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They fight each other.

It was in one of the old codices, maybe 3rd or 4th. The two fleets land on a already devoured planet and go to all out war. The loser gets eaten and the losses are absorbed by the superior fleet, along with any good genetic ideas that they managed to acquire.

 Wyzilla wrote:


It doesn't matter if they're extra galactic, physics still stands, specifically thermodynamics. It doesn't matter how hard you try, you always lose energy by any action. By attacking another Hive Fleet, they'd be trading energy for information, with the energy lost in the titanic battle and digestion of the enemy biomass coming to a net loss. There's also nothing in Tyranid fluff to suggest that they generate free energy, mainly because if they were capable of 100% efficiency, then they wouldn't be Tyranids as they wouldn't need to eat.

No argument about the whole "physics still stands thing", but you may be looking at this the wrong way.

Put simply, regardless of fighting one another and expending energy that way one hive fleet will still emerge much better than it used to be, due to the sheer amount of biomass and resources which the hivefleets themselves haul along.

Look at it this way.

Hive fleet A has 50 biomass.

Hive fleet B has 50 biomass.

Hive fleet A and Hive fleet B meet, they fight. Each hive fleet expends 5 biomass to combat the other one, with the better of them coming to the fore and 'winning'. This is Hive fleet A.

Hive fleet A has 45 biomass, but it now absorbs hivefleet B, which also has 45 biomass. Hive fleet A now has 90 biomass + information. Net wise there -was- a loss of biomass, but it was small in the grand scheme and extremely expendable vs one massive hive fleet with tons more information to use.

That s fair. of course it shouldn't be counted as biomass but BTUs. The expenditure of BTUs between fleets would be enormous.

It would depend on the author.

Some of them would say that they will fight, others would say that they will simply "mate" and become one.

 morganfreeman wrote:
Hive fleet A has 45 biomass, but it now absorbs hivefleet B, which also has 45 biomass. Hive fleet A now has 90 biomass + information. Net wise there -was- a loss of biomass, but it was small in the grand scheme and extremely expendable vs one massive hive fleet with tons more information to use.

Well if you put this way then it actually makes sense. The no energy lost thing comes from Deadeye's suggestion that they could be a 100% efficient.

 Deadshot wrote:

Spetulhu wrote:
You can't possibly fight and absorb the loser without losing resources. You have to burn energy to fight and to digest and reassemble new bioforms. That energy has to come from somewhere - and since these are biological beasts it's usually from breaking down organic material.

Both fleets would throw their entire store of stockpiled energy and material into the fight - only an all-out battle proves which is superior. The winner emerges smaller but with new knowledge and templates.

Extra-galactic biological beasts. They don't necessarily follow the same system as we do where energy is lost between each trophic level of an ecosystem. Suspend your disbelief and imagine that being super-adaptive and highly efficient as they are, they are capable of developing a metabolism that produces basically no waste from consuming and ingesting biomass to assembling new biomass, that the system is so efficient none is wasted.
The other side is that every description of Tyranids notes how they basically lose nothing from their dead.

Based on the fact that Tyranids are controlled by a single Hive Mind, they would either;

- Just leave to other directions, "rejecting" each other.
- Merge and become a new Super Hive Fleet, combinating the strengths of both.
- Start to battle each other to test which one is more superior.

 EngulfedObject wrote:

 morganfreeman wrote:
Hive fleet A has 45 biomass, but it now absorbs hivefleet B, which also has 45 biomass. Hive fleet A now has 90 biomass + information. Net wise there -was- a loss of biomass, but it was small in the grand scheme and extremely expendable vs one massive hive fleet with tons more information to use.

Well if you put this way then it actually makes sense. The no energy lost thing comes from Deadeye's suggestion that they could be a 100% efficient.

 Deadshot wrote:

Spetulhu wrote:
You can't possibly fight and absorb the loser without losing resources. You have to burn energy to fight and to digest and reassemble new bioforms. That energy has to come from somewhere - and since these are biological beasts it's usually from breaking down organic material.

