very little point have tyranids as a playable race if they had no ground troops

It might also have something to do with how they "rate" the DNA they want to absorb into their creatures. There if fluff where 2 hive fleets mix, slaughter each other until one is left, then it absorbs all the biomass from the loser and all the best bits of DNA and other creature features to become even more killy.

Thank god someone said it, its a game and who wants to play against an opponent who just strikes from space and then goes off to the next fool who wants a fight.

+ and this is a BIG + nids are hard enough to beat when they are on the ground never mind up in the air.

But i will give you the point why bother with ground attack when you can cream the planet from the air/space.whatever.

Deathbot wrote:Since they plan to eat the planet anyway, wouldn't it be easier to just kill everything via orbital bombardment, thus averting the possibility of having the ground troops wiped out and being unable to eat the planet?

Just for the sake of being annoying and arguing semantics:

It could be said that Tyranids do conquer planets by orbital bombardments, if you look at their ground forces as weapons. That's what they are: Living munitions. Like any other spaceborne force in 40k, the Tyranids have to use a certain quantity of their available resources to subjugate a planet. Where the Imperium might used bombardment cannons and virus bombs, the Tyranids use mycetic spored full of ammunition that just happens to last a little longer than that of other species.

Just depends how you look at it, really.

So they are living bullets that firing living bullets.

Plus, even the dead material is consumed, so the failed waves return to the Hive Fleet, along with the dead enemy also. Nothing is wasted. They're like the 41st Milleniums Green Party :p

Of course the easy answer to this is 'why does any army bother invading, when they could just bludgeon the planet from orbit?'

While tyranids won't care about capturing space ports or infrastructure intact, you're assuming that they have super awesome powers that means they can obliterate the defenders completely, ignoring the fact that the defenders could have powerful energy shields, heavy fortifications that extend deep enough underground that even the heaviest barrage can't reach them, and be doing their best to counter act spores, et al.

Bookwrack wrote:Of course the easy answer to this is 'why does any army bother invading, when they could just bludgeon the planet from orbit?'

While tyranids won't care about capturing space ports or infrastructure intact, you're assuming that they have super awesome powers that means they can obliterate the defenders completely, ignoring the fact that the defenders could have powerful energy shields, heavy fortifications that extend deep enough underground that even the heaviest barrage can't reach them, and be doing their best to counter act spores, et al.

They Nids will just Eat the shields, Rock and Anti-Spore-Spores!

But they're going to have to stop the orbital bombardments and come down there to do it.

Bookwrack wrote:But they're going to have to stop the orbital bombardments and come down there to do it.

The Orbital Bonbaonbardlements are them going to eat it!

But it's really hard to eat something if the boss upstairs keeps dropping more guys on top of you at high velocity.

"Lord Commander! Sir!"

"What is it Adept?"

"Sir! It seems Hivefleet Candyland is preparing to bombard us! Should I notify emergency crews to enact standard sheltering procedures?"

"That's no typical bombardment Adept. That's a Bonbaonbardlement. There is no escape. There is no hope. The Candy will consume us all."

EDIT: Gwar!, you should go to that guy's site and post that picture XD

Deathbot wrote:Since they plan to eat the planet anyway, wouldn't it be easier to just kill everything via orbital bombardment(?!), thus averting the possibility of having the ground troops wiped out and being unable to eat the planet?

I think you answered your own question in there... It's about biomass, if you vaporize everything from orbit then it will be REALLY HARD to get that biomass out of the AIR.

Bessides, I think that deep down the Hive Mind likes having fun, just tearing up armies and such.

From the perspective of the Norn Queen, the swarm sent onto the planet is the aerial bombardment. Each ripper/gaunt/fex/warrior/etc. is a part of that bomb. This also allows them to test out the new DNA.

Gwar! wrote:So they are living bullets that firing living bullets.

Yo dawg. I heard you liked shooting, so I put living bullets in your living bullets, so you can shoot while you shoot.

On another topic, isn't it stated that Orks are the most numerous creatures in the 40k universe. Far more so than Tyranids (they are just so disorganized as to not be as big of a threat... until a big one comes along).

Fearspect wrote:

Gwar! wrote:So they are living bullets that firing living bullets.

Yo dawg. I heard you liked shooting, so I put living bullets in your living bullets, so you can shoot while you shoot.

On another topic, isn't it stated that Orks are the most numerous creatures in the 40k universe. Far more so than Tyranids (they are just so disorganized as to not be as big of a threat... until a big one comes along).

Yup, but thats only because Orks have been in the Galaxy for millions of years, while the nids are only a few thousand years in the Milky Way

Well, the orks are actually the main thing that's slowing down the Tyranid Hive Fleets. Just look at the Octavius Sector, an almost entirely ork-held region of space which has completely stopped a hive fleet from advancing until after the orks have been defeated. From what I can see of the fluff, the only real forces capable of holding off the nids on a single planet are Ork worlds and, perhaps, cadia (since it kicked abbadon back into his hole so many times before) However, the fear is that whoever wins in the Octavius system (orks or Nids) will emerge much stronger from the conflict and pose a great threat to the imperium.

