Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.
2019/11/21 09:01:37
Subject: Re:Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
honestly I don't see these two things as muturally exclusive, the Hive mind is intelligent. and capable of planning, stragety etc. this is clear, but it's likely not operating with higher goals beyond "feed, survive" however that doesn't mean it's not capable of developing what we might interpret as hatreds. Given the base line level of low intelligence tyranids have, we can proably reckongize that 'nids are capable of reckongizing threats and acting to neutralize them. thats pretty basic animal behavior. If Tyranids thus, learned from repeat encounters that "this partiuclar type of human is a threat and will remain a threat if not dealt with, ergo we must deal with the threat..." that doesn't seem unreasonable.
Opinions are not facts please don't confuse the two
2019/11/21 09:10:19
Subject: Re:Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
BrianDavion wrote: honestly I don't see these two things as muturally exclusive, the Hive mind is intelligent. and capable of planning, stragety etc. this is clear, but it's likely not operating with higher goals beyond "feed, survive" however that doesn't mean it's not capable of developing what we might interpret as hatreds. Given the base line level of low intelligence tyranids have, we can proably reckongize that 'nids are capable of reckongizing threats and acting to neutralize them. thats pretty basic animal behavior. If Tyranids thus, learned from repeat encounters that "this partiuclar type of human is a threat and will remain a threat if not dealt with, ergo we must deal with the threat..." that doesn't seem unreasonable.
In the last several editions, GW has been trying to personalize the Hive Mind. The Swarmlord is basically the Hive Mind incarnate, or at least so the fluff would make it out. It's the era of superheroes and supervillains.
Personally I prefer the vast Hive Mind, intelligent, but on a scale so far above individuals it would be like asking a human to pay attention to one specific bacterium. The horror of the Tyranids is not that they hate you, but that you are so far beneath the Hive Mind's attention that your existence is beneath notice. The screaming of an individual bacterium on a burger is utterly beneath the notice of the person about to eat it, while idly thinking about their mortgage, job, and other concepts that are incomprehensible to the bacteria on the food being eaten.
2019/11/21 19:38:28
Subject: Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
Karhedron wrote: I believe Mephiston manages to in the forthcoming book. He discovers that it has more emotion than previously suspected and has adopted a particularly vengeful (almost spiteful) attitude towards the Blood Angels after being driven back from Baal.
That sounds ridiculous. So it's probably going to happen....
This has already been mentioned in "The devastation of baal", so they would just be expanding on that fact.
That an incomprehensible intelligence has a baseless grudge against Blood Angels? Silly indeed.
Yeah, this really sounds stupid. Even if the Hivemind would actually have grudges (which it totally shouldnt) Blood Angels aren't the only ones causing massive losses to the Tyranids
Massive losses? They are fighting the fingertips of a much, much larger being. Id be annoyed though if a fly kept dodging my swats.
If they seriously nerf the size of the overall tyranid species, im gonna be pissed.
Waaaghbert wrote: Yeah, this really sounds stupid. Even if the Hivemind would actually have grudges (which it totally shouldnt) Blood Angels aren't the only ones causing massive losses to the Tyranids
It doesn't really imply that the Blood Angels are the only thing the Hive Mind has a grudge against. Shadow of the Leviathan for example has the Hive Mind personally recognise and engineer the attempted assassination of Tigurius, because it's aware he can predict it's moves. Wraithflight likewise has the Hive Mind recognise Iyanna Arienal on a personal level has feels intense hatred towards her.
Actually the more I think about this, the more terrifying the Hive Mind becomes.
If its able to control an assault on a galactic scale, yet still can find and focus on specific individuals within that vast amount of space, it truly has an incomprehensible intelligence
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/11/21 19:40:37
I personally find a Hive Mind holding grudges to be rather petty. I much prefer the Hive Mind to be beyond that, and perhaps only paying attention to battles at a system level (or even higher), and playing the long game, taking unnoticed planets while the prey crows and prances around celebrating a seemingly big victory around a major world.
