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Like the title says, the humans, Necrons, and Orks all have some kind of trump card that if they managed to control it would allow them to overtake the galaxy.

If humans managed to get an STC and keep it under control they'd basically kill everyone with giant machines and superweapons.

If the Necrons awakened all their tomb worlds they'd have too many warriors and OP ships to ever be stopped.

If the Orks ever stopped fighting each other and focused on outward expansion they'd easily overwhelm the combined forces of the other races simply due to sheer numbers.

And I guess Chaos has already played its trump card by unleashing the Great Rift.

What do the Tau or Tyranids have that would allow them to stand up to any of this?

When the actual tyrant swarm arrives they will be too numerous to.stop. The hive fleets encountered thus far are just the vanguard of the race.

Forgot to mention the Aeldari. I don't know of any trump cards currently or formerly under their possession.

zevrem wrote:
Forgot to mention the Aeldari. I don't know of any trump cards currently or formerly under their possession.

Eldar have either a near impenetrable fortress city, the ability to see the future or a literal god on side. All they fear is the name changes of GW.

Tyranids have the force of numbers and, I guess, the fact they benefit directly from their enemies' deaths via biomass. The enemy isn't just losing a troop, that lost troop is contributing to their resources, and this is a one way exchange. Niddy Bob can fight Trooper Jimmy and then eat him and keep moving; Trooper Jimmy has to fight Niddy Bob and also have a secured supply line and gets nothing useable from killing Niddy Bob except some borrowed time. So every victory against them is a drain, while every victory BY them is a bonanza.

The Tau are a bit trickier. Hmm. I suppose the fact they could, in theory, recruit from practically any other self aware race? And are still actively developing technologies?

Eldar do have a partially powered death god that theoretically can kill Slannesh and get rid of their biggest problems to being a viable society long term. One thing I never really got is why the craft worlds don't just leave and take their chances in another galaxy.

HoundsofDemos wrote:
Eldar do have a partially powered death god that theoretically can kill Slannesh and get rid of their biggest problems to being a viable society long term. One thing I never really got is why the craft worlds don't just leave and take their chances in another galaxy.

They get power from stars and there's no Webway outside the galaxy so it's a pretty big risk. Plus a lot of them want to remake their empire.

Chaos still hasn't played it's trump card, that's direct intervention of the chaos gods, combining their power to destroy reality.

Taus trump card is simply time, the longer your leave them the more powerful they will become, until they so far out tech everyone that no one can compete.

Eldar played their trump card and it failed, now they have a weak demi God level being rather than a full on God.

Necrons would be to recombine the star gods, power of that level even the Tyranids full might can't compete, literally shaping reality to win wars.

Tyranids are just like the tau, give them time and eventually the full might of the Tyranids will appear.

Orks, orks are the trump card, any threat large enough to threaten the entire race ends up unifying the whole race and creating primorks, again at this level and wholly unified even the nids would lose.

Imperium, star child or a fully working STC

zevrem wrote:
What do the Tau or Tyranids have that would allow them to stand up to any of this?

Tau are the only faction that is continuing to advance and is pragmatic enough to do whatever it takes to win instead of hindering themselves with insane religious obsessions. The larger factions can't devote sufficient resources to the Tau problem to destroy them without leaving themselves vulnerable elsewhere, and eventually Tau will progress to the point where a single bored gun drone kills the Emperor (and all of His guards and fortresses and such) just for fun.

Tyranids have plot armor. They're an idiotic concept that exists for the sole reason that incompetent GW writers want it to be that way, which means that no matter how many reasons you can come up with for why the Tyranids should lose they will continue to exist.

Necrons have the celestial orrery as well, the funniest piece of OP lore.
availhttp://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Celestial_Orrery

 Formosa wrote:


Taus trump card is simply time, the longer your leave them the more powerful they will become, until they so far out tech everyone that no one can compete.

or they'll destroy themselves

BrianDavion wrote:

 Formosa wrote:


Taus trump card is simply time, the longer your leave them the more powerful they will become, until they so far out tech everyone that no one can compete.

or they'll destroy themselves

Can't be killed by Tyranids if you kill yourself first.

I think Tau dodge most of the other factions roads to self destruction. They aren't psychic enough for The Fall, their only rebel group still believes in the Greater Good and is willing to co-operate so there's no Heresy and they're pretty open minded so I can see them being nice to an AI race so there's no Men of Iron revolt.

