Planetary Infestation - The Hive Fleet is barely worthy of the name, with its beasts and cultists bound almost entirely to a single planet.
5-8
Hive Fleet Splinter - The Hive Fleet has recently been spawned from its progenitor, or been forced to break away following its progenitor's destruction.
9-10
Hive Fleet - The Hive Fleet is a fully-fledged one, having existed long enough and hunted enough prey to grow to a significant size.
Tiny - Reduced to as little as a few dozen bioships and one or two Hive Ships, this Hive Fleet teeters on the precipice of extinction. Unless it can find biomass soon, it is likely that the Fleet will either starve or be worn down by simple attrition.
3-4
Small - Scarred by its prey's resistance, this Hive Fleet is smaller than the average, though extinction remains a distant threat for now.
5-7
Medium - Of around average size for a Tyranid Hive Fleet, with several dozen Hive Ships and hundreds to thousands of smaller bio-ships.
8-9
Large - Having feasted on several weak or isolated worlds while avoiding severe casualties, this Hive Fleet has grown to a larger than average size. If it continues to grow, it is likely that this Fleet will become the progenitor to another.
10
FUCKHUEG - Glutted by its rampage across a dozen weak worlds and consumption of massive quantities of biomass, this Hive Fleet is on par with the like of Behemoth, Kraken, and Leviathan.
Head for the Light (Fleet is going to the Astronomicon)
3
Spread and Devour (Fleet looking for inhabited planets to feast upon)
4
Recover Remnants - Scavenging from the carrion of a fallen Hive Fleet, this Hive Fleet seeks to identify and plan around flaws in the fallen fleet's tactics.
5
Rejoin the Fleet (Fleet looking to pair up with their progenitor or a larger fleet)
6
Join the Octarian fight / Deal with the clusterfuck aftermath - Feasting on the worlds weakened by the Octarius War, this Hive Fleet is tasked with gathering the biomass of the Orks and Humanity alike.
7
Survival of the Fittest (Fleet is hunting down others to pick up their Biomorphs) - Seeking out weaker Hive Fleets and cannibalising them to put their Biomorphs to good use, this Hive Fleet bears a diversity of beasts that few others can match.
8
Hunt Down a Target - Drawn by the psychic beacon of a Genestealer Cult, this Hive Fleet bears down upon an infested world.
9
Recoup Losses - Wounded by past battles against their prey, the Hive Fleet now seeks out weak sources of biomass to recover from its wounds.
10
Voyage of Discovery - Slipping its tendrils out into the little-travelled regions of the galaxy, this Fleet is seeking out and devouring new and exotic sources of biomass.
Synaptic Web - The vast majority of Tyranids from this fleet possess Genestealer-style synaptic connections, lessening the need for complex organisms such as Lictors to relay the Hive Mind's signals.
2
Avatars of the Hivemind - The Hive Fleet displays an abnormally high production rate of Zoanthropes, Malanthropes, and other highly powerful psychic bioforms.
3
Monstrous Horde - The bioforms born of this fleet are much larger in size than average, which it uses to smash through defences with ease. Think 'Gaunts the size of Leman Russes, Rippers the size of dogs, and don't even try to think about the Bio-Titans.
4
Unending Swarm - The Hive Fleet overwhelms its foes with massive swarms of bioforms, ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions strong. It spurns advanced bioforms in favour of simple, mass-produced 'Gaunts and Rippers.
5
Stealth and Infiltration - The Hive Fleet specialises in sowing terror and confusion among its foes by seeding targeted worlds with Lictors, and sabotaging strongly-fortified planets with carefully-hidden genestealer cults.
6
Destruction from Afar (DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA) - Fleshborers and other ranged weaponry comes naturally to this fleet, to the point where almost every bioform has significant ranged power. Think Hive Fleet Kronos, minus the supercharged Shadow in the Warp.
7
Death from Above - The Hive Fleet specialises in aerial assault and heavy bombardment, using swarms of flying bioforms to clog air defences as Mycetic Spores deliver their deadly biological payloads into the midst of enemy forces.
8
The Ground Trembles - Mawlocs and bioforms specially adapted to dig through solid rockcrete are the order of the day for this Hive Fleet, with the Hive Mind directing these bioforms to dig beneath the defences of its foes and emerge to wreak havoc.
9
Corrode and Poison (Venomthropes, Spores)
10
Titanic Beasts - The Hive Fleet unleashes its Bio-Titans in many of its battles, using their immense power to decimate even the hardiest of prey.
Genestealer Cult - Seeding the worlds ahead of them with Genestealers, this Hive Fleet weakens its prey with uprisings and unrest before it chooses to strike.
7-8
Brainleech Thralls - Using specialist spore-borne organisms deployed by its forces to infest the brains of sapient beings, this Fleet reduces large swathes of its chosen prey to mindless thralls that will fight to the death against their former masters. Those too badly damaged to live are cannibalised by the Hive Fleet, granting the Hive Mind insight into the defences and nature of its prey.