Both fleets would throw their entire store of stockpiled energy and material into the fight - only an all-out battle proves which is superior. The winner emerges smaller but with new knowledge and templates.

Extra-galactic biological beasts. They don't necessarily follow the same system as we do where energy is lost between each trophic level of an ecosystem. Suspend your disbelief and imagine that being super-adaptive and highly efficient as they are, they are capable of developing a metabolism that produces basically no waste from consuming and ingesting biomass to assembling new biomass, that the system is so efficient none is wasted.
The other side is that every description of Tyranids notes how they basically lose nothing from their dead.

Just want to expand on my point about being close to 100% efficient.

Organisms use their energy in a number of ways. Primarily, these are Movement (and other actions), heat, growth and waste (excrement), as well as respiration. Growth is vital to make the creatures. But the other 3 can, and are mitigated in the fluff.
For example, the land based creatures like Gaunts lay dormant during interstellar transit, their movement is 0, so no energy is used. Their respiration and metabolic rate also slows dramatically. The ships themselves, however, are awake, but use the Narval allows them to limit movement. By creating the gravity corridor they use to travel, the fleet has less need for actually propelling itself along. And the bigger the gravity well of the planet, chances are the faster they move. Of course, coming into the planet, they self-propel so there is a loss, but they can also make use of the lack of drag and their momentum to just float (fast) to the planet.
I very much doubt they have excrement, as such a thing would be a complete waste, but who's to say their bodies are not capable of absorbing every nutrient and mineral in their meals? We as humans, gak because there are parts of our diet we cannot absorb. Who's to saw Nids are capable or not capable of absorbing everything, and thus produce no waste. They also don't breathe (a form of waste too), as the fluff states they are perfectly capable of surviving hard void. The big ships at least don't need to breathe.

Heat? Make them cold blooded. That way they will absorb heat from the planet and actually gain energy, in the same way reptiles can survive for weeks without food because they get energy from the heat around them. Of course, it becomes an issue when you have an ice world, but chances are life would be limited there enough to avoid Nid invasion. It also doesn't help in the void but movement and other things is minimised.

Basically that leaves the Nids free to use energy purely for growth and movement when they get to the planet.

The Tyranids are far more efficient than any living being, that's obvious.

But they aren't 100% efficient as that is kinda impossible.

 Tyran wrote:
The Tyranids are far more efficient than any living being, that's obvious.

But they aren't 100% efficient as that is kinda impossible.

I never said they were. I said close to.

From a game perspective the two hives obviously turn on one another. GW goes out of their way to make it 'logical' for every faction to fight itself. They don't want players assailed by fluffbunnies bearing torches and pitchforks because 'the fluff says they'd never fight'.

Gaming considerations aside, you can justify it any way that works for you.

Personally, I don't see Tyranids as a monolithic whole. I see each fleet as it's own Hive Mind, only able to exert influence over a galactic quadrant or so.

Some fluff indicates that certain deathworld organisms are derived from isolated bits of Tyranid hive fleets. Those derivatives seem cut off from the Hive Mind, though they were probably once part of one.

We know that Genestealers can operate independently, only keening to their hive fleet when they reach critical mass and develop Swarmlords and/or Patriarchs.

All this tells me that the Hive Mind is not one transgalactic consciousness. To me that says Hive Fleets can fight.

The Hive Mind being what it is, though, I wouldn't be surprised if the weaker Hive Fleet recognizes it's relative weakness and withdraws rather than fight a losing battle. Only if the weaker fleet is desperately hungry for genetic material would it take on a plainly superior fleet.

Or if you prefer two fleets who meet might always fight. Think of it as a sort of tribute to Darwinist principles, though I doubt the Hive Mind bothers to think in such philosophical terms. Perhaps Hive Minds have a inbuilt aggression trigger toward other Hive Fleets. The victor is obviously genetically superior, and therefore better suited to further the evolution of the Tyranid species. In the end There Can Be Only One, etc, etc.

However you like it. Canon is notoriously vague on the point. Only Tigurius has (to my knowledge) any sane first-hand insight into the Hive Mind.

