Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-25618639-20150426193759/@comment-6078851-20150501155044

i thought a type 1 was utelising the energy within a planet - fossil fuels, geothermal, tidal etc, type 2 was harnessing the majority of energy of a star using a dyson sphere, and energy usage is of a self-sustaining/renewable source, and type 3 was the efficient harnessing of all energy sources within a galaxy.

tyranids are probably the biggest issue to the kardashev scale in 40k: they utelise a renewable self-sustaining energy source and their efficiency of energy conversion is unparalleled. they could easily be considered the single most advanced species in 40k but they don't utelise any other source of energy: they have indeed removed all biomass energy from possibly dozens of galaxies, but those galaxies still have an abundance of energy sources that tyranids havn't touched. in this regard necrons, eldar, dark eldar, tau, and even the imperium make use of far more sources of energy that tyranids and would probably rank higher on this scale than tyranids.

if a civilisation colonises multiple systems but rely only on planetary energy sources, if they don't have dyson spheres, then they will always be a type 1. likewise a civilisation that spans multiple galaxies but doesn't have dyson spheres, or doesn't utelise all available energy sources, will also be a type 1. and mentioning 'civilisations'... do tyranids actually count as one? a civilisation is an accumulation of differing ideas, ideologies, administration, technology, and a vast array of other bits and pieces, but tyranids have none of these. they have biology and the hive mind. i now think they're somewhat underqualified to even be considered a civilisation and have to be disqualified :P

we definitely need a custom scale :)  but even then tyranids would probably need their own column since they don't conform to the milky way's rules :P