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In the latest Shield of Baal arc, the Necrons assist the BAs in fighting the Tyranids, whom they consider mindless beasts with "no code and no honor".

The Tyranids consume only organic matter, so this wouldn't affect the Necrons much. Unlike Orks, Tyranids do not appear to have an agricultural ecosystem.

Once all food is consumed there is nothing left to do but move on. So it appears that after eating the Milky Way clean, the Tyranids will simply use their Narvhals to fly to another buffet.

This is good news for the Necrons who don't give a rat's ass about "reverse bio-transference" and who wish to get rid of all warp sorcery and psychic influence brought about by organic beings. Furthermore, they could feed the souls of the dead to their C'tan shards.

So I guess it is plausible that some Necrons will let the Tyranids have free reign.

Tyranids destroy everything they identify as being a threat to their feeding. Necrons appear as sentient life so Tyranids will destroy them because they are possible opposition. Also Necrons appear sentient and so are attacked in order to find any possible organic controllers, regardless of the fact they don't exist.

Tyranids also inflict huge damage on planets they attack, consuming the oceans and atmosphere will relieve water and atmospheric pressure on the planet's crust. This causes huge volcanic eruptions and massive earthquakes on a global scale. These things would severely damage or destroy a Necron tomb.

Tyranids also have a priority for bio-mass, however they eat almost everything. They will eat metals and other so-called inorganic forms because when rendered down they are of use in organic forms. The human body has enough iron in it to make an iron nail for example and Tyranids such as the Carnifex use threads of adamantium in their claws and tusks.

Tyranids also aren't entirely organic life as we know it. They incorporate very toxic substances and dangerous materials in their bodies. The livivng metal of Necron machines may also be a substance that once 'consumed' can be absorbed and used in the swarm.

 Leech wrote:
They incorporate very toxic substances and dangerous materials in their bodies.

examples?

Maximus Bitch wrote:
The Tyranids consume only organic matter, so this wouldn't affect the Necrons much.

Nah, they also make use of metals and minerals. No way you're growing claws that cut through Terminator Armor (Genestealers) without some really heavy duty metals. We can see this even here on Earth. Some hunting spiders and ants actually have metal-coated mouth parts to defeat the chitin armor of prey. Grinding chitin against chitin isn't quite as efficient - you have to make it very pointy (prone to breaking) and use much more force to get through.

And with the Necrons having some really heavy-duty metal bodies they're prime targets for harvesting useful metals. They even walk right up to you! No digging required!

Maximus Bitch wrote:

 Leech wrote:
They incorporate very toxic substances and dangerous materials in their bodies.

examples?

Venomthrope, Toxicrine, both of these creatures are toxic enough to easily poison a Space Marine to death. Marines have engineered bodies that can allow them to easily breathe or have injected into them highly dangerous toxins, like those found in very nasty toxic waste dumps or chemical plants. Acid blood strong enough to melt Terminator armour or Tau nanosteel plate. The pyroacid in their bio-cannons can melt through Titan armour.

Note that the distinction between weapon and creature does not exist with Tyranids. A weapon containing such substances is just a Tyranid that has evolved to do so.

Trazyn would definitely care about them, they threaten his collection (both current and future "acquisitions").

Plus, the Necrons want to rule the galaxy. It would be rather boring to rule a large collection of floating rocks with nobody left on them to repress/oppress.

Well, the Tyranids actively avoid the Necron Tomb Worlds, if I recall correctly. To what extent this applies, I do not know. It could be that the Tyranids avoid any signs of Necrons alltogether, or just simply attempt to avoid confrontation. In return the Necrons staunchly oppose the Tyranids, as the Necron dynasties have objectives that actively conflict with that of the Tyranids.

What's the point in ruling an oversized rock?

Nemesor (who thinks he's actually flesh and bone) will want to fight them.

Trazyn has a collection of stuff that would make a lovely snack.

Well they're certainly not a credible threat to the Necrons. If they actually did start to care/all woke up, they'd wipe out the Nids with fair ease. It's not like they're a military threat to the Necrons.

The latest codex mentions Tyranids causing a fair bit of damage to the necrons of Charnovokh dynasty. The Silent King considers the Tyranids a threat and currently he's largely motivated to unite the Necrons to oppose them.

