rambling idiocy and half baked ideas wanting refinement

So, Tyranids... All consuming devourers of life, and junk

Why? They want to eat organic matter, and are directed by the hive mind to strategise and orchestrate the conduct of shit.

They want the biggest juiciest worlds and the most life to digest, right? They roam the galaxy and beyond hunting for tasty banquets.

They're the pinnacle of evolution both on fast forward and steroids, adapted perfectly to the task at hand, and in the face of new demands the species produces new forms to better absorb everything.

With me so far?

But, the realisation that they are far from evolutionary pinnacles and masterminded by genius godlike intelligence is obvious

The history of civilization really REALLY suggests hanging around the hunter-gatherer stage isn't the best use of resources! As soon as humans took the tentative steps to farming, well wouldn't you know it, the land could support a massive increase in sustainable population!

With this came explosions in almost every conceivable measure of the species and it's civilization, no more minimal surpluses of resources barely able to support the clan/tribe/group and ever threatening lean times and death, not to mention the freeing up of time and energy to devote to every other venture of social living and group cohesion.

So what should they be doing? Well, if the goal is maximum biomass digestion, it ultimately comes down to the efficiency of the food chains and the energy it is built upon, I assume primarily starlight and radiation.

So the light is converted into energy by algae, plants and stuff which is then further broken down by fungi and bacteria and such like; the return of energy as you move higher up the food chain is pretty inneficient, as all the data that is fundamental to the "future of food security" and "anti meat industry" thinking.

If we are looking for the most efficient conversion of star energy into biology, all the wasted energy of movement and heat and chemistry in gigantic space warfare and planetary invasions is therefore a major issue to be circumvented.

So far, Tyranid life is stuck in the hunter gatherer phase of civilization, pretty much the lowest rung that could be described as belonging, and the methods they use are about as wasteful as could be designed.

The hive mind should pull it's finger out and buck up its ideas, get on with business and the Tyranid fleets should be more akin to farmers working circuits across fertile systems they've harvested and allowed sufficient resources to remain so it can continue to produce life, no dead barren rocks left in their wake but fertile soils and seas ready to continue making life from sunlight, ready to be taken again on the next visit by the fleets

Forging swords into ploughshares, if you will.

Now picture ol' grampy carnifex plump in a comfy armchair, settled with a good book and a pipe, with a wry grin and shake of the head as the young strutting generation of warriors proclaim boldly how they're going to kick ass and take ~names~ genes, chuckling to himself about the impetuousness of youth

Isn't this the Tyranid in a more logical thought out form, instead of foolish nightmare beasts? Grow up and read a damn newspaper, lictor!