My two teef

What would happen is nomnoms. Even boring ol' Macragge will hear the loud and immense amount of OMNOMNOM. The Ultramarines will ask Rowboat Girlyman what to do, and he won't answer, and then they'll be kept up at night because Tyranids don't eat with their mouths closed.

tl;dr OMNOMNOM. Lots and lots of OMNOMNOM.

All I remember is that the splinter of Kraken was about to collide with Leviathan, the Eldar knew that if this happened then they would create an army of super adapted, unstoppable Nids, so they prevent it from happening at all costs.

They would battle. Then the winner would devour the other hive fleet, effectively merging their genetic structure, thus improving their strengths beyond anything predictable.

 Finlandiaperkele wrote:
They would battle. Then the winner would devour the other hive fleet, effectively merging their genetic structure, thus improving their strengths beyond anything predictable.

To expand on this slightly. They battle for a while, but eventually the two branches of the Synapse web merge together and they all walk into the digestion pools together. As for the bio-ships in space... unknown. We've not seen it. Presumably the "lesser" fleet's vessels are eaten by the larger fleet... but equally the bio-ships may just join the victorious fleet and be the first to be sacrificed when opposition is encountered.

Xyptc wrote:

 Finlandiaperkele wrote:
They would battle. Then the winner would devour the other hive fleet, effectively merging their genetic structure, thus improving their strengths beyond anything predictable.

To expand on this slightly. They battle for a while, but eventually the two branches of the Synapse web merge together and they all walk into the digestion pools together. As for the bio-ships in space... unknown. We've not seen it. Presumably the "lesser" fleet's vessels are eaten by the larger fleet... but equally the bio-ships may just join the victorious fleet and be the first to be sacrificed when opposition is encountered.

Or, as I stated earlier, they just simply "reject" each other, heading in different directions.

Don't know. We haven't had any fluff on this matter.

Or they merge like they tried on Valedor,

 Finlandiaperkele wrote:

Xyptc wrote:

 Finlandiaperkele wrote:
They would battle. Then the winner would devour the other hive fleet, effectively merging their genetic structure, thus improving their strengths beyond anything predictable.

To expand on this slightly. They battle for a while, but eventually the two branches of the Synapse web merge together and they all walk into the digestion pools together. As for the bio-ships in space... unknown. We've not seen it. Presumably the "lesser" fleet's vessels are eaten by the larger fleet... but equally the bio-ships may just join the victorious fleet and be the first to be sacrificed when opposition is encountered.

Or, as I stated earlier, they just simply "reject" each other, heading in different directions.

Don't know. We haven't had any fluff on this matter.

We have had fluff on it though, in the Valedor novel. The latest depiction is that they fight for a while and then merge.

Xyptc wrote:

 Finlandiaperkele wrote:

Xyptc wrote:

 Finlandiaperkele wrote:
They would battle. Then the winner would devour the other hive fleet, effectively merging their genetic structure, thus improving their strengths beyond anything predictable.

To expand on this slightly. They battle for a while, but eventually the two branches of the Synapse web merge together and they all walk into the digestion pools together. As for the bio-ships in space... unknown. We've not seen it. Presumably the "lesser" fleet's vessels are eaten by the larger fleet... but equally the bio-ships may just join the victorious fleet and be the first to be sacrificed when opposition is encountered.

Or, as I stated earlier, they just simply "reject" each other, heading in different directions.

Don't know. We haven't had any fluff on this matter.

We have had fluff on it though, in the Valedor novel. The latest depiction is that they fight for a while and then merge.

Did they fight in Valedor?

 Tyran wrote:

Xyptc wrote:

 Finlandiaperkele wrote:

Xyptc wrote:

 Finlandiaperkele wrote:
They would battle. Then the winner would devour the other hive fleet, effectively merging their genetic structure, thus improving their strengths beyond anything predictable.

To expand on this slightly. They battle for a while, but eventually the two branches of the Synapse web merge together and they all walk into the digestion pools together. As for the bio-ships in space... unknown. We've not seen it. Presumably the "lesser" fleet's vessels are eaten by the larger fleet... but equally the bio-ships may just join the victorious fleet and be the first to be sacrificed when opposition is encountered.

