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OK, so it came up in conversation a while ago: why would Tyranids invade a Desert World?

There is still biomass on a desert world.

Seems like they wouldn't, since there is a direct correlation, atleast on earth, between the amount of biomass in a region and the availability of fresh water. Excluding the oceans, ofcourse.

There are still mineral resources available (they take everything usable, and silicates, carbonates and the like are accessible resources) not just "living" stuff.

Pretty much, after tyrandis invade a world, its left a barren wasteland. They would porbably absorb the sand as well.

Because deserts can have a large abundance of life.

Harriticus wrote:Because deserts can have a large abundance of life.

Exactly. Contrary to popular belief, deserts aren't dead.

Deserts aren't dead, but they do have substantially less biomass than, say, a rain forest or a prarie or a river. So these worlds would, presumably, be a lower priority for the tyranids.

Granted, they might not send a very large force towards a desert world and is probably low on the priority list.

I think recently assimilated imperial agri worlds would probably be on the top of the list, due to lots of trees and lots of living peopel to munch on.

They probably wouldn't. On Karak Prime, Vostroyans starved a Tyranid Hive Fleet to Death by drawing the fight out into midwinter. Harsh conditions like winter or deserts, even if hospitable enough for human habitation, don't necessarily give off enough to sustain Tyranids. So my guess would be they'd need something more lush and prosperous to make it a net-benefit for the Nids.

Like in the case with the Vostroyans, the Tyranids might be more interested in the population (such as underground cities for the Tallarn) than the surrounding deserts themselves.

It likely wouldn't compare with the biomass of a rainforest (even if unpopulated) but as others have said it's not just the living material that Tyranids absorb.

If they could eat sand and such, then they wouldn't have starved on Karak Prime... and yet, they did. This leads me to believe that, no, Tyranids do not find biomass in sand.

They come for the Spice. Duh.

Access to fresh water is not necessarily a requirement for all life, only life as we know it on earth. In the 40K universe, it would be plausible to conceive that there would be organisms that could qualify as living without utilizing a water source. Deserts aren't lifeless, just short on water.

CalgarsPimpHand wrote:They come for the Spice. Duh.

The Biomass is now Diamonds!

This is one of those fluff inconsistencies that varies from source to source.

Exactly where do Tyranids draw the line on what to nom? Sometimes it seems like they really require bio-mass and only bio-mass- Kryptmann's strategy, and Vostroyan starvation tactic wouldn't have worked as well otherwise.

But if they're able to process minerals and such, and that makes an otherwise low-biomass target worthwhile, then Necrons would be just another crunchy meat-stick, and they would be eating most of the Craft Worlds themselves.

The real equation is, will the materials gained by the swarm be greater than materials expended? Assuming Tyranid victory and full corpse recovery, they aren't getting a full refund by any means, since they expend energy constantly as living entities- and some at terrific rates. Given that standard Tyranid tactics aren't particularly energy efficient in that regard, and seem geared more towards speed, they probably need a pretty solid return to justify an attack.

I know nids eat necrons for the metals in them, because that's what's in the claws of the carnifex's.

BaneGuard wrote:I know nids eat necrons for the metals in them, because that's what's in the claws of the carnifex's.

Source? I've certainly never heard this before.

Hazardous Harry wrote:

BaneGuard wrote:I know nids eat necrons for the metals in them, because that's what's in the claws of the carnifex's.

Source? I've certainly never heard this before.

The biomorph list in the 4th edition Tyranid Codex for tusks mentions how Carnifex tusks have adamantium lacing. This shows Tyranids can consume and incorporate metals into their biology.

However it seems this has been misinterpreted, as there is no mention of Necrons in the original source, and it is tusks, not claws. That is why claims should be sourced.

Necrons aren't made of adamantium. They are made of living metal, which is something completely different.

Power Armor, on the other hand, is made out of adamantium. Well, a bit of it anyway.

CalgarsPimpHand wrote:They come for the Spice. Duh.

A Kwisatz Haderach Hive Mind, Emperor save the galaxy.

On the account of some scientific data - as biomass is biomass, no matter is it in some kinds of beast/plants or single-cell bacteria - and total mass of living organisms underground (desert on Earth) is around 50x-100 times more than those on surface (same time for.ex. rainforest can have more biomass on surface than in the ground, up to 3:1 ratio)

Also (can'tfind the link right now) it's assumed that biomass in Earth's crust is several orders larger than surface + auqatic life combined. And what conditions are on surface won't affect these bacterias/viruses/single-cell weeds at all.

