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I was looking at a friends nids the other day and I began to wonder why they carry their weapons like humans instead of just forming them out of their limbs, My friend didnt have an answer and I couldnt find one in his codex, is their a fluffy reason for this?

That seems to depend on the model in question, but generally the design of a gun is a pretty good one for a ranged weapon, so I'm assuming this could also apply to biological design.

Termagants would look a little weird if their weapons were carried like a carnifex's large guns though.

The weapons are attached to their arms. Look closely at the model - parts of the gun are fused to them.

What I ment was, why doesnt something like a tyrant just morph his arms into giant blades instead of carrying them? The pyrovore has his weapon built into him so why does it differ from each type of nid?

It's purely for gameplay/WYSIWYG reasons. It makes zero sense that the Tyranids would have human-style rifles and handguns, but they do.

Granted GW has made some decent excuses, such as the weapon itself being fused to the Tyranid and actually its own organism.

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.

 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 is the correct answer. The weapons were originally their own organisms. Now, as to how the Tyranid armory works and who gets issued which weapon... well, that part isn't so clear.

The answer is Because Hive Mind.

 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

Another thing to think of is that a weapon build into a humanoid arm has a much smaller range of motion compared to a weapon held in a hand analogue. The wrist gives an extra degree of mobility (firing around corners, etc) and if the weapon can be swapped between hands then there is no weaker side to the organism.

They carry weapons because it looks cool. The rest of them is complete bunk.

I dont know why they are modeled that way, but its a huge turn off for me. Looks really stupid IMO but to each their own i guess.

Because applying "biotech" bits to the general form of a human with a rifle is easier than designing a "realistic" Tyranid, and GW's designers are fundamentally lazy.

Because GW hates us.

Honesty though it is only certain weapons that have the whole "I'm holding it" thing going.

Well it does give them a modular design which allows quicker replacement of weapons. This is the same reason humans have modular amino acids, sugars, etc. The more of something you can recycle the better.

ie if the gun was fully integrated then to change weapons you would have to replace an entire tyranid instead of a single weapon.

Its possible that its because a Gant can actually drop his Fleshborer and pick up a Spike Rifle. Its a symbiotic being attached to their arm, but maybe it could actually be removed for a different biomorph.

As for why they have Banana mags... who knows.

what veteran sergeant said got me thinking, is there an armory among each hive ship? I think it would be funny if there was a room with a bunch of weapons in it and having it guarded by 2 hormagaunts wearing little suits that say SECURITY on them

Each "gun" is a separate organism. While initially crudely attached to the host organism's "hands" (termagants) the Hive Mind has adapted them further, fusing them to their limbs (hive guard) or back (biovores) and eventually merging them until the two are nearly indistinguishable (raveners).

As for why a Fleshborer looks so much like a gun with its magazine, consider that the first gun organism were most likely designed based on observations of their prey's ranged weaponry.

Speaking of magazines, do weapon symbiotes need to reload? Or do they grow their own ammo over time?

Well Fleshborer beetles are a symbiotic organism living inside the Fleshborer, which in turn is a symbiotic to the host which is wielding it.

So I think the ammo does reproduce over time.

Also keep in mind the close-in fighting that we're known for... If shooty bugs had no appendages to speak of (fully integrated weapons) then it would be harder to fight. The Tyrannofex's gun is as long as a Tyrant is high; that's a hell of a reach in CC.

grimdark83 wrote:What I ment was, why doesnt something like a tyrant just morph his arms into giant blades instead of carrying them?

They do:



As for why they have arms with guns, it's probably a flexibility thing. When they're making a big vat of gaunts, they don't know if they're going to need more hormagaunts or termagaunts next. Or if it's a big'un if it's going to need guns or blades.

Leaving both arms separate and then merging them together to make a gun is a lot easier than splitting a single arm into two arms if you decide you wanted blades after all.

 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 is what the industry would call a fake answer, which is probably what the OP wanted.

Just because it hasn't really been said yet, the real answer is because GW is lazy.

If they were really lazy, then Tyranids would all work like Raveners. They wouldn't have visible weapons and wouldn't be WYSIWYG

It would be far easier to sculpt a gun that's an integral part of the arm than one that looks a lot like a normal sentient race's weaponry.

So no, its not really laziness.

Because a realistic biological projectile weapon would look like a penis.

Suddenly, those akward looking bio-guns seems a lot more appropriate, don't they?

darthnatus wrote:If they were really lazy, then Tyranids would all work like Raveners. They wouldn't have visible weapons and wouldn't be WYSIWYG

Grey Templar wrote:It would be far easier to sculpt a gun that's an integral part of the arm than one that looks a lot like a normal sentient race's weaponry.

So no, its not really laziness.

Oh, I'm sorry, I should explain what I mean. When I say lazy, I'm referring to the creative heads, not the laborers

IDK, I think having the guns themselves be separate living organisms is quite clever actually.

It speaks to a modular and efficient design process so that the same organism can fulfill multiple roles simply by swapping its living weaponry.

Its like the Vong from SW EU.

 Grey Templar wrote:
IDK, I think having the guns themselves be separate living organisms is quite clever actually.

It speaks to a modular and efficient design process so that the same organism can fulfill multiple roles simply by swapping its living weaponry.

Its like the Vong from SW EU.

It makes sense to a layman, but I bet an actual geneticist might have something different to say about it.

I do my best to ignore the detours 40k takes from biology, chemistry and physics.

 PrinceRaven wrote:
I do my best to ignore the detours 40k takes from biology, chemistry and physics.

We all do, but sometimes they just can't help but rub that in our faces.