9-10
Seeded Lictors - Seeding the worlds ahead of them with Lictor broods, the Hive Fleet prepares its prey through the assassination of enemy generals and the marking of critical weak points before the fleet makes planetfall.
11
Ancient Mastermind (e.g. Swarmlord) - Granted a major degree of independent thought by the Hive Mind, this evolved Tyranid creature has learned from its Fleet's past mistakes and actively endeavours to counter its disadvantages. Though only one may be on the battlefield at any given time, its power is unquestionable.
12-13
Psychic Vampire (DoM't-esque) - Unleashing a mutated form of Neurothrope, this Hive Fleet utilises this creature to break the very souls of its prey, forcing them to lay down their arms or even march into the waiting jaws of Tyranid organisms, their souls reduced to withered husks controlled almost entirely by the Neurothrope - and through that, the Hive Mind.
14
Ultimate Stalker (Deathleaper-ish) - Sowing terror and marking weakpoints with specialised pheromones, this Lictor-strain is able to hide in plain sight and conceal itself through psychic means. Slipping from shadow to shadow, it seeks out the finest minds and tactical leaders among its prey before bursting forth to devour their brains and vanish once more, leaving terrified survivors to speak of the terror that lurks among them.
15-16
Unkillable Beast (Old One Eye, but useful) - This Hive Fleet has learned the value of legends and how to exploit them, invariably deploying a single iteration of a creature designed to evoke the appearance of a notorious Tyranid beast widely known among its chosen prey. Should this creature be slain, an identical copy will be created in the bowels of a Hive Ship, leading to terrified rumours of a Tyranid able to resurrect itself and continue to attack even after incalculable damage.
17-18
Parasitic Broodfather (Parasite of Mortrex) - Using specialised ovipositors to inject Ripper and even miniature Termagaunt embryos into its victims, this creature swiftly transforms tightly-packed trenches and knots of prey into thrashing masses of insectoid horrors.
19
Subterranean Hunter (Red Terror) - Burrowing through the ground to ravage lightly-defended fortifications and snatch up moving troops, this creature is used by the Hive Fleet to harry unwary reinforcements and cut off avenues of retreat.
20
Nightmare Fiend (Dagon Overlord-esque) - Mutated into a nigh-unstoppable monster by the experiments of the Fleet's Norn-Queen, this creature is an abomination even among the hordes of the Tyranids. Deployed only in the most desperate situations due to its massive material cost and high independence, this Fiend has been the death of entire armies and Astartes Companies.
Those They've Failed to Eat Yet (AKA Rivals)[edit]
(d10)
What are the Hive Fleet's common enemies?
1
Canned meats (Adeptus Astartes Chapter) - Through the use of plasma, flame, and even relic chemical weapons, the Angels of Death managed to halt a tendril of the Hive Fleet by rending the available biomass all but unusable from their fortified positions.
2
Spam (Imperial Guard regiment) - Through overwhelming firepower, suicidal determination, innovative tactics, or long-term preparation, one or more Imperial Guard Regiments managed to stand against and throw back this tendril of the Great Devourer.
3
Brain food (Eldar Craftworld/Farseer) - Whether by bio-purging entire worlds or unleashing the full force of a Craftworld's might against the fleet, this Farseer or Craftworld has proven a thorn in this Hive Fleet's side on one or more occasions.
4
Viagra (Dark Eldar Kabal) - Outwitting the lumbering monsters of the Great Devourer with lightning raids and Haemonculus-designed weapons, this Kabal spirited away numerous beasts of the Fleet, severing the connections to the Hive Mind to keep them under control.
5
Rotten meat (Chaos-aligned group) - Through the blessings of the Dark Gods and acts of desperation known only to the Neverborn, this Chaos cult managed to survive the swarming brood of the Hive Fleet.
6
Rotten canned meats (Chaos Marine warband) - The Warp-spawned weapons, Chaos magicks, and transhuman mutants of this Heretic Astartes Warband proved enough to match the Great Devourer long enough for the Warband to destroy or escape the threatening tendril of the Hive Fleet.
7
Blueberry pie (Tau Sept) - Embroiled in a desperate battle against the Hive Fleet's organisms, this Tau Sept barely managed to stand their ground against the numberless hordes through judicious destruction of biomass and even scorched earth tactics.
8
Mushrooms (Ork WAAAGH!!!) - Locked in a Sisyphean war against a mighty WAAAGH!, the Great Devourer's creatures would eventually be overcome by the increasingly-large and organised Ork hordes.
9
Assorted meats (Alien Empire) - Leveraging a diverse range of advanced xenotechnology and exotic biology against the Hive Fleet, this alien empire managed to stand against - or at least survive - the attention of the Hive Mind.
10
Iron supplements (Necron Dynasty) - Unable to break down and consume the Necrodermis from which these undying warriors are made, the Hive Fleet suffered heavy losses against this Dynasty when it unexpectedly awoke to turn a feast into a famine.
Credit to Singemeister for making all this stuff up!