2019/11/21 20:57:03
Subject: Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
To be fair nintura every warzone with Tyranids has massive losses from a numbers view. Losing millions upon millions of troops is a lot of dead things. It's still a drop in the ocean.
Like how there can be billions of Eldar but that's still a tiny remnant.
tremere47-fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate, leads to triple riptide spam
2019/11/21 21:36:22
Subject: Re:Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
BrianDavion wrote: honestly I don't see these two things as muturally exclusive, the Hive mind is intelligent. and capable of planning, stragety etc. this is clear, but it's likely not operating with higher goals beyond "feed, survive" however that doesn't mean it's not capable of developing what we might interpret as hatreds. Given the base line level of low intelligence tyranids have, we can proably reckongize that 'nids are capable of reckongizing threats and acting to neutralize them. thats pretty basic animal behavior. If Tyranids thus, learned from repeat encounters that "this partiuclar type of human is a threat and will remain a threat if not dealt with, ergo we must deal with the threat..." that doesn't seem unreasonable.
In the last several editions, GW has been trying to personalize the Hive Mind. The Swarmlord is basically the Hive Mind incarnate, or at least so the fluff would make it out. It's the era of superheroes and supervillains.
Personally I prefer the vast Hive Mind, intelligent, but on a scale so far above individuals it would be like asking a human to pay attention to one specific bacterium. The horror of the Tyranids is not that they hate you, but that you are so far beneath the Hive Mind's attention that your existence is beneath notice. The screaming of an individual bacterium on a burger is utterly beneath the notice of the person about to eat it, while idly thinking about their mortgage, job, and other concepts that are incomprehensible to the bacteria on the food being eaten.
Not at all. When Taec Silvereye held the Swarmlord’s gaze, he recognised it as its own distinct consciousness (like any Tyrant) but at the same time still just a tiny slave in the greater mind.
2019/11/22 00:14:22
Subject: Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
Karhedron wrote: I believe Mephiston manages to in the forthcoming book. He discovers that it has more emotion than previously suspected and has adopted a particularly vengeful (almost spiteful) attitude towards the Blood Angels after being driven back from Baal.
Why? Baal is a $#17#0\3 !
4,000 Word Bearers 1,500
2019/11/22 00:30:10
Subject: Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
My god that fluff about the Tyranid hive mind having feelings akin to hatred and coveting things is some of the worst stuff I’ve read in a while. What a shame. Why don’t GW leave their big, nasty space bugs alone and led by this crazy, unknowable thing? That’s part of the draw.
Thinking the hive mind is petty enough to have a grudge against a certain colour of marine is really stupid. I thought that as far as the hive mind was concerned we were all food for its insatiable hunger. It’s like me having a grudge with the burger I just ate. Or these chips. So lame. We don’t need every Xenos to be relatable on a human level. It’s better when some are not. This feels like Necrons all over again. Damn.
2019/11/22 01:28:24
Subject: Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
Thinking the hive mind is petty enough to have a grudge against a certain colour of marine is really stupid. I thought that as far as the hive mind was concerned we were all food for its insatiable hunger. It’s like me having a grudge with the burger I just ate. Or these chips. So lame. We don’t need every Xenos to be relatable on a human level. It’s better when some are not. This feels like Necrons all over again. Damn.
I bet if you ate a burger from a specific restaurant chain that made you violently sick you'd be pretty annoyed at that specific burger. Now if you went back and several times kept having really nasty burgers you'd get really annoyed at that specific establishment - perhaps even the company chain its a part of (esp if you had those same burgers at other establishments in the chain).
Asides the Tyranid Swarm, whilst described as an all consuming force that is driven to feed; its long displayed a longer term intelligence that goes beyond simple consumption of food. They clearly prey on specific targets; work out strategies for a long term war. Heck they seed worlds with Genestealer Cults - some at random - others with clear specific intent to take out key strategic spots. They've even been shown to pre-digest worlds for other swarm fleets when one swarm was focusing on fighting demon infested worlds and sites - the other swarms providing food for it to continue the hunt.