 Wyzilla wrote:
Well they're certainly not a credible threat to the Necrons. If they actually did start to care/all woke up, they'd wipe out the Nids with fair ease. It's not like they're a military threat to the Necrons.

Not a threat aside from the minor point the Tyranids have already destroyed several Necron dynasties and Tomb worlds. The Silent King who is the ruler of the Necrons encountered the Tyranids in the void. He's returned from exile because the Tyranids will destroy the Necrons if they don't resist, however many believe it may already be too late for the Necrons to stop the Hive fleets. The Silent king suspects they may never of had a chance in the first place. The vast majority of Tyranids have not reached the galaxy and what the Silent king saw was a tiny portion of the Hive fleets. If he sees only a few and fears for his entire race then the Necrons are in greater danger than they know.

 Leech wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:
Well they're certainly not a credible threat to the Necrons. If they actually did start to care/all woke up, they'd wipe out the Nids with fair ease. It's not like they're a military threat to the Necrons.

Not a threat aside from the minor point the Tyranids have already destroyed several Necron dynasties and Tomb worlds. The Silent King who is the ruler of the Necrons encountered the Tyranids in the void. He's returned from exile because the Tyranids will destroy the Necrons if they don't resist, however many believe it may already be too late for the Necrons to stop the Hive fleets. The Silent king suspects they may never of had a chance in the first place. The vast majority of Tyranids have not reached the galaxy and what the Silent king saw was a tiny portion of the Hive fleets. If he sees only a few and fears for his entire race then the Necrons are in greater danger than they know.

Those worlds were destroyed either because they were still asleep or engaged on the ground. World Engines up and running coupled with fleets of Tomb Ships would demolish pretty much anything in 40K, as no faction has any counter to a full Necron fleet in action besides Chaos consuming the universe. Plus Tyranid FTL is utter garbage compared to everyone besides the Tau, meaning the response time of Tyranids is horrible. And they lack Void Shields.

Necron FTL is awful too, the don't have their infinite drive anymore. In addition there was one world engine, it's been destroyed by the Imperium. Necron fleets have been destroyed in large numbers by Tyranids, the Imperium and Eldar. They aren't invincible, far from it. Tomb ships are much smaller and weaker than Tyranid Hive ships for example, few ships can come remotely close to matching the bigger Tyranid vessels.

Tyranids also have the fastest reaction time of all races. This is due to them not actually being a race but one entity. The Necrons are not adaptive in technology or strategy unlike the Tyranids. Also they are divided unlike the Tyranids.

The ONLY Tomb world the Tyranids ever avoided was the world of Trazyn. This was a small splinter of Behemoth and Behemoth was never a very big Hive anyway. A largr Hive fleet would of attacked. The only other reason the Tyranids would avoid Trazyn's world would be if he had something so nasty in his collection even he didn't know about it.

 Leech wrote:
The ONLY Tomb world the Tyranids ever avoided was the world of Trazyn. This was a small splinter of Behemoth and Behemoth was never a very big Hive anyway. A largr Hive fleet would of attacked. The only other reason the Tyranids would avoid Trazyn's world would be if he had something so nasty in his collection even he didn't know about it.

Considering the goodies Trazyn has in store, I don't know why the Hive Fleets didn't make a b-line straight for him.

 797th Red Tigers wrote:

 Leech wrote:
The ONLY Tomb world the Tyranids ever avoided was the world of Trazyn. This was a small splinter of Behemoth and Behemoth was never a very big Hive anyway. A largr Hive fleet would of attacked. The only other reason the Tyranids would avoid Trazyn's world would be if he had something so nasty in his collection even he didn't know about it.

Considering the goodies Trazyn has in store, I don't know why the Hive Fleets didn't make a b-line straight for him.

He would collect them. All of them.

 Leech wrote:
Necron FTL is awful too, the don't have their infinite drive anymore.

Yes they do. It's in Imperial Armor, and Inertialess Drives were never retconned in the first place. Plus, Necrons have explored other dimensions as well, such as Hyperspace. Although, some of them are infested with Daemons, making them dangerous to travel through.

