Talk:Hive Fleet
I have a quick question: Where this bit of fluff came from? "...there are Imperial reports on entire Hive Fleets being reduced to an empty husk due to the long time spent in space which eventually starve the 'Nids to death..." I am an old time fan of Tyranids but this is new to me. Could someone point me to the source? Thanks :)
Tyranid fleets do not "starve". It is bull**** concept forced by headcannoners.
An organism staves because: 1) It's cells die off (one of the mechanisms to prevent cancer, btw). 2) The dead matter gets purged out of the body, instead of getting recycled. 3) The organism uses up energy.
Now, the tyranids CAN and logically MUST (because, they are so advanced, and 'WE MUHST SURVIVE' and all) have immortal cells with zero cancer problem, if the cells die (by cosmic radiation or asteroid impact, or a cancer cell gets killed by anti-cancer cells ASAP, FEX), their biomatter gets reused, and if the ship uses up all energy, it can just shut itself down and go clinically dead untill it gets to the destination, as the tyranids should and CAN make their biomatter non-degradable + no bacteria will devour the flesh, as the tyranids are the apex micro/macro organism around, eating up all "enemy" micro/macro's.
- I think it came from a few snippets from the 5th and 6th Edition Tyranid Codex where it is hinted that a Hive Fleet weakens if it is not fed for a long enough time or hibernate. Guys in /tg/ simply extrapolate it as Tyranids being susceptible to starvation, and than you have the likes of Hive Fleet Naga in which Imperial Administrators believe they will starve eventually if they do not find suitable biomass. Now IMO, if the Tyranids could in fact recycle dying bio-matter within the bio-ships to keep the Hive Fleet from going kaput, it opens up a pandora's box over the existence of the Tyranids, there would be no reason for the Tyranids to actively seek out and devour worlds. Starvation actually gives the Tyranids an incentive to seek out these worlds and replenish their own race as the Tyranid's own voracious appetite is simply not sustainable even if they could recycle their own bio-matter. Of course, I personally prefer if the Hive Fleets go into hibernation as them simply starving into a dead husk kind of depletes their threat on a galactic scale. Derpysaurus
- I think it's more that somebody at GW realized you're always going to have some sort of exhaust so long as you're moving and decided the Tyranids aren't going to be immune to this. Yes they could shut themselves down temporarily until they reach their destination, but what happens if when they wake up they're staring down at a dead world with no biomass to feed on? Then what happens if this happens again, and again, and again? Personally I'd rather prefer them intentionally shutting down and going dormant as a way to hide and wait for food to come to them, not truly starving but at the same time not being able to travel around infinitely. As you mention here if the Tyranids really were able to infinitely travel everywhere then there would be no point in doing what they're doing, since there's a 0% chance the Tyranids as a whole haven't had a drastic decrease in their overall population. -- Triacom (talk) 12:02, 13 January 2019 (UTC)
- I disagree. The point of the Tyranids isn't survival, that isn't even their main instinct (plenty of bioforms willingly throw themselves in the face of danger with no regard for their lives, and Tyranids will avoid a planet full of biomass if it's too hard to take, this going against their eating instincts). Their main goal is to reproduce and evolve into a greater force. This is what makes them so scary; Earth animals' true purpose is to reproduce, but they do that through survival, and have no idea that that's the case. We don't realize that we won't improve the human species when there is a building falling down on us - we just want to get the fuck outta the way. The Tyranids skip this middle step, making them absolutely terrifying and alien. The Nids don't necessarily need to eat to survive, but they need to eat to improve, so they come out of dormancy to evolve their Hive.
- Most Tyranid bioforms lack self awareness and are run entirely on pre-programmed instinct, that's why Synapse creatures are such a big deal and why they don't give those creatures survival instincts, they don't need them in most fights (although if it's beneficial, they will give hem survival instincts, which I'll get to in a second). Yes the point of Tyranids isn't just survival, but they're also not stupid, that's why they made the Lictors and also why you have stories like them attacking Orks during the day, sacrificing a large portion of their forces, then sneaking onto the battlefield after the Orks left to eat the dead to gain biomass, and then rinse and repeat until they've gained enough bioforms they can start winning fights. They do whatever they need to survive if they're jeopardized, because surviving is key to their main goal. I'm also going to disagree that their main (and by the way your wrote it, only) goal is to eat to improve, since that would mean they'd have no need to devour entire planets, they could take a small chunk of a planet and move on which would be more beneficial towards that goal, and then ignore any planets afterwards that offer benefits they've already received. -- Triacom (talk) 21:25, 13 January 2019 (UTC)
- I'm not gonna lie, after reading that I think that you're probably right and that that wasn't well thought out. --Kracked Mynd (talk) 14:40, 14 January 2019 (UTC)
- Most Tyranid bioforms lack self awareness and are run entirely on pre-programmed instinct, that's why Synapse creatures are such a big deal and why they don't give those creatures survival instincts, they don't need them in most fights (although if it's beneficial, they will give hem survival instincts, which I'll get to in a second). Yes the point of Tyranids isn't just survival, but they're also not stupid, that's why they made the Lictors and also why you have stories like them attacking Orks during the day, sacrificing a large portion of their forces, then sneaking onto the battlefield after the Orks left to eat the dead to gain biomass, and then rinse and repeat until they've gained enough bioforms they can start winning fights. They do whatever they need to survive if they're jeopardized, because surviving is key to their main goal. I'm also going to disagree that their main (and by the way your wrote it, only) goal is to eat to improve, since that would mean they'd have no need to devour entire planets, they could take a small chunk of a planet and move on which would be more beneficial towards that goal, and then ignore any planets afterwards that offer benefits they've already received. -- Triacom (talk) 21:25, 13 January 2019 (UTC)
- I disagree. The point of the Tyranids isn't survival, that isn't even their main instinct (plenty of bioforms willingly throw themselves in the face of danger with no regard for their lives, and Tyranids will avoid a planet full of biomass if it's too hard to take, this going against their eating instincts). Their main goal is to reproduce and evolve into a greater force. This is what makes them so scary; Earth animals' true purpose is to reproduce, but they do that through survival, and have no idea that that's the case. We don't realize that we won't improve the human species when there is a building falling down on us - we just want to get the fuck outta the way. The Tyranids skip this middle step, making them absolutely terrifying and alien. The Nids don't necessarily need to eat to survive, but they need to eat to improve, so they come out of dormancy to evolve their Hive.
- I think it's more that somebody at GW realized you're always going to have some sort of exhaust so long as you're moving and decided the Tyranids aren't going to be immune to this. Yes they could shut themselves down temporarily until they reach their destination, but what happens if when they wake up they're staring down at a dead world with no biomass to feed on? Then what happens if this happens again, and again, and again? Personally I'd rather prefer them intentionally shutting down and going dormant as a way to hide and wait for food to come to them, not truly starving but at the same time not being able to travel around infinitely. As you mention here if the Tyranids really were able to infinitely travel everywhere then there would be no point in doing what they're doing, since there's a 0% chance the Tyranids as a whole haven't had a drastic decrease in their overall population. -- Triacom (talk) 12:02, 13 January 2019 (UTC)