Hunger is but one aspect of them and it might not even be hunger as we understand it. We know that they "consume" worlds with an endless desire and that there's clearly no stopping them; but their consumption might not be how we'd fully understand "hunger". Indeed considering that they don't appear to grow fat, but spawn more; I'd say that the hunger is more akin to a greater desire to reproduce and that consuming worlds is feeding that desire. Of course then we have to wonder why they want to produce so many more Tyranids - what is their end game. We still really don't have a clue.
Also remember we still don't fully understand the Hive Mind. The part of the mind that "Hates" the marines might even be a single Norn Queen as part of the swarm which has pains/anger/issues with a specific foe that has destroyed vast parts of the swarm and lost them a chance to recoup the biomass investment. Reading the Hive Mind in a different region of space might reveal a totally different set of thoughts and feelings. At the same time one with each other yet different. Much like a vast brain mult-tasking.
An Actual Englishman wrote: My god that fluff about the Tyranid hive mind having feelings akin to hatred and coveting things is some of the worst stuff I’ve read in a while. What a shame. Why don’t GW leave their big, nasty space bugs alone and led by this crazy, unknowable thing? That’s part of the draw.
Thinking the hive mind is petty enough to have a grudge against a certain colour of marine is really stupid. I thought that as far as the hive mind was concerned we were all food for its insatiable hunger. It’s like me having a grudge with the burger I just ate. Or these chips. So lame. We don’t need every Xenos to be relatable on a human level. It’s better when some are not. This feels like Necrons all over again. Damn.
Truth! Stop retconning my fluff you soulless corporate animals!
4,000 Word Bearers 1,500
2019/11/22 13:16:24
Subject: Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
Thinking the hive mind is petty enough to have a grudge against a certain colour of marine is really stupid. I thought that as far as the hive mind was concerned we were all food for its insatiable hunger. It’s like me having a grudge with the burger I just ate. Or these chips. So lame. We don’t need every Xenos to be relatable on a human level. It’s better when some are not. This feels like Necrons all over again. Damn.
I bet if you ate a burger from a specific restaurant chain that made you violently sick you'd be pretty annoyed at that specific burger. Now if you went back and several times kept having really nasty burgers you'd get really annoyed at that specific establishment - perhaps even the company chain its a part of (esp if you had those same burgers at other establishments in the chain). .
Already a fail, imo, as you're ascribing human reactions to the circumstance.
Best if the Tyranids are left faceless and alien. I'm not a fan of the Swarmlord fluff and not a fan of nids "seeking vengeance". Lame.
Morkphoiz wrote: I'd love to read about this. Did any human ever establish a psychic connection to the hivemind? As in... Had a small insight into the combined thoughts of the tyranid race? Did it ever talk to anyone in some abstract way?
If someone knows please provide a source, thank you.
There was mention in some of the older fluff of such a contact. It was, I believe, accidental. And a case of a psyker inadvertently picking up tidbits of information from the Hive Mind. Namely, that the Tyranid race was on the run from something nastier than they were.
Proud Purveyor Of The Unconventional In 40k
2019/11/22 17:45:35
Subject: Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
Grey Templar wrote: It isn't really self-aware, such a thing is unfathomable to something that only hungers.
It most certinaly is.
Spoiler:
"Dark mutters greeted the Lord of Death’s intervention.
‘I have looked into the shadow in the warp and seen the thing that casts it,’ said Mephiston. ‘What assails our galaxy is not an army of individuals, or even a colony of social animals working as one, but a single creature, a monstrous foe of inconceivable dimensions. Scaraban is correct. We have our perception of this predator back to front. It is not as it appears, a host of creatures linked psychically, it can instead be seen as a single, massive psychic presence: a single mind. These monsters that attack us generate it, they make it as a man makes his soul, but whereas ours are individual, theirs is singular, a single predator, not many.’
‘And when they attack each other?’ said Malphas.