(As an ork player, this is actually the theme of my army. My friend and I started together, tyranids and orks, so we immediately checked out the best place to set our battles. Carnifex armour plates protect my Battlewagons, and all of my lootas are equipped with weapon symbiotes. Burnas are essential as well, to eliminate the tyranid spores wherever they may be)

So am I the only one that has fielded more than 1k points of spore mines in apoc, then?

I sort of figured that the ground assaults were partially to learn about the opposition - tactics and such. Makes the rest of the fighting easier if we know what to expect or how the opponents can/will react.

Orkestra wrote:Well, the orks are actually the main thing that's slowing down the Tyranid Hive Fleets. Just look at the Octavius Sector, an almost entirely ork-held region of space which has completely stopped a hive fleet from advancing until after the orks have been defeated. From what I can see of the fluff, the only real forces capable of holding off the nids on a single planet are Ork worlds and, perhaps, cadia (since it kicked abbadon back into his hole so many times before) However, the fear is that whoever wins in the Octavius system (orks or Nids) will emerge much stronger from the conflict and pose a great threat to the imperium.

(As an ork player, this is actually the theme of my army. My friend and I started together, tyranids and orks, so we immediately checked out the best place to set our battles. Carnifex armour plates protect my Battlewagons, and all of my lootas are equipped with weapon symbiotes. Burnas are essential as well, to eliminate the tyranid spores wherever they may be)

Well were the Orks not engineered by the Eldar specifically to fight the Tyranids thanks to a Farseer's visions of the Tyranid invasion? Could explain something

And Cadia didn't beat Abbaddon because they're good soldiers (Even though they are) They beat him sheerly because he's clearly moron (13 Crusades and you STILL haven't made it out of the Cadian Gate!?)

Getting out of the gate has not been the goal of most of the black crusades.

The ground forces of the tyranid are it's eating mechanisms, if looked at from a wider angle, the frontal waves of attack creatures are it's incisors and canines cutting into the foe, it's endless swarms of lesser creatures are it's molars grinding down the food and then the digestion pools are the hive fleet's stomachs. It's like insects, eg flies, that empty digestive acids onto something and then syphon up the mass once it's already digested outside of the fly.

metallifan wrote:Well were the Orks not engineered by the Eldar specifically to fight the Tyranids thanks to a Farseer's visions of the Tyranid invasion?

D:
This made me sad and sad :(
Lrn2OldOnes and WarInHeaven

Well were the Orks not engineered by the Eldar specifically to fight the Tyranids thanks to a Farseer's visions of the Tyranid invasion? Could explain something

Ouch, me noggin 'urts.

Orks were created by the Old Ones to fight the c'tan and the Necrons. Waayyyy back in the day. This makes them approximately as ancient as the Eldar, though younger than the Necrons.

You know, the funny thing is I was half way through typing "Old Ones" when I had a brainfart and thought "No, Eldar... I think?"

...Maybe I should start bringing my stack of Codices to work

Deathbot wrote:Since they plan to eat the planet anyway, wouldn't it be easier to just kill everything via orbital bombardment, thus averting the possibility of having the ground troops wiped out and being unable to eat the planet?

You're missing the forest for the trees.
Tyranid Spore assaults ARE Nid orbital bombardment. All their items are organic. The gazillions of gaunts, stealers, lictors, etc are just a weapon to them, no different than torpedoes to Humies. They're firing organic torpedoes at the planet's surface. Then come of the bacteria sized nids, rippers, and other organic converters that collect the biomass and transport it to diogerters for digestion and shipment to the ships.

If there was no opposition, just biomass, they'd begin dropping the organic converters immediately.

EDIT: I see I am coming late to the Nids ARE weapons party. oh well.

with this whole net conservation of biomass thing, woulden't macragge be bueried in about five thousand feet of corpses? an entire hive fleet almost entirely destroyed on one planet has got to leave a LOT of leftovers, an entire sector or more of biomass piled in a gently steaming heap would leave maccragge the most lush planet in the galaxy, and a prime target for another hive fleet, almost doubling it's size.

starbomber109 wrote:

Deathbot wrote:Since they plan to eat the planet anyway, wouldn't it be easier to just kill everything via orbital bombardment(?!), thus averting the possibility of having the ground troops wiped out and being unable to eat the planet?

I think you answered your own question in there... It's about biomass, if you vaporize everything from orbit then it will be REALLY HARD to get that biomass out of the AIR.

Tyranids eat the atmosphere anyway.

sniperjolly wrote:with this whole net conservation of biomass thing, woulden't macragge be bueried in about five thousand feet of corpses? an entire hive fleet almost entirely destroyed on one planet has got to leave a LOT of leftovers, an entire sector or more of biomass piled in a gently steaming heap would leave maccragge the most lush planet in the galaxy, and a prime target for another hive fleet, almost doubling it's size.

Erm... You realize how long ago the Tyrannic Wars on Maccragge were, right?

