Longsword, on 04 March 2012 - 07:43 PM, said:
No, they do adapt to tactics. They dont differentiate between the physiology, weapons, technology or tactics of the enemy. To them they are all physiology.
None of those things change with the orcs- they are much the same as they were ten thousand years ago, so the tyranids dont get their adaptation accelerated such as with the tau.
edit: Also, the Tyranids are capable of brilliant tactics. When its just tyranid warriors/tervigons/etc providing synapse control, they just swarm towards the enemy. When a Hive Tyrant is on scene, they demonstrate tactical abilities on par with space marine or tau generals. When the Swarmlord is spawned (A stress induced response) the Tyranid Swarm outmaneuvers and outsmarts Marneus Calgar.
Actually, I am pretty sure that I read somewhere that each Swarm Lord is kinda of a master tactican with thousands of battles won under his belt, probably from previous destroyed galaxies, but yeah you are right the Tyranids can adapt to different tactics or even weaponary. As for the Inquisitor's gambit, forgot his name, with sending a Tyranid Hive Fleet into a planet FULL of orks the stalemate there comes from the fact that the orks keep growing bigger stronger and smarter since they keep having "fun" with endless batles with the Tyranids and let's not forget the orks "clap your hands if you believe" field. So it's safe to say that if one side ever win you will have to handle either a Hive Fleet with the strongest type of Tyranids you ever saw, or a WAAAGH full of WarBoos Gazhgull Mak Uruk Tharaka and as cunning as WarBoss Gorgutz.