Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Well considering the greatest geneticist in history...nature considered the best tool manipulation device to be a "hand" like appendage. This wonderful invention can be found among a whole series of tool using animals and is available for your use today!

Notice that even ants and termites exhibit limited tool usage. Perhaps given these facts and the fact that new weapon systems are occasionally developed by the hivemind the hivemind might want its workers and warriors to be able to manipulate biomorph tools and exchange obsolete weapons for new ones without having to replace a whole nervous system or even a whole organism. If the hivemind did not give it's creations some form of manipulators I would think it ridiculously incompetent and someone would be on here complaining about that.

It has absolutely nothing to do with genetics. All Tyranid organisms are engineered. An intelligent design has gone into their making.

The same question could be asked of us. Why don't our soldiers simply have assault rifles glued to their forearms? All of the issues associated with that are equally associated with Tyranids. Just because they could do it doesn't mean that they should. Again, not a genetics issue. Think of a sword, and of the large range of motion that is possible in wielding one. Now think of how restricted that motion would be if the blade was coming out of the elbow rather than the wrist. Apply this to Rending Claws.

We know that Tyranid bioforms get repurposed quite often. The standard Warrior platform, for example, into Raveners, Shrikes, Lictors, and possibly more. Very specific strains of Tyranid are built around their gun. The Hive Guard, the 'vores, and the Tyrannofex are little more than mobile platforms for their highly specialised weaponry.

I would also like to point out that the chest-weapons of a Ravener are supposed to be short-range spray attacks. They're not riflenids. Also, the infamous 'banana clip' is likely a design choice by GW to give the weapon a more 'gun' look. Yes, it is rather silly, but that doesn't mean that the gun actually has a clip - the Tyranid doesn't eject it and replace it after shooting.

EDIT:

It is possible that Tyranids have adapted to fighting humanoids in our galaxy and are essentially mimicking their enemies.

In the galaxy that Tyranids previously consumed, they may have taken on forms completely different than the ones we currently know.

 gossipmeng wrote:
It is possible that Tyranids have adapted to fighting humanoids in our galaxy and are essentially mimicking their enemies.

In the galaxy that Tyranids previously consumed, they may have taken on forms completely different than the ones we currently know.

Considering the artwork I've seen of the Tyran invasion, that's quite plausible.

Tyranids have their weapons kind of Flesh-and-bone connected to their hands. It's all biologically.

I like to think that starcraft got the biomorphs right and tge fluff wrong but GW got the fluff right but the biomorphs wrong because "biomorphs" should not look like handheld guns

grimdark83 wrote:

 Eldarain wrote:
Not sure if it is still described this way but in previous codexes the weapons aren't actually a part of the creature.

They were described as being a separate creature developed expressly for the purposes of launching yet another strain of Tyranid ammunition creatures.

So in fact a Tyranid Warrior with a Devourer is actually three types of independant creatures working in symbiosis.

This answer makes alot of sense, with the exception of the guns that have clips lol, It explains why some of the guns have eyes. I will forward this information to my friend since he was also curious. I thank you

Some guns have clips because the organism needs a place to breed its ammo. Think of the clip as a womb of sorts, where the little grubs breed. Some other guns have the ammo stored in the creatures body, and these will have a tube running up the arm into the torso.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 A GumyBear wrote:
I like to think that starcraft got the biomorphs right and tge fluff wrong but GW got the fluff right but the biomorphs wrong because "biomorphs" should not look like handheld guns

It's also a lot to do with model recognition. It's already hard enough for non-Tyranid players to keep up with what gribbly weapon is what. Take away the fact they're handheld guns in a lot of cases and just guns fused directly to the arm, and a lot of people will start to lose track of what gun does what. Look at the Pyrovore and Biovore, plenty of people already proxy the Pyrovore as a Biovore because visually the only difference with the gun is one is long and one is short, and the model is better.

When you want a game to be largely WYSIWIG for visual recognition, having a race like Tyranids with infantry using guns whose only visual distinction is 'tube or pointy tube or pointy tube with spikes' isn't going to work.

That's a good point, but i still feel some weapons could have been made a tad less like real weapons (fleshborer)

 A GumyBear wrote:
That's a good point, but i still feel some weapons could have been made a tad less like real weapons (fleshborer)

Feel free to whip out the greenstuff.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 A GumyBear wrote:
That's a good point, but i still feel some weapons could have been made a tad less like real weapons (fleshborer)

Feel free to whip out the greenstuff.

Who needs greenstuff when you have a lighter

 A GumyBear wrote:
I like to think that starcraft got the biomorphs right and tge fluff wrong but GW got the fluff right but the biomorphs wrong because "biomorphs" should not look like handheld guns

Why? This is a bias that exists because of what we see in nature. As I said before - if it's better to integrate a weapon into the arm, why don't we do it? Maybe a full assault rifle is too much, but what about pistols? Why is there an almost complete lack of arm-mounted weaponry in all of our history? Because the addition of a wrist gives a much greater range of motion, among other things.

Grey Knights have Storm Bolters mounted on their wrists - does this make them superior shooters? No, it simply frees up a hand to allow usage of a melee weapon. Without special training, I'd imagine it'd make them worse off for shooting. Tyranids don't have this restriction - not only do they typically have four arms, but their guns would make quite adequate CCWs in fluff, with all the spikes.

The question isn't why they carry their weapons - it's why wouldn't they? There are a number of disadvantages but no advantages! It's rather similar to "Why don't Space Marines just put chainswords on their shoulders?".

Not that 40k is the most realistic of sci-fi, but it is a lot less... pulpy than Starcraft. Not that there's anything wrong with this, just that it's a different style.