Plus, they defeated a whole Hive Fleet. Not just a minor splinter of a few ships. I think sheer instinct would cause the Tyranids to avoid Maccragge for the time being. No doubt they'll come back for it, but the Hive Mind is at least capable of gauging defense capability or else they'd still be trying.

metallifan wrote:

sniperjolly wrote:with this whole net conservation of biomass thing, woulden't macragge be bueried in about five thousand feet of corpses? an entire hive fleet almost entirely destroyed on one planet has got to leave a LOT of leftovers, an entire sector or more of biomass piled in a gently steaming heap would leave maccragge the most lush planet in the galaxy, and a prime target for another hive fleet, almost doubling it's size.

Erm... You realize how long ago the Tyrannic Wars on Maccragge were, right?

So? Unless the Imperium moved the corpses off-planet before they rotted, all the biomass will still be there. Remember that matter is neither created nor destroyed, it merely changes forms.

Deathbot wrote:So? Unless the Imperium moved the corpses off-planet before they rotted, all the biomass will still be there. Remember that matter is neither created nor destroyed, it merely changes forms.

So you are saying that a Hive Fleet, one just like the one that got bitchslapped to next week, should go and attack them again? The Hive Mind may be Simple, but it isn't stupid.

True, but again, they defeated a whole fleet. If the Tyranids wanted the world that badly, then somewhere in that time gap, they would've tried again. But the Hivemind kind of went "Well, they killed a whole Hive Fleet and only lost one world... Maybe this was a bad idea..." so it's not likely another Hive fleet would try to invade it unless it had a clear advantage over the defenders (Specifically, if Sicarius, Tigerius and Calgar are all away and too far to make it back in time (Because those Spehssjerks can defeat anything)

EDIT: Gwar! beat me to it

Don't forget Elrad. You know he'd make both Maccrage and the Hive Fleet Invisible so they crash into each other.

metallifan wrote:(Specifically, if Sicarius, Tigerius and Calgar are all away and too far to make it back in time (Because those Spehssjerks can defeat anything)

Let's not even touch on Ventris.

Please.

Gwar! wrote:

Deathbot wrote:So? Unless the Imperium moved the corpses off-planet before they rotted, all the biomass will still be there. Remember that matter is neither created nor destroyed, it merely changes forms.

So you are saying that a Hive Fleet, one just like the one that got bitchslapped to next week, should go and attack them again? The Hive Mind may be Simple, but it isn't stupid.

No. I'm saying that the biomass would still be there. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Unless they used Orbital Bonbaonbardlements to convert the biomass into energy or heat or some other form of less useful matter.

Gwar! wrote:Don't forget Elrad. You know he'd make both Maccrage and the Hive Fleet Invisible so they crash into each other.

Yea but he's just a dick and while he was turning them invisible, Slaanesh would likely pop up randomly and nom his soul. Again.

Gwar! wrote:Unless they used Orbital Bonbaonbardlements to convert the biomass into energy or heat or some other form of less useful matter.

Matter can't be converted to energy. That would be destroying it. It will still be matter if you vaporize it.

Deathbot wrote:

Gwar! wrote:Unless they used Orbital Bonbaonbardlements to convert the biomass into energy or heat or some other form of less useful matter.

Matter can't be converted to energy. That would be destroying it. It will still be matter if you vaporize it.

Lrn2E=MC^2.

...

I'm sorry, I had to.

Deathbot wrote:Matter can't be converted to energy. That would be destroying it. It will still be matter if you vaporize it.

You heard it on Dakka Folks. Einstein and Stellar Nuclear Fusion are all rubbish!

E=MC^2 ... Look it up.

Edit: Dern it, Ninja'd. I'll link then:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass%E2%80%93energy_equivalence
READ AND BE EDUMACATED

Eldrad

What a dick.


Now, here's the thing we're missing in this whole 'macragge' dealio.

That wasn't a whole hive fleet
What attacked Macragge, and was defeated, was a scouting force of Hive Ships. If we take a look at all of the various maps presented to us, we can see an awful lot of hive fleet still on it, even around Macragge.



As you can see, that was definitely not the whole thing.

*ahem*

It's not a creature

yes it is...

everything tyranid is organic...

all tyraniddy stuff is effectively one immense creature, hence the hive mind

thats why in the fluff, you hear about ships that have been boarded by 'nids, and as they are ships, thers not much organic life floatin' around, but the tyranid equivalent of a space ship just sorta attaches itself to it like a giganto-mega-uber-squid and sucks it dry...









of usable materials, even the minerals used to build the ship, so you just get a big ol' husk floatin' around space.

Vandez wrote:

Deathbot wrote:

Gwar! wrote:Unless they used Orbital Bonbaonbardlements to convert the biomass into energy or heat or some other form of less useful matter.

Matter can't be converted to energy. That would be destroying it. It will still be matter if you vaporize it.

Lrn2E=MC^2.

...

I'm sorry, I had to.

Fine, let me put it another way. Dropping explosives on matter does not convert it to energy. That converts it to smaller chunks of solid and gas. Both of which are still matter.