Because there is a species they want to assimilate? I'm actually not sure if nids work this way or not. Do they want or need to assimilate new species or can they make new ones out of whole cloth?

I would guess it would be over in about 5 minutes and then they would move on.

EDIT - Some nice Dune references.

chyron wrote:On the account of some scientific data - as biomass is biomass, no matter is it in some kinds of beast/plants or single-cell bacteria - and total mass of living organisms underground (desert on Earth) is around 50x-100 times more than those on surface (same time for.ex. rainforest can have more biomass on surface than in the ground, up to 3:1 ratio)

Also (can'tfind the link right now) it's assumed that biomass in Earth's crust is several orders larger than surface + auqatic life combined. And what conditions are on surface won't affect these bacterias/viruses/single-cell weeds at all.

As the Tyranids are really a mobile ecosystem, consisting of many species acting in concert (and that includes plant and bacterial life), it would not be far fetched to think there are Tyranid bacteria that are lithovores or otherwise capable of gaining energy from sources from rocks and minerals. We have those on Earth already. These bacteria could then be consumed by other forms of Tyranid life to fuel their activities.

nomotog wrote:Because there is a species they want to assimilate? I'm actually not sure if nids work this way or not. Do they want or need to assimilate new species or can they make new ones out of whole cloth?

Considering how raveners were a breed of catachan devils, I would say that they are indeed interested in acquiring new genomes.

The problem is, like all 40k fluff, what Tyranids take is just not consistent. They give us a step by step breakdown of the assimilation of a world, including seeding the planet with spores that make the flora and fauna hyper fertile and make them grow super large to give more biomass. Then talk about Tyranids eating the planet down to the bedrock, which means the entire biosphere is stripped, including soil, minerals, water, gases and atmosphere.

Then other short stores mention none of this, and concentrate on how they are only there to kill and eat the population (which is a terrible source of biomass). Then other authors, as said above, have them starve in a situation they shouldn't have.

Basically, every author has a different idea of what Tyranids eat when they invade a planet, and it gives a contradictory view of what happens.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

CthuluIsSpy wrote:

nomotog wrote:Because there is a species they want to assimilate? I'm actually not sure if nids work this way or not. Do they want or need to assimilate new species or can they make new ones out of whole cloth?

Considering how raveners were a breed of catachan devils, I would say that they are indeed interested in acquiring new genomes.

Other way around. It's speculated that Catachan Devils are a Tyranid bioform from an ancient hive fleet that struck a long time ago, and went feral on the planet. This lines up well with the way Tyranids seed a planet to make everything super fertile and huge - basically, it was already a lethal jungle, the hive fleet just made it worse and couldn't consume the planet.

-Loki- wrote:The problem is, like all 40k fluff, what Tyranids take is just not consistent. They give us a step by step breakdown of the assimilation of a world, including seeding the planet with spores that make the flora and fauna hyper fertile and make them grow super large to give more biomass. Then talk about Tyranids eating the planet down to the bedrock, which means the entire biosphere is stripped, including soil, minerals, water, gases and atmosphere.

Then other short stores mention none of this, and concentrate on how they are only there to kill and eat the population (which is a terrible source of biomass). Then other authors, as said above, have them starve in a situation they shouldn't have.

Basically, every author has a different idea of what Tyranids eat when they invade a planet, and it gives a contradictory view of what happens.

They are not totally directly contradictory.

In the 3rd edition Codex a report on Tyranid consumption mentions it is actually underway from the moment of initial attack, however it is only until after all resistance has been subdued that the Tyranids actually begin to make a profit and recoup their energy and biomass expenditure. During the actual process of fighting itself, they are deficit spending, even though they are still harvesting at the same time.

There is also the key difference between attacking for genetic material and attacking for sheer biomass. The two can be acquired simultaneously but it is conceivable that the Hive Mind might decide to go after a particularly interesting enclave of genetic material even if the total biomass available might not appear to be that attractive.

Psienesis wrote:If they could eat sand and such, then they wouldn't have starved on Karak Prime... and yet, they did. This leads me to believe that, no, Tyranids do not find biomass in sand.

Dude Karak Prime was a ice world in close repects , the Voystarians let the nids inside and killed have the horde by making the reactor go nuclear which the rest starved of lack of biomass........