‘Perhaps the hive fleets are different beings, one mind for each. Perhaps they are all ultimately one. We cannot say for sure. The tyranids are utterly alien. But we know the hive mind is real. This intelligence is emergent, coming from the billions of creatures in the swarms, but it is not an empty intellect, it is aware. It has a soul.’
‘You say then this being is a warp entity, born of the immaterium?’ asked a Librarian. ‘In our librarius we have theorised it is but another thing of Chaos wearing xenos skin.’
Codicier Laertamos, Brothers of the Red,’ the herald skull announced.
Scaraban shook his head. ‘I am sure its origins are in this realm of being. We are not alone in holding this opinion of its nature. The reports of Inquisitor Kryptmann, others in the Inquisition and the Magos Biologis suggest so, at least those that support this interpretation. Perhaps what we are seeing is a creature part-way to spiritual transcendence, a gestalt made of the minds of billions of brute animals trapped half in and half out of the warp by unending hunger?’
‘You suggest we fight a god?’ scoffed a Space Marine of cadaverous appearance. His eyes were sunken in skin that looked dry as dust.
‘Carnifus, third captain, Blood Drinkers.’
‘Is there a better word for such a thing?’ said Mephiston.
‘Blasphemy,’ muttered Carnifus.
‘Then should we not take the fight to it psychically? Destroy the mind and the bodies will follow.’
‘Dammanes, seventh captain, Brothers of the Red,’ said the herald skull.
‘We cannot fight it in the warp, my brothers. Its presence there is so overwhelming that the Emperor himself would not prevail,’ said Dante."
Massive losses? They are fighting the fingertips of a much, much larger being
I think the hive mind lost more than just a few fingers.
Spoiler:
But the sons of the Great Angel were less afflicted than their foe.
Screaming warp fire crashed against the gestalt soul of the tyranids, catching it unawares. The delicate synaptic web that bound its numberless minds into one being shrivelled like thread in a fire. Never before had the hive mind been so grievously wounded. Its control over its trillions of bodies was violently disrupted. Hive fleet was cleaved from hive fleet, brood from brood so catastrophically that for a moment the hive mind ceased to be. It recovered quickly, diminished but alive, but that moment seemed to the hive mind an eternity of darkness. Trillions of its creatures permanently lost touch with the hive mind, and were reduced to unthinking animals.
For the first time in its existence, the hive mind tasted death
I bet if you ate a burger from a specific restaurant chain that made you violently sick you'd be pretty annoyed at that specific burger.
Giving the hive mind emotions (of any kind) and goals, you suddenly make is more relatable - and thereby less alien.
The 5th edition codex protrayed the hive mind as an uncaring biological supercomputer hellbent on sating an unending hunger. I find that way more terrifying and interesting.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2019/11/22 17:55:26
Tyranid fanboy.
Been around since 3rd edition.
2019/11/22 18:33:01
Subject: Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
Grey Templar wrote: It isn't really self-aware, such a thing is unfathomable to something that only hungers.
It most certinaly is.
Spoiler:
"Dark mutters greeted the Lord of Death’s intervention.
‘I have looked into the shadow in the warp and seen the thing that casts it,’ said Mephiston. ‘What assails our galaxy is not an army of individuals, or even a colony of social animals working as one, but a single creature, a monstrous foe of inconceivable dimensions. Scaraban is correct. We have our perception of this predator back to front. It is not as it appears, a host of creatures linked psychically, it can instead be seen as a single, massive psychic presence: a single mind. These monsters that attack us generate it, they make it as a man makes his soul, but whereas ours are individual, theirs is singular, a single predator, not many.’
‘And when they attack each other?’ said Malphas.
‘Perhaps the hive fleets are different beings, one mind for each. Perhaps they are all ultimately one. We cannot say for sure. The tyranids are utterly alien. But we know the hive mind is real. This intelligence is emergent, coming from the billions of creatures in the swarms, but it is not an empty intellect, it is aware. It has a soul.’