Deathbot wrote:Fine, let me put it another way. Dropping explosives on matter does not convert it to energy. That converts it to smaller chunks of solid and gas. Both of which are still matter.

It converts it to energy if you drop enough Fusion/Antimatter Bonbaonbardlements on it.

Gwar! wrote:

Deathbot wrote:Fine, let me put it another way. Dropping explosives on matter does not convert it to energy. That converts it to smaller chunks of solid and gas. Both of which are still matter.

It converts it to energy if you drop enough Fusion bombs on it.

I suppose so. But that wouldn't be needed. Simply drop a bioweapon (like a virus bomb) that kills every living thing. Voila, the planet still has all its biomass, and there is no resistance, and thus no chance of loss.

Deathbot wrote:I suppose so. But that wouldn't be needed. Simply drop a bioweapon (like a virus bomb) that kills every living thing. Voila, the planet still has all its biomass, and there is no resistance, and thus no chance of loss.

And what happens when, say, people use underground shelters, or filtration apparatus? You haven't realised yet that the Gaunts and Carnifexes etc ARE the virus Bomb. Also, DNA degrades VERY quickly after the death of the host due to decomposition, which is why the Rippers eat everything because they can preserve the DNA.

" Why do Tyranids launch ground attacks? "

To paraphrase a popular bank robber:
"Because that is where the NOMS are!"

Deathbot wrote:

Gwar! wrote:

Deathbot wrote:Fine, let me put it another way. Dropping explosives on matter does not convert it to energy. That converts it to smaller chunks of solid and gas. Both of which are still matter.

It converts it to energy if you drop enough Fusion bombs on it.

I suppose so. But that wouldn't be needed. Simply drop a bioweapon (like a virus bomb) that kills every living thing. Voila, the planet still has all its biomass, and there is no resistance, and thus no chance of loss.

Tyranids aren't daunted by losses. When they kill everything on the planet they just re-harvest the bodies so they can make more.

Gwar! wrote:

Deathbot wrote:I suppose so. But that wouldn't be needed. Simply drop a bioweapon (like a virus bomb) that kills every living thing. Voila, the planet still has all its biomass, and there is no resistance, and thus no chance of loss.

And what happens when, say, people use underground shelters, or filtration apparatus? You haven't realised yet that the Gaunts and Carnifexes etc ARE the virus Bomb. Also, DNA degrades VERY quickly after the death of the host due to decomposition, which is why the Rippers eat everything because they can preserve the DNA.

Gaunts and Carnifexes etc are the virus bomb? Really? Because they look more like giant obvious monsters with claws that can be defeated in open battle as opposed to an invisible, microscopic plague that spreads from person to person, killing them.

Deathbot: They launch ground assaults because the only way you can be certain of a planet is by checking every single room, cave, burrow, stream, hilltop, forest, plain, and behind every single tree with a gaunt.

Why else would there be so many of the buggers?

I mean, what good is it to virus bomb a planet only to realize that it's full of necrons. That'd be pretty funny as the Gauss Flay your rippers down to absolutely nothing (hard to harvest biomass from random atoms not parts of molecules. Gauss must scare nids)


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Or, for that matter, Spess Mahreenz wearing the helmets?

penut the butter wrote:
Tyranids aren't daunted by losses. When they kill everything on the planet they just re-harvest the bodies so they can make more.

And what if they fail to do this? What if, say, the Imperial/Tau/Chaos/Necron/Ork force occupying the planet defeats their ground troops, and their spaceships in orbit have no available biomass to make more? Or they are driven off/destroyed by an Imperial/Tau/Chaos/Necron fleet?

They try again?

40k is a struggle in a galaxy. Tyranids have eated dozens of galaxies already. Lack of numbers is not a problem.

Sure, there may be a delay between waves, but the same can be said of the ocean.

Deathbot wrote:Gaunts and Carnifexes etc are the virus bomb? Really? Because they look more like giant obvious monsters with claws that can be defeated in open battle as opposed to an invisible, microscopic plague that spreads from person to person, killing them.

You did read earlier in the thread where we pointed out they do that too?

kirsanth wrote:They try again?

40k is a struggle in a galaxy. Tyranids have eated dozens of galaxies already. Lack of numbers is not a problem.

Sure, there may be a delay between waves, but the same can be said of the ocean.

Where does it say that they have eaten dozens of galaxies? For all we know, they might just have eaten one. Not to mention the problem of a potential lack of energy due to it leaking out of their vessels in the form of heat during the hundreds/thousands of years they have spent traveling between galaxies. They would have had no source to replenish it. Except for each other.

Deathbot wrote:Where does it say that they have eaten dozens of galaxies? For all we know, they might just have eaten one. Not to mention the problem of a potential lack of energy due to it leaking out of their vessels in the form of heat during the hundreds/thousands of years they have spent traveling between galaxies. They would have had no source to replenish it. Except for each other.

Ok, I am seriously getting annoyed now. Why are you asking for 40k Fluff information then telling everyone who replies to STFU?