Or, as I stated earlier, they just simply "reject" each other, heading in different directions.

Don't know. We haven't had any fluff on this matter.

We have had fluff on it though, in the Valedor novel. The latest depiction is that they fight for a while and then merge.

Did they fight in Valedor?

According to the Eldar, yes. "First they fight, then they merge" is the exact quote from the Farseer POV character.

By the time the Eldar get to the planet in force though the two Hive Fleets have recognized one another and are in the process of joining their Synapse webs together. This demonstrably happens more quickly on a smaller scale than a larger one. A Hive Tyrant from Kraken is able to instantly assume control of creatures from Leviathan. On the other hand, the fleets in space have not combined together yet, but it was on the way,

The implications are that although it is all one big Hive Mind, on a local level different branches of it can have difficulty at first but those difficulties are overcome. Makes sense, when you operate on a multi-galactic scale you're going to see divergence.

What's the POV of the Nid Codex? Because if it's, like, an Imperial Scholar, then that don't mind didly squat that the Codex says its only one Hive Mind

The prove that it is a single mind is that the Swarmlord is available to all the Hive Fleets... plus you know, the Valedor campaign.

 dusara217 wrote:
What's the POV of the Nid Codex? Because if it's, like, an Imperial Scholar, then that don't mind didly squat that the Codex says its only one Hive Mind

The general overview pages are "god's eye" perspective.

 EngulfedObject wrote:
Uh, then why are they so hungry all the time? The space marine organ thing is much easier to believe than the 100% efficient thing. There isn't even any handwavium lore to back it up.

 Frazzled wrote:
Its not about efficiency. Its about physics.

Yea, I'm not exactly an expert on the subject but it seems like having 100% efficient Tyrannids would break some fundamental laws of thermodynamics.

Yeah, people get confused about how handwavium and "Because 40K' works. They think it's a replacement for "I don't have an answer".

We accept plasma guns because we don't know that kind of technology might be plausible 38,000 years from now. We accept psykers and the Warp because they're straight fantasy.

But 40K still exists in our basic reality. Jump packs go up, and gravity brings them down. People die from all the same biological trauma and exsanguination. Suggesting the Tyranids can defeat the fundamental building blocks of physics "because 40K" is silly. You bend rules. You don't break them.

Heck, the loss of mass explains why they're so hungry. The Tyranids are forced to eat all of these planets because otherwise they die. The Tyranids put their critters to sleep in between world-meals. Why would they do this? To conserve energy. If the Tyranids were 100% efficient, there'd be no need to put the subcritters into hibernation. They can probably absorb a certain amount of solar radiation like plants do, but that's probably not going to be sufficient. Heck, we kinda know it isn't sufficient since they eat so much. If the hive fleets could just chill in outer space effectively on photosynthesis, you'd just find big hive fleets curled up around stars hanging out, and there wouldn't be any little fighting gribblies because they'd be irrelevant.

If the Tyranids constantly evolve to be relentless eating machines, it's for a reason.

 Veteran Sergeant wrote:

 EngulfedObject wrote:
Uh, then why are they so hungry all the time? The space marine organ thing is much easier to believe than the 100% efficient thing. There isn't even any handwavium lore to back it up.

 Frazzled wrote:
Its not about efficiency. Its about physics.

Yea, I'm not exactly an expert on the subject but it seems like having 100% efficient Tyrannids would break some fundamental laws of thermodynamics.

Yeah, people get confused about how handwavium and "Because 40K' works. They think it's a replacement for "I don't have an answer".

We accept plasma guns because we don't know that kind of technology might be plausible 38,000 years from now. We accept psykers and the Warp because they're straight fantasy.

But 40K still exists in our basic reality. Jump packs go up, and gravity brings them down. People die from all the same biological trauma and exsanguination. Suggesting the Tyranids can defeat the fundamental building blocks of physics "because 40K" is silly. You bend rules. You don't break them.