‘You say then this being is a warp entity, born of the immaterium?’ asked a Librarian. ‘In our librarius we have theorised it is but another thing of Chaos wearing xenos skin.’
Codicier Laertamos, Brothers of the Red,’ the herald skull announced.
Scaraban shook his head. ‘I am sure its origins are in this realm of being. We are not alone in holding this opinion of its nature. The reports of Inquisitor Kryptmann, others in the Inquisition and the Magos Biologis suggest so, at least those that support this interpretation. Perhaps what we are seeing is a creature part-way to spiritual transcendence, a gestalt made of the minds of billions of brute animals trapped half in and half out of the warp by unending hunger?’
‘You suggest we fight a god?’ scoffed a Space Marine of cadaverous appearance. His eyes were sunken in skin that looked dry as dust.
‘Carnifus, third captain, Blood Drinkers.’
‘Is there a better word for such a thing?’ said Mephiston.
‘Blasphemy,’ muttered Carnifus.
‘Then should we not take the fight to it psychically? Destroy the mind and the bodies will follow.’
‘Dammanes, seventh captain, Brothers of the Red,’ said the herald skull.
‘We cannot fight it in the warp, my brothers. Its presence there is so overwhelming that the Emperor himself would not prevail,’ said Dante."
Massive losses? They are fighting the fingertips of a much, much larger being
I think the hive mind lost more than just a few fingers.
Spoiler:
But the sons of the Great Angel were less afflicted than their foe.
Screaming warp fire crashed against the gestalt soul of the tyranids, catching it unawares. The delicate synaptic web that bound its numberless minds into one being shrivelled like thread in a fire. Never before had the hive mind been so grievously wounded. Its control over its trillions of bodies was violently disrupted. Hive fleet was cleaved from hive fleet, brood from brood so catastrophically that for a moment the hive mind ceased to be. It recovered quickly, diminished but alive, but that moment seemed to the hive mind an eternity of darkness. Trillions of its creatures permanently lost touch with the hive mind, and were reduced to unthinking animals.
For the first time in its existence, the hive mind tasted death
I bet if you ate a burger from a specific restaurant chain that made you violently sick you'd be pretty annoyed at that specific burger.
Giving the hive mind emotions (of any kind) and goals, you suddenly make is more relatable - and thereby less alien.
The 5th edition codex protrayed the hive mind as an uncaring biological supercomputer hellbent on sating an unending hunger. I find that way more terrifying and interesting.
The Tyranid Hive Mind has enough in common with the sentient races in the Milky Way that they can, to a point, be related to in a Human manner.
It's not some instinct driven gestalt. The Hive Mind can strategize, plan, gather Intel, adapt, improvise, has an above average grasp on tactics, triage resources, understand and use the arts of subversion and misdirection, and can exploit weaknesses/negate strength. On the surface, the Tyranids appear to be a swarm of monstrous, xenos animals that simply uses numbers to swarm the enemy. But as evident by the Hive Mind's track record so far, everything the swarm does is part of a strategy to produce a desired outcome: more biomass/resources for the Hive Fleets.
Proud Purveyor Of The Unconventional In 40k
2019/11/22 19:10:13
Subject: Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
Thinking the hive mind is petty enough to have a grudge against a certain colour of marine is really stupid. I thought that as far as the hive mind was concerned we were all food for its insatiable hunger. It’s like me having a grudge with the burger I just ate. Or these chips. So lame. We don’t need every Xenos to be relatable on a human level. It’s better when some are not. This feels like Necrons all over again. Damn.
I bet if you ate a burger from a specific restaurant chain that made you violently sick you'd be pretty annoyed at that specific burger. Now if you went back and several times kept having really nasty burgers you'd get really annoyed at that specific establishment - perhaps even the company chain its a part of (esp if you had those same burgers at other establishments in the chain). .
Already a fail, imo, as you're ascribing human reactions to the circumstance.
Best if the Tyranids are left faceless and alien. I'm not a fan of the Swarmlord fluff and not a fan of nids "seeking vengeance". Lame.