Gwar! wrote:

Deathbot wrote:Gaunts and Carnifexes etc are the virus bomb? Really? Because they look more like giant obvious monsters with claws that can be defeated in open battle as opposed to an invisible, microscopic plague that spreads from person to person, killing them.

You did read earlier in the thread where we pointed out they do that too?

I read it. What I question is the decision to send down ground troops before the plague has a chance to wipe out the local PDF and Imperial Guard.


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Gwar! wrote:

Deathbot wrote:Where does it say that they have eaten dozens of galaxies? For all we know, they might just have eaten one. Not to mention the problem of a potential lack of energy due to it leaking out of their vessels in the form of heat during the hundreds/thousands of years they have spent traveling between galaxies. They would have had no source to replenish it. Except for each other.

Ok, I am seriously getting annoyed now. Why are you asking for 40k Fluff information then telling everyone who replies to STFU?

Alright, I give up. You guys win. Point conceded. Happy now?

Actually, in the vacuum of space heat leaks out very, very slowly. This is because there is no matter for the heat to be transferred to.

The most efficient method of heat transfer is conduction- from one particle to another. Seeing as how the whole idea of space is that it is a vacuum (very, very few particles) it becomes much tougher to lose heat.
This leaves only the option of heat as radiation, which is very minimal.

So nope, no loss of heat in space. However, it's true that intergalactic travel is an interesting topic of discussion, and would probably require some type of fuel for the propulsion of the Hive Fleet.


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Alright, I give up. You guys win. Point conceded. Happy now?

I think that what Gwar! meant was that he wondered why you weren't responding to reasoned arguments from other posters. It seemed like you weren't reading other people's posts when they answered your questions, and instead simply answered 'Virus Bomb them!'. This can be frustrating some times. Perhaps addressing what you read from other posters could avoid any annoyance in the future.

Orkestra wrote:So nope, no loss of heat in space. However, it's true that intergalactic travel is an interesting topic of discussion, and would probably require some type of fuel for the propulsion of the Hive Fleet.

Inertia? For all we know The Nids have been travelling for millions of years and slowly coasting through intergalactic space or slingshotting off random Dark Matter :p

Orkestra wrote:
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Alright, I give up. You guys win. Point conceded. Happy now?

I think that what Gwar! meant was that he wondered why you weren't responding to reasoned arguments from other posters. It seemed like you weren't reading other people's posts when they answered your questions, and instead simply answered 'Virus Bomb them!'. This can be frustrating some times. Perhaps addressing what you read from other posters could avoid any annoyance in the future.

OK, I'll try to keep that in mind. By the way, what does STFU mean?

And when the Nids were traveling between galaxies, what did they eat?

Deathbot wrote:

penut the butter wrote:
Tyranids aren't daunted by losses. When they kill everything on the planet they just re-harvest the bodies so they can make more.

And what if they fail to do this? What if, say, the Imperial/Tau/Chaos/Necron/Ork force occupying the planet defeats their ground troops, and their spaceships in orbit have no available biomass to make more?

Yes but looking at the map posted earlier in this thread they are just the beginning. Every hive fleet would begin with the same aliens but as they split up and attack planets with different enviroments it would start dealing with natural selection which is the struggle to survive. So using this theory it would just be a matter of time before another predator arises to deal with the problem. And a tyranid species doesn't usually become extinct. they reproduce in a factory-like manner so there are always more.

OK, I'll try to keep that in mind. By the way, what does STFU mean?

And when the Nids were traveling between galaxies, what did they eat?

STFU is short for 'shut the feth up'. Or any other word starting with 'f' you can think of.

When Nids are travelling through space there's no real need for them to eat anything.

Remember that their ships are living organisms who have just digested entire planets including all of the tyranid ground forces on the planet. Think of these ships as ridiculously bloated seals. All of that excess energy from digesting everything is stored within the hive ship until the next time it's needed. Since it's so easy to convert things between biomass and energy, the ship can, in effect, eat itself until a new source of food comes along.

Gaunts, carnifex, rippers, etc. don't need to eat, because they were digested after they finished owning the last planet.

Deathbot wrote:

Orkestra wrote:
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Alright, I give up. You guys win. Point conceded. Happy now?

I think that what Gwar! meant was that he wondered why you weren't responding to reasoned arguments from other posters. It seemed like you weren't reading other people's posts when they answered your questions, and instead simply answered 'Virus Bomb them!'. This can be frustrating some times. Perhaps addressing what you read from other posters could avoid any annoyance in the future.

And when the Nids were traveling between galaxies, what did they eat?

It says on lexicanum that they put the creatures in a torpor which is a state of hibernation. And the Norm Queens have the DNA to create more if they die. They also have non-agressive creatures that are designed to feed the creatures.

Quit it you guys...

All this talk of eating is making me hungry.....

Great...

Now i've got to find a planet-sandwich.....

Anyone got any ideas as to where one could acquire a planet-sandwich?

How 'bout Arby's?
5 sandwhich's for 5 bucks.

^^ thanks!

right... now I need a plane ticket to the US, an empty suitcase, and approximately....



...



...


