The universe of Warhammer 40,000 is trapped in an eternal, vast conflict. One of the opponents, however, overshadows the others, as it would literally devour the entire galaxy. With a radical idea, a user wants to contain this danger. The community responds: This has been tried before and did not go well.
What is the greatest danger?
- Tyranids are like “bug aliens” with a hive mind that see the entire universe only as biomass they can consume.
- They regularly invade worlds to devour everything there and create new Tyranids from the remains. In doing so, they adapt to their enemies. For the Imperium, they have very insidious tactics.
- On our ranking of the strongest factions, Tyranids are in first place, as there is simply no way to sustainably defeat them yet.
Tyranids are also the antagonists in Space Marine 2; there you can also see their endless hordes:
What would help now? On Reddit, a user suggested that a series of Exterminatus traps would stop the Tyranids. The proposal: Set up traps that destroy a planet as soon as the Xenos land.
An Exterminatus irretrievably destroys the affected world—by igniting the atmosphere, blowing up the planet, or detonating a virus bomb. It is the highest ultima ratio that the Imperium knows in war.
Instead of reacting, traps should be set up that automatically destroy the planet. The landed Tyranid fleet would also be annihilated, and the swarm would be weakened as it would lose biomass.
The idea itself is logical, but fans quickly point out that even this measure would not help. Because that is exactly what someone tried in the lore, and for that they received the highest punishment.
“The best way to fight Tyranids comes with high costs”
The Reddit user Sbarty explains that the (ex-)Inquisitor Phaedus or Fidus Kryptman already had a similar idea. The Tyranid expert of the Ordo Xenos has already fought in three Tyranid wars.
In the fight against the Tyranid fleet Leviathan, Kryptman selected a number of planets that should undergo Exterminatus as soon as the Tyranids appear. “Kryptman’s lockdown” was meant to deprive the Tyranids of their reproductive foundations and stop them.
As a result of his plan, however, billions of citizens of the Imperium of Mankind died. Some speak of the greatest genocide since the Horus Heresy, the greatest tragedy of the Imperium up to that point.
The worst part: The Tyranids were not even stopped by this. They continued to spread, just much slower. Because of this, the Carta Extremis was imposed on Kryptman, and he was declared “Excommunicate Haereticus.”
In other words: He was thrown out of the Inquisition and is now considered a traitor and heretic. Such a judgment is usually accompanied by the death penalty. At the moment, however, Kryptman is supposed to fight the swarm fleet Tiamet after an exile – together with the Deathwatch. And that means something: Everyone has respect for the “Deathwatch” in Warhammer 40,000 – there’s a good reason for that.