Heck, the loss of mass explains why they're so hungry. The Tyranids are forced to eat all of these planets because otherwise they die. The Tyranids put their critters to sleep in between world-meals. Why would they do this? To conserve energy. If the Tyranids were 100% efficient, there'd be no need to put the subcritters into hibernation. They can probably absorb a certain amount of solar radiation like plants do, but that's probably not going to be sufficient. Heck, we kinda know it isn't sufficient since they eat so much. If the hive fleets could just chill in outer space effectively on photosynthesis, you'd just find big hive fleets curled up around stars hanging out, and there wouldn't be any little fighting gribblies because they'd be irrelevant.

If the Tyranids constantly evolve to be relentless eating machines, it's for a reason.

Ultimately isn't that what most life comes down to? If you're going to stay organic, it is going to revolve around replenishing the energy you go through simply by existing. To them it's not about "victory" or "winning the setting", it's just about being around ten billion years from now. Eating everything a) ensures you keep on living, b) tests yourself against a hostile universe to ensure you are up to the challenge and c) actively puts the competition out of business.

There's an interesting origin theory right there; in the distant past a race in a distant galaxy had the above philosophical "epiphany" and decided to engineer themselves into the state they thought would cope best. Their race ended in one sense, but in another they live... albeit completely recognizably. A bit like Davros making the Kaleds into the Daleks. Hey, it might not even have been voluntary...

Xyptc wrote:

 Veteran Sergeant wrote:

 EngulfedObject wrote:
Uh, then why are they so hungry all the time? The space marine organ thing is much easier to believe than the 100% efficient thing. There isn't even any handwavium lore to back it up.

 Frazzled wrote:
Its not about efficiency. Its about physics.

Yea, I'm not exactly an expert on the subject but it seems like having 100% efficient Tyrannids would break some fundamental laws of thermodynamics.

Yeah, people get confused about how handwavium and "Because 40K' works. They think it's a replacement for "I don't have an answer".

We accept plasma guns because we don't know that kind of technology might be plausible 38,000 years from now. We accept psykers and the Warp because they're straight fantasy.

But 40K still exists in our basic reality. Jump packs go up, and gravity brings them down. People die from all the same biological trauma and exsanguination. Suggesting the Tyranids can defeat the fundamental building blocks of physics "because 40K" is silly. You bend rules. You don't break them.

Heck, the loss of mass explains why they're so hungry. The Tyranids are forced to eat all of these planets because otherwise they die. The Tyranids put their critters to sleep in between world-meals. Why would they do this? To conserve energy. If the Tyranids were 100% efficient, there'd be no need to put the subcritters into hibernation. They can probably absorb a certain amount of solar radiation like plants do, but that's probably not going to be sufficient. Heck, we kinda know it isn't sufficient since they eat so much. If the hive fleets could just chill in outer space effectively on photosynthesis, you'd just find big hive fleets curled up around stars hanging out, and there wouldn't be any little fighting gribblies because they'd be irrelevant.

If the Tyranids constantly evolve to be relentless eating machines, it's for a reason.

Ultimately isn't that what most life comes down to? If you're going to stay organic, it is going to revolve around replenishing the energy you go through simply by existing. To them it's not about "victory" or "winning the setting", it's just about being around ten billion years from now. Eating everything a) ensures you keep on living, b) tests yourself against a hostile universe to ensure you are up to the challenge and c) actively puts the competition out of business.

There's an interesting origin theory right there; in the distant past a race in a distant galaxy had the above philosophical "epiphany" and decided to engineer themselves into the state they thought would cope best. Their race ended in one sense, but in another they live... albeit completely recognizably. A bit like Davros making the Kaleds into the Daleks. Hey, it might not even have been voluntary...

The Hive Fleet Horror short story mentions that the Tyranids have been very successful at that. According to that story, the Tyranids are far older than even the Necrons; and that "massive super Hive Fleet of which current Hive Fleets are only the scouts" that all the rulebooks and codex mention, guess what? is only one of uncountable groups dispersed in the universe.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Deadshot wrote:

Spetulhu wrote:
You can't possibly fight and absorb the loser without losing resources. You have to burn energy to fight and to digest and reassemble new bioforms. That energy has to come from somewhere - and since these are biological beasts it's usually from breaking down organic material.

