Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-25618639-20150406151006/@comment-6078851-20150423150738

if it was a ship/spore delivery missile then it doesn't need size to get anywhere, all it needs is a trajectory and a push. and occasionaly ships do operate beyond the reaches of it's hive fleet.

what need would tyranids have to come to a spored planet? uuhhmm... biomass? it's kinda what tyranids are all about.

and genestealers are scouts for hive fleets, and have to minimise their losses as generally they're not too numerous. spores would negate that need. plus as long as tyranids have access to a planet's biomass then their amount of losses is utterly irelevant.

i don't dispute that maybe ork dna has nothing to offer, especially as it currently is, which is why i keep saying 'if their spore-reproduction was improved', but it's also very feasible that it does have something to offer - like an improvement to the numbers of reproduction, but also the fact that ork spores can create a self sustaining ecosystem, rich in biomass, on worlds deemed uninhabitable by most spacefaring races (that's part of the reason why orks are so widespread). even if tyranids can't improve the reproduction rate of spores they could absolutely use a method of creating biomass: as they travel through a galaxy they could seed worlds ahead with spores, and by the time they get there there's a lot of biomass to consume.

i'll concede the point on an improvement to reproduction speed though, as i have new information (new to me at least): a tyranid organism can 'sting' prey and injects ripper larvae, and once inside the host they grow to maturity "within a few heartbeats". now rippers are one of the most basic tyranid organisms but still, egg to adult in seconds! :)