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I have been asked this question by friends because I play Nids and now it's puzzling me. In the Codex it states that the astronomic on draws the Great Devourer to Terra because of its psychic energy given off by the Emperor on the Golden Throne. And in every Codex it shows a galactic map and where that race is and where they move to and this is where I get lost. It shows that Hive fleet Leviathan is not on the galactic plane but that it fact comes out of "null" space and moves up into the plane where it then would "enter the grid". If leviathan is able to do this why not hit Terra? Technically all the races could bypass planet hopping and just go under the galactic plane in null space but they would run the risk of encountering Levithan. I find this flaw disturbing because if they had thought of this then why wouldnt the Inquisition just go into null space then use warp space travel to an enemy home planet and just Exterminatus it? For one there would be more space battles and it would probably shut Warhammer 40,000 down because it would end very very fast. But really Levithan grow a pair get some other fleets and let's go have a nom nom party on Terra!!!

One of 3 tendrils of Leviathan is going straight for Terra, it will arrive when GW wants to present it in a new apocalypse battle, or novel or worlds campaign.
If Tyranids attack Terra they will lose very badly. Terra is the most heavily defended planet in the Imperium of Mankind and in the galaxy. Necrons tried to land on Mars, their ships were vaporized in seconds they landed. Tyranids can do some damage but they would quickly lose more biomass then they can regain.
If they ever arrive it will be a complete loss for them.

Problems ain't only that Terra is the fortress it it. Mars and Titan still hangs around, Necromunda and Inwit would send reinforcements, 10.000 Custodes with billions of Imperial Guards would welcome the Nids with open arms, the Imperial Fist lurks in the fortresses there. The Grey Knights' untold numbers swarm out of Titan, yeah good luck in taking on that system.

The Necrons had a small fleet land on Mars before they were destroyed. Thats how powerfull the necrons used to be.

One actually touched down, even though the admech were pummelling the ships with everything they had.

5 light cruisers vs the entire Mars defense force, and they still landed.

Not shabby

Oldcrons FTW

Even if the nids even ever get there, they would be defeated by the incredible amounts of marines, IG, custodians, mars people, Imperial fleet. So pretty much a lot.


All the would be

They could cause some damage not alot but some. Enough to get the IoM into a tyrannic assult

That's even if they can land on the planet. The Sol system has one of the largest fleets and orbital defense grids in the galaxy, rivaling that of Cadia.

They will attack Terra at some point, but they probably won't last long, even if they manage to land. Not just do you have the defenses already in system, they will have to deal with all the Astartes responding to a distress call from Terra

If a Hivefleet actualy manages to penetrate the Imperium, with all it's numerous armies and warfleets, far enough to get near Terra then it might also be large enough to overwhelm the defences of the solar system.
Still, it is unlikely that such a thing will happen before the Imperium of Man is truly in shambles. After all, the Highlords would pay any price and sacrifice anything to prevent a threat from actualy getting near the solar system. The Necron raider fleet was an anomaly, a small fleet of basicaly undetectable ships ( that is, compared to a massive hivefleet ).

KingDeath wrote:If a Hivefleet actualy manages to penetrate the Imperium, with all it's numerous armies and warfleets, far enough to get near Terra then it might also be large enough to overwhelm the defences of the solar system.
Still, it is unlikely that such a thing will happen before the Imperium of Man is truly in shambles. After all, the Highlords would pay any price and sacrifice anything to prevent a threat from actualy getting near the solar system. The Necron raider fleet was an anomaly, a small fleet of basicaly undetectable ships ( that is, compared to a massive hivefleet ).

Since the hive fleets can block out the emperor's powers wouldn't they be untracable too, basing positioning on loss of contact with any systems

Tiarna Fuilteach wrote:

KingDeath wrote:If a Hivefleet actualy manages to penetrate the Imperium, with all it's numerous armies and warfleets, far enough to get near Terra then it might also be large enough to overwhelm the defences of the solar system.
Still, it is unlikely that such a thing will happen before the Imperium of Man is truly in shambles. After all, the Highlords would pay any price and sacrifice anything to prevent a threat from actualy getting near the solar system. The Necron raider fleet was an anomaly, a small fleet of basicaly undetectable ships ( that is, compared to a massive hivefleet ).

