So what happens if two different Tyranid Hive Fleets run into each other? Lets say both just in the void and also if there's a situation where they are trying to consume the same planets.
I do not know if they would fight or if they would join forces, but either way it is basically the exact same result. Whichever fleet wins the battle will simply consume the casualties on both sides and have the exact same strength as if they didn't fight at all.
With the exception of the amount of time it would take for the fleets to battle I suppose. That could be crucial rallying time for the Imperium/whatever world is next in the Hive Fleet's flight path.
I'd wonder if they're like the Argentine Ants making their way up the West Coast of the US, considered a 'super-colony' that stretches over 900 km... the European colony on the Mediterranean cost for over 6,000 km. All the ants are genetically the same (even between Europe and California), so when two adjacent hives come into contact, there's no competition and the ants can just swap hives with each other. If they come into contact with a different kind of ant/insect however, it's game on.
Considering the Hive Mind casts it's shadow in the warp over interstellar distances, I don't think two Hive Minds would ever have to worry about their Fleets suddenly being in competition over the same planet. If they made even glancing contact, I think they would either choose separate planets and trash the entire sector at once, or possibly merge into a single larger Hive Fleet with much the same effect.
The upcomming Valedor novel touches on that issue. Where the eldar desperately tries to prevent 2 hive fleets from merging and becomming stronger by sharing dna code.
At one stage all tyranids were unified, and would simply merge.
Then it was written that the separate Overminds within the Hive Fleets would compete with other Hive Fleets, leading tyranids to fight one another but the victorious fleet always came out far stronger for the added biomass and genetic diversity. This was called Convergent Evolution.
I don't think any direct references to this scenario have been made since, but recent lore seems to suggest they're all one side again.
Well, if small Tyranids on the ground lose cohesion when the synapse creatures aren't close enough maybe it is the same on a much larger scale as well. Some giant Hive node floating around back and forth between other galaxies somewhere.
a hive fleet invades a planet on which various warrior forms and a hive node from another fleet are being researched upon. They instantly go at each other, and Cain and co surmise that they will not tolerate another rival for biomass, even if it is another hivefleet. They then figure out that the psychic shadow of the node overrides and confuses the control of lesser rival synapse creatures, using this to their advantage in combating the invaders.
To me this means that the last battle fought in the Milky Way will be between the last two hive fleets standing.
I read somewhere or another (maybe from that Cain novel) that they fight each other to determine which fleet's...overall strategy is "best". Sorta like a practice match of sorts, except the winner eats the loser.
The source, if I recall correctly, says no biomass is lost in the exchange, so it's a free lesson. Though that doesn't make sense to me, since the actual fighting requires energy (and hence loss of biomass), but that's just me.
Regarding passing knowledge between the hivefleets. The doom of Duriel is nearly undone when.....
A single surviving capilary tower pumps the essence of the combined biomass of Kraken and Leviathan towards an orbiting hiveship. But a flight of druchii razorwings literally scythes apart the tower with their wingblades before the DNA payload can be delivered.
And the two hiveminds...
It is shown during Valedor, when once the Hivefleets meets each other, they start to become synchronized with each other. A process that is nearly completed by the point Duriel explodes.
Brother Lucian can you please link where you got this, I would like to read the backround on the subject? If what you posted is true then it simplifies the situation for us; and raises new questions at the same time.
Ok so now that I have completely read the Caiphas Cain novel I would like to make some pointers here that seemed to have stalled this discussion to a stand-still over personal views.
A) According to the Novel (written by acclaimed writers Sandy Mitchell) the First Hive Fleet fears the Second Hive Fleet. It goes so far as to use Genestealers and Hormagaunts in an attempt completely annihilate the remnants of the other Hive Mind. Thus we can conclude that when two Tyranid Fleets meet it is not a friendly chat with Tea and Crumpets. The fact is stated that they see each other as rivals, and will eliminate and consume the opposing Fleet.
B) This "Fear," if you will, that Hive Fleets have for another is so strong they will ignore or steamroll advesaries IOT destroy the opposing fleet at any costs. This presents us with a dilemma in the fact that if Hive Fleets fear one another then how could so many still exist to invade the Milkway Galaxy? Wouldn't they have annihilated one another by now; or was this a counter-measure that Nature/The Creators built into the Tyranids?
C) Finally I would like to beg the question that if Tyranids from different gene pools view each other much in the way two different humans often do can they be "Reprogrammed" to fight alongside the Imperium? Is an age of Bio-Weapons about to Dawn or is this just wishful thinking?
Your thoughts Ladies and Gents.........................
Seems like it might be the reaction of some biological need to destroy the weaker gene pool, rather than fear. I'm not sure if thats how the novel describes it though. With all the biomass a Hive fleet can consume, I suppose it may make sense for another hive fleet to look far more delicious than any single world.
Mitchell describes it as more a "Fear," and Cain and his Astarte freinds describe it as the opposing hordes insatiable need to destroy the other. In the ensueing battle the origional Hive Fleet is described as fighting with,"...a ferocity as such I have not seen since Fecunium."
Additionally it is noted that the origional Hive Fleet remnant was able to project it's own "Shadow of the Warp," that interrfered with the 2nd Hive Fleets Synapse creatures. This is an intriguing clue because it basically suggests that 2 Hive Fleets meeting would "Blind," each other, and cause the Tyranid command structure to collapse in it's entirely. This, I think, is why one Hive Fleet fears the other.
Thus my take on it, unxpected, is more that the opposing Fleet wishes to destroy the opposite Hive because it fears it, Fears something it can become or something is can cause (i.e the Disrutption).
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