$7,090,002,120,005....

Any ideas on how I can get the cash? And no, I will not rob a bank or become a rent-boy....

Deathbot wrote:

metallifan wrote:

sniperjolly wrote:with this whole net conservation of biomass thing, woulden't macragge be bueried in about five thousand feet of corpses? an entire hive fleet almost entirely destroyed on one planet has got to leave a LOT of leftovers, an entire sector or more of biomass piled in a gently steaming heap would leave maccragge the most lush planet in the galaxy, and a prime target for another hive fleet, almost doubling it's size.

Erm... You realize how long ago the Tyrannic Wars on Maccragge were, right?

So? Unless the Imperium moved the corpses off-planet before they rotted, all the biomass will still be there. Remember that matter is neither created nor destroyed, it merely changes forms.

Best fertilizer EVAR!

Deathbot wrote:So? Unless the Imperium moved the corpses off-planet before they rotted, all the biomass will still be there. Remember that matter is neither created nor destroyed, it merely changes forms.

Nah I think that might be energy.

oggers wrote:

Deathbot wrote:So? Unless the Imperium moved the corpses off-planet before they rotted, all the biomass will still be there. Remember that matter is neither created nor destroyed, it merely changes forms.

Nah I think that might be energy.

matter is energy fool
E=MC^2

corpsesarefun wrote:

oggers wrote:

Deathbot wrote:So? Unless the Imperium moved the corpses off-planet before they rotted, all the biomass will still be there. Remember that matter is neither created nor destroyed, it merely changes forms.

Nah I think that might be energy.

matter is energy fool
E=MC^2

M=E/C^2

It's and equation as long as you have the corect components you can mix them up a few ways so both of yours are correct.

Many races are resistant to viruses and spores.

The Imperium has filters, helmets, some pretty advanced medical equipment, bunkers, shields, enclosed vehicles, and all that jazz.

The Eldar have what are presumably extremely advanced helmets and medical equipment. The Tau are in the same boat.

Orks have natural resistance to all disease and most poisons as part of their engineering. They don't really need filters because of this.

Necrons obviously don't breathe.

Additionally, orbital bombardment either requires the Hive Fleet to be expending biomass and energy (spores, new viruses) or a lot of energy (throwing asteroids). Furthermore the Hive Fleet is in more danger the longer it tries to take a planet; the shadow in the warp will be noticed and whoever is interested in the planet will soon show up to retake it. Tyranid space capabilities are far inferior to their ground capabilities, they want to take as much of the fight to the ground if they can.

They are all part of the same digestive system. You have bacterial fauna in your stomach that help you break down certain chemicals your body can't use on its own. Same thing with a hive fleet. Have you ever seen a starfish eat something? I extrudes its guts all over the target organism and sucks it all back up again. Now imagine the same process but with a hive ship. Most of them are too large to land on a planet and take off again, so they puke up all of the necessary digestive agents onto the planet from orbit, including the assault organisms, to start the process. If they didn't it would be fairly easy for orbital defenses and anti-ship emplacements to kill them from the ground without letting them ever reach the desired resources, so that initial mix of digestive materials includes a severely large proportion of warrior-organisms to quiet any potentially fatal resistance. Other creatures like Lictors and Genestealers act like clusters of sensory cells that help the hive mind decide where it needs to send it's "parts"

When trying to understand why a hive fleet may take a particular action, it's best to think of it as one super organism with each individual cell developed into a full blown animal, rather than a collection of animals that think together. It's a macro-organism like ant hives and termite nests.

Railguns wrote:They are all part of the same digestive system. You have bacterial fauna in your stomach that help you break down certain chemicals your body can't use on its own. Same thing with a hive fleet..

<nitpick> Very few beneficial bacterium reside within the Stomach. The majority reside within the Small Intestinal Tract. </nitpick>

And in yogurt, according to TV.

No, according to the telly they have cut antibiotics and most helpful bacteria from certain dairy products

Things like Actimel are all a scam anyway as any sort of benefit is killed off by the stomach.

WTF Gwar!?! You joined this year but you have 7550 posts!

Just to make things clear, matter can be turned into energy fairly easily without destroying it. It is called combustion.

Here's the plan: they should build a system of power plants designed solely to burn tyranid corpses, like a coal plant, just much, much cheaper.

Fertilizer works too...


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I should clear that up a little with matter = organic matter.

I don't see why Tyranids can't just suck up the ash and convert it to something useful, if they are already converting every useful atom on an entire planet into a nice, acidic soup.

I said stomach, but you get the idea.

Railguns wrote:I don't see why Tyranids can't just suck up the ash and convert it to something useful, if they are already converting every useful atom on an entire planet into a nice, acidic soup.

I said stomach, but you get the idea.

Take a Lump Of Wood. Now Burn it.

Now take the Ashes and Burn them again. See, it's a Lot Harder.

Also Nids need DNA, fresh DNA to help them Experiment and Splice and make new grubbins (Like how Zoanthropes are allegedly from Eldar DNA, Biovores from Ork and Tyrant Guard from Space Marine). Turning all that DNA to ash is not a good Idea.