In addition there was one world engine, it's been destroyed by the Imperium.

Unlikely considering it was more likely a flagship. The Necrons were a galactic empire, their logistics and resources spanned most of the galaxy. They easily had the resources to build more. Lots more, most of them likely dormant.

Necron fleets have been destroyed in large numbers by Tyranids, the Imperium and Eldar.

Actually no, they haven't. When destroyed it's a Pyrrhic victory for the opposing side, best exemplified when the Imperium took on a small local Necron fleet and took irreplaceable losses. Or how the Necrons were able to penetrate the defenses of Terra itself and land on Mars until they were finally destroyed by the walls of torpedoes being fired. Plus the Imperium and Eldar ships are better armed and armored then Tyranid fleet biomorphs, which are generally utterly terrible and can't move at relativistic speeds.

They aren't invincible, far from it. Tomb ships are much smaller and weaker than Tyranid Hive ships for example, few ships can come remotely close to matching the bigger Tyranid vessels.

I'm calling bs considering I don't remember Tyranid ships moving at a fraction of C, having weapons that completely ignore the durability of whatever they hit, or have some of the more esoteric weapons of the Necrons. Tyranid lethality is fairly overhyped and purely the result of their raw numbers, and nothing else.

Tyranids also have the fastest reaction time of all races. This is due to them not actually being a race but one entity. The Necrons are not adaptive in technology or strategy unlike the Tyranids. Also they are divided unlike the Tyranids.

I'm talking about the ability to actually respond to a threat and rally. Necrons can show up in very, very, very small amounts of time thanks to inertialess drives if a threat arises. The narwhals meanwhile take ages to actually deliver a Tyranid fleet to a specific location, and travel in straight lines. They can't simply cut and immediately turn to respond to a new threat, they're slow, similar to the Imperium on bad days. Plus Tyranids need to constantly manage their resources, as their organic technology constantly consumes energy.

Tyranids as a threat are overhyped and overblown. They're more of a herald of days even worse to come. Destroy the God Emperor and either everyone is consumed by Chaos, or the Emperor rises up as a new Warp God. Damage the Necrons and destroy the C'tan Shards, and the C'tan reform and kill everything (again). Plus against factions like the Eldar, they only win because of PIS on part of the Craftworld Eldar who can simply pick up shop and evacuate. They're a poorly written faction compared to all the others, and the plot shields of everyone else make the Tyranids suffer from the Flu and only gain victories when one party suddenly breaks character and acts like a blithering moron.

So you don't like Nids. We get it. But all of the recent fluff portrays them as the single largest threat to the Galaxy. Can't really just dismiss that and say "no Necrons would pwn them because I <3 Necrons". Regardless of the reason, if the Galaxy doesnt unite against the Tyranids (more or less) then the Tyranids eventually win. They are ruthlessly efficient and recycle the dead to make new living creatures from the biomass. No other army can just keep fighting while losing minimal strength like that

 Wyzilla wrote:
*snip*

On top of all that, wasn't there a Tau Fleet (Led by Shadowsun, a member of the Fire Caste, therefore having little experience with space battles) that wiped out an entire splinter fleet without losing a single Air Caste ship? Sometimes the Hive Mind just comes off like a blithering moron.

luke1705 wrote:
So you don't like Nids. We get it. But all of the recent fluff portrays them as the single largest threat to the Galaxy. Can't really just dismiss that and say "no Necrons would pwn them because I <3 Necrons". Regardless of the reason, if the Galaxy doesnt unite against the Tyranids (more or less) then the Tyranids eventually win. They are ruthlessly efficient and recycle the dead to make new living creatures from the biomass. No other army can just keep fighting while losing minimal strength like that

Exactly, saying "just because so the Necrons win". That isn't really much of a reason why the Necrons can ever win.

Not to mentio Tyranid rapid adaptation and evolution will likely overcome everyone unless they adapt too. The Necrons are a very hidebound race, as bad as the Imperium. But they lack the Inmperium's diversity and tendency to overcome it's slow pace when pushed.

