Air denial feels like a natural evolution of tyrannic psy-forms to me. The Great Devourer has never used energy weapons to my knowledge, with the borderline exception of bioplasma - and really, that's more of a chemical weapon than energy, in the same way that a flamethrower is (let this be a reminder to any physics-casual readers that "plasma" is a fancy word for "the stuff fire and lightning is made of" - it's fancy, but it's not directed energy weapon fancy).
Rather than producing ambulatory focusing lenses, I think psyforms - something like a neurotyrant or a maleceptor supported by a cadre of neuroloids, or even one or more dominatrices at the bio-titan level - that are able to manifest psy-storms, chain-lightning and twist the nature of realspace could treat targets within line-of-sight as something remarkably akin to "skeet" - particularly if observation/spotting forms are produced as well.
Air denial feels like a natural evolution of tyrannic psy-forms to me. The Great Devourer has never used energy weapons to my knowledge, with the borderline exception of bioplasma - and really, that's more of a chemical weapon than energy, in the same way that a flamethrower is (let this be a reminder to any physics-casual readers that "plasma" is a fancy word for "the stuff fire and lightning is made of" - it's fancy, but it's not directed energy weapon fancy).
I am/was considering for a while to have the nids evolve into a more biomechanical direction in response. They presumably have an understanding and knowledge of a variety of technologies. Like how my bioships have biological fusion reactors and plasma drives to provide them with power and propulsion. (I refuse to believe the ships solely sustain themselves on calories)
I am/was considering for a while to have the nids evolve into a more biomechanical direction in response. They presumably have an understanding and knowledge of a variety of technologies. Like how my bioships have biological fusion reactors and plasma drives to provide them with power and propulsion. (I refuse to believe the ships solely sustain themselves on calories)
Interesting. It would definitely raise some questions about why they do some things the way that they do, but like you said, they aren't stupid. You don't get to another galaxy by being dumb, so I suppose it's quite possible that running into the magic murder printer is what finally forces them to step out of their comfort zone. Tools require tools to build, so it's plausible enough that they've never bothered because it requires spinning up an entire alternative production chain.
Not that kind of biomechanical, more grown structures and bodyparts imitating what we would deem more to be technology than biology. More metal in their exoskeletons. Maybe the debut of Exocrine Ultras with pulse laser biomorphs, that kind of stuff..
Not that kind of biomechanical, more grown structures and bodyparts imitating more what we would deem more to be technology than to biology. More metals in their exoskeletons. Maybe the debut of Exocrine Ultras with pulse laser biomorphs, that kind of stuff..
I had kind of assumed they were already verging on that given how hard they are to kill. I didn't think anything biological would be able to survive say, canister shot, if they weren't.
Do you mean like, growing components that aren't necessarily themselves made of living cells? Like the lens in a laser, etc?
To be fair, they kinda already do that - like incorporating the minerals they strip-devour from worlds into chitinous hides. I'd swear there was old lore about some carnifex having adamantium incorporated into their exoskeletal armour.
Hmmm, when I originally read Luv and Hate I had only a passing knowledge of Muv-Luv. After watching the anime, I figure developing some sorts of air denial weapon ala the laser-class, derived from Zoantrophes is probably one of the endgames of Tyranid adaptations against the autowarfare machine.
Ultimately it's up to how Bot lays things out but;
To play devil's advocate, all UEF units are already heavily optimized to resist ranged weapons fire and lasers aren't an unknown threat, they're a staple of Cybran machines. It's the kind of threat which our units are already at least partially optimized to handle. It gets worse for them when you realize that autowarfare tears the landscape to pieces, quite literally. Massive volumes of high explosives, anti-matter, incendiaries, etc. All the vegetation vaporizes, the topsoil is ejected into the air, and likely just hours after contact the entire battlefield is shrouded in a brutal choking dust cloud of ash and heavy metals. Lasers really, really don't like operating in clouds of any kind on the best of days, and there's only so much you can do to mitigate that.
Hell, even their own spore clouds are going to be hampering any hypothetical laser.
Ultimately it's up to how Bot lays things out but;
To play devil's advocate, all UEF units are already heavily optimized to resist ranged weapons fire and lasers aren't an unknown threat, they're a staple of Cybran machines. It's the kind of threat which our units are already at least partially optimized to handle. It gets worse for them when you realize that autowarfare tears the landscape to pieces, quite literally. Massive volumes of high explosives, anti-matter, incendiaries, etc. All the vegetation vaporizes, the topsoil is ejected into the air, and likely just hours after contact the entire battlefield is shrouded in a brutal choking dust cloud of ash and heavy metals. Lasers really, really don't like operating in clouds of any kind on the best of days, and there's only so much you can do to mitigate that.
Hell, even their own spore clouds are going to be hampering any hypothetical laser.
Dust is easily handled by upping the power of the laser so that everything in the beam path is outright vaporized. Or you pulse a low power one to both clear the channel and paint a target, before the primary beam fires.