Since the hive fleets can block out the emperor's powers wouldn't they be untracable too, basing positioning on loss of contact with any systems

No they cannot, that Ultramarine Librarian managed to penetrate the Hive Mind. So the mightiest psyker ever to exist should have nada problems doing that. It appears for me that the Hive Mind have slowly get nerfed from: Psykers dies from exposure to it, to psykers die if they are stupid and try to stare into it. Also soon every chapter will have their own Librarian able to do that.

@Commisser41.0 There are a few things wrong with your time table. The Tyranids overwhelm by shear number. Now whie the Tyranids are in interspace they are dormant, but alive and since they are alive they still need to be fed. That's why the attacks don't go straight for the target, they have to stop and eat worlds in order to refill there stores.

In order to understand Tyranid Tactics you have got to put yourself into the mind of a social predator. Let's say a Tyranid Hivefleet is a Lion and the Imperium is a Buffalo. Each Hivefleet has arrived piecemeal, they strike a different part of the galactic plane, just like a Lion starts the hunt. First, one and then another and then another, each time the Buffalo outruns or fights off a Lion it gets more tired and weaker. Finally, six, eight, ten show up and it's taken down for the kill.

So far, six have attacked and another four have been detected. Remeber that even though a fleet has been defeated it can still re-emerge. No one in the Imperium knows how many fleets that there are total. And the Hivemind still hasn't shown up yet, it will only show up in the final stages of the invasion.

The Tyranid invasion of Terra is still along way off.

If you consider the Galaxy is about 110000ish light years across. Then look at a map with the hive fleets super imposed. The hive fleet look like they contain more bio mass than the entire Milky way.

All the hive fleets seem to be approaching in a spear head type formation. The tip would hit the sol system and be wiped from existence but the group behind would be slightly larger and keep getting larger. No matter how much lead you throw at it. It would be the ultimate war of attrition. Finally the Sol systems ability to manufacture ammo, food and other supplies would be overwhelmed never mind trying to scavenge/recycle the raw materials in the first place. The hive fleet at this point would still be getting bigger.

Nids would not flinch a single carapaced eye lash at the loss off untold billions. Their biomass would be recycled and put back to use.

It would be a very frightening prospect to behold.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
The Nids would have to be dormant during intergalactic travel. There is little to nothing to feed on there. I was always under the impression Nids drifted from Galaxy to Galaxy over Eons, only wakening when nearing McD’s Drive Thru.

The Tyranid will definitely attack the sol system multiple times before they actually try and invade it. The hive mind will poke and prod the systems defence all while weakening it at the same time.

By the time the Tyranids get to Terra in full force, it's likely that a good half, if not more of the galaxt will have been consumed. This will of course push back the Orks into a smaller area, who will further compete with Chaos and the thousand other threats.

Terra might be all but impregnable at the moment... but what about when the empire that manufactures its weapons, rpoduces its food and births its soldiers is bled dry? It might take centuries, but if the rest of the galaxy is reduced to dust and what's not dust is crawling with Orks and Chaos filth then Terra will starve to death and its defences will mean nothing.

The Tyranids are not in a hurry, and will eat everything they encounter on their way to Earth...

Because every GW race is vastly more powerful than all the others. It's almost as if they're a company trying to make profits rather than develop a coherent backstory.

Commissar41.0 wrote:Technically all the races could bypass planet hopping and just go under the galactic plane in null space but they would run the risk of encountering Levithan. I find this flaw disturbing because if they had thought of this then why wouldnt the Inquisition just go into null space then use warp space travel to an enemy home planet and just Exterminatus it? For one there would be more space battles and it would probably shut Warhammer 40,000 down because it would end very very fast. But really Levithan grow a pair get some other fleets and let's go have a nom nom party on Terra!!!