It may be useful in some regards, but I doubt it would be as useful as consuming actual biomass. It's one thing to eat carbon and water, it's another to eat meat and vegetables.

Not that they would intentionally ash things, but if they encounter enough volcanic planets and enemies that render significant portions of what was needed materials into ash they may find a way to use it, being the hyper evolving super-organism they are. You'd think that if enough of their creatures were surviving Exterminatus, like the codex states is happening, then perhaps they'd find a way to use it to their advantage if it becomes a prevalent enough problem.
Edit: DNA is valuable and a desired resource, but they are primarily shaking down planets for their natural resources and elements necessary for the continued life and development of the hive. If they could find a biological niche to fill with ash that was a win-win situation I'm sure they'd evolve a way to take advantage of it.

SilverMK2 wrote:Because you can't have a game where one side deploys and the 'nid player just looks them in the eye and says "We release spores into the atmosphere which kill all your soldiers and turns them into yummy soup".

Mostly because it means that GW can't sell any tyranid models, but also because it would mean that there would be very little point have tyranids as a playable race if they had no ground troops

This is the obvious answer folks, but feel free to stuff your fluff in here anyway.


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penut the butter wrote:WTF Gwar!?! You joined this year but you have 7550 posts!

I nominate GWAR as the next playable race in 40K, he's like the Borg and his posts seem to be increasing exponentially; it's scary.

The fluff is molded to suit the needs of the game.

Why do I feel this discussion is a big "which came first, the chicken or the squig" sort of thing...

Fearspect wrote:Just to make things clear, matter can be turned into energy fairly easily without destroying it. It is called combustion.

Somewhere in the world, a chemist is crying.

Blaznak wrote:Why do I feel this discussion is a big "which came first, the chicken or the squig" sort of thing...

Well, in this case the fact that the game represents ground combat between armies of from 20 to 200 roughly human-sized soldiers came along before the detailed fluff on the invasion process of the Tyranid fleets was written.

Raxmei wrote:

Fearspect wrote:Just to make things clear, matter can be turned into energy fairly easily without destroying it. It is called combustion.

Somewhere in the world, a chemist is crying.

Doubtful, as he probably has the ability to read an entire post...

Blaznak wrote:Why do I feel this discussion is a big "which came first, the chicken or the squig" sort of thing...

A circle has no beginnig.

Chicken. . . Squig. . .

Circle?

lolwut?

Besides. Everything tastes better when its fresh.

Yup!

Fearspect wrote:

Raxmei wrote:

Fearspect wrote:Just to make things clear, matter can be turned into energy fairly easily without destroying it. It is called combustion.

Somewhere in the world, a chemist is crying.

Doubtful, as he probably has the ability to read an entire post...

Almost as bad was earlier when some bright spark had the idea that nuking things would cause them to turn into energy themselves. About one step removed in the idiocy chain.

Nid fluff on the whole is problematic. Even more than most 40k fluff, it doesn't even come close to making sense, or working, mostly because it doesn't rely on hand-wavvium, it tries to use actual science to explain stuff. FAIL.

They derive all their energy from digesting crap. From releasing the potiential energy in chemical bonds. That is so incredibly weak sauce. It wouldn't even begin to cover a tiny, minute fraction of their immense power demands, just for planetary invasion, much less intergalactic travel. Imagine trying to run your automobile on burgers. You couldn't do it, the amount of power you liberate from the burger by digesting it is tiny in comparison to the amount of power it took to create the burger in the first place.

How do they travel from planet to planet? Someone mentioned 'sling shotting of dark matter' or some other tripe like that. Even if that was for a minute possible (IE there were aggregations of dark matter large enough for a large fleet of warships to use to jump to another uncharted galaxy with high precision), how would they stop when they got where they wanted to go? Burger power isn't going to give you the sort of juice you need for that kind of operation.

The problem with power destroys Nid fluff. They can't possibly have enough to mount invasions, and even if they did, why would they since they would only be acquiring stuff that isn't particularly useful. Do you really need hundreds of billions of tons of silicate? No, but they take it in every invasion. I could see taking water, air, fissible materials, and raw materials, but the whole 'strip everything bare and then travel through space on burger power' angle makes me want to slam a background writers head in a science book until it starts making wet sounds.

They can draw from the warp. They are the ultimate crafters of the warp.

They can draw what from the warp. Food? Electricity? Magic? If they can, then why do anything else at all? See what I am getting at? The entire 'OMG WE HAVE TO NOM STUFF' is pointless-it doesn't meet any need that any race would have in anything like a remotely sensible manner.

I'm not trying to be wise here, I've never heard that they could draw stuff from the warp. I've definitely not ever heard anything close to that they are the ultimate crafters of the warp. I'm a little suspect of that last claim.

The modern Tyranid fluff is pretty incoherent. It's more a case of 'rule of cool' than anything aiming at coherency and depth.