I'd be okay if it was the Demons that were the target of vengeance but the BA thing is silly. Why are they such a big deal?
tremere47-fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate, leads to triple riptide spam
2019/11/22 19:21:41
Subject: Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
Just a point but even the old tyranid Codex were all written mostly as Imperial reports - it would thus make sense that as the Imperium discovers more about the tyranids that the "lore" for them evolves. Early on they are mysterious monster that just wants to eat because that was basically all you get from the tyranids. They didn't sit down to chat with you; they hid in space hulks and bit your face off.
Morkphoiz wrote: I'd love to read about this. Did any human ever establish a psychic connection to the hivemind? As in... Had a small insight into the combined thoughts of the tyranid race? Did it ever talk to anyone in some abstract way?
If someone knows please provide a source, thank you.
There was mention in some of the older fluff of such a contact. It was, I believe, accidental. And a case of a psyker inadvertently picking up tidbits of information from the Hive Mind. Namely, that the Tyranid race was on the run from something nastier than they were.
It might be Hive Fleet Horror by Barrington J Bailey. A psyker makes contact with the Hive Mind in that story, but back then the Hive Mind was more like a discovery channel special than a bug Cookie Monster: it preyed on living worlds rather than digesting Oort clouds because it waned to wipe out competition and increase its own ability to adapt/survive.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh, and the 5th edition codex gave us the Narvhal and whole host of associated background errors. That's when the Tyranids became stupid.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/11/22 19:42:00
Well maybe, and I HIGHLY doubt it, but just maybe GW has plans for the Hive Mind. There is a theory going around that the HM COULD possibly start having an effect on the warp and COULD possible become some sort of new warp god of hunger. But in order to do that, it would have to he something more than some nameless entity that we cannot associate or relate too.
It's not some instinct driven gestalt. The Hive Mind can strategize, plan, gather Intel, adapt, improvise, has an above average grasp on tactics, triage resources, understand and use the arts of subversion and misdirection, and can exploit weaknesses/negate strength. On the surface, the Tyranids appear to be a swarm of monstrous, xenos animals that simply uses numbers to swarm the enemy. But as evident by the Hive Mind's track record so far, everything the swarm does is part of a strategy to produce a desired outcome: more biomass/resources for the Hive Fleets.
Yes, the 5th edition hive mind was an emotionless gestalt (supercomputer) with only one goal: to feed.
The "new" hive mind seems more "human". It has relatable emotions like anger, and mabye even emerging ambitions beyond the need to sate its hunger.
nintura wrote: There is a theory going around that the HM COULD possibly start having an effect on the warp and COULD possible become some sort of new warp god of hunger
It already has a HUGE presence /effect in the warp. And yes, the hive mind was implied to be an emerging god in the devastation of baal - not a god of hunger though.
Spoiler:
"Dark mutters greeted the Lord of Death’s intervention.
‘I have looked into the shadow in the warp and seen the thing that casts it,’ said Mephiston. ‘What assails our galaxy is not an army of individuals, or even a colony of social animals working as one, but a single creature, a monstrous foe of inconceivable dimensions. Scaraban is correct. We have our perception of this predator back to front. It is not as it appears, a host of creatures linked psychically, it can instead be seen as a single, massive psychic presence: a single mind. These monsters that attack us generate it, they make it as a man makes his soul, but whereas ours are individual, theirs is singular, a single predator, not many.’
‘And when they attack each other?’ said Malphas.
‘Perhaps the hive fleets are different beings, one mind for each. Perhaps they are all ultimately one. We cannot say for sure. The tyranids are utterly alien. But we know the hive mind is real. This intelligence is emergent, coming from the billions of creatures in the swarms, but it is not an empty intellect, it is aware. It has a soul.’
‘You say then this being is a warp entity, born of the immaterium?’ asked a Librarian. ‘In our librarius we have theorised it is but another thing of Chaos wearing xenos skin.’
Codicier Laertamos, Brothers of the Red,’ the herald skull announced.
