Tyranids are considered the greatest threat in Warhammer 40,000. No one knows exactly how large the number of these ravenous bug aliens really is. According to rumors, they have already destroyed all galaxies except ours. But how can one protect themselves? Fans know: Definitely not with bunkers.
Of all threats in Warhammer 40,000, Tyranids are the largest, simply because their numbers are legion. Even the trillions of humans cannot withstand the mass of ravenous bugs – which can also constantly adapt.
Tyranids are not mindless drones. At least not all of them. They are cunning and even have techniques to infiltrate human worlds, allowing them to overwhelm without much resistance.
The only faction in Warhammer 40,000 that would have a chance against the Tyranids alone are the Necrons, but they are mostly still asleep. Until there is a way or an alliance against the Xenos, there is only one thing to do: flee.
However, one user questions this. On Reddit, someone wants to know if it would be possible to simply build bunkers to hide from the Tyranids. However, that’s not really a good idea…
When Tyranids come, everything is consumed
Tyranids exist only to consume. If they were to win the eternal war, the entire galaxy would literally be consumed and they would seek their next target. If there is even another one.
An invasion looks like first eliminating all resistance. Once a world is ripe for harvest, smaller drones come and begin to decompose everything on the planet that is somehow usable.
It doesn’t matter if it’s plants, animals, dead matter, or even fallen Tyranids themselves: everything that can be converted into biomass will be turned into it. Large tubes then pump this mass to the swarm fleet, where new Tyranids are bred in brood pools.
Even minerals and some metals are decomposed and utilized. And this applies not only to the surface of a planet.
Tyranids would dig you up like “soft, screaming truffles”
In the comments on Reddit, a user explains with much support that the Tyranids do not only consume what is easy to reach. The topsoil is also devoured, and everything beneath it is simply excavated.
Tyranids have highly specialized drones that can be specifically bred for all sorts of tasks. This includes breaking the ground and utilizing the materials underneath. Accordingly, bunkers underground, as suggested by the original poster, would be of little help:
A planet is measurably smaller after a fleet has consumed it. They leave no flesh on the bone. They would simply dig you up like a truffle.
indoorcowboy on Reddit
A soft, screaming truffle, as another user adds. And Tyranids would be anything but delicate: even living humans are simply digested and decomposed without being slaughtered first. Warhammer is known for its crude, grotesque representations and even death by Tyranids has been described in great detail.
Other users add that with sufficient depth, it might be possible to bury oneself. However, the planet would then be contaminated with tyranid microbes – which would simply decompose you as soon as you return to the surface.
There is a plan against Tyranids, but it is heresy
So how does one protect against Tyranids? The answer is sobering: Not at all. Even Space Marines, who come to fight against Tyranids, are mostly only there to secure as many resources and sometimes even humans as possible. A world is rarely “held”.
However, an Inquisitor once had a “brilliant” idea to stop Tyranids: an Exterminatus trap. As soon as a world is attacked, all surrounding worlds should be destroyed to slow the advance of the swarm fleet. He was branded a heretic for his suggestion.
Because although the invasion by Tyranids leaves behind only a lifeless planet, it indeed leaves a planet behind. With the right technology, a living world could potentially be made from it again in a few thousand years through terraforming – maybe.
But an Exterminatus destroys the world completely, ignites the atmosphere, or literally causes the planet’s crust to break apart. Sometimes even the core of the planet is detonated. That is why this weapon serves only as a last resort: Exterminatus is the worst weapon in Warhammer 40,000 and even the mad Imperium uses it only very rarely.