Necrons would fight the Tyranids because the Tyranids would try to wipe them out. Nids and Orkz en masse are one of the few threats to the Necrons. Orkz less so because they have horrible leadership, bu assuming they did Waagh! they could easily take on the Tomb Worlds.

The Nids are much more dangerous because of their recycling bio material and the fact that their mission is to wipe out the galaxy.

The Imperium doesn't have the resources to take on the Necrons full force, neither do the Eldar or Tau. DE I don't think really see Necrons as a threat nor have a reason to fight them, and I believe the same goes for Chaos. Chaos sees the Necron as just another fun spice to throw in the mix, and removing them would take away another ingredient to spice up the universe.

luke1705 wrote:
So you don't like Nids. We get it. But all of the recent fluff portrays them as the single largest threat to the Galaxy. Can't really just dismiss that and say "no Necrons would pwn them because I <3 Necrons". Regardless of the reason, if the Galaxy doesnt unite against the Tyranids (more or less) then the Tyranids eventually win. They are ruthlessly efficient and recycle the dead to make new living creatures from the biomass. No other army can just keep fighting while losing minimal strength like that

Actually... he isn't. He's provided clear and concise reasons as to why he believes Tyranids aren't a valid threat to the Necrons whereas you've not even responded to any of his points or provided counter-arguments of your own. In fact, you're the one dismissing his arguments because, "recent fluff portrays them as the single largest threat to the galaxy" and that the "Tyranids will eventually win if the Galaxy doesn't unite".

You've made these broad statements and backed it up with nothing valid versus the Necrons;
"Ruthlessly efficient and recycle the dead" - They'll only be recycling their own dead versus the Necrons and gauss weaponry destroys biomass so even if the Nids are 100% efficient, they'll still be losing significant percentages of biomass over time in a war with attrition against Necrons.
"No other army can just keep fighting while losing minimal strength" - I beg to differ. Tyranids keep fighting as long as they have energy and biomass, which in a protracted war against a non-organic foe would become problematic whereas Necrons keep fighting as long as they can keep repairing their losses at their tomb worlds. I can't rule either one better in this case but Necrons are at least on par with Tyranids for "just keep fighting while losing minimal strength".

The only reason 'nids pose a threat to the galaxy is sheer numbers. They come and they come and they come; a never ending horde of reanimated dead flesh. They only ever actually lose biomass in a.)energy production and b.)war with non-organic foes. Tyranids would do nothing but lose in a war with the Necrons, as the endless horde factor would fail in the war of attrition that it would turn into (see previous posts regarding 'Cron epicsauce)

 Otto Weston wrote:

luke1705 wrote:
So you don't like Nids. We get it. But all of the recent fluff portrays them as the single largest threat to the Galaxy. Can't really just dismiss that and say "no Necrons would pwn them because I <3 Necrons". Regardless of the reason, if the Galaxy doesnt unite against the Tyranids (more or less) then the Tyranids eventually win. They are ruthlessly efficient and recycle the dead to make new living creatures from the biomass. No other army can just keep fighting while losing minimal strength like that

Actually... he isn't. He's provided clear and concise reasons as to why he believes Tyranids aren't a valid threat to the Necrons whereas you've not even responded to any of his points or provided counter-arguments of your own. In fact, you're the one dismissing his arguments because, "recent fluff portrays them as the single largest threat to the galaxy" and that the "Tyranids will eventually win if the Galaxy doesn't unite".

You've made these broad statements and backed it up with nothing valid versus the Necrons;
"Ruthlessly efficient and recycle the dead" - They'll only be recycling their own dead versus the Necrons and gauss weaponry destroys biomass so even if the Nids are 100% efficient, they'll still be losing significant percentages of biomass over time in a war with attrition against Necrons.
"No other army can just keep fighting while losing minimal strength" - I beg to differ. Tyranids keep fighting as long as they have energy and biomass, which in a protracted war against a non-organic foe would become problematic whereas Necrons keep fighting as long as they can keep repairing their losses at their tomb worlds. I can't rule either one better in this case but Necrons are at least on par with Tyranids for "just keep fighting while losing minimal strength".

The problem is nothing stays constant in regards to fluff, so setting a power level is difficult for any army, other than generalizations.

Why would they? It's not like the Necrons eat or are edible.