Scaraban shook his head. ‘I am sure its origins are in this realm of being. We are not alone in holding this opinion of its nature. The reports of Inquisitor Kryptmann, others in the Inquisition and the Magos Biologis suggest so, at least those that support this interpretation. Perhaps what we are seeing is a creature part-way to spiritual transcendence, a gestalt made of the minds of billions of brute animals trapped half in and half out of the warp by unending hunger?’
‘You suggest we fight a god?’ scoffed a Space Marine of cadaverous appearance. His eyes were sunken in skin that looked dry as dust.
‘Carnifus, third captain, Blood Drinkers.’
‘Is there a better word for such a thing?’ said Mephiston.
‘Blasphemy,’ muttered Carnifus.
‘Then should we not take the fight to it psychically? Destroy the mind and the bodies will follow.’
‘Dammanes, seventh captain, Brothers of the Red,’ said the herald skull.
‘We cannot fight it in the warp, my brothers. Its presence there is so overwhelming that the Emperor himself would not prevail,’ said Dante."
This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at 2019/11/23 03:58:49
Tyranid fanboy.
Been around since 3rd edition.
2019/11/23 04:37:56
Subject: Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
I believe that there was a Mortifactor in the second Ventris book who touched the edge of mind, not to communicate with it but to glean intelligence for an upcoming battle.
2019/11/24 16:04:49
Subject: Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
Morkphoiz wrote: I'd love to read about this. Did any human ever establish a psychic connection to the hivemind? As in... Had a small insight into the combined thoughts of the tyranid race? Did it ever talk to anyone in some abstract way?
If someone knows please provide a source, thank you.
There was mention in some of the older fluff of such a contact. It was, I believe, accidental. And a case of a psyker inadvertently picking up tidbits of information from the Hive Mind. Namely, that the Tyranid race was on the run from something nastier than they were.
It might be Hive Fleet Horror by Barrington J Bailey. A psyker makes contact with the Hive Mind in that story, but back then the Hive Mind was more like a discovery channel special than a bug Cookie Monster: it preyed on living worlds rather than digesting Oort clouds because it waned to wipe out competition and increase its own ability to adapt/survive.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh, and the 5th edition codex gave us the Narvhal and whole host of associated background errors. That's when the Tyranids became stupid.
What narwhal?
CaptainStabby wrote: If Tyberos falls and needs to catch himself it's because the ground needed killing.
jy2 wrote: BTW, I can't wait to run Double-D-thirsters! Man, just thinking about it gets me Khorney.
vipoid wrote: Indeed - what sort of bastard would want to use their codex?
MarsNZ wrote: ITT: SoB players upset that they're receiving the same condescending treatment that they've doled out in every CSM thread ever.
2019/11/24 16:12:46
Subject: Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
Morkphoiz wrote: I'd love to read about this. Did any human ever establish a psychic connection to the hivemind? As in... Had a small insight into the combined thoughts of the tyranid race? Did it ever talk to anyone in some abstract way?
If someone knows please provide a source, thank you.
There was mention in some of the older fluff of such a contact. It was, I believe, accidental. And a case of a psyker inadvertently picking up tidbits of information from the Hive Mind. Namely, that the Tyranid race was on the run from something nastier than they were.
It might be Hive Fleet Horror by Barrington J Bailey. A psyker makes contact with the Hive Mind in that story, but back then the Hive Mind was more like a discovery channel special than a bug Cookie Monster: it preyed on living worlds rather than digesting Oort clouds because it waned to wipe out competition and increase its own ability to adapt/survive.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh, and the 5th edition codex gave us the Narvhal and whole host of associated background errors. That's when the Tyranids became stupid.
What narwhal?
Basically Nids use a weird gravity tunnel for FTL rather than the Warp. It's the second dumbest form of travel in 40kIMO.
tremere47-fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate, leads to triple riptide spam
2019/11/24 16:19:09
Subject: Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
Tyranids essentially lock into gravity masses that they want to move toward and then pull themselves toward it. This can result in massive geological instabilities in the target gravity mass; which can result in earthquakes and other associated natural disasters.
