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.

Plus the energy usage would make the energy benefit of going to the next star pale tin comparison to the energy cost.

40K is predicated on races either cheating via able to go through the warp, or having such massive levels of energy available that the energy expenditure is meh to them (old necron fluff).

I would say they go to cooking classes, you know 101 ways to prepare a guardsmen.

They coalesce the vapours of Tyranid existence into a viable and meaningful comprehension.

 Frazzled wrote:
Plus the energy usage would make the energy benefit of going to the next star pale tin comparison to the energy cost.

Tyranids drift slowly through space, and the hive ship and all creatures on board are hibernating -> little energy usage. Sources 3rd edition codex and stories of deathwatch boarding a hive ship to inject a virus. You can drift forever in space, it doesnt cost anything. And they can use gravity to slingshot them from planet to planet within a solar system, and then out of it-> again lower energy cost for acceleration.

They dont know where it will be, they can only try and predict where it goes. Which is prone to error... just read the Kryptman stuff.

Keep wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
Plus the energy usage would make the energy benefit of going to the next star pale tin comparison to the energy cost.

Tyranids drift slowly through space, and the hive ship and all creatures on board are hibernating -> little energy usage. Sources 3rd edition codex and stories of deathwatch boarding a hive ship to inject a virus. You can drift forever in space, it doesnt cost anything. And they can use gravity to slingshot them from planet to planet within a solar system, and then out of it-> again lower energy cost for acceleration.

They dont know where it will be, they can only try and predict where it goes. Which is prone to error... just read the Kryptman stuff.

If they drift trough space even slower than the speed of light, then they are even less of a threat, especialy if we keep in mind that habitable planets are rare, even in 40k.
Of course, since we know that Behemoth managed to travel from Tyran to Maccrage in a few decades at most, we also know that Tyranids can in fact travel much faster than light.

Keep wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
Plus the energy usage would make the energy benefit of going to the next star pale tin comparison to the energy cost.

Tyranids drift slowly through space, and the hive ship and all creatures on board are hibernating -> little energy usage. Sources 3rd edition codex and stories of deathwatch boarding a hive ship to inject a virus. You can drift forever in space, it doesnt cost anything. And they can use gravity to slingshot them from planet to planet within a solar system, and then out of it-> again lower energy cost for acceleration.

They dont know where it will be, they can only try and predict where it goes. Which is prone to error... just read the Kryptman stuff.

If they are drifting slowly through space then they are absolutely no threat to the Imperium, or Necrons, or well anyone. If they were travelling at 1/100 the speed of light (which is not dirfting nor slow) it would take them 400 years to get here from Alpha Centauri.

The Hulks may drift, filled with genestealers, but in older fluff the Nid fleet used the warp.

Watch the Alien boxset on repeat.

 Frazzled wrote:

 Tyran wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:

 Tyran wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Tyranids don't have free time. They don't have digestive systems, they're created as need be and re-absorbed into goo when not necessary.

That said the hive ships don't get re-absorbed and with no FTL they must spend a lot of time playing space license plate bingo wandering between edible star systems.

Tyranids have FTL.

Sources vary. I recall BFG suggesting that they just move very fast at sublight but they retcon these things all the time and I may be misremembering.

5th edition codex gave us the Narvhal, which is slower but more reliable than Warp.

Of course that means that the Nids aren't really a threat..."Oh noes! The Nids are coming!" "When do they get here?" "Er...7,000 years." "Seriously, you woke me up for that?"


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Broly wrote:
I'm pretty sure Tyranids don't have free time. Every tyranid organism has purpose.

If a Tyranid organism has nothing to do, they throw themselves into a digestion pool.

Alternatively (and more energy efficient) they just go into hibernation until awakened for the next party.

2 things:

We know it is slower than Warp, but we don't know by how much.

The IoM is terrible at detecting Tyranids

the hive ships play genetic guess who recreating blank slates of dead guys from the previous battle then trying to guess which one it was,winner takes that genetic materiel as there prize.

Like ants they do tasks to maintain the hive. They don't sit around reading 'What Mandible' magazine

 Howard A Treesong wrote:
Like ants they do tasks to maintain the hive. They don't sit around reading 'What Mandible' magazine

What about 'EAT' magazine? This week: 11 ways to make your carapace shiny WITHOUT expensive products; how to stay in shape whilst also eating all the biological matter you want; 7 easy ways to feed more efficiently; the secret to getting that Leviathan look; and more Help From The Hive with our resident Agony Gaunt.

In Heart of Rage by James Swallow, the Tyranids do have some creatures in hibernation. Most likely to defend against any intruders on the Hive ship. It also mentions Gaunts and Gants coming out of the walls of the Hive ship which could also mean that they can produce them from the stored biomass on the ship on an impulse.
In any case, I suspect the Hive ships get around quicker after eating a planet. If they're damaged/dying or just starved of biomass they'll drift in a dormant state for years until they find their next meal.