Tyranids do present some threat to the Necrons but I agree with Wyzilla. The Tyranids aren't really all that dangerous all things considered. They're just another ever-present threat to deal with like the Orks and Chaos.

@dusara217

The Tyranids lose biomass all the time just by existing. That's why they need to constantly consume planets. If they didn't they would die out quickly since they have evolved to be mindless eating machines.

 jreilly89 wrote:

 Otto Weston wrote:

luke1705 wrote:
So you don't like Nids. We get it. But all of the recent fluff portrays them as the single largest threat to the Galaxy. Can't really just dismiss that and say "no Necrons would pwn them because I <3 Necrons". Regardless of the reason, if the Galaxy doesnt unite against the Tyranids (more or less) then the Tyranids eventually win. They are ruthlessly efficient and recycle the dead to make new living creatures from the biomass. No other army can just keep fighting while losing minimal strength like that

Actually... he isn't. He's provided clear and concise reasons as to why he believes Tyranids aren't a valid threat to the Necrons whereas you've not even responded to any of his points or provided counter-arguments of your own. In fact, you're the one dismissing his arguments because, "recent fluff portrays them as the single largest threat to the galaxy" and that the "Tyranids will eventually win if the Galaxy doesn't unite".

You've made these broad statements and backed it up with nothing valid versus the Necrons;
"Ruthlessly efficient and recycle the dead" - They'll only be recycling their own dead versus the Necrons and gauss weaponry destroys biomass so even if the Nids are 100% efficient, they'll still be losing significant percentages of biomass over time in a war with attrition against Necrons.
"No other army can just keep fighting while losing minimal strength" - I beg to differ. Tyranids keep fighting as long as they have energy and biomass, which in a protracted war against a non-organic foe would become problematic whereas Necrons keep fighting as long as they can keep repairing their losses at their tomb worlds. I can't rule either one better in this case but Necrons are at least on par with Tyranids for "just keep fighting while losing minimal strength".

The problem is nothing stays constant in regards to fluff, so setting a power level is difficult for any army, other than generalizations.

That is true but at least Wyzilla used logical arguments and examples from fluff to support his claims. I was simply saying that Wyzilla was actually debating reasonably and then Luke claimed that he was simply biased and doesn't like nids, without providing any valid arguments of his own. Even Leech got on the band-wagon claiming that you can't just say Necrons win.... when obviously Wyzilla wasn't saying that at all. I'm not a friend of Wyzilla's so I have no personal bias in this, I just get annoyed when people are maligned because they have a differing point of view.

 TheCustomLime wrote:

The Tyranids lose biomass all the time just by existing. That's why they need to constantly consume planets. If they didn't they would die out quickly since they have evolved to be mindless eating machines.

I did say that they lost Biomass when producing energy. Which is essentially how they stay alive - turning carbon into energy (nuclear reactions).

 Wyzilla wrote:
The Necrons were a galactic empire

They no longer are. Lithunia used to be a great empire too.

Tyranids and Necrons should be close allies. They both follow the same ultimate goal, i.e. the full and entire destruction of all life in the universe, the only difference being that the Necrons, or rather their C'tan masters, just want to get rid of every last piece of life out of pure hate, whereas the Tyranids want to feed upon their foes.

In the end, though, Necrons have the upper hand, as Tyranids cannot consume Necrons whereas Necrons can easily destroy any Tyranid given that they are just mere biological creatures after all. On the other hand, while Tyranids can reproduce, Necron numbers are ultimatively limited. Destroy all Tomb Worlds, the Necrons are gone forever. Not that it'd be possible, though, in any foreseeable future and Necron numbers are vast.

Unexpected allies, united in a common goal. Imagining a Tyranid's confusion when trying to consume a Necron, however, makes me giggle.

 Sigvatr wrote:
Tyranids and Necrons should be close allies. They both follow the same ultimate goal, i.e. the full and entire destruction of all life in the universe.

It's got retconned. Crons are now basically tomb kings in space who want to have their bodies and empire back.

 koooaei wrote:

It's got retconned. Crons are now basically tomb kings in space who want to have their bodies and empire back.

Depends on whether you're TruCron or NewCron.