The Tyranids have conventional engines/movement speeds outside of that, but that's their main method for Faster than Light.
As for "silly" when the main form of FTL travel is flying literally through what is basically hell, well, a gravity tunnel sounds FAR more sensible
Not if going through hell is much faster, gets you closer to the destination and is pretty safe for you because you're effectively a monster so big that you eat the monsters.
tremere47-fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate, leads to triple riptide spam
2019/11/24 16:36:15
Subject: Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
pm713 wrote: Not if going through hell is much faster, gets you closer to the destination and is pretty safe for you because you're effectively a monster so big that you eat the monsters.
Perhaps, however there might be other aspects; eg the shadow in the warp might prevent travelling through the warp in regular means. It might cause such disruption to that realm that it makes travel impossible. A bit like saying that crossing a type rope is faster, except that you're a bouncing ball that will make the rope wobble all over the place and make it very likely that you'll fall off and end up anywhere but at your destination, if you survive at all.
Massive losses? They are fighting the fingertips of a much, much larger being. Id be annoyed though if a fly kept dodging my swats.
If they seriously nerf the size of the overall tyranid species, im gonna be pissed.
IIRC the true size of the tyranid forces has never been confirmed. There are supposition that there are numerous hive-fleets yet to come but we don't know it for sure. As long as I recall, maybe we are seeing the last tyranids, ever. So I don't think it would be a retcon (but it would be sad tbh).
Is there any official sources for "the tyranids are fleeing something tougher" or is it another in universe theory ? I saw you were speaking about it in this thread!
Far as we know we know nothing about the Tyranids origins or why they are here.
We know that the Emperor and the Golden Throne is attracting their interest. We know that they come from outside of the Galaxy. We know that the Hive fleets are vast swarms of Tyranids.
There are some earlier bits of lore that suggested that those who managed some form of communication with the Hive Mind felt that it was afraid/fleeing something. However its older lore and, like much, its interpretation on the Hive Mind. It's impossible to know if it was afraid of some greater foe; or if perhaps it was simply avoiding dead galaxies that it had already consumed (fleeing from starvation toward feeding).
Heck we don't even really know if Tyranids are driven by a consuming need. It is true that they consume and that they need to consume to produce more Tyranids for the war; however that's all supposition based on observed behaviour. We don't actually know if they are "hungry" or even if Tyranids understand the concept, as we would have it, of hunger.
Almost all the Tyranid lore is written by other races observing the Tyranids. This leaves huge gaps in our understanding of them as a race in the game. Of course this is also, for many, part of their attraction to them. Tyranids are a great mystery of possibilities.
pm713 wrote: Not if going through hell is much faster, gets you closer to the destination and is pretty safe for you because you're effectively a monster so big that you eat the monsters.
Perhaps, however there might be other aspects; eg the shadow in the warp might prevent travelling through the warp in regular means. It might cause such disruption to that realm that it makes travel impossible. A bit like saying that crossing a type rope is faster, except that you're a bouncing ball that will make the rope wobble all over the place and make it very likely that you'll fall off and end up anywhere but at your destination, if you survive at all.
It doesn't really make sense to me though, if the Warp was that disrupted by the Shadow then Tyranids wouldn't have psykers but they have a fair few psychic monsters. I think it was much better when they were safe from demons because they were protected by the Hive Mind.
tremere47-fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate, leads to triple riptide spam
2019/11/24 19:11:49
Subject: Did anyone ever communicate with the tyranid hive mind?
Tyranid Narwhal is the most realistic FTL in the setting and is fast enough that Hive Fleets are capable of moving thousands to tens of thousands of times the speed of light.
It is "slower" than Warp travel, but far more reliable. Imperial fleets are known to be lost for millenia or thrown backwards into time for a reason after all. And that is with Navigators, most of the IoM does not even have that.
4,000 
Word Bearers 1,500 