Not to mention all the FLuff we know is Guesses from Inquisitors and stuff, No-one knows HOW the Nids work

Nurglitch wrote:The modern Tyranid fluff is pretty incoherent. It's more a case of 'rule of cool' than anything aiming at coherency and depth.

What do you expect? GW is a buissness trying to stell anything and everything they have. They don't care that it doesn't make sense as long as they end up selling their product. so they make nonsense fluff that sounds cool. For example what sounds cooler.
1:the tyranids rampage across the galaxy consuming everything in thier reach,trying to quench an un-quenchable hunger.So fast is thier onslaught that few oppose them,even fewer succeed.
From this they create terrible monsters, ready to collect more matter.
2: the tyranids slowly make thier way across the galaxy, to planets were they can derive little bubbles of burger power from the rotting corpes of the brave defenders.Her they will spend a month collecting energy to go to another planet where they will get more ''burgerpower''
I don't know about you guys but the first one seems more likely to sell.

I don't see why they can't just say that the Tyranids, as part of the planetary digestive process, tap into a target planet's geothermal power and use most of the carbon and atmosphere they collected to store it as usable sugars in their ships tissues.

Yes but what the tyranids want DNA aswell.

They don't really want the DNA unless it contains something beneficial for them to absorb, and besides the vast majority of carbon/hydrogen/oxygen on a planet won't be contained in DNA.

Railguns wrote:They don't really want the DNA unless it contains something beneficial for them to absorb, and besides the vast majority of carbon/hydrogen/oxygen on a planet won't be contained in DNA.

No, but ALL DNA is beneficial. Creating a Copy of a Copy of a Copy causes damage, so they absorb new dna, start new gene stems and refine from there.

The DNA replication process already takes this into account and has multiple checkpoints and proofreading enzymes that take care of that sort of thing. It isn't 100% effective, and shouldn't be because that would genetically lock all organisms forever, but it does help keep the copies of copies from becoming unusable. It would probably be chemically easier for a cell to just start over creating it's own chromatin rather than try to absorb and adapt the foreign chromatin anyway. I suppose you could just come up with any reason though, it is science fiction after all.

Railguns wrote:I don't see why they can't just say that the Tyranids, as part of the planetary digestive process, tap into a target planet's geothermal power and use most of the carbon and atmosphere they collected to store it as usable sugars in their ships tissues.

They could, and aside from the geothermal bit, I assumed that they did use some sort of symbiotic hydroponic agriculture onboard the hive ships to create massive amounts of starch that are then stored somewhere else. Still- this doesn't come anywhere near meeting their power requirements. If you ate only beef, a highly energetic food, way more energetic than starch, you would need around 2500 pounds of the stuff to sustain yourself every year at normal levels of activity without loosing too much weight. Imagine how much less energy you use in a year than say, your car does. Now imagine how much less energy your car uses in a year than a space shuttle that making repeated trips up and down through the atmosphere. Now imagine how much more power a fleet of living warships would need to accelerate into another solar system in a reasonable time frame.

Finally, consider that even in the most efficient creatures, there is a huge net loss of energy when something is consumed- from the power it gives in death to how much it consumed during life. Even if the tyranids could get up into an impossible number, like 80% efficiency, all the carbon on a planet wouldn't meet their power demands for more than a few days, at most. During peak expenditure in the middle of a campaign, you are looking at hours worth of power. Compared to the nuclear fission and fusion that their enemies have access to on a wide scale, they just can't match the Imperial armies (much less anyone else) for power production.

Railguns wrote:The DNA replication process already takes this into account and has multiple checkpoints and proofreading enzymes that take care of that sort of thing. It isn't 100% effective, and shouldn't be because that would genetically lock all organisms forever, but it does help keep the copies of copies from becoming unusable. It would probably be chemically easier for a cell to just start over creating it's own chromatin rather than try to absorb and adapt the foreign chromatin anyway. I suppose you could just come up with any reason though, it is science fiction after all.

Evolution is never perfect.what could be benificial on a lava world will not be helpful on a gas world. Which is why the tyranids try to eat everything. So they can be prepared for a problem.

Gwar! wrote:

Deathbot wrote:Since they plan to eat the planet anyway, wouldn't it be easier to just kill everything via orbital bombardment, thus averting the possibility of having the ground troops wiped out and being unable to eat the planet?

You do know that the Nids Recycle their dead, so the total loss is minimal, even over years, especially when you factor in the fact they will get enough new material to replenish the energy suspended.

Don't forget the nids eat everything. EVERYTHING! Even the Air! Orbital Bombardment could mess with the Air!

This!

If they do use geothermal, it could be posiable for them to tap the mantel and core and suck that, I mean thats a crap load of energy and I think the codex says the capliary towers do that, I could be wrong however

The problem is that they would need a storeable, usable form to convert that geothermal energy into, which is part of what Silverthorne is trying to point out. They would have to convert that into usable carbohydrates, but it would not be efficient enough to power the hive fleets by several orders of magnitude.

Personally, it's sci-fi so they start with an action first, and hope they have a plausible enough super science explanation later. Whatever allows Tyranids to overcome such a massive energy barrier makes them that much nastier, really.