Though given how Tyrannids behave, I would expect more psionic creatures with warp lightning rather than cribbing off Muvluv. Scrin Storm Columns both static and mobile which create giant ion storms anywhere in their area of effect that function as death to both aircraft and artillery. A lot shorter ranged than BETA lasers, but trade it with total area denial, forcing the opponent to either expend a lot of ground forces, or sustained saturation attacks to overwhelm them.
Now I just need an idea on why they havent been doing it already. More biomechanical weaponry is easily explained with taking longer to grow and being a higher resource investment.
Now I just need an idea on why they havent been doing it already. More biomechanical weaponry is easily explained with taking longer to grow and being a higher resource investment.
Same reason why they haven't replaced all their line units with Zoanthropes. Biomass investment to create specialized units like this is a lot greater than than the expected returns.
That's right, picture the Norn queen of each hive fleet, or whatever command unit they have there, as the equivalent of the penny pinching middle manager who goes "You don't need breaks or more staff. We're on crunch time! Interns are cheaper than experienced specialists anyway!"
And the poor overworked termagants, wearing badly wrinkled office shirts, drooping thick rimmed glasses and half pulled neck ties, near empty coffee cup in one claw, hunch over and get back to work trying to overwhelm enemy lines by throwing themselves at it.
But then along comes this hot new company chaired by a yuppie of a CEO, who utterly blows away all those cheap, cheap cheap interns with her even cheaper robo-interns, promising free beer and good times for everyone. Also, she's eating your termagants for resources, which is utterly unfair because that's YOUR shtick! Damned bipeds not respecting patent laws.
And so with great dudgeon, dommy mommy Norn queen grumbles and reluctantly signs the requisition sheet for more specialist units, griping how this would affect her biomass profit margins and all the other branch managers are going to make fun of her at the next Hive conference.
It could be that up till this point they have never needed to invest in such weaponry
Tyranids fight by adapting as the battle progresses, changing up their strategies and units as they encounter new and different variables, to much anti personnel, send in armoured units, enemy starts using anti-armour munitions, send in the bigger stuff, keep the enemies on their toes and only spend resources/energy as needed and eventually their will be a crack in the wall, and up until now that strategy has worked extremely well for them…. Until now.
We on the other can react and act with the same speed and ferocity as they can, the only difference is our play style means we have already accounted for everything the enemy Will throw at us(within reason of course, we aren't psychics who can see the future), so any shock value from the adaptation outside things like the kamikacede is lost as we have already covered that area. Plus fighting us will result in a negative net income as we are both made of metal and will actively scorch both the land and their units as they are trying to fight us, and can pump out as many units as they can as well as sustain them indefinitely, with the right support (we are still human after all.)
In most circumstances, their only real option other then bionuke from orbit(which I can imagine is resource expensive) is to hyper specialise to our units like mashadarof402 said or else they will bleed massive amounts of biomass creating standard units that could of been used for consumption of other planets
But i could be wrong, my knowledge and understanding of tyranids is sparse at best so please forgive me if I have made any errors.
[X]Plan The Web of Gold
-[X]Short Diplomacy (2 Revy AP to do it all)
--[X]Meet with Octavio David Clovis van Styr
---[X]Casual
--[X]Meet with Canoness Rosentree
--[X]Meet with Knight King Balin
--[X]Meet with Magos Series-20
--[X](Write-in) Try and clear the air with Prince Lanval
--[X](Write-in) Run down Ambrose and see what you're actually getting for your favor
-[X]Training
--[X]Revy Learn High Gothic (1 Revy AP)
--[X]Catch Up Classes
---[X](Harkon)Stage 1 of 3 2/12 AP (1 Harkon AP)
-[X]Management
--[X]Write Preliminary Reports on the Tet conflict (1 Revy AP)
-[X]Eliza Harkon and Staff Actions
--[X]General Support(Harkon)
-[X]Katrisha Sena Actions
--[X]Security Protocols Development
-[X]Revy Personal (1 personal AP + 1 Revy AP)
--[X]Take out a more permanent pastime
---[X](Drawing, there's many thing's worth illustrating in this new universe. Still with the colorblindness let's start with charcoal.)
--[X]Explore the Ship
---[X]Rogue Trader vessel
----[X]On your own
Scheduled vote count started by BOTcommander on Nov 24, 2023 at 4:38 PM, finished with 72 posts and 17 votes.
[X]Plan The Web of Gold
-[X]Short Diplomacy (2 Revy AP to do it all)
--[X]Meet with Octavio David Clovis van Styr
---[X]Casual
--[X]Meet with Canoness Rosentree
--[X]Meet with Knight King Balin
--[X]Meet with Magos Series-20
--[X](Write-in) Try and clear the air with Prince Lanval
--[X](Write-in) Run down Ambrose and see what you're actually getting for your favor
-[X]Training
--[X]Revy Learn High Gothic (1 Revy AP)
--[X]Catch Up Classes
---[X](Harkon)Stage 1 of 3 2/12 AP (1 Harkon AP)
-[X]Management
--[X]Write Preliminary Reports on the Tet conflict (1 Revy AP)
-[X]Eliza Harkon and Staff Actions
--[X]General Support(Harkon)
-[X]Katrisha Sena Actions
--[X]Security Protocols Development
-[X]Revy Personal (1 personal AP + 1 Revy AP)
--[X]Take out a more permanent pastime
---[X](Drawing, there's many thing's worth illustrating in this new universe. Still with the colorblindness let's start with charcoal.)