Both fleets would throw their entire store of stockpiled energy and material into the fight - only an all-out battle proves which is superior. The winner emerges smaller but with new knowledge and templates.

Extra-galactic biological beasts. They don't necessarily follow the same system as we do where energy is lost between each trophic level of an ecosystem. Suspend your disbelief and imagine that being super-adaptive and highly efficient as they are, they are capable of developing a metabolism that produces basically no waste from consuming and ingesting biomass to assembling new biomass, that the system is so efficient none is wasted.
The other side is that every description of Tyranids notes how they basically lose nothing from their dead. These writers aren't scientists, and the only thing worse than their knowledge of physics is their knowledge of biology. The only science they are good in is handwaviology. For example, Space Marine creation. Normally, implanting genetic organs from another being (ie, a Primarch, as that is what the DNA of the geneseed is based on) would result in the immune system attacking and eating it, which is why transplants must come from a compatible donor, which are just similar enough to "fool" the body if you like. But obviously, a Primarch is incredibly different to a human, so the body would no doubt destroy it. The writers wave this away by saying they are just straight up compatible, or that "Space MArine organs are too tough to be destroyed by human immune system." There's also the issue that the end-product Space Marine would have 2 DNAs, one for the organs and 1 for his natural parts, and by all rights, his enhanced Astartes white blood cells should target the non-astartes stuff as it has different DNA.

It doesn't matter if they're extra galactic, physics still stands, specifically thermodynamics. It doesn't matter how hard you try, you always lose energy by any action. By attacking another Hive Fleet, they'd be trading energy for information, with the energy lost in the titanic battle and digestion of the enemy biomass coming to a net loss. There's also nothing in Tyranid fluff to suggest that they generate free energy, mainly because if they were capable of 100% efficiency, then they wouldn't be Tyranids as they wouldn't need to eat.

Tyranids don't eat to recoup energy, Tyranids eat to absorb more biomass back into the pools to create more Tyranids.

 BrotherOfBone wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Deadshot wrote:

Spetulhu wrote:
You can't possibly fight and absorb the loser without losing resources. You have to burn energy to fight and to digest and reassemble new bioforms. That energy has to come from somewhere - and since these are biological beasts it's usually from breaking down organic material.

Both fleets would throw their entire store of stockpiled energy and material into the fight - only an all-out battle proves which is superior. The winner emerges smaller but with new knowledge and templates.

Extra-galactic biological beasts. They don't necessarily follow the same system as we do where energy is lost between each trophic level of an ecosystem. Suspend your disbelief and imagine that being super-adaptive and highly efficient as they are, they are capable of developing a metabolism that produces basically no waste from consuming and ingesting biomass to assembling new biomass, that the system is so efficient none is wasted.
The other side is that every description of Tyranids notes how they basically lose nothing from their dead. These writers aren't scientists, and the only thing worse than their knowledge of physics is their knowledge of biology. The only science they are good in is handwaviology. For example, Space Marine creation. Normally, implanting genetic organs from another being (ie, a Primarch, as that is what the DNA of the geneseed is based on) would result in the immune system attacking and eating it, which is why transplants must come from a compatible donor, which are just similar enough to "fool" the body if you like. But obviously, a Primarch is incredibly different to a human, so the body would no doubt destroy it. The writers wave this away by saying they are just straight up compatible, or that "Space MArine organs are too tough to be destroyed by human immune system." There's also the issue that the end-product Space Marine would have 2 DNAs, one for the organs and 1 for his natural parts, and by all rights, his enhanced Astartes white blood cells should target the non-astartes stuff as it has different DNA.

