Thinking About Tyranids

[Soups]

On a certain Pink Poster's Blog, Abusepuppy had a remake of the Nid codex as a pet project, for reason's unknown.

One good idea he had (besides some re-costing on units) was to make the synapse do things besides let the nids play. Aura's that hand out a universal special rule, or give immunity to force weapons, or just normal instant death (already covered I see). I do think thinking up of a way for a synapse biomorph to act like Marks of Chaos would be a great way to tweak the codex without having too much in the way rules conflict, or cries of OP.

Personally, I think the only over-costed unit in the codex is Carnifex and Tyranofex.

[Inquiring M1nd]

I'm not certain this would be a good fix. It is true, we have a loaded elites section, which could be seen as a testament to the Hive Mind's versatility. These units are specialists, and primarily valued for their vehicle-busting abilities, or unique deployment matched with combat expertise. There are alternative answers to both of these problems, some are found in the fast attack slot (harpies, Raveners) or the heavy support slot (pick a monstrous creature).

I have felt routinely let-down by my elite tank hunters, but pleasantly surprised by my Trygon, Genestealers, and Raveners. What they don't have in ranged ability, they make up for in movement. Granted, relying solely on CC to answer tanks makes fast vehicles a source of ulcers in the digestion pool, so don't. Just keep in mind the entire codex when drawing up an army and the roles/ redundancy covered, and you'll be in decent shape.

[Mystery.Shadow]

The best way to improve the Tyranid book is to go back to using the old tyranid book.

Nobody would let us go back, so let's hope for a bright future!

Help us Obi Wan Phil Kelly. You're our only hope!

[Suffokate]

Nobody would let us go back, so let's hope for a bright future!

Help us Obi Wan Phil Kelly. You're our only hope!

I would much rather have Matt Ward on the Nid book to get some hilariously named war gear and units, and to finally be the cool kid on the block with a Ward dex.

[Kevlarshark]

How about a new Hive tyrant ability "adaptive swarm" one elite or heavy can be selected as a troops choice? Orks already have an ability like this with their Warboss and Nobs or Mekboy and dreds.

Allow Alpha Warrior to select a spore pod.

I would like to see venomthropes as a 0-3 independent character type choice. So you could select up to 3 and split them up to attach them to squads (a bit like wolf guard).

Pyrovores need to shoot like a hellhound.

It would be nice to give the t-fex a bit of a shooting accuracy boost too...I am not asking for +1BS (doesn't feel characterful enough) how about allowing it to re-roll 1s when within synapse range?

I could see Synapse functioning more like IG orders in the next codex giving selected benefit to the unit within range, Synapse is all stick and no carrot at the moment.

[Osiris]

The first thing that's wrong with the Tyranid book is the internal balance, or the lack thereof. Some things are awesome for their points, others are...not. Some upgrades are a steal while others provide almost zero function (I'm looking at you TL-Deathspitters). My list of changes are as follows:
-Elite slots are super-full, no joke. Move Hive Guard to heavy support where they belong.
-Some things need point cost reduction. Carnifex at 130-140 range, Harpy to about 130 as well. T-fex could really be about 225 W/ rupture cannon (not 265).
-Pyrovore just needs...help. Good idea, poor implementation. Maybe have their death explosion be automatic, AP3, and have them not give up a KP? (maybe I've been playing too much Warmachine...)
-Change SitW to perils on doubles. This will make GK think once in a while.
-Allow lictors to either charge or shoot when they arrive. Similar to vanguard vets.
-Some other stuff like upgrade costs need tweaking and/or removing. Once again, I'm looking at you TL-Deathspitters...

The reason for these changes is not to just "buffnidsplz", it's to patch what is wrong with the book. The carnifex change is obvious, people may actually take them if the were appropriately priced, same for the Harpy and T-fex. And with the HG in the support slots you A) can get other overlooked support units in the elite section and, B ) actually have to think about what goes into your HS other than MOAR TRYGONS!

Discuss.