Exterminatus vs. Tyranids?

[Beatnik cryptek]

OK one thing in the tyranid background is that kryptman came up with the idea of abandoning worlds to the nids, and whenever possible doing Exterminatus on them to deny the nids food. I remember a story about a marine telling an inquisitor about how they burned a planet the nids were consuming.

 

The thing I wonder about is how well does Exterminatus work on denying nids resources?

 

I don't think the imperium has death star level weapons, I donct think they can literally blow a planet to debris like Alderaan. I know that nonstramo was blown to fragments but that was a special case I think, and yeah, old Abby has his planet killer that can blow a planet to bits.

 

But by and large the imperium seems to define Exterminatus as wiping out all life on a planet, be with with the life eater virus or using those plasma cyclone torpedoes witch burn a planets surface to ash.

 

But even if they do that how much will it hurt the nids? Life eater virus still leaves the oceans and atmosphere, plus the bio matter is there just broken down to simpler forms. Plus the minerals and elements the nids can use like carbon, silicon, certain metals, oxygen, nitrogen, etc are still there. The nids still likely get so! teething out of attacking the planet, basic elements and minerals even if no actual living material and DNA.

 

The same is true for the cyclone torpedoes. Sure they burn stuff to ash but the elements are still there.

 

So how much does doing a regular imperial Exterminatus on planets in their path really hurt the nids?

 

Now maybe if you hit a planet with really, Really, REALLY filthy dirty nukes that dumped hundreds or thousands of tons of extremely toxic and highly radioactive matter on it and saturated the surface and ecosystem with unholy levels of radiation that might do something bad to the bugs, but does the imperium have the resources to do that on a large scale?

 

Another dirty trick might be to drop huge filthy nukes in the deep oceans meant to detoinatate sensors indicated the water levels had dropped a lot, meaning the nids ships we're sucking away the oceans and air, meaning they we're fully involved with the planet. Spewing hyper radioactive toxic elements rapidly in massive amounts right then might hurt them and prison some ships.

 

So all in all how effective is Exterminatus on stopping or slowing nid advancement and fleet growth?

[Azekai]

It is an interesting thought. I am sure the complex life of a planet is more tasty than plain ol' rocks and minerals, as the DNA allows for more options in the ever-evolving swarms of the Tyranids. So exterminatus would probably help somewhat, and it would be advisable in order to destroy plant and animal life that could be inducted into the genetic libraries of the Norn Queens. 

Presumably, *just* radiation is something that at least some Tyrannic organisms can compensate for, given that their bio-ships are exposed to scathing levels of rads just by virtue of being in space.

Toxins would have to either be extremely virulent, or engineered specifically to harm the spawn of the Great Devourer. Tyranids can adapt even to the toxins and plagues of Nurgle, up to a point. Hive fleet Lotan ran afoul of the Death Guard of Hesp, and in the course of the struggle the entire planet was rendered so poisonous the Tyranids could not feed upon its biomass. Hesp was so toxic that all living things melted into a hissing slurry.

 

[Aothaine]

I think Tyranids are not designed to absorb all carbon. I think they are mainly designed to absorb complex life. If the old ones did make the Tyranids and designed them to kind of clean up this galaxy then they wouldn't want all the planets destroyed. They could easily re-seed life onto a dead planet. When it comes to Exterminatus there are even stories of Tyranids living through it, Old One-Eye. The point of Exterminatus, from my memory, was to starve the Tyranid fleet of resources. It wouldn't do that if they could just devour entire planets. 

 

I think Exterminatus is effective at trying to limit and prevent growth of a Tyranid Fleet. But it is not going to stop it. You need to crush the fleet then Exterminatus the planet the fight took place on to be sure that your clearing as much of the infestation as possible. Burn all ship remains in space as well. 

 

Tyranids are pretty damned awesome. If only they didn't have millions of pointy bits.. 

[Blissful Brushes]

Well in HH3 when Isstvan III happens Horus virus bombs the planet, essentially turning all organic matter into slurry and breaking it down pretty much at the molecular level and follows this by a lance strike that ignites the huge amounts of gases now in the atmosphere causing a planetwide firestorm which consumes everything.

 

I'd imagine that it would be something akin to that as the Imperium still have access to such weaponry.

[arbogast1]

Sure Exterminatus might still leave the minerals, etc intact within a planet but think about how current life on Earth works. Everything needs to eat. Vitamins and minerals can help us be healthy, but you can't subsist entirely on your daily multi-vitamin. You still need to eat to get your macronutrients. I can imagine it's similar for the 'Nids. It's difficult to pump out endless swarms of gribbly beasts when you lack the basic building blocks required to grow muscle, bone, carapace, etc., on a vast scale. And that's not even including the DNA that the Hive Fleets can absorb to create new bioforms.

 

 

Well in HH3 when Isstvan III happens Horus virus bombs the planet, essentially turning all organic matter into slurry and breaking it down pretty much at the molecular level...

 

 

Not to mention this: The Life Eater Virus basically speeds up decomposition of organic matter to a ludicrous speed. Decomposition basically robs nutritional value from the food source, so now, even if it isn't burned to a crisp afterwards, it's basically useless.

 

Finally, Exterminatus is used once a planet is all but lost. The Hive Fleet has pumped massive resources into securing the planet, expending massive amounts of bio-forms (and therefore macronutrients, etc) into taking the planet. Now, all those lost resources, plus the resources about to be gained by consuming the planet, are lost. It puts the Hive Fleet in a massive deficit. Think of it like eating. You go and run a marathon. First thing you do after finishing it go to McDonalds and order everything on the menu. Now, just as you're about to chow down and recoup all those lost calories, the 2nd place runner smacks your tray out of your hands, scattering your food on the ground.