It doesn't matter if they're extra galactic, physics still stands, specifically thermodynamics. It doesn't matter how hard you try, you always lose energy by any action. By attacking another Hive Fleet, they'd be trading energy for information, with the energy lost in the titanic battle and digestion of the enemy biomass coming to a net loss. There's also nothing in Tyranid fluff to suggest that they generate free energy, mainly because if they were capable of 100% efficiency, then they wouldn't be Tyranids as they wouldn't need to eat.

Tyranids don't eat to recoup energy, Tyranids eat to absorb more biomass back into the pools to create more Tyranids.

Do you know anything about biology?

 Wyzilla wrote:

 BrotherOfBone wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Deadshot wrote:

Spetulhu wrote:
You can't possibly fight and absorb the loser without losing resources. You have to burn energy to fight and to digest and reassemble new bioforms. That energy has to come from somewhere - and since these are biological beasts it's usually from breaking down organic material.

Both fleets would throw their entire store of stockpiled energy and material into the fight - only an all-out battle proves which is superior. The winner emerges smaller but with new knowledge and templates.

Extra-galactic biological beasts. They don't necessarily follow the same system as we do where energy is lost between each trophic level of an ecosystem. Suspend your disbelief and imagine that being super-adaptive and highly efficient as they are, they are capable of developing a metabolism that produces basically no waste from consuming and ingesting biomass to assembling new biomass, that the system is so efficient none is wasted.
The other side is that every description of Tyranids notes how they basically lose nothing from their dead. These writers aren't scientists, and the only thing worse than their knowledge of physics is their knowledge of biology. The only science they are good in is handwaviology. For example, Space Marine creation. Normally, implanting genetic organs from another being (ie, a Primarch, as that is what the DNA of the geneseed is based on) would result in the immune system attacking and eating it, which is why transplants must come from a compatible donor, which are just similar enough to "fool" the body if you like. But obviously, a Primarch is incredibly different to a human, so the body would no doubt destroy it. The writers wave this away by saying they are just straight up compatible, or that "Space MArine organs are too tough to be destroyed by human immune system." There's also the issue that the end-product Space Marine would have 2 DNAs, one for the organs and 1 for his natural parts, and by all rights, his enhanced Astartes white blood cells should target the non-astartes stuff as it has different DNA.

It doesn't matter if they're extra galactic, physics still stands, specifically thermodynamics. It doesn't matter how hard you try, you always lose energy by any action. By attacking another Hive Fleet, they'd be trading energy for information, with the energy lost in the titanic battle and digestion of the enemy biomass coming to a net loss. There's also nothing in Tyranid fluff to suggest that they generate free energy, mainly because if they were capable of 100% efficiency, then they wouldn't be Tyranids as they wouldn't need to eat.

Tyranids don't eat to recoup energy, Tyranids eat to absorb more biomass back into the pools to create more Tyranids.

Do you know anything about biology?

I do know about Biology, I'm simply saying the main purpose of the consumption of biomass is to create more Tyranids, it's how they replenish their numbers after combat.

 BrotherOfBone wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 BrotherOfBone wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Deadshot wrote:

Spetulhu wrote:
You can't possibly fight and absorb the loser without losing resources. You have to burn energy to fight and to digest and reassemble new bioforms. That energy has to come from somewhere - and since these are biological beasts it's usually from breaking down organic material.

Both fleets would throw their entire store of stockpiled energy and material into the fight - only an all-out battle proves which is superior. The winner emerges smaller but with new knowledge and templates.

Extra-galactic biological beasts. They don't necessarily follow the same system as we do where energy is lost between each trophic level of an ecosystem. Suspend your disbelief and imagine that being super-adaptive and highly efficient as they are, they are capable of developing a metabolism that produces basically no waste from consuming and ingesting biomass to assembling new biomass, that the system is so efficient none is wasted.
The other side is that every description of Tyranids notes how they basically lose nothing from their dead. These writers aren't scientists, and the only thing worse than their knowledge of physics is their knowledge of biology. The only science they are good in is handwaviology. For example, Space Marine creation. Normally, implanting genetic organs from another being (ie, a Primarch, as that is what the DNA of the geneseed is based on) would result in the immune system attacking and eating it, which is why transplants must come from a compatible donor, which are just similar enough to "fool" the body if you like. But obviously, a Primarch is incredibly different to a human, so the body would no doubt destroy it. The writers wave this away by saying they are just straight up compatible, or that "Space MArine organs are too tough to be destroyed by human immune system." There's also the issue that the end-product Space Marine would have 2 DNAs, one for the organs and 1 for his natural parts, and by all rights, his enhanced Astartes white blood cells should target the non-astartes stuff as it has different DNA.