--[X]Explore the Ship
---[X]Rogue Trader vessel
----[X]On your own
[x] Plan The Web of Gold, dance remix surprise visit
-[X]Short Diplomacy (2 Revy AP to do it all)
--[X]Meet with Octavio David Clovis van Styr
---[X]Casual
--[X]Meet with Canoness Rosentree
--[X]Meet with Knight King Balin
--[X]Meet with Magos Series-20
--[X](Write-in) Try and clear the air with Prince Lanval
--[X](Write-in) Run down Ambrose and see what you're actually getting for your favor
-[X]Training
--[X]Revy Learn High Gothic (1 Revy AP)
--[X]Catch Up Classes
---[X](Harkon)Stage 1 of 3 2/12 AP (1 Harkon AP)
-[X]Management
--[X]Write Preliminary Reports on the Tet conflict (1 Revy AP)
-[X]Eliza Harkon and Staff Actions
--[X]General Support(Harkon)
-[X]Katrisha Sena Actions
--[X]Security Protocols Development
-[X]Revy Personal (1 personal AP + 1 Revy AP)
--[X]Take out a more permanent pastime ---[X] Dancing (Teacher: Sena)
--[X]Explore the Ship
---[X]Rogue Trader vessel
----[X]On your own
[X] Plan Training Montage
-[X]Short Diplomacy 1 Revy AP 1 Eliza AP
--[X]Meet with Octavio David Clovis van Styr 1/3 Revy AP 1/3 Eliza AP
---[X]Casual
--[X]Meet with Canoness Rosentree 1/3 Revy AP
--[X]Meet with Knight King Balin 1/3 Revy AP AP 1/3 Eliza AP
--[X]Meet with Magos Series-20 1/3 Eliza AP
-[X](Revy) Learn Gothic 2 Revy AP
-[X]Pick up Self Defense Training(Access to Category: [Revy])
--[X]Combined CQC and Firearms (-1AP per turn)(Teacher: Sena) 1 Revy AP
-[X]Write Preliminary Reports on the Tet conflict 1 Revy AP
-[X]Retinue actions
--[X]Obtain Information Through Rumors
---[X]Rogue Trader
--[X]ACU External Power Convertor
--[X]Security Protocols Development
-[X]Personal
--[X]Explore the Ship 1 Revy Personal AP
---[X]Rogue Trader vessel
---[X]On your own
[X]Plan The Web of Gold - Books
-[X]Short Diplomacy (2 Revy AP to do it all)
--[X]Meet with Octavio David Clovis van Styr
---[X]Casual
--[X]Meet with Canoness Rosentree
--[X]Meet with Knight King Balin
--[X]Meet with Magos Series-20
--[X](Write-in) Try and clear the air with Prince Lanval
--[X](Write-in) Run down Ambrose and see what you're actually getting for your favor
-[X]Training
--[X]Revy Learn High Gothic (1 Revy AP)
--[X]Catch Up Classes
---[X](Harkon)Stage 1 of 3 2/12 AP (1 Harkon AP)
-[X]Management
--[X]Write Preliminary Reports on the Tet conflict (1 Revy AP)
-[X]Eliza Harkon and Staff Actions
--[X]General Support(Harkon)
-[X]Katrisha Sena Actions
--[X]Security Protocols Development
-[X]Revy Personal (1 personal AP + 1 Revy AP)
--[X]Take out a more permanent pastime
---[X]Reading
--[X]Explore the Ship
---[X]Rogue Trader vessel
----[X]Guided tours
[X]Plan The Web of Gold, dance remix
-[X]Short Diplomacy (2 Revy AP to do it all)
--[X]Meet with Octavio David Clovis van Styr
---[X]Casual
--[X]Meet with Canoness Rosentree
--[X]Meet with Knight King Balin
--[X]Meet with Magos Series-20
--[X](Write-in) Try and clear the air with Prince Lanval
--[X](Write-in) Run down Ambrose and see what you're actually getting for your favor
-[X]Training
--[X]Revy Learn High Gothic (1 Revy AP)
--[X]Catch Up Classes
---[X](Harkon)Stage 1 of 3 2/12 AP (1 Harkon AP)
-[X]Management
--[X]Write Preliminary Reports on the Tet conflict (1 Revy AP)
-[X]Eliza Harkon and Staff Actions
--[X]General Support(Harkon)
-[X]Katrisha Sena Actions
--[X]Security Protocols Development
-[X]Revy Personal (1 personal AP + 1 Revy AP)
--[X]Take out a more permanent pastime ---[X] Dancing (Teacher: Sena)
--[X]Explore the Ship
---[X]Rogue Trader vessel
----[X]Guided tours