BrianDavion wrote:

 Formosa wrote:


Taus trump card is simply time, the longer your leave them the more powerful they will become, until they so far out tech everyone that no one can compete.

or they'll destroy themselves

or they become the next imperium after chaos finally notices them and they have their own horus heresy

The 'time trump card' for T'au is also what will probably kill them imo. Their lack of understanding of anything to do with chaos and AI being able to be possessed by daemons and such will make the men of iron just happen all over again.

 ArchonOfTheImmortalSun wrote:
Necrons have the celestial orrery as well, the funniest piece of OP lore.
availhttp://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Celestial_Orrery

Was going to mention this too.

The Necrons could at any time decide to remotely detonate the Sun, destroying Terra's entire solar system, without firing a shot. How Thanatos isn't a priority target is beyond me.

It's also worth mentioning that Necrons are literally the only race with the means to counter the Warp, giving them a hard counter to Chaos.

Also whilst less of a Trump Card, it's worth mentioning that Necrons are best placed to counter a Tyranid invasion, given they could go completely scorched earth at no cost to themselves and Tyranids would really gain literally nothing from victories over them.

So what would happen if every faction played all of their Trump cards. Whose Trump would Trump all Trumps?

 Ginjitzu wrote:
So what would happen if every faction played all of their Trump cards. Whose Trump would Trump all Trumps?

Assuming that mars can't pull something/someone out of their basement, probably orks, nids or ynari with a fully powered Ynead..

 Ginjitzu wrote:
So what would happen if every faction played all of their Trump cards. Whose Trump would Trump all Trumps?

The only event which would cause all factions to play their Trump Card would likely be Intervention of the Administration. At which point the winner is the Administration company brought into close the doors on GW and pay off whatever massive debts they had that would leave to the Administrators being called forth. Ergo the only even that would cause the plot to jump into everyone bringing all their big toys it would be the end of 40K and the end of GW. (that or an Age of Sigmar style 40K release and a reset the galaxy button)




Most factions have a trump card or several potential ones; the thing is some are variable. Tau's is very variable in that if it happens now they'd be crushed, but if enough time passes they could arise to be a supreme power. The question is if they can make it that far; of all the factions they have the most plot armour requirements in order to survive long enough to get to the state they are in now, let alone further.

Chaos's Trump card isn't actually the Gods walking in on mortality and destroying it. If anything Chaos's trump card is that they don't actually need to win. They can win by losing the war. See the mortal world is like a food source to Chaos and whilst there is strife and war and general chaos its a big feeding ground; however if Chaos "won" then the food would dry up if all became Chaos. So they will never "win" they will just prolong the period of Chaos as long as possible. If it were to end then Chaos would still exist and still feed. The only loss for them is if Necrons or Tyranids were to utterly wipe out all life in the Galaxy; though I'd wager Tyranids would be the greater threat as Necrons would destroy and then sleep leaving the chance for life to start again; Tyranids would consume most of the energy and biomatter and raw mineral resources - meaning there'd be nothing to make new life from.

So on that score Tyranids hold possibly the greatest Trump card; plus the fact that we know nothing of their real intentions and force leaves them an utter mystery. We've no idea how big the full extent of the Swarm is. The Hive Fleets that have hit thus far might be the tendrils of a far greater force; they could be the scouts; they could even be just exploratory fleets. Or they could be the main motherload of Tyranids and the loss or defeat of each one is a crippling blow. It's just unknown. Genestealer cults are wrapped into this - however if the Cult ever gained big influence on core Imperial worlds then their Trump card could be the capacity to cause enough disruption to shatter the Imperium from within.

Eldar, as said, mostly used their Trump card before and are now a broken people and faction. They retain their position of strength by being sneaky and hiding and by often operating in the shadows or motivating other races to do their work for them. They do have superior technology but lack the numbers and ability to restore numbers to conduct a major campaign. Though there are secrets of the webways and the like, but at present I'd say the lack a trump card. Far as I'm aware Dark Eldar are even worse off being as they are a splinter of their core faction.

Orks, as noted above, are like the great balancer of the Galaxy. If any other force rises to supreme strength it only triggers an equal reaction in orks rising to meet it. As such that in itself is their own Trump card -their ability to unite, infest worlds and react to whatever threat arises to meet them. Meanwhile once that major foe is defeated the orks will naturally tumble down into infighting between each other. Thus they are able to rise to meet a very big challenge, but will never found a stable Empire like the Imperium or many of the other factions.