That's not quite how it works because the galaxy is not actually 2-D. There are still going to be a large number of planets 'above' and 'below' Terra for the Tyranids to get through, as well as defences of the solar system itself and I believe the Orks are within Segmentum Solar as well. Not to mention humanity going down to the Tyranids would likely be pretty bad for the Eldar so they might get involved. Same with the Silent King. Mars also has a whole load of forbidden technology locked up, including stuff that makes stars go supernova. The Tyranids probably won't have encountered a fair amount of the technology the Priesthood of Mars could rustle up.

vim_the_good wrote:Then look at a map with the hive fleets super imposed. The hive fleet look like they contain more bio mass than the entire Milky way.

I always assumed that those maps were just showing the path of the Hive Fleets rather than the actual size of it. Otherwise the defeating of Behemoth and Kraken shows the Tyranid numbers to be absolutely necessary against stiff Imperial resistance.

The Nids would have to be dormant during intergalactic travel.

Which makes them very vulnerable were travelling to other systems and planets. Considering Segmentum Solar has the largest Imperial Battlefleet out of any of the Segmentums, I'm not sure the Tyranids will be that successful (that said, Abaddon's ongoing Black Crusade would severely skew the war).

It is one of those things hinted at in the Codex's that will never get progressed or resolved. Remember Void Dragon and Mars? LOL, MATT WARD DOESN'T.

That being said, it'd take the might of a mega-Hive Fleet if not the collective Tyranid race to attack Terra and even the victor would very much be up in the air. Terra is the most heavily defended place in the Galaxy by far.

A single tendril like that army that attacked the smurfs? It wouldn't put a dent into Terras defences.

However the entire tyranid fleet? Difficult, I don't know why they would want to sacrifice loads of biomass they desperatly need to feed the swarm to get lone old Terra...I mean the planet is, if you ignore the humans, a hiveworld armed to the teeths on steroids void of large amounts of biomass.


Oh and Mars is right at the doorstep, threaten the AdMech and they get creative.... noone wants that.

They would not get past the outer reaches of the Segmentum Solar.

The Admech would promptly bury them in Machines and Skitarri, which they lose Biomass trying to kill, and get none from killing.

Would be a total utter waste on the Tyranids part.

All you need to do to stop attracting annoying insects is to turn the porch light off

Brother Coa wrote: Terra is the most heavily defended planet in the Imperium of Mankind and in the galaxy. Necrons tried to land on Mars, their ships were vaporized in seconds they landed. Tyranids can do some damage but they would quickly lose more biomass then they can regain.
If they ever arrive it will be a complete loss for them.

Yes so was Gryphonne IV and Macragge and on Iyanden the Eldar had to revive its dead just to win....Oh and not to mention we are thirving on Octavia (Home world of the Orks)

Terra is infinitely better defended then Macragge or Gryphonne IV.

And Octavia isn't the homeworld of the orks

It was (and is, as the nids haven't won that one yet ) an ork planet, but it's not the ork equivilent of Terra

Attacking Terra, I will say again, would be the biggest waste of Biomass ever.

Just one of those little plot points thrown in to generate discussion. It's never going to happen.

Anyway, the smart thing to do is to bleed the Imperium of resources. Attack all f the outlying planets and systems, drawing out their defensive might and crippling their ability to reinforce themselves. By the time you actually reach Terra, there won't be much left defending it.

-Loki- wrote:Just one of those little plot points thrown in to generate discussion. It's never going to happen.

Indeed, why would you attack a planet that's basically been built as a the most massive Fortress in the Galaxy, with no biomass, full of angry swarming Marines, Titans, Sisters, and the more powerful Psyker in the galaxy.

Commissar41.0 wrote:
Yes so was Gryphonne IV and Macragge and on Iyanden the Eldar had to revive its dead just to win....Oh and not to mention we are thirving on Octavia (Home world of the Orks)

Coolyo294 wrote:Terra is infinitely better defended then Macragge or Gryphonne IV.

Alexzandvar wrote:Attacking Terra, I will say again, would be the biggest waste of Biomass ever.

I think that even the Tyranids would think five times before they go toward Terra.
Here we can see only ships and orbital platforms, and only Terra. Not Mars or Titan or Saturn moons or Pluto etc...

If the Nids reach Terra the other planets would already have been eaten.