It doesn't matter if they're extra galactic, physics still stands, specifically thermodynamics. It doesn't matter how hard you try, you always lose energy by any action. By attacking another Hive Fleet, they'd be trading energy for information, with the energy lost in the titanic battle and digestion of the enemy biomass coming to a net loss. There's also nothing in Tyranid fluff to suggest that they generate free energy, mainly because if they were capable of 100% efficiency, then they wouldn't be Tyranids as they wouldn't need to eat.

Tyranids don't eat to recoup energy, Tyranids eat to absorb more biomass back into the pools to create more Tyranids.

Do you know anything about biology?

I do know about Biology, I'm simply saying the main purpose of the consumption of biomass is to create more Tyranids, it's how they replenish their numbers after combat.

No, its not. They eat to survive.* It is how they replenish numbers but most importantly its to keep the race going.


*Actually, the way the fluff is written they eat just so they can make it to the next planet to eat.

 BrotherOfBone wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 BrotherOfBone wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Deadshot wrote:

Spetulhu wrote:
You can't possibly fight and absorb the loser without losing resources. You have to burn energy to fight and to digest and reassemble new bioforms. That energy has to come from somewhere - and since these are biological beasts it's usually from breaking down organic material.

Both fleets would throw their entire store of stockpiled energy and material into the fight - only an all-out battle proves which is superior. The winner emerges smaller but with new knowledge and templates.

Extra-galactic biological beasts. They don't necessarily follow the same system as we do where energy is lost between each trophic level of an ecosystem. Suspend your disbelief and imagine that being super-adaptive and highly efficient as they are, they are capable of developing a metabolism that produces basically no waste from consuming and ingesting biomass to assembling new biomass, that the system is so efficient none is wasted.
The other side is that every description of Tyranids notes how they basically lose nothing from their dead. These writers aren't scientists, and the only thing worse than their knowledge of physics is their knowledge of biology. The only science they are good in is handwaviology. For example, Space Marine creation. Normally, implanting genetic organs from another being (ie, a Primarch, as that is what the DNA of the geneseed is based on) would result in the immune system attacking and eating it, which is why transplants must come from a compatible donor, which are just similar enough to "fool" the body if you like. But obviously, a Primarch is incredibly different to a human, so the body would no doubt destroy it. The writers wave this away by saying they are just straight up compatible, or that "Space MArine organs are too tough to be destroyed by human immune system." There's also the issue that the end-product Space Marine would have 2 DNAs, one for the organs and 1 for his natural parts, and by all rights, his enhanced Astartes white blood cells should target the non-astartes stuff as it has different DNA.

It doesn't matter if they're extra galactic, physics still stands, specifically thermodynamics. It doesn't matter how hard you try, you always lose energy by any action. By attacking another Hive Fleet, they'd be trading energy for information, with the energy lost in the titanic battle and digestion of the enemy biomass coming to a net loss. There's also nothing in Tyranid fluff to suggest that they generate free energy, mainly because if they were capable of 100% efficiency, then they wouldn't be Tyranids as they wouldn't need to eat.

Tyranids don't eat to recoup energy, Tyranids eat to absorb more biomass back into the pools to create more Tyranids.

Do you know anything about biology?

I do know about Biology, I'm simply saying the main purpose of the consumption of biomass is to create more Tyranids, it's how they replenish their numbers after combat.

No, the main purpose is so they don't starve. Tyranids have to eat as otherwise they'd burn themselves out and die of atrophy, like all living things. While pregnant mothers eat more because they're also feeding their fetus, they still have to eat for themselves as well.