Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-79.134.161.49-20130225232452/@comment-6078851-20130303165225

that's all good points you make.

as for tyranids having to consume a whole planet of organics to propogate vs the imperiums ability to utilize most materials - as tyranids wittle down the amount of people then more and more tech becomes simply expensive garden ornaments, even fully automated systems require maintanence and ammo replenishment and if there isn't enough people to do this then all the tech in the universe is essentially defunct. also, organics are self perpetuating whereas the raw resources required for tech is finite.

if the imperium successfully defends a planet, it's generally at a huge cost of lives and resources. the lives can be replaced but will take time and new tech can be buit but resources are finite (don't know how effective recycling is in 40k though :) ).

on the other hand, if tyranids successfully capture a planet it is completely irrelevant how many are killed as long as they have access to the planet's bio-mass, including the abundant supply of dead defenders. as their tech is part of their species then it too is self perpetuating life and raw resources are not needed in this regard.

the only way (as i see it) to adequately defend against tyranids is unrelenting numbers. this is also the biggest weakness because if tyranids win against vast numbers then they have access to a vast quantity of bio-mass.

i agree that tau technology is possibly the best way to combat tyranids but they're not a particularly numerous species and resources are finite for their tech.