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This question keeps me awake nights long.

Tyranid units are created by swarm queens. They travel through space in interstelar living vessels.

But who, or what, build or create those interstelar vessels ? Do they copulate with each others ?

I am waiting your answer anxiously.

I will transmit the more relevant answer to GW for them to add it to the next Tyranid codex.

The simplest answer would be that Tyranids are at the extreme end of billions of years of evolution, and copulation is un-necessary with the manner that they operate.

When fleets meet they often fight "to the death", with the winner taking on the biological information and biomass of the looser to make a stronger whole. The ships are living ships and grow, or are grown in the same way as other tyranids, although obviously on a much larger scale.

They're Lovecraftian: they have no logical origin, they are incredibly ancient, they are utterly incomprehensible and they don't give a **** about us.

So silverMK2, you think they are baby starship vessels ? Should be long before being big enough to carry entire armies

The lovecrafian explaination is, I am afraid, to easy

Baby starships, Farscape.

 meecham63 wrote:
So silverMK2, you think they are baby starship vessels ? Should be long before being big enough to carry entire armies

I don't think there are baby ships exactly, since they are grown to size as required. Just as there are no "baby" hive tyrants, or "baby" gaunts.

 SilverMK2 wrote:

 meecham63 wrote:
So silverMK2, you think they are baby starship vessels ? Should be long before being big enough to carry entire armies

I don't think there are baby ships exactly, since they are grown to size as required. Just as there are no "baby" hive tyrants, or "baby" gaunts.

They're beautiful, recyclable, purpose-built biomass.

Well I can picture the main ships splitting like a cell whould durring mitosis.

I'm not sure of which answer i'm gonna send to GW

Tyranids are asexual in their reproduction.

Their ships do reproduce, but its simply one ship giving birth to another.

The ships go through phases of development.


A cruiser is simply an immature Hive Ship, or overgrown Escort drones.

All of which are birthed by a mature hive ship.


So a Hive Ship basically births multitudes of smaller ships that, if they survive and are allowed to by the Hive Mind, will mature into a Hive Ship.

Also, Hive Ship is mearely an imperial designation of any Tyranid ship that is of a certain size. As with all Tyranid ships they sport a massive variety in their appearence.

As per the 4th edition codex, hive ships can birth hive ships (The Hydra Effect), so ships being various stages of development doesn't really work. It's also something I've never read anywhere.

Its in the BFG fluff on the various ships. It states Cruisers are immature Hive Ships

Thank you Gray Templar, gonna sleep better now, thanks to you